Taiwan/Japan Mission Trip Update #5

Hello all!!!!!

Friday night we had an awesome rehearsal (it was really late.....8-10pm.....but it went really well). Then last night we drove through the 'blizzard' to the second team meeting. On Friday we had beautiful weather......67 degrees with sunshine and clear skies. Then that night it dropped 35 degrees, and while continuing to drop, started snowing. From Friday night until last night we got around 11 or so inches and it stilled snowed until this morning. The snow is absolutely gorgeous! One of the reasons I'm happy that it is here is because I know it will be gone by Tuesday. (We are supposed to be back into the upper 50s all next week). =)

God is so good to us. We were able to accomplish several things in our meeting. First we got to eat a delicious meal together as a team. Then we decided to worship for about half an hour to re-center our focus. Kirsten is such an amazing worship leader! God has given her many incredible gifts! Afterward Mr. Kawase showed us some pictures of the different places we are going to be able to go and people we will get to meet. It was really neat to be able to "pre-meet" the people we will be ministering to.

Then we decided what dances we are going to take with us, who is going to be in each dance, who is going to lead each dance, what costumes we will be wearing, props, and other such logistics. These are some of the tentative dances we will be taking. The italicized part is a short description of what the dance is about.

RECONCILIATION focus:
Everything (Lighthouse) skit-salvation skit
Come Thou Fount-personal salvation
Fight piece-reconciliation of broken relationships

WHAT FREEDOM LOOKS LIKE focus:
Down By the River-unity in prayer
Lifesong-unity in worship
It is Well-peace in the storm
Let the Waters Rise-perseverance through difficulties
This is Home-rest in Christ
I Am Free-freedom in Christ

OTHER STRONG POSSIBILITIES:
Hip Hop piece
Improv piece about embracing self worth
Men's piece
Hat's---funny/comical piece
Into The West-restoration

Thankfully Kimberly is a seamstress so that will cut down on a lot of costume costs. We will have rehearsals every Friday night, 7:30-10pm, from now until we leave at the end of May. We will also have rehearsals on Saturday afternoon after classes.

Prayer Requests:
>Pray that God would give all of the dancers strength to add these rehearsals to all of their other classes/other rehearsals as well as finishing out the school semester well and more team meetings.
>Pray for us as a team that unity would abound between us.
>Pray for Kirsten as well as others as she is graduating this year from the dance school and is putting on her own production that several of us are participating in while continuing our normal classes, extra rehearsals for Japan/company performances in April/graduation rehearsals, and school.
>Pray that the rest of the finances will come in for all of the team members.
>Wisdom from Mr. Kawase as he continues to figure out the logistics.


Here are some pictures from this meeting:

Discussing some logistics and looking at pictures.

Thinking of different pieces to take and who to run rehearsals.

Our first team photo!!!!! Yay!!!!! =)

From left to right: Ashton Price, Jenna Kawase, Joshua Kawase, Kenon Kawase, Stanton Smith, Mr. Kawase, Kirsten Kawase, G'ma Nobuko Kawase, Mrs. Kawase, Abi Kawase, and Kimberly Zehr

An attempt at a funny picture while laughing......we are a crazy bunch!

 I am so excited to share what is going on with this part of my life! Thank you so much for praying for me!!! It is such a blessing to be surrounded by people who love me!

Love,
Ashton

Praise Report!!!

Guess what??????? I am pleased to announce that the hard core faith building days have been completed! (Though sometimes I didn't know if I was going to make it through the anticipation!) Kimberly Zehr, Stanton Smith, and I all acquired 3/4 of our support that we needed by March 12th! Praise God! Mr. Kawase had extended the deadline to Tuesday at noon due to the travel agency's availability and timing. On Monday night both Kimberly and Stan were each about $600 short and we all were praying and hoping. On Tuesday night we all got the incredible news! Even though we rejoice in this amazing gift, we would still appreciate your prayers for the other $1,000 that each team member has to raise.

We have our dance meeting on Friday and our team meeting on Saturday. I will keep you updated! 

Thanks!
Ashton :)

Update #3

 Hi ALL!!!!

 We have a dance rehearsal Friday evening and then a team meeting on Saturday evening but until then I won't really have any new updates. Here are some prayer updates:

• Unity among the dancers and intercessors.
• Open hearts among the Taiwanese/Japanese people.
• Protection (mind, body, spirit) as we travel through the air and inland.
• Openness and humility for the dancers as we encounter a new culture.
• Strength for Mr. Yutaka Kawase, Jenna Kawase, and G’ma Nobuko Kawase—they are the main translators.
• Open, humble, interceding hearts for the nation of Taiwan and Japan. Vision; “downloads” from God on how to pray for this nation.
• Isaiah 61—We desire to see strongholds pulled down and God’s inheritance for people of the nation of Taiwan and Japan. We want to see the captives set free!

• Strength and health as I add additional rehearsals to learn the dances and help create choreography for ministry on the trip. 
• That the Lord would increasingly tenderize my heart for the people of Taiwan and Japan as I prepare to go
• That I would grow in my love for Jesus and the Holy Spirit and have increase revelation of the Father's love for me so that I might share with others from a place of overflow
• That I would have the spirit of intercession in increased measure
• That I would have increase in the burden of the Lord in intercession for the people of Taiwan and Japan

 Thank you so much for covering this trip in prayer! It means so much!

~Ashton :)

Taiwan/Japan Mission Trip Update 2

Hello all! Praise the Lord! I wanted to share with you that I now have 3/4 required funds to be able to go on the Mission Trip to Taiwan and Japan in May. Thank you to each and every one of you who have supported me with your prayers and with your finances in this journey of faith. Please continue to pray with me for the remaining funds to be raised.

A couple of the others on the team are not doing so well financially, so please pray for their income to come in too! They have a few more days to raise the funds to secure their spot on the team. (ie to have the money to purchase the airline tickets and rail passes.)

I have been checking out the details pertaining to my immunizations and have more good news to share. In the state of MO the Tdap (the type of tetanus shot I need) is FREE. Also, the health department here does not charge you a consultation fee to evaluate which travel immunizations are needed. (It was $75 in GA back in 2004!) No doubts, my mom the physician assistant, has already gone to CDC.gov and all appropriate health sites to investigate the information for me. The team leader is also a family practice physician, so I really did not want to have to pay the Health Dept. a fee as a matter of formality. Jackson County Health Department will also give me the typhoid pills, which I prefer because they give me longer immunity than the shot, for $50. Thank you, Lord. Now I just have to obtain a seasonal flu shot (they only have H1N1) and a prescription for traveler's diarrhea. (Let's pray against this!)

My new passport arrived in the mail Saturday. I now have my new passport number so I can purchase the bullet train pass for Japan. It must be purchased from here in the US to buy the 2 week pass at a considerable savings. So now, I am chipped. Well, my passport is. I am not sure how I feel about that....

Thank you all who are praying for me and the team! It is greatly appreciated. We have our next team meeting March 20th. I am very excited about this trip the way God is bringing certain details together.

Here are a few areas you could lift up in prayer for me:

>strength and health as I add additional rehearsals to learn the dances and help create choreography for ministry on the trip.

>that the Lord would increasingly tenderize my heart for the people of Taiwan and Japan as I prepare to go

>that I would grow in my love for Jesus and the Holy Spirit and have increase revelation of the Father's love for me so that I might share with others from a place of overflow

>that I would have the spirit of intercession in increased measure

>that I would have increase in the burden of the Lord in intercession for the people of Taiwan and Japan

Thank you for standing in partnership with me. May the Lord bless you!

Ashton :)

Week of Firsts Part 3 of 3

Here are some pictures from our first team meeting:

These are some of the people going on the trip. From left to right is Jenna Kawase (the oldest Kawase kid), Joshua Kawase (the youngest Kawase kid), Natalie Wilson (she is only going to Japan, but getting there two weeks ahead of us and leaving a few weeks after us), and Kimberly Zehr.

 

Abi Kawase (she is the youngest girl), me, Nobuko Kawase (their grandmother), Sue Kawase (their mom), Kenan Kawase, and Yutaka Kawase.

Same as above but with Kirsten Kawase on left (she is one of my closest friends here in KC), and Stanton Smith on the right. 

My two favorite people in KC! (Kirsten and Abi.......Kirsten's older)

I will write more later as things come along. But as for now......my 8 days are ticking! Time to go pray! :)

Week of Firsts Part 2 of 3

We also had our FIRST team meeting last Sunday. It was a good time of fellowship (we had a potluck) and being able to discuss some of our plans. We were able to talk about different places we might go, transportation, logistics, dances we are going to take, and much more. It was a great time. We are still currently not sure if we are going to be able to go to the nursing homes in Hiroshima but are still trying to work it into our schedule. Some of the different places we are going to go in Taiwan are: flying into Taipei (near the top right), traveling by train to Tainan (bottom left), by bus to Kenting (bottom right), by train toTaotuan (top left), and back to Taipei by taxi to fly to Japan.

Then we will fly to Narita (Tokyo I think--near middle right), drive to Yokohama (Yamanashi on this map--just south of Tokyo), take the bullet train (I am so excited!-they are very precise and therefore have professional "pushers"-you only have 15 seconds to get everybody on/off before the doors close-they did a study last year and the average time that they were running behind on all of the trains nation wide was 6 seconds!) to Hiroshima (bottom left), back by bullet train to Yokohama, bus to Tokyo, and then fly back to the U.S.

This trip is going to be so exciting! I will write more later........

Week of Firsts Part 1 of 3

As you might be wondering from this title, my week has been very interesting. Most of you know that about two weeks ago I was invited to be a part of a mission team going to Taiwan/Japan for two weeks. The major dilemma on whether I was going to be a part of that team was if I could get almost all of the money needed in just 14 days! (we had to do this in order to secure plane tickets) So I'm still currently in my faith building time with 8 days left (I need the funds by March 12th-keep praying).......I'm trusting God that He will cause the right thing to happen. (But its really hard!) Pray also for the other team members as they too have to raise their money in time for this deadline. It would be terrible if one of us who felt called to go, couldn't just because of financial reasons. And the team just wouldn't be the same without all of us.

Anyway.........in answer to my prayers for the opportunity to earn money to go on this trip, God gave me the chance to fill in for a friend of mine at the Holiday Inn working as the continental breakfast buffet attendant. It was so much fun! I worked four days last week training and then I worked five days this week. I'm also going to work on Monday. I have to be at the hotel by 6am.....uggghhh.......I know. Its very funny to watch me, a non-morning person, at 6am because my brain hasn't quite woken up yet. Several times I will walk into the kitchen and just stand there trying hard to figure out what in the world I came in there for! It makes me laugh so hard. I am responsible for putting out all the food, cooking the hot food (biscuits, eggs, and meat-either bacon, sausage, or sausage gravy), getting out all the plates, cups, and utensils, making sure the coffee stays full, keeping the hot water full, putting out oatmeal and hot chocolate, cleaning off the tables, keeping crumbs off the counter, ordering supplies, putting away deliveries, and then putting it all away, preparing for the next day by stocking up the trays, cereal, and refrigerator, sweeping, mopping, washing dishes, taking out the trash, and vacuuming. And that's only part of the responsibilities. It normally takes me until 11:30 to finish cleaning up. (the breakfast is only open from 6:30 to 9:30). I really enjoyed working here. And I got my FIRST paycheck! I did not like the fact that Uncle Sam took $11 of my hard earned money!