* Friends and family, please come by 2:45pm. The team needs to be past the gate by 3pm.

Hello Again!

I've just returned from Kenya, and Pastor David Kang is now with the
team in West Pokot. It's a region of Kenya which is located in the
northwest near the border of Uganda. The weather tends to be hotter
there than the areas we have been in during the first half of the
trip. They will also be traveling more to different areas by foot, so
the team will be facing slightly greater physical challenges. Please
pray that the team members continue to have a good attitude as they
serve through more challenging circumstances.

Before leaving Kenya, I was able to spend a day with the teachers
(Amy, Becky and Tim) who are running the Teachers Training Conference
in Nairobi. They are doing a great job and the host missionaries as
well as the teachers that they are training were just raving about
them. The teachers will be wrapping up their work on Wednesday.

Another prayer request: Before I left the team, I was asked to relay
an "important" prayer request to all the supporters. A few of the
members have been contending with fleas and their bites. So "please
pray that God would take away the fleas", or help the team to embrace
and overcome yet another challenge as they serve and grow through this
summer experience.

Thank you for your continued prayers!

In HIM,
Pastor John

IMPORTANT FLIGHT CHANGE INFO: You may have already received this
information, but in case you haven't, there is a slight change to the
team's return flight. In brief, Delta was unable to complete their
deal with the Nairobi Airport so the team will be returning on KLM
instead. So please plan to pick up members at Terminal 5, with a new
arrival time of 11:55AM instead of 11:08AM.

Here is the new flight info:

Date: Tuesday, July 21
Flight: NW 8611/*KL 611
Departs: Amsterdam-Schiphol, Netherlands (AMS) at 10:30AM
Arrives: Chicago-O'Hare Int'l, IL (ORD) at 11:55AM

Konnichiwa to all our friends and family! This will be our last update from Japan.

We praise God and give all credit to God for all the ways He had worked through the events. THANK YOU so much for your prayers and support! The partnership this past month helped many Japanese students to hear the Gospel and many to be further discipled to become Kingdom workers!

FUNKY PARTY:
We collaborated with some Christian dancers at J-House to evangelize to non-Christian dancers. As well, we did a dance drama that pictured the Gospel and the Father's love. Many were moved by the drama and lead to many open doors to share the Gospel. God was so faithful as He invited people to hear the Gospel. During the praise time, everyone at Funky Party gathered in one big circle and sang a song about loving each other with the love of Christ. It was not planned so it was a very blessing surprise! Praise the Lord!

After Funky Party, we were able to share the Gospel and our testimonies with all the new students that came!

AMERICA NIGHT
Thank you soooo much for praying!! About 85 people came to this event! We almost ran out of food. There were so many people who came that we didn't even know too well so it was a good time to tell them about Jesus. We used the 4th of July theme to get Japanese students to come and shared about American culture. We were also able to do some funny and serious dramas about Jesus.

SUNDAY SERVICE
It was a bittersweet time as we worshipped with J-House and Japanese Christians for the last time. We loved praising and singing many songs that we know in Japanese! We praise God because there were a few students we met in the last weeks who came to service. One student named, Joshua, who is a baby Christian didn't like church too much but after going to J-House, he wanted to commit to coming to the church. We had a few members give their testimonies. This service was a special service where we got to wear Yukata's (Japanese traditional clothes).

SAYONARA (Good-bye) PARTY
After both services, J-House had a Sayonara party for us. We testified about how we came to Japan to share about how Beautiful Jesus is in our lives. Many students we met came and we were able to share our last words with them. Afterwards, we took a billion pictures with all our friends :) As you can see, many were sad because we might not see each other again. But, we encouraged one another that we will continue to fight the good fight whether we are in Chicago or Japan!

This is Pastor Katsuya, the senior Pastor of J-House. His vision and prayer for Japan's revival challenged our whole team. J-House is closing in on their 10th year of ministry. Please continue to pray that our brothers and sisters here would be faithful until the end.

Our CFC alum, Jonie, is now serving at J-House in Japan as she works. She was a great encouragement to our whole team. Please pray that our CFC alum would continue to train up Kingdom workers here in Japan.

Lastly, our team would like to thank all of you who prayed with us and supported us in the past month. We really felt your prayers at work and we couldn't have done anything without them. Please continue to pray that when we get back home, we would still fight and love Jesus. Please pray that we would apply all the lessons that God wanted us to learn here in Japan. All of us don't want this trip to just be a good experience but one that allowed us to love Jesus more and our lifestyle to reflect Christ!

Our arrival info:

July 8, Wednesday

United Airlines #886 ORD 8:45PM. (It is the domestic terminal)

We will be arriving a little earlier but we need to get our baggage so we ask everyone to come by 8:45pm. :)

Thank you so much!!

Japan Team 2009

Hello!
Thank you so much for your prayers this past weekend! We will be sending an update soon!
But we wanted to send our flight info :)

July 8, Wednesday
United Airlines #886 ORD 8:45PM. (It is the domestic terminal)

We will be arriving and will pray together as a team with all the families and friends at 8:45pm.
We praise God for everything and please pray for traveling mercies.

J-Team 2009

Update 7/4

Dear family and friends,

We just found that Tim's Blackberry phone has an internet connection here from Nairobi! (We have had problems getting online for the past few days using the home internet.)

Becky arrived safely here at the holistic missions base this past thursday night with all of her baggage and materials. We also were able to spend a day with pastor John Chong before he left back for the
states. Pastor david kang also arrived here safely late last night before leaving early this morning by bus to Kitale to join the cfc team. The teacher training has been going very well and the Lord has been undoubtedly empowering us and giving us much insight to most effectively teach these teachers.

Please pray for us as we will be shortening our training one day early this upcoming wednesday due to scheduling. Please pray that our time spent with the teachers would be well spent as we finish our training program.

Thank you for your prayers, we will provide a more thorough update soon.

In Christ,

Tim

Update June 29

Dear Friends and Family,

Praise be to God who has been unbelievably gracious to us throughout this entire trip! I forgot to mention in our previous e-mail that all of our materials arrived safely in Nairobi, and the technology we had been hoping to use has been functioning properly and effectively (projector and audio).

So far we have roughly 70-75 teachers who have come from all around of Kenya. The majority of them are young women who have never met one another before, therefore precious relationships are starting to be built as we continue with our program.

Since the internet is very inconsistent, I'd like to send out a few quick prayer requests:

1. Language barriers: We have started using a translator for our seminars due to a difficulty reaching all of the teachers effectively in English. There has also been a wide range of learning levels among the teachers, especially with regards to literacy (writing / reading).

2. Relationships: As of now since it is only Amy and I, it has been difficult meeting the needs of and building relationships with all of our teachers.

There are many more prayer requests but these are just the most urgent. We woke up at 5am this morning to the sound of our teachers singing praises. It has been truly an amazing past few days here at the missions place. Thank you so much for your prayer support!

In Christ,

Kenya Teacher Team '09

Update June 28

Dear Friends & Family,

We just wanted to inform you that Amy and I arrived safely in Nairobi, Kenya last night for our teaching training trip. We spent the morning worshiping together with Missionary Lee's family at a local church held at a Christian missions school located in Nairobi. We will be spending the day preparing for our teacher training program which begins early tomorrow morning and ask you for your prayers. Please also pray for Becky as she will be traveling alone and arriving in Nairobi this Thursday night. We should be able to keep you updated regularly during our time in Nairobi. Thank you for your partnership on this trip and please keep us in your prayers!

In Christ,

Tim

Hi from Japan!

Arigato! Thank you for all your prayers. Just wanted to send a quick update with some pictures and also some important prayer requests for this weekend.

Friendship evangelism:
We have been meeting lots of students and have been trying to share our testimonies and the Gospel. Please pray for greater boldness and urgency!

This weekend, many will be coming to the Friday Funky Party and Saturday America Night, please pray for wisdom and discern to know what to say and when to say it. We really need God's guidance and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

Ayaka is the one in between Sammie and Yun. With one flyer left and with a few seconds remaining, a few team members decided to talk to her and give her the last flyer before leaving campus. She ended up coming to Funky Club the following week and she is very open to Christianity and wants to know more about Jesus. This is just one testimony and many of our team members experienced very similar miracles from God to show us that every single soul counts.

We concluded our last English Lesson. Our team members and the students grew so close over the weeks. Through these lessons, many were able to share about the Gospel. We are so thankful to God as we were able to see how God could use anything to reveal His love.

This is Keitaro. Through the campus evangelism and english lesson, God pursued after him. Many team members were able to share their testimony with him. And on tuesday during the English Lesson, as they were going over the passage on having your name written in the book of Life, Keitaro said, "I want my name in the Book of Life." So, we were able to share the Gospel and asked him if he would like to accept Jesus into his heart. And all credit to God, Keitaro said YES!! Afterward, we talked to him and we were in tears as he was sharing how he is now a Christian. Please continue to pray for him that he would continue to grow through J-House.

We have about a week left here in Japan, please continue to pray for physical strength and a great urgency to share about Jesus. We really want them to hear the Gospel. (Kangaku campus)

Prayer requests:
1. Funky Party on Friday. This is our last one! Please pray for our drama that depicts God's fatherly love. We want spiritual power so that the drama will open their hearts. Furthermore, after funky party, we will be spending time trying to share the Gospel to the many students we met. We need lots of wisdom and love!

2. America Night on saturday. This is our event that we created to invite those who might be interested in American culture. We want to use this as a tool to share our testimonies and dramas and most importantly, Jesus! Again, please pray that many students will remember to come so that we can share about Jesus.

3. Sunday service: Please pray for Kelli and Yumi as they will be sharing their testimony and for Sean as he will be giving 2 different messages. Afterward, we will have a farewell party to say our last words to all the Japanese students we met. It will be a good time to share about how we really want all our friends to know Jesus.

Thank you again! We are very desperate for your prayers especially this weekend. We just want to be faithful and depend on God for everything! :)

J-Team 2009

Konnichiwa from Japan!

Hope everything is going well in America. :) We have been here for about 3 weeks and we only have a week and a half left before we head back. Thank you again for all your prayers and support. We really do feel your prayers at work here! Please please keep praying for us :)

SWING DANCING AND HIP HOP DANCING LESSONS EVANGELISM
We used the tool of teaching dancing to build relationships with students that we met on campus. After swing dancing and learning a hip hop routine, we spent hours sharing our testimonies. This was just one way for people to feel comfortable in a church because many of them have never been inside a church before.

KYOTO PRAYER WALK
We had an opportunity to visit Kyoto. This place is known for their shrines and temples. Many Japanese people go there to pray to idols for good fortune. We saw many people clap their hands and ring the bells to wake up their gods so that they can hear their prayers. Every single person on the team was deeply moved and filled with a great burden to pray for everyone we saw. We realized that Japan has deep roots in idolatry and we must humble ourselves and pray for a great revival in Japan.

Our hearts broke as we saw parents teaching their kids to follow these rituals that lead no where. They would write prayer requests and tie them here so that they can be answered. We were convicted to pray for the next generation of children in Japan. We realized that the reason why many college students don't consider Jesus is because they grew up going to these temples and shrines. We would often hear, "Japanese people are Buddhist" though they don't really practice this belief.

We had a chance to overlook the city of Kyoto and pray for revival. We prayed that instead of shrines and temples built by man, that God would one day raise up Churches of Jesus Christ and Kingdom workers in this city. All of us once again recognized how the harvest is so plentiful and the workers are so few. So we spent time to pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send workers here.

Overall, we were pretty overwhelmed by the vastness of the task of this city to believe in Jesus. Yet, once we took our eyes off of ourselves, we found so much hope in our great God who is mighty to save. We were reminded of how amazing God is as we read in 2 Peter 3:9 about how God is patient, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.

HOMELESS MINISTRY
We were able to share dramas, songs and the Gospel message to the homeless ministry. There has been an increase in this ministry because many people have lost jobs due to the economy. Though we are so much younger than the people that come to this ministry, we prayed in faith believing that Jesus will reach out to them in His perfect time. We pray that they would constantly remember the hope that they can have in Jesus.

The Pastor of this ministry has been serving here for 56 years. We were greatly impacted by his faithfulness despite very little fruit. He challenged and blessed us in so many ways as he shared with us about loving Jesus and living for Him.

As we only have a little over a week left, please pray that we would finish strong! :) More than anything, we want more Japanese people to at least hear the Gospel once. Many have never heard of Jesus or Church. Please pray that we would be focused on that these last days.

Prayer requests:
1. This is the last week on campus to meet new students, we really need to be bold and invite many people to J-House. Please pray that we would not be ashamed of the Gospel and go all out this week!

2. Weekend events. We have 3 events that we are wanting to invite students to. Friday Funky Party, Saturday America Night, Sunday farewell party. All of these events will be crucial in sharing the Gospel with all the students we met thus far. We want to share the Truth with gentleness and respect and love. Please pray for mustard seed faith! We want to believe that GOD is able!

3. Discipleship: Also, through these events, we want to connect the students we met to J-House members so that they can continue to minister to them and disciple them. We love the partnership we have with J-House. So please pray for a smooth transition in the friendships.

4. Love Jesus. Though we are a bit tired, we want to simply love Jesus more in all that we do. Please pray that Jesus is the reason we are here. We want our relationship with Jesus to grow deeper.

Arigato (thank you)!!

J-Team 2009

Hello CFC,
Thank you for your support and continued prayers. The team is doing well. We arrived in Nairobi last Wednesday night with no problems, and were able to get through customs very quickly.
We spent that evening at the Holistic Mission Base in Nairobi and then departed for Singoiroi early the next morning (5 hour drive). We were very well received and were busy with a packed schedule from morning to night visiting homes for outreach, revival meetings, visiting schools (VBS), and having Bible Studies with church members.
The team has just completed our ministry at a Church in Nyamira. When we arrived we discovered that there has been a lot of tension between two major tribes in the area. (Luol, Kisii). This tension among tribes exists even among the national pastors. Please pray for reconciliation among the tribal leaders so the church of Kenya can be united and more effective in being a blessing to the nation.
We will now be headed to a town called Kisii to work with an orphanage there. The orphanage has 46 children who lost their parents in recent tribal warfare in the last year as well as the AIDS epidemic.
Today (Sunday) we will move on to Mt. Elgon for another week of VBS and outreaches. The team members are fine and in good spirits. We even got to wash our hair today, so it was special.

Thank you for prayers!
Africa Team 2009

Prayer Requests:
1. The Holy Spirit’s powerful presence throughout the mission trip to teach our team how to serve the Kenyan people.
2. Effectiveness in ministry resulting in openness to Jesus Christ in the hearts of the people in Kenya.
3. Love, wisdom, and for seeds of the gospel to be planted in people's hearts through open-air evangelism, different weekly meetings, and Vacation Bible Schools.
4. Physical health, safety, and team unity.

Update June 27

Konbanwa! Good evening!

It is saturday night and we have already been here over 2 weeks! Time has been flying by so fast. We are so thankful for God's faithfulness and providing many students for us to share the Gospel with. We can definitely see how God is working continuously in Japan.

English lessons:
Many students have been coming and through these relationships, we have been able to share about Jesus. Please pray that God would open their eyes to believe in God.

Megumi:
She is the one on the left. Her name means "Grace." We met her on the Kandai University campus and she wanted to do English Lessons. Through this relationship, she came to Funky Party where J-House did a simple Gospel presentation. Afterwards, she came up to a few of the team members and asked, "Even though I am Buddhist, I want to know more about Christianity and Jesus, can you teach me?" Praise God! So, we were able to give her a copy of the New Testament and we shared our testimonies. She said that now she clearly understand what Christianity is all about and is hungry to read the Book of John. Please pray that in God's perfect timing, He would allow Megumi to accept Christ. She loves going to different countries to help the needy, please pray that one day she would become a missionary for Jesus!

Ryo and Dai:
They are the ones next to Andy wearing the grey shirt(Ryo) and the other wearing a towel(Dai). We met them on the Kansai Gaidai campus. Initially they were very open but when one person talked about religion, it appeared like they were really closed to anything serious and spiritual. However, in faith, we invited them to Funky Party and they loved it! They were singing along to "You are my King (Amazing love)" and jumping up and down during "Now that you're near." And afterwards, while we were walking them to the train station, Ryo was yelling out "Jesus!" and mentioned how he wanted to memorize how to get to J-House so that he can come again! God is working! Please continue to pray for Ryo and Dai, they are the leaders of a group of 12 guys. We are praying that God would change them so that they can used to share Jesus with their friends.

Many open students:
In general, we are meeting many students like the few we mentioned above. Please pray with us so that they may know and believe in Jesus. And we really want to connect them to J-House so that the Jesus Soldiers (J-House staff) can continue to disciple them and build relationships with them.

Thank you again for all your prayers thus far! We are desperately asking for more prayers as this is our last full week on the campus. Even though it can be tiring at times, please pray that we would spiritually be so hungry for lost souls to know Jesus! We really want to be a blessing to all people here.

Prayer requests:
1. As we have 1.5 weeks left for campus ministry, we really need a greater sense of urgency. Physically, it is challenging because the weather is getting hotter and we are walking around a lot. So please pray that we would be even more alert and desperate for souls.

2. Japanese students. We are meeting many students, some open and some closed. But, we really want as many people to hear about Jesus. And for the ones that are very open, we want them to connected with more Japanese Christians. Please pray that our team would make more bridges for students to come to J-House and to have a natural relationship with the Jesus Soldiers.

3. Strengthen the Church: Being here for just a few weeks, we feel the great chance and burden of being a Christian in Japan. Please pray with us for all the Christians here and for the people of J-House, that they may pray and be a light to this nation.

4. Schedule:
Saturday Night, we have a Dance Lesson event where we invite students and teach dances. It is a tool for us to build relationships and share our testimonies.
Monday night homeless ministry: It is our very last homeless ministry opportunity, please pray that they would see the hope in Jesus!

J-Team 2009

Update June 22

Hello from Japan!!

We have been very busy this past week but we can see God working in so many ways! Thank you so much for your prayers! We are so thankful for this partnership.
Everyone on the team is well though we are a little tired from the humid weather. Other than that, we've been engaged in building relationships and really trying to share the Gospel to the many Japanese students we've met so far.

FUNKY PARTY
These are pictures from the Funky Party. Many people that we met on the campuses came to this event and so we were able to spend time hanging out with them and many of the team members were able to share the Gospel with them. Andy, Jim and Sarah had an opportunity to share about Jesus in Chinese. Please pray for Jessi and Ting-Ting, as they think about what was shared. We will see them again on Tuesday at the Kandai University. Peter also invited this student, Hisaki and spent a few hours building relationship with him. Please pray that God would open doors for him to share about Jesus.

CAMPUS FRIENDSHIP EVANGELISM
We have an opportunity to go to 4 campuses every week to meet Japanese students. On Tuesdays, we go to Kandai Univ. Wednesday, we go to Kansai Gaidai Univ and Handai Univ. And on thursdays, we go to Kangaku Univ. Slowly, we are meeting students through sports and lunch time. It's been an encouragement to see many people interested in learning English. We use this as a tool to befriend many of the students. On one campus, Kansai Gaidai, they usually have about 8-10 people come to Funky Club (a place during lunch time where Japanese students can practice English) but after inviting people, we had about 50 people come! God is working! Please pray that these relationships will all turn into opportunities to share our testimonies and that we would point to Jesus.

PRAYER WALKING
Monday morning, our team went out to one of the biggest train stations in the area to pray. Our team was convicted on how big the harvest is here in Japan and also how little Kingdom workers there are. As we watched people walking by us, we asked the Lord of the harvest to send out His workers into this harvest field in Osaka Japan.

HOMELESS MINISTRY
About 30 minutes from J-House, there is a church that ministers to the homeless and jobless. Due to the economy, the Pastor there was sharing how more people have been coming to the homeless ministry. Every day, the ministry shares the Gospel and worships, then afterward, gives bread to anyone who comes. The last two Mondays, we had an opportunity to go and do dramas and share the Gospel and pray for those in need of prayer. Many people are ashamed of their situation and hopeless. But, God has been working and giving hope! The Pastor shared how some gave testimony about how they really felt the love of Jesus in us. Please pray that the Lord would continue to use us to share the love of Christ to them! Please pray that we would have faith when we minister even though many of the team members feel inadequate.

We thank you so much for your prayers! We really feel them working and it gives us strength at the appropriate times. Please continue to pray a lot for us! We really need your prayers! And though it is belated, everyone wanted to say, Happy Father's Day! :)

Prayer requests:
1. This week's campus ministry: Please pray that we would be bold and courageous and share the Gospel. We really need a sense of urgency as we only have 2 more weeks.

2. Please continue to pray for physical strength and having an undivided heart. Our schedule is very packed to maximize our time here. Please pray that we would be alert and focus on our calling here in Japan.

J-Team 2009

This year, CFC has the privilege of sending out three teams through our summer mission program.

Japan Team
June 10 - July 8

top row: Andy Woo, Peter Lee, Jim Wen, Jason Yoon
middle row: Kelli Thompson, Sarah Lim, Sammie Clarke
bottom row: Sarah Lee, Yun Lee, Yumi Yamaguchi

Our Japan team will work alongside a church called J-House (Jesus House) in the city of Osaka. J-House is a ministry devoted to reaching young Japanese people through creative activities, events, and meetings. Our team will assist by inviting students from several campuses near Osaka to get involved in J-House. We will be doing this primarily through English conversational lessons, drama, music, multimedia, and most of all, friendship.

Africa Team
June 16 - July 21

top row: Frankie Lee, Ken Evangelista, Min Soo Choi, Thomas Barclay
middle row: Dave Seo, Priscilla Lee, Esther Yoon, Jen Kwon, Elliott Cho
bottom row: Jamie Hung, Sunny Kim, Jenny Hyun
*not pictured: Grace Lee

Our Africa team will work closely with a host missionary serving the local churches in Kenya through various ministries such as house-to-house evangelism, vacation Bible school, discipleship training, and open-air evangelistic meetings. A part of our ministry will also be devoted to the many orphaned children who have fallen victim to the AIDS crisis in Africa.

Africa Teachers' Team
June 27 – July 10

Amy Lee, Tim Rhee, Becky Ift

Our teachers’ team will be training roughly 50 local Christian teachers on developing a curriculum and effectively carrying out instruction to their students. Many of the local teachers are in direct contact with Muslim children who have been placed in Christian schools to receive an education. Through this two-week program, we hope to improve the quality of education and strengthen the local church.