Joel & Kelly Kaylor

December 2008

Monthly Archive

Wed 31 Dec 2008

Bridge between 2008 & 2009–Part 1

As it turned 2009 this week I have been feeling as though I am standing in the middle of a bridge between 2008 & 2009. 2008 was the best year for me in so many ways. 2008 was a significant year in my life in moving forward and 2009 is a continuation of 2008. I am not “closing the door” on 2008 like have done with other years, but I look back and I rejoice in God’s specific guidance, provision, preparation and addition!

Here are some of my highlights of 2008:

God spoke to me very specifically and very clearly about Osaka during all three trips that I took to Osaka during the year.
Started interpreting once a month for a week for a Bible college. This has been an incredible opportunity of growth, experience and training.
Started a daily business podcast for Japanese businessmen. This not only has proven to be an excellent in road into the business community, it is a great experience in developing my communication skills.
I had the honor of baptizing Elisa and Joshua on Fathers Day!
Both Elisa and Joshua have grown in their relationship with God.
Elisa and Joshua enrolled into a Japanese public school and are excelling!! We are so proud of them.
I opened an bank account for our Osaka church plant.
Taught theology to the Hope Church interns. This has been very rewarding experience seeing the students grow in the Lord in response to what I was teaching. There is nothing else like leading others to a growing relationship with Christ.
God is building our church plant team. In addition to our family, we now have two very talented and committed young couples and one young women. I am very excited to who else will be added to our already incredible team!

In a nut shell 2008 was a year of provision, preparation and addition as we launch our church in 2009!

How has God provided, prepared and added to your life for your future?

Sun 21 Dec 2008

My Parent’s Book–Promo Video

Posted by admin under Ministry , Books , My Parent's Autobiography , Missions
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Some of you know that my parents wrote a great autobiography of their almost-60 years in Japan as missionaries, church planters, pastors, parents and teachers. If you want to be inspired and encouraged to fulfill God’s call on your life this is a must read. I can honestly say that it is the best modern day missionary biography that you will ever read.

The Japanese version is releasing this week. Check out the video promo: VIDEO PROMO: click here!

Pick up your own copy–you won’t regret it!

Japanese version: ORDER HERE or send an email to order@hopechurch.jp

English version: ORDER HERE

Wed 17 Dec 2008

Japanese Youth Are Open

Posted by admin under Vision , Ministry , Japanese Culture , Osaka , Church Plant
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Pastor Rob Plummer with Jesus Lifehouse posted THIS BLOG last week and I was very encouraged. They recently did a few polls by interviewing 200 young people in Osaka and found that 95% of them believe there is a God and that He is good. And most of them said they would be interested in knowing Him as well.

As we prepare to go to Osaka to plant a church in a few months, it is reports like this that excite me! The harvest is ripe. Imagine what can happen! Imagine the next generation of leaders having a strong relationship with Jesus influencing their society! This is what I want to give my life to. This is what our church will do–Raising Leaders that Build the Church and Impact Society.

Thank you Pastor Rod for posting this blog!

Sun 14 Dec 2008

12 Years of Marriage

Posted by admin under Family , Tokyo
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Today, December 14th, is our 12th wedding anniversary! It is hard to imagine it has actually has been 12 years.

When we got married we were in Portland, Oregon, full of vision and hope for the future, TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER and not much money.

Our dream was to was to move to Japan to plant and strengthening churches in Japan.

12 years later (with 2 kids and one on the way) we still have a lot of dreams, very excited about the future, WE ARE MORE IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER, and we still don’t have much money. However, we are living our dreams! Can life really be this good? Am I going to wake up and it all be a dream? NO! This is reality! This is life how it is supposed to be–Fulfilling your dreams with the people that you love!

Totally excited about taking my wife out to a nice restaurant at Disney Sea tonight. Hoping to catch a show or two from the restaurant terrace as it is right on and overlooks Disney Sea–Just trying to take advantage of the sites of Tokyo and I figured our anniversary was a good excuse:)

Sat 13 Dec 2008

IT’S A GIRL!

Posted by admin under Family , My Kids
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We just found out that we are expecting a girl!!

(For those that haven’t heard we are expecting our 3rd child on April 1st–no fooling!. We have Elisa-1o and Joshua-7.)

We wanted to find out the sex ahead of time and the ultrasound at the doctor’s appointment was clear. The doctor was quite sure that it is a girl!

We didn’t have a preference, but as soon I found out that it is a girl a whole new set of emotions weld up! ANOTHER little princess in my house! Another little girl that I can kuddle with! The emotions I felt (and continue to feel) were totally unexpected. It was like I instantly bonded with her!

I love this feeling! I AM HAVING ANOTHER GIRL!!

I don’t care if it is illegal in Japan, I am going to have to buy another shot gun to keep the boys away from my girls:)

Thu 4 Dec 2008

Agape TV

Posted by admin under Ministry , Devotions
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I had the opportunity to record three morning devotionals for www.Agapetv.jp that will air in December. AgapeTV is a website with daily video devotionals with 8,500 viewers. My three devotions will air on December 5th (today), 19th and the 26th.

They assigned me the passages ahead of time. I had one from Luke and two from Hosea. The two scriptures from Hosea were judgemental passages! Yes! my favorite…….NOT! How do you encourage people from a judgemental, negative passage? Believe it or not God really helped me develop some encouraging points and actually made the three into a mini series:

Dec 5–God wants to use you more than you want to be used by God
Dec 19–God wants to help you more than you want God to help you
Dec 26–God wants to develope a relationship with you more than you want to develop a relationship with Him.

It is all in Japanese, but you can check it out HERE

click on the third link from the top (the links on the left side the screen)
click on 12/5

Here is the MP3 version

I must say that I am my biggest critic. One of my passions is to encourage people so I LOVED doing this kind of stuff, but I am not used to speaking into a camera and using notes at the same time. Watching and listening to yourself if NOT fun, but is the best way to improve on your speaking skills. Bare with me as I practice on you guys:)

Got any thoughts on the content or advice as to how I can improve?

Thu 4 Dec 2008

School Marathon

Posted by admin under Japanese Culture , My Kids , Japanese School , Elisa , Joshua
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Elisa and Joshua’s school had a marathon today. Each grade ran a “marathon” that lasted about 4 minutes. As you can see everyone wore their PE clothes and it was very hard to find my kids, even with my tall, blue eyed, blonde kids. I heard some moms say that the only way to tell who your child is by the color of their socks:)

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS and you will know what I mean.

I was so proud of Elisa and Joshua for crossing the finish line!!!!

Tue 2 Dec 2008

Kaylor Newsletter

Posted by admin under Newsletter
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Christmas decorations and music have been in stores here since the beginning of October. There is no waiting until after Thanksgiving in Japan or anywhere else for that matter! Hope Church is planning a Hope Kids Christmas program as well as a gospel Christmas concert. Both these events are great avenues to invite the unsaved. We are so excited for these opportunities.

English Classes

I (Kelly) have started teaching a new English class in the home of one of the ladies of Hope Church. We meet once a month. It started several months ago with just my friend and another friend from Hope Church but has now grown to include 3 more women, two of whom are unsaved mothers from Joshua and Elisa’s school. It has been so much fun and we always manage to bring the conversation around to Hope Church and Jesus. When many Japanese hear the word “church” they immediately think of a Catholic cathedral with stained glass and people attending Mass. We are demonstrating that church is so much more than all that!

Cultural Notes

I have shared in a previous newsletter about the kid’s school lunches. Both Elisa and Joshua love the lunches. They always come home and ask me to please make what they had for lunch today. Well, being that their descriptive powers are somewhat lacking, it has been a challenge to replicate what they ate at school. Descriptions such as “it was long and green and chewy” or “it was round like a ball and tasted like a potato but it wasn’t” don’t really help with the cooking process! However, I discovered that the school website posts pictures of each day’s lunch. Now if they would just post a list of ingredients I would be set!!

Open School Day

Elisa and Joshua went to school on Saturday for a very special event called Open School Day. Each grade performed a song, and the parents were allowed to tour the classroom and observe the teachers as they taught. Elisa sang a song about Mongolia. It was very well done and each student wore a traditional Mongolian costume. Joshua also did a skit in his classroom where he played the part of an old man. He definitely enjoyed the limelight and added several dramatic elements that were not originally part of the skit.

Hope Church Planting Service

Hope Church recently had their membership seminar this past Saturday followed by their planting service on Sunday. 27 new members were planted in Hope Church, which is the largest Planting Service that they have had. It was an awesome time to see so many healthy, growing Christians being established in a wonderful vibrant church, many of them recently saved.

From Where We Stand

Elisa

Hey!!! At school there is going to be a marathon!!!! Every morning I go to school early and I run 500m a day!!!!! In one week I run 2000m. But since there is going to be a marathon we run about the 500m plus about 1000m. So I get really tired.

Joshua

Hi! This is Joshua. Last week I went to my friend, Hikaru’s house to spend the night. Elisa came too!. Hikaru has a girl beetle and a boy beetle. They are so cool. At school we are learning how to do the kendama and koma (top). They are very old Japanese toys. I can’t wait to go to Disneyland.

Cars for Charity

Stan and Sheryl Belefski are running a great program called “Cars for Charity”. If someone has a car they would like to donate then it can be processed through City Bible Church and the proceeds given to City Bible Church missionaries. Of course you can see where we are going with this. If you or someone you know would like to get rid of a car for tax purposes then we would be happy to receive the benefits through Cars for Charity. Check out their website for more details: www.mycarforcharity.com

Ministry

Joel is continuing to interpret on a monthly basis, create daily business podcasts and teach the Hope Church interns. He also had the opportunity to record three morning devotionals for www.Agapetv.jp that will air in December. AgapeTV.jp is a website with daily video devotionals with 8,500 viewers.

Joel met up with some old unsaved friends from Portland a few weeks ago. They were college students that we were reaching out to in Portland about 10 years ago. Since then they have returned to Japan, gotten jobs teaching, gotten married and had a baby. Joel had a great time reminiscing with them. Towards the end of their time together the couple asked Joel to pray for their baby. So right there in the middle of the train station Joel prayed for God’s blessings over the baby and that this baby would grow up to serve Jesus. They were very appreciative and receptive. Nothing like planting the seeds for salvation!

Osaka

Last night Joel and I sat down at the computer and began our search for housing in Osaka. We are looking in the area of Suita, Toyonaka or Settsu. These areas are to the north of downtown but are very close by train to central Osaka which is where we are planning to start the church. We have been so blessed with our house here in Tokyo. The rent here is very reasonable for the area and the school is great as well. So far we have not found anything comparable but we know that God can do the same housing miracle in Osaka that he did for us in Tokyo.

THANK YOU FOR PARTNERING WITH US!

We are completely relying upon financial support from individuals and churches to partner with our vision of raising and releasing leaders that will build and strengthen churches in Japan. Living in Japan is NOT cheap, but we have experienced God provide in amazing ways. If you have been supporting us we are so grateful as we wouldn’t be able to do what we are doing without you. If you have not supported us financially, would you prayerfully consider partnering with us? Imagine being a part of reaching Japan!

To Contribute Financially

(all financial contribution is tax deductible through City Bible Church)

1.Secure Online Giving at

A)www.CityBibleChurch.org – click on “Online Giving”

B) www.TheKaylors.org/support and follow instructions

2.By check payable to:

City Bible Church

9200 NE Fremont

Portland, OR 97220

Note in the memo line: Joel & Kelly Kaylor-Japan

Joel & Kelly Kaylor

December 2008

Bridge between 2008 & 2009–Part 1

My Parent’s Book–Promo Video

Japanese Youth Are Open

12 Years of Marriage

IT’S A GIRL!

Agape TV

School Marathon

Kaylor Newsletter

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