Week 6 - And that's all I know about that

Welcome to our 6th and final week of  . . . . And that's all I know about that.

I sure hope you have enjoyed hearing from these ladies.  I know I have enjoyed and been blessed by what they all have to share.  I love how God can use each of us, from different backgrounds, with different talents and different visions to reach so many people.  It just reminds me of the disciples {a doctor, a tax collector, fishermen, . . . . } all different, all able to reach someone with the gospel that others could not.  God is good all the time!!

Well, this week I would like for you to meet

Becky Winters

Becky and I met at Baptist Bible College.  She was on my floor freshman year, Donaldson 1st.  She was from Boston.  I was from Texas.  I was in love with her accent.  After our freshman year, we lost touch, we both got married (almost a month apart) and started our families.  It was not until June 2010 that we saw each other again.  Mike and I came to Japan on our survey trip and the Winters opened their home to us for two weeks.  We were able to start our friendship again.  Now two years later, we are living in the same city, working along side each other, ministering in Japan.  God is good all the time!!

Mike, Becky, Ethan, Kayla, Alyssa

I have been told I am now considered a veteran missionary.  I’m not sure what that means, but I guess I am now one.  I still feel like I have so much to learn, but really I suppose we all do!  Our family has been missionaries here on the southern island of Kyushu, Japan for nine years now.  I love it and it has become my home. If you had asked me if I would ever consider Japan our home while we were on deputation I would have said no, but I suppose that when packing up to go on furlough and feeling emotional about leaving the country God has called you to….. it has become your home. 

Our two older kids were four and three when we arrived in Japan and our youngest was born here in Japan.  Ethan will be fourteen in less than a month, Kayla is twelve and Alyssa is five.  Without really realizing it or aiming to do so they have been raised bi-culturally.  They all Speak English and Japanese, know some words in ONLY English or Japanese, can all eat with chop sticks or a fork, and when we go back on furlough, take their shoes off at the entry way of Grampy and Lala’s house before going in to give them a hug.  It wasn’t until recently that I realized especially in our two oldest that they are truly bi-cultural kids.  They don’t really realize it because to them it is what “normal” is. 

Living in a foreign country requires learning a different way of life.  We can keep our home American as much as possible, but there are just some things we have to learn to do differently.  For instance, no dryer….everything gets hung outside to dry.  Living in a country that has a rainy season, this is a learning process.  I have discovered that by doing laundry at night and hanging it inside the house overnight, it will be just about dry by morning; but do it in the morning and hang it inside the house all day long and it will still be damp and smelly by supper time.  I cannot explain this….just take my word for it! 

One of the biggest lessons I have learned over the years is to be flexible.  Things change, circumstances change, people change and we have to sometimes make adjustments accordingly.  Two of my favorite verses is  Philippians 4:11 “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”  2 Corinthians 3:5 “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.”  I haven’t always liked the changes that needed to be made, but God has always enabled me to accept them and to be content. 

My last bit of knowledge as a veteran missionary is this: empty ketchup bottles and dish soap bottles make very good bath or pool toys!

…..and that’s all I know about that!