Eating in Singapore

We're in Japan now. (YAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!) But before we give a Japan update, let's talk about what we ate in Singapore. One of the things I was most hoping to do while we were there was to eat well. :)

We had many food suggestions before we got to Singapore. One of them was high tea at the Raffles Hotel. We went there for our anniversary. In addition to the delicious spread of sweets and tea sandwiches, there were tropical fruits and Chinese dumplings.

We went out for lunch on three consecutive Sundays with our friends, Mei and Francis, whom we met in Boston through our IVCF group. Mei and I used to play in the band for the student worship events. We ate Chinese dumplings, Malay food, and Turkish food. They also got us hooked on Cendol... so delicious and refreshing!

In Chinatown with Mei and Francis

Some things we ate at the Turkish restaurant.

Classic cendol: shaved ice with palm sugar, condensed milk, green rice noodles... and kidney beans.

A slightly less traditional cendol. This one had corn and bits of jello-like substance.

Mei and Francis made one more suggestion before we said goodbye to them: chili crab, a Singaporean specialty. We got some at a hawker stall in Chinatown. We also got "carrot cake," a savory "cake" made with daikon radish and egg. Both were delicious. The crab was extremely messy.

Keith enjoys food. I enjoy watching him enjoy his food. Here he is eating chili crab.

"Carrot" cake

But there was one delicacy which we preferred not to try...

July Newsletter

Seasons
Keith and Celia Olson
Newsletter #13
July 27, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from hot and humid Singapore! We hope this letter finds each of you well... and in air conditioning.

We are in a season of transition. We left Seattle on July 1, spent July 2-5 in Tokyo, and since July 5 we’ve been in Singapore at OMF International Headquarters, attending Orientation Course. This seems almost settled compared to the rushing around we did before we left Seattle--packing, sorting, cleaning, last minute speaking engagements and goodbye parties, and visits to Iowa, North Dakota, Boston, and Vancouver to say goodbye to family and friends. This has been a rich and meaningful time, but emotionally draining. To say that we are looking forward to being at home in our own apartment in Sapporo would be a vast understatement.

Our harpsichord is traveling to Japan in a specially built box which will double as a bookshelf!

In Tokyo, our friend, Yoshitaka took us to some of his favourite places (in the photo we’re at Meiji Jingu)… and we enjoyed eating a lot of great food!

The next few weeks hold even more transitions, as we return to Tokyo for a few days of rest and preparation (July 31-August 4), then head north for relief work in the Tohoku region (August 5-18), and then on to Sapporo on August 22. Please keep us in your prayers for the next several weeks--for safety in travel, and for patience and flexibility, and for us to see God at work even in difficult circumstances.
***

Coming Home

As we’ve been in the process of transitioning back into life in Japan, I (Celia) have been thinking a lot about “home.” (This month’s banner celebrates all the places we’ve both called home--except for Seattle, which has been featured in all of our recent newsletters.) I used to think that home is where I have people whom I love and who love me--but as I make friends in all of the places I have lived, and as these friends further spread out to various places around the world, this becomes something of a challenge. How can I be at home anywhere when I am constantly grieving the people left behind? Maybe I need to re-think my definition of “home,” since my deep desire is to put down roots in a specific place and community--the place and community where God wants me to be.

Remember the story I told in the August 2010 newsletter? To summarize: as I rode my bike to the farmer’s market in Sapporo, I saw the bountiful land and the people working it, and I was filled with a sense of thankfulness and peace. I would consider this experience to be the confirmation of my calling as a missionary to Japan. As I have continued to reflect on what happened that day, something struck me as odd. Why were my experiences of God’s love for the people of Japan more “normal”--consistent and everyday--while my experience of God’s love for the land of Japan--for a place--was like getting a bucket of water over my head? I’m not talking about the country or the political structure--I mean the land itself. My experience on my bike that day was remarkably similar to what happened when I discovered Keith was a Christian--it wasn’t exactly “love at first sight,” since I’d seen him before--and yet I didn’t really see him until that moment. I guess that day on my bike was my “love at first sight moment” with Japan. God opened my eyes once again to that which he wants me to love.

But honestly, why the land? In one sense, this is fitting--John 3:16 says in the Greek that God sent his Son for the love of the Cosmos--not only the people, but the whole universe, and everything in it. That’s how big God’s love is. Romans 8 speaks of creation groaning with us as we wait for renewal. Yet I still feel a bit jealous of Keith’s experiences when God showed him his love for the Japanese people. When the tsunami happened, I cried for the tremendous loss of life and the suffering of the people--but I also cried for the pristine beaches littered with trash, the topsoil washed away, and the crops polluted by radiation.

I have yet to discover exactly why God has given me this burning love for the land of Japan, but I have a good guess. I think God wants me to love the land because the Japanese love the land. As someone God called to reach out to the Japanese, I need to love the things that they love, to rejoice with them when they rejoice, and to weep with them when they weep. I long to tell the Japanese people that this land, which they love, is a gift from our creator God. My heart breaks that so many of them don’t know him. God is calling me to point the Japanese to their creator, who loves them, and who loves their land. The whole world is his--including this precious place in which we will have the privilege of living and working for the next four years and beyond. This place is sacred ground.

We cried on the plane home from Japan in April of last year, then I cried as I watched Seattle slip away beneath the plane, and again when the plane dropped through the clouds and I saw the lush green landscape of Japan. I wanted to jump out of my seat and tell everyone on the plane that I was HOME! ただ今 (tadaima)! Home is a place--and for this season of our lives, that place is Japan.
***

A few Singapore experiences...

Celebrating our 6th anniversary with high tea

Francis and Mei, friends from grad school in Boston, brought us to their church and lunch afterwards! We had Chinese dumplings, Malay cuisine from Mei's hometown, and Turkish food!

Francis and Mei got us hooked on Cendol.

Did we mention it's humid here?

***

Prayer Points

• Praise God for safe travels, a hassle free visa process, and no problems with luggage (specifically cello) so far!
• Please pray for Celia for her cello practice in Tokyo (Aug. 1-4) and concerts in Tohoku (Aug. 5-18), which is the area hit by the March 11 tsunami. Please also pray for Laura-Jane and Ho Meas who are coordinating our work schedule, and for us to use this time well--listening to people’s stories and showing them the love of God even through our broken Japanese.
• Praise God for sorting out our housing situation. Rijke, a fellow OMF missionary, is graduating from language school at the end of October, and we will move into her place, which is a spacious apartment excellent for hosting friends. It also has thick walls, so hopefully our instruments won’t bother the neighbors. Until she moves out, we will be staying in the same place we lived before (the OMF guest home).
• Please pray with us as we work with our supervisors about a church placement. As much as we wanted to attend Satsunae Lighthouse, our previous church, OMF does not want to burden the church with too many new missionaries; also, for the sake of our education, we will be learning from a difference pastor and congregation. We are praying about attending a church outside of Sapporo, but our main concern is whether we will be able to be engaged in a church which is so far away.

***

An Opportunity to Serve

OMF Japan is looking for childcare workers to care for the children of missionaries studying at OMF’s Japanese Language Center in Sapporo. This is an urgent and ongoing need, as well as a great opportunity for short-term service that also provides a chance to experience Japan and see what missionary life is like. We had two childcare workers as our housemates when we were short-termers. If you are interested, please contact Christine Lau at ServeJapan@omf.net.
***

Finance Update: Stay Tuned!

No, don’t worry; we’re not in the red just yet. Actually, we had a talk with OMF Japan’s financial manager, and as we considered our ministry needs, we were thinking about how we should go about  lugging our instruments around Sapporo. Currently, we are considering the possibility of budgeting for a car, and so we trust that if we can more effectively carry out our ministry with a car, then God will supply the funds necessary for purchase and upkeep. (In Japan, the cost to do mandatory service checks on a four year old car is often so expensive that many people just buy a new one, so the cost of upkeep is a big consideration.) Please pray with us about this decision, and we will keep you posted.
***

Engrish Corner

Does dog-wiz really make the forest happy? In case you were wondering, “Dog-Wiz” is a shop selling goods for pampered dogs.

For those of you just joining us, “Engrish” is the funny English often found in Japan and in other places too. We love it… and at the same time we realize that we make similar mistakes in Japanese. When we find something good (either Japanese “Engrish” or our own mistakes), we’ll include it in our newsletter.
***

Quiz time!

We will mail a package of Japanese green tea to the first person to correctly identify what is happening in this picture.
***

We have been encouraged to meet with so many of you before we left, so now it’s your turn to come visit us in Japan and tell us what you are up to (just give us a year to get settled in first). In the meantime, we’re praying for you too!
           
Love in Christ,
Keith and Celia

Why Japan

My friend Melissa has asked an interesting question that perhaps I should address on this blog: why Japan? Celia has explained a bit about her history with Japanese people growing up with Japanese friends, teachers, exchange students. Seattle has Japanese people in it. North Dakota does not. Growing up, my experience with Japanese culture was limited to translated video games and anime cartoons. I was somewhat interested in learning Japanese so that I could play the Final Fantasy games in their original languages, so much so that I even bought a Japanese to English dictionary. I failed. I also tried to take a college course on Japanese history while I was still in high school, which is perhaps my darkest academic secret because I ended up withdrawing from the course. I just didn't have the motivation. I also had no aspirations of being a missionary, and as far as I was concerned, foreign countries had little to nothing to do with me. I didn't even see the ocean until I was over 20 years old, I didn't like flying (still don't), and I had planned on being a doctor so that I could make a lot of money.

So what happened since high school? Well, I have a story that helps explain a bit about my personality, which you might remember, Melissa, because you were there. I was walking through the music building in college, and I looked inside a classroom to see professor Whitney teaching an aural skills class with her students who were sitting in a circle on the floor doing rhythm exercises like in elementary school. Whitney was a fun and great teacher, the class looked interesting, and it was just what I needed in response to the awful experience I had with my dreary calculus 3 class. Thus I joined the study group called Theory Junkyz (I think that's how we spelled it, but only with a backwards z). Lame? Yes, but fun. That started my journey to a music degree.

The point of the story is that I am prone to the snowball effect. Something refreshingly new caught me, and before I knew it, I was hooked. That's how I ended up taking so much Koine Greek at Regent College and learning how to play ultimate frisbee. These are small passions of mine, but ministry with Japanese people is a passion that is still ballooning. My friend Izumi somehow got a commitment out of Celia and me in the 2008-2009 academic year to help lead English conversation with Japanese working-visa holders. I dreaded cramming another obligation into my way to full schedule, but as the weeks went by, I found the Wednesday night broken English conversations to be the most compelling thing of the week. Celia and I found so much solace doing that ministry that we decided to check out Japan. Nine months in Japan was more than enough time for us to determine this was going to be a life long passion. Even in the last year of doing another TalkTime ministry with Japanese, I have found this passion of befriending Japanese people and helping them to understand a loving God who would send his son for us, to be so strong that it can hurt.

So I guess the short answer to why Japan is that it took me by surprise and I can do nothing for it but go. I have felt thankful many times, and I have said as much, that Celia and I have this same passion. It is such a gift from God to be united in like-minded ministry with my wife to reach the Japanese with the love of Christ, and it is as much a confirmation of God calling us together as a couple as it is God calling us to Japan.

There you have it. Thanks for asking the question and leaving us a comment, Melissa. Also, if you happen to have a picture of the Junkyz, could you email that to me?

Cool stuff I found, and reflections on growing up

I'm in the process of organizing and packing my stuff. Two weeks from today, we will get on a plane with a 1-way ticket to Japan. It's hard to believe, really.

On a whim I started going through boxes of stuff. I meticulously kept every school paper, every drawing, every piece of photocopied music, every certificate or award, every letter and postcard I received. It added up to something like 4 file boxes of stuff. I think I've managed to pare it down to about 1 1/2 boxes, all of which fits safely into our filing cabinet. I still don't know how much stuff we are leaving behind, but now in our closet I have 4 boxes worth of space more than I had 2 days ago.

A doodle my stand partner and I did on the back of our music in middle school orchestra (Jarod the bassist was my best friend)

I don't mean to sound like this process was easy. It wasn't. I put on some moody Rachmaninoff to accompany the process and cranked the volume quite a bit louder than the volume at which I would normally choose to listen music. I played Rachmaninoff's second symphony at summer camp between my junior and senior years of high school. I hated the piece at first--it sounds a bit like lounge music before you get to know it. After an intense week of rehearsals and teenage drama (my boyfriend left for college), Rachmaninoff's second symphony became the beloved piece which symbolized for me the transition to adulthood, as well as the end of a beautiful summer, the loss of my childhood, and the loss of my first love.

I rather like this guy. I call him "green coffee bean man." I'm pretty sure I painted him in the craft room at that same summer camp, because I didn't do much painting anywhere else during high school.

I felt like I was throwing away my childhood--especially my dreams of becoming an orchestral cellist. I don't want to be an orchestral cellist any more, but giving up that dream was still painful.

I love chamber music and Bach's unaccompanied cello suites. I especially love chamber music because of the rehearsal process--a small group of musicians shares ideas with each other and works closely to present a performance which reflects the group's interpretation, while allowing each of the individuals to express their own voice. As an orchestral cellist, my duty was to blend with the other cellists and not to stand out. Still, being part of a good orchestra is an unbelievably powerful experience. Every member contributes their own sound to make something so much bigger. I think I took this experience for granted. Now I don't know if I will ever have another chance to play Brahms or Mahler or Rachmaninoff symphonies. I guess I had always been clinging to the hope that I would play them again, but yesterday as I put my carefully archived orchestral parts in the recycling bin, it felt like I was killing that hope once and for all. I have moved on. I'm a chamber musician, a missionary, a student of Japanese language; I don't have time, or space, or opportunities to be fooling around with orchestra.

I also listened to Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto during the sorting process. I guess there's a Rachmaninoff piece for each of my major life transitions--this one became important to me in the last year while we've been waiting to go back to Japan. I played it (as an orchestral cellist, of course) during college, but it was brought to memory, oddly enough, by a wildly popular Japanese TV show about two pianists, which Keith and I watched last year. The Rachmaninoff 2nd piano concerto is a recurring theme throughout the show, and it is the piece that causes major life changes for both of the lead characters as they rediscover the joy of playing the piano. (We highly recommend this anime for our fellow music dorks--it's called Nodame Cantabile. We both loved it.) I rediscovered the joy of playing the cello while I was in Japan. I am excited to be reunited with my musical friends there, and to work on my Japanese so we can communicate better.

I found a lot of other great stuff while I was rifling around through my old papers. I was amazed to find a little slip of paper among my elementary school stuff with Psalm 37:7 written on it--on one side in English, and on the other side in Japanese. I have no idea where it came from, but it's been the theme verse of my life this last year, so I tucked it inside my planner. I also found evidence of my first efforts at learning Japanese:

We hosted a Japanese exchange student, Ayumi, the summer before I started middle school. She diligently taught me hiragana and a few kanji, which I promptly forgot. I am amazed yet again to see the way God wove Japanese people, language, and culture into my life, even though I was completely unaware of it. Among other things, I was reminded of what a great teacher my Japanese-American 3rd and 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Mise, was. I was a little snot with a big head (there was ample evidence of that among my papers), but she didn't let me get away with shoddy work. She always expected me to do my best work in every subject.

We got to try Japanese brush painting in Mrs. Mise's class. I call this one "Flower painting with faux Japanese." If you don't know what I'm talking about, look at the upper left corner.

I'll close this very long-winded post with a couple more of my favorite things from my childhood papers.

I liked to write little "poems" like this on my dad's new computer when I was about 6. I wonder if I would like something called "pizza rice casserole" (or should I say "caserole"?) now that I am snobby about rice?

There were many little notes like this one. I think my parents were very proud of me. My mom is good at encouraging, even for small things.

May Newsletter

Seasons
Newsletter #12
April 26, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

We received our clearances; we booked our tickets; WE’RE GOING TO JAPAN! As you can imagine, we are excited, astonished, happy to be going, and sad to be leaving. There are many details to work out… please pray for us in this very busy and emotionally draining time! We have included a number of practical details related to our going in the “nuts and bolts” section of this newsletter.

Since April, we have been like the cliché pastor and pastor’s wife:  Keith has been doing a lot of preaching, and Celia has been playing a lot of music. We’ve been everywhere from preschools to retirement homes sharing about our ministry. A lot has happened in the last month; here are photos of some of the highlights.

Keith has preached at many different churches, including Hosanna Church, the Japanese church we attend. Takahashi-sensei translated for him. 

One perk about all this travel: sometimes we visit beautiful places! We were in Burlington on a sunny day during tulip season, and in West Seattle during cherry blossom season.

We have a new sister! Celia’s brother, Colin married Jiayun Chen on May 21.

One of Colin and Jiayun's engagement pictures

At the beach after the wedding

 We were commissioned on May 22 at Newport Covenant Church.
 

We shared at our church’s preschool about Children’s Day in Japan.(Celia is an alum.) We made kabuto (samurai hats) and koinobori (fish windsocks). Here are the finished products, after we put them together!

We spent 5 glorious vacation days in Long Beach, WA, where we were joined by our friends, the Janssens (future OMF missionaries in Taiwan). Celia taught the kids how to make sourdough bread.

Celia has been involved in the quilting group at church this year. (The picture shows the group on coffee break.) She is hoping to finish her quilt before we leave!

***

Learning to Trust

For the last several months, we have been walking the difficult road of learning to trust God. We had initially chosen the target date of February to go to Japan, but when it became clear that we wouldn’t make the December deadline, we prayed again for God’s direction. Both of us felt like the July was the right time to go. However, at the time of our last newsletter (April 16), we were still at 55% of our financial support, and we hadn’t yet received medical clearance.
   
On March 31, we had started “40 days of prayer”—each day, a group of our faithful prayer supporters received a quick email with something we were thankful for as well as a prayer request. We prayed for all kinds of things—family needs, the people of Japan, our financial needs, and for encouragement and strength to get through our daily activities and to trust in God’s provision. I (Celia) think that last item was what I needed most. While I’m fairly certain that God would have provided us with financial and medical clearance even without the “40 days of prayer,” I needed to spend those 40 days learning to lay my burdens daily at the feet of Jesus. God will certainly provide—but it’s my choice what I do with that knowledge. I can spend my days fretting and worrying, or I can go about my daily activities in  peace, full of joyful anticipation. I have to say, I spent most days doing the former.

On May 7, two days before the deadline, we were still at 93%. Keith was filled with excitement and anticipation to see what God would do; I was not so excited. Usually I don’t fast (lack of food makes me very cranky), but that day, I felt like I needed an attitude adjustment. With each hunger pang, I prayed a simple prayer, something like this: “God, thank you for providing for my needs. You have faithfully provided food for us to eat every day, so I know I can trust you to provide for us when we’re in Japan.” God provided—we were invited to a delicious meal at our neighbour’s house when it was time for me to break my fast. Then the next day at church, several church members made pledges. Later in the afternoon, we heard about the final pledge which put us over 100%.

When we officially got our financial clearance (the morning of May 9), I just felt tired, worn out by the mixture of emotions, like the adrenaline letdown I sometimes experience after concerts. To some extent, I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to be more like Keith, eagerly waiting to find out how God would provide. Why couldn’t I just let go? Through this process of waiting on God, I learned that his provision does not depend on me. I suspect this will be a life-long learning process.
***

Nuts and Bolts

There’s a lot of information in this section, so please talk to us if you’re confused. Feel free to talk to us even if you’re not confused.

Our Schedule
If you’re in North America, we’d love to see you before we go back to Japan! More information about many of these events (and a few more which aren't set in stone just yet) is forthcoming on our blog.
    Until June 3: in Iowa and North Dakota visiting Keith’s family
    May 29: Grace Lutheran Church, Fort Dodge, IA (Children’s message)
    June 6-11: in Boston and Connecticut visiting friends and family
    June 18: OMF Day of Prayer in Vancouver
    June 19: Vancouver First Christian Reformed Church (Keith will preach)
    June 25 and 28: Goodbye parties at our home in Seattle (more details will follow mid-June)

About Pledges and Donations
How do I fulfill my pledge? Thank you to everyone who has made a pledge to support us. We leave for Japan in July, so please start your monthly gifts in July if you have not already done so. If you have made your pledge “officially” through OMF International, you should have received a letter from them explaining how to fulfill your pledge. If you have told us you wanted to pledge, but haven't told OMF International yet, please go to this website to sign up.

Are donations and pledges still welcome? Yes, you can still pledge or donate. Although we have met the minimum financial requirements to go to Japan, we will eventually have “second priority” items to add to our budget, such as a car, which will likely be necessary for Celia’s concert ministry. We might also have children (an expensive prospect). If a missionary receives more than 100% support, OMF keeps the surplus for that missionary until it is needed.

Giving information is also available on our blog.
***

Prayer Points

• Praise God; we have our financial and medical clearances to go to Japan!
• We are in the process of finding a moving company; please pray for us as we pack and as we choose what we need to take, leave, and get rid of. 
• We thank God for all of our friends and family who are supporting us as we go to Japan. In this last month before we leave, especially during our travels and in saying many goodbyes, please pray that this will be a very rich and fruitful time.
• Please pray for the Peter and Janet Dallman and for Alaric Dunsmore-Rouse who will oversee our language studies and will help us in our transition to Japan. Please pray especially that the Dallmans will be able to find an appropriate home for us in which Celia can practice her cello.
• Before we arrive at our final destination in Sapporo, Japan, we will go to Singapore for orientation course (OC) and then do some relief work in the tsunami hit area of Japan. Pray that our time in OC will be refreshing as we meet with other missionaries and the OMF staff and as we learn more about the organization.
• We are still planning to do relief work. Celia would like to play concerts to encourage people who have been affected by the tsunami, and Keith would like to do manual labour, but we don't know yet where or with whom we will work. Please pray for the details to be worked out.

***

Money Jar: We have 100%!

The Lord has provided! Shortly before the May 9 deadline, we made the minimum financial requirement for our first term (5 years). We are so thankful to God and to everyone who is supporting us. We will continue to keep you informed of any changes to our financial situation while we are in Japan.
***

We are overcome with God’s faithfulness to us. Thank you for sharing with us in our rejoicing. Please keep praying with us on this next leg of our journey.

Love in Christ, Keith and Celia

Visit to Vancouver

Just wanted to give you a heads-up... we will be in Vancouver the weekend of June 18-19. On Saturday, June 18, we will be at the OMF Mid Year Day of Prayer. We will be leading worship and sharing about Japan. The schedule is below.

Then on Sunday, June 19 at 10:30 a.m., Keith will be preaching at Vancouver First Christian Reformed Church.

We are also hoping to hold some kind of informal gathering to say hello and goodbye to our friends; more details will be coming in a couple of weeks. We hope to see you soon!

Going to Japan

God has done it! Celia and I are going to Japan on July 1, 2011, with 4 one-way tickets (one for me, one for Celia, one for Celia's cello, and one for Celia's viola da gamba) for our initial four year term. Today is the day we were supposed to meet all of our deadlines, and we were nervous and excited at the same time to see how God was going to supply for our financial clearance (we were at 90% a week ago and 97% yesterday morning). By yesterday night, we received the final pledges needed to meet the minimum financial requirements to go to Japan, and this morning our OMF boss gave us the green light to go to Japan!

So what do we do from here? We pack, move, travel, say goodbyes, cry (a lot), fill out paperwork, and leave. When we get to Japan, we will deposit some cellos and other luggage, and then head over to Singapore for our month long orientation course (OC). Singapore is where the OMF International headquarters is, and OC is meant to train OMF missionaries about procedures of OMF and allow us to get acquainted with the OMF staff supporting us and the other missionaries entering the field with us. After OC, we hop back to Japan where we will hopefully do some initial relief work for a few weeks (Celia playing cello concerts in the shelters and Keith doing manual labor). By mid-August we should be moving into our new home in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and starting language study.

Right now we feel like this: dancing to the jukebox in the basement of Keith's parents' house with long hair

やった！

The Money Jar

We have 92% pledged support!

We have a little less than a week left before this whole money jar business is behind us, and as much as I (Keith) enjoy creating these MS Paint™  money jars and filling them with MS Paint™ coins, I will be glad when we're through. As of today, May 3, we have about 92% pledged support. God has done some amazing things to get us this far, so we are hopeful that we will get a full 100% pledged before our May 9th financial deadline. We will definitely keep you posted :)

April Newsletter

Seasons
Newsletter #11
April 16, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

With the events of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the loss of Celia’s grandmother weighing on our hearts, it’s hard to believe it’s been a month and a half since our last newsletter. In the midst of this grief, we are looking forward to celebrate with Celia’s brother, Colin, at his wedding with his fiancée, Jiayun in May! So much is happening that we feel like we’re running to keep up with the incredible pace of life. Still, we are pressing on to our May 9 deadline for financial and medical clearance with hopes that we’ll be back in Japan in July!


Deep Waters
I (Celia) struggle to find words to respond to the present situation in Japan following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Even a month later, I still can’t get my mind around what has happened or even imagine the implications not only for the Tōhoku region, but the whole of Japan. On that day, all I could do was pace around the house, crying and looking out the window. The only prayer I could put into words was “Lord, have mercy,” but I know that the Holy Spirit was interpreting my tears and my silence.

We are glad to report that all of our friends and colleagues in Japan are safe. Praise God! In Sapporo, where we had been working and where we will return, there was little damage. However, even several hundred miles from the epicentre, the earthquake was the largest in living memory.

We’ve been learning a lot about grief in the last year—first as we left behind our friends, colleagues, and work in Japan, then as God closed the door regarding our return to Vancouver. In November at a conference on interpersonal skills, we were finally able to figure out that we weren’t experiencing reverse culture shock so much as grief. Then, the earthquake and tsunami happened in Japan, and within the next week, my grandmother died. At this point I felt the grief of others even more as I struggled with my own personal grief.

Celia, age 1, with Grandmother

We’ve often talked in our presentations at churches about feelings of helplessness. While we were in Japan, these feelings related primarily to our minimal language skills. Now we feel helpless to do anything to help people in Japan who have lost friends, family, homes, and possessions—not to mention people who were not directly affected, but who face the future with fear. But we have learned to pray, and we have seen how powerful that is in communicating love to grieving people. Our God’s grace is sufficient for us, and his power is made perfect in weakness. Even in the midst of our grief, we have the joy of God’s comfort.

Through all of this, I am filled with thankfulness. Many people have prayed for and cared for my family. Many people are praying for Japan. I am thankful for our grandparents, for their love for Keith and me and for the rest of the family. I am thankful for the 69 years of Grandmother and Granddad’s marriage—what a great example! I am thankful for many other people who continue to be like grandparents to Keith and me. I am thankful for people who pray for us and encourage us. God has graciously provided for us in every way.

May God redeem this tragedy in Japan for his glory! Already many Japanese have found comfort in him. May God redeem our own grief also, so that we may weep with those who weep and offer God’s comfort just as we have already received it.

As a special extra for those of you who are reading on the blog, here are some links related to this article:

• Celia's reflections on the earthquake and the loss of her grandmother
• Keith's reflections on the earthquake
• Our colleague, Bryan Thompson's blog about earthquake and tsunami relief
• OMF Japan's page of resources about the earthquake and tsunami (we especially recommend the "Fukushima First Baptist Church – an evacuated pastor’s diary" articles)
• If you would like to donate for relief work, we recommend that you do so through OMF International (enter project number L60500 into the "specific project" box) or CRASH Japan.

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Japanese Culture Night

On April 2, we held a Japanese culture night at Newport Covenant Church. Over 20 volunteers helped prepare the food, set up the room, and clean up for the over 100 people who came to hear about Japan and about our ministry. We were especially touched during the prayer time to hear so many of the people we love praying for Japan together. The event raised $2,800 for Covenant World Relief tsunami relief efforts. These numbers astound us, especially since we were initially planning for only 40-50 people. God is good. Thank you to everyone who helped out!

The meal: homemade bentos!

Celia accompanied Keith and Dan on some of her hymn arrangements. Keith sang in Japanese.

If you'd like, you can read more about Japanese Culture night on a previous blog post. Also, you can read the results of the haiku competition... and see the silly picture Keith made to advertise the event.
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Beginnings and Endings    
March and April have been a time of transition—many of our ministry commitments are coming to a close as we are shifting our focus to our work of finding partners for our future ministry in Japan. We have finished the Alpha Course at Westminster Chapel—it has been such a blessing to meet the guests at our table and to learn from people who have a lot of experience in facilitating the Alpha Course! We wish it were possible to continue on. Our community group training has come to a close along with our community group. It is our hope that many of the group members will go on to start their own groups. We pray that these experiences will be helpful as we learn to be effective workers in Japan.

Our Community Group

On March 13, we “officially” said goodbye to Vancouver First Christian Reformed Church as we became members at Newport Covenant Church, where Celia was raised. Then in April, Celia celebrated her 30th birthday with a tea party!

Celia's childhood friend, Andrea and her daughter, Leila attended the tea party.

We are looking forward with anticipation to our financial and medical clearance deadline on May 9. We have been counting down the days through prayer, sending out daily prayer requests by email; please let us know if you would like to join us, and we will add you to our list. Yesterday we talked with our supervisor; we were encouraged to hear that our medical clearance process is going well. Our current financial support level is 55%; we are eager to see how God will provide the remaining 45%!

Provided we make our clearance deadline, we will head to Singapore for orientation course at the beginning of July, and we will arrive in Japan towards the end of the month. We are considering possibilities to be involved in relief work at some point, whether or not we make our deadline.
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Prayer Points

• May 9, 2011 is our deadline for raising all finances (100% pledged monthly support) and getting clearance to go to Japan in July 2011. Please pray that God will provide prayer partners, pledges towards our monthly support, the diligence to do what we can, and peace as we trust in him.
• Please continue to pray for Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami, for all the families that lost loved ones and homes, and for many opportunities for Christians to reach out in love to their grieving neighbors. May God's peace be made greater than any disaster in Japan.
• We thank God for all our mentors and the ministries in which we’ve been involved, especially the Alpha course and our community group.
• Celia’s grandmother passed away on March 16. Please pray for Celia and her family as they grieve her loss.
• We are thankful for the 100 people who came to hear about our ministry on April 2 at our Japanese Culture Night, and for the 20+ volunteers who helped out.
• During our time of visiting churches and friends, please pray that we take sufficient time to rest and spend time together.
• Please pray for Celia’s brother, Colin and his fiancée, Jiayun as they prepare for their May 21 wedding and their marriage.

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Money Jar: We have 55%!

We need 100% pledged monthly support for our first term (5 years) before returning to Japan—for a July departure, our deadline is May 9. Please keep praying with us that God will provide for our financial needs!

If you would like to support us financially, you can get information here, and follow this link to make a pledge via OMF's website.
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Thank you for praying with us in this time of many transitions, much grief, and much joy!

Love, Keith and Celia