“I am the least of the faithful here—yet I have been privileged to serve God’s honor.”
— Ignatius to the Ephesians
Mid-Summer Update 2025 — Our Last Few “Firsts”
Much has transpired since our Winter update in March. (Less than one month left until baby arrives, by the way.) I can’t say it all here, but I hope you enjoy the highlights!
Family To-dos
As many of you saw on Facebook back in May, we had a late-night health scare. Sierah experienced severe abdominal pains around midnight. Our missionary partners helped us coordinate with local first responders, and within minutes an ambulance (Kyū-kyū-sha) arrived. God was good. The pain was only a kidney stone—ouch! I say “only,” because we wondered if it could be much worse. But Mom and baby are doing just fine.
Our kiddos are growing healthy and happy. Ezra is walking now and starting to babble his first intelligible words (including Japanese). Sophie has made friends with everyone on our street (also in Japanese). We met another family in the neighborhood at the end of our block. They were quite curious about us. We were curious about them and their tiny dog named “Latte.” (Yes, the coffee drink.) Who knows, perhaps even this family will someday be added to the Kingdom!
I’ve been dieting and exercising since New Year’s and have seen good results. But I haven’t been the only one exercising lately. Sierah and I have been putting in the miles on our bikes! Let me explain. Back in February, we went to our local DMV to get our Japanese driver’s licenses. We knew that on June 1st, the anniversary of our arrival to Japan last year, our American driver’s permits would expire. (We’d be unable to legally drive.) So, thinking that we were well ahead of schedule, we sauntered in to the DMV and asked when we could sign up to take the test. The earliest date? July 18th. [That’s 5 days from now.] Implication? For the last six weeks, my dear pregnant wife and I have been biking everywhere, unable to drive! How is that for an authentic Japanese experience? Our missionary partners and other friends around have been so accommodating to us, offering occasional rides as needed. We are blessed!
Ministry To-dos
We have had a dynamic and eventful Spring/Summer season. It began with the church family out here officially voting us into membership. (Amen!) Our church hosted two community outreaches, one on Easter and a BBQ dinner outreach another time. The gospel was given in Japanese at both of these events, and many people heard the good news for the first time. A group from Singapore (the same as last year) came to help with this event and shared testimonies of how God saved them.
The Pliskas’ primary “ministry” right now is learning the language. On that note, we’ve switched our primary instruction from the school a couple towns over to doing private tutoring at home. For the current season we’re in, it just made far more sense. And our language learning is progressing smoothly. But God has been really good to both of us in an evangelistic way. Though we are still not at a conversational level in Japanese, both Sierah and I have developed promising gospel relationships with unsaved, bilingual Japanese people. In Japan, most friendships take years and many touches to develop any sense of closeness that we Westerners are accustomed to. So, I am tickled that this early on, the Lord has allowed us to already make solid connections with unbelievers in our area! May they grow into Godly fruit.
I’ve run out of space to tell you of the other events God has allowed us to experience these last few months. Pastors’ conferences, the church deck project, meeting with visiting partners from the US, etc… But trust that he is at work here! New churches are being planted, old churches are growing healthy, and we are just thrilled to be on the front edge of whatever work God is up to out here!
Goodbyes and Farewells
This season also brought many goodbyes for our church family. This is not a large group of people, mind you. The third missionary family that was a part of our church is retiring to the States, a Japanese family whose husband occasionally preaches for us had to move over an hour away, and an older man in the English church (of whom our children have grown quite fond) has also had to move to a different part of Japan. There are other new vacancies as well. It’s a strange adjustment to see a sizable portion of your church no longer there on Sundays! But the Lord was providentially behind each farewell. We are looking forward to those who will fill the empty seats now and how the same Lord might use us to help fill them.
We also said a happy “farewell” to a snake that almost got into the house! I’m nervous to post pictures of such things on social media, since some people are understandably squeamish about such things. I have a picture of the vile serpent being crushed by our front door. It was a Mamushi pit viper, if you want to look that up. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamushi)
In closing, Sierah and I got to see most of our last few “firsts” in Japan as our one-year anniversary rolled around this summer. A full year of church-calendar events, seasons, and holidays has come and gone. But there are plenty more “firsts” sure to come. We have a baby due in less than a month to start! We are so thankful to God for each of you who support us and pray for us regularly! As always, enjoy the pictures below and don’t forget to check out our social media pages for more regular updates and pictures.
Please pray:
– Pray for our driving test this week. If both of us fail, it’s months more of waiting and biking (with a newborn!).
– Pray for Sierah’s safe and healthy delivery in less than a month, Lord willing.
– Pray for language learning. Always be in prayer about that.
Grace and Peace,
Joe, Sierah, Sophie, Ezra, Baby Girl.
