Transitions aren’t always easy.

The few years prior to coming to Japan were very challenging for us.

Coming to Japan we might have been a little naive in hoping that things were going to get easier.

It’s now been about nine months since our first update and part of why there hasn’t been one since is because it didn’t get easier. In so many ways things feel even more challenging and we haven’t really known what to communicate in the midst of it.

Sometimes as missionaries being sent out you feel some sort of unspoken pressure to perform or have this adventurous testimony to share. When in actuality going on a mission field has been a very raw stripping of every ounce of control we ever thought we had. There is no performing just an absolute undoing and reliance on God.

We really miss our friends and family in America and when it gets difficult here it is easy to want to run back to what we didn’t think would be the easier option of the two.

However, in the midst of difficulty we still feel called to stay here. We still love Japan and we still want to be here.

Some of the challenges we have faced is having to move more than expected. Before coming to Japan we had moved several times and were looking forward to putting down roots. However, in the 12 months we have been here, we moved once again. Every move requires so much starting over. We found that the YWAM base here in Tokyo is better able to equip us for our future goals so that is why the move was made.

When we got to the Tokyo base we were celebrated and welcomed in. This YWAM base has become a sweet testimony of what a healthy Christian ministry can be like. The leadership here has stewarded between 19-35 staff members at a time and they have managed to create an intimate community that carries itself with love, so much humility and integrity. It has become a sort of birthing base to the rest of Japan for new YWAM locations.

While it’s been a good move on so many fronts we have faced a new challenge in being in one of the most expensive city’s in the world. Our start up cost here were more than we were expecting.

In April of 2021 we also found out we were pregnant. We were excited to welcome a new little Wamble but there were also more details and expenses of doctor visits.

Now we are 10 days until the delivery of our tiny guy and we found out Jon lost his part-time job teaching Chinese kids due to the Chinese government changing laws regarding foreign teachers teaching kids on the Chinese mainland!

These factors and the continued need to improve our language to understand and connect with the world around us has been challenging and taken a toll on both of our mental and physical health.

But in all of it the Lord sustains us. We have seen his provision of peace when we need it, money when we need it and friendship when we need it. There are times in life when you want to escape because you are so tired yet the good that comes from all the pressure wouldn’t trade for anything.

In this time, our marriage has been tested and yet we have grown closer than maybe any time in the past. All of the pressure has caused us to have conversations we probably wouldn’t have had before. In some ways it’s been a time to clean house and deal with things we’d avoided and in other ways it’s been a time of forging new paths and really asking what we want for the future and how can we accomplish it together.

Due to the challenges, we have had times of wondering if we should stay or go and in the last week our base director asked everyone for a recommitment to YWAM Tokyo and the vision here.

In some sense, we have felt like Jacob, wrestling for the blessing.

In the midst of the wrestling, I remembered a dream I had after Benji was born and in it I was under the Tokyo Tower (at that time we had no intention of moving to Tokyo-as neither of us are city people). I was l laying under the tower with a friend from our team looking up and thinking it was a really special time. We started singing “Joy to the World” but after we sang I decided to get up and leave. In the dream I knew we were about to experience the joy of the Lord together and I thought I should have stayed but I still chose to leave.

After waking up I wondered if there’d be a time in the future where we would be choosing to stay or go.

I had forgotten about this portion of the dream for a while until I met with our leadership about our hesitancy to stay and recommit or go.

Between Jon and I, we have gone back and forth deciding what’s right but in that moment I felt the Lord’s presence come and immediately I recalled the dream and had peace about staying.

We are choosing to stay and see if the Lord will meet our financial needs in an urgent hour. We can see why He has us here and we hope to see the means to stay here. In the next three to six months we are hoping to find financial partners to gain at least $700/month. This would allow us to stay with YWAM Japan and allow us the time and finances to learn language which we know must be a priority in order to stay and have any sort of impact here in Japan.

Japanese medical insurance does not cover pregnancy in the same way here as it is not seen as an emergency but rather a planned medical decision. We are hoping to raise about $1,500 in one time gifts to cover these added expenses.

Along with finances we have had spiritual warfare on all sides. We would really appreciate your prayers as it has been quite heavy.

We would love to ask that you pray for strong community for us.

And pray for Stephanie and the baby’s health mentally and physically. Stephanie got miraculously healed from severe postpartum depression after she had Avila and we are praying she doesn’t face it again.

Pray for a good school for Avila.

And for us to learn language and have the finances to do so. This is what we feel the Lord has said our priorities are, building our financial support and learning language.

Lastly, pray for wisdom! If we can get the foundations of our finances and language in place we are speaking about the possibility of starting a new YWAM base in the future. We are not putting too much pressure on this but we would like to plant churches and reach people through focusing on marriage and relationships.

Steph and her friend Alisha in Oceano, California a week before we left the country

Shibuya crossing in Tokyo — one of those quintessential busy Japanese scenes.

Avi under the lantern in Kaminarimon (the Thunder Gate). Behind her is the shopping street that leads to Sensoji Temple — the oldest Temple in Tokyo.

In front of Tokyo Tower

Evening rush hour in Shinjuku. Shinjuku is one of the 23 wards of Tokyo. They are like cities inside of a city.

Shinjuku is home to the busiest train station in the world where 3.5 million people commute daily (just under the tall glass tower on the right).

Benji is doing errands with dad. This is outside Seiyu our grocery store.