In reading Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders the author finishes up the 7 disciplines by talking about the discipline of aloneness. This is a strategic and a consistent discipline of every great spiritual leader to debrief life and to enjoy God. He concludes the chapter with this paragraph. I thought it was worth posting:
”Employing the discipline of aloneness allows the spiritual leader to disengage from the world, but not to escape it. In fact, aloneness becomes a key strategy in great leaders for their ability to have an impact on the world. Moses emerged from the wilderness to lead Exodus. David returned from the wilderness to become king. Paul ended his wilderness by launching his missionary journeys. On the cross, in the most profound aloneness the world has ever known, Jesus worked the salvation of the world.”
Tomorrow I will post a part of his conclusion. Stay tuned
When we told our kids that we will be moving to Japan a few years ago one of the first things that we told them was that we would go to Tokyo Disneyland after we moved. For the past two years we, as a family, talked, dreamed and imagined what it would be like when the four of us actually get to go.
(Check out our pictures from our first trip to Tokyo Disneyland)
Last Monday we kept our promise and took the family to Tokyo Disneyland! We had an amazing time! We couldn’t have asked for a better day. Everything about the day was great. It surpassed all our expectations that we had built up for the last 2 years. We were there from 8am to 10pm!
Right before we left the States one of our dear friends gave Elisa and Joshua some money to spend at Disneyland. It was an added blessing to an already blessed day. The kids literally were able to pick out anything they wanted out of the stores.
My Tuesday devotions were filled with thanksgiving for God’s goodness, my family and a great day of memories made.
Konnichiwa! We have met several foreigners here in Japan and I have always asked them the same question, “What do you love most about Japan?” The answer is always the same; “the people”. This is the reason we find ourselves living in a strange land, eating strange food, and communicating with a foreign language. We want to see the people of Japan, young and old, experience Jesus. So let us take you on a journey of our first month here in the land of the rising sun.
GETTING SETTLED
Arriving in August, Japan has certainly lived up to it name. There has been plenty of sunny weather. However, there has also been a great deal of humidity. You feel like you are constantly taking a shower all day long but are just never quite able to dry off. This has been our experience for August and most of September. Two weeks into our Japanese weather experience we were hit by a typhoon. It was an awesome experience to watch the wind whipping, the lightning flashing and the rain falling side ways in huge sheets. The kids were excited to be in the middle of a weather phenomenon that they had only read about.
Our housing experience began with living in a one room “mansion”. Don’t let the name fool you! It was simply a one room apartment that is rented by the week. It had a bathroom, small fridge, small washer and one burner stove. So, we had everything we needed! The apartment was located directly across the street from Hope Church which made it very convenient.
During our one week stay in the “mansion”, Joel began feverously working on the mounds of paperwork needed to rent a house along with many other things we had to register and sign up for. Our good friend, Tomoko in Portland, had found a house online for us a month before we left for Japan. It was in a perfect location, and was in great condition. We attempted to start the rental process from the states but were told we would have to wait until we arrived in Japan. With our one week apartment rapidly approaching the end, we realized we would not be in our house as soon as we would like. So, we gathered our many suitcases and moved across the street into Hope Church. Hope Church is located on the 3rd floor of a building with a game center being on the 2nd floor and a bowling alley on the 4th floor. For the next two weeks, we fell asleep to the sound of bowling balls crashing overhead!
God has perfect timing and we moved into our house 2 days before the moving company delivered our boxes. We are really enjoying our new house. It has ample storage, a big kitchen for Japanese standards, a carport and a storage room that we converted into Joel’s office. The neighborhood we live in is a quiet, desirable neighborhood 5 minutes from the church. However, it can take us 20-40 minutes to get to church on the weekends due to the traffic from the government sponsored horse racing. We live within blocks of a huge racing track. At times we will probably ride our bicycles to church to save time and not have to sit in traffic!
God also provided a perfect car for us. Joel started researching for a car as soon as we arrived and after a few weeks he had a real good handle on the Japanese used car market, which is totally different than the States. Joel wrote a detailed list of what we wanted and within a few days he found a used car at the Honda dealer that exactly matched the list. Perhaps God was waiting for us to be more specific with our needs. The price we paid was equivalent to a wholesale auction price but it came with the unmatched Japanese Honda dealer’s customer service and follow up care. For those who really care, we got a 2002 Honda Odyssey (Japanese version that is not sold in the States). Our favorite feature on the car is the navigation system. This is a must for the crowded maze of streets with no street names! If we don’t know where we are going all we need to do is to type in a telephone number of our destination and it will tell us how to get there.
HOPE CHURCH
We are part of a great church here in Japan. The pastor, Steven Kaylor, is Joel’s older brother. He was sent out by Pastor Frank Damazio to plant a church in Tokyo in 1991. Since then Hope Church has become a healthy growing church that is raising and releasing Japanese leaders with about 300 attending on Sundays. The church has welcomed us with open arms. Everyone has been so friendly and kind. Several members have donated furniture and invited us over for dinner. Just this past weekend we were invited to have Brazilian BBQ with a few Japanese Brazilian families. This BBQ is a dream come true if you are a meat lover and a nightmare if you are a vegetarian. Let’ just say that it was an excellent way to end the day.
Joel has jumped right in to church life and is part of the teaching team for the internship program. Hope Church has 17 young committed leaders enrolled in the program. Joel is thrilled to be involved in training and raising leaders from the first month of being here. These young leaders are truly the future of Japan!!
Joel also preached on one of the Sundays in September. His sermon was entitled “Lessons on the Power of Decisions from a Motorcycle.” As you can see from the picture he used the bike that he purchased as a visual aid. He actually rode the bike up the platform, which had never been done in the church history. The congregation loved his personal and sometimes funny way of sharing and the people are still talking about the sermon with the scooter. Even with an elevator, it was no small feat getting the scooter up to the 3rd floor!!
Kelly spoke at the bi-weekly women’s meeting. She shared a little of her testimony along with our vision for Osaka. It was well received. Hopefully, she will be able to share again, in the future, without a translator!
FROM WHERE WE STAND
(In their own words)
Elisa- I love Japan. I really like the food here. Hope Church (the church that I am going to) is great but I miss City Bible Church a lot. A few weeks ago we had Hope Kids Worship. It was really fun. We worshipped, had a treasure hunt and had cookie time. In a few months we will go to Tokyo Disneyland. I’m so excited.
The only thing I do not like about staying in Japan is that I miss my American friends. We started school a few weeks ago and Joshua and I do homeschool. I got my bike a few days ago. My bike is blue. I like it even though it is not my favorite color (My favorite color is GREEN.) I still like it a lot.
Joshua-I really like Japan. I got a new bike that shows me how fast I’m going; up to 30 km/hour! We took a very long bike ride and we found this really fun park. It had a really long slide with rollers on it that makes you go really fast. I like riding my bike to the store, or the train station or church. Sometimes the roads are so small that there is no room for my bike and a car at the same time so the car has to wait for me to go!!
CULTURE CORNER
Groceries
Well, I (Kelly) have already received many comments from all of you regarding the expensive peanut butter ($4 for a tiny jar). I would have to say that my shopping experience has not improved. Everything is still very expensive. After shopping at the cheapest food store in our city, called “Terao”, I have come to the conclusion that everything costs approximately 3 times as much. So, take your food bill for the month and triple it and that is about what we pay! A very wise person told me that to live in Japan you just need to know that everything is going to be expensive and to not worry! I have decided to adopt this method of thinking even though I pay 150 Yen for 6 slices of breadJ
Transportation
There are many modes of transportation in Japan. Train, car, scooter, bicycle and of course, walking. Due to the limited amount of space on these four main islands, everything is measured. Before we were able to purchase our car, we had to prove that we had a place to park it. Furthermore, someone was sent out to our house with the express purpose of measuring our carport to make certain that our car would indeed fit!
Convenience is very important aspect of Japan. On almost every corner there is a 7-11. Most are open 24 hours and carry a variety of items from rice balls to movie tickets to underwear. You can also pay your bills at the 7-11. This convenience also extends to vending machines. They are everywhere. We have one at the end of our street. Pop machines stand next to cigarette and beer vending machines. You can use your cell phone to purchase from these machines which adds to the convenience.
GOD’S FAVOR & PROVISION
We have seen God’s miraculous provision and guidance in everything that we do. Hopefully, this newsletter is a testimony to God’s goodness. Our time here has been filled with His presence and a reassurance that we are in His will. Thank you so much for your constant prayers and financial support.
Finances for Getting Settled
We praise God for His provision. He has time and again proven Himself faithful. The amount we needed for getting settled has been supplied thanks to your generosity and sacrifice in giving.
Finances for Monthly Expenses
Our monthly budget is $5,000 a month. We currently have about $3,700 coming in on a monthly basis. We are almost there, but obviously we need a little more to reach our goal. If you have already committed to a monthly donation we are so grateful and appreciate your faithfulness. If you are not committed on a monthly level will you prayerfully consider sponsoring us and investing in Japan as we move forward in God’s plan for this wonderful, but spiritually needy country.
We are so blessed to have so many good friends believing in us and praying for us. We are looking forward to sharing many more exciting reports with you.
Joel, Kelly, Elisa & Joshua Kaylor
To Contribute Financially
1. Secure Online Giving via City Bible Church.
Click HERE and it will give you simple instructions for City Bible Church’s online giving.
2. By Check
payable to:
City Bible Church
9200 NE Fremont
Portland, OR 97220
Note in the memo line: Joel & Kelly Kaylor- Japan
