Carina and children at Kobe Museum
How we are settling in Kobe
The new year frenzy is dashing by, therefore just short snippets of news from a snowy, freezing Kobe!
We have settled in and are finding our feet in a new living space as part of KRTS (Kobe Reformed Theological Seminary). Between Christmas and New Year there was time for a breather and visiting with our fellow-missionaries, the Oliviers from Kochi City. Meanwhile all work and school activities are speeding forth. Read here how Carina describes some of her experiences as home schooling mother.
For millions of Japanese 2016 is the “Year of the Monkey”. For many it seems to promise special good fortune and some young men in Kobe (6000 to be exact) attempted outrunning one another in an attempt to ensure their luck in a race! Click here for a 1-minute video on this 400-year old new year’s tradition.
But how did the majority of Japanese celebrate their new year, and what happens at Christmas time in Japan? To hear more about this, do listen to a short interview held on RSG (radio station) Sondagjoernaal (for those who understand Afrikaans).
May 2016 be a meaningful year full of blessings!
God’s Peace and Joy, in Christ
Stéphan
(also on behalf of Carina, Annlie, Cornelius, Lodewyk and Stephan Jnr)
The past 6 weeks have been filled with a wide variety of events as part of our homecoming in Kobe. Above are a few snippets from RCJ Kobe North congregation’s Christmas party for kids, in which we shared.
There were also – besides daily work at the Seminary – all kinds of visits, home schooling excursions, singing Christmas carols with Seminary students (at a railway station) etc. The collection of photos below tells some of the stories.
Last week Rev. Johann Symington (South African colleague) from Tokyo Union Church contacted me with news about an opportunity for someone to serve in Japan. The United Church of Christ in Japan (Kyodan) related Christian schools are in great need of “missionary-teachers” for the English conversation classes. They need committed Christian teachers, with a hope to influence students through them with Christ’s value and love, instead of hiring some professional native speakers via human resource agents. For more information, contact Rev. Symington at dsjohannsymington@gmail.com
We kindly invite you to pray more actively and purposefully with us for our life and work via Mission Japan.
The following are our prayer requests for February 2016:
- Our vision for this year is to convey more of Psalm 103:8 with our lives, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love”. Please pray for guidance and strength from the Holy Spirit for this.
- Praise the Lord for our new home and region in Kobe at the Seminary. It is spacious and beautiful.
- Pray with us for our adjustment here, for opportunities to develop and enhance new relationships, by means of hospitality, for profound peace and joy in the midst of regular experiences of loneliness (the reality of most missionaries in Japan).
- Please pray for Carina’s big responsibilities relating to the home schooling of our four children, for strength, wisdom and loving patience; and for new, healthy friendships for our children.
- Please pray for Stéphan whose focus is on establishing a new curriculum in pastoral care and counselling (in Japanese). Also for other responsibilities and involvements, such as the support for and emotional-spiritual care of students, prayer meetings, chapel worship services etc.
- Please pray for our joining of a new congregation (RCJ Kobe North) and our future involvement here, as well as still being part of the presbytery of Shikoku and other RCJ congregations’ ministries in the future.
