Time To Move

Saturday is moving day. We will be moving back up to Ohio until January, when we leave for Japan. The last couple of weeks have been a hectic time of sorting our home into what we need to ship to Japan, what we need to store here in the States, and what we don’t need. Unlike moving to another place in the States, we don’t have the option of dumping everything into boxes and then unpacking and storing it at a new house. We won’t have a lot of storage space here in the US, and so it has been an interesting experience paring down our possessions to just those things that we really want to or need to keep. Most of the sorting has been done, and the rest will have to be done in Ohio. It is amazing how much stuff one can accumulate is a relatively short time.

As the day we leave Alabama approaches, we are thankful for several answered prayers, and continue to ask for prayer in others. Many of our larger items we were worried about selling have been sold. We are also thankful for all of the help our friends here have given us in watching our boys, helping with the yard sales (including set up, tear down, selling and buying), and helping us pack and move things where they need to go. This morning another prayer concern was answered. We have found an excellent home for our dog, Hachiko.

Please continue to pray for probably our biggest concern, the sale of our house. We know that God will take care of us, but sometimes it is hard to let it go.

One last prayer request is not for us, but for Cheryl Barton, our dear friend whom we look forward to working with in Japan again. She will begin chemotherapy in Indiana .

Another Return

It has been almost a year and a half since we returned from Japan. Looking back at this blog I realize we didn't quite get around to posting more about our time there, but that is not because Japan has not been in our thoughts.

In the back of our minds we have always known we would return to Japan for a longer term as missionaries. Well, that day has come. We have been appointed by Global Missions to serve in Japan. Once more we will be going to western Tokyo to teach at the pre-schools and help with Nishi-Kunitach Church of God. In the time we have been gone, a good friend has been working in that position and we have been encouraged by the work she has been doing there. We look forward to reuniting with our friends at the schools and the church and continuing the work there.

Right now we are at the North American Convention of the Church of God and will be commissioned on Monday. We are currently still working in Alabama, and will continue to live and work there until October. During that time we will begin to arrange time to visit churches and share about our ministry and needs. After we leave in October we will move back to Ohio to be with family and devote more time to visiting churches and preparing to move to Japan. Our goal is to move to Japan sometime in the beginning of January.

Please pray for us as we begin this new journey in the life of our family. We hope this blog will serve to keep you informed of (and sometimes entertained by) our work in Japan.

Two immediate prayer requests are for our house to sell and to find a good home for our dog.

If you would like more information or have questions, please feel free to contact us at tcwim@hotmail.com. We would be more than happy to answer your questions or even visit your church if we are in your area.