Bryan married Jessica Lange on December 18! The bride was beautiful and the groom handsome!…but we might be biased. Their God honoring, warm, and family friendly wedding was held in St. Charles (greater St. Louis, Missouri), with the reception nearby.

Bryan and Jessica met in 2012 at their church (First Evangelical Free Church in Manchester MO) after Bryan began working as an engineer at Boeing in St. Louis. Jessica works as an occupational therapist in the school system.

Over a sixteen month period all three of our children have or are getting married. In May 2016 Kristy gave us a wonderful son-in-law, Matthew Fujiura. Jessica just became our first daughter-in-law. And we are looking forward to adding a second lovely daughter-in-law in August 2017 when Matthew Little marries Victoria Azagoh.

What a joy to hold our second baby dedication at TMC!

Baby Ray seemed right at home, falling asleep in Dale’s arms during the pastoral prayer on Sun Dec 4.

Born to loving parents who are TMC members from Japan and Bangladesh, we know that baby Ray will have many opportunities to be nurtured in the love and obedience of Jesus Christ.

In our TMC multicultural setting, it is possible to have several options for a Thanksgiving date. But US Thanksgiving, which was Nov 24 this year, is closest to the Nov 23 Japanese national holiday.

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Halloween is becoming increasingly prominent at retail outlets in Tokyo. It is not exactly the kind of holiday we want to celebrate at church!

But as an alternative to Halloween, on Oct 31 Ann threw a party for TMC’s Moms and Tots outreach English classes that would focus on animals of the Bible’s Noah narrative. The kids and their moms donned monkey masks, had fun playing animal games, learned about Noah and his ark full of animals, played in a model of the ark made from large cardboard boxes, and enjoyed some snacks.

For a first time event at TMC, this was fun! It provided another opportunity to share the Scriptures and develop personal relationships with young moms. Maybe Ann will do it again next year!

Two churches have visited Tokyo Multicultural Church in the past few months, desiring to deepen their understanding of TMC and possibly partner with TMC in clothing the gospel with community (church planting).

Alicia Lim’s home church, Ottawa Chinese Bible Church, sent a team of young people to teach outreach English classes for one week at Soka EFC in late July and early Aug. We had an opportunity to lead them on a prayer walk in Sumida-ku, the area around TMC. The prayer walk ended with a meal at TMC and a time of sharing TMC’s vision. Read More…

We held our first TMC baby dedication on Sun Sep 25. One year old Baby Kai, born to our initial church planting core group couple, seemed to enjoy his view from the front looking over everyone taking pictures. We were blessed to have his grandma from London UK and grandparents from nearby Saitiama-ken join us for encouragement. God's hand of care and protection has been upon Kai because he was born prematurely and was in neonatal ICU for several months. No wonder we and his parents call him God's miracle baby!


And it was also great to have Mel Sayer, EFCCM Asia Director, share from the Word on this special TMC Sunday!

On July 20 in the mountains of Niigata-ken with Echigoyuzawa train station in the valley below, Bryan proposed to Jessica Lange. She tells us that indeed it was romantic! And Jessica was surprised because she had not expected Bryan to pop the question until they returned to Saint Louis after visiting us in Tokyo for several weeks.

Jessica has lived in St. Louis, Missouri for her entire life. She works as an occupational therapist in the public school system. Bryan has been working in St. Louis as a design engineer with Boeing since graduating from LeTourneau University in 2012. They met at their local church, First Evangelical Free Church of Saint Louis.

They are making plans for a December 2016 wedding. So it looks like two of our children will be married this year, and one next year! We pray for God's blessing and wisdom for Bryan and Jessica as they seek his will for their future life together.

We are pleased to announce that our son Matthew Little became engaged to Victoria Azagoh on June 11 in Fullerton, California!

Victoria is from the New England states. In July after completing their studies at Biola University (greater Los Angeles), they moved to Burlington, Vermont where Victoria began a management job with Abercrombie & Fitch. Matthew continues much of his movie production and marketing work online (check out The Unknowns), but is also seeking local employment.

We look forward to Matthew and Victoria's wedding in the summer of 2017! And we are praying that God will meet all their needs as they together seek how to become God's blessing to the nations.

Our Kristy became Mrs. Matthew Fujiura in Diamond Bar, California, on May 29, 2016. It was a wonderful, friendly, God-centered, and beautiful outdoor wedding—but maybe we are a little biased! The wedding perfectly reflected Kristy and Matthew, with family from both sides affirming that they were made for each other. Kristy and her Matthew are looking into new options for their life and work as together they seek the Lord in becoming a blessing to the nations.

See many more pics here.

So we now have three sons and one daughter. But we might be getting another daughter-to-be soon!

Jon Prins has been making plans to return to Japan in order to join our TMC missionary staff for several years. He arrived in God's perfect timing on Apr 16! He and his wife planted several EFC churches in Japan before she passed away due to cancer. He serves with the EFCCM. Read More…

Alicia, an EFCCM one year intern from Ottawa Chinese Bible Church, arrived in Tokyo on Mar 11. She will be teaching evangelistic English classes five days a week at TMC and two other EFC churches in greater Tokyo.
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In January we applied the remaining approximately CAN$14,500 from the EFCCM Japan Disaster Fund to Onagawa Megumi Project for their moving and set up expenses of their new shop on the new promenade in Onagawa, as well as for the relocation of their trailer. We are grateful that the Lord continues to use the Megumi Project to bring his grace (= “megumi”) and love to a town hit by one of the highest tsunamis (30 meters) on March 11, 2011. Read More…