“A society grows great when old men plant trees, knowing whose shade they shall never sit in.”
– Greek proverb
Spring Update 2023 — Tilling, Sewing, and Saplings
The kind of plant needed to build a house takes a long time to grow. Tomatoes, carrots, and lettuce are important. They offer nutrition and sustenance. But you can’t build a house out of them. Trees are needed. And trees take far longer to grow and mature.
I have often pondered the path God has taken us on since our very first trip to Japan in 2018. It certainly took longer than we expected to get to this point, and we took turns along the way that I would have never predicted. Yet here we are sitting at well over 90% of our support, just months away from packing up our lives and moving overseas. I’ve also pondered how we live in a day of quick fixes, short-term strategies, and seeking to just use people instead of invest in them. What ever happened to having a fifty year plan, or a five-generation plan for that matter? When it comes to our missional aspirations for Japan, we want to think long-term and dream of what God can do—not merely with us—but with the next several generations of Japanese Christians. And it actually starts with each of you.
Travels and Partnerships
Along the road, God has allowed us to partner with so many of you dear saints and congregations to get us to the field and support our work while we are there. Just in the last month, new supporters contacted us from Oklahoma, Kansas, and Georgia to tell us they were going to partner with us as a church. Since our last update, we’ve been able to travel once again across the Midwest, meeting friends and making new ones. God has been good.
It really is astounding to think that the long-term work we’re hoping to engage in—the garden we plan to give our lives to weeding and tilling—is shared with so many of you who pray for us, give to us, and trust us to be faithful kingdom workers on the other side of the world. You’ve not just invested in our family but in the lives of those whom the gospel has yet to touch. Christ the King is building his kingdom in Japan, and it will far outlast us. You can count on it. And we cannot wait to get there and begin.
Our Family
This last season of travel has been fairly centralized, thus a bit slower in the very best way. It’s given us time to begin preparing for our eventual relocation. What does that look like? At this point mostly conversation—a lot of conversation. We’ve been talking through expectations, logistics, other missionaries’ experiences, etc… just aiming to get on the same page. We’ve been getting in some doctors and dentist appointments while we’re still stateside. We’ve also begun organizing our earthly possessions to determine what’s going with us to Japan and what’s staying. Things have started to feel overwhelming at times, but that’s not a bad thing. Oh, and a bit of language learning has begun as well! I was practicing writing out some Kanji characters this afternoon. Sophie is just getting over a stomach bug, but is otherwise happy, healthy, and toddling around like normal kids her age should. If you’ve interacted with her in the last few months, you know what I mean. She’s a treasure.
The Road Ahead
The visa process has begun! Sophie’s passport did come in, and our family’s applications for religious worker visas have been submitted. Now we wait. While we’re waiting, there are two primary items on our agenda. First—you guessed it—there are a few meetings we are still looking forward to this summer that will, Lord willing, bring our support to 100%. This will be a huge milestone for us and a confirmation that this mission is indeed something our King is calling us to.
Regarding the second item, I will follow up with much more detail in the very near future. Our move to Japan is going to be the most expensive undertaking of our lives. While we have long begun saving for this big move, we wanted to give some of you the opportunity to help as we restart our lives on the other side of the world. Not only will we be flying to Japan, we will need a home when we get there, furnishings for it, transportation around our area of town, and many, many other needs. My best estimation for this expense is already over $20,000. Soon I will be sending out a detailed, itemized list of what our startup-fund needs will be for you all to consider over the next few months. So many of you have offered in person to help us with one-time needs as they come up. This is one of those! We ask that you’d be thinking and praying how you might help us in this specific way in coming months.
Be encouraged, friends. The Lord is at work. His tree is growing just fine and will someday cover the whole earth (Mark 4:30-32). Keep fighting the good fight.
Grace and peace,
Joe and Sierah Pliska
NOTE: To hear an audio version of this update, click here.