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Larry Spalink Japan |
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BIO-SKETCH: Field Director — Larry and Ruth were raised in Christian families in New Jersey. They met while they were students at Eastern Christian schools. They were married on June 15, 1974. They have four children: Benjamin, Daniel, Jon & Jolena. While growing up in New Jersey Larry was exposed to many cultures and the need for evangelistic outreach was very visible. His home church was very involved in outreach and missionaries. While attending Burton Heights CRC in Grand Rapids the pastor, Dr. Roger Greenway’s zeal for promoting missions was opening Larry’s thinking to other possibilties beyond the United States. It was at this time he received a letter from the CRWM. His aptitude for learning languages, his upbringing, and recent influences in his life were now pointing him to an highly urbanized society in Japan. After language studies in Tokyo they spend 3½ years developing a new church in Toyoake. THE WORK: Moving back to Tokyo, they live in duplex near the mission office building where Larry is the Field Director of the Christian Reformed Japan Mission. His wife Ruth is a school nurse at Christian Academy in Japan and is chair of the Student Support Team. Current news from the Spalinks in Japan April 2008 Click here to view PDF March 2008 Click here to view PDF July 12, 2007Greetings to all our friends, family, prayer partners and supporters! We trust you are all well and enjoying God's blessings and daily grace. God has been very good to us, especially to me as I have bounced back from a difficult time after my last heart procedure in June. I'm none the worse for wear at this time, and my heart is behaving itself, for which I am very thankful. Another battery of blood tests, EKG and a chest x-ray today, and it's all good at this point. Thank you for your prayers! I am in the “getting ready for home service” mode right now. There's a lot to do before we leave for the USA in August, especially getting reports ready for the auditor and the Japanese government. I don't have as much time to do those this year! This will be our first “normal” home service in 7 years, and it will be different at the same time, as I expect to continue doing most of the Japan field director work from a laptop even while I'm in the US. I even expect to attend field council meetings courtesy of the Skype software! Too bad for me that I'll be 13 or 14 time zones behind my Japan colleagues! Weird-I'm usually a few steps ahead of them all! Please see the attached page for the details of our schedule in the USA. We will be living mostly in Grand Rapids and New Jersey. I don't have phone numbers yet. Since we'll be on the go a lot, the best way to reach us is going to be through email to LSpalink@aol.com.
A couple of ministry updates: -- With George Young back on the field since mid-May, my workload is a bit lighter. Whew! That gave me time for surgery and to host our new (as of July 1) Eur-Asia Program Director, Russ Palsrok, for a whirlwind 4-day visit. Russ lives not near our headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but in Manila, the Philippines. This is part of our mission's restructuring program. The meetings in September are for working together to refine a region-wide mission strategy, among other things. -- Here's a strange news item: Four of the churches I'm connected with have had roofing work done the past few months: Numazu repaired and repainted their tin roof; Tokorozawa New Life had major leakage and had to have their flat roof resealed; Aomori also had some leaks which have been caulked, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that this will do it for now; Kunitachi Bible Church had to have their entire roof replaced as supporting beams had rotted and the tin roof was badly corroded. Is there a message here? Yes, there is: PAY ATTENTION TO THE THINGS THAT ARE ABOVE! -- How did you celebrate the 4th of July? We had an administrative team meeting and sushi for lunch! -- Summer mission program team members have arrived and have started their itinerating to give a boost to a half dozen churches where they will minister until the beginning of August. Right now they're practicing Japanese praise songs in the room next to my office. We have had a lot of lizards in our small yard this summer, which is great, since they eat roaches, mosquitoes and other pests. I was seeing four or five every day, but now I'm not seeing them much. My neighbor Michael Essenburg says he saw a one meter long snake in the yard. I imagine those poor lizards have been making him fat! And the “rollypolies,” as we call those little bugs that curl themselves up, have attacked and ruined my impatiens which had been looking so good! Sigh! Oh yes, Jolie did graduate from high school on June 8. We left at 2:00 AM the next morning with a group of cars to drive the new graduates to the Shonan Beach. We watched the sun rise over the ocean on the first day of their lives as alumni of the Christian Academy in Japan, heading home again after breakfast on the sand. Thank you for praying faithfully for our children over the years. They are all walking with the Lord and finding places of service in his kingdom! Our oldest son Ben also had a graduation - from Calvin Theological Seminary. He and Christy are moving to lower Manhattan (a few minutes walk from the World Trade Center “ground zero”) in early August to being a church-planting residency. Ben will work with another pastor, Steve Wolma, to plant a new church there in the heart of the financial district. Chip off the old block? You can contact Ben to find out more at benspalink@gmail.com.
Daniel and Angie are coming on Tuesday next week for a couple of weeks' visit to the land where Daniel grew up. We are looking forward to two weeks of vacation with him and our future daughter in law!
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