If you have ever lived away from your family and friends, you know how hard it can be. Even though we are called to be here and love the people, it gets tough sometimes. It really helps to talk to someone who’s in the same boat.
Recently, we invited our missionary friends, the Qualls family (from Texas!), to our house for dinner. We had a great time with them. We were encouraged by them as we shared our joys and struggles of ministering in Japan. The Qualls have been serving in Sendai for a while and we met them when they came to a special event held at our church. They are with another organization and go to a different church, but we asked them to be a part of the new ministry called “LIFE” which offers a free English class and ends with a worship service and fellowship in English every Sunday night. It has been a blessing to serve with them. They are also helping with disaster relief work in Sendai and it is always helpful to share our strategies and get ideas. We have learned a lot from them!
Of course, Luke loves playing with their four kids! We really want Luke to learn English and playing with English speaking kids is the best way for him to learn!
We thank God for the Qualls and the ways they have blessed us! We look forward to serving with them and encouraging each other as we minister to Japanese people.
Group photo after dinner.
Kevin leading worship at LIFE.
Luke’s big sister! He keeps following her wherever she goes!
We have had a lot of teams come and go over the past year. We are abundantly thankful for our home church in Texas sending such a wonderful group of ladies. Not only did they minister to the kids but they ministered to us as well. Luke often takes a moment to get to know people before warming up to them but he truly took the the team right away. He was sad to see the team leave and so were we.
We are blessed to have served with Martha, Lindsey, and Kristen. We pray you take what you learned and experience here and share it with others back home. We will miss you but we pray we get to see you all very soon! Thank you so much FBCA for sending them to us.
Hello!!! We are sorry we haven’t been able to update our blog for a while. We just came back from our trip to Hawaii. We visited our friends who were on the mission teams to Sendai and spoke at their churches. We had a wonderful time meeting people and sharing about Japan. We will write more soon! Please pray for us as we get ready to host the mission team from Texas that will arrive tomorrow!
Hello from Sendai! It’s snowing outside and we are stuck in the house! It gives me a chance to update our blog!!!
We had an opportunity to go back to America in November. The main reason for our trip home was to take care of my visa, but we were blessed by so many people who took time to see us, to feed us, to give us a chance to share about our ministry, and to encourage us!
As always, I took SO many photos. I am sad that I won’t be able to share all of them, but here are some of our favorites!
We stopped in California on our way to Texas. We stayed with our friend from college and we had fun catching up! Luke had a great time with her kids!
Luke had the BEST time at this play area. Don’t you love his smile?
We stayed with the Turner family for the first few nights in Texas. Cheryl has served as our lead advocate last year. We love them and thank God for their love for us!
Our friend, Charlie, who let us borrow the NEW car while we were in Texas. He is such a generous man! His company donated money for the disaster areas as well!
With our dear friends and their boys! It was great to worship with our FBCA family!
We were able to share about our ministry in several Sunday School classes.
Sharing with the Panorama group. We went through a weekly missions training with them for over two years and we all became close friends.
Can’t believe we are all parents!
We were invited to speak to the children who were learning about the missions. They were precious!
Luke learned to WALK!
He loved playing with Great grandpa Woods!
Dinner with Yu’s former co-workers and Japanese students.
Luke got to meet his cousin, Carmen and Uncle John!
Visiting friends at DBU!
Fun night with the Steiger family and our new Japanese friends! Can’t wait to see them again in Sendai!!!
Luke had a play date with his new girl friend, Molly! Her mommy is a good friend of mine from college!
Aunt Cathie and her kids took care of Luke while mommy and daddy went on a date! What a sweet way to bless us!!!
Thank you for spoiling us! We love you!
We went to the ICE show at Gaylord Texan with Mimi. We had a great time!
Jennifer’s 80s themed 30th birthday party!
Luke had an early 1st birthday party!
WE LOVE YOU, LUKE KAI! You have brought so much joy into our lives!
We stopped in Honolulu on our way to Japan! We were invited to speak at one of the churches that had sent a mission team to Sendai last year. Thank you, Olivet Baptist Church for having us!
Luke loved playing on the beach!
He just sat there and looked at the ocean for a while. Loves beaches like his mommy!
On Wednesday, we attended the Japanese Bible Study and shared about our disaster relief work. We had a blessed time of fellowship!
Amazed by God’s beautiful creation!
We had lunch with some of the team members (and their families) that had come to Sendai in October. It was fun to see them again!
So thankful for some “family time” to rest and relax!
God blessed our trip in many ways! From the cheap plane tickets (thanks to our friend who works for Delta) to all the places to stay for free, and more than anything, all our precious friends and families made our time extra special!
We love you and miss you all so much! Now it’s YOUR turn to come visit us!
