Plane, Bus, SEND, Bus, Train, TEAM, Train, Yokosuka...

We have covered a lot of ground in the 2 1/2 days we've been here and really haven't stopped to catch our breath! As shared in the other posts, both teams had a blessed time of fellowship with the Reasoners at the SEND Center in Tokorozawa starting Tuesday night when we arrived at around 9:15pm.

We left the SEND Center yesterday after lunch and got to the TEAM Center in Mitaka, Tokyo, at about 4pm. There we met with Gerald May, a SEND missionary who serves the Nokendai Bible Fellowship Church that Koichi and Shirley Tamura lead, delivering the Sunday messages there twice per month. This morning, we also met and prayed with Josh (second from the far right, below), a SEND staff member who just arrived from Central Valley California to serve with the CRASH ministry. We had a wonderful time with the host missionaries at the TEAM Center, Dan, and Caroline (far right, below), a couple from Beacon Hill in Seattle. They are completing their first 3 months of service in Japan. They shared with us that they felt called 34 years ago to serve as full time missionaries in Japan, but God hadn't opened up the doors until this year, so here they are!

We met Shirley, Emma, Clara, and Mimi Tamura near the TEAM Center. I was so thankful that Shirley made the nearly 2 hour trip to Tokyo to spend the day with us and help us navigate the trains back to Yokosuka.

At about 10:30, we left for the Ikebukuro train station in Tokyo to meet with members of the Cornerstone Tokyo Church Plant team. We didn't get to spend much time with them at all, but we did get to say "Hi" and encourage each other. Their first worship service was tonight. Praise God!

We got to Yokosuka at around 5pm, tired, hot, but so encouraged and inspired knowing firsthand that wonderful people are pouring their hearts and souls into saving the people of Japan.

Please continue to pray for Nozomi, who is getting better each day and should be able to join us on Sunday.