It's been awhile! (3 months! yikes!)

I feel the need to apologize for not updating our blog since...October - yikes, its painful to admit! Although at the same time, that implies that I have readers somewhere out there anticipating my every post - ha! Either way, here is the latest. We moved to Osaka at the beginning of September. So much has happened since then, I can't believe it was only 3 months ago! Here is what went down:

Matt Murton Baseball Event:

     At the end of October we had a huge event with famous Osaka Pro Baseball player, an American Matt Murton. Almost 300 people came to the event, Matt shared about his love for Jesus, and encouraged people to get involved in a local church. Along with MSCC Osaka, we invited 3 other local churches and we all made friends and invited people to our respective churches. The next sunday a girl who attended this event went to one of those churches for the first time and became a Christian!! This event took lots of prep, but all the glory goes to God for pulling it off and bringing that many people!

Matt signed various merchandise which we gave away at the event.

People excited to get signed baseballs, t-shirts, etc. from Matt

Matt giving his speech, with translator Joel Kaylor, a good pastor friend who works at an awesome church in Osaka called Life Church. We have learned so much from Joel and his church.

Matt made it a point to sign an autograph for everyone there! 

He was so kind and people really enjoyed it!

Mustard Seed Christian Church Osaka Begins!

The Sunday following the Matt Murton event, we started MSCC Osaka. It was crazy that first morning having NO idea if 5, 50, 100, or no people would come! 

We rent a dance studio in a very busy part of Osaka. It's a perfect space for us!

One snapshot of the room - its one big room, with the kids class in the entrance.

We had 24 people come our first Sunday! ( i think this is a picture from a different day though, sorry!)

We have bilingual worship, sermon (using a translator) and kids class.

Most people coming to church right now are Japanese, and also most are non-Christian. It's a comfortable enviroment for people seeking to learn about Christianity, and a place where lots of friendship and community is being built. I love our church!

Weekday work

This is the outside of the MSCC Office - its a tiny office space 3 minute walk from our house. We use it for storage of church equipment, office space, bible study, language exchange events, etc.

Here is most of our eqiupment for church in the large closet in the office. It fits in 2 cars for 

One of our language exchange events - 2 hours, half English, and half Japanese. It's been a fun way to make new friends and help people with their English - and me with my Japanese!

 Thanksgiving

We had a big Thanksgiving party with lots of friends. Favorite foods among our Japanese friends were deviled eggs and mashed potatoes and gravy!

Short trip to America

Just after Thanksgiving, my Grandma Helen Culkin, who was 96 passed away. It was truly a sad time for our family, although Grandma had been very sick for a long time and lived in the nursing home for 9 years. I know she has peace and joy indescribable now with Jesus. I was blessed to be able to return to America for 1 week to attend the funeral, be with my Mom and family during that time. Also, my brother came to Illinois for the occasion as well, and i hadn't seen him since we moved to Japan! He was in Alaska when we visited the States this past summer. So grateful for the time with family!

Christmas Event

We did a TON of prep and inviting for our Christmas service. We passed out around 500 invitations to people in Osaka, and encouraged everyone coming to church to bring friends or family. Christmas is a time where people feel a heightened interest in Christianity, and a ease in going to church when they might not normally consider it. We prayed hard for 50 people to come to our service. The most we had had before that was around 25 people.

The band warming up on Christmas day

We had a huge spread of yummy food, and people really enjoyed eating adn talking before and after the service.

We had 54 people come! Praise God!

With good friends who came for the first time

More snapshots with friends. So glad they came!

Baby Philip

 As if I didn't have enough good news in this blog post, we have another BIG change in our lives right now. We are pregnant! We found out not too long after moving to Osaka. I was worried about finding a good clinic, since we didn't have any friends in Osaka to ask for suggestions, but God provided an incredible clinic! I go there for all my appointments and will have the baby there as well.

My "I'm pregnant" keychain from the government - people see and then give me their seat on the train and subway! It's so nice! I'm sure i'll appreciate it even more as i get bigger and bigger!

This is me at 17 weeks.

The due date is June 5! We don't know if its a boy or girl yet, but hope to find out soon! Praising God for this amazing blessing in our life.