How are you doing? We hope you are all safe and well. This period of Covid uncertainty and disruption is wearisome, stressful, and difficult. Probably the most difficult is knowing when the beginning of the end might be. May our loving heavenly Father be very real to you in this season.
Our Adjustments to the US
- We are both so grateful for God for having us return from Japan in April. If we had remained, work would have been difficult. We have seen that Illinois is our place during this time and where God has us. We both have had very full days of serving here locally, regionally, and globally.
- When we are not visiting our ministry partners, we continue to search for a home church which is not easy with the pandemic. We want a home church in our immediate community but it has been difficult knowing how to proceed.
- PTL our basement remodeling is now done with so much more living space, family room(s), 2 more bedrooms and a bath. Tim loves his new larger bedroom and work area. Elaine now gets an office. But all this means more shifting furniture and possessions and more settling in. We had Elaine’s sister as our first house guest and hope to have more visitors, especially from Japan, after the Covid-19 crisis is over.
- Our grand-kids started back to school. We walk Molly and Dawson the 2-3 blocks to school and pick them up each day. With Covid this really helps with safety, assists their parents, and allows us to be involved more with them.
Mehn US Tour – Before Covid our plan was to visit all our ministry partners from May to October. Because of Covid we have only visited a few in person and then connected with many online. Recently we have sent updates and sermons to churches in Colorado, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. More recorded updates are coming this month for Illinois, Ohio and Missouri. Please make requests as we are open to do online interviews, live updates, and meeting for prayer online. We continue to offer sermons live or recorded to use in your churches. When the crisis calms down we hope to visit many of you.
Transitions are Still Coming – More transitions are in both our futures. You may have thought our major transition was relocating to the States in April. Actually another big transition happens on November 1. On November 1st, we both begin a new adventure with Converge. John will be officially switching teams from the Japan Field to the Asia Impact Team. Elaine is officially retiring from Converge but will continue to work as volunteer. As John is not retiring, we hope that our ministry partners will continue in their generosity and our joint investments in Japan and Asia will continue. Our financial support right now is in good shape. Will you continue to pray, be involved, and give that even bigger goals for the future could be achieved?