Mount Hakusan as seen from Hakusan City Hall this past Sunday
Happy New Year from Ishikawa, Japan!
For us, it was a quiet new year — especially compared to last year — and we’re thankful. Now we’re getting back into the swing of things after a bit of a break. Here’s some of what’s going on…
Creating new Waypoints manga, with a goal of posting 5 or 6 this year.
An English version of the manga we did with ZOE Japan.
Leading worship at Immanuel Komatsu Church this coming Sunday (1/12).
Praying and seeking God’s direction for how we can better serve local churches and our community.
Preparing to expand our missionary team.
On that last note, we’d like to introduce you to our new teammate, Mickey Veach. Mickey has been appointed by Global Partners as a missionary to Japan, and visited us last February. We also got to connect with him in the US during the summer.
Mickey is now in the middle of support raising and training, with the hope of joining us full-time here this fall. You can check out his first newsletter (and subscribe) HERE. I’m sure Mickey would appreciate your prayers!
Thank you for your continuing prayers and partnership with our mission in Japan! Here’s to a great 2025!
With Mickey at a Japanese garden in Michigan last summer
Thank you for praying for our busy season of travels, connections, and ministry! We just returned earlier this week from GP’s Asia-Pacific conference in Australia. We’re thankful for a good time of re-connecting with our fellow Global Partners missionaries in the area.
And now it’s the Christmas season! Christmas is a big opportunity for outreach at Japanese churches. Our Waypoints manga booklets will be distributed by various churches and ministries throughout Japan, so please pray that they will be effective. Please pray, too, for us as we do Christmas preaching and music ministry the next two Sundays at the Immanuel churches in Kanazawa (12/15) and Komatsu (12/22).
As we approach the end of the year, we want to say a special THANK YOU for being a part of our lives; for keeping us in your prayers; and for your giving which allows us to be a part of God’s mission in Japan.
Hope your fall is going well. As we near the end of the year, it’s time for another big semi-annual JapanLog newsletter. Please follow the link below to view/download the PDF:
Thank you for your continuing prayers! It’s been just over a month since we got back to Japan from our partnership development time in North America. It’s been a time of settling in, finding our rhythm again, and getting back to work.
On the Drawbridge Creations front, after some fresh promotion, we’ve been getting quite a few orders from missionaries and churches for our Waypoints manga resources in the lead-up to the Christmas outreach season, and have had to order more copies of the booklets from the printers.
Our schedule for the rest of the year is looking pretty busy, with travel and conferences and special ministry opportunities. We’d appreciate your prayers for health, safety and readiness!
Here are some dates to keep in your prayers:
11/10 – Preaching and music ministry at Immanuel Komatsu Church.
11/13-15 – Renown Conference (in Shizuoka), where we’re promoting Drawbridge Creations.
11/16-19 – In Yokohama for meetings with missionaries and church leaders.
11/24 – Preaching/music ministry at Immanuel Fukui Church.
11/29-12/9 – Global Partners Asia-Pacific missionary Conference in Australia.
Thank you as always for your prayers and partnership!
PS – In case you missed it, please check out the latest Drawbridge Dispatch HERE.
Thank you for praying for our month+ in Ontario. We were blessed to be able stay in one place all month and make day trips to various churches and camps in the area, giving us a pretty productive month of partnership development. We’re thankful we could reconnect with partners and churches we hadn’t been to for many years (or for Yoko, ever), as well as make a lot of new connections at camp meetings.
We’re now in the US, in the middle of a short whirlwind tour that took us from western New York to Pensilvania to Delaware, with plans to make another stop in Pensilvania, then Massachusetts and Maine before heading back to New Brunswick, Canada next Thursday (Whew!)
Please pray for safe travel, rest, and for God’s blessing on our ministry on Sunday (in Lock Haven, PA) and Wednesday (in Jonesport, ME).
We are scheduled to return to Japan on September 30, and have been given the green light, but we are still in need of more financial partners, so if you’re not already, would you consider becoming one? Click HERE for more info, or feel free to email us with any questions.
July was a very full month of travels, speaking opportunities and personal reconnections as we continued our partnership development (PD) journey. Since our last update, we’ve had the opportunity to share about the need and work in Japan at four camps (including our beloved Beulah) and four churches, and have made a lot of encouraging connections. We’re grateful for God’s provision and the Church’s hospitality along the way.
And we’re thankful for the PRAYERS of people like YOU!
We are currently in Roblin, Ontario, where we’re staying for most of August. We’re thankful that the Wesleyan church here has provided us with a camper to stay in so we can settle in one place for a while and feel a bit “at home” while we’re not at home.
Please continue to PRAY with us this month as we speak at several churches and two more camps; pray that we can make good connections, build stronger (and more) partnerships, and be a blessing. Please pray, too, for safe travels, good health and rest.
Thank you!
PS — Click HERE info on partnership and giving, or feel free to email us with any questions or updates about supporting our ministry. Thanks again!
Hello from Canada! Thank you for your prayers during our recent travel and transition period.
June was the end of our latest missionary term, so we returned to North America for four months of partnership development— a time of reconnecting with partnering churches and raising support for our work in Japan. Before coming to Canada we spent two weeks in the US, where we connected with some churches, had meetings with leaders and fellow missionaries, and visited Global Partners headquarters.
Along the way, we had to get a tire fixed on our rental car, and our flight to Canada was cancelled so we had to reschedule. But it all worked out and we’re grateful for God’s protection and blessings along the way. Now we’re enjoying some time at Beulah Camp in New Brunswick before hitting the road again.
Over the next two+ months we have a lot of travel planned. We would appreciate your prayers for good health, safe travel, and effective ministry.
We’re also raising financial support for our next term. Right now GP has our “intended support” (faith promise) total at about 88% of our goal (target: $8735/month, actual: $7709/month USD). Please pray that we can gain some new partners during this season. And if you’re not already a regular giver, would you consider becoming one? Please let us know, or contact us with any questions you may have.
Hope your spring is going well! As we approach a summer filled with travels and in-person connections, it’s time for our latest semi-annual update. Please follow this link to view/download the PDF of our latest newsletter:
Mid-April with the sakura (cherry blossoms) in full bloom
Hi everyone,
Thank you for your prayers! Yoko and I just celebrated our anniversary yesterday — we’re thankful for our first five years as a married couple, and for God’s blessings in all the ups and downs.
There was lots to keep us busy this past month. One highlight was this past Sunday, when we travelled to Fukui, where we led the service and I preached to a small but responsive congregation.
Yoko has been working on a new manga script and we’ve both been networking to find an artist for this new project. We’re grateful for new connections and opportunities happening with Drawbridge Creations, and hope to share more soon!
Please PRAY with us for all that’s going on in May:
Preaching and music ministry planned on May 19 for Pentecost Sunday at Immanuel Kanzawa-Izumi Church.
Worship leading at Immanuel Komatsu Church.
Guests (potential ministry partners) visiting from the US.
Planning and preparing to go to North America this summer for partnership development.
Our continuing work with Drawbridge Creations.
We’d appreciate your prayers that we can balance it all, get done what we need to, minister effectively and rest well.
Thank you for being on our team! We’re grateful for all of our prayer and financial partners.
We got to celebrate Easter in Nagoya with our former home church, Immanuel Nagoya. I (Robin) preached in the morning service and we did an English outreach event in the afternoon. It was fun and refreshing to reconnect with church family, old friends and former students, and to share about the hope of Jesus.
We also learned that a former English student (who was a kid when I taught her but a teenager now) is attending a church in a another part of Nagoya where Yoko’s former seminary classmate is the pastor! Small world! We’re thankful that God is continuing to work in my former students’ lives.
Some other highlights from March included:
Preaching and leading worship at Immanuel Komatsu Church.
Attending the Immanuel Church annual national conference, where we could do some promo for Drawbridge Creations and reconnect with ministry contacts and friends.
Beginning a collaboration with another Christian organization in Japan on a new manga project. This will be our second project as Drawbridge Creations.
Please PRAY with us about the following:
Worship leading at Immanuel Komatsu Church.
Visiting Immanuel Fukui Church on 4/28, Robin preaching.
Our new manga collaboration, especially for Yoko who is writing, and that we will be able to find the right artist for the job.
We’re also scheduled for Partnership Development in North America this summer. Pray for the many plans we need to make in the coming months.
Thank you for interest, prayers, encouragement and support!
