The flight and the arrival

Dear friends,

Thank you for your prayers, and I have officially made it to Japan, and am doing well.

I believe that I will use this medium best by posting pictures and just sharing what has been going on, as well as sharing praises and prayer request.

I left Detroit at 8:20 a.m. and flew to Chicago, which I managed to take a shot of.

The city of Chicago stood out of the fog on the coast like some ghost city, but I was not able to get it in the picture.
On my way to Chicago I ended up next to a Japanese man from Michigan, and I tried my broken Japanese on him and he obliged likewise with his broken English. After we had talked for a little bit I gave him one of the CD's that the musicians at CIU had supplied me with (thank you everyone involved with that).

I found my way around the Chicago airport (which I found unnecessarily confusing) before getting to the international terminal and finding my gate.

This is the plane at my gate that would take me to Japan.

I had been preparing myself for the plane ride over by cultivating a heart of thankfulness that I could get to Japan (in cramped economy class seating) in 13 hours, and not have to do as other missionaries have done by taking a boat that would make the time to Japan months on end.

Well as I was making my way to the back of the plane where economy class seats were located. I could not seem to locate my seat. I asked a stewardess where I was supposed to sit, and she told me that I was sitting up front and to the left. As I made my way to my seat, I began to realize that my seat row and number was the same as a premium business class seat. With trepidation I sat down, rechecked my ticket, stood up, rechecked my ticket, sat down, and anxiously waited for someone to figure out the mistake and that I was not supposed to be in this seat. But no one ever came and claimed that I was in the wrong place, and what a seat it was.


Back massage options, a pull out LCD screen with dozens of movies (I finally saw 500 days of Summer), shows, games, and music options, complimentary headphones and drinks, and the ability to move my chair into a bed made the flight over very enjoyable.

In the providence of God, I was able to sit next to the same gentleman that I sat next to from Detroit to Chicago, and as well made another friend in a guy names Yusuke returning from college in the States to Japan.


After the plane ride, I went through quarantine ( I am H1N1 free fyi), immigration, and customs before having to hop a bus and journey across Japan to Haneda airport. I took some pictures of Tokyo as I went though


The one on the right is Tokyo Disney, for all of you Disney fans.

I made it to Fukuoka last night at 7:40 PM, and was met by Andy and Lorna Gilbert. We stayed up talking until 11:45 PM before I collapsed, and for the first time in a long time did not ring in the New Year.

Thankfully , jet lag has not been very bad at all. And I woke up at a great time this morning feeling refreshed.

I will update this more as stuff happens. Akemashite Omodetou Gozaimasu! (Happy New Years!)