Different ways of working

For the last three weeks, I’ve had Tuesday morning free to go to our local library and write. This last week was different. We spoke at a growth group from a supporting church (the same church we spent Sunday at, teaching in the Sunday school, being interviewed up front by the pastor, and talking to people before and after the service). It’s a more immersive approach to reporting back to a church that we’re thoroughly enjoying. And it’s made possible by having no school-pickups or needing childcare.

That same evening we went to another growth group from the same church, the first time we’ve worked in the evening like this for a long time. We’re far more used to working during the day and relaxing at night, and neither of us are night owls. It took a long time for me to chill out enough to sleep Tuesday night, and a while to get moving on Wednesday. 

In fact on Wednesday, an admin and preparation day, it was really hard to concentrate and check things off the list of things we had to do. Neither of us are used to working in pairs for planning and executing plans. Both of us usually work on our own for the “thinking” parts of our jobs. It’s not that we mind working together, and in fact we complement each other quite well, but it’s another adjustment, quite a large one.

We had another big day on Thursday: several hours of talking with people at a theological college in the morning, time spent with a couple of different professionals in the afternoon dealing with family matters, plus over three hours of city driving. It was tiring. And then when we got home we had

We got the crowd at the theology college
discussing tricky questions.

to finish packing for our 18-day ministry trip to Perth (west coast).

On Friday we dragged ourselves out of bed with the sun and made it to the airport with time to spare, but not really on top of our game. The flight was good—on time and fairly smooth—but we happened to have seats amidst a group of very verbose older folk. Two of the ladies rarely stopped talking during the six-hour flight. It was wearing.

Now we’ve got mild jet lag, Ironic, really, that we can get that here, with a domestic flight, but not really when flying to Japan (one hour difference between Qld and Japan, two hours difference between Qld and Western Australia). I was awake before 5 am this morning, despite my fatigue. But, it’s mild and will resolve quickly. I can’t fathom what many of my international friends cope with, flying across multiple time zones!

The plan for our time in Perth is to visit supporting churches, individual supporters, and also to connect with the OMF network over here. It’s looking different to what we expected it might, but in a few ways that’s really good—when our expectations are foiled, we have to depend on God more, and seek what his plans are.

This is our first multiple-day ministry trip away from home without children. And the first time we’ve ever been away from our guys for more than five days. It’s different for us all, and will require some time to adjust to.

In addition to meetings, we’re planning some relaxing time. This is a beautiful part of the world that not so many people are privileged to see (many Australians never get over to the west coast), it’s always a special treat to be able to come here. One day we’ll plan it that we can get out of this small built-up part of the state and see some other parts of this massive state (the second largest in the world, Texas is only 26th on that list).

We’re missing our usual jobs and ways of working. Gracious, I’m even missing my newly formed Tuesday morning writing habit! But for now we need to be patient with ourselves and each other as we learn new rhythms of life and work for this season.

Update from Australia

I've been off the air (here and also social media) for much of the last month. One reason for that is travel.

On June 19–20 we travelled 5,380 + 6,302 + 750 = 12,432 km by air. It's actually only about 7,100 km between Tokyo and Brisbane, but in June no airline was flying directly from Tokyo to Australia, so we had to fly via another country (in our case, Singapore) and another state (Sydney). In Sydney we hit congestion and baggage delays, so missed our connecting flight to Brisbane. A journey that could take less than 12 hours, door to door, took 35! We've done this journey a number of times in the last 21 years, but never has it taken so long. It was exhausting.

We spent the week after that in Brisbane recovering from the journey as well as taking care of some urgent things. Our eldest son, who we hadn't seen for three years, was going to meet us at the airport, but he came down with COVID the day before we arrived, so that reunion was delayed. We did drive over to see him later in the week and shared a brief afternoon tea in his yard (at an appropriate distance).

On the road in inland rural Queensland. It's been good to
see the land thriving. Last time we were here
it was in drought.

Then we gathered ourselves for a "tour" of Queensland. First a week's holiday by the beach with two special friends and their families; a few days with David's family, and then my parents (who live eight-hours drive apart). So, since 25 June we've travelled 360 + 390 + 690 + 120 = 1,560 km by car. A total of about 17 hours of journeying in the car, on four days. (That's just counting the drives between beds.) And we didn't leave the state, in fact we didn't even make it half-way up the coast of Queensland. This country is huge.

Here are some other photos from some of the places we've seen.

Brisbane River

First view of Brisbane after 35 hrs of travelling

Queensland beaches, even in winter, beat most Japanese beaches.

South of Yeppoon, central Queensland

Woodgate Beach

Our youngest with two dogs belonging to family.

This week we arrived back in Brisbane and laid our heads on our fifth beds in Australia since we arrived just over three weeks earlier. I've struggled with headaches most days since I've been in Australia (and in the days leading up to leaving Japan) and my body is showing other signs of strain. I'm now on antibiotics (for a non-respiratory infection), a common sign I've been travelling, a lot!

I've held off posting much on social media because just dealing with all of the above, plus trying to make the most of time with important people who we haven't seen for several years, has taken most of my daily strength. I've been trying hard to "be present" in the moments. That, of course, has meant that I've had little time alone, and little time to reflect. Writing is one way that I process my thoughts, and I've missed having time and energy to do it. I'm glad to be settled in one place now, in a self-contained place that's "just us" in Brisbane for a few weeks.

It's been good to spend precious time with family and close friends, to hear and discern how they are just now. I have two-and-a-half more weeks of personal leave, during which we've got a few important appointments. But we especially see these weeks as opportunities to help our younger two boys see life in Brisbane through eyes that are older (they were 13 and 16 last time we were here), and to think about what it will be like to move here in the middle of next year. Exactly how these weeks will shape up, we're not sure. That makes me feel a bit uneasy, but I'm trying to relinquish my desire to plan and be in control, and to wait and see how God works things out.

Those of you who live in the Brisbane area, please be patient with us. We are actually on leave from OMF! We aren't doing deputation, but we're thinking about an informal open invitation social gathering before David flies back to Tokyo, details haven't been worked out yet, though. Stay tuned.

It was a big weekend

It was another big weekend! They seem pretty common these days, indeed we seem to lurch from weekend to weekend. 

Friday night we had our usual Scrabble date at a couple of local restaurants (mains at one and a cheap dessert at the other).

David and I playing travel Scrabble on Friday night.
We had two strangers say, "What a good idea!"

Queens Park in Toowoomba. Looking beautiful in
the springtime after the rain they've had these
last three weeks.

Saturday we got to sleep in, then headed up to my hometown after an early lunch (1.5 hr drive). It was delightful to see the difference that rain has made in the three weeks since we made this journey.

This is a portion of my parents' front yard. The top photo was taken at the end
d of September, the bottom one at lunch-time on Sunday. In the intervening
 three weeks, they'd had 80ml of rain (just over 3 inches)

We dropped the boys off at my parents' house and then spent 3 1/2 hours with friends I've known since I was 16. They asked great questions and the time flew by!

On Sunday morning we visited a traditional Presbyterian church. The congregation contained more than half a dozen people who I knew as a child in the church our family attended at that time. It was great to also meet others, afterwards, who've been praying for us over the years. Just before we spoke the pastor gave a testimony about two Japanese exchange students they had had at their home (and at the church). Both had become Christians through their experience in Australia and are both persevering in their faith back in Japan. It was a moving story and such an encouragement to hear.

We went back to my parents' house for lunch. During lunch, a storm came through that threw down 30.5mm in a short period of time. The wind was quite strong and they lost power. It was exciting to see the rain, there has been precious little of it in the previous months of our time in Australia.

Three galahs drying off after the storm.

We followed the storm east as we drove back home after lunch. I didn't have a great trip, though. I had a stomach ache and nausea, and an hour after we arrived home I threw up. Thankfully I felt better after that and there was no more pain. However, I took it as a warning sign that I needed to rest (I think the probable cause was stress). I spent the rest of the evening resting and a good portion of yesterday too.

An awkward selfie of me reading yesterday. My favourite way to relax
and favourite place to read a book.

I'd like to rest more today, but am also aware that I've got responsibilities to attend to. Trying to balance up those two things is definitely not easy! Also weighing on my mind is my trip to Singapore on Saturday afternoon and then on to Perth for deputation—a total of 16 days away. Preparation is needed. So...one day at a time I venture forth. Very aware of this:

He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
 Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
 but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:29-31 NIV UK)

Our weekend away Part 1

CAJ had a long weekend for American Thanksgiving, with Friday off. So we took advantage of that by going away, but not camping. We stayed in a very nice little cabin.

We drove down in the middle of the day on Friday and it was warm in the car with a beautiful clear blue sky. I had pangs of regret that we weren't going camping. But they didn't last when we arrived. Our cabin's location was a bit exposed and the wind cold and nasty at 3.30 when we arrived. I was very glad to not be putting up a tent and sleeping in it all night with flapping canvas all around.

But the view was magnificent! I'll post more photos of it tomorrow (photos from my "big" camera). I saw a sunset and sunrise from the area near the cabin. It's justifiably a popular viewing area of the iconic mountain.

We watched the sun set and then travelled down the mountain to the city to spend the evening with missionary friends from the UK. It was them we'd come to visit for the weekend. Their eldest son graduated with our eldest son in June and we've enjoyed getting to know them over the last few years. We also visited them 18 months ago (see this post) on our way back to Tokyo after our Kansai camping tour. They live in a very beautiful part of Japan.

The next morning, I got up early to see the sun rise (6.30) and then went back to bed. Three hours later I got up and joined the family for breakfast (another advantage of having older kids). Four of us then climbed a nearby mountain "peak" (only about 300m above the cabin) and were rewarded with this view.

For lunch on the Saturday we drove with our friends down to this fishing village: Heda. The view across the bay of Mt Fuji from the peninsula is very impressive.

Heda is a fishing village and there are signs for crab all over the place. If we were willing to pay over AU$100, we could have eaten one of these Spider Crabs (these ones were still alive). These grow as large as four metres across and some of these giant ones were prominently displayed in restaurants.

Our friends have been praying for this town for several years and have been going there monthly in recent times to lay the groundwork for what they hope will be a church plant in the coming years. This Friday they're going there with some of their church members to advertise for a Christmas event in the town that they're planning.

The view from Heda's wharf area.

We rambled along the beach and the boys climbed around on the rocks on the other side of the peninsula. After watching the sun go down we drove back to our friends' house along the coastline (very windy road). We enjoyed the evening with them (which included board games) before going back up to the cabin.

Here's what our cabin looked like on the inside. A simple open plan with a kitchenette at one end and bunks at the other (with a toilet).

We could only see the tip of Mt Fuji from our cabin, but the view across Suruga Bay was pretty impressive on its own.

On Sunday we spent the morning at the church our friend's work at. It's a small, rural church. Our family of five was about a quarter of the attendees on Sunday. They bring their own lunches to eat after the service and this photo was taken at the end of lunch.

We didn't go very far for this weekend—160 km—but with Tokyo traffic it took over three hours to get there and twice as long to get back. One reason why we seldom go away for the weekend, because driving back in on a Sunday takes energy and seems to negate the rest gained by being away.

But it was worth it this time. We got away from all our responsibilities here and explored another corner of Japan for a short time. We got to see some pretty amazing views, but even better, got to spend time with friends.

It was good, too, to worship at their small church and be reminded that most churches in Japan are like this. But also to remember the value of what we do: if CAJ didn't exist, this family wouldn't be able to continue to work in this rural area while their boys are in high school. So in a small way we're their support team, enabling this small church to continue to have a workers.

Our route home. Yesterday afternoon it was faster than the other route indicated, according to Google maps, but it took over six hours, including a short toilet break plus a longer dinner break and dropping off one of our passengers (our son's former classmate) on his campus—International Christian University.

Adventures in Manila Part 2

Yesterday I spent all day getting from the OMF guesthome in Manila to my home. You would think with only a 4 ½ hour flight between Tokyo and Manila it would take less than 15 hours to make the journey, but neither the guesthome nor my house are close to the airport (in terms of travel time), plus in air travel there is a lot of waiting around. Travelling on your own can get boring! So to fill in time, I pulled out my computer a couple of times and wrote this:

I’m sitting in the boarding area at Manila airport. It’s a noisy place. Unlike some airports, there is no carpet, only tiles and vinyl or metal seats. There is a constant stream of people walking past. This terminal seems strangely small for an international airport (there are two other international terminals that aren’t connected). I can only see about 10 boarding gates and yes, I can see them all, if I lean around the big round pillion to my left. I think this terminal only services Philippines Airlines.

Talking about social media and using it in our work.

Reflecting on the workshop

I’m really glad I came. I wondered in this post back here, whether I would be “on the edge” again, but it seems that I was fairly well positioned to be doing this workshop. In fact within OMF, Japan is one of the leading countries in social media, especially amongst the fields. 

Indeed, I think it is the first training I’ve done with OMF that has mostly consisted of people who are involved in non-front-line work within the mission. It’s nice to be among others who aren’t so different, though there were no other editors in the group as far as I know. We had a handful of Aussies too.

My mind has definitely been stretched. The workshop has been challenging in that there is a lot I don’t understand and will probably never have the time to be involved in.

I took brief notes, but mostly about things that are relevant to what I am doing now and can foreseeable do in the next few months. Just like when you move to a new location, you first learn about the streets around you, and gradually the circle of local knowledge that you have expands to include places further away. That’s how I feel about this field. It would be too overwhelming, and indeed impractical to try to do or understand everything all at once. I’m starting where I am and will build up as I can.

At this point I’ll be working on getting into a good rhythm with the Japan blog and our new Facebook page too (some of you will have received an invitation to “like” the OMF Japan page, I’ve sent that to many of my friends, that’s one aspect of using social media for mobilization: getting the news of what we’re doing out to as many as possible). 

On the Facebook page I’d like to post not just links to the blog, but interesting information about Japanese culture as well as general prayer points and even photos. I’m happy to receive suggestions if you find things you think might be of interest or even have photos that I could use for prayer “memes”. 

On one of our jeepnee journeys I was directly behind the
driver. It's a little hard to see, but he's got a Peso
note in his hand. On the little ledge in front of him is
a bunch of coins from which he gave us our change.

I'm going to attempt to figure out some kind of rough schedule for that too, like I have the OMF Japan blog, so I have a bit more control over my schedule. I need to do some work with the lady who's in charge of our Twitter account, so that we can get some consistency going. That’s probably enough to start with, considering the pace I’ve been working at recently! Anyway, enough about work.

Out on the town

Last night we went out for an end-of-workshop meal at a lovely Filipino restaurant. The food was delicious, but probably what will remain with me is the journey to and from the restaurant: on the quintessential jeepnee and, unexpectedly, a “motorized tricycle”.

A jeepnee is like a mini bus that you board from the rear, with bench seats along the sides. They are naturally air conditioned, with no glass on the windows. Amazingly the driver deals with the fares and giving change while he drives, with passengers handing the cash up to the front via other passengers and then the reverse for the change . . . all while the vehicle moves. I guess the less time he’s stopped, the most income he generates?

The motorized tricycle is a covered sidecar on a motorcycle, although not a low sidecar. We fit three people on ours: one behind the driver on the motorcycle and two inside the sidecar, though it was a challenge for two Westerners to fit on the seat inside the sidecar, though neither of us were large. It was a bit scary because our driver drove fast—he was zipping past other bikes and vehicles.

Both there and the way back we traveled around a 10-lane roundabout. Though it was large enough that it mostly felt like a single-direction road on a curve. What was amazing was watching our jeepnee driver make his way from the inside lane to the outside lane to exit. Somehow, I didn’t notice the return journey around the roundabout. I’m pretty sure we did do it, but I was jammed between two locals on a tiny edge of seat and because you’re sitting with your back to the outside, visibility isn’t great.

I’m sure it would take a while to figure out how to ask when to get off a jeepnee, because it seems they can drop you off anywhere along the route and there are no announcements! Nor could I figure out how you know how much you pay. Thankfully we had some locals in our group that kept us from getting hopelessly lost.

There were a few small birds inside at the Manila boarding area!

Another overwhelming impression was how thick and polluted the air seemed. I felt like washing out my lungs after we arrived at the restaurant.

More public transport

The adventures on public transport continued this morning as I made my way to the airport with my roommate, a lady in her 20s from Malaysia. We used Uber, something I’ve heard about, but never used. The car we rode in was a very comfortable sedan. The traffic was pretty horrid, though, it took nearly two hours with lots of stops and starts. I have a lot of respect for the driver. Actually, all the drivers. The traffic just seems to flow in and around each other, very close at times—though the lanes were very fluid no one collided. It reminded me of driving in Bangkok and Indonesia.

I’m going to have to put this computer away now, it’s time to squeeze into the metal tube they call a plane and wing my way north to Japan again. Hopefully I’ll make it home in reasonable shape. I’m really quite tired.

A bit later in the air

Yes, I hopped on the plane, but it took two hours from doing that until it took off. If we were told why, I didn’t hear the explanation. It’s so frustrating, knowing that all I want to do is get home into my own bed.

I’ve said before that travel isn’t my favourite thing. It’s exhausting. Even though this is just a 4 ½- or 5-hour flight, it’s going to be well over 12 hours from door-to-door.

We’ve got a very tired and grumpy toddler in this section of the plane. Actually, I was sitting with her and her mother, but because the plane isn’t full was able to move one row forward to give them a little more space. Hearing the screams doesn’t make me nostalgic for those years that we travelled with little ones.

Postscript

It took me until just after midnight to get home. Thankfully I was able to lie down on three seats and rest for quite some time after I wrote the above. That gave me the stamina for the two-hour train journey home, during which I stood a good portion of the time.