It has been two months to the day that we arrived at our new home in Japan and for the most part are all settled-in. We have cleared out a lot of furniture and items that has been apart of this existing home for nearly 30 years and still have some more to do. The good news is all of our stuff is unpacked and we have made our new home functional for our family and inviting to others.
God has us in the right place at the right time
Mayu’s first time playing Jenga!
We have met the neighbors around us and have connected well with one family, so far. They have a 17 year old daughter, Mayu and a 15 year old son, Koki. Mayu has a strong desire to learn English and wants to study abroad. She wants to be a veterinarian and loves horses and cows. I think Kentucky would be a great place for her to visit!
Every Sunday evening, for about 6 weeks now, Mayu comes over to hang out and practice her English.
Tom, an English teacher from England, is in small group with us. We are blessed to be in community with him.
We feel good about where God has us in this moment of time. As we continue figuring out our daily life routine, we have been out and about engaging with others. Social media has also played a hand in us connecting with some other believers in the area that are looking for community, a church home and/or fellowship outside of church. We launched a small group 4 weeks ago and meet every Wednesday.
A couple of weeks ago, Tom connected me to a Japanese Pastor living 25 minutes Southwest of us who spent some time in the U.S. His church is the only one in the region he resides. We got to express our passion for the unreached in Japan, and look forward to collaborating in the future. Our plan for now is to meet, pray and build into one another.
There are other connections we have recently made… for example at the park on Monday, we met a Japanese lady, her Phillipino husband and 3 year old son. They just returned to Kagoshima after spending six years in the Phillipines. We hope to share what these relationships look like in future communication.
Our first Outreach will begin in April
One of the areas we are running after is the orphaned. We connected with a local orphanage this past Friday. There are currently 51 children residing there. We met with the person in charge of the orphanage. Meg and I both felt there was some resistance and hesitation at the start of our conversation (naturally so, given the fact that volunteering is not widely embraced in Japan and the strict governmental regulations surrounding orphans) but eventually we were able to connect and initially start on some small outside projects involving landscaping and a fence repair project. We will start volunteering in April on a weekly basis. After a couple of months of building rapport we feel we will be able to begin activities with the children. Pray God guides our actions and our words to continue opening doors!
Spring is here
Many trees and flowers are in bloom around the house and we are constantly reminded just is how God is involved in EVERYTHING in us and around us. A verse that I am reminded of lately:
All things come from him. All things are directed by him. All things are for his good. May God be given the glory forever! Amen (Romans 11:36)
Both Chloe and Ethan are adjusting well! They do miss their friends back home and do speak of them often. So thankful for technology!
We just celebrated girls day and Ethan’s birthday last weekend. We will be enrolling Chloe in pre-school in a couple of weeks. Her season of life will change as well as ours as she starts school for the first time, making new friends and using only Japanese.
Grateful
We are so thankful for all of you who are on this journey with us. Your prayers continue to offer us peace and confidence for our entire family and your financial support allows us the freedom to focus 100% of our effort to the mission of helping the Japanese discover God, experience His love and know His power and presence. Thank you for being on mission with us!
