In March, we had the pleasure of hosting our pastor's family from Rockville, Maryland. They are serving with a C&MA church and have a community center to reach out to the Japanese in the area. Jonathan has met so many doctors here in Japan who had stints at the NIH, in the DC/Rockville area, and is convinced their church & center are strategically placed. We were so blessed by their friendship while we were in the DC area and continue to be challenged with their bold steps of faith to further God's kingdom! We're so thankful that we get to see them sometimes here in Japan and continue our partnership in the Gospel!
These are our Japanese language teachers, who are just wonderful. We are so thankful for each of them, as they are more like friends helping us delve into all sorts of topics in Japanese. Here we are celebrating a farewell dinner for one of Jonathan's teachers, who is taking a leave from work to have her first baby, a little girl. We miss her, but are very happy for her family and were able to give her a bilingual children's Bible as a gift. 
Just after baseball's opening day, Jonathan broke out the barbecue grill & we had a going away party for a friend headed to Christ for the Nations Bible school in Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan. Here are some of the well-wishers.
After eating, several from the group performed for everyone, sharing their gifts & talents. Here are some of the ladies doing hula worship, which is quite popular in our church. I don't think hula is originally from Japan, but our church has a close relationship with a Hawaiian church and many of our members have enjoyed bringing the concept of hula worship here to Japan.
After all that, it's nice to just kick-back & relax! We are very blessed to have a place that can be relaxing & refreshing to many. We are so thankful for the location & ease people have to come, as we love to have guests!
This is Kendra with her conversation partner. She & Kendra exchange Japanese & English conversation about once a week. We are fortunate to live nearby each other & have really been made to feel at home here in Kobe, thanks to her friendship! In April we celebrated her birthday together over lunch at a nearby crepe restaurant.
This is a family that we are friends with from church. Kendra & the mom were studying a book on prayer together for awhile. We enjoyed a picnic together in Kobe's herb park. Here they are overlooking the city.
After our picnic, the girls especially enjoyed walking in the grass barefoot & rolling down the hill...."goro-goro" it's called :-) Many homes in the city & suburbs don't have much lawn to speak of, so the park is a welcome place of green!
These are friends that go "way back" to when Kendra was here as a single, English teacher. They have become family friends visiting the States and they were even at our wedding. We were able to meet up for an evening this spring & share a meal together. They continue to be like family in Japan!
This is another couple from church in our couples Bible study. It happened that our study fell the day before the wife's birthday, and we were able to have some birthday cake to celebrate!
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