March 24th, 2022

​Forgetting your passport on a bus classifies as a major problem. Forgetting a backpack with your entire family’s passports along with other important government paperwork on a bus may not have a classification. Since we were returning to America for our home assignment, we needed to move from Japan to America, which meant many trips to government offices. Due to caring for a motion sick child, the backpack remained on the seat when we rushed off the bus.
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This catastrophe was during the time we were sorting through our possessions and deciding what we should store, gift, or toss. Flight troubles, including the original airline changing our itinerary to include an extra overnight layover in Chicago, added to the mess as we talked with multiple customer service agents and airlines. To top it all off apartments do not clean themselves once all the things are moved out, and young children do not suddenly become perfect adult helpers. “Overwhelmed” fails to describe the situation.

But God was not surprised, in fact this was yet another one of those trials he likes to use to grow and stretch us. He worked out the flight troubles, including giving us one of the best routes we ever had (Haneda -> Seattle -> Minneapolis). Then, through a Christian friend, God encouraged us to look again at storage, and we found a deal that made it clearly advantageous to store more possessions and office things. He also provided help through friends, both from church and from school, to move out and clean the apartment.

As for the passports, God prepared an honest passenger to discover the bag and an honest bus driver to transporter it safely to the bus terminal that night. A visit to the bus company the next day allowed us to recover everything. We praise God that he protected us and provided for our return for home assignment.
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Now as we travel and share with churches here in America, and then return to Japan early next year, we look forward to seeing how God will work.