“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24
Whenever we are asked to give reference to why we are uprooting our family, traveling across oceans, and settling in a place where we know neither language nor customs, this verse comes to mind. We want our lives to be this seed.
Moving overseas is not a necessary component to being this seed, and explaining the call of God is complicated. Both of our hearts have been moved toward the Japanese, and our eyes have seen the need for believers in Jesus to live among them. We are willing to go, and so we are.
The Navigators is our sending organization, a non-profit Christian ministry of which we were both a part in college. When we arrive in Japan, we will spend our first two years in Shizuoka studying language with Natsuko-sensei. Bryan can already communicate fairly well in Japanese because of his two-and-a-half years spent in Shizuoka as a mid-term missionary with The Navigators — I (Jamie), however, will pretty much start from ground-zero. (Jones will be the lucky one of the bunch, learning the language as he grows up — he will probably be teaching mom and dad before we know it!) Following language school, we will be working with students at a Japanese college via the B.E.S.T. club (location TBA). Our ‘official’ term with The Navigators will be ten years, though we are willing to give our lives to the Japanese for as long as the LORD desires.
On a more personal note, Bryan and I have known each other since his return from Japan to work with Navs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (where I was a student) in August 2004. We started dating about one year later and were engaged within five weeks (click here for the engagement story!). We took our vows of marriage on May 27th, 2006 and celebrated the birth of our son — Jones Michael — March 20th, 2007!
Bryan and I both enjoy movies, C.S. Lewis, singing together, parenthood, cooking, and coffee. Right now, Jones’s enjoyments are playing with the neighbors, eating rocks, wanting the phone, and dancing.
