Aroma Ministries Newsletters

Newsletter July 8, 2010

2010-07-08T19:58:00.003+09:00

Rainy season continues and the temperature continues to rise as we sail into summer, and God continues to do AMAZING things around us!

My Bible studies have been intense lately and I have lots of non-Christian seekers attending. Please be in prayer for these women who want to study God's Word. and I'd like to ask prayer for me as well. As I lead them into the scripture their questions are deep and the topics even deeper. It is at these times I find that I am completely inadequate at explaining things to them. I think this is the best place for me to be, so that I won't get in the way of what God wants to do! Yet, I get overwhelmed at just how far their basic way of thinking is from the simple and significant cornerstones to the truth found in the Gospel. Just a conversation about what heaven is, and what eternal life means turned up many different opinions this week, and I was left wondering how I will ever help them understand what the Bible is saying! I know that I won't and can't help them understand and only HE can, so please help me lay each of them at His feet and trust He will keep doing HIS work in their hearts!

This week we lead English chapel at the Christian school where I first worked in Japan! We have the privilege of speaking at the chapel services in both Jr. High and High School at this Christian girls' school once a semester. It has been an ongoing work, where God is slowly opening their hearts to us and our message. Chapel is normally ridged and strict, with older male pastors usually being the speakers. Unfortunately their messages are usually way over these girls' heads. Rocky and I have made a point to try and always make chapel fun and the message simple but applicable to their lives. Most of the students are not Christians. This week for High School chapel we had only the senior class as the other classes were on a school trip. It was WONDERFUL! We have probably had most of these girls in English chapel since they were 1st year Jr. High students. They have come to know us and they love the praise songs that we bring to chapel. They begged for more praise time, and we had a wonderful and very energetic time of worship! Then they were glued to the message because they were awake and excited, and I was so moved by the presence of the Holy Spirit in that place! This class seems to be quite special, and I want to ask for prayers for them. I think God wants to make a big impact in their lives and on the school through them! Please pray!!!

This month is going to be PACKED full of ministry! We have summer camp with the Christian school I was just sharing about. THREE days at camp with over 30 of these girls, to worship and learn from God's Word together and play games and swim together! Please pray for this more up close and personal time we get to have with them! We also have a three day trip to another summer camp for a church in Imabari, about 5 hours from here, where we will be the guest worship leaders and speaker. We have preparation for the upcoming Summer School at our own church and for the CMA concert the first few days of August. (See those flyers below, click on the image to get a full view). Registration for summer school is now open, please pray that lots of kids sign up!!!

We appreciate your prayers!!!

Summer School Flyer...

CMA Concert...

Newsletter June 19, 2010

2010-06-19T20:12:00.003+09:00

Rainy season has officially begun. This is my most unfavorite time of the year, and yet God has really shown us great mercy in these days. On three occasions when rain was forecast, and also a special day of outdoor or travel ministry was planned, the Lord held back the rain and gave us beautiful weather! One of those occasions was our church's worship this last Sunday. I want to give you a special glimpse into the lives of Japanese people who enjoy spiritual freedom in Christ. A glimpse of things you won't often see in the Japanese culture, outside of God's family (or really you might only see these things in OUR church)!

1. HUGS!!!!!!! (something you normally never see Japanese people do!)

2. Young and old, native and foreign sharing each others company (those two young students are Chinese)...

3. Freedom of individual experssion!

4. Happy Couples!!!

Rocky and I really sense a very special calling and unique mission that God has given this church. We visit many many churches all over Japan each year, and we have never been in one as special as the one the Lord has allowed us to serve in. These people are precious, and God is continuing to do AMAZING things through them. We both agree that God is about to do even more awesome things through them and we can't wait to watch Him do HIS thing!!! Please lift up Kitakyushu Bible Church in your prayers. Pray for strength and a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit on its members. And please pray for protection from the enemy who we know doesn't like to see God's people working together for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ!!!

This week, for Aroma Ministries please pray for REST! We hit the ground running when we came back from America more than two weeks ago. Our first day off since arriving home will be Monday! Pray for rest and physical strength! Rocky and I are both spiritually uplifted and strengthened emotionally after some awesome times of worship and fellowship in the States! We (maybe just I) need some physical rest though!

Many blessings from Japan!
The Ayatsuka's

Newsletter June 13, 2010

2010-06-13T21:41:00.001+09:00

Rainy season has begun in Japan! May the Lord pour out his blessings on summer ministry with more abundance than even the rain during rainy season in Japan! And may the Lord grant us a few sunny days to get our laundry dry over the next days and weeks ;)

We are kicking off the summer with a bang! Coming back from America we hit the ground running and haven't looked back. Our English classes are exploding with new students (and returning students who took some weeks or months off). Planning for summer events is in full gear. And our church is literally bursting at the seams! Go God!!!

Today we had worship in the park with our entire church body. It was filled with hours of singing praises, listening to God's Word, fellowshipping, laughing, playing, eating and FUN! I am continually in awe of how God is working in our church. New people are coming all the time, a few international students are making professions of faith, and individuals are doing ministry all over the place. God has given this church and unique calling, praise Him together with us for all that He is doing!!!

We are preparing for a couple of big events this summer. CMA is coming again this summer and we are so excited. They will be doing a concert one evening, three days of VBS at our church, and some evening ministry activities to young women, international students and families of the VBS kids! Please pray as we all prepare for these activities!!! And pray even now that the right people would get word of these activities and attend.

More to share in the coming weeks! Thank you for praying!!!

Newsletter June 3, 2010

2010-06-04T14:35:00.004+09:00

WOW! Where do we begin to share all that the Lord has done in our ministry over the past two months? America was AMAZING! What a wonderful trip, time of fellowship, meeting people and refreshment. We are so thankful to all of YOU who made it such an amazing trip.

We started our trip in early April and the kids did great on the trip over and we all recovered pretty quickly from jet lag. Our first couple weeks in Texas we visited several supporting churches and had some awesome fellowship with family and old and new friends.

Then we headed out to the D/FW area and central Texas to speak at more churches and home fellowship while visiting family and friends as well. It was AWESOME! We made a lot of new connections for the ministry and look forward to developing those relationships. One group in particular will probably be headed our way for a mission trip next year! That is some exciting stuff!!!

After that it was back to Texas and then to Colorado where we had more amazing opportunities to ministers and fellowship with more friends and family.

Finally we spent that last week in Texas before heading home.

We made so many many new friends and established tons of new connections with our ministry. God provided us with several new supporting churches and individuals. We are sooooooooo blown away by how He continues to provide for this ministry. And a big thank you to those of you who are joining us in bringing the Aroma of Christ to Japan.

We have now been back in Japan for two days and have already taught several English classes and are spending today at our churches coffee house outreach ministry. Needless to say, we are going to get over jet lag quickly, who has time to jet lag?!

We appreciate your prayers as we look forward to what is ahead, summer ministry activities! More details on how to pray for those soon!

Tons of blessings from Japan!

Newsletter March 14, 2010

2010-03-14T22:46:00.007+09:00

White Day, March 14th

You can read the details of White Day on Wikipedia but basically it is the counterpart to Valentine's Day. In Japan, Valentine's Day is the day when women give gifts of homemade chocolate to men. Since one must always reciprocate in this culture, the men officially must return the favor one month later on March 14th! And it is called White Day.

Marriage and love in Japan are quite different from the culture I grew up in. It is not uncommon for marriages in Japan to be about convenience and out of need or social obligation rather than love. Roles inside of marriage are much much more conservative, with the husband helping out very little at home and with raising the children. The couples also usually lead totally separate lives, knowing very little about each others daily comings and goings and social activities.

These past weeks I have been surrounded by talk of marriage. One friend who is in a wonderful Christian marriage shared with me that at her childrens' kindergarten, she and one other women are the only women happy in their marriage and at meetings and gatherings she must sit and listen to everyone complain and degrade their husbands.

This last week Rocky and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary. We began with a short overnight trip, just the two of us. Then on the 11th, the actual anniversary date, Rocky surprised me with breakfast in bed. I shared this with one of my English classes, and could feel the tension in the room as most of my students did not know how to respond to my enthusiasm about our marriage. As it dawned on me that they have never known such love, my heart began to break for them even more.

Oh how I want them to know the unending, all consuming, powerful love of their Savior! It is only because Rocky and I know THAT love that we can have the marriage that we have. I LONG for them to experience LOVE in its purest form, love unconditional and full. A love so powerful it washes your sins whiter than snow!

White Day this year has reminded me to pray MORE for the couples in this country. Pray with us that God will bring HIS love into their lives and transform each one, and in turn transform their marriages and then their whole family. We have seen this happen in our church and we long to see more of it!

Newsletter February 2010

2010-02-18T21:19:00.002+09:00

February in Japan always makes me feel cheated! We get a tease of Spring with a few warm days and then it gets COLD and often colder than it has been all Winter. Just when I get my hopes up I get shot down!

But not so when it comes to the work God is doing! How can I summarize what the past couple of months have been like for us in ministry. Amazing, unbelievable, jaw dropping... GOD's handiwork!!!

Thank you for your prayers for Fall and Christmas ministry. It is always exciting to see God work through special Christmas events, but also a relief to get past the busiest time of year for us and recover a little! I think maybe, MAYBE we finally recovered!!!

Our church is showing so much growth, not just in numbers but in the hearts of it's members. I have had so many amazing conversations with church members about their dreams and visions for the ministry there in the future! We can't help but feel an incredible sense of excitement and expectation about the future of this growing group of believers!

In January, Rocky and his acoustic guitar buddy Shuhey, released their second album and held a special New Year concert! Please pray for this very talented duo and for the CD that people will be listening to. Pray the Lord uses it to encourage and uplift believers and draw unbelievers to HIM!

Our English classes continue to be such a joy to us. I especially love my English Bile class and the time with the women I meet with every Thursday. There is a wonderful mix of believers and unbelievers in this group, and I know the Lord is using the time to work in the hearts of all, including myself!

I am also really excited about the Mother's Bible study we have for Mom's of my English Circle kids. Each time we meet, the study is powerful and the conversation becomes deep. There are often even tears among this group that is really not that close knit. I am always amazed at how open and honest they are, and how God's spirit obviously moves as we open His word. Please pray for the women in that group that their hearts would remain open and teachable, as God works in them. We only meet once a month, so please pray that in the in-between time God would reveal Himself to them in their everyday lives!

And the most wonderful news of all.... Kai's adoption is FINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We will be visiting the States in April and May and look forward to seeing many of you. The adoption was final two weeks ago so there is a lot of planning to do before we come. If you'd like to see us in you area, please drop me an email!!! We hope to raise prayer and financial support over the 6 or 7 weeks we'll be there and we'd love to speak and sing to any and all groups, big or small! Please be in touch!

November 24, 2009

2009-11-23T21:36:00.002+09:00

How is it possible that it has been so long since my last update! I'm sorry to have left you all hanging!

Our fall schedule has been filled with lots of basic ministry activity and a few concert engagements. We had one ten day trip to Hokkaido (the most northern part of Japan) and were very blessed in three cities there! What a privilege it is to get to do what God has called us to do here.

As the Christmas season approaches we are preparing for a few exciting events.

In early December every year, many churches from around our city gather for a Christmas worship and celebration. This year Rocky has been working with that committee again and we are ready for a wonderful two hour event taking place on the 6th. Please pray that this event would reach out to unbelievers in the city, and they can learn the true meaning of Christmas!

The day before the city Christmas worship, we will have our annual English Circle Christmas Party. Last year was a wonderful party for my Saturday children's English class. This year we pray it will once again be a wonderful time of games, songs, crafts and the Christmas story for these children and their families who attend. Please pray with us!

The main goal of our English Circle is not to learn English but to expose them to the Bible! Through the class a mother's Bible study has also begun and I am excited about teaching these mother's the Word of God. It is so fun and refreshing to discuss the Bible with these women who have never learned about this God before. Their perspectives are fresh and interesting. It is evident that God is working in their hearts. Pray for these women as I and my English Circle ministry partner meet with them on a monthly basis.

Rocky is hard at work on the finishing touches for his second acoustic album with Shuhey, who many of you met in the Spring/Summer of 2008 when we were last in the states! The album is expected to be released in January. Pray with us that God would use each and every CD to minister to the people who hear it.

Regarding Kai's adoption proceedings, we are waiting on further notice from the family court system. We have been interviewed and there are a few more steps left in the process. All of which are completely out of our control! We have no idea how long it will all take but we are praying that the process will be finished quickly! As soon as that is all done, we will be planning a trip back to the states for you all to meet him and for support raising! We can't wait to see you all, so please pray for a quick resolution to the whole process!!!

Newsletter August 2009

2009-08-17T21:57:00.005+09:00

Hello from hot and muggy Japan!

What a summer we have had. July was busy busy busy busy busy! I mean sooooooooooooo busy!

We so enjoyed having CMA with us again, and you can enjoy details of from their mission log. Entry #3, #4, and #5 are all about their time in Kitakyushu. The impact the Lord makes through them continues to resonate year after year. He plants many seeds through their beautiful dance and awesome testimony. You will enjoy reading all about them on their blog!

We also had the privilege of being the guest speakers at Seinan Jo Gakuin's Jr. High and High School Summer Bible camp again. It is always a great opportunity to spend time with these students in a smaller group. We speak at their chapel services about 6 times a year but meeting them and spending time with them in person like this is priceless. We continue to pray that the Lord plants and waters seeds in their hearts during their years at this Christian school! Here are some pictures of summer camp...

Making our way to the beach for some fun in the sun! We also got to watch a solar eclipse on this day! It was awesome to see God's creation do such a neat "trick"!

The perfect afternoon snack on the beach, mmmmmmmmmmmmm

The last day of camp ends with a bon fire. This is always a great time for the group to reflect on the two days we've spent looking into God's word! Pray that Rocky's message of salvation will come to mind often and give them a thirst to know this God more!

This picture represents what August has been like for us! FUN! Lots of well deserved rest and family time! We spent a day this last week at the local water park. It was a blast for the whole family, as you can see...

It has never happened before, but August was a slow month for us and we really needed the rest. It has been a whirlwind year, with a new infant thrown into the mix of our already busy ministry life! Kai is such a blessing and fills our days with laughter and joy, just like his big sister! Please also remember Kai's adoption in your prayers. All of the paperwork should was finalized today and once our adoption agency approves it, we will officially file it with the Family Court. From there the rest of the process takes at least six months. Pray that all goes smoothly!

We are spending the rest of this month preparing for ministry to start up full force again very soon. Also, Hana will begin home school kindergarten (which you can also pray for) as Mommy and Hana (and sometimes Daddy too) embark on this incredible adventure together!

Hana turns 5 this Saturday! How is it possible that she is already five!? I don't know, but we are so thankful for this thoughtful, helpful, fun loving little girl! She is an incredible blessing!

We'd love to hear from you! Please drop us a line or leave a comment here on the blog! Blessings from the Ayatsuka's...

Rocky, Marla, Hana (5 this week) and Kai (7 months)

Newsletter May 2009

2009-05-27T22:14:00.003+09:00

Hello from Japan everyone! It seems like time is totally getting away from me. I could not believe when I saw I haven't posted an update since February! With Kai's two hospitalizations and all our normal ministry and life in between, it has been a whirlwind!

Thank you for all your prayers for Kai. He is doing well now, and a detailed update can be found here on Mommy's blog.

We had a ten day tour to Nagoya in April that was an incredible blessing. The 12 hour drive up and back were quite an adventure and the Lord blessed us with safe and fairly smooth travel, even with an infant! In Nagoya we did 12 events in 8 days. We were so blessed to meet lots of new people, make new connections with several new churches and connect with some friends and fellowships we knew from before! We are so thankful for these opportunities to serve God on tour!!!

May has been busy with regular ministry! We seem to have had a lot of chapel services to speak in and lots of Bible studies this month. English classes continue to go well and are such a blessing. We really enjoy the chance to build relationships with these students and look forward to watching God work in their hearts and lives.

Prayer requests and praises...
1. For Kai's healing, health and safety. His kidney is at risk for infection and he seems be especially susceptible to respiratory issues. The good news is that his chest is totally clear right now, his urine test today was perfect and he doesn't have to go back for regular follow up visits anymore!

2. Pray for stamina as our ministry schedule seems especially full right now!

3. Pray for the time to take care of administrative details for ministry!

4. Pray for Jesus to shine through us in each chapel, Bible study, English class and concert!

Some pics to enjoy from our recent Spring cleaning day at church...

Everyone got in on the action...

It is amazing each Sunday to look around and see that our church is filled with MEN! A rare sight until recently. I would venture to say that at times the men even outnumber the women! Praise God!

And there is an ever increasing population of international students in our church. On a given Sunday it is now VERY normal to hear conversations going on in at least FOUR languages around the church! Praise God! Pray for students who are attending that are not yet believers and are seeking. Some of whom do not enjoy the freedom to learn about and worship God back at home!

Newsletter February 23, 2009

2009-02-23T22:16:00.004+09:00

Spring is in the air in Japan!

So much is going on in our lives, in ministry and personally, we apologize for the sporatic newsletters. There is so much to tell you about all that God is doing.

In January my small English Circle group started a Bible study for mothers. We are meeting just once a month for now, on a weekday while children are at preschool. So far two women have attended both times, and they both are really enjoying the Bible study. At our first meeting I shared my testimony, and one of the women shared with me how she too has faced infertility. She confessed she is searching for that peace I talked about and I told her I think she's going to find it here!!! At our second meeting we began to talk about "Who is God?" I let the ladies share their ideas about God and then we compared them to what the Bible says. When we looked at Psalm 139 to see that He is a God that created us and knows us intimately, there were tears! They were so touched to find out how much God cares for them. At our last meeting 3 other mothers were planning to attend but sick children and other obstacles kept them away. Please pray for future meetings and for the hearts of these ladies!

I also teach a mother's Bible study at one of the private kindergartens where I teach English to the kids. That group has been meeting monthly for the past year and several of the ladies have really responded to what they are learning about the Bible. The group is consistently about 10 women! We will have our last meeting for this school year next month (the Japanese school year ends in March). Some of the children will graduate and these mothers will no longer be active at the kindergarten. I am praying about a way to continue to teach them the Bible and minister to them even after their children have moved on to elementary school! Please pray for these women as well.

Our church is also going through a lot of change, and some wonderful things are happening. We have called a Japanese pastor who will move here and begin ministering in our church at the beginning of April. We are so looking forward to getting to know him, and ministering with him! One sad note however, at the end of March all of the missionary presence in our church will be gone! Our volunteer couple, Nick and Angie Carter, who have been ministering here for 2 years will be returning to America. Rocky and I will take over their English classes on Thursday and Fridays, to continue that outreach which has built this church. Church cafe is also going strong. I am handing over the managerial position of cafe to another church member as we take over the English minsitry and it is so exciting to see all our church members active and excited about doing ministry! Please pray as all this transition takes place! We are on the edge of our seats with excitment concerning what the future holds. It feels like big things are in store for our church's future!!! Also pray for Nick and Angie as they prepare for all that making an overseas move involves, and for all the resettling in America entails! Pray especially for a job for Nick!!!

Our concert calendar is beginning to fill up for this year! Praise the Lord, our family has adjusted quite well to its newest member and we are looking forward to ministering as a family of four this year! If you happened to miss that news, please check out the announcement here. We are still amazed at God's incredible grace and mercy!!!

We would love to hear from each of you. Please leave us a comment here on the blog or drop us an email! Many blessings!

The Ayatsuka's
Rocky, Marla, Hana and Kai

Pictures of Kai...

2009-01-17T23:32:00.002+09:00

www.kaikais-place.blogspot.com

Check him out!

** Edited to add the following **

For privacy and protection Kai's blog has been set to private for the time being. If you'd like access just drop me an email and I'll add you to the list of allowed readers. Thanks!

Newsletter January 15, 2009

2009-01-15T22:58:00.002+09:00

Happy New Year everyone!

We have awesome news. Our new year started out fairly normal but all that changed yesterday morning. We woke up a little family of three and by noon we were a family of four! We are getting a baby boy! His name is Kai!

We have been on a waiting list for exactly two years and we were about to decide that God might not intend for us to get another. Shock is just about the only way I know to describe the feeling when we got that call.

We are excited, but have had only two days to prepare, so it has been a whirlwind. He arrives tomorrow around 5pm Japan time (Friday, 16th). We will be in touch with news and pictures soon, and a new blog especially for Kai.

We appreciate your prayers for this transition. Hana is excited, but will surely face a lot of adjustment in the next days and weeks. We have a normal busy schedule of Bible studies, English classes, concerts, chapels, etc. So please pray for us!

Many blessings!
Rocky, Marla, Hana and Kai

Newsletter December 9, 2008

2008-12-09T19:16:00.007+09:00

Merry Christmas everyone! December snuck up on us and we are in the middle of the busy ministry season here!

Last weekend, we had the very first English Circle Christmas party and it was incredible. I will share lots of pictures at the end of this post, but right now just want to ask you to join us in praising God for what he is doing through this ministry. Just a re-cap, about two years ago a friend and I decided we wanted our kids to have something like Sunday School in English. We go to seperate churches so we decided to meet up on Saturdays and do some fun English learning things, and have a Bible story time. My friend began to invite other friends with little children and before you know it, we had an amazing new outreach. Almost everyone attending with their children had never been to church! The group grew and grew until we couldn't fit everyone in our houses, and so we moved to a local meeting place for children's activities and it grew even MORE! Now on average about 15 children meet with us twice a month for what we call English Circle. In addition to those 15 children, we have the moms and even quite a few dads attending regularly with baby siblings in tow as well! It can get crazy when 15 children for class means about 30-40 people are actually in the room!

On Saturday we met at my friend's church for a two hour Christmas event! We played Christmas games, sang songs, had the Christmas story on felt board, made a Christmas craft, Rocky and I gave a mini-concert and we ended with a pot luck lunch! It was so much fun. After the party, one mother told me it was the first time for her and her children to hear the real Christmas story! I am sure she isn't the only one in attendance that day who'd never heard the Christmas story! I was so humbled and awed that God is using our little English Circle in such a way. He is doing awesome things!

Please lift up these families in prayer, that they would be open to know more about God. We are in the process of trying to figure out when would be the best mid-week time to have a mother's Bible study with these ladies who are mostly housewives. Praise God that the dads are attending too, and pray we can find a way to continue to reach out to them and get them into God's Word somehow!

We have several Christmas concerts and parties in the coming weeks before Christmas as well. We appreciate your prayers for safe travel and protection from illness, as well as prayers that God would continue to work in and through us!

Enjoy the Christmas party pictures and let us hear from you! Leave a comment or send email!!!

Preperations begin!

My trusty assistants!

Life-sized Christmas Candyland waiting for the "game pieces" to arrive!

Playing with ABC's while everyone arrives and gets checked in.

Here is an example of a little family attending, Dad included!

Christmas Bingo!

Candyland in progress...

Pin the ornament on the Christmas tree...

Where is the Christmas tree?

OH! That's close!

You can't peak first!

Telling the Christmas story, I speak in English and Rocky translates! Not sure what I was saying here, but my facial expressions were hilarious in these pictures!

Ahhhh, no room for them in the inn!

A baby boy is born!

A multitude of Angels appeared!

Craft time! Buidling an Angel takes the whole family!

Showing off OUR multitude of Angels!

Aren't they sooooooo cute!

Lunch was soooooooo yummy!

Newsletter November 2, 2008

2008-11-02T23:13:00.006+09:00

Happy Fall everyone! We are enjoying the cooler weather and the changing leaves. I hope this finds all of you well. And I hope you are all preparing to VOTE this week if you haven't already! I mailed in my ballot several weeks ago. Praying for our country this week!!!

On the ministry front, you could pray for our English Circle ministry. I've mentioned it often. My friend and I started it about two years ago as a way to do some English learning and Sunday School type of activities for our kids. Others began to join us and before long it has evolved into a pretty big deal. I wanted to share some pictures with you of our recent English Circle in the Park. We all met at the park instead of our regular indoor class, and had a blast studying English outdoors, playing together and eating lunch together! Enjoy these pics...

We start with ABC's, songs and stories.

We always have a Bible story, which recently a couple of Mom's have volunteered to make flanel boards of the stories for me FROM SCRATCH! One Mom sews the background out of felt. Another Mom draws the characters and prints them onto special paper that will stick to the felt! So neat!

The children LOVE these stories and listen so intently! When we used to just read from the children's Bible they never listened this closely.

On this day we had a leaf hunt and talked about the leaves and their colors in English.

Before class and after lunch everyone enjoyed the playground at this park. It has a zip line and a LONG roller slide. We all had tons of fun!

Our church continues to have a weekly outreach ministry we call "cafe". I took over management of it, when our missionary couple recently went back to the states for a short home assignment. Now the church ladies volunteer their time to help run cafe. It is going well, and continues to be an AWESOME place where people can gather and fellowship. LOTS of new people come on a regular basis. But the future of cafe is uncertain. One short term couple who helps with this ministry tremendously, will be ending their term in the Spring. It remains to be seen if we have enough man power to continue with cafe in the future. Please pray for God to provide all that we need and more, if it is His will for our church to continue this ministry! Here are some pics of that for you to enjoy also!

Our beautiful church!

The cafe special a few weeks ago... Raisin Walnut bread! YUM!

Taking orders...

Serving our customers...

Nick, don't steal any of that money!

Game night! We were played Wii that night too!

Our specialty... cheesecake! YUM!

Please continue to pray for our many Fall concert engagements! God bless you all this week!

Newsletter October 25, 2008

2008-10-25T21:19:00.002+09:00

We are alive! Sorry for the long silence. A combination of computer troubles and busy schedule have kept me away from blogging.

So my laptop is cranky, and I think it is going to be in "time-out" for a good while. Rocky and I are now sharing a computer and I should be able to keep in better touch from now on.

September was a busy month with the usual. We are so blessed to get to do what we do and praise God for all the opportunities to spread His fame all over Japan.

October has been full as well. One WONDERFUL bit of news is the unexpected volunteer we have with us right now. My cousin Robynn, who has come to work with us 3 other times, is here again and is looking for a more long term opportunity to stay in Japan and minister. She has been offered a full time job as an English teacher starting in April of next year. She will use that job as an oppotunity to connect with people, AND her free time for ministry. Please pray for strength and guidance as God works out all the details for the months between now and then!!!

Our church is in the middle of transition at the moment and could really use your prayers. Please pray that God guide the leadership committee in our church in the next few months. Pray for unity in spirit, faith and trust in God and his timing for everything our church needs in the coming months.

Two young girls in our church will be baptized this next month. We praise God for these youngsters who have been raised in the church and are now bodly choosing to follow Jesus and make Him their savior and Lord!

The coming months include more concerts, chapel services, English teaching, Bible studies and more. Please pray as the Lord continues to work in the lives of all those around us!

Newsletter August 11, 2008

2008-08-11T13:25:00.005+09:00

WHEW! What a whirlwind the past few weeks have been. GOD is AWESOME, I just gotta say that! WOW!

Thank you for praying for summer camp with the Seinan Jo Gakuin Jr. High and High School students. The camp was awesome! It was the best group of girls we've ever had. We hit it off with them from the beginning and they were so attentive in the worship times. We had a great time playing with them on the beach and at the bonfire closing time. We did some fireworks together that night too and we were sad to say good-bye to them all. We will get to read their response forms soon, and look forward to hearing how God touched them during camp!

CMA has come and gone :( boohooobooohooo! Our house feels soooooooooo empty! But what an incredible week with those 8 godly, Jesus-loving girls! You can read details of their time in Japan at their Mission Log. Their time in Kitakyushu is featured on log pages 11 and 12. Some pictures of their major concert can be found on our photographer June's blog. Every year with CMA is a huge blessing. We may never know how many seeds were planted, how many lives were touched by their dance and their testimonies. We get a glimpse into some of God's work though. One member of our church brought her daughter and her daughter's friend along to the concert. Earlier that day the young friend had been asking many questions about God. The testimonies at the concert each answered directly her questions that day and she was in tears. She told her friend, "God spoke to ME tonight!" AWESOME!!!!!!! Look forward to next year if it is the Lord's will for our girls to come back again!

This last week was full of ministry, meetings, and some time with friends since summer is when most people can get away for some fun stuff! We always love the chance to spend a little bit of quality time with seeking friends, meet friends of Christian friends and build relationships for planting more seeds.

Today we are preparing to leave again. We'll be heading to central Japan to lead worship and speak at some summer conferences, camps and special church events. Please pray for safe travel, divine appointments and health during the trip. We are pretty much on our last leg, really needing some true rest and refreshment, but know that God will provide all that we need for this last summer ministry engagment! We appreciate your prayers so much!

I am including some pictures of ministry for your enjoyment! We would love to hear from you, leave us a comment or drop us an email!

For His Glory,
The Ayatsuka's

Heading to the beach with our camp girls...

Firworks at camp...

A bonus picture of Saturday morning English Circle ministry...

With CMA

Pinata Japan style! Blindfolded with a stick, only the target is watermelon!

Eating Chinese dumplings they made themselves!

Blowing bubbles with kindergarten kids!

The Finale! After an awesome concert!

CMA 2008

2008-08-04T13:55:00.001+09:00

CMA 2008 Wordle

Newsletter July 16, 2008

2008-07-16T20:36:00.002+09:00

It has been crazy getting back from the states and getting settled in. First of all my computer crashed right after we got back. PRAISE the LORD that didn't happen while we were in the states! It took a while for us (or should I say Rocky) to devote enough time to get it back up and running with all the things we had on our schedule!

Since we've been back, it has been full speed ahead. We jumped right back into concerts, leading worship, chapel services, teaching English, preaching, preparing for summer ministry and all the incredible ways the Lord gives us to serve Him here! We thank you so much for your prayers!

Since I did not have access to my address book for a while, many of you may have missed some updates if you don't check this blog often or have it in your "feeds" or "readers". Please be sure to check below for updates you may have missed.

Today we want to ask you to pray for two things. Next week we will be going to camp for three days with a local Christian Jr High and High School. The school is Seinan Jo Gakuin, where I served my first two years in Japan. We speak and lead worship for this school's English Chapel Service about 10 times per year. This will be our fifth time to go to this Bible camp! In years past they have had a hard time filling the camp with the minimum number of students needed. However, this year the camp is FULL and overflowing! We are soooooo excited to have a chance to spend three days with at least 33 girls (maybe more by now) this next week. Pray as we speak on "Using the Gifts God has Given You", this year's theme, that these girls would realize they are made by God for a wonderful purpose! Probably none of these girls are believers. What an awesome opportunity to get up close and personal with them, when usually we just see them from the chapel stage.

The second prayer request is for CMA! For the fourth year in a row, CMA is here in Japan again, ministering through worship dance! We love love love this ministry! We spent a week with them in Colorado recently and are so excited to already have them here with us. Right now they are in South Kyushu ministering through worship dance workshops, dance concerts, purity seminars and more! You can keep up with their activities and how God is already RICHLY blessing their time here in Japan through their Mission Log. They will eventually make it here to Kitakyushu in a little less than two weeks! Pray for God to work in MIGHTY ways through their month here! And pray for us as we prepare for their week in ministry here with us! We can't wait to have them here!!! Have I mentioned we love these guys!? You can also see pictures and video of their past summers in ministry here in Japan on their website, so don't miss that!

Thank you again soooooooo much for your prayers and support. May the Lord bless each of you with his incredible love and grace!

Love from hot and muggy Japan,
The Ayatsuka's

Newsletter June 20, 2008

2008-06-20T10:50:00.003+09:00

Yaawwwnnn! We are back in Japan and jet lagging! But sooooooo happy to be home. We were welcomed home by rainy season, I don't believe I have seen a blue sky yet!

The trip to the states was so BLESSED!!! We can not begin to express how awesome every part of it was. Time on the computer and access to the internet was sporatic at times, so we appologize for the lack of communication.

To all of you who are new to our newsletter, WELCOME! It was a joy to meet you while we were in the states and we welcome you whole heartedly to our team of supporters and prayer warriors!

So now, a HUGE praise to our Lord and amazing God for how he provided ABUNDANTLY for our ministry through this fund raising trip. The grand total raised in love offerings, donations and CD sales from this trip... $17,000!!!!!!!!! I think I can safely say that is the most we have ever been able to raise in one trip. AMAZING! With gas prices the way they are and everyone talking about prices going up on everything else, I was not sure how well this trip would turn out. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, to all of you and especially to God!!!

We have been home three days and are already back into ministry. Yesterday we did a chapel service in our neighboring city, we have a meeting at church today and this weekend will be Afureru! worship on Sunday afternoon. We are actually thankful to be staying busy so that we won't nap during the day and prolong jet lag! We all slept through the night last night and are feeling pretty good today.

I will put together some pictures of our trip and other news for you soon. I just wanted to let you all know that we are home and still so amazed at the Lord's rich blessings on us!

From rainy home...
The Ayatsuka's

We are having computer issues... pics coming soon!

The Ayatsuka Family 2008

2008-05-29T13:04:00.001+09:00

Newsletter May 23, 2008

2008-05-25T01:02:00.002+09:00

Time keeps marching on! We are at my parents' house in Texas and enjoying a LITTLE bit of downtime. I wanted to drop in and post our schedule for the next few weeks...

May 25 - New Home Baptist Church morning worship
June 1 - Littlefield Methodist Church morning worship
June 2 - Lubbock Cowboy Church evening worship

June 5 - 9 Boston Japanese Christian Church (details coming soon)

June 9 - 16 Florida (details coming soon)

June 16 - Return to Japan :( and :)

Support raising has been so blessed. Thank you for your prayers.

To the many we've been able to meet and spend time with, we are so thankful. Your love and support means the world to us. We are so blessed to have so many friends and supporters. Thank you!!!

Love from Texas,
Rocky, Marla and Hana

Newsletter May 14, 2007

2008-05-14T06:33:00.002+09:00

Thank you all so much for your prayers while we are Stateside raising support. It has been an AWESOME trip!

We are writing from Texas. We've been here for a little over a week. In West Texas we have already been to one Cowboy church and will head back to that area this weekend to do more. We just finished doing the Asian American Church of Houston this weekend, and we were so blessed there! I think we've formed another great partnership in that area!

We had to say good-bye to Shuhey on Sunday! He flew out of Houston for Japan on Monday morning. I think that means he should be home by now! He was invaluable to the ministry while he was here and we hated to see him go. Everywhere we went, everyone LOVED the accoustic duo and bought up their CD's like crazy! This last month without him won't be the same.

Please continue to pray as we finish off the trip and spend some time with family. We'll post our schedule for that last three weeks soon. And I'll post some more pics soon, when we get them uploaded to the computer!

Thanks again for your prayers and support!
Love from Texas,
The Ayatsuka's

Arizona, Utah, Colorado

2008-04-25T13:17:00.005+09:00

Well, we finished in Phoenix, rented a car, and made our way to the Grand Canyon, Utah and finally Colorado. Here's a picture by picture tour of our three wonderful days on the road!!!

On Monday we went from this...

to seeing lots of this...

then four hours later, 20 degrees colder and about 6,000 ft. higher we saw this...

and finally, the moment we'd all been waiting for...

Watching the sunset from the Grand Canyon was our night cap on Monday. Then on Tuesday we explored the Grand Canyon a little more, and then made our way up through Utah. Here is what we saw...

We saw lots of ROCKS!!! It was a beautiful drive. We spent the night near the I-70 in Utah and then made our way towards Colorado on Wednesday morning. Rocky got to see the mountains which are his name-sake... The Rocky Mountains!!!

God's creation is breath-taking. His glory shown in every change of the landscape. his power was evident in ever cliff and canyon. We were awe struck a hundred times or more! WOW!!!

Now we are in Colorado, and spent a couple nights at my long lost cousins' house. Tomorrow we will spend the evening and Saturday morning ministering to a Japanese fellowship. On Saturday night we begin our week with CMA!!!

Our time online has been limited, but this has been such an awesome trip already. We can't believe we've been here for only a week so far. Stay tuned for a WHOLE LOT MORE!!!

Newsletter April 20, 2008

2008-04-21T14:45:00.002+09:00

I hope I have the date correct on this blog. it is late and the lights are out so Hana can sleep and I don't know what today's date is, and don't have the energy to find out! We just finished an awesome weekend packed with ministry! Friday evening concert for youth, Saturday evening fellowship with some members of the Japanese International Baptist Church of Tempe, leading morning worship at JIBC Tempe AND sharing this evening at Maricopa Baptist Church! AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME! What a priviledge it is to meet fellow believers, from all over the world, worship with them and share what the Lord is doing in ALL our lives!!!

We are off to see the Grand Canyon tomorrow, and make our way to Colorado the next. ROAD TRIP! It ought to be a blast!

Please keep praying, and thank you so much for blessing us!!!
The Ayatsukas and Shuhey

News from Arizona...

2008-04-20T03:19:00.001+09:00

Above: Sunset from the airplane somewhere over Texas!

We made it to US soil!!!!!! I think for the first time EVER, we had a totally eventless, totally ON TIME, unbelievably pleasant flying experience. I was amazed. Your prayers certainly did the trick. Not only was the American Airlines flight schedule on time, but the service was actually GOOD. The food was good (as good as airplane food can be I guess), certainly an improvement on our previous experiences. AND (are you ready for this) the flight attendants were polite and helpful, sometimes even downright NICE! AA has slightly redeemed themselves in our eyes. It’s a long road back for them, with us after all we’ve been through, but this is a step in the right direction.

Since then, it has been a GREAT trip. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time with our family and friends here in Arizona. Tonight, we just came home from an area wide youth event, and it was an incredible meeting! We thoroughly enjoyed the worship and fellowship. Praise God!!!

Tomorrow we are headed to a Japanese church in Tempe, AZ. We’ll spend Saturday evening in fellowship with them, and worship with them on Sunday! We are looking forward to meeting another new group of Japanese believers in America.

I’m off to bed, since we are still SLIGHTLY jet lagging. Hopefully I can sleep through the night tonight and not wake up so early tomorrow morning!

Love from Arizona!
The Ayatsuka’s

Newsletter April 12, 2008

2008-04-12T22:04:00.002+09:00

We NEED NEED NEED NEED NEED your prayers desperately!

We leave for the states on Wednesday, and guess who our airline carrier is??? That's right, American Airlines. I can not begin to tell you all the problems we have had with this company over the years. This could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

If you haven't heard, American Airlines is grounding hundreds of flights a day. We are scheduled to go from Tokyo to Dallas and then Dallas to Phoenix on AA. Probably the Tokyo to Dallas flight will be fine. It is the Dallas to Phoenix flight that has me worried. PLEASE pray that by some miracle, we get there on Wednesday!

You're prayers have done mighty and powerful things in our ministry over the years. Please lift this up before the Father with us!

For His Glory in Japan (and for His GLORY EVEN in D/FW airport if we end up camped out there for a couple weeks, LOL)

The Ayatsuka's (and Shuhey, also joining us for the first leg of the trip)

Newsletter March 15, 2008

2008-03-16T21:30:00.004+09:00

Spring is in the air! New life springing up all around us, always makes me even more excited about all the new life God is putting into our lives every day.

I have awesome news! In May of last year we posted this newsletter. In that post I asked you all to pray for a woman whom I'd met at a concert and had a long conversation with about God! I am so happy to let you know today, this woman has accepted Christ as her Savior and will follow the Lord in baptism soon!!! I never stop being amazed at how the Lord changes hearts and lives! This was great news to receive at the beginning of this week leading up to the celebration of Easter! Praise and thanks to our God and Savior, we have a new sister in the family today!!!

Please keep praying for our trip to America as we finalize plans and the time to leave is quickly approaching. Our schedule is as follows, so far...

April 16 - 21 Phoenix, AZ area
* Friday, April 18 - Youth Rally, Desert Sky Baptist Church (Casa Grande)
* Saturday and Sunay, April 19-20 - Japanese International Baptist Church (Tempe)

April 21-24 Grand Canyon and travel to Denver, CO

April 25-May 4 Denver, CO Area
* Friday and Saturday, April 25-26 - Fort Collins Japanese Bible Fellowship (Fort Colins)
* Sunday April 27th - Sunday May 4, details still pending/ministry with CMA

May 5 - June 5 TEXAS!!!!!!!!
Lots of details still pending, OPEN DATES AVAILABLE

* Sunday, May 11 - Asian-American Church Houston
* Sunday, May 25 - New Home Baptist Church

June 5 - 9 Boston, MA
* Boston Japanese Christian Church

June 9 - 15 Palm Coast, Florida

Please don't hesitate to contact us about our trip if we will be near you!

Many blessings and thank you for your prayers!
The Ayatsuka's

English Circle...

2008-03-13T22:32:00.006+09:00

One of the ministries that I do is called English Circle. It started with myself and another Christian mom also raising her children in English. We wanted some English time for our kids, kind of like Sunday School where they could get some Bible learning and fun play time in. We told friends about it and we've been meeting for more than a year. We meet on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month. Sometimes it is just our two little families and sometimes it is a LOT more, like last month when we had like 15 kids with Moms and a few Dads! It was a mad house, but so much fun. Enjoy the pictures.

Newsletter February 9, 2008

2008-02-09T22:11:00.002+09:00

We are going through a cold spell here! I realize some of you in the states are as well. I pray this newsletter finds you all safe and well, and warm and cozy (if you're in a cold place)!

We are doing well, and ministry is just awesome. Rocky is going into his 4th week of a 6 week series Bible study with two men in our church (one a believer and one almost believer, he's sooo close!). They are all really enjoying the study. Once the 6 weeks are up however, these guys' days off at work change and no longer coincide with each other. Will you pray that they can effectively and consistenly find some other time to spend together, maybe continue their Bible study or at least just get some fellowship in on a consistent basis. Continue to pray that A-san will come to a point where he is ready to commit his life to the Lord!

My (Marla's) small group of mother's and children that meet twice a month for English learning and Bible story is going well. We call it "English Circle" and this last meeting there were 9 kids there! One new mother who is so excited about the group and asked if she could continue to come. Several of the mothers are not Christian and interested in the Bible. It is a challenge to fit any meaningful Bible teaching for the mother's into the program for the children. My friend Yukie, who is co-hosting the English Circle with me, and I are trying to figure out how to better get these Moms exposed to the Bible. Would you pray that we would have wisdom on how to reach out to them.

Also please lift our church up in prayer. We were moving towards calling a Japanese pastor but the situation did not work out as planned. Pray for unity in the church, guidance for the leadership council and our missionary and especially for planning the year to come as many things need to/have to change for us to move forward as a church!

Thanks so much for your prayers and support. We will be stateside from around April 17th to mid-June. Our tentative schedule is as follows...
April 17-21 Phoenix, AZ
April 22-23 see the Grand Canyon/drive to Colorado
April 24 - 27th Boulder, CO area
including April 26th 10:30-12:00 Ft. Collins Japanese Bible Fellowship www.fjbf.org
April 27th - May 5 Littleton, CO with CMA dance ministry CMA website
May 5 - June 4th ALL over TEXAS - details coming soon
June 5- 9 Boston, MA Boston Japanese Christian Church
June 9 -??? Florida

If we could see you along the way, or if you'd like us to minister in your church, please don't be shy! Leave us a comment or send us an email!

Many blessings,
Marla, Rocky and Hana

Newsletter January 28, 2008

2008-01-28T13:15:00.000+09:00

I just wanted to post a quick newsletter about our Sunday.

We held our monthly bilingual worship event known as Afureru! Earlier this month Ken, a former staff member died in an accident and we took this chance to remember him AND talk about death and eternal life. It was a different atmosphere from the normal upbeat and enthusiastic Afureru! meeting but it was powerful. Many of his friends were in attendance, several of them unbelievers (so far!). Please pray that what they heard about the hope of eternal life in Christ last night takes root in their hearts! Below is a simple slide show we put together in remembrance of him. There are some titles between pictures and I'll type their meaning in English below the video.

Thanks for reading and praying with us. Please don't forget about our trip to the states in April/May. We'd love to see you and share with your church/fellowship group so be in contact with us if you are interested.

Many thanks and blessings from Japan,
The Ayatsuka's

the ocean
life
and Jesus
you loved with all your heart.

that faithfulness
big smile
cute and funny character
you were overflowing with Jesus.

Jesus said "I am the the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will never die but have eternal life."

Ken-chan, until we meet again...

Japanese foods...

2008-01-24T22:07:00.000+09:00

I thought some of you might enjoy it if I shared some of the foods we eat here. There are a lot of neat food items in the winter. Especially at New Years. This New Years we were invited to a mochitsuki (mochi pounding) event at one of the kindergartens where I teach English. I thought I'd share that with ya.

Mochi (moe-ch-ey) is a certain kind of rice that when kneeded or pounded becomes a dough. It is traditional eaten at new years time. You can read more about mochi at Wikipedia here.

Rocky (right) joined two other men in the pounding. They use huge wooden hammers and the mochi is in a large marble bowl. It is best to keep a rhythm going and everyone pound at the right time to avoid hitting each other. Sometimes a fourth man is a part of the team and he reaches in to fold the mochi over at his turn. It takes a brave man to do that part, and he better be quick!

This is my plate of mochi! My favorite is the one wrapped in seaweed on the top right and the one in the middle which is covered in soy bean powder. What you see on the plate are as follows (starting from the top left) mochi covered in shredded daikon (a large radish), dipped in soy sauce and wrapped in seaweed, covered in ground black sesame seeds, mixed with natto beans and in the middle is the soy bean powder. I could NOT eat the ones mixed with nato beans. I am still not able to enjoy natto beans, which are beans that have been "aged" or spoiled. They smell terrible and feel even worse in your mouth. The Japanese insist they are good for you? But anything that is grose or doesn't taste good here is always "good for you"! Read about natto here.

And here is a sweet bonus picture of Hana enjoying her mochi. It is REALLY stretchy huh!?

Newsletter January 20, 2008

2008-01-20T23:19:00.000+09:00

Happy New Year! (a little late) I did not realize how long it had been since I updated with a newsletter. I hope you all are having an awesome New Year. We are busy in the New Year and excited about all that God is doing already.

2008 began with some quality family time. Rocky's brother and family came to visit from Osaka. We enjoyed several days together and the little cousins thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. As always please pray for our sister-in-law and nephews as they do not know the Lord yet. They attend church weekly with Rocky's brother!

Unfortunately just after the in-laws left we were shocked with the news that a very close friend and brother-in-Christ went home to be with the Lord. Our precious friend Ken, who was very active on staff with our Afureru! ministry for many years was killed in a scuba diving accident at his job. We will miss him dearly. His funeral was a bold testimony of how much he LOVED his Lord Jesus and we believe the Lord will do a great work through his death. As a result, this months Afureru will include a short memorial of Ken, and then we will look at what the Bible has to say about death and eternal life. Pray that Afureru! (January 27th) this month will be an extended testimony of Ken's faith and most of all Glorify our Lord!!!

We are seeing God do so much work in the lives of men, as an answer to YOUR prayers as we have asked you to pray for that many times! We now have several Christian families in our church and one husband of a believer member in regular attendance. He will start a Bible study with our missonary church planter soon. Also, Rocky begins a Bible study this week with the co-worker of one man in our church. The three of them will meet weekly for the next 6 weeks to study Bible basics and how to become a Christian. Would you please pray for N-san, that the Word of God would be clear to him and he would come to faith as a result of this Bible study!

We are planning our trip back to the states in late Spring. We will possibly be in Arizona mid-April, for sure going to Colorado end of April, spending the month of May in Texas, and possibly ending our trip in Florida the first week of June! If you are in any of these areas (or would like us to come to YOUR area) and want us to visit your church or would just like to see us, PLEASE let us know as soon as possible. We are looking for churche and individuals who want to support Aroma Ministries financially and through prayer! If your church loves missions, PLEASE we'd love to share our minsitry with you. If we haven't seen you in a while, WE'D love to meet and get caught up! Please be in touch! Email marla@aromaministries.org or leave a response here on the blog!

We'd love to hear from each of you and we want to thank you for your constant love, prayers and support! Many blessings on you in 2008!

Some pictures of recent ministry for you to enjoy...

A concert in December where Hana joined us onstage for the encore (but she wouldn't sing!)

Rocky playing at the local train station with another pastor as an evangelical outreach. They hand out CD's and tracts to those who stop and listen.

The Ayatsuka Family headed out for a day of fun at the Aquarium

English Circle
Saturday English and Bible time

We studied how God provided manna for his people this week. So the children made their own "manna" for lunch. It was really pigs in a blanket, not really a kosher meal, but it works to get the point across to 3 year olds.

making manna

going into the oven

reading the Bible story

YUM! dig in!

Random pics...

2007-12-07T21:36:00.000+09:00

When I was a little girl my Mommy used to wash my hair this way every once in a while. I LOVED it. I don't know why but there was something so sweet and special about it. While we were gone it was easier to wash her hair like this instead of getting in the shower where it was really COLD! She loved it too, and was so happy when I would do this. I loved doing it for her too!!!

SNOW!!!!!

Her eyes looked so sweet when she was eating her ice cream. I love this pic!

Newsletter December 7, 2007

2007-12-07T14:59:00.000+09:00

Christmas Christmas Christmas!

Christmas REALLY snuck up on us this year. We did some Christmas concerts over the last week and it doesn't really seem real that it is ALREADY that time of year again. It isn't that cold yet this year, and it just seems like summer was over yesterday. But what a blessing the season has been so far!

I am so thankful for a Christmas party we were able to have with my Bible study ladies from Shionzan kindergarten. Everyone brought something to eat, and we had a great time singing, discussing the story of Mary getting news of Jesus from the Angel Gabriel, and EATING! There is nothing like sharing food to draw a group together for fun and fellowship. Please keep praying for these ladies, they discover something about the Bible and God at each Bible study. And the group is growing! We had 10 in attendance for the Christmas party, when we started the year with just two ladies!!!

We will be having our Kitakyushu Community Christmas worship this coming Sunday! Next week we will do a concert for a Christian hospital facility. Next weekend we will travel a few hours by bullet train to the Okayama area for a Christmas concert, and then it is back home to do several Christmas events in our own church. Please pray that all of these events will be used in a huge way by God so that many Japanese would realize the true meaning of Christmas!

Also praise the Lord with us for his protection during our travels and his incredible provision for us. On our last trip we accidentally left a bag on a train, and it had valuables in it that were important. We were able to get the bag retrieved by a train employee before it was discovered by anyone else and all our belongings were returned to us safely! Thank you LORD! Please continue to pray for safety as we travel some more over the next weeks.

Below are some pictures from our last big trip to Aomori prefecture...

Our friends we met in New Zealand years ago who were the connection that brought us to Aomori! It was so great to see them again!

HALF of the audience at one of our concerts!

The cafe/bookstore attached to the church.

Hana's little buddies! These guys were great entertainment for her all week (or was it the other way around???)

Newsletter November 28, 2007

2007-11-28T17:14:00.000+09:00

Fall is moving into winter, and we are moving on into the Christmas part of our concert schedule.

We just returned from one AMAZING week WAYYYYYYYYY up North in Aomori prefecture. It was cold and snowy, but full of blessing and fun. We did 12 concerts in 9 days, and ate lots of lots of Thanksgiving dinner (most of the concerts were dinner parties with turkey and all the fixings)! What a blessing to see the amazing ministry of Martin and Ruth Ghent, their 5 church plants, and more! We learned some of that area's dialect of Japanese too which is sooooo different, I couldn't believe it was actually the same language. But most of all LOTS of seekers and first time attenders were exposed to the Gospel. Please pray for those who were in attendance that God continue to work in their hearts and allow those churches to reap a harvest of many new believers in the months ahead, for the Kingdom and glory of God!

Now we move into December and Christmas concerts. We have something every weekend, and special Christmas meetings on weekdays too. Please pray specifically for the Christmas party with my Mother's Bible study at one of the kindergarten's where we teach. This little group of ladies have really enjoyed the Bible study as we meet monthly and I am hoping that this simple little gathering for Christmas will give us more of a chance to get to know them and share more with them.

We always appreciate your prayers for safety as we travel so much this time of year. May the Lord be glorified in all that we say and do!

For Him in Japan,
Rocky, Marla and Hana

Newsletter October 26, 2007

2007-10-26T23:22:00.000+09:00

This week we just want to show you a little bit of us in action! We had a charity concert for Pro-Life Japan and here is the highlight video... ENJOY!!! (oh and please leave us a comment, we love to hear what you think!)

Newsletter September 30, 2007

2007-09-30T22:51:00.000+09:00

The weather finally seems to be seriously cooling off for fall this week. Just in time for us to head into our fall concert schedule.

We just finished two days of concerts for a revival at Rocky's parent's church. It was great, and this sort of feels like the starting line. From here on out (until Christmas) we have concerts pretty much every weekend, and some scattered throughout the weekdays also.

We appreciate prayers for health. As the weather cools down, days are comfortable and warm and nights sometimes are cool. This constant change in temperature can sometimes get some of us down with colds. Something we don't need during the busy fall season. And on top of that, for the first time in over two years Marla is suffering from some kind of pollen allergy (we think). Praise God, it has not turned into an infection, but the constant sneezing, stuffyness, sinus pressure is exhausting. It also sort of gets in the way of singing! We survived this weekends concerts but complete and total healing would be our prayer! Would you pray along those lines, that God either heal the allergy or take away the allergen!!!

And last, but certainly not least, since we did not make our regular yearly tour back to the US this summer to tell everyone about our ministry here in Japan, we have begun to run low on support! We praise God for all of you who support us on a monthly basis or with regular special gifts -- THANK YOU SO MUCH! You are such a blessing, we could never express how thankful we are. Usually our yearly trip to the States brings in lots of special offerings as we speak and sing at churches each week. Without that income, this year our funds are lower than we'd like to see them. We would like to ask you to prayerfully consider giving to Aroma Ministries! A special gift, or begin supporting us on a monthly basis, whatever the Lord leads you to do? If you'd like to know more details about our budget needs, please don't hesitate to send me an email... marla@aromaministries.org

If you'd like to give, here is a link to PayPal where you can send support online.

Or send checks to
Aroma Ministries
801 XIT Dr.
Littlefield, TX 79339

Newsletter August 24, 2007

2007-08-24T22:15:00.000+09:00

WOW! How do I even begin to sum up all that we experienced on the road the last two weeks!?

We just returned from about two weeks on the road and it was an amazing trip! We made our way, 10 hours by car, up towards central Japan by car and stopped for the weekend to do ministry at one church in Toyohashi. The Sunday morning worship and Sunday evening concert were a huge blessings. We were so blessed to meet and get to know this wonderful church full of really strong believers. God is obviously at work in their church.

Then we made our way 5 more hours by car to Karuizawa, a popular summer vacation spot for the Tokyo area. There in Karuizawa, is a Christian conference center and we were blessed to be worship leaders for a missionary annual meeting there. We had a GREAT week! Karuizawa is supposed to be really cool temperature wise, in the summer, but it was pretty HOT this year. But we had an awesome time of worship and fellowship with the T.E.A.M. missionaries in Japan for almost a full week! What a GREAT mission, filled with incredibly faithful, awesome missionaries. We were sooooooo blessed!

Then we made our way back to Nagoya for 4 days of ministry with our friends Shinichiro and Shoko Saito at Hirabari Baptist Church! WOW, this was an action packed four days! We had morning and evening events EVERY day. From Asanagi and RaM's Voice concerts, to a "Let's Play in English" meeting, a child raising seminar and a cookout! We were so blessed to watch as the whole area Baptist association joined forces to make all those meetings possible. We even passed out flyers every morning at the local train station. In all, over the four days, 200 people total attended events at the church. WOW!!! MORE and MORE blessings!

Thank you for your continued prayers. We are back home and hoping to recover in the next few days! Don't forget to check out Hana's blog if you get a chance, she turned 3 years old on the 22nd! Can you believe she is already three? We can't believe how fast the years have flown! We are still so thankful for this precious daughter the Lord brought into our family!!! She did so well on the trip and had so much fun, she did NOT want to come home!

More news soon! Thanks for reading and praying.
With Love from HOT and HUMID Japan!
The Ayatsuka's

Newsletter July 22, 2007

2007-07-22T22:47:00.000+09:00

A VERY Blessed Summer (and it has just begun)

We were so blessed over the past week to have CMA with us! WOW, what a blast. This group of girls absolutely loves the Lord and rejoice in using their gifts and talents to praise Him and spread the Gospel. They had a Worship Dance Workshop in Fukuoka, which was a great blessing over there. They then came to Kitakyushu do dance ministry. They danced at schools, churches and had one big event at a concert hall. All of their activities were so blessed. They also led two purity seminars! It is such a joy to know a group who loves so serve and praise God with their whole lives, just as we do. To watch them dance will give you "Jesus bumps" ALL OVER, and brings tears to my eyes through out every song. Some pictures of their major concert here with us can be seen here at Afureru.org. Check out more about them over on their website, CMA! There is a video of their ministry here in 2006 that is awesome, and check out the Japan 2007 link and read their mission log to keep up with them while they are in Japan!!! They left today for their next destination... (Tiffy, Lysa, Mimi, Gwen, Hannah WE MISS YOU ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!! Hana cried after y'all drove away)

From tomorrow, we are at it again! We go to a three day camp with Seinan Jr High/High School! Pray for us as we worship, teach and play on the beach with the girls from this school that is so precious to us. This is a rare opportunity for us to minister to the girls up close since they usually see us only from the stage during chapel once a month or so.

And last but not least, don't forget to order your copy of Rocky's new CD! It is awesome and will bless your socks off!!!

We'll be in touch soon...
Love from Japan,
Marla, Rocky and Hana

Official Release

2007-07-08T00:33:00.000+09:00

The day you have all been waiting for has finally arrived! Rocky's new CD is hot off the presses! It arrived today...

Artists: Asanagi (Morning Calm) www.asanagipraise.jp
Rocky Ayatsuka - playing 1980 Martin D-28
Shuhey Nishino - playing 1994 Gibson "Gospel" Reissued

Although several years apart in age, Rocky and Shuhey were born and raised in the same area and attended the same church where they both came to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. Although they were on different paths in life, they both developed a passion for praising the Lord and sharing His greatness through playing the guitar. These two have come together to record their debut album, a work of instrumental praise and worship music. May this CD be your companion as you spend time alone in prayer, share a meal or special time with family and friends, when you are preparing to end your day, or as you start out each morning. May it especially encourage you in dark and stormy times as you journey through and at last experience the "morning calm" on a beautiful "peaceful morning".

CD Title: peaceful morning

Genre: accoustic guitar - traditional hymns

Songlist:
01 We Praise You, O God
02 This is My Father's World
03 Holy, Holy, Holy
04 Amazing Grace
05 Tsumi yurusareshi (forgiven sins)
06 Old Rugged Cross
07 O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
08 Christ, the Lord Is Risen Today
09 I'd Rather Have Jesus
10 Redeemed
11 Great is Thy Faithfulness
12 God Be with You
13 Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow

In Japan - 2,500 yen (plus shipping and handling)*
In the US - Suggested donation $15 (US$)*** (plus shipping and handling)*

Payment may be made in US dollars through check or online with a credit card or money transer through PayPal. In Japan, postal money transfer. When you place your order, further payment information will be provided.

When placing an order, please copy and paste the following "form" into an email and send it to... marla@aromaministries.org

Name:
Address: (please include full address including country!)
Number of CD's:
Method of payment: check, Paypal online, Postal Money Transfer (in Japan), or please specify if none of these are possible from your location.

***This CD is made availabe in the US through Aroma Ministries a non-profit religious organization. All donations are tax exempt in the US and welcome for the use of furthering the Gospel in Japan and to Japanese people around the world

* Shipping will originate from Kitakyushu, Japan. Cost may vary according to your location.

Newsletter June 11, 2007

2007-06-11T10:18:00.000+09:00

Things are heating up, not just with the weather, but in our ministry too. We are busy little bees around here!

Rocky's CD project is very near completion! The recording is done! YIPPEE!!! The design for jacket cover, CD cover and all the other bells and whistles are almost done. They had a photo session yesterday and that went well. And I can hear him upstairs doing some last editing on the sound in the studio right now! They will hopefully have it all off to the printer and press in a week or so! You guys are going to LOVE LOVE LOVE this album! The music is incredible. The notes just dance and play with each other, and it just makes a grin spread across your face! Pray for the last minute details, AND get ready to order YOUR copy! We'll let you know how you can do that very soon.

This summer is gearing up to be a very busy one, as usual. One exciting aspect of the summer is the return of our favorite dance ministry CMA! Please pray for the process as they prepare from Colorado, raising support for the trip and all the ministry to be done here. And also pray for the Japan side of things as we prepare for events, sleeping arrangements, meals, travel logistics, etc. It is going to be an amazing couple weeks of ministry again. Please check out CMA's website of their ministry with us last year CMA Japan 2006! The 2006 Highlight video is awesome, we especially recommend that!

Thank you so much for all your love and support!

Blessings from Japan,
The Ayatsuka's

Newsletter May 30, 2007

2007-05-30T22:05:00.000+09:00

May has simply flown by! Where did the time go? We have been very busy and are so blessed with so many opportunities to serve God!

A couple weekends ago the Family Band did a concert in a city five hours drive from here. After that concert I had the priviledge having a long, deep conversation with a woman who is really seeking. She had lots of questions about difficult issues, like why does God allow some terrible things to happen, how can we believe creation instead of evolution, etc. I really enjoyed talking with this candid and brutally honest lady and by the end of the conversation we both agreed, we felt like we'd known each other for years. Would you please lift her up in prayer. She is so close to believing, I think all her questions are just a last ditch attempt to talk herself out of taking that one step of faith! I know she will believe, or actually I think she already does, she just hasn't realized it yet! Please lift her up in prayer.

We are still busy with chapel services and concerts and appreciate your prayers for effective messages and witness, protection from illness and while traveling, and for wisdom in using our time wisely.

Lastly, I mentioned a few weeks ago that a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses were frequenting our home. We met with them once, and they have become so curious about our faith, one lady in particular shows up often with questions FOR us! It cracks me up. Anyways, she is dilligent about visiting our place and we often don't have the time to talk with her. Please pray that we can continue to be a witness to her!!!

Blessings to all, we'd love to have you make a comment here on the blog or get a personal email from you from time to time. Thank you for praying!

Newsletter, May 9, 2007

2007-05-09T23:38:00.000+09:00

Sorry it has been so long. There is so much going on here! I don't even know where to start.

First of all praise and thanksgiving for God providing us with new kitchen cabinets and stove! We REALLY needed it, especially the stove, since the old one was dangerously old and rusting. We are so thankful because the Lord provided it with perfect timing and a miraculous price! You can "see" the kitchen over on Marla's blog.

The new school year has begun and that makes us busier for some reason! We have also been asked to speak at another Christian school's English chapel on a regular basis. So now we speak twice a semester at the school I was originally employed with, and twice a month at another Christian school in town! It is such a blessing to get a chance to speak to young people and connect with them. Please pray that God provides opportunities for us to meet and interact with the students outside of chapel as well!

Rocky is nearing the completion of his newest CD project, an accoustic CD of hymns done as a duo with another very talented guitarist! You guys are going to LOVE this album. It should be out by early July, so get ready to get your copy. I get to listen to them practicing and recording all the time and let me just say, this album is powerful!!! Please pray for all the details involved in wrapping up the project, the last few recording sessions, mixing and mastering, Cd cover design and finally printing and pressing. You'll be the first to know when we have the finished album in hand!

I'll leave you with those two requests this week although there are so many things the Lord is doing around us, I'll save some for the next newsletter! We would love to hear from you if you have a chance leave a comment or send us an email!

Many blessings,
Rocky, Marla and Hana

Newsletter March 26, 2007

2007-03-26T16:52:00.001+09:00

Wow, what an awesome weekend we had!!!

Our good buddies Takako-san and Gen-san were married!!!!!!!!!!! YEA!!!! We are always so excited when God creates another Christian home. Not only that but the ceremony and reception were powerful witnesses to all in attendance. Jesus was so glorified on their wedding day before many friends AND family members who do not yet know the Lord. Pray with us for the many seeds that were planted this weekend through these guys. Especially pray they can continue to be a witness through their marriage, to their families!!! We are so excited for you Auntie Tako (and you don't know it yet, but Gen-san, you are now Uncle Gen, Welcome to the family!!!)

The next item of business is the exciting thing happening through Afureru! March's Afureru! was on Sunday evening and it was awesome. I was most excited to hear a testimony from one of the participating pastors. Today he baptized a young man in his church. During the young man's testimony he shared that it was at an Afureru! meeting he confirmed his faith in Christ! We often don't know when these things happen, and it is always such a pleasure to hear that God is using the things we do in this way. PRAISE GOD!!! Please keep praying for this ministry as God works through it in so many ways!

Blessings and Love from Japan,
The Ayatsuka's

Newsletter March 3, 2007

2007-03-04T21:33:00.000+09:00

I can not believe it is already March! It is already started to warm up in Japan after an unusually mild winter and we are doing great!

We are continuing to work on the Purity ministry that I mentioned in our previous newsletter. Please continue to pray as we meet monthly and work on how best to get started. God must work to make it all happen and to draw the people in to the seminars, so please pray that He will guide us and make the way.

March in Japan is when the school year ends and there are a few weeks of vacation before the new school year begins in April. Our work at the two kindergartens where I teach English and Bible, will warp up in these next few weeks. Pray for the students and Mom's of students that we will lose contact with as they move on to elementary school and outside the realm of our ministry. Pray that the things of God that they have learned will stay with them and they will continue to seek Him, mother and child alike!

Since we moved to this area we have had Jehovah's Witnesses visit often. They ALWAYS seem to come at a time that we can not talk to them, because we are too busy or on our way out the door, etc. My heart goes out to these ladies that so diligently go door to door to share what they believe. They are so bogged down in the law and works of that religion's teachings. This last week, I finally just made an appointment for them to come back when I can sit down and talk with them. Rocky has agreed to be here and help me out too. It is sort of comical, because they think they are coming to "evangelize" me, but it is really the other way around. Would you pray for us, as they come this Thursday morning to talk with us. Pray that our peace and joy, our faith and assurance in Christ will shine through as we relate to them.

May God bless you all!
Rocky, Marla and Hana

Newsletter Feb. 16, 2007

2007-02-16T22:08:00.000+09:00

Happy belated Valentine's Day everyone!

We are so blessed to be living in Japan sharing the one TRUE LOVE with the people of this nation. Thank you for praying for the first meeting regarding our new purity ministry with Afureru! The meeting went REALLY well, and we look forward to preparing the materials for this ministry. As we have talked with other leaders and ministers in the past weeks about this ministry, everyone is so excited to hear that we are taking on this topic and can't wait to get their hands on the materials we develop OR have the team come and do a purity seminar for them. This ministry really has the potential to make a huge impact, please keep praying!

As I have done research over the past couple of weeks, I have been painfully reminded of the devastating consequences of not following God's guidelines for sexual purity. It has hit really close to home for us this week, as we recently found out that a friend is in a very difficult situation regarding this very topic. I can not give the details in order to protect this person's privacy, but would you pray! PLEASE PRAY for this person and the difficult decisions that have to be made.

I want to end there this week and thank you for your prayers and constant love and support of our work here in Japan!

Blessings from Japan,
The Ayatsuka's

Newsletter Feb. 1, 2006

2007-02-02T15:51:00.000+09:00

Time just flies by, I'm so sorry it has been an entire month since I posted a newsletter. Just when I thought things were slowing down, we have stayed steadily busy!

Just a couple of prayer requests for you to keep in mind...

The monthly worship meeting called Afureru! that we lead is really being blessed. The leadership team especially is becoming a solid group with strong bonds and unity in our passion for ministering for the Lord. The girls have decided to embark on a new ministry... purity! Last summer when the ballet team from Colorado was here, they lead a couple of purity seminars and we all saw what an incredible need there is for this type of ministry in Japan. The Afureru! leadership team girls will be meeting tomorrow evening to begin to lay the ground work for this ministry. Please pray, we are starting from scratch and need to develop materials, decide HOW to get the word out about the program, when and where to hold seminars, etc.

I have been having a small weekly English preschool group with Hana's friend Corkey and some of his Mom's friends. We are restructuring the preschool meeting to twice a month on Saturdays so that children starting preschool this Spring can still attend English preschool. We are also planning to introduce more intense Bible story teaching, prayer time and some Bible time for the Mom's too. Please pray that the changes will be positive and that all of the currently established group will continue to attend. And of course pray that more exposure to the Bible will reach the children's hearts and especially the heart's of the Mothers. Pray as Yukie, Corkey's Mom, and I, try to evangelize these Mom's!!!

Blessings everyone, we hope to hear from you also!

test

2007-02-01T23:56:00.001+09:00

testing

Newsletter January 4, 2007

2007-01-04T20:43:00.000+09:00

WOW, what a CRAZY month December was. Oh, by the way, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We had a pretty full concert schedule for the Christmas season, not to mention kindergarten activities a the two schools where we teach Bible and English, our own church's activities, and more. At each event God was working in powerful ways, and we trust He will continue that work.

It didn't all end with Christmas day either, we had a three day retreat just before New Years and THAT was awesome too! The worship was amazing and we connected with some other believers from all over the country including some awesome people also in ministry.

While at the retreat the television station that did a show about us 2 1/2 years ago called and wanted to come do a follow up, THE NEXT DAY! So we returned home from camp to a house full of cameras and television crew. They stuck with us for three days and the show will be on next week. Pray that God uses this show to speak to many Japanese about FAMILY and Christianity, plus ADOPTION! Many Japanese know nothing about adoption and have never seen a family like ours, a house full of love with God as the center. I can't wait to see how the program turns out. We'll update you on the response.

I was especially excited about how much we got to share with the camera crew. Seeing our lives up close really spoke to them. I had a great conversation with the director who confessed that she felt nervous coming to film us since Hana is adopted, she didn't know how to act or what to expect. She said that it was so refreshing to see that we were such a normal family and Hana is obviously loved and cherished. The host comedian who shared a couple meals with us an interviewed our family asked lots of questions about Christianity and cried when she saw Hana's adoption video. She seemed really touched and affected by getting to know our family! Please pray God continues to work in the hearts of the crew!

If you are receiving this newsletter in Japan and would like to watch the show, it will be on at 7 pm Jan. 9th, the station is TeleV Tokyo. It will NOT show in Kyushu unfortunately, but will air all over the rest of the country.

Newsletter November 25, 2006

2006-11-25T22:06:00.000+09:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!! We are so thankful for each of you and your prayer support!

Many of you know about our monthly bilingual worship meeting called Afureru! It has been such a blessing to watch it grow and be used by God! We have always known it would be used to encourage Christian to grow in their faith and share the Gospel with non-believers. We recently have been excited to watch God use it to build a network of churches in our city, allowing pastors and church bodies to worship together. But this week, God showed us He can use it in another big way too!

Recnetly one young girl, who is the daughter of the leaders of one church in the Afureru! network, has been deeply affected by watching the leadership of Afureru!. She watched this summer as the CMA team worked hard along with our staff to put on so many ministry events. She has been attending Afureru! worship and witnessing how the praise team and other staff so enthusiastically give their time and talents to be used by God. She now wants to use her time and talents for the Lord as well. She has decided, upon graduating for High School, she wants to attend a 6 month ministry leadership training school in Hawaii and prayer about the direction she wants to go with her life from there. She is so excited and her parents are excited for her too.

I know God uses Afureru! in big ways, and now He is using it to call others into ministry! Pray that God continues to work in big ways through all that we do!

Newsletter November 13, 2006

2006-11-13T15:24:00.000+09:00

God provides for us in some of the most interesting ways sometimes!

Rocky is always building on the equipment he has in his studio. There are always new things becoming available and he tries hard to get only what he needs at reasonable prices. His next project looks like it will likely be an acoustic album of hymns and maybe some praise songs. He will play with another very talented guitarist and close friend of ours, Shuhei. In order to do this kind of recording they needed a portable recording system. Rocky was looking at a specific mixer that has all the "stuff" he needs, and we were about to make that purchase. Then this morning he was talking on the phone with a friend in our neighboring city. This guy has a lot of studio equipment. Rocky just jokingly mentioned, "If you have something laying around that you don't need, loan it to me and I will use it." And the guys says that he just so happens to have a mixer that he isn't using, it is brand new and really good. He starts describing it to Rocky and it is the exact mixer that Rocky was wanting. We are going to do a concert in that city tomorrow and the guy is going to bring it to him and basically indefinitely loan this to us for FREE!!! TOMORROW!!!!!! God is so awesome!

I told Rocky that he has to get to work NOW on this CD then, cause I want to hear it myself as soon as possible. You all are going to love it too, it will be totally accoustic, so no language barriers there! Please pray for this project, that God will bless it and bless Rocky and Shuhei as they practice and prepare. They are meeting weekly to practice because they want to record each song together, live so that it sounds as natural and live as you can get!

Praise GOD!!!!!!!!!

November 1, 2006

2006-10-31T22:03:00.000+09:00

It is ALREADY November! WOW!!!

Thanks so much for all your prayers and support. God continues to be at work here all around us.

We are so excited about the growth in our church! One more person is preparing for Baptism. One long time attender is finally moving his membership to our church after he was recently able to tell his parents of his faith in God (this is sometimes a difficult thing for believers in Japan and this was a very big step for this young man). Now, this week, a college student who has been attending for some time has expressed she wants to be baptized. Please pray for leaders as they determine where her heart is in her belief in Jesus!

Pray for Rocky's CD recording projects. He has been asked to do so many things and we also want to get to recording our own next album. Please pray for decision making, timing and all the details involved with CD production!

Thanks for your prayers!
With Love from Japan

The Ayatsuka's

Newletter October 23, 2006

2006-10-23T23:19:00.000+09:00

I can't believe it has been so long since I posted a newsletter. I thought I had just missed one week, time is really flying by!

I had my second mother's Bible study. This time, because of another kindergarten event that was underway, I only had two in attendance. But two ladies who missed it want to meet some other time to go over the material they missed!

There are a TON of other things going on. I believe however, the one I want to ask you to pray for is both personal and ministry related. It is about schooling children.

For many reason, Rocky and I have been praying about and considering homeschooling our children for some time. We feel strongly led NOT to educate our children in the public or private school system in Japan. We have been pleased to find there are a few others in our network of friends who also wish for an alternative. One couple in particular is very serious about "group homeschooling" OR even forming a "church school" where we educate our children together in a church setting on weekdays and welcome other children to the school. These church schools are becoming more and more popular in Japan.

Today we visited a church school in our neighboring city. We spent a couple hours asking a ton of questions and listening to our friend, the founder and director's reasons for starting the school for her children. We were very inspired and also overwhelmed! There is so much to consider, but this could be a HUGE thing for the lives of our children and possibly others whose faith, family relationships and more may otherwise be destroyed by "traditional" schooling.

We have SO MUCH to pray about and to consider. We want to do this, IF and ONLY IF it is God's will. Would you pray for us as we begin to pray and seek God's direction! This of course is many years down the road, but we agree to begin now seeking God's guidance. Thank you for praying!

Blessings!
Rocky, Marla and Hana

Newsletter September 16, 2006

2006-09-16T22:36:00.000+09:00

As we sit here waiting for a typhoon to hit, I am reflecting on an awesome week we've had. God is really at work in so many ways. The last two weeks you've heard about the men, well this week God was working in the women.

I, Marla, teach a mother's Bible study at a private kindergarten I've been connected with for years. I also teach English to the kids there. Until now the Bible study has been infrequent and inconsistent in its members. But the last two meetings have been the same group of women really interested in the Bible, and they really love the study. They are full of questions and can't wait until our next meeting. The kindergarten has also decided to have the Bible study every month instead of 4 or 5 times a year. I am so excited about the opportunity to meet with and teach these women more often.

At the same time, the kindergarten has a once a week morning preschool for 2 & 3 year olds. Three of the mothers in my Bible class have children in the preschool class, and they were begging Hana and I to join. I could see these women on a weekly basis, not just once a month at the Bible study.

I am really feeling called to minister to these ladies. Pray for their hearts as they search for God! Pray for me as I try to convey His truths to them IN Japanese! This could be the beginning of a really amazing ministry to mothers!!!

Newsletter September 10, 2006

2006-09-10T23:30:00.000+09:00

I am seeing God at work in so many ways around us. You all must really be praying for the men, because it was another Sunday of great stuff regarding some men.

First of all thanks for praying for Mr. Koga and for your many responses to the newsletter. He will be hospitalized this week, and please pray for preparations for his surgery, as they map the brain, and the tumor, etc.

This evening we had a neat family over for dinner. One new church member, baptized this last Spring is Naomi. She and her Dad, her older sister, and older sister's fiance all came over for dinner tonight. We had such a great time of conversation. God gave Rocky and I many, MANY opportunities to talk about our faith, the journey God has brought us on, and our walk with the Lord. I was especially struck by the father. You might recall that I noticed at Naomi's baptism that he cried through her testimony and baptism and seemed so genuinely happy for her. Well this evening he was such a blessing to get to know, he seemed so open and attentive to all the was said about our faith. And the most striking of all, Hana crawled right up in his lap and sat with him for a while. She loved him, and she is a great judge of character, she always knows a sweetheart right away. Please continue to pray for chances to minister to this family. They want to have us over to their home in return. I look forward to really getting to know them more.

We also had a couple visiting in church this morning for the second time. The husband was bold enough to share with the group during family time, that he is extremely shy and usually not good in groups but he wants to know more about the Bible and about God and wants to come to church as much as possible! I was amazed at such candid honesty from a Japanese man. Please pray for he and his wife to continue to be faithful in attending and to believe!

Keep praying for Japanese men! Our prayers are being answered.

Blessings,
Marla, Rocky and Hana

Newsletter September 4, 2006

2006-09-04T09:39:00.000+09:00

What an incredible Sunday we had yesterday. It was AMAZING! This newsletter is going to be long, but you won't want to miss a word of it! God is powerful and working many miracles.

Many of you have been following our newsletter for years and know our heart for Japanese men to respond to the Gospel. You may especially remember our asking on occasion for you to pray for the husbands of our church members. We were overjoyed at the baptism of the husband of a church member this last spring, and it seems that was just the beginning of what God is doing.

This Sunday morning there was a baptism, one that we didn't know we would be having until late this last week. It was the baptism of Mr. Koga, the husband one of the first members of our church. For more than 10 years he has been attending church as well. Even when his wife can not come, he is in attendance. All of us have wondered over the years where his heart is and what he believes, but no one could seem to get an answer from him though several have tried. He has got to be the quietest person I have ever seen and I wondered if he would ever find the courage to make a profession of faith.

Well Mr. Koga found the courage last week, when he was diagnosed with a serious brain tumor. In his testimony before baptism he told the church that he believed in his heart something like 12 years ago but could never find it in himself to make a profession of faith. He was afraid to lose himself, if he became a Christian. When he was told he had this brain tumor he decided he had nothing left to lose. He could do nothing else but give himself to God and let God take over! There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Mr. Koga's prognosis is very serious and yet on Sunday morning I sat before a man filled with genuine joy and peace. He said he can not explain the peace he is feeling except for it comes from God. And during family time at worship later yesterday morning he said, "I plan to be very open about my condition and what is happening to me. Please stick around and watch and see God be glorified!"

Earlier this week Mr. Koga picked up a Bible and the verse that he stumbled onto was Luke 12:22-31 , which was read at his baptism...

22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about
your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is
more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do
not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how
much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single
hour to his life[b]?
26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell
you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If
that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and
tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of
little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not
worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your
Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will
be given to you as well.

I was humbled and filled with praise! Mr. Koga's conversion is powerful and will be far reaching in its impact. It already has been. Yesterday at his baptism, many miracles happened, there were people there who haven't been to church in years. THREE unsaved husbands attended the baptism. There were also people in the room who haven't spoken to each other in years as well. And Mr. Koga's son, sat in the back quietly crying through his father's testimony and baptism. What must God be doing in his heart?!

Will you continue to pray. Mr. Koga will be having surgery on the 19th. The tumor is in his cerebellum, and is already having an effect on his speech, thought process and motor skills. His condition is deteriorating daily. Removing the tumor could leave him with disabilities, and surgery of such a serious nature is always risky. Also please pray for his 3 children, and his parents, that God would work in their lives through all of this! And also lift up Mrs. Koga, who is of course overjoyed with us at the long awaited salvation of her husband, but must be filled with so many emotions facing such uncertainty in the future.

We can not wait to see what miracles God has in store, and we will keep you posted.

Glory to God,

The Ayatsuka's

Newsletter July 30, 2006

2006-07-29T13:03:00.000+09:00

We are sooooooooooo crazy busy! We've been back for almost two weeks but those have been cram packed. We returned, had one day to recover, went for 3 days at a Jr. High/High School Bible camp, next day had church and Afureru!, the next day the CMA dance team arrived and it has been full speed ahead since then!!! In the meantime we've had a couple concerts also (with me having larengitis, NOT FUN)

So we would appreciate your prayers! CMA has already had a two day dance workshop and yesterday had a full concert in the evening. Tonight they will have a purity seminar for girls. They will also do a 3 day Vacation Bible School, another purity seminar and perform on Sunday morning at 3 different churches over this next week. They are doing awesome! You can see tons of pics here... www.afureru.org/blog

More pics and news to come, but God is blessing this ministry and we are so amazed.

By the way, our trip to the states was AWESOME and God provided some major new funds for our ministry! Thank you, and please continue to pray about whether God might lead you to support Aroma Ministries on a monthly basis. We are still in need of monthly support and in need of giving for a special fund for Rocky's recording studio!!!

I'll give a more detailed report later, for now I have to run! OH and I almost forgot, Robynn is here too, serving and helping in a HUGE way, send a big prayer of thanks for her also!!!!!

With love from Japan,
Marla, Rocky and Hana

Newsletter June 26, 2006

2006-06-27T06:39:00.000+09:00

Time flies when you are having fun! We've been stateside for two weeks now (has it only been two weeks) and life has been crazy. We've been all over the place, seen tons of friends and family and been in several churches! Not to mention we have been very blessed!

We are in Granbury, Texas right now just outside of Ft. Worth staying with my brother and his family. Saturday and Sunday we were so blessed to sing and speak at a Japanese church in Dallas! It was so interesting to me to be IN Dallas, but surrounded by Japanese people and speaking Japanese. It has been two weeks since we spoke Japanese, Rocky and I both felt strange and a little rusty! It was an awesome time of fellowship with that church and we met many college students also. God does great things in the lives of Japanese people when they come to America (or go abroad).

Later this week and next week we will be in churches in and around Lubbock, Texas. Then we are on to Oregon on July 10th. We look forward to seeing many of you soon. Please continue to pray for safety, health and blessings on our fundraising.

I will be updating some photos on Hana's blog today too if you want to see what she has been up to!

Love from Texas,
Marla

Newsletter June 8, 2006

2006-06-08T17:09:00.000+09:00

Summer and rainy season in Japan are here. We are happy that we'll soon be getting away from it all for a while!

Rocky is almost finished with the mixing and mastering of Ai's CD! It sounds GREAT. Now it is up to her to finish the cover and get it ready for printing. Rocky will be immediately back in the studio with another project as soon as we get back from the States. He's such a busy guy!

Please pray for our trip to the States. Some specifics would be...

Safe and uneventful travel. We seem to always have something crazy happen to us in airports, AND now we are traveling with a 21-month old too.
New churches and individuals that want to support Aroma Ministries! We are BELOW our monthly budget needs in support and would like to bring the amount of consistent monthly giving back up to at least meet our monthly budget needs.
That God would use us to minister to those who are needing it now.
For quality time with family and friends.
For Hana to cope well with all the changes and adjust easily. Oh and that she won't get too spoiled by all the "pampering" she will get when she is there :) (Must be nice to be the youngest in the family and spoiled rotten - oh, I almost forgot, I should know! hehehe)
For the last minute preparation before we leave.

Our schedule is as follows (so far)... some items are still pending, check back for specifics later

June 12 leave Japan, arrive in Lubbock around 7pm
June 18 lead worship at FollowThru Fellowship, Littlefield, TX
June 23-24 Georgetown, TX
June 25 Possibly singing in a Japanese Church in Dallas
June 26-27 Granbury, TX
June 28 DeLeon, TX
June 29 back to Littlefield
***
Littlefield FBC, Littlefield Temple of Adoration, Littlefield FollowThru Fellowship, Lubbock Chuch at the Barn, and possibly Springlake Baptist Church, etc. will be having us in their worship in these days, contact us for specific dates.
***
July 10 Portland, OR
July 17 back to Japan

We hope to see you if we are going to somewhere near you! PLEASE email us so we can get together.

We have daily activities right up until we leave. On Sunday we have TWO concerts out of town, and then we leave Monday morning! Pray for these ministry activities to be filled with God's work and blessing also.

While we are in the states, I will be updating this blog regularly. Check back often! We appreciate your prayers, especially that God would send new supporters!

Blessings,

Rocky, Marla and Hana

Newsletter May 26, 2006

2006-05-28T00:37:00.000+09:00

We are so crazy, crazy busy! We had a guest here for three days doing concerts, Hiroshi Yoneda. It was great, pray for God to work in the hearts of those who attended concerts and those who took home CD's and will continue to be ministered to through his music. Here is a GREAT shot of Yoneda-san and Rocky playing at our church's cafe on Friday night.

Tomorrow (Sunday in Japan) we have an a.m. concert and then Afureru! worship in the afternoon. It will prove to be yet another hectic day. But we know God will work, thank you for your prayers. Please pray for Hana, this busy schedule is starting to take its toll on her, she needs some more sleep and some time with Mommy and Daddy! That is coming on Monday, but pray for her to handle tomorrow OK.

We are planning a trip back to the States June 12 - July 17. We will be in Texas (for about 3 weeks) and Oregon (for the last 6 days). I am still working on the schedule, this trip has kind of snuck up on me and we are waiting on family members to finalize plans and so forth too. I will post our schedule as soon as I get it worked out. If you are interested in having us at your church, please drop us an email!!!

Pray for Rocky, he is finishing up Ai's CD, and trying to get a million other things done before we leave in two weeks!

Thanks soooooooooo much for your prayers and love and we can't wait to see many of you VERY soon!

Love from Japan,
Rocky, Marla and Hana

Newsletter May 8, 2006

2006-05-08T13:58:00.000+09:00

Time flies when you are having fun! And we have been having so much fun!

Weekend concerts in Yamaguchi...

Last weekend we took a trip to Yamaguchi city to do music at an area wide church worship event. It was such a blessing to see so many alive and vibrant churches meeting together to worship and fellowship. Several different worship teams representing their own church, lead worship at various times in the meeting. Different pastors from each church also gave messages throughout the day. I was so impressed with the messages they brought! God is certainly working through these power packed, alive churches and the leaders there in that area! We were so blessed and encouraged!

A week long holiday and family...

This last week was filled with a different sort of ministry for us, we were ministering to Rocky's family from Osaka. Rocky's brother Junichi and his wife Kikuko were here to visit because last week was a special holiday in Japan known as Golden Week. Their 9 year old son Daiki and 5 month old son Tomoki were a blast to have around, especially for Hana. Junichi is a Christian but his wife is not and we always enjoy the opportunity to love on her and talk to her about the Lord. Please pray for this family, especially that Mom and sons would join the family of God!

And here you have the next generation of Ayatsuka's. (left to right) Hana, 20 months; Tomoki, 5 months; Daiki, 9 Would you pray with us for the salvation of these three and the anointing of the Lord on their lives, that they would be the next generation of Ayatsuka's to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Japan!!!

Afureru!

2006-04-24T00:26:00.000+09:00

We had an awesome Afureru! meeting today. You can see the new website here, www.afureru.org AND there are pictures if you follow the link to the blog. It is all written in Japanese, so just look for two rows of 4 pictures, and that was todays meeting!

Today was all for testimonies. We do this special kind of Afureru! about once or twice a year. It is always a blessing to hear about the work God is doing in peoples lives. I wish I could give you detailed versions of all the temionies shared, but I was too busy chasing around a 20 month old. Just know that God is doing great work!

Love from Japan,
The Ayatsuka's

Newsletter April 16, 2006

2006-04-16T23:36:00.000+09:00

Today was a beautiful day! One of the most memorable Easters of my life.

Today at our church two people were baptized. Easter is the perfect Sunday for a baptism and it was so special that these two new believers had family and friends present to witness their baptism, many of whom have never been in church before. But today they heard and saw an illustration of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ throughout the service. It was so moving, I've been crying all day.

In our church here in Japan, on baptism Sunday, those being baptized share their testimony before the entire church during the worship service and then immediately after worship we have baptism. Today both testimonies were so touching!

Ken, the husband of one church member told of how he thought it was right to make it through life on your own strength and work hard. When his wife and children started attending church he was worried she might be getting into some strange cult. But then he was bombarded DAILY with stories about church from his wife and kids and eventually he wanted to see what this place was all about. He slowly began coming to events and then at one point just knew he wanted to make Jesus his Savior. He boldly stated at the end of his testimony that he wants to walk with Christ and be a witness from now on! WOW!!!

Naomi, a young lady whose been coming to church for a while now shared how she'd lost her mother to cancer. In Jesus Christ she found healing from the loss and from unforgiveness in her heart. I sat down the aisle from her father and watched as he cried through her testimony and then cried as he watched her being baptized! How amazing to watch a grown Japanese man cry like that. You could see the respect and love he had for his daughter in his eyes. I don't know for sure, but I imagine this was his first time in a church and possibly his first time to clearly hear the Gospel. Naomi's sister was there as well and was equally moved.

As I have thought about the power of Christ to change lives today, I've been unable to keep the tears from flowing. What a beautiful way to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord today. New life was abundant in our church this morning! Will you pray for those unbelievers who were there today. Pray that they will want to experience new life in Christ for themselves! And pray for all the believers, old and new that we would share the Gospel and more would come!!!

Praising Jesus because He LIVES!!!!!!!!!

Rocky, Marla and Hana

In the studio!!!

2006-04-08T18:52:00.000+09:00

Thought you might like to see Rocky and Ai while they are in action upstairs in the studio! Things are moving along well. Ai will be here until the coming Wednesday! She is feeling a little like a cold is coming on, so please send up a prayer for her!

Ai will be getting married early next month! We are excited for her and praying God will use this CD to provide for her and her new husband, and give them a way to minister to many Japanese!

They call this a job?

2006-04-07T22:14:00.000+09:00

One of the AWESOME things about ministry is that basically we get to play as we work a lot of the time. Ministering to people means spending time with them, and we do a lot of that. There are times that Rocky and I wonder if we are dreaming, this is often too much fun to be called a job! One recent "day on the job" was spent at the park doing what the Japanese call hanami (flower watching). It is cherry blossom season so everyone goes to the park to sit under the cherry blossom trees and eat, drink and sing karaoke! No joke, they bring their karaoke machines out to the park and go for it. Never mind that it is loud and obnoxious, it is hanami season and you're supposed to let loose, I guess! Anyways, we spent the day in the park too, it turned out to be a pretty cold day but it was fun none the less. Enjoy the pictures...

By the way, we brought a karaoke machine too! His name is Rocky!!! haha

Hana's favorite part was the SLIDE!

CyberWize

2006-04-06T00:05:00.000+09:00

(I am new at this blogging and this post was inadvertantly added on this blog. It was meant for my personal blog! Sorry!)

A BIG PRAISE!!!

This company just keeps on growing on me! I got in only to help out Mom. My interest was peaked when we were in the states last year, and NOW I am a believer. Because of what happened today...

The products at CyberWize are amazing. I would have never known about this stuff if I hadn't been a part of this company. Tunguska Blast is so wonderful. I could go on and on about the benefits we see from it, and that our family and clients are seeing. But today it is another product that totally amazed me...

PSP+, is a Glyconutrient and it is supposed to help the body heal itself. Well a little over a month ago, Rocky had an eye check up and it was found that his eye pressure was pretty high. borderline I think they called it at 21. This was concerning because Rocky's brother lost his eye site to glaucoma, where the eye can't regulate it's internal pressure properly. Rocky had also been having headaches around his functioning eye pretty often. He started taking PSP not long after that, and today at his appointment his eye pressure was down to 16, well within normal range. AND he realize he has not been having headaches. You can not imagine how relieved I was.

I LOVE this company. It is helping us provide financially for our future and helping us get healthy, plus we get to help others to do the same. But it very well could be preserving my husband sight, and that is priceless!

Today was a GREAT day!
Marla

Newsletter April 4, 2006

2006-04-04T15:20:00.000+09:00

Newsletter April 4, 2006

Praise God for all the amazing things he is doing around us, and for the many gifts he gives! I am especially thankful for Spring! It is so beautiful here in Japan, and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom this week.

News on the ministry front...

CMA is coming back to Japan!
Robynn is coming back to Japan!
Baptisms and new people at church!
Gospel Kitakyushu, internet radio ministry
CD production

As you can tell we are quite busy with many different things at the time. I will do my best to keep each topic as brief as possible, but God is doing so much and I don't want any of you to miss it!!!

You may remember that we had an incredible ministry of dancers come and do a concert last summer. CMA (Celebration Ministry of Arts) will be coming to Kitakyushu again this summer and we are so excited. This year, they will stay with us longer, and we plan to have a ministry dance workshop, a concert and a worship meeting for girls where the CMA team shares about "Purity". It is sure to be an incredible week, as last years concert was a huge hit! Check out this ministry's website... magnifythelord.org
My wonderful cousin Robynn will be back to spend time with us this coming summer also! She has a huge heart for missions to Japan and has been studying Japanese at University. We can't wait to have her here and toss her out there and see how much her Japanese has improved! ; )
Our church is doing so well right now. We have two baptisms coming up on Easter Sunday! One of those is the husband of a member, a first for our church and HUGE Praise! Pray that more husbands come to know Christ. How beautiful it is to see a FAMILY sitting in church together these days (other than our own of course, and the missionary couple that is planting our church). Also this past Sunday Rocky and I were overjoyed to pick up 3 young ladies and give them a ride to church. One young lady heard about us in New Zealand and is now living here in Kitakyushu and made contact with us through email. One other young lady is friends with a missionary couple who visited our church's cafe last week. She was at cafe to see them, and we offered to bring her to church anytime. We were so pleased to get a call from her asking us to come and get her, and telling us she was bringing a friend (pictured above left)! Pray that all of these young ladies continue to come and seek the Lord!
Rocky and two other pastors are hard at work recording monthly talk shows and various other radio shows for their online internet radio ministry called Gospel Kitakyushu. Check it out if you want to at goskita.net
And finally Rocky is in the studio beginning this week with Ai, a young Christian from our neighboring prefecture. Ai has written many of her own songs, and plays the piano! Pray for them as they record and for the Cd project as a whole! What an incredible blessing that we get to help young artists make their albums like this!

Hana has a blog too... www.hanas-place.blogspot.com New pictures from Cherry Blossoms this week!

Check back here often for news of our ministry and just stuff about us! We'll keep in touch...

Many blessings,

Marla, Rocky and Hana

Joining the masses...

2006-04-04T12:09:00.000+09:00

These days it seems inevitable that if you are on the internet, you need a blog! So we have a blog now. This is where we'll post news and updates about us and the ministry. Hopefully you may find it more convenient than the email newsletter we send out, or our regular website, although we will still keep both of those active as well! So feel free to bookmark this and check back often. I will keep it updated regularly!

Marla