Tak & Chee Newsletter! Vol.18 EN
Thank you so much for all your prayers and support!
We have been praying for a car and a laptop, and God has provided us with everything we need! And the ministry with the team in Texas was a tremendous blessing!
Aquila Church's vision is to
"produce" and "support"
a "modern Paul"
like Aquila and Priscilla.
The van and laptop
Laptop
The laptop was given to us by one of a regular member of our church because she no longer used! It was really the best timing, and also, although it is a few years old model, it is a laptop with pretty solid specs, and works well! It was very useful for the worship gathering with the mission team!
A van that can hold 7-8 people
God is so good! We are so happy to be given the van!
Of course, I would need to pay for van repairs, car inspections, etc. But I really appreciate it!
A pastor of Yamanashi Chuo Church was going to scrapped his van just after he bought a new van for his church but he thought, "Wait a minute, let's contact pastor Matsumura once. The thought just came to his mind. And when he contacted him, (He is a car repair specialist pastor at Kofu Christ Church), Right after that Takeshi called him. So, Aquila Church was able to get the van that can hold 7-8 people!
The reason why Takeshi contacted pastor Matsumura is because missionary Tim Cole, who is an elder of Shinshu Community Church, told Takeshi, "If you contact pastor Matsumura, maybe something will come up.
These "just in time" things came together many times, and we were able to get a van. We really felt that God was miraculously connecting us in a very special way.
The day after we got the van, we "just" needed to give a ride for the youth kids, and the next day the Texas team arrived. So the day after we got the van, it started working and we were able to give a ride for the high school kids.
One more back story.
It took a long time to receive the money to buy the van from the US.
In the meantime we were browsing used car sales websites. The cheaper and better cars were disappearing fast. So we were getting a little anxious. But when I think about it, if we had sent money earlier, we would not have met this van, nor pastor Inoue of Yamanashi Chuo Church, nor pastor Matsumura of Kofu Christ Church. So, in many ways, I really felt God's plan and was filled with gratitude!
Mission team 2024！
SOZO Church + Japan Team
Well, this time 10 people came from Texas! As you can imagine, when 10 people stayed at our house, it was full! (Laughs) In addition, this time we had 5-6 people from Kanto who wanted to join us for ministry, and we had a total of 20 mission team members from Aquila Church! (In addition, 5-6 people from Kanto joined us this time and we became a mission team of about 20 people in total including the members of Aquila Church.
What we did
The list of things we tried this time includes street ministry, helping farmers, helping the kids ministry at Ueda Bible Church, harvesting at Aquila Farm, building a fire pit, BBQ, worship gathering, and many more.
The power of God`s presence and family team work
What stood out in particular was God's power that dwells in worship.
To give one example, one high school student prayed to receive God's love with tears in his eyes. I couldn't be there, so I asked about it later, and found out that she had been holding back tears since we were worshiping at our house.
Later, a girl from the Kanto area told us about God's love to her as they drove to the parking lot, and as soon as they arrived at the parking lot, they all prayed together for her to receive God's love.
I've had a few things like this happen.
I'll share one more. There was one
time when a neighbor came to our house, just during worship time, which started without even starting. As soon as she came to the door, she heard the singing and stood at the door. Because, according to her, she could not open the door because of the love and energy she felt.
So she called Wisdom from outside the front door and asked her to open the door. And as soon as she entered the door, she already started to cry, so she could not enter the room where we were worshiping, and we had to talk one-on-one with Chie in another room.
She also had a chance to hear almost the entire gospel message from Chie. It was like she had already accepted God's presence. So we hope that she will be able to understand and receive the cross a little more from now on.
'Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. ' Psalm 22:3
It was truly a wonder to see people's hearts cultivated and opened to receive the seeds of the gospel through worship, and I realized that I honestly did not really believe in it that much, and I repented.
I also realized that truly thirsty souls are very sensitive to the presence of God. I was even happier to see the seeds of the gospel being sown through the teamwork of the entire mission team in Texas and Japan this time.
Chow-Chow dog and the ancle
This time, because of the rainy season, there were many rainy days, so the street ministry went to a shopping mall to pray and look for people to meet.
We found a man with a lion-cut Chow Chow dog, and he was so cute that we were talking with him while petting the lion-cut Chow Chow. He invited about 5 of our team members to her favorite Japanese izakaya and we were able to share our testimonies and the gospel with him.
The next day we brought Aquila Coffee to his home as a thank you, and he let us in and even served us breakfast, and we were able to meet his wife.
We were told that his wife was not feeling well, so we prayed for her.
She told us that she loved Shusaku Endo's novels and had read them all, and that she was glad to have a real person pray for her. (LOL)
It was the day the team was leaving, so we couldn't stay long, but the team was really grateful to be involved with the community with a mission mindset all the way to the very last day!
Helping an apple farmer. 2-3 months worth of work in one day!
We all helped out an apple farmer. There were about 15 of us in total pruning apples, so we were able to help with 2-3 months worth of work at once, many times faster than usual, and they were very happy. The apple farmer said. We wish we could have you guys come every year and become our family! We were really happy!
A very blessed worship gathering.
On Sunday afternoon, we borrowed the Ueda Evangelical Free Church's hall and held a worship gathering. We didn't have a specific program or anything, just a gathering to give time to praise and worship. There were several members of the Sozo Church worship team among the team, and they led everyone there in deeper worship.
There were times when we were very quiet and still and listened to God speak to us, times when we literally shouted, times when we danced, times when we prayed to each other, times when we shared what God had spoken to us, and before we knew it, we had been together for over three hours in worship.
The time felt like we were connecting with God and at the same time strongly connecting with God's family there. It was really a very blessed time, and God's love soaked into us! It was a time when we could envision a day in our future when Aquila Church will find a venue and we can worship with all our hearts on Sundays.
The symbol "fire place"
There are so many testimonies and so many things I want to tell you, I'm at a loss, but the last thing I want to share. The "fire pit" became symbolic of our time with the mission team from Texas.
We cut the grass in the yard, leveled the soil, assembled rocks, created a breezeway, and built a fire pit with the team.
What used to be a place where people didn't particularly hang out or have any use for, has now been turned into a place where fire is lit, lights are on, and everyone gathers.
Like this fire place, I want Aquila Church to be a place where the fire of revival is lit, God's presence is present, and the gospel is shared around us!
Shinshu hi-b.a. has begun!
A total of 36 people! I was a little surprised.
The first Shinshu hi-b.a. meeting was held in the hall of Ueda Evangelical Free Church, where 36 people, including 15 youth and 21 adults, gathered! Some came from as far north as Nagano and some from as far south as Nagano, some even drove 2 hours to attend. We felt the strong need for youth ministry. Full-time hi-b.a. staff and current high school students from the Kanto area came to help and lead the first meeting.
Thanks for all the support!
At the meeting, we had praise, games, scripture memorizing, sharing, messages, etc. It was a real learning experience to see how smoothly the full time staff carried out the meeting.
Also, the full time staff explained about hi-b.a. to the adults who attended and called for a Shinshu hi-b.a. support team, so it looks like we will be given a team to minister together in the future, for which I am very grateful!
In fact, it is important that we continue to do ministry consistently, so please pray that we will be given wisdom and friends to serve with us, and that new staff will be produced from here!
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.
Prayer requests
・That those who felt God's love would be led to Christ.
・That we would be given a large meeting place with a café attached.
・That each of us who gather at the church will grow into spiritual parents.
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.
Powered mixer (about 8-12 channels in size) - As the number of people gathering has increased, we are in need of sound equipment to rent a place to hold worship gatherings, etc. I am wondering if a "powered mixer" that can be moved around would be a good idea instead of a large one.
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 18 monthly supporters! Thank you so much!
Monthly Support Amount Total 82,000 yen and $365
Monthly Supporters Total 18perosn
June 1st - 30th 2024
One-Time Donation Support Amount Total 15,000 yen and $2300
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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