Wow, we have been away from the blog world for so long… We are sorry that it took us so long to write a new post. It has been the best month of our lives. Our son, Luke Kai, was born on January 6th. God provided wonderful doctors and nurses who made everything go so smoothly. They took good care of mommy and Luke! While we were in the hospital, we were able to share what we do in Japan and our faith in the Lord. We praise God for this opportunity.
Luke is such a blessing from God. We prayed and waited for this baby for a long time. God’s timing is perfect. We thank all our friends and families who prayed with us. THANK YOU!
Luke makes us smile all the time. He reminds us of God’s faithfulness every day. We are thankful that God has chosen us to be his parents and we pray that we will raise him for His glory.
We are sorry we could not update our blog sooner. We just got internet at our house and we will try to update it more often! We are doing great and enjoying getting to know people here. We still have a lot to do around the house, but we are ready to welcome our baby boy anytime!
We are blessed to be a part of two wonderful churches! One is our sending church in Arlington (we miss you all!), and the other one is in Sendai, Japan. Yu grew up in this church after several believers including her parents planted this church. Even though it is a small church, everyone knows everyone and it’s like having a big family! The members of this church have been praying for us for a long time. Their previous pastor left in the summer of 2009, and they have faced many challenges. However, they kept serving the Lord and the community faithfully. When the assistant pastor (who is in his 70s) handed us the letter to our church in Arlington, we were amazed because we had not shared with him about our desire to come to serve in Japan. In his letter, he wrote that one of the biggest needs in this area is the student ministry. Again, we were surprised because that was what we had been wanting to do in Japan. Many Japanese young people are living without hope. The need to reach out to them is so great. We know that it was all in God’s plan and we are excited to be a part of this!
As soon as we arrived, the members of the church welcomed us warmly. We shared our heart and vision with them, and many people came to tell us that they had been praying for us. Some of them said they want to help with the student ministry which is an answer to our prayers. We know we can’t do this alone. We know the importance of being a part of the church body and we are thankful that God has given us this church. We are planning to visit the local churches to get to know them and to see the possibilities to partner with them. In April, we are going to start visiting the local universities to meet students.
We made it safely to Japan! Thank you for praying for our safe travel. Everything went smoothly and God provided everything we needed! Yu was able to use 4 seats to lie down. All the luggage made it safely as well. Praise God! God has filled our hearts with peace and joy as we landed, and we are excited to be in His will.
As we left Texas, we prayed for this new journey. We thanked God for all of you who have touched our lives and supported us in so many wonderful ways. We are so thankful for this opportunity and we can’t wait to share all the amazing things that God does in Japan. We miss you all and would love to keep in touch. We want to know what is happening in your life and how we can pray for you. Please write us anytime! Please continue to pray for us as we adjust to our new life here. We have a little over a month until our baby comes and we have a lot to do! Thank you again for lifting us up. We love you all!
November was missions month at our church. We always love this time of year when we learn about all the amazing things that God is doing in the world. This year, it was more special to us since we were commissioned to be sent out to Japan. The church hosted special commissioning services for us where we stood before the church body and read our covenant. We promised to represent Christ and His body in Japan. As we stood in front of the church, we thought of all the people who have prayed for us and supported us. We cannot thank you enough. Thank you for being there for us throughout this journey.
Our church also had a special service called “CRAVE” to conclude the missions month. We gathered for a night of worship and prayer. Our church is committed to the power of prayer as we seek to make God known among the nations. During the prayer time, many people prayed over us. It was such a meaningful experience. We are blessed to be a part of a mission minded church. We also want to thank everyone who is praying for us from all over the world. Your prayers mean so much to us! Please let us know how we can pray for you.
One of the things that our sending church and sending organization value is the importance of an advocacy team. Advocacy team is our home team who will be supporting us from our sending church. They will provide personal prayer cover and bring encouragement. They will give us security, stability, spiritual counseling, mentoring, and accountability. They will serve as the bridge between us and the church. They serve as an advocate for the Japanese people that we are called to minister to. We are so thankful for this group of faithful believers who are going to help us in so many ways.
As we prepared to move to Japan, so many people prayed for us and encouraged us. We are blessed to have many family members and friends who love us and care for us. Some of our close friends hosted farewell parties for us, and we had such a special time together. We will miss them so much! We thank God for all our families and friends.
We found our house. Well, not really. We visited a village movie set. Many of the houses were brought in from other area and were used as house at one time. Several of the houses can be seen in TV shows and movies. It was very educational because we were able to see what life might have been like just a 100 years ago. The village set was housed with workers who dressed the part and acted the part as well. They showed us how daily life was conducted, had tea ceremonies, and told stories of the “old days.” While we won’t find a modern house like this it was definitely a good opportunity to learn about Japanese heritage. Maybe some of you will get a chance to visit this place when you journey to Japan.
