After the kids recovered from jetlag, they returned to their karate dojo, where Chloe and Cameron received their black belts! They passed the test last year in June, but the belts hadn’t arrived before we had to leave for furlough. Congratulations!

Being able to attend the international Bible study again was a huge blessing and much anticipated meeting! Jonathan Jelliff has been doing a great job providing leadership for this group in our absence, and we got to witness it ourselves! We were also blessed to have Elijah lead the music. He also did a great job! We are so thankful for their servants’ hearts and willingness to pick up where we left off.

We really enjoyed our furlough, traveling to about thirty churches in our seven months in the States. We are back home in Japan, and I’m finding it a whole lot easier to cook here than in America! Food options, menu choices, gas stove, and my familiar kitchen make cooking a breeze. My kids reminded me that it wasn’t like this when I first arrived in Japan! How well I remember that! I had to toss my US recipes out, since I couldn’t buy the ingredients called for. After twenty years, I’ve figured it out! The kids had a short list of “Make this meal!” We have had Japanese rice, oden, fried rice, gyoza, rice balls, and yakisoba.

Our family was blessed to spend time on furlough with so many different Christians. Japan is such a different environment spiritually. Thank you for fellowshipping with us during our stay!