Fall Update 2025 — Babies, Bicycles, and Moving Boxes
“He stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.”
— Acts 18:1–11
Well, we haven’t had Pauline-level, apostolic responsibilities here in Japan just yet. But we have now been here as long as Paul was in Corinth. One year and a half. Since our last update, many new developments have taken place. We have received many blessings as a family this season.
Babies
If you missed our update from a couple of months ago about the birth of our daughter, Abigail, you can click HERE to read it. Our little Abby-chan is now 11 weeks old. By God’s grace, she is happy, healthy, and developing right on track. Her favorite thing to do is give big smiles to people. We love her dearly and are so grateful for her!
On that note, we were wonderfully surprised at the love our Japanese church family showed to us a couple of weeks ago. They organized a baby shower after church to celebrate little Abigail and show love to our family. We were blown away by their kindness!
Bicycles
From June 1st to July 18th, the Lord saw fit to teach us contentment without a car. Well, we actually had our car the whole time, but we couldn’t legally drive it during that period. We depended on public transportation or friends to get anywhere outside of our small town. And we rode our bicycles for everything else local like shopping, grabbing dinner out, dropping off the kids or picking them up from school, and running errands. We actually became a familiar sight to many of the locals in our area of town. I’m sure we were quite a sight to see! Someday, I’d love to talk to one of them and ask what they thought of the pregnant white couple biking in the hottest, rainiest season of the year—with kids in the back of the bikes.
Though it was stressful, taking that driver’s test was also an important experience. More than just a necessity, passing that test felt like a rite of passage in my mind. It was another foundation stone set in place as we continue building our lives here in this country. Being able to drive is also one way we are able to serve others here. So, we are quite grateful to do it again.
Moving Boxes
A few months ago, Sierah found a house in our town that would be coming up for rent soon. We contacted our realtor and learned that we’d have a good chance of getting it if we acted quickly. It looked to be a first-come, first-served situation. That indeed turned out to be the case. We were blessed to be first in line to tour the house on the day it became available. That night, we put in an application, and after a couple of hiccups during the week, our application was accepted!
As many of you know, we have been looking to move to a different house for almost a year now and for a whole host of reasons. One reason was the termites. Another was the lack of a safe, outside area for our kids to play. Yet another was our limited space to host friends, church family, and neighbors for meals and fellowship. In God’s great kindness, all of those needs (plus some I haven’t mentioned) have been well met in this new house.
Some of you were made aware of a surprise financial need involving our move and rushed to support us. We are happy to report that your help covered every dollar needed, plus extra! It not only covered all the fees associated with the move but also purchased a nice, sturdy bunkbed that our kids can use for years to come!
We’ve already unpacked every box. In fact, we’ve already met many of the neighbors on our new block. (None so far speak English, but all have loved that we are studying Japanese!) They all know we are Christians and work at a church nearby. Our kids play outside and have befriended all the neighborhood children already! The children are amazed at how well Sophie speaks Japanese. We’ve already hosted a couple from the U.S. in our new spare bedroom and shared dinner with a couple of Japanese ladies from our church in the larger living/dining room. So far, six Japanese people (all Christians) have enjoyed fellowship in that living room space.
Wrapping up the Summer
Fall is here. I still lead singing for our Sunday and mid-week services. I’m studying the language every day. Sierah and I are working to build more relationships with our church family and unsaved neighbors. As the season turns, I wish I had time to tell you about the church men’s group, the local festival we got to attend with neighbors, the new missionary families we got to meet, and the growing number of pastor fellowships the Lord is allowing me to be a part of.
We still weekly attend various Bible and books studies. We are getting to know our church family better through these fellowship times and especially on Sundays. Again, our responsibilities now are not “Pauline-level.” But we are seeking to remain as faithful to them as possible while God has us here. The largest “ministry” on my calendar is simply studying Japanese. A couple updates ago I mentioned we switched to private tutoring lessons, and those are going quite well. But the progress feels so slow. Pray for us!
It’s been a year and a half of adjusting to new life here and planting seeds. And even though we’ve been blessed to see some fruit come of our early labors, we know that a lot of foundational work still needs doing in order to see greater fruit down the road. The bulk of that foundation is simply learning the language. What a humbling challenge this has been! Yet God is giving us progress in it week by week. Pray for our diligence in this area!
We are so grateful for you all! I pray that we are faithful stewards of the mission and resources you’ve entrusted to us.
Grace and peace,
Joe, Sierah, Sophie, Ezra, Baby Girl.
Surprise Baby Shower for Abigail
Men’s Church Activity
Family Pictures
Local Summer Festival
We Are Note Alone
