We really were encouraged and felt God's love through His people in Evansville, Indiana, Mary Jo's hometown. What a great group of brothers and sisters and we pray God will bless them immensely as they contemplate starting 3 new churches all around the world and reach the local neighborhood through the Edge service--Go for it!!!!

Traveling in the USA

It's been a wild ride with many new experiences: meeting with several groups working with international students, sharing my testimony (Mike) with inmates at a nearby prison, discussing church planting in town and around the world in Hong Kong, and thinking about the future. May the Lord be glorified in everything!

It was great to see so many friends from the past two church planting networks as well as some neighborhood friends the other night. They came to say goodbye and see if we were selling any stuff they could use. As a result we only have 3 items left to sell!!! Thank you very much!
God is doing so many things to help and encourage us as we pack, say goodbye, and prepare in many other ways for our upcoming trip to America. Thank you for your prayers!

Japanese wedding grand finale

Today I performed my last wedding in Japanese in awhile. I have really seen God work through these ceremonies both with the couples getting married and some of the musicians and staff I have worked with. What a joy to see some enter into an eternal relationship with the Living Christ and for others to embark on the road to knowing Him who has sought them! In the picture above the lady on the far right told me she just got baptized and wants to attend one of the churches we've been workign with. The other two are thinking about joining her through a number of conversations we've had between weddings.

In the top photo, the lady on the far left asked me today for the contact missionary of one of our missionaries who is teaching conversational English and English Bible study at a church planting location. She told me she wants to attend.

Laying witness through weddings

The glow on the faces of the new young couple as I finished the benediction reminded me of the glow on Moses’ face when he would come out of the tent of meeting with the Lord. Then a first: both bride and groom bowed almost to the ground three times before they turned to make their exit. God is obviously working in this couple: Mas and Aya.
From my doctoral research, I know it takes an average of 15 memorable contacts with the gospel for a Japanese person to come to Christ. Some of the participants in my research mention that one of those memorable gospel contacts for them was through a Christian wedding. I am sure that God is working in not only some of the couples I tie the knot for, but also some of their family and friends.
I am grateful to God for the privilege of serving Him this way—and it definitely helps supplement our support.

Good Friends Visit from Tokyo - Mike
We were happy and excited to hear from our old friends from Tokyo days, M/M Sa. They were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and wanted to visit us. Yeah! We were only able to have half a day together but the Lord packed it with some great fellowship! Here we are after enjoying a great dinner together at Daikon no Hana (Radish Flower) which boasts over 80 different vegetable dishes. Delicious and healthy at the same time! Our dear friends asked if this restaurant chain extends to Tokyo where they live but were told unfortunately it's only in Okinawa.
Both T and S Sa participated in my research. They have helped many come to know the Savior and Hope of the World. They are praying we won't have to leave Japan before planned.
Before we ate dinner we all had the unusual experience of being nibbled on!
God bless our dear friends and God bless you!

The Facebook Revolution

3 of the wilsons have joined the Facebook revolution here in Japan. It's been a fun way to keep in touch with friends all over the world. We are always looking for ways to keep in touch with good friends and family.

To subscribe to our blog just follow this link:

feed://wilsonjournalblog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

C U

Mike

Henza Island Combined Outreach

We planned to take a team from California out to Henza Island to make friends with and share Christ's love with a whole middle school. But God had bigger plans. He brought teams from Guam and Hawaii to work together with the California team and the result was awesome. We pray the sweet aroma of Christ will bear lasting fruit for God's glorious Kingdom soon. See a short video of some of the teams' activities

New A2 President visits Okinawa and gets down with the team

We had a blast sharing testimonies and the pastors we work with seemed very impressed with the new mission president who came down for a visit July 5-6. I hope we can work with Joe for a long time and together see the long awaited revival in Japan.

Hoosiers and others getting together in Okinawa

We finally got to meet a young man from Mary Jo's home church in Indiana who's also here in Okinawa. Fun! We know many of the same people and had fun reminiscing.

First Ever All Japan House Church Conference-By Mike

It was great to see my old friends the G family from Tokyo who helped me do my first wedding in Japanese many years ago. Now I do a lot of them in Okinawa.

The house church is growing rapidly in Japan while the traditional church has begun a slow decline. Unfortunately most churches with buildings, pro pastors, and programs can't keep up with smaller, simpler house churches in focusing on reaching out and making disciples. House churches need the larger churches to resource them in ways they cannot do alone unless, perhaps they are part of a very large house church network.

I've never met so many passionate evangelists in one place before. Several house church participants agreed to help me with my doctoral research on how to make reproducing Christians in Japan. I was blessed to make so many new friends!

Watch the following video to catch a taste of the flavor of the worship and fellowship in Osaka at the house church conference. God is moving BIG TIME among the younger generation in Japan!

Thank you very much if you are standing with us for Japan and Asia to know the King of Kings!

Mike for the Wilson family

Refreshing Marriages in Okinawa-By Mike

Mary Jo and Mike are working with 3 churches in Okinawa to renew and transform marriages. God created marriage and when it is done according to His plan it can be one of the most fulfilling human endeavors on earth. However when it is done man's way, it can be one of the most grueling and painful human enterprises.

We're having a lot of fun and appreciate the prayers and encouragement of all our friends!

Spring Conference-By Stacia

This is the group photo from our mission's annual spring conference. This year was very eventful; Brandon broke his arm on the way there! We all greatly enjoyed spending time with the Asian Access family, for some of us this may have been the best year yet!


Below is a short movie that some of us made. Here's an explanation to help it make more sense:

Kei's friends at his Japanese school always thought he pronounced "youtube" wrong because he said it the American way. This movie is to correct that misconception.

Ironically, Kei doesn't show up in this movie, but I think that was because he was behind the camera.



If you'd like to watch it at youtube then click on this link.

Slideshow- Scenes from Okinawa - By Stacia

This is a slideshow of some pictures of Okinawa and Okinawan culture.

Sorry there weren't many pictures of the ocean, I'll try to add more later.

Talking about Friends with my Friend! -by Mj

I had the privilege of sharing with a group called the "International Christian Women's Club." I talked about the many friends who God has used in my life over the years. My friend, Akiko, translated into Japanese. It was a lot of fun to work together. At the end I shared about the difference between living our life turned away from the sun and "walking on our shadow", or facing the sun and embracing God's forgiveness in Christ. One young woman prayed with me to begin a new life "facing the sun" and living in the light. Please pray for Kazumi as she grows in Christ.

Blog Tips -by Stacia

I just thought of some things I should probably mention...

The Videos: We're using Youtube to host our videos right now, which is great until you reach the end of the movie. Then advertisements for other movies come up across the bottom of the viewing screen, just begging you to click and watch. They are NOT our movies though, so if you feel like watching other random movies that probably (but not necessarily) have to do with Japan and/or missions, then proceed with the knowledge that we have no particular affiliation with them.

Posting Comments: Blogger allows anyone and everyone to post comments on individual posts, so please do; we'd love to hear from you. ^^ Below every post it should say something like, "Posted by The Wilsons at 3:15 AM 1 comments." To view comments left by other people or to post your own comment, click on the 1 comments link which will take you to a page where comments will be listed (if there are any) and you can leave your own comment. Simply write your comments in the empty text space under "Leave your comment" and choose your identity (if you have a Google or Blogger account you can use the first option, if you'd like to post under a name choose the "Nickname" option, or if you'd like to be anonymous you can click the last option), then click the "PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT" button. To make sure our blog doesn't get spammed and stuff by random people we have it set so that we have to approve comments before they show up.

Well, thanks for checking out our blog! =D

Old and New History

God has been so good to us. The Lord Jesus is bringing many into His family in these last days before His return. Recently our friend Mrs. K wanted to be baptized prior to the new year and her radiant smile reminded us of why we do what we do in Japan.
A little over a month ago, my good old friend Mr. S came from Tokyo and we were able to get together. We'll be friends forever because the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of both of us!

The Work is Expanding -by Stacia

Mike discusses the exciting things happening in Japan!

SUPER FLYING SHEBA! -by Stacia

This is a picture I made in my multimedia class a couple weeks ago. It's a picture of my cat, Sheba, flying or diving or... something. O.o"

The Island Project -by Stacia

A church we're working with did an outreach concert on a small island. This film shows clips from the concert as well as a few of us passing out the chirashi (not sure how to say it in English... maybe... pamphlets?).

OH yah, the Bethel team was here during that time and came to the concert too. =D