What we've been up to...

So, it's been about 3 weeks since I've last posted.  3 very full weeks.

First off, we've moved and settled in to our new apartment.  One of the major last steps to settling has been getting internet in our house and installing a wifi router.  Check. 

There are only a couple of things left, and then that will be all accomplished.  That is saying a lot considering we bought almost all of our furniture and furnishings from Ikea, which means hours of manuals, packages of screws (we have some left over...), TONS of cardboard, and teamwork.

But we are all set up and ready to go.

Vicente is now 2 weeks into language school.  The first week they work on simple phrases and hiragana (the simplest of the Japanese writing systems).  The second week they start the actual text.  But going to school meant buying the necessary books, notebooks, pencils, etc., and setting up a commuter pass to save $10 a month on travelling back and forth on the train, helping Vicente to figure out what trains to take, which side of the tracks he wants to be on to go the right direction, actually getting into the jam-packed rush hour trains, etc.  And then the 10 minute walk to school once he arrives at the station.  So, there's more to "Vicente started school" than just "Vicente started school." 

We've gotten a million other practical things accomplished, which I will enumerate in my next post entitled "Triumphs". 

But some of the more exciting, less mundane (but necessary) things that we've been up to are meetings with the leadership here to discuss their models of ministry and discipleship, etc.  We're pretty stoked-- Fuse operates with cell groups, which sounds simple enough.  But cell groups are a great place to get newcomers involved and a place for evangelism.  Within the cell groups, people engage in one on one discipleship relationships, where their goal is to obviously become more like Jesus.  When you bring someone new to the cell group and they get saved, then it's your responsibility to disciple them.  Once the group gets big enough, it multiplies.  Fuse has a vision to see the groups multiply to form 10 new groups this year.

The main focus of our team is to take very, very good care of everyone who comes through the door.  We don't want to see anyone escape through the back door, but want to take very good care to produce healthy, reproducing sheep.  :)

So, we're a part of 2 cell groups right now (we'll be just helpers in one), one is a English and Japanese group, another is a Portuguese/Spanish/Japanese group.

Vicente and I have been able to connect with lots of people and we're excited to serve these groups.  Our goal is to be leading a group by the end of the year for sure.

We've discovered that things can get really busy really quickly, so we are trying to be wise in protecting our study time and our family time.  We don't want to sacrifice our long-term usefulness for short-term effectiveness.  There's got to be balance!

So that's what we've been up to.  Getting set up.  Study.  Church.  Cell groups.  Prayer meeting.  Communicating with people in the States. 

Well friends, we will connect with you later this week!  Take care!