StrakerHouse.com

We have a friend here who lost his wife in the tsunami last year. He owns a small business on the coast. Their home was attached to the business. When the tsunami hit, he and his daughter escaped. But his wife was working at a bank in a nearby village–his hometown–a place that got mostly wiped out. If you come visit today, you can still see two-story concrete buildings flipped on their sides like toppled toy blocks. She didn’t make it, and her remains were never found. Our friend lost his wife.

We attended her funeral a couple weeks ago. Then the power and phone companies finally reconnected the lines to their home. But our friend is hesitant to move back in. He says the closer it gets to normal, the more it hurts–the more he is aware of his life-partner’s absence. He says he didn’t realize how much he loved her until she was gone.

I think that’s why we’re here
to share love and light and hope
to hang on through the rough and lonely and normal times
to be a visible, visceral expression of God’s love the way Jesus was

Feb. 2, 2012. We made it. Out of Abilene. By car to Denver where we jettisoned car and dogs. By plane to Nashville for Christmas, then on to Brampton, Ontario for January. Finally, the long trip to Japan — 26 hours from door to door. The kids did great. They are already veteran travelers at 6 yrs, 3 yrs, and 14 mos. (Hijiri, with no hint from me, picked out our departure gate in Chicago just by listening to the flight attendant’s announcement.)

It’s such a relief to clear customs. I’m not sure why it’s so nerve-wracking. We’re not doing anything illegal or immoral. But nevertheless, it feels good when they stamp your passport and say ‘okay.’

These moments make me think of raising ebenezers or building altars. This far by God’s hand, and we launch out in the hope and trust that the same hand will guide us forward.

And many of you have been God’s hands to us already along the way. Thank you! Here is a short video taken just outside Michiko’s folks house in Sapporo. …And you asked if it gets cold in Japan…

Well, we made it out of Abilene. It was hard (physically and emotionally) to uproot and say goodbye to friends and our home their–but also exciting to turn in the last graduate requirements, walk in the ceremony, and begin the journey to Ishinomaki. Spent a few days in the Denver area where we jettisoned our car and dogs (thanks again Gates and Whytes), then a few more in Nashville where we celebrated Christmas and some birthdays (love you, Halsteads), and finally arrived in Brampton, Ontario on December 28th. It’s been great to have some grandma and grandpa time for our kiddos and to catch up with many friends here.

It’s American Thanksgiving here in a couple days, and we have much to be thankful for. So we’d like to say thanks to some of the people God has worked through to buttress our family in this transition:

• Thank you GST faculty at ACU for giving me the grace to pause my graduate work and head to Japan for the summer–and for the encouragement to stay the course and finish up. Thanks especially to Chris for your amazing guidance over the last four years.
• Thank you, Global Samaritan Resources for allowing us to be a part of your excellent work in Japan this summer. It was a special privilege getting to know Larry, Shannon and Gordon. You are wonderful people and wonderful vessels in God’s hands. Thanks for all you do.
• Thanks to the many volunteers who supported the work in Japan this summer. Sharon, thank you for your leadership with the Abilene Downtown committee. Abilene Downtown committee, thanks for sharing B!G DAY with us! Bobby, Chris, Mai, Jacob, Savannah, and Erik, we hope to see you again in Japan!
• We are so thankful for our friends at the University Church of Christ, many of whom made our summer travel possible. Our time with the Young Adult group will be a cherished memory for many years.
• I’m not sure what I can say to express my thanks to the group at Highway 36. You have rescued and protected my family again and again–from before we even arrived in Abilene all the way through to our departure for Japan and beyond. Thank you for your love, support, encouragement, belief, and oversight.
• To our friends in Canada, especially the Bramalea Church of Christ, you’re still my home. The hardest part about this decision has been (indefinitely) postponing our return to Canada. Though many kilometers separate us, we still think of you and pray for you daily. Thank you for your long faith and support (especially since many of you knew me as an obnoxious teenager)!
• Thank you Be One for your openness to partnering with us. We look forwarding to learning from you and working alongside you. Thank you, Chad, Jennifer, Junpei and Keishi especially for your leadership.
• Thank you Healing Hands for seeking us out. We hope we can live up to your faith in us! It was wonderful to meet you, Cindy, Chris, Randy, and Burt. I look forward to getting to know you more over the coming months and years!
• Thank you Abilene Kazoku/Wednesday Night Japanese Bible Study Group. You kept my Japanese sharp, my kids familiar with Japanese culture and language, and my wife sane. You have given us far more than we could ever give you!
• Finally, thank you to those of you who are picking up the many pieces necessary to help us get to Japan. Thanks Don and Jeremy for helping us get our dogs ready for Japan. And thank you Dennis and Pam for agreeing to take care of them for half a year!

I know there are important folks that I’m forgetting at the moment. Please accept my apologies! We are so grateful especially for the God who calls all of us according to his purpose–rooting us and establishing us in his love so that we can be his hands and feet in the world and share that love with others.

The Highway 36 Church of Christ has agreed to be our sponsoring church in the United States, and the good folks at Healing Hands International accepted our proposal and have agreed to help us get on the field and settled in (if that makes sense in a disaster zone) for our first year in Ishinomaki. This means that we will be able to meet our target date of February 2012. It also means that we have a little breathing space in our fund-raising.

We will still need both personal support and working funds beginning in late 2012, so now is the time to make a pledge or start laying aside some funds if you would like to partner with us financially. Money can donated online via the link to the right, or sent to either the Highway 36 or Bramalea Churches of Christ beginning now and will be made available when Healing Hands’ commitment ends.

In short, our timeline now looks something like this:

• December 16th, 2011 – Attend ACU graduation. Hooray!
• December 17th – Depart for Denver, CO to visit family.
• December 23rd – Head to Nashville, TN for Christmas. We hope meet up with Healing Hands folks while we’re there.
• December 28th – Head up to Ontario to spend some time with my folks and the churches there.
• February 1st, 2012 – Head to Sapporo, Japan where we need to take care of some paperwork.
• Mid-February – Head down to Ishinomaki to partner with the Be One team and the other good people there–and to continue building relationships and doing what we can for the folks in the neighborhood who have lost so much.

You can also keep track of us via our Calendar.

Keep up with our travels and work in Japan. Please sign up for our newsletter so we can keep focused communication addressed to the right folks!

Subscribe to our newsletter

２０１２の２月に、宮城県の石巻に引越しするつもりです！祈ってください！

Wanted to make this public before any more time slips by. We have prayed and prayed and been in counsel with friends and family and have decided to return to Japan this coming spring (Lord willing)!

Our hope is to be in Ishinomaki by early February. We will be partnering with the Be One group to (1) continue working (this time as a family) in the disaster area coordinating volunteers and serving the neighbors, and (2) help foster a community of Christ-followers.

Please keep us in your prayers and consider supporting us financially if you are able. (We can use financial support starting immediately–see the information on the right sidebar for ways to contribute.)

If you think your church or organization could partner with us and would like a personal visit, let me know and I’ll do my best to get to you. Skype is a very good (cost and time effective) alternative to a physical visit. Contact me at:

• jonathan AT strakerhouse DOT com
• or via facebook (/jonathan.straker)
• or skype (jonathan.straker)
• by phone: (325) 513-FIVE NINE EIGHT ONE
• (We also hope to be at the Global Missions Conference in DFW from Oct. 19-22. If you’re there, look us up.)

From now until February, our tentative timeline goes like this:

• Early October: Complete graduate requirements for a Master of Divinity (Missions Track) here at Abilene Christian University.
• Mid December: Leave Abilene to visit family for the Christmas season.
• Month of January: Visit parents in Canada, obtain CELTA certification.
• Beginning of February: Move to Japan.

Please check back at www.StrakerHouse.com and www.WordToFlesh.org frequently to keep up with our incarnational pilgrimage.

Peace,

Jonathan

PS – This has been a very difficult decision. While we are excited to serve in Japan and feel that this is a God-directed move, we are sad that we won’t be in Canada for the next few years as we had hoped. To all our dear friends in Canada, please don’t forget us or give up on us! We love you and hope to spend some time in the Great White North yet!!!

PPS – For those of you who were hoping I’d push through to a PhD right now–that is still on the back burner. The problem with obtaining a PhD to facilitate ministry is that it needs to be informed by time on the field. I feel that my MDiv experience was all the richer for our first season in Canada and Japan (2001-2007) as well as our time with the Highway 36 and University Churches of Christ (2007-2011). I anticipate further graduate study at a later date will be similarly enriched by our next season in Japan (2012-?).