Only 38 days until we leave the States and return to Japan! We eagerly look forward to being back “home.” Granted, our old home was bulldozed after we moved out, but we were not planning to live there again anyway. Actually, we have no clue where we will live! God knows! We will live in the same area we lived last term, but a different house.

Here are a few prayer requests we would love for you to pray about:
1. Pray that Melodie’s visa application will be processed without problem.
2. Pray that we would be able to locate at least a temporary dwelling for when we first arrive in Japan.
3. Pray that we could find land and/or an old farm house for a good price. This would be used for our own habitation as well as provide an area to build something for participants in GRIT.
4. Pray as we pare down our belongings and decide what to take or send to Japan.
5. Pray that we will be able to reconnect with old friends and acquaintances quickly in Japan.

We appreciate your interest in what God is doing in Japan and in the Smith family. Thank you for your ministry in prayer for us.

What are we up to these days? This week we are at a missions conference in Prattville, AL. Melodie lost her first tooth last week (ate it!). We bought plane tickets for April 6th, though we won’t actually land in Japan until the 8th.

We made it safely to Alabama! We made it in four days. First, we visited First Baptist Church in Yarmouth, IA. Then we traveled south for several hours, spent the night at a hotel in the St. Louis area, then traveled some seven hours to reach Norman’s college chum. We spent the evening with his friend and family (including twins aged 3¾ years old) in Arkansas, before traveling the final four hours to Norman’s folks’ house. We were very glad to get out of the van!

Now, we look forward to less than two month’s worth of visiting supporting churches in Alabama, with one in Ohio, to finish up our furlough. The first Friday in April will see us back up north to attend my brother’s wedding in Chicago. As soon as possible after that, we plan to return to Japan, God willing…and pending final approval from the mission agency…and assuming we’ll have obtained Melodie’s visa by then.

Until April, we have lots of packing, sorting, and deciding to complete in preparation for being out of the States for the next four years. We will store some things here in Alabama to be used for next furlough. Last minute shopping is always a necessity.

I think our whole family is ready to go back to Japan. Time to settle down for a while! Of course, once we land in Japan, life will take on another flurry of activity. We need to find housing immediately, retrieve our car from where it’s been used two hours from us, take care of loads of paperwork for the Japanese government, and set up or renew cell phone and healthcare accounts, and tons of other details. It’s always a little hairy to go back without a house waiting for us. But, we try to see it as an adventure…and it is! And eventually, things get calmed down, and life will go on!