November 5, 2026
Ohayo, Konnichiwa, Konbanwa!!! 👋🏽 Whatever time it is where you are, Hello! Thanks for reading!
We are currently in our Airbnb relaxing before visiting more friends this evening. We are super excited because they have a little gatita (Cat). We genuinely miss our little kitty (Piña). Thank you to the wonderful couple who has been taking great care of her since our being away. ❤️🐈
We have had a full week of exploring, being involved in our ministry work, spending time with friends, and eating some amazing food! Here’s a little update.
SELF-SACRIFICING LIFE IN JAPAN – We left off in our previous blog returning from our getaway in Shizuoka. We were excited to be back in Takenotsuka and attend our meeting with the Spanish group on Thursday.
The friends in this small Spanish group are so loving and self-sacrificing. They have gone above and beyond to pick us up for our meetings and for our ministry work, to make sure we find good, authentic Japanese food, to have association, to make sure we are comfortable, and so much more! Not only that, we have had the privilege of seeing just some of the work that is involved in such a small group on a week in and week out basis and that is just a small glimpse.
One thing that really warmed our hearts to see – happened on Thursday at that very meeting. (SIDE NOTE: We have our meetings at the same time as the Japanese friends but in a separate, small room.) So during our meeting, one brother finished his assignment during the meeting in Spanish. As soon as he finished he had the NEXT assignment but in Japanese out in the main room. He ran out to do that part and another brother stepped up in the small room to translate the assignment coming from the main room in Japanese into Spanish. For 15 minutes he painstakingly translated to the best of his ability so we all could get the same information. They do all this work not for money but for love of Jehovah and for the dear friends who need to hear the bibles message in Spanish.
In addition, we have begun to learn about the struggles of the friends in this small group. The Japanese Yen is down and to make ends meet is harder than ever. Some of the friends are homesick (many in our group are from countries like Peru, Panama, and Columbia), some deal with anxiety and sicknesses (one sister battles with Lupus) 😔, and MANY are caring for aging parents. Honestly, no matter where we live in this day and age the overwhelming problems and weights of this system are apparent. Only the hope we have for the future is what will bring a real solution. 😊 (Jeremiah 29:11)
ASAKUSA – After our meeting on Thursday, we took Friday as a rest day to prepare for what would be a packed weekend. We woke up early Saturday to make a special stop. Reyna has been following a Japanese Polymer Clay Artist that does similar work to her. Her store front in the ASAKUSA area of Tokyo was so cute! 🤩 Reyna picked out two pairs of earrings to buy and gifted a cute marble pair she made. The lady in return gifted Reyna a pair from her new collection. What a treat!
PREACHING IN SOKA – After spending the morning in ASAKUSA we made our way via train, bus, and a short walk through comé (rice) fields to meet with the group for an evening of preaching. Reyna went with two sisters and Kieran’s car group had a small companion that wanted to spend 5 minutes in the nearby park. It ended up being 30 minutes before they got started. 🤣 The weather that day was one of the best of the whole trip. REFRESHING!
READY, SET, ONSEN♨️ – We ended our Saturday with a delicious meal of Ankasoba at a friend’s home. Sunday, Kieran had the privilege of reading the Watchtower lesson (weekly Q&A study held at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses.) He was SO nervous but did such a great job and the friends were truly appreciative! A kind couple took us to have Japanese BBQ. We truly STUFFED ourselves! 🤤 To end our weekend we found ourselves, with that same couple, enjoying a traditional Japanese ONSEN experience. Which, needless to say, it was the most relaxing spa we have ever had. Thanks guys!
HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW? 🧐- We both have had many long conversations about this trip and what that means for us moving forward. We have asked the local friends many questions to get an idea of what life here would be like for us IF we were to decide to come back for longer. We have grown more comfortable with every passing day. While there are some cons the positives are as follows: Japan is safe, the people are respectable, cost of living is more reasonable than USA, the heath care is top notch, AND…. WE LOVE IT HERE! While there is no clear path as to what our next decision will be, we will continue to pray about it. ☺️
Stay tuned for our next blog where we will cover taking professional photos in Japan and ROUND #2 of doing tourism with our sweet Japanese friend! 📸
Until next time, thanks for reading and following along. Mata ne!! 👋🏽
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