Recent News

To continue reading Anna’s complete letter – click HERE!

Are you all enjoying the beautiful Fall weather? A bit of rain… a bit of fog…. several days of blue skies….. my favorite season!  Make sure you get out for a brisk walk and a chance to smell the fresh fall air.  God’s presence is all around us.

A couple of Items this month…

• Men’s Bible Study – we welcome all men to come and join us for our continuing series in the book of Colossians. This Saturday, at 9:00 a.m., we will be looking at  part 2 of our 3-part study. It has been a great time of fellowship and prayer as well.
• Women’s Group – the women will also begin a time of regular monthly fellowship. Come and join us this Saturday as Andrea Johnson leads the women in a time of prayer and discernment as they consider the shape and content of their regular gatherings going forward.
• Church Yard Clean-Up – this Saturday, from 10:30 until noon. Grab your rake and gloves and come and join us! Lots of leaves…..
• Thanksgiving Potluck – come and take part in the wonderful thanksgiving meal that will follow our worship on Sunday, Nov. 24th, from 11:15 a.m.

• 11.09  Men’s Bible Study @ 9:00 a.m.  / Women’s Group also @ 9:00 a.m.  / Church Yard Clean-Up following from 10:30 until noon.
• 11.10  Shun Takano preaches
• 11.17  Board Meeting at 8:45 a.m. /   Pastor Tim preaches @ 10 a.m. worship
• 11.22  (Friday) JCC Volunteer team at St. Mary’s Food Bank (9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)
• 11.24  Richard Nakamura preaches followed by Thanksgiving Potluck meal

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Tim

Greetings to JCC family and friends,

We trust that your Fall season has been blessed and finding you experiencing God’s goodness in your lives!  I apologize for getting  this note out so late this month. Even as I write this…. our JCC volunteer crew is serving dinner to the homeless near Cherry St. beneath I-5. Thank you to ALL of you who participate so faithfully in this important ministry.

Just a couple of other things to highlight for the month:

• Men’s Bible Study and fellowship – We had a great first meeting in September and our next gathering will be this Saturday, Oct. 12th, from 9:00 until 10:30 a.m. at church. We invite all men to join us for this important time of looking into God’s word and catching up with each others’ lives.
• Special congregational meeting  – on October 20th, directly following the worship service, we will be having a special congregational meeting. In recent months we have been updating our membership role and we will be confirming the membership of several individuals on this day. This vote will allow us to have a current and accurate membership role that will be crucial for the making of any important decisions going forward as a congregation. We look forward to seeing you all at this meeting.

• 10.06  Pastor Tim preaches
• 10.07  (Monday) The Lord’s Table / Dinner for the homeless (8:00 p.m. on site)
• 10.12  (Saturday)  Men’s Bible Study (9:00 – 10:30 a.m.)
• 10.13  Shun Takano preaches
• 10.20  Board Meeting at 8:45 a.m. / Pastor Tim preaches / congregational meeting following
• 10.25  (Friday) JCC Volunteer team at St. Mary’s Food Bank (9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)
• 10.27 Richard Nakamura preaches

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Tim

Greetings to JCC family and friends,

Hope you’ve all had a great summer! We’re looking forward to a couple of happenings in September. This is short notice but please make note of the following:

• Discussion this Saturday, 9/7,  9:00 a.m.  –  For a couple of years now we’ve been discussing how to solve our ongoing problems with our older building. Because of the financial implications, it invariably involves discussion of our church’s future as well. We would love to have your thoughts and input concerning this issue. Please come and join us this Saturday morning for a time of discussion and fellowship.
• Men’s Gathering on Saturday, 9/14, 9:00 a.m.  – we’re hoping to begin some times of study and fellowship for both men and women outside of our regular worship times. Our first gathering for men is scheduled for 9/14 (Saturday morning). We’ll meet from around 9:00 until 10:30. All men, come out and join us for a relaxing and important time together!

And women, we’ll be planning a gathering for you as well. Stay tuned as we work on schedules and get an initial gathering set up.
Other schedule items to keep in mind….

• 09.01  Pastor Tim preaches
• 09.07 Discussion about our old building / Church future
• 09.08  Shun Takano preaches
• 09.14  Men’s Gathering (9:00 – 10:30 a.m.)
• 09.15  Board Meeting at 8:45 a.m. / Pastor Tim preaches
• 09.22  Richard Nakamura preaches
• 09.27  (Friday) JCC Volunteer team at St. Mary’s Food Bank (9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)
• 09.29  Craig Niiyama preaches

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Tim

Summer greetings to JCC family and friends,

It feels like the days are just flying by…. I hope you have experienced sunny, fun, and productive days as we move through this season. We also want to challenge each other to “keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…” as the writer in Hebrews encourages us to do. A lot has been going on. Here are a few highlights:

Joyful news…

• Gene and Sue’s daughter Annie, and husband James welcomed twin girls into the world on July 9 – Mia & Madeline!
• Bi-Lan’s daughter, Ai-Li, and husband Reid welcomed their first baby, Keizo James Truitt, on Saturday, July 13!
• Rhys & Sharon Farren celebrated the birth of their daughter, Cory and husband David’s child #2 – Henry James Schneider – on Tuesday, July 16 and the wedding of their daughter, Megan, to Ryan Scherich on July 20!

A farewell to one of our members  –  we were sad to hear of the passing away of one of our members from many years ago, Mikie Takeuchi. But we were grateful to be able to meet family members at worship and to participate in a beautiful memorial service for her on Tuesday, July 16. Pastor Tim and Peter attended.

Remember to pray for those ministering overseas –

• Anna Rosengren, serving now in Tokyo, Japan with SEND International
• Chris & Missy Takano, serving with Teach Beyond in Germany
• Rachel Wolff, serving with World Vision International in Bangladesh. (To see three recent videos of Rachel’s work, click HERE.)

• 08.04  Pastor Tim preaches
• 08.05 (Monday) Lord’sTable / Dinner for the Homeless
• 08.11  Shun Takano preaches
• 08.18  Board Meeting at 8:45 a.m. / Pastor Tim preaches
• 08.23  (Friday) JCC Volunteer team at St. Mary’s Food Bank (9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)
• 08.25  Richard Nakamura preaches

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Tim

Recently during our worship service we were able to view three short videos giving us a bit of insight into the work that World Vision International is doing among the Rohingya people in Bangladesh. Here are links to those videos:

1. Emergency Relief – Empowering Rohingya Women
2. Emergency Relief – How a Mirror Saves Lives
3. Emergency Relief – Solar-Powered Lamps

Let’s keep praying for Rachel Wolff and her family as they serve in the refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Rachel Luttio Wolff is working with World Vision in Bangladesh, coordinating a large staff of volunteers who work with the Rohingya refugees that have fled across the border from Myanmar to Bangladesh due to persecution. Recently Betty Luttio forwarded us this interesting article from World Vision that describes these camps where Rachel is working…

CITIZENS OF NOWHERE…

By Kari Costanza | Photos by Jon Warren
Karen Homer and Himaloy Joseph Mree of World Vision in Bangladesh contributed to this story.

Five-year-old Jannatul Firdous is deep in thought. How best to describe the meaning of her name? Jannatul Firdous means heaven — the best heaven — so she wants to get it right.* “Heaven is a place where children can play,” she begins as her 26-year-old mother, Salima**, gazes at her with a sweet half-smile. “There are many flowers,” continues Jannatul. “There is a big pond of water. Heaven is a happy place.” 

Camp 13, where Jannatul now lives, is no heaven. Children play in the dirt, kicking up dust that floats in the hot afternoon air. It’s a far cry from the lush, green countryside surrounding the home she fled in Myanmar. Here, there’s no playful splashing in big ponds. Instead, Jannatul must lug heavy metal water containers from a pump up a steep hillside staircase that leads to her family’s makeshift shelter.  In Camp 13, some sweat under a hot sun, breathing in the diesel fuel stink of trucks loaded with bamboo poles. Amid the cacophony of clinking shovels and pinging hammers, they lay bricks and fill burlap bags to shore up steep hillsides to prepare for the coming monsoon season.  

Jannatul lives in the world’s largest and most densely populated refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Of its nearly 1 million residents, more than half are children. Most of the people here are Rohingya, a persecuted, predominately Muslim-minority group from Myanmar, who have faced discrimination in Myanmar over several decades, including the denial of citizenship. In August and September 2017, more than 720,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh, driven from their homes by extreme violence in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State. They joined about 200,000 Rohingya who had previously fled here. 

READ MORE….

Greetings to JCC family and friends,

Summer’s coming…..weeds are growing!  We had a great morning of church yard cleaning on May 18th with a good group from SABF joining a core of folks from JCC to cut back weeds and limbs and make the lawn look good. Thanks everyone!

And although this report is a bit late, here is what Sue shared with us in the bulletin a few weeks ago about our most recent diaper drive for the food bank which took place on Easter Sunday:

Wow – praise God!!  Our one-day Easter Diaper Drive brought in a total of 2, 274 diapers!!  This is an amazing amount of diapers collected for the recipients at St. Mary’s Food Bank and the staff there are very appreciative of your generosity!  Thank you! Thank you!!  Last year we collected approximately 1,300 diapers so this year we easily surpassed that number.  We can make this an annual event each Easter, but donations are also welcome throughout the year. (Sue Hanson)  Below is a photo of Sue and Gene delivering the diapers to the food bank.

There are a  couple of special events coming up in June. It would be great to have you join us! Here is the information that Peter and Joyce Tsai have provided for us:

Annual JCC Retreat & Potluck at Hood Canal

• Location: Tsai / Lee Hood Canal House – 17041 East State Route 106 / Belair, WA / 98528
• Low tide (-0.9) is set for 3:14 p.m.
• Come for Potluck at 12:00 noon and enjoy the provided hamburgers and hot dogs (along with all the goodies YOU bring!)
• After lunch we’ll enjoy clam digging on the beach!
• There’s a sign-up sheet at church, or call Peter and Joyce to let them know you’ll be coming (206) 351.0313 (cell)
• This is always a great time of fun and fellowship.

Walk For Rice – ACRS Annual Fundraiser / Supports the Food Bank

• June 22, 2019 (Saturday)
• 9:15 a.m. meet at the Tsai home – 5415 S Lucile St. Seattle (206) 351-0313
• or…. 9:45 a.m. meet at Seward Park near the registration tables – Juneau St. & Lake Washington Blvd
• Walk starts at 10:00 a.m. (2.5 miles around Seward Park Loop)
• Hot Dogs & Hamburgers at Tsai home after the walk
• You can go here to make an individual donation. www.walkforrice.org

Along with these special events we’ll be involved as usual with The Lord’s Table / Homeless Feeding as well as our volunteer team at the St. Mary’s Food Bank. See below for details.

• 06.02  Pastor Tim preaches
• 06.03  (Monday) The Lord’s Table / Homeless Meal (meet at church at 7:30 p.m.)
• 06.08  (Saturday) Church retreat at Hood Canal (details above)
• 06.09  Shun Takano preaches
• 06.16  Board Meeting at 8:45 a.m. / Pastor Tim preaches
• 06.22 (Saturday) Walk For Rice (details above)
• 06.23  Richard Nakamura preaches
• 06.28  (Friday) JCC Volunteer team at St. Mary’s Food Bank (9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)
• 06.30  Craig Niiyama preaches

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Tim

Dear JCC family and friends,

It was great to see so many of you at our Easter Service last month. Below is the congregational photo we took after the service.

Easter 1-Day Diaper Drive 
Here’s what Sue shared in last week’s bulletin about results for our diaper drive:

Praise God!!  Our one-day Easter Diaper Drive brought in a total of 2, 274 diapers!!  This is an amazing amount of diapers collected for the recipients at St. Mary’s Food Bank and the staff there are very appreciative of your generosity!  Thank you!  Thank you!!  Last year we collected approximately 1,300 diapers so this year we easily surpassed that number.  We can make this an annual event each Easter, but donations are also welcome throughout the year.

Yard Clean-Up on Saturday, May 18th
If you are able, please join us for our next Yard Cleanup scheduled for Saturday, May 18^th.  The SABF Church will also be helping so let’s get a big group from JCC to work together with them.  We will begin at 9:00 AM so please bring your own garden tools.

Upcoming schedule highlights for May:

• 5.12  Board Meeting at 8:45 a.m. / Shun Takano preaches at 10:00 a.m.
• 5.18  Church Yard Clean-Up!  Saturday, 9:00 a.m.
• 5.19  Pastor Tim preaches
• 5.24  JCC Volunteer team at the St. Mary’s Food Bank – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
• 5.26  Richard Nakamura preaches

Looking forward to seeing you!

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Tim

Last week we received a few lines of news from Norishige and Tsuneko Suzuki so I thought I would pass them on to all of you!

First, a few photos they sent of their recent viewing of cherry blossoms at the Takada Castle in Joetsu City (Niigata Prefecture).

Even on a cloudy day they look gorgeous don’t they?

The Suzukis will be coming to visit here in Seattle during the month of June and have said that they’re looking forward to visiting us at worship on the 3rd and 4th Sundays in June. We’re looking forward to seeing them. Be sure to mark your calendars so that you can come and join us on those Sundays for a warm welcome to Norishige and Tsuneko!