Unison Highlights

We’re back! 2007 December 10th-23rd has truly been a amazing experience for us and the mission team. Thank you for your prayers for us during this time. God has kept us safe and sound throughout the entire journey. Here’s a little update of what we did.

Nagano. BFEC since Campus Crusade for Christ Love Japan 2000 has been in touch with Jon Junker, a TEAM missionary serving in Nagano. Subsequently, Acapella music teams in 2002 and 2004 were organized to help with outreach efforts in the area. This time, Unison helped other evangelical churches connect with each other. Unison performed concerts in Azumino Family Chapel, Matsumoto Bible Gospel Church, and Abundant Life Church. The team also made a special trip up to Nirokura Kogen to visit Dan Junker, Jon’s brother and director of Northstar adventure lodge. That was also the first time for some members of the group to see snow!




Kanto region. Unison embarked on a grueling schedule of wide-ranging activities over here. We caroled at train stations, universities, and various house churches. We gave out Christmas evangelistic CDs on the streets. We sang to kids as young as 3 years old (children’s program at Hana Koganei) and older folk up to 82 years old (hospice at Akitsu). Thanks to Unison and by the grace of God, we also had encouraging turnouts at Tokorozawa YC and Ikebukuro HC. There were a good number of visitors and we hope to be able to know our new friends better in the future.

To every member of Unison we say “お疲れ様でした。Thank you for your hard work!” The team has for over a 2-week period performed no less than 20 times in Nagano and the Kanto region, and as a result most of us have lost our voices. We are grateful to the ministry of Arene, Chern Ee, Alawn, Cherylyn, Jill, Derek, Mark, Cheryl, Emerald, Xinyi and Toshi (not forgetting Luke & Laura!) Each of you has been a tremendous blessing to us and we thank you for your sacrifice of time and effort. You guys have made a significant impact over here and will be sorely missed… Arigatou Gozaimashita!

BFEC mission team

The mission team from our home church (Bethesda Frankel Estate Church) will be arriving tomorrow morning for a 2 week mission trip (10-23 Dec). The acapella singing group "UniSon", will be here to help spread the true Christmas message in churches around Nagano and Tokyo. Daniel & Joy will be joining in and singing along with them. Why are we called "UniSon" you wonder...

a. Unison has a musical association, and it sure is something we do when we sing.
b. the Son sits inside Unison, and this is evident in everything we they do and sing
c. Unison also means singing in one voice, which is biblical because we are of one body, and we serve One Lord.
d. Incidentally many in the team are from the UNIversity (someone suggested we follow a Japanese theme and call ourselves UniSONY!)

Anyway, everyone involved have been preparing for this trip for quite a while now, so it is great to know that we are coming to it very soon. Joy's sister Jill is in the team as well, so it will be a nice family reunion of sorts.

Please pray for:

Good health & protection. Winter season is on and somedays we will be doing street evangelism (singing outdoors at train stations). Please pray that God will preserve our voices and not succumb to the bitter cold. The team will also be taking the 5-hour drive from Tokyo to Nagano, so please pray for safety on the roads.

Responsive hearts. The team will be singing at numerous places and churches. Please pray that the Japanese who attend these concerts will be receptive to the Gospel message and respond to Christ's love. Most importantly, pray for the Lord's name to be glorified in all things.

JLPT

Today was our JPLT exam. The event that we have been anticipating so long for has come after hours of language classes, mugging through past exam papers, sleepless nights, downing coffee by the truckloads... The days leading to JLPT were a little nerve-wrecking especially since neither of us had sat for an exam like this for a long time, so we were relieved to have finally fulfilled our academic obligation for the year.

There were JLPT test centres all across the country. For us, we had ours at Saitama university. Apparently quite a large number of people were taking the exam there, as the buses to the university were incredibly crowded. Upon arrival, the drove of examinees filtered out to their test rooms located in various buildings in the university.

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test（日本語能力試験) consists of 3 sections namely vocabularly, listening and grammar, and there is a break after each one. Inclusive of breaks, the whole JLPT level 3 exam starts from 9.45 am till 2.35 pm.

Interestingly, there is a 'yellow card' and 'red card' warning system for exam regulation violations. If you engage in improper behaviour such as opening the question booklet before being instructed to, you will be 'cautioned', and if your handphone were to sound out during the listening section (questions are asked over the audio system), you will be immediately 'sent off'. Naturally, like soccer, if you are cautioned twice you will be ejected as well.

Anyway, many thanks to everyone who were praying for our JLPT exam. There were some difficult and tricky questions in the test paper, please pray that we will be able to pass. Results will be announced in mid-Februrary. Now we can finally concentrate in full on preparations for the busy program leading up to Christmas. The BFEC mission team will be coming up to Tokyo next week FYI. Things will get exciting when they come.