Tak & Chee Newsletter! Vol.19 EN
Thank you so much for all your prayers and support!
We harvested rice this month.
For some reason, the timing of rice harvesting is very early this year!
I am thankful because there is a rice shortage this year!
Aquila Church's vision is to
"produce" and "support"
a "modern Paul"
like Aquila and Priscilla.
Sound mixer given!
Thank you for your prayers!
When I went to Seiwa Church in Kyoto to give a message, I was able to receive a used sound mixer!
Grateful for rice paddies that have lasted for generations.
Rice has disappeared from supermarkets in Nagano.
Somehow, even in Nagano, where there are many rice paddies, rice has disappeared from supermarkets.
Aquila Church gathers every Friday night for Shabbat dinner, so we eat a lot of rice.
So we were a little worried, but a friend of ours, Christian, who grows rice, let us buy rice at a discount, which really helped.
For some reason, the rice seems to have grown faster this year, and the time for us to help our Senpai's harvest the rice came much earlier. We felt honored to be able to help harvest rice from fields that had been passed down from generation to generation by parents and children.
It was still hot, so it was pretty tough, but Andrew, a missionary from Canada, and his son, Leon, a high school student who is also an intern at Aquila Church, came to join us and we were able to harvest rice sweating together.
In fact, we were able to plant rice in this paddy together, so it was a really nice time.
It was really fun, and the time spent covered in mud and sweat was an indescribable bonding experience for the men!
As for the Aquila Farm this year, we are doing much better than last year, harvesting potatoes and summer vegetables, although not enough to sell!
Please pray that we can grow enough to sell.
Connections with various missionaries
We are thankful that missionaries and missionary minded people often visit us at Aquila Church.
A missionary couple from Hong Kong
Samuel and Joe who came last year.
They are missionaries from Hong Kong and love Japan. Their wife, Jo, will graduate from seminary this year, and next year they will decide on a missionary organization and clarify what kind of mission they will do in Japan.
We are so thankful to be able to cooperate in missions in Asian countries!
The next generation of missionaries
Jonathan is studying and doing missionary work in YWAM. He lives in YWAM in Hawaii and has been on mission trips to many different countries, so he looks like a native of somewhere. A very funny and interesting guy.
And Shiori is one of the people I have known since we were in the Young Adult Ministry at New Hope Yokohama and feel like a spiritual daughter. She has been an intern at New Hope for a while and is in the process of praying about her next steps. She is always on fire with a passion to share the gospel and is an encouragement to us every time we see her.
Their visit to our house coincided with ours this time. They were also helping us in the fields. They were very helpful!
Tariho Christ Church Youth Mission Team!
They sent out a youth mission team from Tariho Christ Church in Tokyo to come to the Shinshu hi-b.a. meeting in September!
They woke up at 5:00 a.m. to come and invited youth from Taruho Christ Church's sister church in Nagano, and they led worship time, testimony, games, etc. The meeting was really a blessing.
They stayed at Aquila HOUSE and the home of the Buchanan family, who have always supported Aquila Church.
After the meeting, they continued to get along very well with the youth of Aquila Church and local churches.
When they gathered together, they naturally had a time of worship, prayer, and sharing testimonies, spending time together like a bible camp.
We are truly encouraged by the fact that there are still young people in Japan who have the desire to commit themselves to Jesus!
Aquila Church also hopes to create a place where they can thrive and support them for their callings.
Progress of Shinshu hi-b.a.
We are very thankful that we have been able to hold meetings once a month for the three months from July to September.
We would like to meet twice a month, and then every week, but we have to keep up with church planting, the coffee business, the farm, etc., as well as dealing with visitors who come to our home, so it is challenging to increase the frequency of meetings.
But each meeting is really full of blessings, and anyway, we are trying to do well once a month first.
In August, we had planned to have a BBQ on the 31st at Aquila House (our house), but due to a typhoon, it was changed to a takoyaki party.
We had planned to have a relaxed sharing of the blessings of summer, but nearly 40 people, including adults, children, and non-Christian students, gathered. And that's after seven international high school students cancelled their attendance.
So it turned into a festival yatai (festival food stall) situation, with the Shinshu hi-b.a. support group grilling takoyaki nonstop, and over 600 takoyaki were consumed, making it a huge event with improvised dishes. (Thank you so much, supporters!!!)
I assumed that the first gathering must have attracted a special large number of people, and my naive thinking that not many people would be able to come because summer vacation ends early in Shinshu and classes have already started, backfired on me. ( LOL )
Furthermore, the representative of hib.a., who had just arrived in Shinshu, showed up unexpectedly and joined in the games.
Since the need for youth ministry is great in Shinshu, please pray that we will be able to raise up additional support staff and support groups, as well as people who will provide financial support for our activities.
Contribution Support Needed for hi-b.a. Activities
The work of hi-b.a. proceeds through various forms of giving, including undesignated general offerings, various designated offerings, and individual support by identifying each staff member. We would appreciate your support of this ministry in the form of undesignated or designated offerings, depending on your interests and burdens. For more information on how to support the ministry, please click on the link below.
https://www.hi-ba.com/support/
Aquila Build Club
We started the “Aquila Build Club” after talking with Leon, a high school student who is an intern at Aquila Church, while we were doing muscle training together.
I'm going to get a little old-fashioned and write out the principles of the Aquila Build Club and encourage everyone to have fun and grow together.
I'll introduce our basic principles below. (Written in samurai style.)
The Aquila Build Club is the temple of God, a club to build up ourselves and our community as the Bride of Christ.
The mission of the Aquila Build Club is to build up the four pillars of our spirituality, intellect, physical body, and community.
The members of the Aquila Build Club are to set their own challenges with a spirit of autonomy and independence, and to grow together as one by encouraging and exhorting each other.
With the four basic pillars at the core, you should pray for your own challenges, write them down below, and share them with your fellow members.
Self-assignments
Spirituality
Intellect:
Physical body:
Community:
We have created an Aquila Build Club LINE group to exchange and encourage each other's challenges, such as devotions, workout plans, reading plan, etc.
To introduce one of my self-assignments, I started a group devotional at Starbucks, because I have always wanted to have a devotional time together.
I try to make it every Thursday, but sometimes I'm too busy to do it. Even if that's the case, it's still nice to have devotions together!
Aquila Church on SundayWe are planning to meet as a church on Sundays as well.
It is not uncommon to have close to 20+ people in a house these days, so we are facing many issues such as parking, noise, cost of food and utilities, etc.
We would like to continue to have Friday night dinner together, and if possible, spread out among several families for Shabbat dinner, and then gather for worship on Sunday.
The main purpose of Aquila Church on Sundays is to have a time to worship more fully and to learn together as a church, and to develop a mindset and culture. Also to cast Aquila church vision so that we will be on mission as a united family.
In order to still be able to participate in the work of the local church on Sunday mornings, Sunday Aquila Church is thinking of renting a place somewhere to meet every other Sunday afternoon.
Please pray for wisdom and guidance from the Lord.
Take Chie Retreat 2024
Since the Texas team arrived in June, we have had visitors almost every week for the past four months through the end of September. While we are very grateful, we are also painfully aware of our own need for rest and time to quiet down and listen to God about our next steps.
After all, it is difficult to rest when there are guests in the house, and it is difficult to concentrate on praying and planning for the next step, so we decided to go on a cour own retreat again this year.
Anyway, we plan to refresh our minds, bodies, and brains, enjoy our time as a couple, and have time to pray and seek the next step together.
So far, we have actually increased our activities, somewhat deliberately, in order to determine the limits of our capacity.
Because of this, I feel we have had some clues as to the limits of our capacity and what we should focus on in the upcoming season.
We believe that when we pour time together as a couple and clarify our focus, we naturally shape up our activities.
We hope to use this time wisely so that we can continue our ministry journey in a long and effective way.
Please pray that we will listen carefully to God's guidance, that we will be given wisdom, and that we will make decisions in faith.
Prayer requests
・for wisdom and guidance to give us clarity as we move forward into the next season!
・Pray that we can share our hearts, build up our team of leaders, and grow a healthy ministry.
・That we would be given a large meeting place with a café attached.
List of "Needed" and "Likely Needed" items
Different things are needed as we move forward. Please pray that these specific needs will be given to us. Also, if anyone is willing to give any of the items on the list or sell them at a discount, please let us know.
3 pin microphones - for creating content for podcasts and online distributions.
Power amplifier - to be able to use a given sound mixer
Speaker ‐ one that not too big
Microphones and microphone stands - 3 or 4
Cables such as shields, microphone cables, etc.
Aquila Coffee fundraise
Thank you so much for supporting our ministry by purchasing our coffee beans! If you are interested in purchasing Aquila coffee, please feel free to contact us via DM on Instagram, LINE or Email.
Brazil 200g 1300円 100g 700円
Guatemala 200g 1300円 100g 700円
Ethiopian 200g 1500円 100g 800円
Fundraising Report
We now have 22 monthly supporters! Two people joined in July and two in August. One of them offered to support us for 4 months! Thank you very much for your support!
July
Monthly Support Amount Total 95,000 yen and $215
Monthly Supporters Total 20perosn
July 1st - 31th 2024
One-Time Donation Support Amount Total 60,000 yen and $2300
August
Monthly Support Amount Total 128,000 yen and $265
Monthly Supporters Total 22perosn
August 1st - 31th 2024
One-Time Donation Support Amount Total 60,000 yen and $200
This summer we are relieved that we were able to successfully complete the repairs, inspection, and title transfer of the Aquila Van #1!
It cost us more money than we had expected, but it really worked miraculously and able to continued our ministry, we are super grateful!
Thank you all so much for your prayers and support!
We are so grateful to have even more people arise to become supporters! Thank you for planting a church together! We feel that we are able to pour our time and energy more into ministry!
Support partners for Aquila Church
Aquila Church's vision is to "produce" and "support" a "modern Paul," just like Aquila and Priscilla did.
Monthly support target of $2500
We are looking for financial support partners to help us move toward the mission and vision given to the church.
50$ x 50 persons = 2500$
50$/month for 50 support partners to continue to operate the church.
Credit card transfers can be made at the following URL
Starting from 10$/month, you can specify the amount and one-time support is available.
We would appreciate your prayerful consideration.
https://achurchjapan.wixsite.com/aquilachurchjapan/support-1
You can get to know us quickly via SNS
Instagram: @aquila_church_japan
Web: https://achurchjapan.wixsite.com/achurch
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