I could do an entire blog series on dumb things I’ve said over the years. I’ve got my fair share of cringeworthy remarks that I regret, and while I’d like to think I’ve learned to control my words better as I’ve grown older, I’m sure there are plenty mistakes yet to come. That said, there are certain remarks which, when thinking back on them, produce not only shame but also an opportunity to mature; words that come back and hit you square between the eyes, revealing to you important truths. In 2010, my family moved to Kojima, Japan, where I worked as a vocational missionary with a full-time job as…
-
-
Moving Forward
With the new year well upon us and things moving forward for our return to the work in Japan, we wanted to take a moment to update everyone on what we are currently doing, and what the process looks like as we look towards our upcoming transition. First, earlier this month, sister Sanpei and brother Aikawa did us a huge favor by putting together our paperwork and submitting it to the immigration office in Tokyo so that we can receive our work visas. This first step actually only gets us what is called a Certificate of Eligibity (there’s a fun Japanese word: 在留資格認定証明書 [zairyushikakuninteishomeisho] – say that three times fast.…
-
Why We Are Going Back
In 2016, after about three and a half years on the mission field in Japan, our family faced a decision: should we return to the U.S. or stay in Japan and continue the work? At this point, we were well over halfway through our initial 5 year commitment. We had spent over three consecutive years in the country, and that was after an earlier year doing vocational missions. We loved the people and we loved the work, but we weren’t sure what to do. We had only visited the United States once during this these three years, and that visit had not made the answer any clearer. We spent a…
