Catching up: Last Crossway Home Party

Catching up on some big events before we left Japan, here are some photos from our final Crossway Home Party with Japanese students and missionary friends.This is Kakeru, our good friend who loves to play with Calvin.
They have been friends since Calvin was only a few months old!

Calvin charming our friends Yukko and Saki.

Here is our good friend Keisuke. He grew up in Japan but goes to college in America. He was back in Japan for winter break and it was great to have him join in our last Home Party before we headed off to America.

We had some serious time of sharing that was very meaningful
but also had lots of fun playing games and telling stories from the past 2 years
... with lots of laughter!!! :)

A few people left early, but this shows most of the people who were there. We felt very "appreciated" and encouraged that night. We can't wait to get back to Japan to continue in our journey with these students.
This photo includes Matt & Carly (new long-term MTW missionaries in Japan), Isaac (finishing up his 2-year term), and Yukko (Japanese national staff) who will be continuing in relationship with the many Japanese students involved with Crossway. Please pray for them!

Packing up and Leaving for ~1 year in America

As we prepared to return to America for our one year home ministry assignment - we had to pack everything up and move to one of our team buildings for storage. Here is our "happy home" the morning of moving day.

We were blessed to have a number of men help us load our truck. It took 4 trips in this little Toyota truck with a canvas cover. Several friends from church, as well as friends from the neighborhood also helped.
After all the big stuff got moved out, we still had work to do, packing up all our luggage and boxes to take on the plane.
At the airport, we had the help of 6 college students who not only honored us by coming all the way to the airport to say goodbye, but helped us roll our 6(!) airport carts up to the checkout counter.
Here is the whole group who came to send us off. We were moved by their commitment to come all the way to the airport (~$18 train fare) to show their appreciation. Pray for these 6 students who will all become college Seniors during the year we are gone. Pray that they will remain in relationship with other missionaries and Japanese Christians.