Summary - Blog Begin, Our adventure so far.

Well we made it to Japan! What amazing experience so far. We have seen God work in so many ways these last few months. Well let me start at the beginning.

We were approached by Derin & Amanda Dopps about a year ago. They were looking at starting a team to go to Japan and spread God's Word. Excited by the Dopps enthusiasm we started to plan a survey trip to Japan for the next fall 2009. And the process started. We took a Japanese-language night course at WSU with Derin. We attended the Global Missions conference with the Northside Mission Oversight Team (MOT) team. And the more we looked into this opportunity the more we saw God all around us. We were hesitant at first to see God working so personally in our lives, but we look back and can't deny it.

The months rolled by and we had the wonderful opportunity of hosting Jonathan Hanagen while he was on his furlough to the U.S. We got to pick his brain a little about his work in Caracas, Venezuela. What a encouragement. Jonathan is an amazing person and we love him for the good kind words he left us with. After Jonathan left to go to Oklahoma to visit another supporting congregation, Memorial Road church of Christ, we got a phone call. Jonathan was staying at the director of the HIM program's house, Clyde Antwine. He wanted to know how interested we were in going to Japan. We were on our way to a wedding in Chicago, so we had a lot of time to talk on the road. In the last few months the HIM program had just received a request for HIM workers from a small congregation in Haruna, Japan. I remember the look of excitement/trepidation on Paul's face as he told me why Jonathan was calling. So after all the details were discussed we had some time to think.

Ok, this 2 week survey trip was turning into a 2 year mission trip. Well after a few days of thinking and praying we decided to pursue this request and apply to be HIM workers. So after being accepted into the program we joined the other workers and over the next 10 months preparations began. We enrolled in another Japanese class at WSU and drove to Edmund, OK for HIM training classes every Wednesday night until May. We found a couple of awesome young men to rent our house, bought plane tickets, sold our cars, and quit our jobs. The Lord was helping us all along the way. Every obstacle we came to, was taken quickly away and with a better outcome than we anticipated. Thanks to all of our wonderful family and friends we raised enough money to be able to work full time in Haruna for 2 years. And so the adventure begins! What will God do with 2 lowly people in Japan, serving him for the kingdom? :)

-Stacey