We are not blaming anyone for this mistake. In a cross-cultural and cross-language context, mistakes are inevitable. At least this mistake did not rupture any relationships or damage the work we aim to do in Japan! We were understandably upset at first, and many plans and ideas for what would happen after the heart exam had to change.
Thankfully, our son’s heart catheter results were very positive. So we packed up and went back to our temporary apartment, with the promise that we would soon learn the surgery’s scheduled timing.
Recently, we finally received a phone call from the hospital. The surgery was now finally scheduled! As of writing on October 15, our son is scheduled to be hospitalized on October 28, and the surgery will take place on November 2—and this time, we know it’s on both our calendar and the hospital’s calendar. Plans may change, but for now we trust and hope everything will go as expected.
This waiting period has been very difficult for us. We know our son’s health should be much more stable after the next surgery, and we look forward to returning, in earnest, to the culture study and church planting work we came to Japan to do. Waiting and watching our phones for a call with no timeline and date for weeks on end, then learning we would have another month to wait, was really hard.
But we also know that God’s timing is perfect, and He is watching over our son and us. Our son has been healthy the whole time. We have received many encouragements along the way. When our son was in the hospital for the heart catheter exam, we met another mother with a child who has the same heart condition—and she is from Yamaguchi Prefecture, where we hope to work. So, our network continues to grow.
