We have been back in Japan for a few weeks now and have recovered from jet lag. We flew from Nashville to Montréal, Canada on the afternoon of Aug 8. After spending the night in an airport hotel, we got up at 3 am for our flight to Vancouver. Fortunately, when we got to the airport, they had a direct flight to Tokyo that skipped the transfer in Vancouver. It was the emptiest international flight we have ever seen! I had a row of 4 seats to myself. Rob had 3 seats to himself. It was great!

We landed in Tokyo around 3 pm on Monday the 10th. After immigration and customs, we shipped our nine suitcases directly from the airport to our house. It was wonderful that we didn’t have to drag huge and heavy suitcases through the busy subway. We took three trains with one carry-on in tow (filled with chocolate and Reese’s), which felt like forever for our exhausted crew. We stopped at a convenience store for a $12 family snack dinner and walked 15 minutes home. Our cat, Princess, was thrilled to have us back.

School started for the girls on August 19th. They would say they didn’t want to go back, but I think they did. Camille has a handle on middle school now that she is in 7th grade, and Ruby is happy to be in 4th.

Now that the dust has settled from our home assignment in America and getting back to our Japanese routine, we can once again focus on language learning, ministry, and seminary (for Rob).

Financial update

We are so thankful that 92% of our supporters made the switch from Pioneers to our non-profit, Redeemer Mission! We know that losing 15-20% of support during a transition is normal, so we are very fortunate!

We still have a handful that haven’t made the switch yet, but we are at 94% of our monthly support goal. We are optimistic for the future!

From the Mouths of Babes

-Camille looked at a candy bar and said, “What’s in a health bar?” I said, “That’s a Heath bar.”

-Ruby said, “That’s what I thinked” instead of “thought.” 🫠🤦‍♂️

-We were discussing the installation of another air conditioning unit in our home. The idea of self-installation came up, and I said, “I don’t want to be electrocuted in Japanese!” (Don’t worry, we had a professional do it).

Ministry

Prayer requests

-Praise that our trip to America was fruitful and successful!

-Pray that Camille and Ruby get back into their school routine

-Pray that as Rob reconnects with the NK professors, they are open and available

-Pray that what we learned in Japanese classes will come back to mind quickly

-Pray for our former teammates and us as we move forward separately in ministry. While their decision came as a surprise, we are thankful for helpful conversations over the past week that have brought greater clarity. We are also grateful for the support of our church here in Tokyo throughout this season.

-Praise God that, even amid these challenging conversations, He has brought two families into our lives through our church here in Tokyo. One recently relocated from Cambodia after serving with Samaritan’s Purse, while the other is preparing to church-plant in Japan and currently serves on staff at Mustard Seed Christian Church Tokyo. We are grateful for these new friendships and the Lord’s timely encouragement.

Higashi Happenings

For those of you new to our newsletter, I include this section about our daily life so you can catch a glimpse of what life is like in Japan. After being in the US for about 2 months, the differences between the US and Japan are fresh on our minds. Some key differences are:

Roads-Driving in Japan is a very different experience than in the US. In America, most roads are wide, open and relatively straight. In Japan, most neighborhood roads are basically one way streets where drivers take turns getting through. They are narrow and windy too. Plus there are lots of pedestrians and cyclists that you have to keep an eye on. Going 15 miles in the US takes 15 minutes or less. Here in Japan, going 15 miles can take an hour.

Space-Space is a commodity here in Japan, everywhere you go. You go into a restaurant and you are sitting right next to another table, enough to hear their entire conversation. You sit in church and feel like you have less leg room than on an airplane. The bathroom stalls are tiny and narrow. In the US, there is so much elbow room! We forgot how spacious places in the US can be! We enjoyed seeing all the green fields, trees, and open spaces as we drove too.

Volume-People speak in hushed tones here in Japan. We rode the subway the other day, and during a packed rush-hour train, only 2 people were talking. It is so quiet. People are on their phones, but they are using headphones. One thing we noticed in the US that we don’t remember from before was how many people were using their phones at full volume in public. Watching videos, listening to music, doing video calls. It was so loud and inconsiderate. I felt like I needed to have a bag of headphones to pass out.

There will always be cultural differences wherever we go. God made all people in His image, and we are to love them, full volume and all.

Princess is happy to be going on daily walks again.

The Brass Tacks

We are incredibly thankful for each of you who prays, gives, encourages us, and follows what God is doing here in Japan. If you’d like to become more involved, here are a few tangible ways:

Monthly partnerships.
We are currently seeking an additional $900/month in recurring support (down from $1500/mo). If the remaining supporters who previously gave through Pioneers transition to Redeemer Mission, that need would be cut roughly in half.

Monthly support sustains our ongoing life and ministry here—discipleship, hospitality, outreach, relationship-building, and ministry throughout greater Tokyo.

Support

One-time giving.
Our goal is to raise an additional $10,000 by the end of 2026. We’ve received $1,950, leaving $8,050 to go. These gifts help meet annual ministry needs and prepare for opportunities already developing in 2027—including evangelistic outreach, ministry travel, and distributing Japanese and English Bibles and gospel resources.

With Japan being less than 1% Christian, even affordable Bibles can be surprisingly difficult to obtain. We would love to purchase Bibles and other resources in bulk so we can give them freely to those we meet.

Give

Help us spread the word.
Know a church, Sunday School class, small group, business, family, or individual interested in gospel ministry in Japan? Please share our newsletter or introduce us. Some of our best partnerships have begun through a simple personal connection.

Come see us!
If you or your church are headed to Tokyo, our door is open! We’d love for you to spend time with us and experience life and ministry here firsthand. (We even know some inexpensive places to stay!)

And if you simply want to know more, please ask! We’re always happy to exchange emails or set up a video call.

Pray. Give. Share. Come. We are grateful to be doing this work together with you!

Our time in the US is done, and it’s time to return to Japan. We fly out from Nashville on August 8th and land in Tokyo on the 10th. Fortunately, the girls’ international school doesn’t start until the 19th, so we have time to recover from jet lag and get school supplies.

The girls spent a lot of time swimming. This was in Kentucky.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the US! We got to see so many of you and meet some of you for the first time! We spent time in Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida. Some other interesting stats:

🛏️ Beds slept in: 12

🚙 Miles driven: 6700

🌮 Mexican meals: 16

🍫 Reece’s products eaten: immeasurable!

Surf’s up!

As for our monthly support, we have had 85% of supporters switch over from Pioneers to our non-profit Redeemer Mission. This is great news! If you are reading this and are part of the 15% who haven’t made the switch, please do so soon. We rely on your monthly support! Your recurring donations through Pioneers have been canceled, you just need to go to redeemermission.org/give to set up your recurring donation. If you have any questions, please email us at info@redeemermission.org

We have 90% of our monthly support raised, which we are grateful for. But we still need that last 10% to make ministry possible in Tokyo. If you have been following our story and have never supported us financially, now is the time to jump in! Please go to redeemermission.org/give to establish a recurring donation at any amount.

Sweet!

From the Mouths of Babes

We were at a railroad crossing with a train going through. As we watched the graffitied cars go by, Camille said, “Appreciate the vandalism!”

There had been quite a few storms at one point during our travels. After we saw lightning strike, Ruby said, “I felt that thunder on my heart!”

Camille said, “Well, Ruby is just gonna have a hootenanny.”

First time fishing (Kentucky). Ruby caught two fish and Camille fell in the pond!

Moving forward

So what are our next steps back in Tokyo? The girls will begin school again mid-August and Emily will start back up with Japanese lessons. Rob will be taking seminary classes at the end of August, trying to get a Japanese driver’s license, and connecting with the professors at the NK university.

Enjoying the FL beach

Prayer requests

-Pray that we get 100% of our monthly support raised

-Pray that we get adjusted to Japan time

-Pray that the girls get a good start to the school year

-Pray that we jump back into Japanese studies with enthusiasm

-Pray that the NK professors are available and open to meeting