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There is no way back..........
It has been a little over one week since I received the answer that my visa had been denied. When the letter was read to me (it was in Japanese) I kept it together. Others seemed more effected by the results than I was. I went on my break at work soon after and turned to my little Bible I carry around. I found John 13:7, where it tells of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.
7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”
That was all I needed. God always knows what I need to hear or see. There was no pity party, but deep acceptance and a mountain of trust. There was no questioning or blaming God, but relief and thankfulness for the experiences and growth I personally accrued during these last couple of months. It seems fitting that I ended the last newsletter with Philippians 4:6-7.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
We have the exact peace surrounding our hearts and minds that this verse mentions. At this point we are preparing to re-apply for the missionary visas. We don't have all the answers, God does. We don't have the mentality of giving up. We rejoice in all things whether they are lifting us up or teaching us to lean a little firmer on Christ no matter how uncomfortable it seems. Right now, all I ask of you is to keep the faith and keeping praying!
We have been keeping busy despite this! The month began with the Family Camp Retreat at the base of Mt. Fuji. It was cold, but the view was amazing. We had a special guest speaker from Family Forum Japan and had the opportunity to fellowship and worship with all of the PAZ Japan churches. We ate a lot! Our meals were advertised as "Viking Style." We weren't sure what that meant exactly, but all in all it was another way to describe "buffet." Oh, then there was the occasional pirate (aka Pastor Yasu) roaming around chasing the kids.
Oh, you must know this! Emmaly has been attending the local Japanese school and receiving a deeper insight of the culture more than us adult missionaries. As another missionary put it, "She is getting the privilege to watch the children learn how to be Japanese." Due to the ending of my job I was able to sit in on one of her after school Japanese lessons. As our friend Chitose gave her a sentence to write I watched as my sweet little girl started writing the whole sentence in proper Japanese form using hiragana. What amazed me further was the speed and accuracy she completed each sentence in. By my nature, I briefly interrupted class to give her my proud and enthusiastic praise for her accomplishment. She's been quite the little hostess as well!
I recently begun learning Japanese as well. Actually, I've been learning since I arrived back in August, but now I'm taking formal lessons. Today Will and I learned how to order food! Yay us! What I enjoy the most is pronouncing a word and then after I've pronounced it I realize that I know exactly what it is. For example, the teacher today asked me to read the item on the menu so I pronounced out each syllable carefully "ai su ku ri mu." My eyes lit up! Ice Cream! The teachers had a nice giggle.
I want you to know that Japan and the Japanese have been such a blessing to us. We have had the privilege of meeting people from different cultures and hearing their stories has blessed us more. You may be wondering why I began this newsletter with the title "there is no way back." As I was sitting late one night with my discipler, we were talking about how much God has blessed us even during the times we are being stretched. She said "there is no way back," referring to the life that we turned from when we accepted the gift of salvation that Jesus offers everyone. The life that we lived in America with all of our things was empty. We holed up in our homes and were a little too comfortable. We failed to invest ourselves deeply in the lives of others. Watching and participating in the Lord's work is setting our hearts on fire. We don't want to go back to what we were before, even if there was a way.
May God bless you today and everyday! Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts for reading our newsletter. Please continue to pray for the nation of Japan!
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