Hello!
Hello! Thank you for supporting us in our journey to Japan. This is the first message we are sending to our friends to let you know about our journey and let you know how you can pray for us. We appreciate your taking the time to read these and would love to hear from you at any point and hear how you’re doing or how we can pray for you as well, so feel free to reach out!
Why Are We Moving?
2016 was when we first began wondering if we would move overseas. We were preparing for a short-term mission trip to NYC on which we met people from Egypt, Turkey, Japan, Korea, Bangladesh, India, etc. many of whom recently moved to America, could barely speak English, and had never heard of the gospel of Jesus. It felt like the pioneer work heralding the news of the kingdom that Jesus set out on in Mark 1.
When we returned from NYC, we immediately got involved with international student college ministry, often spending two or three nights a week just hanging out, practicing English, doing Bible studies, or discussing our beliefs with students. Our time with them quickly became the highlights of our week.
Especially poignant was the time we were watching The Jesus Film with a group of students and when this line was read,
The room was filled with audible gasps.
A story that was so old to me was being experienced for the first time by these students; and they were astounded that in spite of all the good Jesus had done, some people would feel threatened by Him enough to want to kill Him.
We fell in love with seeing people learn about Jesus for the first time, as well as hearing their impressions on Him, having come from a completely different background and culture than our own.
Why Japan?
One day, Emma and I were discussing where we would go if we did move overseas, and we realized that we connected well with East Asian students. Between those countries, we knew that a large portion of South Korea was already a Christian. At that time, China was intensifying crackdown on missionaries, and then there was Japan…
The very next day, at a church meeting, our friend and pastor, Andy said, “Hey if anyone has an interest in Japan and missions, come see me”
“Ah-Ha” Moment! That was an opportunity to be a part of a ministry reaching out to 15 Japanese students spending a year in the states, and then following up with them the following summer in Japan.
Through that year of ministry and subsequent trip to Japan, we were confirmed in the fact that we had a passion for connecting with Japanese people, discussing our beliefs, and learning a lot about their way of thinking. Through it we even saw one of the students get baptized, hallelujah!
And what’s more, Emma and I were unified in this passion, and we felt strengthened by each others’ strengths and gifts in pursuing this passion. So we began to think how we could actually make it happen.
Making It Happen
We were able to participate in a 9-month live-in training program for missionaries hosted by our church and Launch Global. It was super fun and humbling experience where we learned a lot of the pitfalls and difficulties of moving overseas. But we were still in!
Through COVID and many other setbacks and delays, we found an awesome organization Sunrise International, who we have great chemistry with. They specialize in ministry in Japan and have a ton of wisdom and experience, as well as practical help available to get us settled and set up in Japan.
The leaders of the organization Jim & Masako were gracious enough to visit us in OKC this past December, and after 2 years of meeting with them on Zoom, we felt like “yeah,we like you, and you like us, let’s do this! やろうぜ!”. So we pressed the “Go” button and began preparing paperwork for our visa application.
We have since submitted that paperwork, and are waiting on the result of that application. If it’s approved, we hope to book plane tickets for May or June.
Thank You!
Thank you for reading, and if you have any you’d like to hear more or just say “hello”, feel free to reach out. We’re not too busy.
We are planning to support ourselves financially if possible, but if you’d like to support our ministry financially, there are tax-deductible options on the Sunrise International Website. Totally not necessary, but very grateful if you are so inclined.
This is the first message to you all among many that we will send regularly. We hope to make these enjoyable to read, so keep an eye out for the second one, written by Emma Claire.