Well, still no pictures, but I will give a little update. We just left today to start a two week traveling trip. Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures soon if we get wireless internet! We are in St. Louis for the next couple of days. We are visiting with some of Luke's family here as well as Harvester, a church that supported us over the last year. Next we move on to Colorado to go to MTI- Mission Training International for a Debriefing and Renewal program. After Colorado we will be in Iowa and Illinois to visit churches, friends and more of Luke's family. We are really looking forward to these next two weeks of being with friends and family that we haven't seen for a LONG time.
The boys are both doing really well. Sterling has continued to spend every day on the farm. Nelson gets bigger every minute. Luke has also been working on the farm and I've been trying to set up house.
Hopefully we'll have pictures soon...Hope to see everyone on our cross country tour!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Two Week Trip
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
We are...
So, where in the world are the Chase's? We are settling into a farm house that my dad owns in Greencastle, Indiana, where my family and our sending church is located. We have been in a whirlwind since the moment we stepped off the plane.
Our journey began Wednesday morning last week. Our neighbor, Kazuko and her daughter Miku helped take us to the bus station and while we were there Sterling's teacher as well as my teacher showed up to say "Sayonara!" It was a very emotional and sad departure- we have made such great friends in Japan and it was very hard to say goodbye. We took a 1 1/2 hour bus trip to the airport and once we got there, we had to spend an our just at the check in counter. It was so difficult! We had so many bags and carry-ons that the people at the ticketing counter were making it very hard on us. To make a long story short, we had to go through many, many obstacles and hurdles before FINALLY making it to America after 24 hours of travel.
We spent one night at my parent's house before we moved into the farm house. It had absolutely nothing in it- no furniture, no refrigerator, no oven, nothing! It was also very dirty because no one has lived there for quite a while. But Luke's mom came in the day after we arrived and with the help of her and Tom as well as all of my family, we are starting to make it livable! Some good friends are loaning or letting us use some of their things, so we are thankful for all the people who have been so generous to us in our return to the States.
As for now, we are just trying to set up house and get over jet lag. We are also trying to get a reliable car- right now we're borrowing my parent's car every day! We don't have internet at our house yet, so I only get to check my email every few days at my parent's house. As soon as we get it at our house I will have lots of pictures to put up!
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Ohanami 2009
On Friday we went to a cherry blossom viewing festival with our neighbors, Kimio san, Kazuko san, and Miku. It was so fun! There were so many interesting foods, people, and beautiful trees, of course. It was at the Okazaki castle so Kyle got to see a lot of very interesting Japanese cultural things.
These two didn't sit long at the picnic before they were up running around.
Walking through the beautiful tree lined sidewalks.
Kyle, me and Nelson with Miku and her parents.
What a great picture of the 5 of us at the Ohanami Festival!
Miku and Sterling had a blast running around and playing. We let them play one game so they got little prizes. Sterling got a chocolate covered banana- he actually didn't like it all that much :)
By the end of the day Nelson's face was a little sunburnt- I felt really bad! I didn't even think about it since the weather wasn't hot, it was just really beautiful out all day.
Friday, April 03, 2009
The Last Week
We took Kyle to Nagoya Port on Thursday. We went inside a ship that has been turned into a museum. We also went to another museum and an observation deck that looks out over the port. It was really cool- Sterling loved all the buttons on the boat. The picture of Luke and I was on the subway ride home.
Sterling was so exhausted the other day that he fell asleep reading his books!
On Wednesday the girls all went out to lunch for a mini baby shower for Caitlin. It was really fun to get together for one last time. The babies were so cute together!
On Monday we took Kyle to Osu Kannon. It's a buddhist temple in Nagoya with a really big shopping area all around it. The only person who ended up buying anything was Luke!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Kyle's first weekend in Japan
Uncle Kyle got here on Thursday! Sterling was so excited. Him and Luke rode the bus to go get him. The first day he was here we took him to the mall play area.
We spent the weekend with my teacher's family and it was such a great weekend. We spent Friday and Saturday night there. We had sushi the first night and Kyle thought it was pretty good- although more like an appetizer than actually dinner :) They played skip bo and Luke won, of course.
On Saturday we went with them to the Aichi Expo park. It is a huge park with outside and inside play areas. Sterling loved it and Kyle was a big hit with the kids. He played tag with them and chased them all over the place.
We had okonomiyaki for dinner on Saturday night. It is Japanese style pancakes with cabbage, shrimp, potatoes and onions. They are topped with pork,sauces, seaweed and dried fish flakes. We liked them a lot!
The school that Sterling has gone to all year had a going away party for us on Sunday. It was an afternoon tea party and it was so much fun! The teachers completely spoiled us with all kinds of treats.
One of the teacher's did a traditional Japanese tea ceremony for us. It is very proper with all kinds of rules about how to drink the tea and how to hold the cup. We all enjoyed it- even the guys!
One of the teachers brought kimonos for us to try on- it was so cool!
Sterling's teachers and us.
The teachers gave the kids origami and Japanese books for going away presents.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Special Update on our Family
For those of you who haven't received this letter, we wanted to make sure you had a chance to read it from us :
Dear Friends and Family,
You all have been God’s blessing to us and our family as we have served in Thailand and now Japan in efforts to spread God’s love and grace. Our time as “foreign missionaries” has been short in the grand scheme of things, but wow, have we had some great experiences! We have had the privilege to meet many amazing people along the way, witness God working and moving in the lives of people who for the first time have heard the name Jesus, see some of God’s amazing physical beauty that he put here for our enjoyment, all the while we have been exposed to some of the world’s most delicious food.
While our time in Japan has mainly been devoted to studying the Japanese language we have had many opportunities to share with Japanese people of God’s love and salvation. We have been blessed to live in an apartment complex with a few families who also have young kids; which has made for a natural connection and lots of laughs. There have also been a few people that our entire team has been able to witness to and build relationships with. We think it is only a matter of time before some of these people make decisions for the Lord. We praise God and give him all the glory and we pray that this is just the beginning of fruit that will be seen by the team.
However, life is going to change for us. We will be leaving the ministry of Mustard Seed Global Fellowship. This past year has been full of challenges. We, along with members of the MSGF advisory board, have come to a decision that we would all work more effectively for the kingdom if our family left the ministry. It has not been a good fit and everyone is at peace with this decision.
We are very sad about this. This is not what we had planned or wanted. We do not believe this is what God had planned or wanted either. We are currently trying to gain perspective and insight on what God would have us do. We have grown to love the Japanese people, we have invested in the language, and we have tried our best to give ourselves to these people. So, now to be leaving after such a short time feels agonizing to us.
We have treasured each one of you from day one and we will always be grateful for God’s grace in providing you as partners with us in reaching more people for Christ. We are by no means done serving the Lord, but we are going to take some time to visit family and churches as well as seeking God’s will for what he would have us do next. We have already explored other ministry opportunities in Japan to see if God would open a door for us to serve alongside an existing church here. Over the last several weeks we have talked with many pastors and ministries to see if God would open a door for us to serve. Even though the need in Japan is huge and there is definitely a need for ministers of the gospel, we believe God is leading us in a different direction. We will be returning to the U.S. to rest a little before seeking a new ministry stateside.
We cannot begin to express to you our sense of gratitude and overwhelming thankfulness for your partnership with us in spreading God’s great love to the nations. We have been honored to serve in this way for the last few years in Thailand and Japan. Our hearts will forever be changed by our experiences of living in other cultures and we desire more than anything to continue to minister in an effort to spread God’s love to the nations.
Sincerely,
Luke, Kacie, Sterling, & Nelson Chase
Please change our email addresses to:
lukerchase@yahoo.com
kaciechase@yahoo.com
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Maku and Luke's class
We went to McDonald's the other day with Miku and her mom. In Japan they call it "Maku" for short because in Japanese it is pronounced "Ma-ku-do-na-ru-do-su". Luke and all the kids sat in the back of the van, it was pretty funny. Sterling and Miku had a blast running and playing and being goofy together. Nelson slept! 
Luke's classmates came over to visit last Friday because it is their last quarter. They have all been in class together pretty much since we started at this language school. Syaka is from Taiwan and Neil is from England. And then there's Andy too!
