Much has been happening since January! Our coffee shop in Minami Aso is up and running since the end of February. Though only open three days a week, the shop is allowing us to make new friends and acquaintances. It has also done something we never dreamed of, namely, providing Chloe with part-time work! Not as a coffee maker, but in  teaching a guitar class and a gospel “choir” type class. Cameron is also teaching ukulele! This is great timing since Chloe is graduating today from homeschool and needs to save up funds for college.

Speaking of graduation, Keiko Sesaki, who has worked with us faithfully over the last decade, recently graduated from the Kumamoto Bible School. She is the first graduate of this school! Good job, Keiko! We look forward to seeing how God continues to use her.

In recent months, both Jonathan Jellif and Nate & Azusa Stratton have applied to ABWE to become missionaries. There have been some visa struggles with Azusa going to the US. Please pray for wisdom and patience for the Strattons. We’ve been praying together with you about the need for more workers here…and God is answering our prayers! Thank you!

Building purchased in Minami Aso

Here is a picture of the building in Minami Aso! In our recent prayer letter, I had written prematurely that the septic tank had been put in. I was mistaken. Now, it the final thing we’re waiting on in order to open this building as a coffee shop. Yet, despite a lack of water usage at the present time, we have been meeting for Bible studies since the first Sunday of the year.

Here’s a view of the inside, though more changes have occurred since these were taken.

Looking out the front doors

Looking toward the back of the building. There’s a stage, which now holds a baby grand piano!

We look forward to completing the building renovation and being approved to open as a coffee shop. Thanks for your prayers!

Merry Christmas from the Smiths!

We had a good Christmas…though it was rather unusual this year! (I guess it was last year, too!) Our Kumamoto church group had a Christmas outreach on December 23. There were several first time guests, several unsaved, and others we’ve been reaching out to for a while. Norman told me that many attendees paid close attention to the message and seemed to understand what was said. Keiko and I led a separate session geared toward the twelve children in attendance. Keiko did a terrific job presenting not only Jesus’ birth, but also the fact that He grew up, died on the cross, and rose again in order to make a relationship possible with God.  All in all, our space was filled with 30 plus people! Praise God!

The part that made Christmas unusual was that we had two Americans stay overnight during Christmas Eve and Christmas! They are both from Montana, and at least one is considering ministry in Japan. We introduced them to what we’re doing here, and we hope they return soon! (Please pray for more workers here!)

Since our last post, we have bought the building in Minami Aso and are almost finished remodeling it for use as a coffee shop and meeting place for the new church group we plan to start there. We are looking forward to having our first official meeting on January 6th!

Thank you all for praying for the work here, and for us as a family. We look forward to 2019 and to growing ever closer to being like Jesus Christ!

Two of our children had birthdays this month. Melodie turned 12 and Cameron turned 14. They are growing up! Keiko had a birthday, too. In fact, about half our church group have birthdays in July!

These two share a birthday!

Summer has certainly hit southern Kyushu. We’ve had temperatures in the high 90’s and even the 100’s. But God has been giving us grace to bear the heat and keeping shining for Him.

The men’s discipleship class continues to meet, as well as the women’s groups. Despite random typhoons blowing by, we were still able to meet.

We are still waiting on the Minami Aso building, but the contract has been approved by both parties and the bank has approved the financial end of things for the current owner. We hope to take possession of it perhaps even next week!

Melodie and Cameron went to the overnight Kids’ Camp this summer, Melodie as a camper, and Cameron has a helper. Cameron came home so tired, he went to bed at 8 p.m.! (The boy campers aren’t known for sleeping much at night!)

August is soon upon us, bringing the return of homeschool, our annual ABWE Japan retreat, a gathering of like-minded churches, and many other things. We appreciate your prayers on the work here.

As an interesting side note, we found a cicada that hadn’t molted yet. We attached it to our screen and watched the metamorphosis occur! This big cicada once was crammed into this tiny body!

Well, I promised a picture, and here it is! Please meet our puppy Fritz. He is currently 7 months old. I think we’re all getting used to one another, and Fritz is becoming embedded into our family.

6 months old

Fritz’s eyes aren’t really blue, but whenever we take pictures, they seem to have a blue-ish tint to them. We love him! (especially now that he’s house-trained!)

Taking care of dogs isn’t all we’ve been doing lately. We have a lead on a building to purchase in Minami-Aso. Still working out details. It’s in God’s hands.

The ladies in our two small groups met for our first monthly get-together/prayer time. It was wonderful to hang out together, discuss what it means to love one another as a group, and share our requests.

Norman has begun construction on his much-needed office space. He decided to remodel one corner of the barn. He put in a couple windows and a separate door. He and Chloe put up ceiling panels, and I think there was work done involving insulation. Still got a ways to go, especially since the kids caught colds and I was heading that direction, too. Keiko and I have been working more at the coffee shop so Norman has more time to put on his carpenter hat. Maybe soon, Norman will have a space to have all his books and materials in one room!

Other than that, everything seems to be going well. Thanks for your prayers!

As much as we enjoyed seeing family, churches, and friends in America, we are very thankful to be back home in Japan! Despite four months worth of dust covering everything, we were able to settle back in easily. We’re over jetlag now and trying to do some deep cleaning as we figure out our new schedule.

A big prayer request is to be able to locate a place to meet in Minami Aso area. Last Sunday, we met at a member’s house, but that is not a sustainable solution.

This month, I will attend our ABWE ladies’ retreat. I look forward to that! There should be seven us there this year. Included in that number is a short-term intern who is in Japan for three weeks. The week following the retreat, “Angel” will be staying with us to experience life and ministry in Kumamoto. Pray for her and us as we minister together.

Our other news is that we just got a puppy! Melodie and Cameron are so excited, though it’s more work than Melodie anticipated. “Fritz” is a miniature schnauzer and is about four months old. So far, he’s been a great dog for our family. Pictures will be forthcoming…as soon as my camera arrives in the mail. (We shipped a lot of things instead of carrying them across the ocean!)

Konnnichiwa! Hello. My name is Keiko Sesaki. I’m a Japanese Christian. I live close to the Smith family’s house in Japan.

Thank you for supporting the Smith family and other missionaries. It’s because of people like you that I’m a Christian. I am the result of your support.

This is the story of How I heard the Good news. One missionary family came to Japan about 50 years ago. The missionary told the Gospel to the Japanese people. Mr. & Mrs. Kishimoto were saved. God led him to become a pastor. God led him to Nagashima. Nagashima is my hometown. He started a church in my hometown. My mom and my dad heard the Gospel. My mom and my dad were saved and then got married. Then I was born! I grew up with Christian parents. I was saved when I was in high school. I’m so thankful you and your church support missionaries.

I have a prayer request. Matthew 9:37-38 talks about new workers. Japan needs many more workers. I’m praying almost every morning for God to send more workers to Japan and other countries. Please pray with me that God would send more workers in to the world and to Japan. If you know someone interested in foreign missions, please tell that person about Japan.

I asked you to pray for new workers. So if you have a prayer request, I want to pray for you. Please let me know!

Thank you! God bless you.

Keiko

Our time in Iowa is coming to a close. We have greatly enjoyed our stay at the parsonage beside the First Baptist Church here in Waverly. The church family (whom we met only after moving in) has been so gracious and kind. They have been a huge blessing.

After this coming Sunday, we will be driving down to Norman’s family in Alabama, visiting one last church before flying home to Japan on March 28-29.Norman is the packer-extraordinaire. He has been packing up boxes to mail to Japan of stuff we have bought here and can’t buy in Japan. We’ve already shipped a few boxes. So much stuff!

One of the joys of furlough is discovering good Christian books. Norman is reading Gaining by Losing, Disciplines of the Godly Man, among others. I have been reading Running Scared, and True Womanhood 101. There’s some good stuff out there! Another blessing of furlough is experiencing vibrant, thriving churches here. To know people are loving and serving God in our old homeland is encouraging. We’re all on the same team with the same goal! Let’s keep up the good work. (Matthew 28:19-20)

What is it like to be a family on furlough in February? 🙂 Let me give you a glimpse of what our lives are like now.

** Tuesday through Friday, we maintain homeschool hours, roughly 8 a.m. until lunch. Time after that may be used to visit the library, get groceries, go to the laundromat twice a week, and enjoy “date” time one-on-one with people in our household.

** On Saturdays, we pack up what we need for the weekend. We may stay one night or two, depending on service times, distance from our home in Waverly, IA, and schedules.

** Sundays involve participating in 1-3 services at any given supporting church. Norman has taught adult Sunday school, preached in the morning service and then again in a later service. Other times, we may have just one service. Our family has provided special music most weeks, with Chloe on the banjo and Cameron on the ukulele. I do piano solos on occasion.

** Mondays are our recovery day. We usually feel like we’ve been run over by a semi by this time, so even if we make it home on Sunday night, we still take a break on Mondays from school.

As a side note, Melodie and Norman have been digging into photography, learning new tricks of the trade, trying out new techniques, and taking lots of shots of snow, Canada geese, ducks, and squirrels. They even captured photos of bald eagles!

Cameron has been teaching his grandma new chords on the ukulele. (They both play.) He’s also filling his sketch pad with drawings. Chess is a learning process now, too.

Chloe has been writing more stories. Finishing the first draft of her first novella recently has inspired her to keep on writing!

Norman’s new book, What Do I Do Now? A Process for Making God-Honoring Decisions, has just been completed, and our first copy arrived this week. (You can buy it on Amazon!)

That’s our typical week in a nutshell! We get to visit lots of thriving churches across the Midwest, making new friends and becoming reacquainted with old ones. It’s an adventure!