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Marking Two Years in Japan
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Has it really been two whole years? Yes, it has! We recently hit our two-year milestone of living in Japan. It almost doesn’t feel like two years, since we lived in Yokohama for around a year and have only been living in Yamaguchi Prefecture for one year. We have had ups and downs, but through it all, God has been faithful.
Like last year, we want to mark this newsletter with thankfulness and praise to God for what He has done this year. We also want to thank you for your prayers and support! We could not be on this journey without you.
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- Throughout our year in Yamaguchi Prefecture, we have met a fair number of people in town, mostly through events rather than random encounters. Being two of the seemingly few American foreigners in town, we are easy to spot, so sometimes we are recognized by people, but we don’t know who they are!
- To maintain our visa, we continue to minister at a local SDA church in town. Michael has been preaching in Japanese about once a month, and we help run a prayer meeting once a week. This has been good for building religious vocabulary and learning to pray in Japanese.
- Language studies have continued. Michael has now passed the N3 level (middle of five levels) of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test and studies online with a teacher based in Okinawa twice a week. We also occasionally attend language classes run by cities in our area. As it was with language school, these language-learning opportunities have sometimes turned into spiritual conversations. We have been able to share about basic health message principles, the Sabbath, and even a little bit about communion service. One Japanese person, due to past bad experiences, even admitted that he was wary of Michael when he found out Michael was a missionary, but he feels more comfortable now as time has passed.
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We recently took an exploratory trip to a nearby town and had the chance to make some origami fish.
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- We had some visitors stay with us early this year, which was a joy! Our field directors came to visit, then Caitlyn’s family came (with cans of Libby’s pumpkin and other American goodies!). Then some fellow missionaries from Thailand stopped by on their way back from furlough. It is always good to see family and friends, take them sightseeing and see their reactions to Japanese foods.
- Speaking of trips, we were grateful for the opportunity this October to take a trip to the Tokyo area and present at a church-planting and evangelism seminar led by a pastor friend of ours. Michael preached in the morning, and in the afternoon, we ran a nearly three-hour seminar on culture-specific discipleship, Discovery Bible Studies and more. After that, Michael went with a group of students from the SDA school in Chiba up north to Lake Nojiri. He gave some worship talks and enjoyed time fellowshipping in nature with the students. We also both took a weeklong exploration trip to a neighboring city with no SDA church and are praying about that place as a church-planting opportunity.
- Along with the articles and newsletters we write for AFM, we had the opportunity to write an article in Japanese for Adventist Life, the Japanese magazine published by the Japan Union Conference. Of course, the editors fixed all our grammar and other issues, but it’s neat to think that we officially have an article published in a language other than English! The theme was the importance of friendship evangelism.
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A small screenshot of our Japanese article in Adventist Life.
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- We have mentioned this in prior newsletters, but we are incredibly grateful for the project car (and the driver’s license)! It has just been so helpful to us in so many ways: traveling to healthcare appointments, transporting friends, shopping for large items we would not be able to carry on the train or bike from the store, and exploring new places for church planting. It has been an incredible blessing.
- We are also incredibly grateful to all of you who have helped replenish our project funds, which we used for the car, a year of car insurance and related items. Right now, we are at 80.50% complete, and we have $5,520 left to raise to replenish the funds used. If you would like to contribute, please mark your donation as “Japan 176 Vehicle.” However, these notes sometimes don’t make it to us when someone donates to multiple projects at once, or they get lost in the process. So if you want to make sure we know the funds have come in, please send us a quick email or use the contact form on our website (info at the end of this newsletter) to let us know your donation on a given date is to help replenish the car funds. Thank you!
- Several new faces have been coming to church. An English teacher from Texas, whom Michael met at an evening language class, has been attending regularly and joined us for Thanksgiving as well. A couple of weeks ago, some visitors from another denomination came to the door and chatted with Michael for a while. Since Michael was preaching that week, he invited them to church, and one of the two came with a friend! They seemed happy with the friendliness they found at the church, and we hope and pray they continue to attend.
- Hiroko has also been blessed with opportunities to make friends and reach out to the community.
- We are also thankful for all the diligent staff at the AFM office. We would not be here without them!
- Please continue to keep us in prayer as we seek God’s leading for our ministry work here, along with continued language and culture study. Thank you again for your support!
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As you finish 2025 and think about 2026, I encourage you to reflect on how God has been with you this year. Perhaps it’s been a great year! Or maybe not. Either way, always remember that God loves you, He is walking with you through both the highs and lows, and He will be with you as you continue into the new year.
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We would love to hear back from you. You can email us at adventure@shoesatthedoor.net. We are happy to pray for any prayer requests you might have, so please feel free to send them our way.
Thank you so much for your support!
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