We are having a Church workday on Saturday August 1. Come on out and help us clean up and get ready for the newest Calvary Chapel to begin on August 2nd. We will love to see you. Please bring some bug spray, Suntan lotion, and gloves. Also wear a hat.
We will BBQ some hamburgers and serve you some good lunch. See you there. 
Here in the inaka of Iruma we have a lot of interesting critters around. I was introduced a couple of weeks ago to a suzumebachi. Everything in Japan is tiny they told me. Not so! They have bugs on steroids here. They have attitude and weaponry. The Suzumebachi is a mean carnivorous bug. If you don't kill it on the first swing of the racket they go and get family members like a mob hit and come after you. I was an innocent party to some very frightened Japanese men at the church. They handed me a can of wasp spray that shoots 10 meters and a badminton racket. Like a country bumpkin I went to work while they screamed like girls and ran into the church for cover. I was a Jackie Chan Hornet killer on the loose but I don't think I will do that again. The call them the sparrow hornet because the build a nest like a sparrow and legend says they can grow just as big. Well these weren't that big but I found out they can kill you with a few stings. Yikes. God is watching over me. 
Do you remember the US made millions of $2.00 bills. It was a joke as no one spent them nor wanted them. You can't find them too often. Here in Japan they copy everything the US does. They made several years ago a 2000 yen note and they are a rareity. I received one thinking that it was a joke and counterfeit. So to my suprise they are real and worth $20 bucks. So I took a picture of before I spent it. Cool eh? I wonder if any Susan B. Anthony coins exist here? 
Our Apartment Complex had their yearly Summer Festival called Natsu Matsuri. The kids all dress up in colorful Yukata. They have carnival style vendors that sell Cotton Candy, Shaved Ice (Kaki Kori), Yakisoba, Yakitori, and games for kids to play. We hung out with some neighbors and it was fun but too hot. They term for hot in summer here is Mushiatsui (Even the bugs are hot) That was a joke. But it is Torrid heat like 85 but feels like 95 in the shade. Last year everything was new and I was enjoying all the sights and sounds this year I am looking for the air conditioned Depaato (Department) store. There is a bigger one happening at the Japan Air Base. I hopefully will get some pictures of that. 
We acquired a mini van and they have a inspection that has to be done prior to registration. It is called Shaken. It is quite a good thing as they go through the whole car and check it out and flag things that are dangerous that will have to be fixed prior to registration and a list of things you should get done like at an American dealer that give you the list of have to be done and then they give you that mile long list. This list is all the manufacturer recommended stuff that you probably should have done by the mileage on your car but it may not be necessary. We went to a place that is like a Pepboys and it was kind of fun to look at all the trinkets of junk they have to decorate your car. There are very interesting things like diamond hood ornaments to cell phone diamond stone stickers. They have every kind of muffler and baffle and noise maker. You can get all kinds of GPS with TV and Satellite TV and Radio not to mention they play DVD's and CD's and Mp3's. They even had a bumper sticker that said "God bless Japan." Figure that one out. I would have bought it yet it was the price of a family meal at Mc D's. They had spoilers and tons of knobs for radios and shifters and pedals it was like a museum for Car paraphernalia. 
Calvary Chapel Tokorozawa had a BBQ at the Okutama river and offered the opportunity for anyone to get Baptised. It was a great time of fellowship. The food was awesome as usual. The kids and some adults had a great time swimming and jumpping off a big rock. Nathan was having so much fun with Kazuma Okawara those two were about three hours straight in very cold water. They were shivering extremely bad and yet they still wanted to brave the water. We finally made them retire their rock jumpping and call it a day there were some new faces and many missionaries from Okinawa. It was a great time and better food. Get a load of that squid on the BBQ. MMMMM. It was tasty. I would have never drempt of living in Japan and eating BBQ'd squid. Only God can do that. God bless you Pastor Traivs and the CC Tokorozawa guys. 
Originally from Irvine California the Patrick family makes an almost yearly migration to their home towm all the way up in Aomori. That is the upper most prefecture on the Honshu Island of Japan. Hokkaido is farther north. They decided to use the last few days of their rail pass to take a 7 hour trip down to visit us. Do we feel honored. Without Mihoko here it made for a very interesting time. We had a blast and got to do many things. God is good to have great friends like Tim and Maki Patrick. The cool thing is as we were sharing our testimonies of things happening we found out that Maki (Tim's wife) knows very well Rutsuko (Mark Bedows wife). It is a small world. Maki is a great singer and so is Rutsuko they sang at a church in Cypress together a long time ago. We were kind of weirded out by all the connections that God is making here. Anyway, Pray for the Patricks, Tim would love to come to envious of us so much his skin pigmentation is changing to a lime green hue. He is trying to cover it up with some UV lotion but it shows. Yet his dream would be to live and do ministry up in the Aomori area of Japan. They need churches up there as in most of Japan there are older folks retiring and churches closing all the time. It is sad to hear. Even a large percentage of the missionaries are going to glory or returning home. Pray for more missionaries and churches planted.
While Tim and Spencer were here we took a train ride down to Akihabara. This is the electronics Mecca of Japan. They have everything. I am not sure why Spencer is biting his finger as he looks at the girls. I actually believe he is looking at the Col Sanders and desiring Chicken. Akihabara has all the latest gadgits and stuff it was amazing. We went to one department store which was like Fry's Electronics on eight floors. It was overwhelming. We had lots of fun there
Mihoko is having a good time in Costa Mesa as she is not only taking car of personal business but the Lord is putting her to work as well ministering to the Ladies in the Evening Women's Joyful Life Bible Study. She is a trouper as the slide presentation had a snafu and didn't work properly. Mihoko just went through the slides manually and God blessed. I received this email with her picuture telling me she did good. I am proud of my Mi Chan. Pray as she comes home on Thursday for a safe trip.
Rachel had another Jibika appointment today getting her treatment for the inner ear problem. She is almost finished and is doing great. After a quick bite to eat we went to the Maruhiro Department store for some shopping. This place in Kawagoe is interesting as they have 7 floors of all you could need home and personal stuff then on the roof they have a pet shop and amusement park. I gave in to my daughters pleading to ride the little cars. They sure had fun. They are supposed to be bumper cars but they were like girl friends crusing the town. Way too much politics for me guys just love to smash and go. But they had fun. 
Hey everyone, meet the Boek Family. Jeremiah and Gigi come from Calvary Chapel Modesto and have been about 5 or 7 years I think here in Japan. Pray that God will keep and bless these guys. Their kids were at school so we went to TGI Friday's for Lunch. It was great. Talk about testing in the area of self-control. Whew it was delicious. The Fellowship was priceless and the Lord has been so good to them. To hear the testimonies of what the Lord is doing is encouraging and uplifting. Pray for this family that God's will and vision and love will be manifested in their lives. Pray as they are very busy and yet they are sustained by the Love of God and are thriving well. God bless you Boek family well done and keep jamming for Jesus. 
We got a care package from California but the gift was from Washington State. We are up to our pits in cherries. God bless you who blessed us. They are so yummy. Mom had to fight us dog's off from eating the whole box in one sitting. Thank you again and God bless you.
