As we press on in this season of preparation for Tokyo, one question keeps returning to us:

What truth is worthy of our going?

Not what strategy is compelling enough. Not what need is urgent enough. Not what vision is clear enough. Those things matter, but they are not ultimate.

The church sends missionaries because God has made Himself known in Jesus Christ. And if we are going to Japan, then this must remain at the center: there is a truth worthy of crossing oceans, learning language, enduring weakness, and being proclaimed among the nations.

Paul gives us the words:

Not merely helpful. Not merely generous when we are in need. Not merely attentive when we are weak. He is kind in Himself. His kindness is not a passing mood, a soft sentiment, or a temporary response to our circumstances. It belongs to His holy character.

And nowhere has the kindness of God been displayed more clearly and displayed perfectly than in the life, redemptive work, death, and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. Paul says that “the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared” — and then immediately tells us what that kindness did: “he saved us.”

Before we ever speak of support raising, open doors, travel mercies, faithful friendships, or encouraging churches, we must begin here: God has been kind to sinners in Christ.

When the Lord sustains His people, He is not acting reluctantly. When He provides through His church, He is not merely solving a practical problem. When He strengthens weary servants through friendship, hospitality, prayer, and encouragement, He is giving small but real reminders of the kindness that has already appeared in His Son.

As we look back over May, we are deeply aware that the Lord has been kind to us through His people. He has provided friendship. He has provided hospitality. He has provided churches willing to listen, pray, ask questions, and consider partnership. He has provided opportunities to preach His Word, share the burden for Tokyo, and sit with saints who care about the glory of Christ among the nations.

We are not yet on the field, but we are already being taught dependence. We are not yet in the city we long to serve, but we are already seeing the Lord’s care. We are not yet speaking Japanese in Tokyo, but we are already learning that this work cannot be carried by strength, personality, strategy, or momentum.

And very often, the Lord carries His servants through His church.

So this month, we are thanking God for His kindness — kindness shown first and finally in Christ, and then reflected in ordinary mercies: open homes, shared meals, faithful churches, praying saints, generous encouragement, and partners willing to help send us onward for the sake of Christ’s name in Japan.

May was a full month of travel, conversations, preaching, hospitality, and prayer. It was also a month where we tasted the kindness of the Lord through His people in very tangible ways.

The Lord gave us encouragement through friends. He gave us rest through open homes. He gave us opportunities to speak about Tokyo, preach His Word, and share more clearly why we believe missions must aim at the planting and strengthening of healthy local churches.

The first part of May brought us through the tail end of our Atlanta trip, where we spent time with family, friends, and several people who were willing to hear more about the work in Tokyo.

This was a meaningful stretch for our family. We had opportunities to share the burden for Japan in more personal settings — around meals, through conversations, and in a dinner presentation where we could speak more clearly about the need in Tokyo, our preparation, and the kind of partnership we are asking the Lord to raise up.

We left Atlanta grateful for the Lord’s kindness through family, friendships, conversations, and the steady encouragement of people who are helping us take the next steps toward Tokyo.

Over Memorial Day weekend, we traveled to Wisconsin to spend time with Philip and Ellie Layne and to be with Grace Baptist Church of Sheboygan.

This visit was a gift to our family.

It was meaningful to be with dear friends who have encouraged us personally and cared for us in this season of preparation. Support raising can often feel like a long road of meetings, travel, emails, and follow-ups. But the Lord has a way of strengthening His people through friendship, and our time with Philip and Ellie reminded us of that.

We were also grateful for the opportunity to be with the saints at Grace Baptist Church. It was a joy to share more about the work in Tokyo, the spiritual need in Japan, and our desire to serve alongside Japanese believers toward the planting and strengthening of healthy local churches.

What encouraged us most was not simply that we had another opportunity to speak about the mission. It was the kindness of being received. The Lord used that weekend to remind us that gospel partnership is not cold or mechanical. It is personal. It is prayerful. It is often built through meals, conversations, worship, and friendship.

We left Wisconsin thankful for the Laynes, thankful for Grace Baptist Church, and thankful for the Lord’s kindness in giving us brothers and sisters who would help carry this work with us.

After Wisconsin, we traveled to Portland, Oregon, for a weeklong visit with Trinity Church of Portland, one of our significant partner churches.

This was one of the most important and encouraging weeks of our support-raising season so far.

Trinity received our family with generosity, warmth, and care. We were given time to be with the saints, share meals, have conversations, rest as a family, and speak more fully about the burden the Lord has given us for Tokyo.

On Sunday morning, Kris was given the kind and generous opportunity to preach during the Lord’s Day gathering. He preached from Acts 13, a passage that has become central to how we think about missions: the Spirit working through the gathered church, setting apart workers, and sending them out for the work to which He has called them.

That opportunity was weighty.

To preach from a text about the church sending workers while standing before a partner church that is helping send and sustain our family was deeply humbling. It reminded us that missions do not begin with private ambition or isolated burden. It begins in worship. It is carried by prayer. It is governed by the Word. And it moves forward through the church’s obedience to Christ.

We also had the opportunity to share the vision for Tokyo with the saints at Trinity. We spoke about Japan’s need for the gospel, the long-term need for healthy churches and faithful shepherding, and our desire to serve toward a Japanese-led church that will proclaim Christ, disciple believers, and, Lord willing, send future laborers.

Our week with Trinity was not merely strategic. It was strengthening.

We are deeply grateful to the Elders and the saints of Trinity Church of Portland. Their hospitality, advocacy, encouragement, and meaningful and generous partnership were a kindness from the Lord to our family.

One of the clearest lessons from this month is that the Lord often sustains His work through ordinary means.

A family opens their home. A church gives us time to share. Brother Pastors offers encouragement. Saints ask thoughtful questions. Someone prays with us. Someone gives. Someone introduces us to another church or family. Someone simply says, “We are with you.”

None of these things are small.

They are part of how the Lord is sustaining us before we ever arrive in Japan. He is not only providing for a future ministry. He is forming a network of prayer, care, accountability, friendship, and gospel partnership around our family.

And that is exactly what we need.

Tokyo will require more than a plane ticket and a budget. It will require endurance. It will require prayer. It will require churches and friends who remember us, encourage us, support us, and keep holding the ropes when the work is slow.

This month, the Lord reminded us again: He is kind, and very often His kindness comes to us through His church.

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 do not take that lightly.

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

I’ll give you a little insider scoop on how we write our newsletters.

Usually, Kris chooses an attribute of God to open the newsletter with, and then I write a personal reflection on that same attribute. When he told me that this month’s attribute would be God is kind, my first thought was, “Oh, that is easy.”

Not because God’s kindness is small or simple, but because His kindness has been so evident to us.

Of course, we know the kindness of God most clearly in His salvation. He has been kind to us in Christ, saving us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy. That is the greatest kindness we will ever receive.

But in this season, we have also had the opportunity to experience His kindness in a very particular way.

We are not strangers to receiving the Lord's kindness through the saints, but as we have traveled from state to state, we have been given many glimpses of how far-reaching that kindness truly is.

Within the span of a month, we have met with believers in Georgia, Florida, Wisconsin, Oregon, and, technically, Washington too. And with each geographical line we crossed, we saw Romans 12:9–13 lived out again and again:

Looking out the airplane window as we flew back and forth, it was amazing to see the mountains, rivers, forests, and plains below us. Each place had its own shape and beauty. Much like the landscape is formed over time by wind and water, we were reminded that the Lord has been shaping and molding the lives of His people — leaving the marks of true and beautiful Christian faith.

We have experienced genuine love and brotherly affection.

We have had people outdo us in showing honor.

We have been welcomed, fed, encouraged, prayed for, and shown hospitality.

And all of this is because the Lord has been kind — kind first in saving these brothers and sisters, and then kind again in using them to care for us.

This particular kindness encourages us to have faith that He will provide what we need to deploy to Japan.

Unlike the changing landscapes we saw from airplane windows, these marks of grace were wonderfully consistent from place to place. Different states, different churches, different homes, different stories — and yet the same Spirit at work.

Because we are covered by the same blood.

Because we call upon the same Savior.

Because we have the same heavenly Father.

And because our God is kind.

- John Calvin

Institutes of the Christian Religion

Geneva, 1509-1564

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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