Back in Merry Old England

Hello everybody,

We would first like to thank you all so much for your support and prayers for us in this time. Papa and I (Sarah) are doing well and are excited by what God has and is doing in our lives! But before we give any updates we would like to first fully explain how we got here.

For those who don’t know, the reason we are here is because of Papa’s mother’s failing health.

Around May of this year I was talking with our Father God when He communicated that He had something important to tell me. I listened and waited and soon had a vision. In my vision I found myself on one of the many white chalk cliffs of south downs (Papa’s home area in England). I looked around and saw in the distance a man pushing an old woman in a wheel chair with a woman walking by his side. (You can imagine my confusion as to what God was trying to say to me!) As they came closer to me I saw that it was my father and myself with my gran (grandmother). Then God spoke to me in my vision saying, “You will go with your father to England this year to see your gran” then the strong impression of ‘October’ was left with me.

I was very confused by this message as I had just recently been to England earlier that year and also despite the fact that Papa had not seen his mother in years there was no great need for him to be there that we knew of. But I knew that I had heard from God so I shared my vision with Papa and together we submitted our confusion to God and gave ourselves to His will.

A month or so later we heard from family members that gran’s health was deteriorating quickly and we were encouraged that if we could we should try to come out and see her. We were amazed by this news because of what we had just heard from the Lord but we were even further amazed when a great emphasis was being placed on the month of October! My father’s sister’s birthday is the same day as my gran’s in October and plans were being made around us for that time frame. My father found himself being encouraged to travel in the month of October!

So, we knew God’s will was with us but we had no money to travel on. Papa and I went before our mighty God and submitted the situation to Him and asked Him to do His will in our lives. Very soon after this we received communication from a community of Christians that they felt led to give toward Papa’s trip. The money we received from them would cover about half of one ticket but this was enough for Papa to, by faith, book both tickets. A mere two or three hours later we received further communication from individuals from the same Christian community that they would like to give towards Papa’s trip! And amazingly his ticket was payed for in full within the day of Papa’s step of faith!

Then there was me. You can imagine my wondering why God would want me to go with my father, with money being as tight as it is. It seemed frivolous that I should go as well but God confirmed in my heart that I was to go.

So, I submitted myself to His will again and waited for His direction. Under God’s guidance, an individual came to me and told me that God had told them to pay for my ticket! Praise God!

We flew out a few days later and here we are! God has been so good to us and has blessed us immensely! And that is the story of how we are here in England. Please keep us in your prayers as we seek to use our time wisely.

We Moved

Yes we moved yet again!  This time to Higashi Kurume where CAJ is located.  I mention that because CAJ is probably one of the bigger reasons that we moved.

For those who have been following us for a longer time you will remember that David our oldest child did his senior year at CAJ and Jonny then followed suit the following year.  I say for a longer time because David has now graduated University and is now working for I-Deep an IT company located in Tokyo.

OK so why is CAJ a major reason for us to move?  Well for reasons I won’t go into right now Sarah our third child decided not to attend CAJ for her senior year, however, Mary our youngest is proud to follow in her brothers footsteps and also plans to attend TWU just like David & Jonny.

When David and Jonny were at CAJ I was taking time out from regular mission work.  Usually we travel home and visit family and those who pray for us and help us financially.  This time however, we did not have the money to travel so I was free to take a part-time job at CAJ to help cover the tuition costs for the boys.

Now it is Rhonda’s turn to work at CAJ and this actually fits into our last child leaving the home.  Rhonda is finally able to get back to the reason she came to Japan and seek to work in Education again.  However having been raising four children, even though this included home-schooling along the way there was still a need to catch up on recent developments in the classroom.  So Rhonda is now a teacher at CAJ.

With both Rhonda and Mary needing to commute to CAJ and Mary at the same time being diagnosed with POTS, it was not reasonable to expect the both to commute for over one hour each way every day.  Our new postal address is;

2-19-10 Kanayama Cho.  Higashi Kurume. Tokyo 203-0003.

The big benefit is that this house is only a one-minute-walk from our oldest son and his wife.  As they are expecting our first grandchild in January it is an added bonus to be this close.