Update + what awaits in Japan

I'm feeling pretty weary today. Yesterday morning I had a molar removed and abscess cleaned out under general anaesthesia. It took less than an hour and was less traumatic than having three or four wisdom teeth removed (I still have a "good side" to chew on). I'm thankful that the numbness lasted all day yesterday, so pain management wasn't hard yesterday. Today it hurts more. Overnight I slept fitfully, probably only got around four hours. Thankfully my brief is to rest for best recovery; I'm hoping for a nap after lunch. Hopefully this is the end of this strange health journey. The surgeon thinks that there was never an involvement of my salivary gland and that it was this tooth the whole time! I'm thankful that it seems this has come to an end before we left Australia and pray that there will be no complications that need to be dealt with in Japan.

Last week I wrote and sent out our prayer letter and intended to share some of that with you here. The "lead article" was:

What awaits you in Japan?

We plan to move into our new Tokyo apartment on 24 July, just two days after leaving Australia. A removalist (US English is "mover") is booked to shift our stuff from storage and there are OMF and other friends available to help us there.

The living area of our new apartment

We’re excited that our new apartment has better cooling (and heating) than our previous place, especially with another extremely hot and humid summer forecast. It’s smaller than our previous house—around 60 m², the size of a squash court. We’ll be doing a fair bit of problem solving to sort out where things go and if more furniture is required (we got rid of a lot last year). Thankfully we both love problem solving.

One of the first things we’ll do is buy bicycles to help us get around the suburb easily. Later we’ll be looking for a small car to purchase with money we’ve saved up.We will have about two weeks to get settled and then we’ll both begin work in our various roles.

We hope to have more opportunities for hospitality in this new season. Two new OMF families have moved to the CAJ area, so it will be good to spend time with them. We also have a few friends in the area who we’re hoping to invite to an Open House in our new apartment before school begins in late August.

We’re excited to start this new season. Though it will be hard to say goodbye to our sons, it’s been great to have this year to walk alongside them in Australia. We’ve seen God provide in tremendous ways and look forward to see what he’s going to do in the future! 

A couple of hymn verses come to mind as we reflect and move forward:

I am trusting you to guide me;

you alone shall lead,

ev’ry day and hour supplying

all my need. 

(Frances Ridley Havergal)

Great is Thy faithfulness, 

O God my Father,

Morning by morning 

new mercies I see,

All I have needed 

Thy hand hath provided,

Great is Thy faithfulness, 

Lord, unto me. 

(Thomas O. Chisholm)

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And of course, you'll hear about our settling in process in more detail than those who read our prayer letter (I'm excited that both WiFi and air con are already connected in the apartment). But let me know if you don't receive our monthly prayer/news letter and would like to.