Newsletter June 19, 2010

Rainy season has officially begun. This is my most unfavorite time of the year, and yet God has really shown us great mercy in these days. On three occasions when rain was forecast, and also a special day of outdoor or travel ministry was planned, the Lord held back the rain and gave us beautiful weather! One of those occasions was our church's worship this last Sunday. I want to give you a special glimpse into the lives of Japanese people who enjoy spiritual freedom in Christ. A glimpse of things you won't often see in the Japanese culture, outside of God's family (or really you might only see these things in OUR church)!

1. HUGS!!!!!!! (something you normally never see Japanese people do!)



2. Young and old, native and foreign sharing each others company (those two young students are Chinese)...


3. Freedom of individual experssion!


4. Happy Couples!!!



Rocky and I really sense a very special calling and unique mission that God has given this church. We visit many many churches all over Japan each year, and we have never been in one as special as the one the Lord has allowed us to serve in. These people are precious, and God is continuing to do AMAZING things through them. We both agree that God is about to do even more awesome things through them and we can't wait to watch Him do HIS thing!!! Please lift up Kitakyushu Bible Church in your prayers. Pray for strength and a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit on its members. And please pray for protection from the enemy who we know doesn't like to see God's people working together for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ!!!

This week, for Aroma Ministries please pray for REST! We hit the ground running when we came back from America more than two weeks ago. Our first day off since arriving home will be Monday! Pray for rest and physical strength! Rocky and I are both spiritually uplifted and strengthened emotionally after some awesome times of worship and fellowship in the States! We (maybe just I) need some physical rest though!

Many blessings from Japan!
The Ayatsuka's

Newsletter June 13, 2010

Rainy season has begun in Japan! May the Lord pour out his blessings on summer ministry with more abundance than even the rain during rainy season in Japan! And may the Lord grant us a few sunny days to get our laundry dry over the next days and weeks ;)

We are kicking off the summer with a bang! Coming back from America we hit the ground running and haven't looked back. Our English classes are exploding with new students (and returning students who took some weeks or months off). Planning for summer events is in full gear. And our church is literally bursting at the seams! Go God!!!


Today we had worship in the park with our entire church body. It was filled with hours of singing praises, listening to God's Word, fellowshipping, laughing, playing, eating and FUN! I am continually in awe of how God is working in our church. New people are coming all the time, a few international students are making professions of faith, and individuals are doing ministry all over the place. God has given this church and unique calling, praise Him together with us for all that He is doing!!!

We are preparing for a couple of big events this summer. CMA is coming again this summer and we are so excited. They will be doing a concert one evening, three days of VBS at our church, and some evening ministry activities to young women, international students and families of the VBS kids! Please pray as we all prepare for these activities!!! And pray even now that the right people would get word of these activities and attend.

More to share in the coming weeks! Thank you for praying!!!

Newsletter June 3, 2010

WOW! Where do we begin to share all that the Lord has done in our ministry over the past two months? America was AMAZING! What a wonderful trip, time of fellowship, meeting people and refreshment. We are so thankful to all of YOU who made it such an amazing trip.

We started our trip in early April and the kids did great on the trip over and we all recovered pretty quickly from jet lag. Our first couple weeks in Texas we visited several supporting churches and had some awesome fellowship with family and old and new friends.

Then we headed out to the D/FW area and central Texas to speak at more churches and home fellowship while visiting family and friends as well. It was AWESOME! We made a lot of new connections for the ministry and look forward to developing those relationships. One group in particular will probably be headed our way for a mission trip next year! That is some exciting stuff!!!

After that it was back to Texas and then to Colorado where we had more amazing opportunities to ministers and fellowship with more friends and family.

Finally we spent that last week in Texas before heading home.

We made so many many new friends and established tons of new connections with our ministry. God provided us with several new supporting churches and individuals. We are sooooooooo blown away by how He continues to provide for this ministry. And a big thank you to those of you who are joining us in bringing the Aroma of Christ to Japan.

We have now been back in Japan for two days and have already taught several English classes and are spending today at our churches coffee house outreach ministry. Needless to say, we are going to get over jet lag quickly, who has time to jet lag?!

We appreciate your prayers as we look forward to what is ahead, summer ministry activities! More details on how to pray for those soon!

Tons of blessings from Japan!