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Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you for your prayers for the many activities over the last few months. In May, Shan Reed, a church member, the boys, and myself participated in the JBC annual gathering of churches. It is always a great time to get together with fellow members for fellowship and encouragement. This year we had small group discussions on various theological ideas and it was a blessing to 
discuss God’s word and its meaning. It is always good to sharpen our understanding and enrich our relationship with God. Our church’s ladies seminar in the same month was on personal devotion times, how to enrich those times and to hear from the Spirit. There were ladies there from 8 different churches who were excited to learn and encouraged to go back to their churches and share with the other ladies of their church. In June we had our second Gospel Café time featuring our two Gospel choirs; the adults and the kids. It was a great time of worshipping the Lord and being encouarged.
May and June were also filled with vistiors from The United States. In May we were belssed to be able to meet up with a team from Magnolia Baptist Church, CA, who have sponsored a home-stay program which also involved teaching the participants Bible and English. It was good to put faces to the names and spend an evening getting to know these dear people who have opened their hearts and homes to various students and JBC members who have participated in the progarm. June brought a young man to our home, Caleb Chapman. He graduated last year from KCS and wanted to surprise his graduating friends from this year. We were happy to keep his secret and give him a place to stay. This was also an opportunity for him to visit his home here in Japan before entering college in the fall.
The Triennial was a great experience for Rev. and Mrs. Mineo Taniguchi and Rev. and Mrs. Kensaku Higashi. Their hearts were blessed and filled with excitement as they experienced God’s work through NAB around North America and the world. It was a busy and blessed time for Paul as he translated 
meetings and conversations for the couples. Thank you to everyone who met these dear people in Christ and made their time in the States wonderful. We are praying that the relationships started during the Triennial will grow and God would enable teams to minister on both sides of the ocean.
We had our annual summer conference this year in the area of Mount Fuji. Dr. and Mrs. Alan Steier joined us as we studied from Ravi Zacharias; discussing how to better defend our faith. It was a time of relaxation and laughter as well. Since we were in the area the Ewing 5 and Shan Reed decided to climb Mount Fuji. Traditionally one climbs at night and sleeps a few hours in a “cabin” and then completes the climb to see the sunrise. We decided to climb and descend in one day. We started at 9 a.m. and finished just after 8:30 p.m. It was an amazing climb and we are happy to have done it but it was not easy. As this is Noah’s last year in Japan before home assignment and then entering college we are trying to do some extra activities as a family to create memories to leave with him.
God did not disappoint in the awesomeness of His creation.
As the new school year begins for Noah and Jonah and Elijah’s continues after summer break we would continue to ask for prayer as they shine their lights for Jesus. As they grow up in this ever changing world we pray that God’s Spirit will continue to work in their lives. We are also looking forward to the weekly church activities starting up after the summer break and another ladies’ seminar on September 29.
Blessings,
Paul and Melissa Ewing