Japan Networking & Vietnam Retreat

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 have, I feel equal parts blessed in life and quite old myself.

**Report on 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 Eddie 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. 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 Reese’s and York Mint candies (flavors you can’t find easily in Japan) for the youth group in tow, 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.

**Report on 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. Since we had a certain number of contracted meals with the hotel, there was fresh coffee and snacks 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…).

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!

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!

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!

**A Little Update on Penelope Panda

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.

**Next Steps

So, what’s next? 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.)

Kindergarten - 2nd grade

3rd grade - 5th grade