It’s not every day in Japan that a large group of people will gather, much less fit, inside a Japanese house.  Last night there were 12 of us together celebrating our getting settled into our new, albeit temporary, home.  This is the house we are staying in until a team comes in April to renovate our apartment on the second floor of the new Ministry Center.  It is larger than most Japanese houses and so it was fairly easy for all the members of our team to fit.  One of the things we did at the party was to introduce our Japanese pastor and his family to the game of Pit.  The game itself is a lot of fun, but I think it was more fun watching our team leader try to translate terms such as flax, rye, and commodities exchange.  In the end, everyone seemed to get a pretty good grasp of it.

Also this week, we began the process of trying to find a car when a local dealer, who is a friend of our team leader, took us to a used car auction.  We had sat down and made a list of all the features we needed. It was a little surprising that the hardest feature from our list to find was a car with a non-smoker as a previous owner. Even with a modern society, smoking is still widely done. Anyway, we put a bid on a small car that seemed really nice and would fit our needs, but in the end it went for more than we were able to pay.  It used to be in Japan that people only wanted new or close to new cars and that no one wanted the used ones.  These days with the economy, more and more people are buying used cars.  Even though there were hundreds of cars to choose from at this auction, there were also many people bidding on them.  We will go back next Thursday and try again.  Thankfully, we are able to borrow our team leader’s car every few days for the time being.

Pray for wisdom for us next week as we look over the myriad of cars and try to choose one that will be reliable as well as within our price range.

If you move into a new home and meet the neighbors, you could be anywhere. However, you know you are in Japan if:

1. Instead of the neighbors dropping by, you go to visit all of them. You give them a gift that is something mundane (i.e. practical – ours was packets of sugar) but beautifully wrapped and apologize for any inconvenience your moving in has caused and ask if they will kindly accept you into the neighborhood.
2. Before doing that, you have to go visit the neighborhood leader (the han cho – that’s where the slang term comes from) and ask exactly what houses are in your neighborhood (they are specifically segmented) so you get the right ones. He also gives you information about neighborhood dues, clean-up days, and the highly detailed recycling / trash collection system in your new town.

You might also be in cross-cultural ministry if:

1. You do this as a group activity because your fellow worker and his wife come to translate and the Japanese pastor’s wife comes because they also want to meet the people in the neighborhood and invite them to church.
2. You do this even though it is 40° and pouring down rain.

This was the situation we found ourselves in yesterday, taking advantage of a fading Japanese tradition in order to get to know the neighbors (Think about it: In a society oriented around community, you at least get to know everyone’s name and family situation and they get to know yours.) Hopefully, these will be contacts that we can follow up on in the future.

Pray for us as we get to know the people in the neighborhood, even though for the time being our language ability is limited (The pastor’s wife told the neighborhood leader, “They don’t really speak Japanese well yet, but talk to them in Japanese anyway.”) Pray that even now our actions and few words will convey respect and love for the people.

So we’ve been learning how to drive here….wow, driving on the left side of the road is quite a challenge!  Not only is it on the other side of the road, but the roads are also more narrow than in the US, and there are various people walking and biking along the side.  It’s been interesting so far and I think Colby and I will come to enjoy it, but starting out has been tricky.  The missionaries have an extra car that they are letting us borrow for the time being until we buy one of our own.  Thankfully it’s a small car and easy to drive.

We have been slowly getting settled into the house we’ll be staying in for a few months.  There are a couple of storage units on the property also that contain a number of things the previous owners left behind.  Colby did a little dumpster diving the other day (which he thoroughly enjoyed) and found all kinds of practical things in good condition that we’ll be able to use.  The Japanese don’t have many stores like the Good Will or Salvation Army and so when they have things they don’t need or want any longer, they usually just throw them away, even if the item is in perfect condition.  This practice of theirs has been such a blessing to all of the missionaries who, like Colby, enjoy rummaging through the trash.  Between this and the things the other missionary couple left for us, we have been very well provided for.

It’s been good to be here finally and begin figuring things out and finding our way around.  There is so much to learn that for me, it seems overwhelming.  It’s good to remember not to expect myself to function the same way I did in America.  While Colby and I are fully-capable adults, in this context, we need to realize that it will be a while until we can operate in that same capacity here.  I keep telling myself that someday, we will know Japanese and will feel more confident.  I have been thinking a lot about Psalm 62 in my quiet times and have been blessed by it.

Please pray for Colby and I for protection over us as we drive and bike around Ube.  Pray that we would continue to depend on God for the ability to adjust to the Japanese way of life.

Well, now the name of our blog is actually correct!  Hello from the eastern side of the world!  We arrived safely on Saturday night (Saturday morning US time) with all of our luggage in tow.  God protected us and we had a very long, but uneventful trip.  I don’t think either of us walked around enough on the plane because our feet are a bit sore and swollen.  Many of you were praying about our layover in Tokyo – it went well.  We got off the plane, ran through the airport, went through immigration, got all of our luggage, went through customs, deposited our luggage, and found our gate with 20 minutes to spare before our plane took off.  What an interesting way to end our 13 hour flight!  Thank you for your prayers.

Yesterday was Sunday and we attended the church we are going to be a part of for the next few years.  We had visited this church when we were here in 2007 and it was nice to see the people again.  We didn’t understand much of anything that was said, but we were glad to be able to pick out a few words here and there.  Thankfully we remembered some of our greetings and were able to use them.  Afterward we stayed for lunch and then the church’s annual business meeting.  Today was the monthly prayer day with all of the Christar missionaries.  It was nice to get together with them for some laughs, prayer, and catching up.

Our hopes for this week are to move our things over to where we’ll be staying.  These past couple of days we’ve been living with the missionaries in their home and while that has been nice, it will be soon time to strike out on our own to see what’s what.  In one of our previous prayer letters we included a picture of the Ministry Center that our team and the church recently purchased.  Our apartment will be on the second floor of the building while the church will be on the first floor.  A separate house actually came with the Ministry Center when the team bought it that the pastor will eventually stay in.  Because there is some work that needs to be done in our apartment (such as putting in a toilet), we will actually be living in the house while a team comes over from the US to help with the work.  Once they have done that, then we will move into the apartment in the Ministry Center.  The team is scheduled to come sometime in April and so we will be living in this house until then.  We went to see the Ministry Center and house yesterday.  While we were there, we looked through the items some missionaries who are home on furlough for a few years have given us.  How nice to already have things to put in the apartment!  God blessed me in a small way – when we lived in Lancaster, we had an air popper for making popcorn.  I really liked it but knew that it wouldn’t work if we brought it to Japan and so I wondered how I would make popcorn here.  When we looked through the items the missionaries left us, guess what was lying on top of the pile!?!  That’s right, an air popper.  God is kind.  We’ll keep you posted as best as we can in the next week or two – unfortunately we won’t have internet right away where we will live and so we will be at the missionaries’ house to do all our emailing.

Praise the Lord that we are not dealing with jet lag from the trip.  Please pray for Colby and I that God would provide the practical things we need: a car, language tutors/helpers, space heaters, a couch, internet, etc.

In response to our last post, we did receive our visas back from the Japanese consulate on Friday as expected.  We are thanking God that we have all that we need now and are ready for take off early this Friday morning.  Some of you were able to attend our commissioning service last night – it was good to see all the people out and say goodbye to everyone.

Our goals for this week are to repack the items we need for Japan and get them shipped out by mail before we go.  We had originally thought we would send our personal effects by a pallet on a boat, but we are realizing now that we just don’t have enough to send that way.  It will be cheaper and quicker to send out by mail and so now we need to figure out exactly what we want to take!  Amongst some other little things, I believe we are fairly well set to go.  Of course there are the last minute things that come up that we don’t expect, but what can you do about that ahead of time?

A lot of people have asked us how we are feeling.  Hmm, how am I feeling anyway?  Well, to be honest, I don’t feel too much of anything right now.  Someone mentioned at our commissioning service last night that it seems like a very surreal time and I have to agree.  It has been surreal for me for the most part, with some excitement and nervousness mixed in.  Excitement to finally be going (!), and nervousness about all the adjustments that we will need to make.  I think Colby is feeling anxious just to get there and get settled in.  It has certainly been a neat time to see God’s hand in our lives and through other people.  A lot of you have been praying for us on a regular basis and I want to tell you again, thank you so much.  What a blessing it is to know that others are lifting us up seeking God’s will for us.

Please pray for Colby and I as we are feeling under pressure taking care of last minute details this week.  Pray that God would enable us to accomplish the items on our To Do List and entrust ourselves to Him.

Yesterday, Theresa and I went to apply for our visas. We are required to apply at the regional consular office, which for Pennsylvania is in New York City. We had the option of mailing the applications in, but decided to hand deliver them to be sure everything was in order. It was quite an adventure…

It all started at 4:30 in the morning. We wanted to get to the consulate before a real wait built up and so had been advised that we should arrive around 9:30. Accounting for traffic, this meant that we had to leave Lancaster at 5:30. So, we dragged ourselves out of bed and off we headed. I knew we were going to hit traffic, but what was most surprising was that the last section of I-78 was actually the best in that regard. Thanks to the traffic guy on the radio, we avoided the traffic jam on the I-78 Holland Tunnel, and opted for the Lincoln Tunnel instead. The $8.00 toll was a little bit of a shocker, but nothing compared to what we would find when we emerged on the other side.

Upon exiting the tunnel, we entered the world of Manhattan, filled with people and cars and advertisements. They were everywhere you looked. Honestly, I have never felt so intimidated in my life. Flashing lights, honking horns (although it appears that NYC now levees fines for unnecessary honking), and pedestrians everywhere. Theresa was looking around, just trying to take it all in, and I was looking around, just trying to make sure I didn’t hit anything. After a minute or so, I looked at her and said, “Boy, we really are country mice.”

In the end, we found the consulate without difficulty (although we had to pay $22.00 just to park) and got our visas in quickly and easily. We decided to drive around Manhattan a little to see some sights, but mostly ended up being (or at least feeling) lost and eventually decided to just head home. I must say that when we exited the tunnel on the New Jersey side, I breathed a sigh of relief. In the end, God watched over us and we had safety in travel and success in our task, but it’s not an event I am itching to repeat anytime soon!

We are supposed to be receiving our visas this Friday. Pray that that will occur as we can’t leave for Japan without them. Pray also that we will have wisdom as we pack the final suitcases & boxes for Japan.