our first sunday service

...@ 10.30am every sunday, gakuentoshi church meets in a community center located less than 1 minute walking distance from our home...the distance is weird for us...for most of our adult lives, both claire and i have been used to driving at least an hour to church...

...the comm ctr is bright and clean...



......making for an inviting place for nonchristians and a functional meeting ground for this young church plant...

...church isn't about an impressive building...it's about the people of triune God meeting in his name to worship and glorify him...maybe it's because the comm ctr is located next to a supermkt called "fresh heart," we sensed afresh the sabbath beauty and power of God's church...

...after singing a few songs of worship together, uncle minoru preached on genesis 21:1-8 and romans 4:18-22 ("the birth of the promised son"), a wonderful reminder of the Lord's promises to abraham and his character to remain faithful to keep his promises despite the failures of abraham...

...the other members, like mrs kokubu and her daughter izumi, listened attentively and took copious notes...

...including us, there were 8 people who attended church today...besides izumi (or affectionately "hana-chan"), pictured below right with kotomi, we got to know everyone else from the day before...

...at the end of the service, claire's uncle and aunt (on her father's side) drove over a hr from nara, a city east of gakuentoshi...claire had not seen them for 17 years!!!...ever since claire's aunt discovered that we were coming to the osaka-kobe area, she has been anticipating our arrival...claire's uncle -- yasuda-san -- is a symphony conductor and her aunt is a professional violinist...

...after claire and her aunt embraced each other warmly in the lobby, the loving protective side of family came out as she asked us where we were living, what we had been eating, who was taking care of us, what we will be doing, etc...

...while we were in the lobby with claire's uncle and aunt and the nishiokas, the others set up for fellowship...we moved back into our meeting room for snacks...

...we all dug into a big box of see's candies that we brought from america...sweets delivered with such a beautiful sweet smile!...

...the conversation and laughter was sweet too...lots of laughter!...

...our prayer to God was for a time to have our church members interact casually with claire's uncle and aunt, both of whom do not go to church...we later heard that claire's relatives asked good questions about christianity and our church...as God answered our prayers today, we will continue to pray for the salvation and sanctification of claire's uncle and aunt...

...after church, we all went to lunch and spent more time catching up with claire's relatives...

...the restaurant was busy today...i asked why?...uncle nishioka said that today marks a special holiday to celebrate all children ages 3, 5, and 7...isn't that pretty cool to honor children?

...after lunch, claire's uncle and aunt, along with the nishiokas, came to our home for tea and coffee...claire's aunt really wanted to see our living space...her expectations were exceeded as she remarked to her husband, "honey, i want to live here"...

...we gave them a set of silver spoons from my (bobby's) parents...

...spending time today with claire's uncle and aunt was a good starting point for a relationship that we pray will lead to their new life and joy in Christ...spending time today with our new family @ gakuentoshi chapel reminded us of the rich life and joy we share in Christ...

...wherever you went to church today, join us in saying: God is so good and He is building His church around the world!