Where are Bob & Chris in Japan December 28

Happy New Year from the Kyushu District of the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church. Chris and Bob worshipped today at Oeh Lutheran Church where Bob preached. The pastor was not at the church so worship was conducted by a lay member of the congregation This was Taniguchi Sensei a history professor at Kyushu Gakuin who was in seminary at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary with Pastor Bob in 1995. He earned a Master of Arts in Religion in his two years at Southern. He and his children and his wife Mikki enjoyed their time in South Carolina. The Byrnes , Taniguchi’s and Iwaski’s spent Christmas day touring Mt. Aso . They enjoyed the time to tour and share memories of seminary days. Bob and Chris were also blessed to have their two sons Michael and Steven in Kumamoto for Christmas Day. Today they were in worship together. The called pastor of Oeh church was not in worship but he was not taking a Sunday off after the hectic Advent season leading up to Christmas. He was serving at Uto Church. It is a small congregation about 30 minutes from Kumamoto. It is not uncommon for the pastors in Kumamoto to also take responsibility for another smaller country parish. Worship this Sunday at Oeh church was warm and lively. Pastor Bob & Chris were thankful the time to be with these brothers and sisters in Christ. After worship they shared some sweet cakes and tea. All looked forward to the coming New Year’s Holiday in Japan. It is the largest celebration in the country in the winter season. This year the new year of the cow will begin and the year of the rabbit will end. On New Years Day Bob will preach to an ecumenical service at Kengun Lutheran Church.

Keep praying,

Zen Ben