May Miscellanea

We're grateful!

1. We’re grateful for healthy, happy kids, a healthy pregnancy, and that we’re nearing the end of the CAJ school calendar. E’s Japanese pre-school will take a summer break in mid July, with the Japanese calendar. 

Gifting Bible story books

2. We’ve had several great opportunities to connect more deeply with friends in our neighborhood and deepen those relationships (details below!). 

3. Thanks to the generous donation of friends and supporters from Chattanooga, we were able to give copies of The Jesus Storybook Bible (by Sally Lloyd-Jones) in Japanese to each of the kids who comes to our house weekly for “English play time.” We love this story Bible and read it often with our kids, and we’re excited to be able to share it with our friends!

Join us on our knees?

1. Our third baby is due August 10 (the hottest time of year in Tokyo!); so far, the pregnancy is going well, and we feel relaxed, although we know three will be an adjustment! However, Nelle Caitlin has frequent pregnancy-related migraines that are often very intense and last for several days. Please pray that these ease up soon, now that we’re into the third trimester and the home stretch!

2. We’re wrapping up this school year, and preparing for the next! Pray for the newly elected student leadership that Ryan is working with, helping them plan for next year and prepare to work together as a group. We’re excited, but it will be a particularly challenging group (details below). 

3. Starting in September, Caitlin has agreed to step in for one year as managing editor for the magazine Japan Harvest, published by and for missionaries to Japan. It is a big project, and all done by missionaries who volunteer their “extra” time to the magazine. We’re looking for editors to help fill in as the primary editor is on home assignment for the upcoming year.  

She's ready for anything!

Snapshots from this month

When I first arrived for our first pre-school/youchien mom prayer meeting of this school year (the Japanese school year starts in April), I was surprised to see the “leader” of the moms in E’s class there as well. Our group of 5 moms + younger siblings pushed aside some pews in the neighborhood church, and knelt on the floor, passing around “quiet candy” and toys to the little ones to keep them from getting too wild. It’s a struggle for me to keep up with everyone’s Japanese, but thankfully, everyone is very understanding, and one of the other moms, Tomomi, speaks English and can help me out when I get too lost. We briefly introduced ourselves. As Chieko, the leader mom, introduced herself, I learned that she didn’t consider herself a Christian (Tomomi commented aside to me in English, “she doesn’t think she is a Christian, but I think she actually might be”) Chieko came to pray because she is interested in Christianity, and she and her daughters attend church when they can. Her older daughter, now in elementary school, attended a Christian pre-school simply because it was the best pre-school in their former neighborhood. This daughter brought home stories and values from her Christian teachers to her family and they all became curious. However, Chieko’s parents are strongly opposed to Christianity, and so she doesn’t consider herself Christian, out of respect for them. As Tomomi read from Psalm 103, Chieko pulled out her well-worn Bible. All around me, I find individuals like Chieko - drawn to Christianity and Christian fellowship, but prohibited from openly becoming Christian by pressure from their families. Pray for Chieko and her daughters, one of whom is E’s classmate, as they toe the difficult line between respecting family and following their own hearts’ desires. Pray for wisdom as I interact daily with these women, and as our children become friends.

Ankles deep in mud

Catching frogs in the rice field

“We do rice field ministry” commented one of our former CAJ classmates, now raising his family in rural Japan. Rice fields take generations to mature, the soil carefully leveled, every centimeter paced out, surrounded by mud walls to keep the water in at just the right time, in just the right amount. Last Sunday, we drove out of the city with our friends to plant rice by hand. The farmer told us he started the seeds sprouting in the winter, allowing them to grow in his greenhouse. Now, they are ready to be planted in standing water, to flourish in the heat of summer. I thought about our friend’s comment as I selected 2-3 individual sprouted rice grains from the pallet to splat deep into mud, well over my ankles: ministry in Japan takes generations to mature. Relationships and trust form slowly, organically, like layers of carefully tended mud ready to host tiny rice sprouts. Choose the next grains, and push them deep into the cool mud. When finished, the fields are a grid of brilliant green. Ours, planted by hand instead of machine, is a bit wavy in places, but nonetheless lovely. In September, we plan to return with these families to this field to harvest “our” rice. In the way of the rice fields, we slowly layer smile, upon shared food, upon conversation upon shoulder-to shoulder in the mud with these neighbors, our friends. 

This week, Ryan planned and co-lead a retreat for all of our high school student leadership, both those who served this year and those elected to serve next year. It’s a full two day agenda, with opportunity for the outgoing leadership to pass on wisdom and experience to the newly elected group. Key staff members go with them on this retreat to encourage, mentor and challenge the young leadership. We’re grateful for lessons and literature from both of our master’s programs, which fuel the curriculum and conversation! Please pray for the group of young leaders ready to take their turn leading the student body - a daunting task! The group elected to serve next year is made up of very powerful and influential individuals, the sort of people who will likely shape the future of multinational corporations and missions in Japan. Yet they are full of their own struggles and need honest, wise mentoring. Pray for Ryan and the other staff who will walk with them on a daily basis next year.