Japan Networking & Vietnam Retreat

Feb 26

36 hours.

4 flights.

3 countries.

That’s how long traveling back from Phu Quoc, Vietnam to Knoxville, Tennessee took. On one of the U.S. domestic flights, there were two large groups of students on a class trip with the same company I first left the States through. When I was their age, I took a trip to Italy one spring break to study art alongside several of my high school art teachers. It’s funny to look back, now having been to 17 countries (and mostly as a solo traveler) and see how the Lord redirected my steps in life to an international career that I never would have chosen for myself. Watching the excitement these students around me had, I felt equal parts blessed in life and quite old myself.

Five Days in Tokyo

The first week of February, I spent time meeting the ABWE team in Tokyo and caught up with old friends. This was my first time in Japan with colder weather. Rather than sweating my body weight, I got to see a rare snowy day in the city!

I stayed with a girl named Katie and her yorkie mix named Edamame from ABWE. Even though she’s newer to the field and still in language school, it was encouraging to meet her and see her perspective on ministry in Japan. I was able to connect her with Grace City Church and the people at Community Arts Tokyo to help deepen her connection with varying local ministries.

A tote bag filled with all the Amazon packages my friends in Japan ordered to my house… (Christmas in February!)

Gluten free pastries I brought from the coffee shop I work at for my friends in Tokyo with Celiac disease

On Sunday, I got a chance to attend ABWE’s 7-year-old church plant called Megumi Bible Church. Afterwards, I made it in time for church at Grace City. With Reeses and York Mint candies (flavors you can’t find easily in Japan) in tow for the youth group, it’s needless to say they were excited when I rushed in for a surprise visit. Pastor Daisuke gave me yet another shoutout during service for making and delivering an “American style” chocolate cake in Chattanooga this past fall. I believe I’ll never live that down, but it’s truly wonderful to be welcomed home in another country. After service, some of the staff and youth joined me for yakiniku (grilled meat) and it felt like everyone was excited to have me back, even if only for a short visit.

K-san, a fellow intern at Community Arts Tokyo

Five Days in Vietnam

From snow delays, expired passports, and missed connections, just about everyone struggled getting to Vietnam. Around 50 women attended from around the Asia Pacific region. It’s always encouraging to see my design work being used in real life. Many women complimented me on the 50+ page retreat booklet I designed in the months prior. Each day’s session was themed, so I added a corresponding flower with symbolism that aligned.

Let me tell you, these ladies were all-too-eager to adopt me into their respective teams, especially after seeing my detail-oriented brain coordinate the information in the massive booklet. The Japan team made sure to reinforce their claim to me, though. My name tag was somehow changed from “USA” to “Japan”, and they consistently referred to me as *their* teammate!

The night before flying to Vietnam from Tokyo, I got a text from one of the ladies saying our worship leader wasn’t going to make it to Vietnam in time for the first session. I asked around and eventually found a guitar I could borrow to help cover those first couple of days. Talk about calling in a favor!

I don’t think I ever felt hungry throughout the week there. Since we had a certain number of contracted meals with the hotel, there was coffee and fresh fruit practically every time we blinked! As a coffee nerd, I loved learning about Vietnamese coffee (but it doesn’t help that each cup has a generous scoop of sweetened condensed milk…). Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed when I returned to the U.S. and realized I have to cut my own fruit again.

Overall, it was enjoyable to network with workers from all around the Asia Pacific region. Since each one of these ladies has been through the agency selecting process that I now face, I found encouragement in nearly every conversation. Some even shared my coffee shop dream!

Brenda from Taiwan that I visited this past summer

Fresh fruit prepared for us every time we blinked!

Thousands of these crab-fishing boats spotted the horizon

A Little Update on Penelope Panda

“Penelope Panda’s Peculiar Family” now available in Japanese!

There are now five copies of my book in Japanese floating around in the greater Tokyo area. It was so much fun to show the finished product from my past two summer internships. I’ll be working on paperback and eBook versions to provide my Japanese audience with a more affordable option.

So…Now What?

That’s a wonderful question. I’ll be continuing the conversations with my home church community and start formal conversations with a few of the recommended agencies. The dream (Lord willing!) is to move to Tokyo on a long-term basis by the end of 2027. In the meantime, I’ll continue working my three jobs, keeping my marketing degree sharpened, learning as much as possible about running a coffee shop, training for a half-marathon with a college friend, and self-studying Japanese. I suppose it’s fair to assume I don’t know how to sit still! (Just the other day, I dressed up in my yukata and presented what life as a missionary in Japan is like to the kindergarten through fifth graders at church for our Global missions week.)

None of what I do would be possible without your support. I’ve been blown away by your generosity, prayers, and kind words.

So from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!!!

I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us next. Till next time 😉

Rebecca Robinson