Dear Family & Friends,
We've been back in Japan for over a week and a half now and we are back into our
regular schedule - almost without a miss in stride, so to speak. However, the
time we spent in the States was an enormous blessing for us. Although we
traveled four states and put on several thousand miles on our nearly classic
Oldsmobile station wagon, it was a fantastic time for us. It gave us much needed
rejuvenation as well as time out to pray about our next step.
We so much enjoyed visiting with many of you. The time to visit, talk, pray,
etc. was very encouraging. We only sorry that we didn't have time to visit with
more of you. We thought that six weeks would be plenty of time; how wrong we
were! Before we knew it, we were back on a plane for Japan. During our next
visit, we hope to be able to visit more of you.
Many of you know that we have been offered a change in what we will be doing in Japan. To make a long story short, after much prayer, discussion, and talks with people in the States and our mission agency, we have decided to move to Kyoto and work with Kyoto International University. It is an international Christian school that is not only a two-year university but is also a 1-12 school. Rich will be teaching science in junior high/high school/ university settings as well as coordinating/overseeing the science curriculum. Heidi, Sam, and Sarah will be able to attend school, something all three of them want to do. And Carol will be able to learn the language and culture, something she believes God is directing her to do at this point. We appreciate your prayers and words of wisdom regarding our decision. If we didn't believe this was what God wants us to do, we wouldn't be doing it. So, domo arigato gozaimasu.
Now, not wanting to tell everything, as usual, we are including thoughts/articles from everyone. So here they are:
Sam writes:
Hey everybody, we are back in the Japan and starting over again(so to say). I
really enjoyed the time in America. It was a time to get rested up, and to grow
closer to God. A big blessing was that Heidi & I were able to go on winter
retreat. It was a good time to meet new people and make new friends. I also
enjoyed being able to get together with family.
Dear Friends &
Family, how are you? I am fine. I had a good time in America. First, we went to
Seattle. 
Then we went to Arizona and visited our grandma and grandpa. And we
visited all kinds of places in Arizona. Then we drove to Beulah (CO) from
Arizona. Our cousins live in Beulah. We drove to Greeley and visited with
friends and family. And then we went back to Beulah and had Christmas with our
cousins. Then we went back to Greeley and did some more visiting with friends.
We went to Wyoming and visited our other cousins. I rollerbladed with my cousin.
I had lots of fun in America. God bless you all.
Heidi writes
:
Hello! It has not been a long time since I have seen many of you, and for
others, it has been a very long time. I am sorry that we were not able to meet
with you.Going to English-speaking churches and the Winter Retreat with our church's youth group was good. I know I was refreshed and some of the lessons I learned or heard will be with me for a long time. I also know that God brought us to Imari, Japan where the total number of Christians are very few and where we have to trust Him for everything. In fact, we cannot always trust in people because they aren't always going to be there for us. But God will because He is eternal.
After much prayer, yours and our combined (Thank you so much! It means a lot to us!), we have decided to move to Kyoto! I am excited because I will finally be able to go to school. Yeah! I am sad to leave one of my friends here. She will be in God's hands, but please pray for her and her family's salvation.
Carol writes:
We all had a very good time visiting family and friends in the States. The memories will stay with us for a long time as we
talk over and recount all that
happened in that "short" 6 weeks. Coming back into Japan this time we
"thought" we knew what to expect. But ......no matter how tired we
were when we got home ............none of us did not notice our
freezing cold house. We figure the inside of our house when we got home was
around 32 degrees. The first week back our bodies adjusted back to the cold
again. We do keep one room warm during the day with kerosene heaters but the
rest of the house is cold. It is kind of like camping, inside. So I want to
thank all of you for the nice warm houses we got to visit and stay in.
In just a short time we will be moving to Kyoto. For me there is anticipation for the future with joy and sadness in leaving the many friends we have made all mixed up into one emotion. We will continue to work and reach out to the people in Imari until we move. And as the Lord moves us onto the next step we ask for your prayers: for the moving process, the friends we are leaving behind, for Rich as he starts to prepare for teaching science again, and for the kids as they will be starting into a new school in April.
Thank you to all of you for your support in to many ways to count. We thank the Lord for your support behind us every day.
There were so many ways we were blessed, but probably one of the best was being able to experience a White Christmas, the first one in a lot of years! The one thing that I brought back that I didn't expect was, uh, a few extra pounds :-( I didn't realize how differently we eat in Japan compared to how we used to eat in the States - or maybe it was because I really enjoyed good Mexican food, really good hamburgers, and steak !?! Anyway, I'm working on losing those "souvenirs" I brought with me.
(Note: This picture was taken outside a Holiday Inn Express in Belen, NM. The car we were renting was a 2003 Buick Century. The kids wanted to trade our nearly-classic 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme station wagon in for one of these. We told them, "Sorry" :-)
Although it's been good to be back into a routine, in a couple of months we will be out of our routine again. As it was previously mentioned, we will be moving to Kyoto (actually Kyotanabe) where I will be teaching science in an international Christian school. We believe God has provided this position not necessarily just for me but for all of us. Over and over again, people in the States urged us to consider our children and their needs while they are under our care (which is really not for very long!). Many people know of the high "casualty" rate of MK's (missionary kids). Although the kids have done okay in Imari, they have each expressed a desire to attend a school that would meet their needs. They are all very excited about the chance to go to school, to learn in a bilingual atmosphere, make friends with kids from Japan as well as other countries.
And I'm excited about teaching science from a creationist viewpoint again. In a country steeped in evolutionary thinking, most Japanese take what their science teachers teach for granted, not questioning them about invalid nature of evolutionary thinking. As always, I pray that opportunities to show the aspects of science in light of the Truth of the Word of God will lead someone to see God's qualities as evidenced by His creation (Romans 1:20).
As we finish up in Imari and transition to Kyoto, there are mixed feelings as we have mentioned: the sadness of leaving friends and familiar settings but the excitement of doing something new with new potentials for growth, joys, and challenges. Through it all we do ask that you please pray for:
As always, we look forward to hearing from you. And please feel free to send prayer requests. We consider it a privilege to pray for you.
May God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you and give you peace. (from Numbers 6:24-26).
With His Love,
Rich & Carol Myers
