Our family of five made it safely back to the United States on June 15th. An added blessing was that just days before leaving Japan, the PCR test requirement was lifted! We traveled from Kumamoto to Tokyo (Narita); then on to Vancouver, Canada, and Portland, OR. Pastor Craig Slaughter came to get us, and we spent about 2 weeks in Oregon getting over jetlag AND covid! Double whammy! The church family (Faith Baptist in Salem) bent over backwards to help us out and meet needs during our illness. Thank you!!

We flew then to Alabama to recover more at Norman’s parents’ home. We had to postpone or cancel 2-3 Sundays during this time. Cameron came down with covid in Alabama. We had a forced rest, which wasn’t such a bad thing. 🙂

On July 19-20 we traveled in our packed car to Wisconsin and are currently hanging out with my side of the family. We plan to visit three churches here before moving on to Iowa for about 3 months.

We hear that Jonathan is doing well back in Japan, meeting weekly with Elijah and the international church group as well as brushing up his Japanese speaking level. Keep him in your prayers, please.

Norman has begun a podcast in the last several months called Run With Horses, 30-minute episodes on topics such as discipleship, family, and marriage. He made a new website for it, as well — runwithhorses.net. I add my two cents on the marriage edition of it, and both Chloe and Cameron chime in on Family Fridays. This podcast is also aired on an internet radio program each week, potentially reaching a larger number of people. This is a new ministry for us, and we hope it will encourage many Christians around the world.