Well, we’ve said our goodbyes in Japan and have made it safely to the US. The Japanese have an interesting custom when people leave on long trips – they send family and friends off at the airport. Colby and I had heard about this but this past Tuesday afternoon when we left Ube was the first time we experienced it.

 
Feeling it proper to bid a final farewell and give the person a good sendoff, 7 of our Japanese friends came to sit with us as we waited until it was time to go through security. They all chatted with us and each other, telling us how they’ll miss us, and one lady even brought us chocolates to eat on the plane. It was hard not to miss them already as we looked back and found them waving goodbye.

This is what it looked like, although not quite so many people.

It made me realize how God has blessed us with a number of friendships during the time we’ve been in Ube. Looking ahead and knowing that we are thinking about moving to another place in Japan, it’s easy to feel a bit afraid since we don’t know anyone in that area. However, we didn’t know too many people when we first came to Ube, and God allowed us to meet many people and make many friends. I think we’ll have to be a bit extroverted and intentional when we move to this new place to go out and try to build relationships, but over time, I think they will form just like they have in Ube. God has provided for us before, and we are trusting that He will provide for us again.

Thank you all for your prayers for us and for our trip home. It went well and we are enjoying time with my family up in Maine. Please pray that we would continue to have quality time with my family here, and then with Colby’s family in Pennsylvania.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 at 8:03 and is filed under Life in Cross-Cultural Ministry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.