Thank you for your prayers, interest, and encouragements as we prepare for the major transition this year of relocating to the US and John assuming a new position on the Converge Asia Impact Team. Please pray for the ongoing physical preparations and also the changing feelings.
- Saying Goodbye (for a while) –
- We said goodbye to the Tokyo District churches of the Rengo on January 19th at the Nerima Baptist Church. This was a marvelous time. This month will begin a series of Rengo church visits (see below).
- Many of Elaine’s classes end this month some with farewell parties. Pray that the end would be sweet for many of the relationships Elaine has build over many years.
- John and Elaine will be attending the JEMA Annual Meeting on 2/25 as John concludes his leadership of CPI and they both conclude their work with the Converge Japan Mission.
- Preparing for our US Tour – We have already booked a few dates this year for church visits in Ohio (Sep) and Minneapolis (June). We expect more churches to respond with their requests by the middle of February. More letters to churches will go out this month.
- Getting ready for THE MOVE –
- We are getting help. Our friends Byron and Nan came for a visit in January. They saw Japan and we put them to work. As a result John’s library is now all packed. They also took 2 full suitcases of our stuff back!
- We were worried about having to throw away some pretty nice furniture, but with people volunteering to take many items, now the list of the remaining is just about a half dozen furniture pieces not spoken for yet. Pray that all would find “good homes.”
- Transferring Leadership to Others – John concluded his many years with the Rengo National Mission Dept (NMD). This journey has been full of adventures of evangelism and church planting with many Japanese workers. There will be more leadership transfers this month especially with CPI (see below).
Pray for us as some of this transition is confusing mentally and especially emotionally. As John is not retiring it is kind of odd, we are leaving but not for good. Already John is looking at possible returns to Japan in October 2020 and February 2021 where Elaine may accompany him.
The pressure and stress is building, it reminds us of the pace of an action movie when the tension is building for the finale. We think the big pressure will come when we finalize our US shipment in Mid-march. From there it may be just near normal chaos until April 9th when we leave.