I am back my regular schedule already, fighting off the jet lag. It's the first time that I had the time and energy to blog. On the VBS days, I got about 4-6 hours of sleep on average. While it was a busy time, the adrenaline kept me going and the mission was a satisfying experience. It was great to have an intense week of focus of sharing the gospel and spending time with those who Jesus loves and who He wants to know him. I was able to share my personal testimony twice - with the kids and also at Sunday Service, share the basics of the gospel, teach how to do a simple bible study, pray for personal concerns of the women in my bible study and just love the kids through recreation time and crafts.

Some of the most touching times were just seeing the kids having a good time and showing whole hearted interest in learning about Jesus. And while we didn't have the time to know how much the kids really understood, it was encouraging that almost all the kids raised their hands to say they wanted to accept Jesus into the hearts.

Free-spirited Lisa. Showing off her new Manga bible.

Kokoro. His name means "heart" and he lives up to his name. He does everything with his whole heart.

Garrett, Matt, Ayumi, Mimi, Andrew and Daiki

One particularly, heart-warming time was to witness the baptism of one of the children who attended VBS last year. Yuka was only 8-years old and yet she showed an understanding of who Jesus was and what he had done for her.

We really got the sense that we were building on the work of the previous years of VBS. There were many opportunities to experience Christian community through worship, prayer and fellowship. There seems to be movement toward wanting to know Jesus more and experience his love.

Three students - Yuko, Saya and Kaoru -- around 13-14 years old, will come home to stay with Lighthouse families and it is our hope that they will experience the lifestyle of loving Christian families as well as the extended family of God at Pacific Northwest JEMS Warm Beach Conference and the Lighthouse community. It makes me wonder about God's plan for the 3 students who are so fortunate to have this experience at a young age. My prayer is that God would use them to lead the church at home in Japan having witnessed a greater vision of what church could be.

Please pray that we would continue to build on the work of this year, and we will see even greater fruit next year.