Moving forward...

Ok, so we haven't updated our blog in a while, which means there's a lot of things for us to catch you all up on. So this will be a little longer than might be typical going forward but we're going to keep you posted more often now.

Even though we were approved to go to Japan for two years as missionaries by MTW last summer, we've had a slow start on our journey. Jonathan and I have both been convicted in our hearts that it is now time for us to throw ourselves full-time into preparing for our time there. We are so looking forward to discovering our prayerful and financial supporters who will go with us onto the missions field. The team leader of the group that we'll be working with has specifically asked if we can plan to be arriving in Japan September 1. We know that there is a long way to go before we can get to the field, but we know that this is just an opportunity to see God work in a big way.

Jonathan and I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in the Missions Festival at our home church and visit a neighboring church during their festival. Both weekends were full of stories about how God is working in so many different ways around the world and right here.

At the first festival, it was wonderful to get to share a little about our call to Japan and how we expect to be working with the church planting team with our home church, our friends and family. We were able to participate in an interview panel with other missionaries. That made both of us a little nervous, but seeing friendly faces in the audience helped to put us at ease.

The very next weekend we attended our second missions festival. We found many friendly faces and were able to visit with some old friends and make some new ones. Seeing the enthusiasm with which our passion was received was very encouraging.

So, quick support update. We currently have 13% of our monthly financial support committed. We also have people who have committed to pray for us and the work in Japan. We are thankful for each of these partners who will be going with us to Japan and we are looking forward to meeting everyone else who will join us.