As we press on toward Tokyo, one truth keeps steadying us:

The sending, the support, the preparation, the open doors, the delays, the weakness, and the unknowns are not outside His hand. If we are going to Japan, our confidence must rest here: the mission belongs to the Lord before it ever belongs to us.

Paul points to this reality:

That does not mean merely that God is powerful, or that He responds wisely when things happen. It means that God Himself governs all things according to His own eternal counsel. Before the foundation of the world, before our plans, before our going, before Tokyo was ever on our minds, the Lord had already purposed all things in Christ.

Paul’s words in Ephesians 1 are not small words. God “works all things according to the counsel of his will.” Not some things. Not only spiritual things. Not only the things that seem clearly useful to us. All things.

He works them. He is not watching history from a distance. He is not waiting to see how human decisions unfold before He knows what to do next. He is not adjusting His purposes around our strength, our weakness, our clarity, or our confusion. The God of Scripture actively, wisely, and perfectly orders all things according to His own will.

And Paul says this in the context of our salvation in Christ. The sovereignty of God is not presented as a cold doctrine meant to make us speculate. It is a worship-producing and faith-assuring doctrine meant to fill us with awe and reverence. In Christ, we have been chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, sealed with the Spirit, and given an inheritance — all according to the gracious purpose of God.

That means the sovereignty of God is not against His mercy. It is the foundation beneath it.

The God who saves sinners by grace is the same God who rules over every step of His people. He ordains the end, and He ordains the means. He ordains the salvation of His people, and He ordains the preaching of the gospel. He ordains the gathering of the church, and He ordains the sending of workers. He ordains prayer, giving, hospitality, weakness, waiting, travel, open doors, closed doors, encouragements, disappointments, and every ordinary moment He uses to carry His purposes forward.

That has been a steadying truth for us this month.

June moved quickly: South Carolina to Indiana, Indiana to Kentucky, Kentucky to California — and now, within days, Turkey, Egypt, and France. A schedule like this can either unsettle you or anchor you, depending on where your eyes are fixed.

If we only look at the calendar, the needs, the flights, the unfinished support, the preaching, the meetings, the packing, the goodbyes, and the long road ahead, it can feel like too much. But Ephesians 1 reminds us that none of these things are outside the hand of our God.

The 52% of monthly support He has already provided is under His hand.

The remaining 48% we are still praying for is under His hand.

The churches that have partnered, the churches still considering, the conversations that opened, the conversations that did not, the friendships that strengthened us, and the weaknesses that exposed our need — all of it is under His hand.

The mission to Tokyo is the Lord’s before it is ever ours. The Japanese men and women who will one day hear the gospel, repent, believe, and gather with the saints in a local church are not unknown to Him. He is not waiting on us to figure everything out before His purposes can move forward.

That Sovereign reality does not make us passive.

It is the only reason we are not undone.

We labor, ask, preach, travel, plan, pack, and prepare because God is sovereign — not in spite of it. His rule does not weaken obedience. It strengthens it. His providence does not make prayer unnecessary. It makes prayer reasonable. His eternal counsel does not make missions optional. It gives missions its very confidence.

So as we move toward Tbilisi, toward Tokyo, and even toward the next trip in front of us, we are resting in this: our Lord reigns according to His own will.

And that… is very good news.

June was full — full of travel, preaching, teaching, conversations, church visits, family time, and the quiet weight of nearing departure.

From Charleston to Indiana, from Kentucky to San Diego, the Lord continued to place people and churches before us who listened, prayed, encouraged, and helped us take the next steps toward Japan. We were reminded again that this season is not merely about raising support or filling a calendar. It is about being sent, sustained, and shaped by the Lord through His people.

One of the most significant weekends of this entire support-raising season was our time with Pillar Community Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Pillar hosted a Tokyo Team Saturday, bringing together six local churches to hear more about the vision for church planting among the Japanese. Timothy Seminoff, Nathan and Ellie Fike, Linh, Judah, and I were all able to be together in one room, sharing the burden for Japan and the kind of long-haul, church-centered work we are preparing for.

Six churches. One team. One city. One shared burden.

The Lord’s kindness in that room was tangible.

It was deeply encouraging to see churches come together, listen carefully, ask questions, and consider how they might pray, partner, and help hold the ropes for the work ahead. We are grateful for Pillar Community Church, for their hospitality, and for the encouragement they gave our team.

Kris also had the opportunity to preach during our time there. Please pray that the Word would continue to bear fruit among the saints and that the Lord would use that weekend to strengthen gospel partnership for the sake of Christ’s name in Japan.

We also spent a sweet few days in Indiana with the Basores in Avon and then made our way to Westbridge Church in Danville.

At Westbridge, Kris had the privilege of teaching on church-centered missions. This is one of the central convictions shaping our preparation for Japan: what we believe about the church will shape everything we do in missions.

Missions is not merely about activity, movement, or visible momentum. The goal is not simply to gather interest, create programs, or build a platform. The aim is the planting and strengthening of healthy local churches — churches that preach the gospel clearly, practice the ordinances rightly, raise up qualified leaders, and display the glory of Christ among the nations.

Getting to walk through those convictions with the saints at West Bridge was a genuine gift.

We are grateful for their hospitality, their attentiveness, and their hunger to understand what it means for a local church to truly own the missionary task. The Lord continues to encourage us through churches who are not merely asking, “How can we support you?” but also, “How can we think more biblically about missions?”

That is a gift.

We also had the joy of traveling to Morehead, Kentucky, to be with Rowan Community Church, one of our Immanuel Network church partners.

Kris preached at Rowan, and we were able to spend time with the Saylors and the saints there. It was an encouraging few days in eastern Kentucky with brothers and sisters who are praying for Japan and seeking to be faithful in their own local context.

One of the kindnesses of this season has been seeing how the Lord is spreading prayer and partnership across different places. Not only large churches. Not only well-known churches. Not only churches in major cities. But ordinary local churches, full of saints who love Christ and care about His name being proclaimed among the nations.

We left Morehead grateful for Rowan Community Church, grateful for the fellowship of the saints, and grateful for the Lord’s kindness in giving us partners who are genuinely in this work with us.

Before we leave the country, we needed to breathe.

San Diego was that breath.

We had the gift of time with family and dear friends. Kris was able to spend time with his brother after years apart, and we were able to reconnect with people we love, share about the work ahead, and simply rest together before the next major stretch of travel and transition.

These relationships matter.

The work in Tokyo will not be sustained by updates, strategies, and schedules alone. The Lord sustains His people through prayer, friendship, encouragement, hospitality, and the ordinary love of the saints. As we prepare to leave for Tbilisi in August, we are feeling more and more the weight of these goodbyes.

They are sweet. They are hard. And they are holy.

We are thankful for the time the Lord gave us in San Diego — time to rest, remember, laugh, pray, and be strengthened before the road ahead.

A snapshot for our partners:

Every partner — whether you give $25/month or $500/month, whether you pray daily or join us on Discord — is part of this. We are grateful to our Lord for these significant partnerships

As we look ahead to JULY, we would be grateful for your prayers in these specific ways:

I think one of the clearest ways to see the sovereignty of God in our personal lives is to look back and reflect.

For friends who have known us for years — and for those who are newer to our story — I want to give a brief example.

At one point, Kris had no interest in global missions. His desire was to church plant domestically. I, on the other hand, had planned to go overseas as a single woman ever since my first year of college.

Neither of those plans happened.

These days, if you talk to Kris for more than ten minutes, you are at risk of being recruited to come to Tokyo with us. And as for me, I am thankful every day that I get to be married to my husband, who now longs to help plant a church in a foreign country.

That is not what either of us planned.

Another example: we first applied to be sent with Reaching & Teaching in 2022, but it became clear that we would not be able to continue in the application process because of our student debt. At the time, that felt like a closed door.

But in October 2025, we were appointed as global workers with Reaching & Teaching.

During those three years between applications, Judah was born, Kris became an elder at Immanuel Baptist Church, and our debt was forgiven.

Looking back, it is not difficult to see that the Lord was not merely delaying us. He was preparing us.

And as sovereign as the Lord is, He has never exercised His sovereignty over His people apart from His loving kindness.

One of my favorite passages in Scripture is Exodus 13:17–18, because it beautifully holds together God’s sovereign rule and His tender care for His people:

The Lord did not lead Israel by the shortest road.

He led them by the wilderness because He knew their hearts. He knew their fear. He knew what they could bear. And in His sovereignty, He directed their path in a way that protected them from immediately returning to slavery.

That is deeply comforting to me.

It is a mercy to churches and people abroad that I did not go overseas as a single woman when I first desired to go, because I was deeply immature. It is also a kindness of the Lord that He gave Kris several years to labor as an elder alongside his co-elders at Immanuel Baptist Church before sending us overseas.

Those years were not wasted.

They were formative. They were preparatory. They were the Lord’s wise and loving providence over our family.

This is who our God is — yesterday, today, and forever.

He is the God who knows our hearts and our innermost being. He is the God who sovereignly directs our path. And He does so not coldly, but with perfect wisdom, fatherly care, and steadfast love — for His glory and for our good.

- Andrew Fuller

Pastor and co-founder of the Baptist Missionary Society

Kettering, England, 1754- 1815

Under His Lordship,

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”

Kris: (904)729-9665 - [email protected]

Linh: (904)882-7513 - [email protected]

If you’d like more timely prayer requests, personal updates, and a closer look at our family’s journey toward Tokyo, we’d love to have you join our KOINOBORI Discord community.

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