At the end of July, we experienced a hazy week. This was the sun at about 6pm. By the middle of the week, a friend told us that it was the haze from volcanic ash on the mainland of Japan. That was a first for us! There are over one hundred active volcanos in…
trash days
When we moved to our new place, our trash changed dramatically. Japan is known for its very thorough recycling and trash. In our last house, we only needed to sort trash and bottles and cans. The difference can be seen in the picture. We have to remove labels and bottles caps from every bottle…
Weekly serving
During the long break when our church services were online, we decided to work on including our kids more in the public services as we could. Johnny really has a love for serving so he has jumped in on the hospitality team with Linnea. Emma has a love for loving babies and toddlers, so she…
Anniversary trip
On July 31, Jon and I were able to spend a night away at a local hotel to celebrate our sixteenth wedding anniversary. We don’t take this celebration lightly. For those who have been praying for us for the last few years, you know that any good in our marriage is a gift from God…
60th Birthday!
Linnea’s Mom just celebrated her 60th birthday! We were so glad to be able to chat with her, send cards, and presents, but saddened that we couldn’t rejoice in person because of the virus restrictions. Grateful for the chance though to still be in touch and rejoice at the gift of life God has…
Family Vacation
Thankful for the chance to enjoy our island as a family during the last week of July. Here’s a couple of pictures from that time. Beach time, trying out a Yakiniku restaurant down the street from our house, visiting the local museum at our neighborhood castle, and last but most important for our five and…
Jon turned forty!
Jon reached a milestone on July 28! We were excited to celebrate with him in his favorite place – Okuma and eat lots of pizza. He also decided to run 42 miles to celebrate his birthday from our house in Yomitan to Okuma. He made it! For his birthday cake, we had desserts at the…
saying goodbye
Sadly, we had to say goodbye to many, many good friends and church members over these last few weeks. At one point, we counted up all the families- it was sixteen separate families, including one who wasn’t part of our church. So our family is truly saddened these last few weeks. We really have…
First Sunday back
What an emotional and fun Sunday morning. Very thankful for the chance to regather as a church family again. And sadly we had to say goodbye to two of our amazing families..one of which is a fellow Elder and family. So grateful for all the good, awesome, incredibly encouraging times with them all. Going…
Saying goodbye
These are two of the neighbors we said goodbye to at our old place. It was hard saying goodbye to the neighbor on the left as they have known us since we arrived on the island and actually have seen Owen since he was born. They were like family even though we couldn’t speak much…
