Perfect Timing

... yet God is good.

Earthquakes, tsunami devastation.

... yet God is good.

A family separated, boys stuck at school.

... yet God is good.

Radiation concerns, empty shelves, should we evacuate?

... yet God is good.

Waiting, waiting for our stuff. We were robbed.

... yet God is good.

When we look back at March, so much has happened. Yet through it all there have been many blessings. One blessing was the perfect timing of our scheduled Asia Pacific missionary retreat in Guam. Shortly after we were commissioned we were told of this retreat. The timing ended up being perfect. It was such a gift from God that we were able to get away from the stress of all that we have listed above.

We had the opportunity to spend some time to worship with and visit with people from the Church of God churches on Guam. They totally spoiled us with leis for the women, and candy leis for the kids. They also provided a delicious spread of food after the service on Sunday.

It was also good to catch up with the other missionaries in the Asia Pacific area. Some we have known for years, and others we quickly became friends with.

In addition to all of the rest and fun times that we had, we also had a time of spiritual renewal through our worship and conferences together. I am sure we are not the only missionaries thankful for the hard work of Don and Carolyn Armstrong, Gary and Gwen Bistritan, and Jim and Mary Ann Hawkins, who made this time such a blessing for us all.

Earthquake Update

This is an article from our newsletter we put out last week. If you did not receive it and would like us put you on our email list, please let us know. (The picture is just a random picture of zoo day at Xavier's preschool)

As we were writing this newsletter we were interrupted by a significant earthquake. It happened around 2:45 pm northeast of Tokyo. Christy, Terence and Xavier were at home at the time. Willem and Tai were still at school. It was the strongest earthquake we have ever felt. Xavier was a little worried. Truthfully, Terence and I were too. As the boys would soon be coming home from school we decided to go to the train station and head to their school to meet them. On our way to the station Willem called to let us know that they were OK. Even though the trains were stopped and cell phone lines were busy causing difficulty getting through, people were very calm and orderly.

Because the trains were still not running that night, the boys (and many other kids) ended up spending the night at their school with teachers. Terence managed to get out to the school the next day and pick them up. Christy and Xavier went to one of the preschool graduations. I was a little surprised it wasn' t canceled but is was a blessings to see all the hopeful faces of the graduates after so many images of destruction.

Sunday it seemed that everything was back to normal with another graduation, then to church and teacher' s after graduation party. Here we were touched by the quiet strength exhibited in the Japanese people in reaction to the earthquake, but also as the teachers tearfully said goodbye to students and some coworkers. On Sunday night we found out that the boys school would be closed for several days and there would be scheduled blackouts and train service disruptions to help conserve energy. By Monday a new crisis was beginning troubles at the nuclear plant getting greater and causing much worry. Also, we began to see shortages of some items in the stores.

It is now Monday night for us. The boys will not go back to school until April 4. Their school has implemented online schooling. We are all safe. We are doing some teaching when the classes are not cancelled. We have not experienced any power outages, although we have prepared for them. We are trying to keep perspective on the situation at the nuclear plants by reading a variety of news sources. We are more than 170 miles from any at risk areas at this point. We know there are a lot of ifs out there, but we also know that we are in God' s hands.

Random from Japan

One reason we don't have a pet in Japan.

This photo was taken on 1/19. We were doing some shopping in a neighboring town. We went into a DIY store that also had a pet section. The boys wanted to see the animals. I knew pets were expensive but I was shocked at the price on this kitten. By today's exchange rate it would be $2976.00.

Kindness

This picture was taken on Jan. 19th the day we went to the City Office to sign up for Christy's alien card. On our way home we were searching for a recycle shop (a store of used goods) and we found this pottery studio in a house. The owner was so kind he invited us in for tea and snacks. We chatted with him and the boys want to go back and make something some day. We have had some frustrations in the last few weeks, including multiple trips to the bank just to open an account, and it taking a while to get our internet all set up. However, those frustrations have been balanced out with numerous times of kindness.

• People have helped us navigate the trains when we had questions.
• The lady at the tea stand in our grocery store always offers tea and sweets to the boys.
• A lady on the train zipped Willems backpack for him when he forgot.
• People offer Xavier a seat on the train, including some high school boys who moved for him so he could hold onto a bar.
• Being offered tea of coffee when we visit one of the schools.
• The English speaking phone rep who was patient and especially helpful when we got our cellphones.
• People moving to a different seat or scooting over so Tai and Willem can sit together on the train.
• Being given homemade treats by the fastfood employee on Valentines day.

It is acts of kindness like these that encourage us in our day to day life in Japan.

Getting Settled

Well, we made it to Japan. We arrived at around 2:30 pm Japan time last Tuesday and have been pretty busy since then. We have found out that we won't have phone or internet at our place for another week or so and have had a hard time finding wifi hotspots we can use, so we are feeling rather cut off from much of the world right now. But we thought you might like to know a bit about our first few days here.

We jumped right in on Wednesday and went down to the city office to get Christy registered. Terence needs to get his visa changed first and then he will do the same later. Near the city office is a restaurant the boys remembered from our last visit called Dohtonbori. They liked that you cooked your meal at the table. Two unique phrases that emerged from our boys during this meal were "Make sure mine has squid in it." and "Pass the fish flakes."

On Thursday we made our way to one of the preschools we will be working at and used their phones and computers to take care of some business. We arranged for internet to be hooked up at our place and contacted the school the boys will be going to to set a time to come in. We also made plans with the head of the preschool to go to the visa office and change Terence's visa status.

On Friday we went to the boys school, Christian Academy in Japan, and met their teachers. It looks like it should be a great school. Tai is excited that he gets two recesses and Bible classes. Willem likes that he has a locker with a lock (He jokes that in Ohio he had an -er, since it didn't have a lock.). We also got train passes for the boys for their commute and visited the library down the hill from our place to get library cards.

Saturday was a day to shop for school supplies and other necessities for our apartment. Later the boys had a chance to play at the community center across the street from our apartment.

On Sunday we went to church. We got there a little early and found a new little shop selling steamed Chinese buns. The owner was very friendly and invited us in to try the food. Afterward, Christy led a children's Sunday school class and spoke in the service as well. It was great to see the people from the church again after two years. After church we went shopping for the last school supplies for the boys and more stuff for our apartment.

That about does it for our first few days.

Packing and Visiting

Just an update on what we have been up to and where we have been. We left Alabama on October 23rd and headed to Ohio. Our time was spent visiting with family and friends, traveling to churches to raise prayer support, packing, sorting, taking care of details and making decisions necessary to leave for Japan. These three months have gone very fast. We were not able to do all that we wanted to do and see everyone that we wanted to see. Now we are on our journey to Japan. Our shipment is on its way and all of our bags are packed. It is so nice not to be a full-time packer anymore. We flew to Vancouver, Canada on Tuesday of this week. We will be here until the 17th when we leave for Japan. With most of the preparations done we are enjoying a somewhat relaxed time visiting with Terence's friends and family.

As a part of preparing to go to Japan we have had a great time visiting churches to tell them about our ministry there. We met a lot of new people but it was also nice to spend time with old friends. Over the years we have made several friends who are pastoral families. Unfortunately often times Pastors are called to different areas and we don't have a chance to see our friends who are pastor's very often. We visited churches and church groups in Laurel, Mississippi; Decatur, Alabama; Fredrick, Maryland; Scott Depot, West Virginia; Arab, Alabama; Cincinnati, Ohio and Middletown, Ohio. It was difficult leaving our church family at Riverchase but we have learned when you are a part of the family of God you have brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world.

In addition to all of these trips we were able to visit some of Christy's family in Florida and squeeze in a visit to Disney World (thanks to the Give-a-Day volunteer appreciation program). We were also able to take Christy's grandmother with us to Maryland and visit Washington, DC with her.

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 .