2026 New Year Update

Happy New Year, everyone! I safely landed in the U.S. and I am slowly adjusting to life in Chicago. I’ll be here until March 15th, so if you’re interested in catching up, please feel free to reach out. 

日本の友だちのために、下に日本語訳の短い部分も入れています。よかったら読んでみてください。🙇

In the meantime, I have reflected on 2025 and want to share a few updates with you. 

Coming Home

It’s been four years since I’ve been back home, and I’m taking in all the changes. My home church has certainly grown, which is a good thing, but it will take some time to get to know all the new faces I meet. My brother and his wife welcomed their first child, officially making me an uncle (and my mom a grandmother), and I was able to meet baby Callie for the first time. I also reconnected and reminisced with old co-workers from my previous life as a civil engineer, and was surprised by how much gray hair I’m seeing from them now.

Then there are the quieter changes that simply remind me that time is slowly marching on. My childhood playground has been modernized and renamed. Familiar stores have closed down, Friends have come and gone, and life back “home” just feels a little bit different - which has led me to be more reflective recently. 

Christmas Party

Before returning to the States, our ministry team hosted our annual Friday Terrace Christmas party, complete with Santa, presents, games, songs, and most importantly a clear explanation of what Christmas is really about.

The holiday season is always the most demanding time of year for our team, but with the help of a few friends, we felt this year’s event went really well. One highlight was introducing a new missionary named Andrew, who will temporarily be living in my apartment and serving in Friday Terrace while I’m in the States. He recently arrived in Japan, is fluent in the language, and was a huge help during the event. Since he enjoys what we’re doing here at Friday Terrace, and was looking for a ministry to serve in, this three-month period felt like a great opportunity for him to live at my place and get a good feel of what volunteering in a neighborhood ministry can look like. 

As I’ve mentioned before, we really do need more help, especially Christians who are fluent in both languages. Ideally, it would be great to onboard more women, since this is primarily a children’s ministry. However, with that said, if God chooses to provide us with more single guys to buck conventional thinking—I’m fine with that too. 😂

Preaching

I think I’ve been fairly transparent about my struggles with Japanese and the challenges this creates for me as a missionary. When I can’t communicate clearly, I often feel like my greatest strengths are severely limited. This frustration often humbles me, and in some cases it tries to discourage me from even engaging with the community around me.

However, this limitation does not mean that God cannot use me. I know His grace is sufficient, and that when God calls me to something, He also equips me for the task. Believing that (and choosing to live by that truth) I decided to take on the challenge of preaching my first message in Japanese at the request of my pastor.

I was asked to preach on 2 Corinthians 9:8, a verse I’ve been trying to apply to my own life as a missionary:

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency, in all things, at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

Even though I was nervous and made a few mistakes, God’s grace was still sufficient for me. I suspect that from here on out, opportunities like this will become more regular, and I want to meet them with increasing trust in what God promises.

Although, if my courage and language ability could catch up a little in the meantime, that would be nice too. 🙃

Other Highlights

The Friday Terrace Ministry has been a great opportunity for me to meet and develop friendships with the community I live in. One family in particular, my neighbors in Tokyo, came to visit me in Chicago and we spent 3 full days together exploring the city. They even came out to the suburbs to meet my friends and check out my home church! 

I was grateful that they chose to visit Chicago because of me. I felt like I was a part of their family while they were in town. 

As many of you know Japan has a history full of many fascinating traditions. One such tradition called 七五三 (Shichi-go-san, meaning “7-5-3”), is celebrated every November for children ages 3, 5, & 7, and marks important milestones in a child’s life. Another held in January called 成人式 (Seijin-shiki, meaning “adult ceremony”), is a coming-of-age ceremony for those who turned 20 during the year, and is meant to celebrate passage into adulthood.

Before leaving for the U.S., I was asked to host a few photoshoots for my friends who were celebrating these milestones. This was actually my first time doing a photoshoot in Japanese, which made me a little nervous. Thankfully, the Lord always provided someone to help me communicate what I wanted to do during each photo session. Please feel free to check out my instagram account if you want to see more pictures.

Prayer Requests

1. Please pray for God’s protection over our team. Even though we generally experience peace and unity, we know that the stress of ministry can create opportunities for the enemy to sow seeds of division. In the absence of clear communication, the flesh often assumes the worst. We have been intentional about discussing the various challenges we face, and I would love for these kinds of healthy habits of communication to continue.

   
   

2. Please continue to pray for my Japanese ability to grow. I often feel inadequate speaking Japanese and I do not want my fear of failure to hinder me from trying. I may never speak 'good' Japanese, and in the midst of those times I want to remember that God's grace is sufficient for me. 

   
   

3. Please pray for continued contentment in my singleness. I do not know what God has for me, but up until now I have always felt that singleness has been His will for me. The freedom I have in my time, responsibilities, and finances has been very advantageous to me as a missionary. If this is where He continues to lead me, then I want to continue to be at peace with it, and protect my heart from wanting something that is not in His will.

Year End Reflection

This past Christmas Eve, I received a text message letting me know that my father had passed away. Apparently, he suffered a cardiac arrest while onboard a plane flight and passed quickly. He was 85 years old, and just like that, he entered into eternity.

Many people don’t know this, but I grew up without my father in my life. He left when I was very young, so I don’t have many memories of him. I was 19 years old when we first met face to face. Before that, we had spoken on the phone occasionally, but it wasn’t until my first year of college that I had the opportunity to meet him as an adult.

He was very kind to me and went to great lengths to build a relationship. He often traveled long distances to visit me during and after college. He took care of me, was generous with his money, and consistently showed me love. I loved my dad, and I hope that someday I can be as loving and generous to others as he was to me.

However, even though I loved him, the news of his death did not shock me as much as you might expect. His health had been declining for some time, and I feel that we had been quietly preparing for this day.

I spent Christmas Eve reflecting on my Dad's life. I was grateful that I had the opportunity to meet him and build a relationship when I could. I thought about his personality, and even though I didn’t grow up with him in my life, I reflected on the many similarities we shared. I even marveled at how similar we looked when we were young. 

I even spent some of that time thinking about my own life, and what I want to do with the time I have left. I was reminded of what Moses wrote in Psalm 90, and reflected on it's wisdom:

“The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away... So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (Psalms 90:10-12, ESV)

Numbering our days helps us put the limited time we have into proper perspective and encourages us to live intentionally. It forces us to ask a difficult but necessary question: What purpose are we living for that, if left unpursued, would cause us to feel we wasted our lives?

For me, I want to use the time I have left to continue pursuing a relationship with God, to know Him and be known by Him, and to share that truth with those I love.

I really believe the Gospel can help us understand where we came from, why we were created, and the nature of the world we live in. It brings meaning and purpose to our lives, offers us hope, and warns us of a terrible fate for those who reject it.

It is the most important message that people need to hear, and this whole experience of losing my father has left me more resolved to live my life in such a way as to display the beauty of Christ and the glory of God, in the hopes that some might hear and come to believe.

年末の振り返り

この前のクリスマス・イブに、父が亡くなったという連絡をメッセージで受け取りました。どうやら、飛行機に乗っている途中で心臓発作を起こし、あっという間に亡くなったそうです。父は85歳でした。そして、その瞬間に永遠の世界へと旅立ちました。

あまり知られていないことですが、私は父がいない環境で育ちました。父は私がとても小さい頃に家を出たので、一緒に過ごした記憶はほとんどありません。私たちが初めて顔を合わせて会ったのは、私が19歳のときでした。それまでは、たまに電話で話すことはありましたが、大人として実際に会うことができたのは、大学に入ってからでした。

父はとても優しい人で、私との関係を築くために本当に努力してくれました。大学時代やその後も、遠い距離を何度も移動して私に会いに来てくれました。私のことを気にかけてくれて、経済的にも助けてくれ、いつも愛を示してくれました。私は父のことが大好きでしたし、いつか私も、父が私にしてくれたように、人に対して愛と惜しみない心を持てる人になりたいと思っています。

とはいえ、父を愛していたにもかかわらず、父の死の知らせは、思ったほど大きな衝撃ではありませんでした。父の健康はしばらく前から少しずつ悪くなっていて、心のどこかで、この日が来ることを静かに覚悟していたように思います。

クリスマス・イブは、父の人生について静かに振り返る時間になりました。父と実際に会い、関係を築くことができたことを、心から感謝しました。父の性格を思い出し、幼い頃一緒に過ごせなかったにもかかわらず、私たちにはたくさんの共通点があることにも気づきました。若い頃の写真を見ると、驚くほど似ていることにも改めて気づかされました。

同時に、自分自身の人生についても考えました。残された時間を、私は何のために使いたいのか――そんなことを考えながら、詩篇90篇に書かれているモーセの言葉を思い出しました。

「私たちの齢は七十年。健やかであっても八十年。その誇りは、ただ労苦と災いです。瞬く間に過ぎ去り、私たちは飛び去ります。…それゆえ、自分の日を数えることを教えてください。そうして、知恵の心を得ることができますように。」

（詩篇90篇10–12節 新改訳2017）

自分の日々を数えることは、限られた時間を正しく見つめる助けになります。それは、意識的に生きることを私たちに促します。そして、避けて通りたいけれど、とても大切な問いを投げかけます。「もし追い求めずに終わったら、人生を無駄にしたと感じてしまうものは何だろうか。」

私自身について言えば、残された時間を、神との関係を深めることに使いたいと思っています。神をもっと知り、神に知られ、その真理を大切な人たちと分かち合っていきたいのです。

私は心から、福音は、私たちがどこから来たのか、なぜ造られたのか、そしてこの世界がどんな場所なのかを理解する助けになると信じています。福音は人生に意味と目的を与え、希望を示し、同時に、それを拒むことの深刻さも教えてくれます。

福音は、人が聞くべき最も大切なメッセージです。父を失ったこの経験を通して、私はこれまで以上に、キリストの美しさと神の栄光が現れるような生き方をしたいと強く思うようになりました。そして、誰かがそれを聞き、信じるようになることを願っています。