A little report about Japan

those "I'm in Japan" moments

Wow, just realized my last blog was from our first week in Japan! What an amazing trip, and I wanted to just share a little of what God did through your prayers and giving and our lives there in Japan.

First of all, our plans changed a lot from what we thought we would be doing. Instead of staying in Iwaki for 5 weeks straight, we ended up going back to Noborito every weekend to be with the PAZ churches, participating, learning, sharing, teaching, and encouraging our brothers and sisters in Christ. Micah & I worked a lot with the FUSE, a church for young adults led by Pastors Mark & Yuiko. We participated in the street evangelisms, church services including set up and tear down, life groups, even a beach camp!

FUSE worship team

During that time I was given several opportunities to share at the church and lifegroup which was really cool…I think it was my first time to share with translation (usually I’m the translator :)

During our weeks in Iwaki, Fukushima, many times our Brazil group was split up, so I got to do several different jobs. First we worked with Mr Sato cleaning out his brother’s house next door. The name of the game was throw pretty much everything away but you’re in Japan, so you have to sort all the trash to burnables, glass, metal, etc. The sorting was one of the hardest and longest parts, not to mention taking the trash by small truck-loads to the appropriate places, about 45min drive each way.

Joaquim, Mr Sato, and me

Our second job was cleaning a hotel and helping the owners get it back into working condition. The work wasn’t so heavy, but there was a lot of it, washing dishes, cleaning tatami, putting paper on windows (a real art, we learned it but didn’t master it, had to undo a whole day’s work one time :)

the hotel where we worked

But that was a long on-going job that we would skip every once in a while to work on a short, heavy job, then go back to the hotel. The whole hotel job was an amazing experience as it was during that job that I think our team felt the most culture shock, but through that the Lord taught us so much about serving cheerfully, lovingly, and whole-heartedly, even if it isn’t the kind of job we expected or hoped to be doing. Through that job I think we really touched the life of Abe-san, our driver/volunteer leader. At the end of our trip, when he was in Tokyo, he and his wife visited our church and participated in one of our Brazilian lunches. We believe if he hasn’t already that he soon will make his decision to follow the Lord.

you can see where their house was b/f the tsunami...

My third job with some other guys from our team was to tear down part of a factory of a family who we found out over lunch with them that the owner’s wife and sister died in the tsunami. We also were asked to clean a public location one day which we did while praying the entire time. Our last different job in Iwaki was to load and unload water and rice…the first day was a decent size truck with only 5 tons of water not counting the rice, but the second day was a semi of water! But the good thing about working at unloading with Brazilians is that in assembly lines we toss things instead of hand them off which I think is much easier :)

Finally our last place of working with disaster relief was near Sendai, the worst hit part of Japan. There we saw destruction like I’ve never seen before. We worked with Samaritan’s Purse in tearing out the destroyed floors and walls of houses so that the Samaritan’s Purse carpenters could

the ocean is on the opposite side of the building...

come in and replace them…of course that was only for the houses that weren’t completely destroyed, because the government wasn’t even allowing any new buildings to go up. We also took donated blankets from a church in the US to the temporary housing for displaced families. There we experienced some cold in the mornings around 4 degrees Celcius (39 degrees Farenheit) which was very nice just before coming back to warm Brazil.

The whole experience was amazing and I would definitely do it again. But I realize that what they need

integrating new people into the life of the church through fellowship

the most there are more full-time missionaries, not just the 2-month boosts. The harvest there is so ripe and so large, being one of the least evanglized countries in the world. And truthfully, the part I enjoyed the most wasn’t the hard work (which I loved) or the experience of a new country (and driving on the left side of the road, I was the only one with an international license so I drove a lot :), but the times I was with the FUSE, reaching out to the youth of Japan and sharing the vision of discipleship. Who knows, maybe God is calling me to Japan…let’s pray and see…and until then, let’s continue to grow and reach out where God has placed us now!

All my love,
Paul

1st week in Japan!

Micah (American/Korean MK to Brazil) pretending to explain this Japanese sign

So we made it and Japan is amazing! I’m very pleased to say even though everything is small here, I’m pleasantly surprised that it is not as small as I imagined :) Even though taking a shower sometimes is a challenge because if I open my arms, both my elbows hit the walls, I’m able to take nice warm showers, we have the nicest toilets in the world, and all beds fit me (since we sleep on the floor :)

Revival is coming to Japan!

One of the things I truly believe, and all the Christians here are saying the same thing, is that Japan is about to see a revival! It’s like you can feel it in the air, the people are getting to a point where they need something that is real, and as soon as they find it, they are going to take hold of it and never let go. I see so much joy in the lives of the Christians here, as if they just got saved yesterday! And their humility is humbling…I am learning so much from them!

Siteseeing w/ Brazil-Japan team

The first few days after we got here, because of a typhoon coming through, we stayed at U. Tim’s house and did some site-seeing and visiting some of the PAZ churches. Then early Monday morning we left for Iwaki from where we leave every morning to different areas to help with the disaster relief. The work has been hard, but we are all in great health and high spirits. Even though a lot has already been done, there is still a lot to go. There are still a lot of tractors at work, but we have focused more on individuals who have asked for help to go through their stuff to either throw away or wash and clean. We have had several opportunities to share the gospel and we believe God is working on people’s hearts.

Evangelism w adolescents after soccer game :)

This weekend we are going back to Noborito to spend more time with the PAZ church leaders and participating in the church services, and should be returning Monday or Tuesday. I’m excited to see what all the Lord has in store for us! Oh, and please be praying for me as I will be sharing at the Fuse (the new young adult church) this Sunday.

Love you all and am counting on your prayers! You are the best!
Paul
P.S. Just felt an earthquake as I was finishing this post :)

Please pray for Sato & family's salvation. We worked at his house a for the last 3 days.

Missions trip to Japan!

Dear Friends and Family around the world,

Ever since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, my Uncle Tim and Aunt Christine who are church-planting in Japan have been asking for volunteers to help them as the Japanese people have opened up to the Gospel as never before! It has been on our hearts to send a team from Brazil to help the PAZ church in Japan as they are tirelessly reaching out, meeting the physical and spiritual needs of the Japanese people.

For the last several months, this team has been assembled, and I have been asked to be a part of this team. I am super excited for what the Lord has planned for this trip, as we plan on going to some of the more dangerous and unreached parts of the tsunami-hit region where there is still some radiation fallout. Our hope is to share the love of Jesus to the Japanese through our hard physical work and non-verbal communication, while our Japanese brothers and sisters witness through verbal communication and culturally effective strategies. Our Brazilian team consists of people who have lots of experience in cell groups and discipleship, and we will be sharing more of this vision to the church in Japan. I’ve also been asked personally to help develop the church’s media department which is the department I’m currently helping here in Fortaleza.

I will be leaving August 27th to meet up with the rest of the team in Santarém, and we will be leaving together on August 29th to Japan. We will be there until October 19th. The cost of this trip will be about US$5,000 per person and we want to be able to bless the church in Japan with another large offering as they have had lots of expenses with these relief efforts. I want to give you the opportunity to be a part of this team as well! My goal is to raise US$10,000 to cover the costs of my trip and to leave an offering of $5,000. I think this is the largest goal I’ve ever seen someone shoot for on a missions trip, but we have a BIG God and I am confident in Christ that this goal will be reached for His honor and glory!
Thank you for your prayers and partnership on this trip. Let us together help our family grow in Japan while these doors are wide open!

In Christ,
Paul
http://paulhrubik.wordpress.com

Tax-deductible donations designated to Japan Relief Team can be made through the PAZ website or by mail or phone at:

U.S.A.
Project AmaZon
P.O. Box 3253
Peoria, IL 61612
(309) 263-2299

Canada
Project AmaZon Canada Society
P.O. Box 601
Cranbrook, BC V1C4J2
(250) 919-4142

Vacation month with lots going on…

Family Reunion in WV

Praise the Lord the time in the US was so special. Thanks to all who took some time out to meet while I was in Tulsa and Florida, it was great to catch up! The family reunions were so much fun as well! Happy 90th B-day Grandpa and 80th Grandma, you are the best grandparents in the world!

Discipleship Conference

I got back to Brazil the day before our largest church conference of the year, and even though I was doing a lot of communication and preparations in the US, the entire conference was pure adrenaline, with long hours, little sleep, and a LOT of problem solving :) But the Lord is faithful, and there are still amazing reports coming in from the 100+ denominations represented, 800+ pastors and church leaders who attended. We have this conference once a year about discipleship and cell groups, and it seems like every year is a new record of attendance.

we took 2 boats to visit the river church

The

Scenario for Congresso (front row seats for our group :)

following weekend I led a group of 40 young adults from our church to participate in the huge evangelistic rally (Congresso) in Santarém, and of course gave them the whole tour, visiting our fresh-water beaches, church work in a river community, and behind the scenes look of the Congresso. We arrived Friday in Santarém and early Monday morning…talk about another adrenaline rush :)

after service @ pastor's house

Got back for a “normal” week, then off to a 10-hour drive Abreu e Lima in Pernambuco, where a group of 4 young adults and I ministered for a weekend about holiness at a youth conference. Now we are a week away from our adolescents’ camp, “Fuego“, where my sister and brother-in-law, Beth & Bruno, will be ministering and I’ll be a camp counselor :) Fun, fun…long days, little sleep…and as U. Abe always says, this is just the beginning!

Family reunion in the US coming up…

intense worship at the young adults camp

Our young adults camp was amazing! The presence of God was bound to be manifest with all the difficulties we encountered before and until the first night of the camp. Just to get an idea, 2 days before the camp, the hotel calls us up and says that they had a problem and instead of the 45 rooms promised, they were only going to give us 31 rooms. But our speaker was a blessing and ministered openly about soul ties, spiritual ties, the effects of sexual impurity, and lots of other things. Her shortest message was 2h30m of straight speaking with no breaks! But she kept everyone’s attention the entire time!

Praise during the camp

The week immediately after the camp was PAZ’s National Presbytery Meeting, and I got to sit in on that to translate for one of our board members who also participated for the first time. It was a cool experience and I learned a lot about how to resolve different issues in ministry and challenged for the future in my personal ministry as well as where PAZ is going! It’s an exciting place to be!

So I’m going to be going to the US for a couple family reunions, and decided to take advantage of the trip to go to Tulsa and see friends and my sending church, Victory Christian Center. I can’t be long, so I’m thinking of staying in Tulsa a week, from May 27th-June 3rd, then two more weeks at the reunions until June 19th.

Night of the Nations - dressed according to a nation of your choice

As soon as I get back we’ll be having a Cell Group and Discipleship Conference where about 800+ pastors and leaders from across Brazil come to our church to learn more about the vision and strategies being used here to win people and take good care of them. So wanted to give you all the heads up, if you’re in Tulsa or will be there around those dates, I’d love to see you!

More later!
Paul