December update from the Marshalls

 Here is a generic version of the first page of our prayer letter that I've sent out this morning (no mention of our boy's names or our address). Let me know if you'd like the full version, complete with family news.

Musing Marshalls in December

I've been busier I'd like. And more tired than I'd like to admit! The latter is proved by being clumsier in my actions and words than usual. I'm very much looking forward to our holiday next week. We're taking off to the mountain (same places as July) for a week.

I was very thankful to put one of my projects to "bed" last week when we sent the Winter issue of Japan Harvest to the printer (I'll help them pack some of the magazines this Friday, but that's probably the easiest thing I do for the magazine). I was also thankful to get our prayer letter off last week. 

I've got stuff I'd like to write here, but for today, I'll settle with just posting the first page of our prayer letter. If you're interested in receiving the whole thing (the second page includes more personal details and prayer points), please contact me. We send it out 11 times a year via a Mailchimp email. I also might get around to editing the video I mention here so that I can post it on this blog. I almost posted it here last week, but then I realised that the identity of our boys that I have carefully kept off this blog, was completely revealed in the video. So that will have to wait.

November Marshall Musings

Here's something I've been working on in the last couple of days. This is a blog-version of our prayer letter. If you'd like the full two-page version that includes more family news, please let me know.

An extract from our latest newsletter

Yikes, feeling frustrated about my blog. I truly want to write more here, but find that my days fill up and come to an end before I get here. 

Though I am excited that I actually got to do some actual writing today (of a blog post for OMF). Most of my writing recently has been emails as I finish off the summer issue of the magazine I manage. Writing to authors, editors, designers, etc. Answering messages from people who we've stirred up with our social media posts. Chasing articles that should have been sent to me, etc. About 60 emails this week thus far. 

But a lot of time has been spent editing other people's writing. It's crazy how much time that takes. Not necessarily because a writer is bad, but it includes things like checking details. For example, in the last week I've researched how jasper is created, whether "Kingdom Hall" should be capitalised or not, and sought the publishing details on several books for referencing. I've found out that you don't hyphenate "ly" adverbs before adjectives, discovered that Hawaii is discussing whether an apostrophe should be officially added to their official name (i.e. Hawai'i), and learned some interesting facts about serotonin.

One of the social media posts I created in May

Last week ended up so busy that our prayer letter, that I'd intended to do, didn't get written. So I did it on the weekend instead. As a result, I didn't get as much rest then as I'd planned.

However, in the midst of all that I've managed to spend time with significant people. I find that I need time with people to keep me working effectively, but it is a real challenge to get the balance right, especially when I face daily deadlines in my editing/writing work.

However, today I can give you an extract from our prayer letter that might be interesting and explanatory about my job.

In Australia our main job was mobilisation—connecting with prayer and financial supporters face-to-face—telling you about what we’d been doing in Japan and the ongoing needs here. In doing so we hoped that you would be encouraged to continue to support us and our work. 

Wendy’s job in Japan the last couple of years has included mobilisation. Mobilisation is similar, but broader than recruitment. Just like we do when we’re on home assignment, we’re mobilising people to get more involved in mission, however that looks for them. But we especially pray that more people will come to join the work in Japan, for there are still only around 1% evangelical Christians in this large nation. 

But how does she do that from our dining room in Tokyo? The current mobilisation strategy in OMF Japan is to use social media to reach people around the world. Wendy manages and edits a blog by our misisonaries. This means that every week she’s putting a new article on our website.  

She’s also managing our social media content, so at least five times a week posts are being shared on Facebook and Instagram about Japan, our work, and the needs here. Some are lighthearted, some are heavy. Some are calls to action, some are simply points of interest about Japanese culture or food. Most of our posts in May were seen by more a thousand people, some posts were seen by many more than that. 

Each month we have a theme that guides a lot of our content. In May we focused on partnership. Partnership is a big part of being a missionary. We partner with you, our prayer and financial partners. But it was fascinating to see the various ways that OMF is partnering with individuals and other groups in Japan. 

Recently Wendy helped guide a Singaporean short-term missionary she first met in Brisbane last year. Together they conceived of a short video series about the lives of missionaries, showing some unexpected backstories. We shared the first short video on May 31. 

We’d love you to come and learn more about Japan by interacting on Facebook or Instagram, or to to our website to see the articles there? Maybe even sharing what you find with others?

Excerpts from our April newsletter

Excerpts from our April prayer letter. Again, if you'd like the full version (which includes eight photos), please message or email me.

The beach where we camped last week.

End of an Era

This month marks a historic occasion in Japan. After 31 years, Japan’s 85-year-old emperor is stepping aside to allow his 59-year-old son Crown Prince Naruhito to take the throne. This is the first time in over 200 years (the last time was 1817).

In an address to the nation two years ago, Emperor Akihito said, “When I consider that my fitness level is gradually declining, I am worried that it may become difficult for me to carry out my duties as the symbol of the State with my whole being as I have done until now.” 

The role of the emperor in Japan is entirely representative and ceremonial, with no political power at all. However, he is held with a great deal of respect by the nation. Before WW2 the emperor was held to be divine, but the current constitution, written under Allied occupation, prohibited that practise.

The traditional Japanese calendar is tied to the reign period of the current emperor. Each time a new emperor begins to rule, a new counting of the years begins and the period acquires a new name. For example, 2019 has begun as Heisei 31, meaning the 31st year of the Heisei era. The new era will begin on May 1, and the name for that era, usually announced after the death of the emperor, was announced today: Reiwa.

A public holiday has been declared to celebrate the new emperor’s ascension. That means that there will be 10 public holidays in a row, as it’s in the middle of a collection of holidays dubbed “Golden week”. CAJ doesn’t take most of these, but services like doctors, gyms, and  the garbage collectors will take a number of them.

OMF Japan’s social media this month will focus on the changes that have happened in Japan over the last 31 years in relation to culture and mission work. It will be an illuminating journey. We’d love you to drop by our Facebook and Instragram pages and learn more about this fascinating country. 

Welcoming new people

We have many new students arriving at CAJ in the first week of April: 22 of them! That means that our community will be hard at work helping them to get used to way we do things. However, it will be a challenge, as we are only 11 weeks away from the end of the school year!

Why so many right now? Most of these families have waited until their children have finished their current year in Japanese schools—which start in April and finish in March. (For those teachers out there, that means only a two-week break between school years. It has pros and cons, but seems to work here. Their longer break is in August, at the height of summer.)

For younger students, it will be a time of getting to know their classmates, rather than trying to catch up on the work that the others have done. CAJ teachers try to only give them marks based on what they have done here. For older students, there will be an added burden of catching up small things here and there, usually a maths topic.

Please pray that our school community would welcome the new students and that they would find friends quickly. Pray, too, for their parents to get to know other parents and ask for help when they need it. 

Some prayer points:

• Continue to pray for new financial support pledges and one-off donations that add up to 100% support each month. Praise that thus far in 2019 we've received 105% of our support needs.
• For rest. We're feeling weary. David's had three colds since we returned and Wendy's struggled with stress-related symptoms.
• For the right person to be appointed high school principal of CAJ.
• For our Japanese church—that they will grow in enthusiasm for missions and for wisdom for the leaders encouraging involvement.
• Pray for new students (22) at CAJ in April.
• Praise for our camping trip and a week off school at the end of March.
• For our youngest boy as he celebrates another birthday this month.

Snippets from our prayer-newsletter

I have not previously put our prayer letter up on my blog, mostly due to how personal our prayer letter can be and that this blog is public. However, I got a good response last time I did this, so perhaps I might pluck bits out of our prayer/newsletter each time and publish it here also. If you'd like the full two-page publication, do send me an email with your email address and I can put you on our Mailchimp list.

Afternoon winter light on a neighbourhood stream.

Financial report for 2018

During 2018 we received 89% of our budgeted support figure. As we mentioned in our November prayer letter, there has been a change in the exchange rate which means that the Australian dollar is currently not going as far in Japan as it was at the start of the 2018 calendar year. 

The support we receive while we’re on home assignment is always low because around half of our support comes from David’s CAJ salary.

After our November prayer letter we received a handful of pledges and a number of one-off donations. All are very welcome, though OMF tends to look at commitment to ongoing support as more important to us being able to remain on the field long-term.

For your information: we still need $400 more a month promised support to reach 100%. Please pray that the remaining will be promised by new financial pledges of support. If you are interested in supporting us, you can go to this link to notify OMF of your intentions www.omf.org/australia/support/

Returning to Japan roles

A winter sunset across the CAJ soccer field and the local train line.

We have returned to Japan after a six-month home assignment. Our roles are pretty much as they were before we left. While we were gone, some of our responsibilities were covered by colleagues here and a few things we continued to do while in Australia, with the help of Skype, email, and other online communication tools. But it’s good to be back here doing these roles again. 

While we were in Australia, many of you heard us speak about what we do. Could you tell that we are passionate about it? Support and mobilisation were the two key concepts we used. Our roles help support misisionaries to remain in Japan and also Wendy’s roles includes mobilising more people to engage in mission.

David’s involvement in the education of missionary children helps missionary familes stay in Japan. Without CAJ we ourselves would struggle to remain in the country.

Wendy’s work with Japan Harvest magazine helps missionaries by encouraging them in their work as they read about the work that is going on in other parts of Japan. It also helps equip and inspire them as they read about other people’s ideas and ministry experiences.

Wendy’s role in social media with OMF Japan helps spread the work around the world about what it is like to serve in Japan, but also how much Japan needs the gospel and how people can serve here.

CAJ corner

Catching a moving train

by David

Trains are a major part of life in Tokyo. Millions of people catch them each day, but most people wait patiently for the train to stop before getting on. Catching moving trains is the stuff of movies and books. However, starting at CAJ in the middle of the year is much like catching a moving train. The school is up and going at a fast pace, and I have to spend time getting up to speed with everything that is going on.

Even though I tried to keep tabs on big happenings at CAJ while I was gone, I am finding there were so many smaller stories going on with valued colleagues. A cancer surgery here, a birth of a baby there, people deciding to move on at the end of the year (I am so glad I am back early enough to say good-bye!).

Some of my students from last year are preparing to graduate. They are excited about the next stage of life and waiting expectantly for their university offers to arrive.

The momentum of activity here makes it hard to know what to ask you to pray for! Our building program has progressed slowly, with rising costs making us re-think our plans and priorities. We have staffing needs in key leadership and organisation roles. We are wondering how to reach the larger numbers of non-Christian families who want to come to CAJ, with out losing our distinctive community. Pray for all of them?Pray for us

Praise

• Being able to come back to Japan on January 9 and settle quickly into life here.
• For refreshment over Christmas as we visited family.
• For the various people who helped us in early January to quickly pack up and leave Australia and also to settle back into Japan.
• For unexpected opportunities to meet with a few friends in that last week before we flew.
• That our eldest son can visit us for two weeks.
• For the new financial pledges we’ve received as well as the one-off donations.
• For a clear sense that we’re serving where God has called us to serve at this time.

Prayer

• Continune to pray that God would provide us with new financial support pledges ($400 per month) so that we’re able to continue working in Japan fully supported.
• Pray that Centrelink will grant our eldest rent assistance.
• For the boys as they continue to settle back into CAJ, especially adjusting to new subjects. Pray for Doug who has yet to complete some subjects he began online during our time in Australia.
• As always: for wisdom and patience in parenting.
• For strength. We’ve hit the ground running. Pray for good sleep and sufficient rest.
• For CAJ’s building committee as they continue to explore options for replacing old buildings.
• For our home church as they seek more ways to be involved in supporting us.

Latest newsletter

I've started many blog posts in my head recently, but simply haven't had the time (or if I've had the time, haven't had the energy) to complete one. But I can share our very early January newsletter with you, shared this early so that we can let people know about our Commissioning service on the first Sunday of 2019.  What a great way to start the new year! But also let people know a bit more about our movements in the coming weeks. 

Here's a screenshot. If you want a better version, drop me an email or message. If you don't have an address for me, use this: wendymarshall04 at gmail dot com

Japanese sport for kids

Here's something I whipped up over the weekend. Enjoy, and don't forget to ask if you'd like a better copy, or to be put on our mailing list.

Kids newsletter March '18

My quarterly kids newsletter for your use.

Kids newsletter for December

I sent this Kids Newsletter out this week to those on our email list. Feel free to use it. If you'd like a better copy or even to be on the mailing list, drop me a line.

I'm also looking for suggestions for a theme for 2018.

December newsletter

This evening I finally sent out our December prayer letter (with the wrong month on the header—a rookie mistake!). 

I don't usually put our prayer/newsletter up here, mostly because it has information about our kids that I don't want to share publicly. But I've taken that out of the bits that I'm sharing today. If we know you and you would like to get the full version, please let me know.

Kids Musings September 2017

Here's another thing I published this week. It's my desire that you use it and pass it on to anyone it could be useful to.

Job changes

It's unusual for me to spend most of Saturday at the computer, but that's exactly what I've done today. Thankfully we're going out this evening for a BBQ with American/Canadian friends, so I'll get plenty of social interaction there. And some cultural appreciation, apparently, they've been wanting to invite us over for months now, keen to show us how they do BBQs.


One of the things I did this morning was send out our prayer letter. If you'd like a copy, please email me. But here are some snippets from it that talk a little bit about how our jobs are changing (yes, the first section is written in third person, as is most of the newsletter, so that our readers don't think it is just my letter).

Mobilisation in mission

This lady, Heather, is visiting Japan from the UK OMF office.
She has professional experience in website design and using
social media to promote companies. I was at a meeting with
her all day on Wednesday as we sorted out details on this
new website and blog.

One of the jobs of an OMF missionary is mobilisation. All of us are expected to mobilise people to pray for mission (hence our prayer letters and deputation on home assignments), but also to mobilise people to be more involved in mission in other ways, including going as missionaries. OMF Japan has an initiative at present called 200 by 2020. We’re praying for 200 missionaries in Japan by 2020 (a mixture of long-term and medium-term missionaries). That’s about 50 or so more than we currently have, so obviously there’s work to be done.

Wendy has taken on the role of OMF Japan mobilisation content manager. Which means that she’s been acquiring and editing content for the new OMF Japan website (to be launched in mid-August). A big part of the content of the website will be an OMF Japan blog that Wendy is developing, managing, and editing. We’re hoping to have fresh material up at least once a week. Stay tuned for the details. If you’re a Facebook friend of Wendy or David you should see links to the new blog appearing there soon.

Over the past decade or so Wendy’s also produced a small Japan prayer calendar that OMF missionaries have used to mobilise prayer within their own support base. This year it has become cost prohibitive, so Wendy is now developing one or two other publications that missionaries can use for mobilisation.

Our field leader in mobilisation, the wife of our former field director, has been on compassionate leave since early April, so we’ve struggled to keep going, but thankfully we have regained some momentum. 

It’s a lot of work on top of what Wendy’s already doing, pray for wisdom in use of time, especially during these 11 weeks when boys are on holidays (her office is our living area).

Leadership is Learning (CAJ corner by David)

I am always learning something, whether it is a new piece of technology, or a new batch of student names, and all the personalities that go with them. This coming year will be spent learning more about leadership.

My new role at CAJ includes a large percentage of helping others do their jobs well. To do that, I will need to understand my colleagues better: what are their goals, what are their desires, fears, strengths, and shortcomings. 

Leadership in God’s kingdom centres on serving, rather than commanding. I have learnt over the years that this involves listening and seeking to understand. In Jesus’ grace I hope to do that well for the people under my care this year. Thankfully, will have others to help me, including my predecessor in this role.

Pray for the school as there a number of job shuffles. Nearly 20 of us are doing something a little different next year!

  

Kids newsletter

Our latest Kids newsletter for your enjoyment. You can contact me for a full-sized pdf version. Feel free to use it however you wish.

Kids Musings March 2017

Our latest Kids newsletter for your enjoyment. Remember that you can contact me for a full-sized pdf version. Feel free to use it however you wish.

Kids Newsletter for Japan – December edition

Our quarterly kids newsletter. It's free for you to use. Email me if you'd like a bigger version or to be put on our mailing list.

Kids newsletter

Here is our quarterly kids newsletter for your use and enjoyment. As usual, if you'd like a better copy of this, please contact me or go to here where you can download the pdf version.

Kids newsletter for June

Here is our quarterly Kids newsletter. Feel free to pass it on, copy it, or whatever. If you'd like to receive a better quality copy, please contact me.

Kids newsletter for Japan

These are free for you to copy or distribute. Please contact me if you'd like to be on the mailing list or if you'd like better copies of this newsletter.

Kids Newsletter—December

It's time to send out our quarterly Kids newsletter. If you'd like a better copy, please email me.