Dear Friends,

Since July, I (and often "we") have visited almost three fourths of the 26 churches in the Chubu ("central") presbytery.

The kids say, in chorus, "Not yet another church!?" But they have been good sports. Most of the time, we have had a great opportunity to get to know members at an after-worship dinner put on by the members. We have been trying to train our kids to "eat what is set before them" with limited success, though I always feel that I am in food heaven. I am thoroughly enjoying getting to know so many people throughout the presbytery.

But what sets my heart aflame is the chance to go far deeper in Bible studies with a small group, since I get to know them much more personally. I have been at Seki Church three times now. Within a month or two, several more churches will sign in to have me come to be involved in a Bible study. As this time approaches, I need to ask for prayer for our already-bursting-at-the-seams schedule to make room.

Just last night, I called Mochizuki Sensei, who is in charge of youth evangelism. I asked for his wisdom, since Judy and I would like to start a youth evangelism get-together at our home on Saturday nights. It would be from 4:00 to 7:00, to give time to eat, to have fellowship, to talk about issues from a Biblical perspective, and still give them time to get home. While having it every Saturday can have benefits for stability, we are wondering if we should start with once a month meeting, and later increase the frequency. Please pray with us on this.

All in all, we are finally getting the feeling of really putting our roots down here. We finally feel settled. What a contrast from the upheaval of our move to Nagoya last year.

Speaking of which, I thought you might enjoy hearing how we solved one of the biggest problems of moving into our home in Nagoya last July: the refrigerator would not fit through the door! We had gotten the freezer to barely fit by taking off the handle and by taking off the kitchen door. But our huge refrigerator was just a bit larger than that-one measly inch too big. We had no desire to park the huge refrigerator in the living room for the next fifteen years, so we spent about half an hour trying to find a creative ways around the problem. How about through the other kitchen door? Not wide enough. How about through the kitchen window? Not tall enough. How about tearing out the kitchen door's frame? We nixed that, since we did not want to have a major repair bill. How about tearing out the cabinets? But the cabinet is made with shelves that are built-in and removable. The movers offered that as a solution, but the built-in shelves divide the top, middle, and bottom thirds, which would have been difficult to fix. Then one of the movers tried measuring the top of the three cabinets. He said it would be an exact fit, as if it had been made for the refrigerator. I was worried that he meant to tear out the cabinet, but he showed me that the shelves within the top cabinet were removable. They took out the doors and the removable shelving, making a rectangular hole at shoulder height, and put a protective blanket on the built-in shelving. I could not believe my eyes as they hoisted the entire refrigerator above their heads, slotted it through the empty cabinet, and on into the kitchen.

In my fifty years of life, I have seldom had the privilege of witnessing such an astounding and ingenious feat of strength and dexterity as performed by these four young Arisan-Mark movers.

Thanks ever so much for your prayers.

Andy & Judy Carrick