Korea was the first new country we had been to in years. It was so fun to experience! Korea has an amazing Christian history and after being in Japan for so long, it was wild to meet so many people from Asia who have heard about Jesus.

My school was so life-giving! It was a great pastoral school that I would have recommended to anyone leading a team. There were so many topics covered meeting everyday from 8am-4pm. In the end it really confirmed my heart to do the work of pre-field training — preparing families to become effective long-term missionaries. I left with more potential vision on how to apply this.

Immediately after Korea, we went into preparations as our fourth baby was well on the way. I had my 4th cesarean and overall the experience was a good one! This time they used a fentanyl drip for the pain – not sure I'd recommend that.

Eden has brought pure joy to our family! With such a hard experience in the last birth, every little detail has not been taken for granted. We have been soaking it all in. The kids are so happy to have Eden in the family too.

After the Member Care Training School, we wanted to pioneer a location that will train long-term missionaries for Japan. We went to Okinawa because that is where we started our own journey in Japan and we fell in love with that little island. We wanted to see if it would be a good location to host these trainings. Okinawa is a melting pot of Japan and America – in our opinion it’s the perfect spot to ease your way into missions in Japan! Both English and Japanese are pretty prevalent so it is a great place to practice sharing the gospel.

A new family from our team here in Hokkaido decided to join us for the trip. It ended up being a super refreshing time for all of us – adjusting to baby Eden, making new friends who feel like family and dreaming with the Lord.

We felt a strong nudge from the Lord toward the end of our time in Okinawa that we needed to get to America quickly. I was so thankful we listened because the second day with my family in Tennessee, my mom went to the hospital. She has recovered now, but we were so grateful to be there to help. Also, on that part of the trip, it was the most time I spent with my brother and sister-in-law in years. I really loved getting that time with them.

This trip took us from JP—> CA—> TN —>CO —>CA—>Hawaii —>JP.
In Colorado we got to meet Jon’s twin nephews for the first time! It was really fun and also hard to say goodbye!
Hawaii was a great way to close the trip, we felt super spoiled and enjoyed time with friends we hadn’t seen in a long time.
We were so thankful to everyone who hosted us and brought us to kid’s indoor play places, baseball games, the zoo, etc. We felt so extremely love! We’re glad our families got to meet Eden too!

Back to Japan 10/2025

Our America trip was a whirlwind and we were all ready to get back into a little routine again.

Our team in Hokkaido is growing and we are excited to see the plans the Lord has for us.
The coffee shop I go to everyday has been the place I get to make the most connections here in our community. Recently, one of our team members got to pray for the owners back who had an old injury that still bothered him. He was pretty shocked because when our friend prayed he felt the presence of God – in his own words he said, he felt “energy!” Haha! He was telling us about it and I never seen him so full of joy! I believe he got healed but he said he won’t know for sure until he does something strenuous.

Prayer Points

Clarity on our specific assignments here, with our time easily being taken up by so many things we want to point our arrow straight at the target the Lord has for us.
Quickening in our ability to retain Japanese.
Clarity on schooling for our kids, close friends their ages and more opportunities to learn Japanese

A Year of Travel

Delivered