Praise the Lord! After two and a half years of closed borders, as of October 7, Japan is finally open to visa-free travel once again. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us and Japan it has helped sustain us in the waiting. Was the prolonged wait a plan of the devil to keep new missionaries from going out? Maybe. Was it used by God to better prepare both the missionaries and Japan for this time when we are able to go? Absolutely!
We have been blessed the last couple of months to have an amazing summer in California with Daphne and our fellow interns, as well as getting to serve alongside our church family here in Montana since August. Alishia and I are leading up the high school ministry here at Calvary Chapel Whitefish until we leave, and it’s been a real blessing to us to use the things the Lord has grown us in over the last three years.
To update you on our upcoming schedule, so that we can schedule a time to get together with you when we’re in your area. We will continue to be in Whitefish until the end of December when we will go to visit our family in Nebraska. After two weeks there we will fly to California to visit our friends at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. After two weeks in Orange County, we fly to Japan on January 23 and will be there until April 22. As I may have mentioned before, this initial trip will be a bit of a scouting mission. We will be visiting at least four ministries and will be praying about where the Lord will have us start. We also will have a couple weeks with a team from the states joining us, as well as a time when leadership comes over to see what we’re seeing and to pray with us.
Please keep us in your prayers as we are making accommodations and coordinating this three-month trip. There is a lot of moving parts, and it can get complicated. We would also love if you considered partnering with us financially on a monthly basis, now that Japan has reopened the only thing preventing us from moving long-term is monthly support. There is a link at the bottom of this email if you’re led to give. Thank you all for so many small things that you do to support us every day.