Day 4
Monday, July 16, 2007

Today is Monday, the last day of this workshop. Hannah and I taught the adult class, and we had three more students show up today! A total of nine adults! We were so excited. One of the girls who came today is named Aika. She, her family, and her pastor have prayed for a long time and believe that she should come to train with CMA in Colorado for a session. They would like to start dance a ministry at their church and want her to come to us for more training. It was so wonderful to meet her for the first time. We have only interacted through email up until this time. If all goes as planned she will come to Colorado this fall. Another person who came today was a man who had been trained in ballet, given his life to the Lord, and wanted to learn about using his dance to worship God. He is a friend of the Yoneda's who helped coordinate our 2005 trip and he traveled three and a half hours to come to our workshop. He is a seminary student and he hopes to have a dance ministry in his church someday. Please be praying for him!

We held the workshop performance this afternoon. We were so happy to share the love we have for Christ and all He has done for us with the people who came today. We had been praying that the Lord would draw the hearts of those He wanted, into those seats.

(Naomi)

At the concert for the dance workshop, Tiffany asked me to share about one of the songs on the spur of the moment. I prayed for the right words and my eyes fell on the first line of the next song ("Faithful One" by Selah). "I find no hope within to call my own." I thought of the hopelessness of living without Christ and the many Japanese who go through life without purpose or hope. I knew then what I would say. I shared about how the word "hope" in scripture is not just a flippant wish; it is referring to an anchor. I explain that our hope in Christ holds us firm through the storms of life, just like a ship's anchor. I said that this hope was available to all who call on Jesus. After the concert I had the pleasure of being introduced to one of the dancers' parents. Maki (a dancer we met during our 2005 tour in Tokyo) had told me that her parents didn't share her faith and how hard it was to be the only one in her family who believed in Christ. Her father shook my hand and with tears in his eyes said, "Thank you, you have given me hope." Maki cried later explaining that her parents had never come to see her dance before and she knew their hearts had been touched. Praise the Lord for His wisdom and mercy! Pray for Maki's family to come to know Jesus in a personal relationship, that they may share in this hope - an anchor for our souls.

(Tiffany)

The gal Naomi is talking about in that story was definitely brought here by the Lord. She currently lives in Mexico City, where she teaches English. She had written me several months ago to get advice about her dance group. Since I had her address, I sent her info about the trip this summer. It ended up that she is here in Fukuoka with her family this month, looking for a church. She heard about New Life Church in Hakata through our email and now loves attending there. Maki told us many ways that we have been used by God to truly bless her life. She really wants us to come to Mexico City to do workshops and dance. She is also seriously considering an extended stay in Colorado for her further training with CMA. We are keeping her in our prayers, asking God to use her mightily for His kingdom and that He would direct her path.

We had a potluck with everyone afterwards, so many wonderful opportunities to meet and talk with these precious people. We all ended up at different tables talking and praying. We couldn't wait to get back to our room and share about the things God has been doing!

There are a few families that we worked with at last year's workshop in Kitakyushu. One family in particular has started home schooling (which is very new and unusual in Japan). She has many questions for us, and is excited to hear about our home schooling experience. She even wrote a list of questions for each of us to fill out for her. It is so neat to see God using another aspect of our lives to reach out to people here.

You may think I am repeating myself, but there is actually a 3rd gal who is very interested in coming to train with CMA for about a month. She is a really sweet lady who sings on the worship team here at New Life Church and attended our workshop. She pulled me aside after dinner and shared her story with me. She is a new Christian (gave her life to Christ in 2005) and wants to use her years of dance training to worship the Lord. They would love to have dance ministry here at their church, but she feels she needs more "worship dance" training and "spiritual training" before she can lead a group. She was already planning on going to the states for one month to study English. But now is really thinking about making that stay in Colorado, so that she could train with CMA. Please pray for God's leading in her life. She told me, she doesn't want what she wants, she wants what God wants.

These are only some of the many stories and conversations we were able to have. There have been so many amazing things in this, our first stop in Japan! The group here in Hakata is already talking about next year and how they hope we can stay longer next time. This has been such a neat group of believers to work with and just a wonderful way to start out trip!

Tomorrow Rocky and Marla and our dear sweet Shinobu will pick us up, and we will start the next leg of our journey!


All Glory Be To Him!