finding our feet

hey ya'll, this is my first blog (jesse), hence the length. thank you for all your prayers. God has been really good to us. we are thankful that He has made this thing happen thus far. it seems like God is advancing us into greater blessings so far.

i was out praying last night and just thinking about how absolutely nuts it is that God has picked us up with His hands and placed us on this island out in the middle of the Pacific. who am i but a redneck who likes deer jerky and John Deere tractors, and brags about how i wish i were a hunter. but He has given us everything to just show us that it wasn't we who have done this, but God alone.

i can't say "the journey of the unknown's" is over yet. i feel like we are at one of the more critical parts of the way right now: finding the church-family to sink our roots into. this is no small responsibility. we have been getting fairly acquainted with Hope Chapel and New Hope since we've been here. both churches have some serious strengths that are very attractive to us in our pre-Japan-missions-equipping-and-vision-honing-days. (literature etiquette flows.) when we go to one church, we see things we want to tap into. we go the other church and we see how we could fit in real well with their vision.

we have some friends at New Hope we met last year who work with the Japanese ministry. they are awesome and have been very generous and hospitable to us. we went to a bbq at the beach in waikiki with them on saturday. good ribs. had the chance to learn to surf, and chose to hang out by the grill instead. (maybe next time!) we witnessed our first Japanese baptism! that was awesome. i have never seen someone pray that long before they dunked the baptizee. i waited patiently for the Holy Spirit to descent upon me like a dove and give me interpretation so i could understand what the heck he was saying. and we also got to meet a pastor from Tokyo named Talo who is over several New Hope Japan churches; he had a lot of encouraging words for us and good insight to share.

at Hope Chapel, we met Pastor Ralph Moore and his wife our first sunday. he was very excited about why we are in Hawaii. he has a strong vision for Japan. he introduced us to some people and told them God brought us to Hawaii to be a part of Hope Chapel. i about fell out of my seat and nearly jumped for the correction, but i restrained. haha. that was unexpected. he invited me to come to a small group he is mentoring on saturday mornings for prospective church planters. i was hugely honored that this apostle invited me into his small group of mentorees. after all, his ministry has given birth and multiplied to tons of church plants (literally tons). i went this past saturday and it was really cool to be so welcomed.

as you can probably tell, we feel tugged in 2 directions. i guess it's better than being here for a year without having a clue where a good church is. we trust God will lead us in the right way. we are looking forward to finding a church home. please keep us in your prayers for guidance and clear understanding of His will and prophetic assignment for us.

thank you all. we love you very much and already miss you. please forgive my extensive sermon. (you know i don't know how to do otherwise.) but i did have a lot to catch up on.

Jesse and Jessica Cupp