Next home assignment

We have taken the following short home assignments since 1999:

• 2002, 5 months in the summer/fall based in BC, Canada
• 2004, 5 months in the summer/fall based in Maine
• 2006, 2 months in the summer based in BC, Canada
• 2008, 2 months in the summer based in Maine

We have chosen these home assignment dates on the basis of our ministry needs in Japan and our children's education needs. Our youngest child graduates from high school in 2010, thereby freeing us to take longer home assignments. So our next home assignment will be for one year, beginning August 2010. During that year we plan to visit all our supporting churches in both Canada and the USA, while at the same time recruiting partners for our next church planting project in Tokyo.

SUMMER 2008

Our latest home assignment was the summer of 2008. During the 10 weeks of our home assignment we lived with relatives in both Canada (greater Vancouver, BC) and the USA (greater Portland, Maine). We visited 7 supporting churches in both Canada and the USA, carrying on our usual home assignment ministry of preaching and teaching. We also enjoyed family time with parents, grandparents, uncles, auntst, nieces, nephews, and cousins.

SUMMER 2006

We were based in greater Vancouver for our summer 2006 home assignment. During that time we visited almost all of our Canadian supporting churches. We felt as if we were on the go all the time. Our faith was stretched because we were sometimes not sure where we might be staying. We had no fixed address during the summer. And there were times we did not know if we would have a vehicle to use. It seemed to us that more faith in God was required for our summer 2006 home assignment than for our life and ministry in Tokyo! But we can testify that God was faithful and provided for all our needs.

We rented a motorhome for two weeks while visiting our supporting churches in Alberta. While on that trip we enjoyed a number of nights camping in the Canadian Rockies.