It’s Saturday, June 11th and I’m so blessed to be writing to you all from my friend’s house in Komaki City, Japan. These past few days have indeed been a journey of miracles. I wanted to call them ‘small miracles’ but there are really no small or big miracles… they’re all simply “miracles” and the Lord is so faithful in giving us miracles. Mark 5:19 tells the man to ‘go home and tell your own people how much the Lord has done…” Since I just left my ‘own people’ to return to Japan and cannot speak with you in person, I will write to all of you and tell you how much the Lord has done for me.

I wanted to update everyone with the details from my trip to Vancouver Airport and on to Japan. I hope you’ll take the time to rejoice with me and give all praise and glory to God for what He has done to bring me back to Japan safely. I have shared this with a couple of you already, but this will be my June Newsletter, and I will send an update towards the end of the month about my apartment. Until then, let’s praise the Lord for all of these ‘small miracles’, because what happened was nothing short of miracle:

Praise the Lord for going ahead of me on this entire journey. Praise for my friend Helen Harms (she and her husband, Wayne, drive me to YVR on the 8th). She stayed and waited in line with me for over 90 minutes as I checked in at the airline counter. She and I prayed together before I went to the counter. They asked for my vaccine passport and I handed the young man a not written by my doctor just last week on a small page from his prescription pad… along with my negative PCR test (another praise item). He called the supervisor over, who glanced at the note but didn’t read it, and then he cleared me (and my 6 suitcases!) through…Although I did have to pay for the 4 extra suitcases…lol

Praise for getting through security so quickly at YVR. Praise for a smooth flight and the beautiful scenery of Alaska. Praise God that when I arrived at Narita in Tokyo, they issues my resident card as I went through immigration. Then they directed me to an area for passengers with negative PCR tests. The lady who was to help me with other documents there saw the cross on my neck and asked if I was Christian. I said yes, and that I am a missionary coming to teach ESL. She said she was a Christian too!! But there were many people around us so she spoke quietly…but helped me quickly and after a few questions, printed out a QR code on a document and then said I was free to go. As I got up I said “Praise the Lord” and she said hallelujah and amen!! The Holy Spirit was indeed upon both of us right then!! But the documents she handed ,e made it seem that I needed to quarantine, so I was surprised they said to continue on to the Nagoya flight.

I got my luggage and proceeded to push two trolleys of luggage myself…yeah, not easy…lol and I got a lot of strange looks but no offer to help. I had to check in again in the JAL counter and out the suitcases through once again.

Praise for strength at Nagoya airport, not just to push my suitcases around by myself, but strength from the Holy Spirit to hold it together mentally when I saw on the board that the bus service had finished for the day! No one was able to come and pick me up as they weren’t expecting me until Monday. There was one train leaving at 8:17, but there was no way I could unload six suitcases by myself from the train when it stopped in Nagoya…trust me the doors close quickly! The Lord prompted me to keep pushing the two trolleys (one by each hand pushing down on across the walkway of the road to a hotel directly across from the airport (the Comfort Hotel). They had a room for only 7,000 yen ($68.50 CDN!!). I checked in, left the two trolleys downstairs and went to my room. With little sleep that night, I must also Praise the Lord for a very delicious Japanese buffet breakfast.

Praise the Lord Hattori sensei came and picked me up at the hotel Friday morning and we drove back to Fujigaoka Christ Church where we finished the apartment application and he faxed it in…it appears likely it will be approved!

Praise God I’m at a friend’s house in Komaki 3 days earlier than expected as I wasn’t required to quarantine in Tokyo. And lastly, praise God that I had confirmation Friday afternoon after phoning the Japanese health line, that I don’t need to quarantine!!

We can truly believe God is a miracle worker without any question, after all the ‘small miracles’ He brought me through.

Thank you so much for all your prayers which helped me return to Japan. I do have a few more now…😊

• Please pray that the apartment application will be approved and I can move in within the next week or two. Pray for helpers to move my things from one apartment in Fujigaoka and from my friend’s house in Komaki to my new place. There are lots of boxes and a few bigger items (fridge, bed, chair) that have been stored here since I left in November 2019.
• Pray for wisdom and guidance in whether to find another used car. It would be very beneficial to have one, especially for getting to choir practices (where I enjoy helping everyone to learn to pronounce the lyrics in English, but also offers me an opportunity to minister to the choir members). As well, I will need to commute to Komaki Hope Chapel for classes on Tuesdays. This usually requires taking the subway, transferring to a train to Kasugai and then someone driving 20 minutes to pick me up and another 20 minutes to go back to the church (then reverse all that at 9:30pm at night). So a car would be much easier for travelling to the church for classes and Sunday service there twice a month.
• Pray for me to get settles in quickly and to meet my neighbors. Pray too I’ll be able to communicate with them and have opportunities to invite them to church for ESL classes (where they will also hear about Jesus through Chapel time).

Once again, I am so grateful to all of you for partnering with me on this journey (financial & prayer). I look forward to sharing with you more about the apartment and what ministry will look like over the summer as I won’t be starting classes until September 1st. Blessings and love to you all.

Wendy 😊