Currently, it is about two weeks since Emily and I returned to the USA. Knowing what to write has been a challenge! There are many in-between moments right now. I have wrapped up my summer HST course by submitting the final assignments, and it is a couple of weeks until the Fall semester’s class gets started. This week I am busy getting ready for the start of another year in the library at Parkway Village Elementary here in Memphis, but to be honest I don’t have near the amount of preparations needed as the homeroom teachers do. Jet lag is done, but the days of setting early alarms and getting off to school each morning are right around the corner. It seems like a brief moment to just breathe.
And yet, in many ways we have experienced an “in-between-ness” within as well. This past Summer was a very meaningful time connecting with precious people in Japan, and now we are back here in the US with family and friends. We miss our friends in Japan deeply, and enjoy reconnecting with those here. Even mundane things have an effect on you when you experience them differently. Case in point: taking out the trash. After six weeks of figuring out the various ways of categorizing and processing our trash in Tachikawa, it feels a little weird going back to putting a few items in recycle and the rest in the main garbage bin. A second area might be getting used to cars again. American cities are so spread out and car-focused that I can’t imagine trying to adapt them to a high-capacity public transport network like we enjoyed in Tokyo. It was certainly convenient to just hop on the monorail and zip down to another part of town. And yet, we do enjoy the urban forest that Memphis moves through daily. Although I question it each time I pull out the lawn mower, having the space for all of that greenery to thrive is a luxury in itself.
We find ourselves in an in-between space in life, too. Emily and I are in those peculiar years of transitioning from parenting full-time to launching our two babies into the wider world around us. In many ways, we are learning to start again and figuring out what our roles are as parents of young adults. After all, since our youngest turned 20 in June, this Summer was our last one with teenagers! Considering long-term mission work in Japan adds a layer to these transitions as well.
This Summer’s work in Tachikawa was a blessing to us as much as it was to the people there. Several people told me that our presence was encouraging and energizing to the church members there. I feel like our English readers were beginning to ask meaningful questions as we slowly made our way through the book of Luke. Our music class families found a place where they could enjoy community and space to explore and experience new things together. In many ways, we felt like we were just getting started when it was suddenly time to leave. We are looking forward to returning next Summer and building on the momentum gained from what God did through us this year. Ultimately, we hope that each of these avenues of building relationships have planted seeds of faith. May those seeds sprout strong and healthy and, in time, grow to become fruitful parts of God’s kingdom in Japan!
One of our objectives this Summer was to evaluate our internal responses to life in Japan. We have an eye on long-term missions in the future, and it is important to consider our own ability to adjust to life in another place. Although six weeks is not sufficient to start the process of culture shock or get a deep understanding of how we will adjust to life in Japan, it is long enough to start imagining ourselves there. These six weeks went by very quickly and I believe that is partly because we had a sense that we were where we were called to be – and enjoying the process! Often when traveling far from home, many feel like a fish out of water. We both realized that wasn’t the case for us. Even with language being a challenge (more so for me than for Emily!), in some ways that are hard to explain, Japan started to feel a little like a second home.
Most importantly, these six weeks confirmed that God is alive and working in Japan. Although they are small, the churches in Japan are tenaciously faithful. In many places, particularly places like Africa and South America, mission work can feel like working with a river. In Japan, it can feel more like working with a glacier. You know that the glacier is moving, even if it is hard to perceive day-to-day. Try as we might, there is not a lot we can do to influence something as immense as a glacier when viewed as a whole. Yet, when you get up close, there are many cracks, crevices, and ice caves to explore and we find opportunity for the Gospel of Jesus. Glaciers reshape the landscape powerfully, as rivers do, if we can exercise the patience to work with them. This Summer showed us that Japan desperately needs kingdom workers. It also confirmed that Emily and I have unique experiences and gifts that could be very useful there as well. We ask for prayers as we work through this discernment process.
God desires that everyone comes to know the blessing of living life in community with Him. Emily and I desire this as well, and we want to be in the place where God can best use us toward that end.
~ Clay
Fowlers in Japan 