Newsletter July 8, 2010

Rainy season continues and the temperature continues to rise as we sail into summer, and God continues to do AMAZING things around us!

My Bible studies have been intense lately and I have lots of non-Christian seekers attending. Please be in prayer for these women who want to study God's Word. and I'd like to ask prayer for me as well. As I lead them into the scripture their questions are deep and the topics even deeper. It is at these times I find that I am completely inadequate at explaining things to them. I think this is the best place for me to be, so that I won't get in the way of what God wants to do! Yet, I get overwhelmed at just how far their basic way of thinking is from the simple and significant cornerstones to the truth found in the Gospel. Just a conversation about what heaven is, and what eternal life means turned up many different opinions this week, and I was left wondering how I will ever help them understand what the Bible is saying! I know that I won't and can't help them understand and only HE can, so please help me lay each of them at His feet and trust He will keep doing HIS work in their hearts!

This week we lead English chapel at the Christian school where I first worked in Japan! We have the privilege of speaking at the chapel services in both Jr. High and High School at this Christian girls' school once a semester. It has been an ongoing work, where God is slowly opening their hearts to us and our message. Chapel is normally ridged and strict, with older male pastors usually being the speakers. Unfortunately their messages are usually way over these girls' heads. Rocky and I have made a point to try and always make chapel fun and the message simple but applicable to their lives. Most of the students are not Christians. This week for High School chapel we had only the senior class as the other classes were on a school trip. It was WONDERFUL! We have probably had most of these girls in English chapel since they were 1st year Jr. High students. They have come to know us and they love the praise songs that we bring to chapel. They begged for more praise time, and we had a wonderful and very energetic time of worship! Then they were glued to the message because they were awake and excited, and I was so moved by the presence of the Holy Spirit in that place! This class seems to be quite special, and I want to ask for prayers for them. I think God wants to make a big impact in their lives and on the school through them! Please pray!!!

This month is going to be PACKED full of ministry! We have summer camp with the Christian school I was just sharing about. THREE days at camp with over 30 of these girls, to worship and learn from God's Word together and play games and swim together! Please pray for this more up close and personal time we get to have with them! We also have a three day trip to another summer camp for a church in Imabari, about 5 hours from here, where we will be the guest worship leaders and speaker. We have preparation for the upcoming Summer School at our own church and for the CMA concert the first few days of August. (See those flyers below, click on the image to get a full view). Registration for summer school is now open, please pray that lots of kids sign up!!!

We appreciate your prayers!!!

Summer School Flyer...





CMA Concert...

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!

Newsletter March 14, 2010

White Day, March 14th

You can read the details of White Day on Wikipedia but basically it is the counterpart to Valentine's Day. In Japan, Valentine's Day is the day when women give gifts of homemade chocolate to men. Since one must always reciprocate in this culture, the men officially must return the favor one month later on March 14th! And it is called White Day.

Marriage and love in Japan are quite different from the culture I grew up in. It is not uncommon for marriages in Japan to be about convenience and out of need or social obligation rather than love. Roles inside of marriage are much much more conservative, with the husband helping out very little at home and with raising the children. The couples also usually lead totally separate lives, knowing very little about each others daily comings and goings and social activities.

These past weeks I have been surrounded by talk of marriage. One friend who is in a wonderful Christian marriage shared with me that at her childrens' kindergarten, she and one other women are the only women happy in their marriage and at meetings and gatherings she must sit and listen to everyone complain and degrade their husbands.

This last week Rocky and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary. We began with a short overnight trip, just the two of us. Then on the 11th, the actual anniversary date, Rocky surprised me with breakfast in bed. I shared this with one of my English classes, and could feel the tension in the room as most of my students did not know how to respond to my enthusiasm about our marriage. As it dawned on me that they have never known such love, my heart began to break for them even more.

Oh how I want them to know the unending, all consuming, powerful love of their Savior! It is only because Rocky and I know THAT love that we can have the marriage that we have. I LONG for them to experience LOVE in its purest form, love unconditional and full. A love so powerful it washes your sins whiter than snow!

White Day this year has reminded me to pray MORE for the couples in this country. Pray with us that God will bring HIS love into their lives and transform each one, and in turn transform their marriages and then their whole family. We have seen this happen in our church and we long to see more of it!

Newsletter February 2010

February in Japan always makes me feel cheated! We get a tease of Spring with a few warm days and then it gets COLD and often colder than it has been all Winter. Just when I get my hopes up I get shot down!

But not so when it comes to the work God is doing! How can I summarize what the past couple of months have been like for us in ministry. Amazing, unbelievable, jaw dropping... GOD's handiwork!!!

Thank you for your prayers for Fall and Christmas ministry. It is always exciting to see God work through special Christmas events, but also a relief to get past the busiest time of year for us and recover a little! I think maybe, MAYBE we finally recovered!!!

Our church is showing so much growth, not just in numbers but in the hearts of it's members. I have had so many amazing conversations with church members about their dreams and visions for the ministry there in the future! We can't help but feel an incredible sense of excitement and expectation about the future of this growing group of believers!

In January, Rocky and his acoustic guitar buddy Shuhey, released their second album and held a special New Year concert! Please pray for this very talented duo and for the CD that people will be listening to. Pray the Lord uses it to encourage and uplift believers and draw unbelievers to HIM!

Our English classes continue to be such a joy to us. I especially love my English Bile class and the time with the women I meet with every Thursday. There is a wonderful mix of believers and unbelievers in this group, and I know the Lord is using the time to work in the hearts of all, including myself!

I am also really excited about the Mother's Bible study we have for Mom's of my English Circle kids. Each time we meet, the study is powerful and the conversation becomes deep. There are often even tears among this group that is really not that close knit. I am always amazed at how open and honest they are, and how God's spirit obviously moves as we open His word. Please pray for the women in that group that their hearts would remain open and teachable, as God works in them. We only meet once a month, so please pray that in the in-between time God would reveal Himself to them in their everyday lives!

And the most wonderful news of all.... Kai's adoption is FINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We will be visiting the States in April and May and look forward to seeing many of you. The adoption was final two weeks ago so there is a lot of planning to do before we come. If you'd like to see us in you area, please drop me an email!!! We hope to raise prayer and financial support over the 6 or 7 weeks we'll be there and we'd love to speak and sing to any and all groups, big or small! Please be in touch!

November 24, 2009

How is it possible that it has been so long since my last update! I'm sorry to have left you all hanging!

Our fall schedule has been filled with lots of basic ministry activity and a few concert engagements. We had one ten day trip to Hokkaido (the most northern part of Japan) and were very blessed in three cities there! What a privilege it is to get to do what God has called us to do here.

As the Christmas season approaches we are preparing for a few exciting events.

In early December every year, many churches from around our city gather for a Christmas worship and celebration. This year Rocky has been working with that committee again and we are ready for a wonderful two hour event taking place on the 6th. Please pray that this event would reach out to unbelievers in the city, and they can learn the true meaning of Christmas!

The day before the city Christmas worship, we will have our annual English Circle Christmas Party. Last year was a wonderful party for my Saturday children's English class. This year we pray it will once again be a wonderful time of games, songs, crafts and the Christmas story for these children and their families who attend. Please pray with us!

The main goal of our English Circle is not to learn English but to expose them to the Bible! Through the class a mother's Bible study has also begun and I am excited about teaching these mother's the Word of God. It is so fun and refreshing to discuss the Bible with these women who have never learned about this God before. Their perspectives are fresh and interesting. It is evident that God is working in their hearts. Pray for these women as I and my English Circle ministry partner meet with them on a monthly basis.

Rocky is hard at work on the finishing touches for his second acoustic album with Shuhey, who many of you met in the Spring/Summer of 2008 when we were last in the states! The album is expected to be released in January. Pray with us that God would use each and every CD to minister to the people who hear it.

Regarding Kai's adoption proceedings, we are waiting on further notice from the family court system. We have been interviewed and there are a few more steps left in the process. All of which are completely out of our control! We have no idea how long it will all take but we are praying that the process will be finished quickly! As soon as that is all done, we will be planning a trip back to the states for you all to meet him and for support raising! We can't wait to see you all, so please pray for a quick resolution to the whole process!!!

Newsletter August 2009

Hello from hot and muggy Japan!

What a summer we have had. July was busy busy busy busy busy! I mean sooooooooooooo busy!

We so enjoyed having CMA with us again, and you can enjoy details of from their mission log. Entry #3, #4, and #5 are all about their time in Kitakyushu. The impact the Lord makes through them continues to resonate year after year. He plants many seeds through their beautiful dance and awesome testimony. You will enjoy reading all about them on their blog!

We also had the privilege of being the guest speakers at Seinan Jo Gakuin's Jr. High and High School Summer Bible camp again. It is always a great opportunity to spend time with these students in a smaller group. We speak at their chapel services about 6 times a year but meeting them and spending time with them in person like this is priceless. We continue to pray that the Lord plants and waters seeds in their hearts during their years at this Christian school! Here are some pictures of summer camp...


Making our way to the beach for some fun in the sun! We also got to watch a solar eclipse on this day! It was awesome to see God's creation do such a neat "trick"!


The perfect afternoon snack on the beach, mmmmmmmmmmmmm


The last day of camp ends with a bon fire. This is always a great time for the group to reflect on the two days we've spent looking into God's word! Pray that Rocky's message of salvation will come to mind often and give them a thirst to know this God more!


This picture represents what August has been like for us! FUN! Lots of well deserved rest and family time! We spent a day this last week at the local water park. It was a blast for the whole family, as you can see...



It has never happened before, but August was a slow month for us and we really needed the rest. It has been a whirlwind year, with a new infant thrown into the mix of our already busy ministry life! Kai is such a blessing and fills our days with laughter and joy, just like his big sister! Please also remember Kai's adoption in your prayers. All of the paperwork should was finalized today and once our adoption agency approves it, we will officially file it with the Family Court. From there the rest of the process takes at least six months. Pray that all goes smoothly!

We are spending the rest of this month preparing for ministry to start up full force again very soon. Also, Hana will begin home school kindergarten (which you can also pray for) as Mommy and Hana (and sometimes Daddy too) embark on this incredible adventure together!

Hana turns 5 this Saturday! How is it possible that she is already five!? I don't know, but we are so thankful for this thoughtful, helpful, fun loving little girl! She is an incredible blessing!

We'd love to hear from you! Please drop us a line or leave a comment here on the blog! Blessings from the Ayatsuka's...

Rocky, Marla, Hana (5 this week) and Kai (7 months)

Newsletter May 2009

Hello from Japan everyone! It seems like time is totally getting away from me. I could not believe when I saw I haven't posted an update since February! With Kai's two hospitalizations and all our normal ministry and life in between, it has been a whirlwind!

Thank you for all your prayers for Kai. He is doing well now, and a detailed update can be found here on Mommy's blog.

We had a ten day tour to Nagoya in April that was an incredible blessing. The 12 hour drive up and back were quite an adventure and the Lord blessed us with safe and fairly smooth travel, even with an infant! In Nagoya we did 12 events in 8 days. We were so blessed to meet lots of new people, make new connections with several new churches and connect with some friends and fellowships we knew from before! We are so thankful for these opportunities to serve God on tour!!!

May has been busy with regular ministry! We seem to have had a lot of chapel services to speak in and lots of Bible studies this month. English classes continue to go well and are such a blessing. We really enjoy the chance to build relationships with these students and look forward to watching God work in their hearts and lives.

Prayer requests and praises...
1. For Kai's healing, health and safety. His kidney is at risk for infection and he seems be especially susceptible to respiratory issues. The good news is that his chest is totally clear right now, his urine test today was perfect and he doesn't have to go back for regular follow up visits anymore!

2. Pray for stamina as our ministry schedule seems especially full right now!

3. Pray for the time to take care of administrative details for ministry!

4. Pray for Jesus to shine through us in each chapel, Bible study, English class and concert!

Some pics to enjoy from our recent Spring cleaning day at church...

Everyone got in on the action...


It is amazing each Sunday to look around and see that our church is filled with MEN! A rare sight until recently. I would venture to say that at times the men even outnumber the women! Praise God!



And there is an ever increasing population of international students in our church. On a given Sunday it is now VERY normal to hear conversations going on in at least FOUR languages around the church! Praise God! Pray for students who are attending that are not yet believers and are seeking. Some of whom do not enjoy the freedom to learn about and worship God back at home!

Newsletter February 23, 2009

Spring is in the air in Japan!

So much is going on in our lives, in ministry and personally, we apologize for the sporatic newsletters. There is so much to tell you about all that God is doing.

In January my small English Circle group started a Bible study for mothers. We are meeting just once a month for now, on a weekday while children are at preschool. So far two women have attended both times, and they both are really enjoying the Bible study. At our first meeting I shared my testimony, and one of the women shared with me how she too has faced infertility. She confessed she is searching for that peace I talked about and I told her I think she's going to find it here!!! At our second meeting we began to talk about "Who is God?" I let the ladies share their ideas about God and then we compared them to what the Bible says. When we looked at Psalm 139 to see that He is a God that created us and knows us intimately, there were tears! They were so touched to find out how much God cares for them. At our last meeting 3 other mothers were planning to attend but sick children and other obstacles kept them away. Please pray for future meetings and for the hearts of these ladies!

I also teach a mother's Bible study at one of the private kindergartens where I teach English to the kids. That group has been meeting monthly for the past year and several of the ladies have really responded to what they are learning about the Bible. The group is consistently about 10 women! We will have our last meeting for this school year next month (the Japanese school year ends in March). Some of the children will graduate and these mothers will no longer be active at the kindergarten. I am praying about a way to continue to teach them the Bible and minister to them even after their children have moved on to elementary school! Please pray for these women as well.



Our church is also going through a lot of change, and some wonderful things are happening. We have called a Japanese pastor who will move here and begin ministering in our church at the beginning of April. We are so looking forward to getting to know him, and ministering with him! One sad note however, at the end of March all of the missionary presence in our church will be gone! Our volunteer couple, Nick and Angie Carter, who have been ministering here for 2 years will be returning to America. Rocky and I will take over their English classes on Thursday and Fridays, to continue that outreach which has built this church. Church cafe is also going strong. I am handing over the managerial position of cafe to another church member as we take over the English minsitry and it is so exciting to see all our church members active and excited about doing ministry! Please pray as all this transition takes place! We are on the edge of our seats with excitment concerning what the future holds. It feels like big things are in store for our church's future!!! Also pray for Nick and Angie as they prepare for all that making an overseas move involves, and for all the resettling in America entails! Pray especially for a job for Nick!!!

Our concert calendar is beginning to fill up for this year! Praise the Lord, our family has adjusted quite well to its newest member and we are looking forward to ministering as a family of four this year! If you happened to miss that news, please check out the announcement here. We are still amazed at God's incredible grace and mercy!!!


We would love to hear from each of you. Please leave us a comment here on the blog or drop us an email! Many blessings!

The Ayatsuka's
Rocky, Marla, Hana and Kai

Pictures of Kai...

www.kaikais-place.blogspot.com

Check him out!

** Edited to add the following **

For privacy and protection Kai's blog has been set to private for the time being. If you'd like access just drop me an email and I'll add you to the list of allowed readers. Thanks!

Newsletter January 15, 2009

Happy New Year everyone!

We have awesome news. Our new year started out fairly normal but all that changed yesterday morning. We woke up a little family of three and by noon we were a family of four! We are getting a baby boy! His name is Kai!

We have been on a waiting list for exactly two years and we were about to decide that God might not intend for us to get another. Shock is just about the only way I know to describe the feeling when we got that call.

We are excited, but have had only two days to prepare, so it has been a whirlwind. He arrives tomorrow around 5pm Japan time (Friday, 16th). We will be in touch with news and pictures soon, and a new blog especially for Kai.

We appreciate your prayers for this transition. Hana is excited, but will surely face a lot of adjustment in the next days and weeks. We have a normal busy schedule of Bible studies, English classes, concerts, chapels, etc. So please pray for us!

Many blessings!
Rocky, Marla, Hana and Kai

Newsletter December 9, 2008

Merry Christmas everyone! December snuck up on us and we are in the middle of the busy ministry season here!

Last weekend, we had the very first English Circle Christmas party and it was incredible. I will share lots of pictures at the end of this post, but right now just want to ask you to join us in praising God for what he is doing through this ministry. Just a re-cap, about two years ago a friend and I decided we wanted our kids to have something like Sunday School in English. We go to seperate churches so we decided to meet up on Saturdays and do some fun English learning things, and have a Bible story time. My friend began to invite other friends with little children and before you know it, we had an amazing new outreach. Almost everyone attending with their children had never been to church! The group grew and grew until we couldn't fit everyone in our houses, and so we moved to a local meeting place for children's activities and it grew even MORE! Now on average about 15 children meet with us twice a month for what we call English Circle. In addition to those 15 children, we have the moms and even quite a few dads attending regularly with baby siblings in tow as well! It can get crazy when 15 children for class means about 30-40 people are actually in the room!

On Saturday we met at my friend's church for a two hour Christmas event! We played Christmas games, sang songs, had the Christmas story on felt board, made a Christmas craft, Rocky and I gave a mini-concert and we ended with a pot luck lunch! It was so much fun. After the party, one mother told me it was the first time for her and her children to hear the real Christmas story! I am sure she isn't the only one in attendance that day who'd never heard the Christmas story! I was so humbled and awed that God is using our little English Circle in such a way. He is doing awesome things!

Please lift up these families in prayer, that they would be open to know more about God. We are in the process of trying to figure out when would be the best mid-week time to have a mother's Bible study with these ladies who are mostly housewives. Praise God that the dads are attending too, and pray we can find a way to continue to reach out to them and get them into God's Word somehow!

We have several Christmas concerts and parties in the coming weeks before Christmas as well. We appreciate your prayers for safe travel and protection from illness, as well as prayers that God would continue to work in and through us!

Enjoy the Christmas party pictures and let us hear from you! Leave a comment or send email!!!

Preperations begin!


My trusty assistants!


Life-sized Christmas Candyland waiting for the "game pieces" to arrive!


Playing with ABC's while everyone arrives and gets checked in.


Here is an example of a little family attending, Dad included!


Christmas Bingo!


Candyland in progress...


Pin the ornament on the Christmas tree...


Where is the Christmas tree?


OH! That's close!


You can't peak first!


Telling the Christmas story, I speak in English and Rocky translates! Not sure what I was saying here, but my facial expressions were hilarious in these pictures!


Ahhhh, no room for them in the inn!


A baby boy is born!


A multitude of Angels appeared!


Craft time! Buidling an Angel takes the whole family!


Showing off OUR multitude of Angels!


Aren't they sooooooo cute!


Lunch was soooooooo yummy!

Newsletter November 2, 2008

Happy Fall everyone! We are enjoying the cooler weather and the changing leaves. I hope this finds all of you well. And I hope you are all preparing to VOTE this week if you haven't already! I mailed in my ballot several weeks ago. Praying for our country this week!!!

On the ministry front, you could pray for our English Circle ministry. I've mentioned it often. My friend and I started it about two years ago as a way to do some English learning and Sunday School type of activities for our kids. Others began to join us and before long it has evolved into a pretty big deal. I wanted to share some pictures with you of our recent English Circle in the Park. We all met at the park instead of our regular indoor class, and had a blast studying English outdoors, playing together and eating lunch together! Enjoy these pics...

We start with ABC's, songs and stories.


We always have a Bible story, which recently a couple of Mom's have volunteered to make flanel boards of the stories for me FROM SCRATCH! One Mom sews the background out of felt. Another Mom draws the characters and prints them onto special paper that will stick to the felt! So neat!


The children LOVE these stories and listen so intently! When we used to just read from the children's Bible they never listened this closely.


On this day we had a leaf hunt and talked about the leaves and their colors in English.


Before class and after lunch everyone enjoyed the playground at this park. It has a zip line and a LONG roller slide. We all had tons of fun!






Our church continues to have a weekly outreach ministry we call "cafe". I took over management of it, when our missionary couple recently went back to the states for a short home assignment. Now the church ladies volunteer their time to help run cafe. It is going well, and continues to be an AWESOME place where people can gather and fellowship. LOTS of new people come on a regular basis. But the future of cafe is uncertain. One short term couple who helps with this ministry tremendously, will be ending their term in the Spring. It remains to be seen if we have enough man power to continue with cafe in the future. Please pray for God to provide all that we need and more, if it is His will for our church to continue this ministry! Here are some pics of that for you to enjoy also!

Our beautiful church!


The cafe special a few weeks ago... Raisin Walnut bread! YUM!


Taking orders...


Serving our customers...


Nick, don't steal any of that money!


Game night! We were played Wii that night too!


Our specialty... cheesecake! YUM!


Please continue to pray for our many Fall concert engagements! God bless you all this week!