Ready and Waiting
Greetings! This month we find ourselves nearly fully supported, so praise the Lord! We are ready and waiting as we await Japan's borders to open. But we are not simply waiting around. We are beginning to transition from a focus on support raising to the transition to Japan and what life and ministry will be like there. We are excited that we are very close to making it to the next step on our journey to share the good news of Jesus with the Japanese people!
Update:
Our monthly support has now reached 99%! (This includes verbal commitments; the official numbers that have been reported to WorldVenture are over 97%.) That means we have $100/month of our monthly budget left to raise. We hope to finish raising support this month, and then be ready to move to Japan whenever the borders open.
To finish raising support, we will need our official commitments reported to WorldVenture to reach 100%. So we humbly ask for anyone who hasn't yet put in a commitment but were planning on it, to please put it in with WorldVenture soon. Our heartfelt thanks!
Our Certificate of Eligibility (COE) applications were approved on April 13, after only 3 weeks! However, the entry ban is still in place. So we wait for Japan's borders to open. We are ready to apply for our visas as soon as the entry ban is lifted.
Praise:
Praise God for a successful move out of our house, and for our renters who moved in. Also praise God for friends and family that have housed us temporarily as we continue to prepare for our move to Japan.
We also praise God for continued connections with individuals and churches, including several new supporters. We're also so thankful for our current ministry partners who have continued to support us during this whole journey. For this we are incredibly blessed.
Prayer:
Please continue to pray for God's provident timing. We await the opening of Japan's borders so we can get our visas approved and buy plane tickets.
Japan declared a new state of emergency in the Tokyo area starting April 25 and lasting through at least May 11, which spans the holiday period of Golden Week. Please pray for COVID cases to come down, for vaccine administration to ramp up and go smoothly, and for the entry ban to be lifted.
We also request prayer for continued connections with potential partners in ministry. We are so thankful for referrals!
A final selfie with the home we've known for Having some socially-distanced fun at the
the past 5-and-a-half years park
We would love to hear from you, whether it be to share your prayer requests or to schedule a Zoom meeting so we can catch up and share more details of our plans with you. Please know that we think of you and pray for you often.
Thanks and blessings,
The Walkers
Jeff, Malia, Mason & Kaili