ABOUT
Why日本 (Japan)?
When you think of missionary work, what do you think of?
Uncharted territories? Mud huts? Dangers at every corner? If you are anything like us, this is how we envisioned the mission field from a young age. Sarah, specifically, imagined she would be in the middle of the bush, learning the language, and touching the unreached people groups with the gospel. Sarah felt called to be with the orphans, widows, and the "least of these" (most likely in Africa). Aaron pushed away from the thought of ministry, but understood the mission field to be a place where you were going to face persecution and potentially death. Although these types of missionary lifestyles exist, neither of them thought that the mission field can simply be defined as, "a land that has yet to establish places of worship for God". With this new way (for us) to define missions, we became open to the idea of moving to a country that appeared great and healthy on the surface, but is suffering spiritually unlike any other country on earth. Japan, although it can be argued that it is doing alright economically and technologically, is potentially the most unreached part of the world when considering the percentage of the population that are born-again Christians. As of this writing, less than 1% of the country would consider themselves Christian (of which, Mormon, Jehovah's Witness, and others are grouped in that statistic). No other modern country comes close. Not only that, but to be honest, Japan simply is not on most people's radar. We are all aware of Japan. But not many truly believe (in action) that Japan is in need of their time or attention.
We believe it is. We know
it is.
In 2013, we were able to go to Japan together. To say that this "sealed the deal" would be an understatement. Although we traveled to different parts of the country to minister, both of us came back with even more of a passion and desire to see the country saved. It has been since that trip that the "Yes" to Japan has come alive in us. After giving up all of our goals and timelines to God and just saying we will go, God began to open doors, and now here we are in Tokyo, Japan.
The team.
Aaron views himself as the absolute "Jack of all trades"
(in the complimentary sense) and loves spending his time training for triathlon, reading books, talking about statistics, and inventing crazy business ideas. Exposed to Japan at a young age through Nintendo, Aaron's love for Japan has matured to reflect the culture, the language, and especially the people of Japan. Although he still embraces his nerdy side, Aaron's ultimate goal is to love the people of Japan practically (and wildly!) through service and discipleship. For those of you who care, Aaron is a "5 wing 4", so don't argue with him.
Sarah is the only reason anything around here gets done. Honestly, if it wasn't for her, we wouldn't yet be moving to Japan, we wouldn't be cool, Aaron wouldn't own pants, this website wouldn't be built, and our kids would not be nearly as good looking (she is definitely 87% of the cuteness... we aren't sure where the other 13% comes from). When Sarah first met Aaron, Japan wasn't on her radar. She did mention that she loved sushi, but to Aaron's horror, she meant California Rolls. However, she quickly fell in love with the country (and especially the people) after her first trip there. Sarah is the only one from the team that has been to Okinawa (Aaron is jealous), and she would literally choose to only eat sushi for the rest of her life if it were an option (the real kind now). She introduced our family to Enneagram, Chick-fil-A, and checklists (she is a "1 wing 2"). She is the glue that holds us all together and pushes us all to achieve our dreams! She loves well and has brought that love to Japan (especially to all of the kiddos)!
Liam has many passions in his young age, but none more than the letter "B". Bananas, blocks, Bear (his special lovey), Big Hero 6, Baba (baby puffin), and, of course, baby (Ella). There are actually more "B's" that he loves, but he has more to talk about! Anyway, Liam loves loves LOVES sushi. Honestly, we felt weird about giving it to him before he was 1 (which in writing this makes me feel like a bad parent), but he insisted. He never looked back. He prefers eating with chopsticks, which he will improvise with only his index and middle finger when they are not readily available. Liam is brilliant, funny, kind, and loves to pray and laugh. He is the first addition to our team and we love him so much (and we are sure you will, too)!
Ella is our talker so we will try to keep this brief on what she'd want you to know... For starters, she is EXTREMELY spunky. She mischievously gets into everything, takes all of her brothers toys, and wakes up at 5am. She is the second addition to our team and fits in perfectly! She wears bows like nobody's business and loves to squish her face into yours. Ella loves the people of Japan and even the most unexpected person in the street stops to say "kawaii"!
Remi Brooke our third addition to the team, born February 15th 2022. The most peaceful beauty.
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