Fried eel and a change of plans

Hello from Aomori, Japan! 

It's been wonderful so far! Japan is such an amazing country with great culture, we have really enjoyed even just our first few days here. Jared has been adjusting well to the 15 hour time difference while I (Lily) have been struggling a bit more to stay awake during the day but I think as of today my body is figuring out how to cope. I have definitely relied on God heavily in this area, what a great lesson to be reminded of early on. 

Our first couple days have been relatively low-key as we adjust to jet lag. We had the opportunity the explore Tokyo yesterday which was an exciting time! A highlight of that was visiting a Shiba Inu Cafe. There were definitely a lot more people around compared to our little town but it was quite the adventure. 

Shiba Inu puppies.

Some things that have stuck out to us so far: 

- It is significantly more humid than we were expecting! Very tropical feeling. 

- Riding a busy train in a place where you don't speak the language is actually easier than we thought it would be.

- Fried eel and salmon eggs are delicious (as is all the other food we have tried). 

- Missionary culture is so loving and friendly, we've had the opportunity to go out for supper with a couple families and it has been encouraging to hear about how God is using them and their stories. 

- God's plan can be drastically different than what we are expecting and His plan is ALWAYS the best plan. 

Us out for sushi with the Baumgartner's: the family who runs the OMF Ichikawa Guest house. 

When we arrived in Japan on July 10th we had no idea how God was going to flip our plans upside down, but we are grateful that He chose to steer things in the direction of His will. We anticipated this month to be one we spent in Ichikawa, a city near Tokyo assisting with, then later taking over running the missionary guest house (as we told many of you). 

The morning after we arrived we met with our field-side coordinator and the wife of our host family, we started off with prayer and I remember Jared and I specifically praying for flexibility, strength and courage to face changes that may occur (not knowing what was coming). After our time of prayer the ladies expressed that a need had come about in Northern Japan, there was a missionary family about to start leading summer camps who could really use some extra hands. This opportunity would mean manual labor, time with kids (camp kids and the family also has 5 children) and a much more rural setting. It definitely appeared to be something we could do. As they told us of this opportunity we both felt God's peace even though it would mean such a drastic change. The ladies assured us that it was completely our choice on whether or not we decided to go or stay, we took the day to pray about it and by morning felt completely confident that this is where God was calling us. It was incredible to see how God worked things out, the guest house had a cancellation so it will be a lot less busy than expected, the Baumgartner's will still be able to take a rest time as another short-term worker will take over for them for two weeks and God was certainly working in my heart as normally a big change would cause me some anxiety. 

So today we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) 3 hours north into Aomori to the "Aomori Christian Center". Here we are in a completely different part of Japan doing a completely different task but we are delighted to embark on this God-inspired adventure! 

 Us on the "Shinkansen".