Harvest Chapel Concert

“The Harvest is Plentiful but the Workers are Few…”

- Rebecca Eastall

This year our team had the opportunity to be part of an overnight retreat at Harvest Church. We lead worship, played games, had a BBQ and spent time at the bath house all before rising to a homemade breakfast the next morning. It was an incredible time to spend with the families that attend Harvest and to encourage them, to support them and to let them know that we are behind the ministry that they are doing.

Harvest has come a long way in the last couple of years. I’m sure those who were here 2 years ago could tell you more but even from last year when I was here – Harvest was merely a bare warehouse being used for a church. Since then it has been insulated, the dry wall has been put up, the walls have been painted, a new sound system has been purchased and on the outside it’s coming together quite nicely. It’s incredible to see how it’s being transformed outwardly, but the core of the church is its members and right from the very beginning the members of Harvest have been steadfast and faithful.

Our team had the chance to play a concert at Harvest in the last week that we were here. The Harvest concerts are always my favourites. They are filled with lively music, great fellowship and amazing food. It was amazing to see the results of God’s faithfulness as He brought out many non-believers to the concert.

All in all, it was a time filled with laughter and joy as we were able to spread the Good News through song and dance.

I pray that God continues to raise up leaders at Harvest and that He continues to draw more and more people to Him through this ministry.

University Chapel Time

It was an awesome privilege for our team to be able to sing for a chapel service at Hirosaki Gakuin University. It was difficult at first to prepare because there were some very specific requests regarding songs and style. However, our team ended up arranging two acapella hymns and took advantage of the fact that every member of our team could sing! These two acapella songs ended up being a musical highlight for some of our team members and were well received by the people at the chapel service. After the service, we were treated to lunch in one of the school cafeterias and had the opportunity to hear more about the history of the school. The school is a Christian school, but contains very few practicing evangelical Christians. The school is well known for its English program and receives a large number of students coming to study English, often ignoring the fact that it is a Christian institution. After lunch, our team was able to play a contemporary set of worship songs at a welcoming party for 4 exchange students coming from Wisconsin. It was amazing to see so many people excited about this style of church music and we hope that it will change some people’s perceptions on what church might be. Harvest Chapel is an easy bus ride from the school and we hope that one day, there will be a large number of University students coming to worship and be part of the Harvest church community.

June 6 Concert

We are having a concert at Harvest Chapel.

June 6th at 4pm.

Everyone is welcome.

The Tyndale University and Seminary Team is here!

Potluck evening meal after the concert.

Mochi making

On January 23rd, we had a mochi making party. Mochi is a traditional Japanese treat made of sticky rice. After being steamed, the rice is pounded with a wooden mallet.

After the grains all merge into 1 big sticky mass, it is separated into bite size pieces. A variety of toppings are put on and eaten with gusto.

Before and after eating a number went sliding on the hill beside the chapel. We really had fabulous weather.

Harvest Official Opening

Nov 15th was a day prepared for over a year. The building renovation had proceeded rather slowly over the 17 months since taking possession. And we never felt we could have a grand opening until we were able to welcome people. God had sent 3 teams to help. One to clean out the garbage, one to hang drywall, and a team at the last minute to paint and clean. So altho the place still only had plywood floors and unputtied drywall(albeit painted), the parking lot was done and the building was warm and bright and clean.

Rain poring down did not dampen people's spirits as we celebrated God's goodness and committed to preaching the gospel.

To God be the glory.

English class at Harvest

English Lesson at Harvest. By Kathryn

My first time at an English lesson in Japan. At first, when all the mums and children started arriving, I thought it was going to be a lesson for mums, but soon I found out that it was the children that were doing the lesson and the mums sat around and chatted like a little coffee group which was quite nice. Four children were present for the lesson. They had lots of energy and were quite enthusiastic about learning English. There was a bit of a distraction with fresh snow outside waiting to be disturbed but nonetheless they were a lovely class to be with. We started the lesson with introductions and the children thought it was very funny that my nickname was Kat. Then we went through the alphabet doing letter sounds and saying a word that had the letter sound in it. We also did flash card that the children flipped over and had to say the word shown on the card. Finally, we sang an action song which was really nice. It was a great experience to see what happens at an English lesson and it motivated me a bit more to complete my studies in New Zealand and possibly come back to Japan to teach English some day.

Decorating the tree

Today after English class at Harvest a number of people decorated the tree. Mostly kids were present. The tree is from the former forestry department who have a number of very tall trees. I am allowed to cut the tree down for 3ooo yen- a steal!! The tree was about 30 feet tall so I received a bit of firewood too. Happy camper.