First Sunday of Calvary Chapel Iruma

Everyone is wondering what happened to the Bolingers and Calvary Chapel Iruma. I am sorry for not responding sooner.

It was pouring rain all morning before the service began the rain let up but still sprinkled. The Ai no kyokai family joined us in supporting our first day preaching. They are of a very old traditional service with Sambika (Hymns) These hymns are very special yet many are in an old Japanese that many of the words are a lost vocabulary and they don't really know exactly what they sing. So when I belted out the Worship for our service it was a surprise for them. Yet they tolerated it. The timeless praise songs touch the heart in all languages. I have been asked to teach this coming Sunday morning for the Ai no Kyokai church. They also asked me to lead worship for them. Hmm, is God doing something here? This is very shocking to any of you who know my music talents and capabilities. To sing in Japanese is a very big challenge to get the words pronounced in the correct order on the right note has been the suffering of all gaijin in Japan. So the Holy Spirit did a great job ministering through Mihoko and I. She translated everything. It is all a blurr now. I spoke on Luke 1 with Zacharaias and Elizabeth being used by God in their elderly years. "With God nothing is impossible". We had a total of 13 persons 5 were my family.

We had a great time of fellowship afterwards and the guests who came and visited were given a royal tour of the place. Any of you want to come and visit anytime it'd be our pleasure to show you around.

We are going to do an outreach this Friday night (Normally our Bible Study) no one has come for a few weeks so we will go to the train station and hand out some tracks and fliers.

Last Saturday we had a work day at the church to knocked out several piles of trash and debre and we were blessed with family coming from all over Japan. We had one family drive all the way from Yokohama and they stayed until dark. We had to pull them away from the clean up. We were also privileged to have my friend Pastor Jonathan Wilson from Grace Christian Fellowship and a team from his church came out and bless with clean up. They literally scorched the place. They had three piles of trash burning. Jonathan now has smooth arms and I believe a few less eye brow hair. Yet in all the melee there was still more to do. The Ai no Kyokai folks were so happy and blessed. It was a tremendous burden lifted for them as their neighbors, the gas co, the electric co, and others complained so much about the mess of weeds and over grown trees.

I gave the Ai folks a shock yesterday as I cut down another tree and the mess was piled back up. But today we cleared that too. So we also made two more truck runs and have widdled down the trash to maybe two or three more truck loads. We still haven't touched the inside of the building. This is just outside. There are 7 buildings on the property with 35 years of clutter from different churches that have not been kept up but have gone to waste. In Japanese all the Ai folks keep saying is "Motai nai." (waste) That means it's too bad this should not have happened. That is my paraphrase. We still had two small piles of trash burning today. I have yet to even tackle the back of the place. There is still a jungle back there. If anyone wants to come and get real dirty and see some of the wildest bugs on earth come on out. The fertile soil has lots of critters. I have been so blessed by God's infininte imagination to create some of the most ugly and heinous looking creatures yet there is a beauty in those things. There are these iridescent blue lizards that rock. They are so cool. I found a tape worm that was two feet in length. One of the Ai folks swears to not want to eat linguine anymore after seeing that. We also have a bull frog the size of a Chihuahua. I have seen 4 or 5 different kinds of Preying mantis they are weird things. The creepiest for me is the Cicada. I just freak out at the noise those things make.

I have been announcing on the radio our church services and we have been getting the word out personally. I have been sticking labels on about two hundred tracts and we need to do thousands more. I also made a church sign out of poster board and electrical tape. Sunday it rained so hard it was a sticky mess when we went home. This week I am painting some wood signs but alas I am needing to make some banners and eventually a real sign as the Lord leads.

My kids were invited by Grace Christian Fellowship to come to their VBS this week. It was awesome! We found they are a 20 minute car ride from us so it gave the kids a great opportunity to learn about Moses and the Exodus story. They are singing and dancing everywhere now.

My ESL class was down to three kids today as all are on summer vacation. We had fun playing some hangman today.

The Radio program is going great the radio station staff are checking out the songs I am playing. I was playing the Okinawan sensation Hakugaijin's new CD "Ai Land" and it is a rap/rock/worship compilation and it is really catchy music. The DJ's and the engineers are laughing at my funny Japanese and the music they are enjoying. One intern came up asking for information on some worship music. So God is using this very different radio show.

Pray for us to continue to look to Jesus. Pray we will seek to always be praying giving thanksgiving for all things the Lord brings our way. Pray we will have that unction from the Holy Spirit to be faithful and love with God's agape love. We are wanting to plan so many things. I was wanting and praying for a VBS here but I am looking at the middle of August and we are not there. So pray we can do maybe just a one or two day VBS and share the gospel with our neighbors and friends. Pray for a possible Fall Church Matsuri (festival) as the Ai no Kyokai folks are wanting to have a re-introduction to the neighborhood event. We are seeing a fine line we are walking between trying to remain planting a Calvary Chapel that is distinct from their Church and also they desire for us to minister with them. Pray we can just lease the facility and just be CCI for the whole thing. Pray that we will not get so consumed with the care of this facility that we loose touch with the mission of seeking lost souls and introducing them to Jesus. Pray for laborers, we need worship leaders and Children's ministry workers and mostly we need people. Pray for a plentiful harvest.

Pray for Kato san she has had four surgeries and is in pain. She is ornery enough to keep coming to church though. Pray for Ojii chan (Komine's dad) he is screening for lymphatic cancer. Pray for Noda Sensei who is in Hammamatsu performing music outreach. Pray for Jan Jones who had an attack of kidney stones she has a wild story about her ambulance ride to downtown Tokyo for care. She is still dealing with pain and discomfort. Pray for her to maintain her schedule. I am ashamed and feel as if I don't do much when you find a go-getter like Jan. She is everywhere and knows everyone. Pray for the Bolingers to have reprieve from numerous mosquito bites. Nathan is the champ with about 35 so he says. I am too stinky because I am not bit hardly at all. YES they do spray with repellent. These vampires are so hungry they endure the repellent and attack. Pray for us to get our Home Schooling Curriculum ordered and shipped here on time as school is only three weeks away. Yikes.

God bless you all and thank you to those who are praying for us. It is so wonderful to know there are folks lifting us up to the Lord to strengthen us and minister through us to the lost in Iruma. I also want to thank the physical supporters who are sacrificing during these difficult days. We don't know who helps us but we are being blessed with our basic needs being met.

Love in Christ,

Dan Mihoko and the kids.

With God Nothing is Impossible

I used to practice preaching when I was a kid. I have always admired the art of excellence in public oratory. To see men of God take the stories of the Bible and make them come alive and bring application into our lives is what rocks my world. I have studied the Bible for years and I have participated in numerous Bible studies over the years. I have preached in the best Calvary's in Japan so I thought I'd be prepared for the first day of preaching at Calvary Chapel Iruma. I had my message ready and pouring over it. Yet even though there was only a handful of people there I was tremendouly nervous. I was stepping into the dream now made a reality by the Living God Jesus Christ. He has brought me to Japan and throughout my life has guided my steps. I have a history of seeing the Lord move me in this direction as if he had it planned all my life. It is funny how for years others saw the Lord's leading in my life and knew it matter-of-factly that I'd go to Japan and start a church. I'd say I don't know what God is doing? Then they would shake there heads and point out all the indicators of God's leading and they'd see it but I'd be like a deer in the headlights. I see the light but I am trying to make out the silouette behind the lights. Today was a great day. Don't let my rehtoric dissapoint you. It was tremendously a blessing and smooth to conduct service. But in my emotions were on edge holding back tears of joy for what God has done. It was just four years ago when I was sitting at a hospital bed of my 4 year old daughter with her chest wide open from the heart transplant. I was depressed at the life ahead. I actually was praying for God to take her to heaven for a better life. It was a selfish prayer and I am ashamed of myself for it. Yet here she was alive and give the gift of life with a heart transplant. But my sterotyping of life after a transplant was limited. I felt the quality of life was hampered by visits to the Doctor and emergency room runs. I thought we were going to be hermits living in a steril enviroment away from real life. I gave up on all my ministry goals and aspirations. I should have been the happiest man alive as my daughter was recovering from a heart transplant but I was the one with a sick heart in need of a transplant from my selfishness. God in his mercy met me at a Men's retreat and the Holy Spirit was poured out in my life afresh. We were educated about the life of Post-Transplantation. We are free but must play by some rules to maximize the benefits of a PT life. Risky behavior is what jepordizes our quality of life. The same for a Christian if we live a life of risky behavior we jepordize our quality of life with Jesus and our walk in the Holy Spirit. I became convoluted in my mind and thinking but when I got my eyes off my self and on Jesus I was revived and God graciously continued to open doors of ministry. It is God and God alone that has allowed us to come to Japan and minister. So today as I stood in the pulpit and realized all that the Lord has done to bring us here I was emotionally choking back the tears of Joy. From my prayer in front of my daughters hospital bed to my prayer this morning in front of the church the Lord has been faithful. I give him all the glory and praise. I preached this morning if they were to look to me or my talents they will be dissapointed but if they look to Jesus and his ability then "Nothing is impossible with God." Luke 1:37

Monk Turns Physician Still has no answers

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20090802x1.html
The link above is to an article in the Japan Times that talks about a dissillusioned Buddhist monk who resigned and became a Doctor. Yet even as a Doctor he has no answers to the hard questions in life. The quote below is from page two where he deals with the death of one of his patients dying. I found the article and interesting insight into the thinking of the Japanese and the Buddhist religion in Japan.

"When he asked me, "How long will this pain last?" I couldn't tell him how long. Neither did I feel it was right to say, "You're going to die soon, so that's when you will stop feeling this pain." And he knew that himself. When he asked me why, he was asking something else. He was asking me about the pain of existence, and that is a question with no answer. Maybe he was looking for something spiritual, and all I could do was be with him."

I am no expert on pain and I am not adequately going to deal with the subject of Pain in its existential philosophy but I just had the thought...

God created pain as the megaphone of our existence as CS Lewis put it. When we try to create the illusion of reality as not being real then it is pain that snaps us back to reality and we say, "Yup, I'm alive alright." But it should be also that which drives us to the creator of our existence. He is the only one who will deliver us from much pain in death. Jesus promises paradise and eternal life a new body with no more suffering. Man rejecting Jesus will spend eternity in pain gnashing teeth at the realization that they had the choice of a better eternal existence.

Choose this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

Nathan the artist

Our son Nathan (11) has a natural talent for Art. He draws amazingly exactly what he sees. He has not taken any formal art classes and we are very proud of his talents. The girls were making playdoh food when Nathan walked by and in a matter of about 20 minutes fashioned the Mario Character and other things from his memory. I am impressed and proud.

Japan Air Defense Summer Festival

The Japan Air Defense Corp had their annual summer festival (Obon Matsuri) at the ole Johnson Airforce Base. It was a hot summer evening and the partying was happening and the obon dancing, and the people were very friendly. They had an 800 fireworks display at the end of the night. The kids also enjoyed looking at the old planes on display. It was a fun night.

Rachel Turned 8 Years Old

On July 26th we celebrated Rachel's birthday. We praise God for Rachel's life. Back in 2005 She was dead and God brought her back to life with a heart transplant. She has been very healthy ever since. I pray her teeth finally grown in this year and she applies herself to study. She is all girl and loves to play dress up and she loves to do the make-up on the face thing. I don't understand it. Her quote on the matter is..."Because it's fun daddy!" She did get a narly eye infection a few months back using some other girls eye shadow stuff. So we are learning as we grow.


We had a little party at home for her (Mom is promising a sleep over some day soon) and Nathan and Jane just loved on her. They are such great kids when they are not fighting. They only fight about once a day and it is usually because of some unwanted or unsolicited affection. Nathan is a hugger and loves to sneak hugs at anytime. Usually at the inapporpriate times especially with the girls. Yet sometimes it is the other way around. I love my kids so much. I pray that God will use them for his glory.

Church Work Day Come on let's go...

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.
101 Nakagami in Iruma it is near Costco.

SUZUMEBACHI Yikes!!! (that means a bee as big as a sparrow)

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.

2000 Yen Note

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?

Ekimae Plaza Summer Festival

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.

Shaken is shockin me

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.

Anyway, we are back on the road and the shock has worn off the shaken price. Anyway, God is so good to have blessed us with a really great car. The kids are happy and Mom is so thankful. Dad is very pleased as we can explore places that on a bike we would say nah it'll take too long to go there. Now we are free.

Calvary Chapel Tokorozawa baptism and BBQ

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.


Pastor Travis did not dissapoint the crowd in performing his traditional Back flip off the rock. I was impressed again but I did not attempt to copy him this year as I am getting older and it takes me a while to recover from my mishaps. I can't do a perfect back flip. I do some kind of a side ways roll into a perfect belly flop. I tip my hat to travis and his awesome flipping. God bless you man you rock.

Meet Tim and Spencer Patrick

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

The Patricks are good people and very funny too. Oh, and Spencer we didn't think you were too weird. Maybe next time we can come and visit you...Lord willing. God bless the Patrick Family.