Through an amazing series of events and God's guidance, a job has been provided for Akihiro in Isawa. Isawa is near to the Shioda church. Mrs. Sato, a mother of one of a former Shioda kindergarten student, mentioned to Lois Ehnle that there was a nursing home in Isawa that was in desperate need of doctor. "Would there be anybody from your church? I know Christians are good people." Lois told her that a doctor had just moved to Japan (Akihiro!). Mrs. Sato came to church and met with Akihiro. She is not associated with the nursing home directly, but knows a friend of the owner. That afternoon Akihiro went to meet with the owner. There were many details to work out, but they all got worked out over time!
He will be working four days a week and eight hours a day caring for 100 patients in a nursing home setting that includes a transitional care unit. He can work whatever hours he wants and whichever days he wants, so it is very flexible. Apparently the law requires a doctor in this position for those amount of hours, but the job doesn't reallly require that much time, so he may have time to spend some time on his own business while at the nursing home. As far as "call", the nursing home hasn't had much of a system, so Akihiro can set it up however he likes! The owner of the nursing home owns a hotel that is about a seven minute drive to the Shioda church. We can stay there any night of the week and both receive breakfast and supper in our room--all for free! They will also pay for our transportation fees if we would commute from Takao (our current home). (The nursing home is about one hour and twenty minutes by car from our place and about the same by train.)The hotel even has its own onsen (hot spring--see previous post about 'no clothes!') and wireless internet in the lobby. The owner has many good contacts within the community that will be helpful for the church and for us. Akihiro worked out a good contract (with the help of Tsuyoshi, his lawyer brother) to arrange for enough vacation to allow for trips back to the States and for conferences/business meetings. He will also be able to continue to work a couple days a week teaching residents in another city. He already has many other ideas for how to use this nursing home job opportunity to help train other doctors in geriatrics.
Another blessing of this whole thing is that Mrs. Sato has been coming to church regularly. She even brought her son, the former Kindergarten student, to church one day. He had not been there for 17 years, but remembered many of the people. We hope and pray the Sato's will continue to attend!
Akihiro will start work October 30th. The manager of the nursing home is glad to have him come, but can't believe a young doctor who has been trained in America would want to work at a nursing home. He finally understood when Akihiro said that he was a Christian and that his mission is to help people. This job allows him to still be able to help with church activities and have a family life--something quite rare for other doctor jobs in Japan. Akihiro will have an opportunity to practice his skills as a geriatrician, but also to help patients and families make end-of-life decisions and hopefully be able to tell them of the one true Creator God!
We will probably stay at the hotel most Sunday and Monday nights--avoiding Sunday evening traffic regurning from church. We will have to see how the rest of the week works out. I will enroll in Japanese classes in the Isawa area and I don't think I will have trouble finding things to keep me busy--helping Lois and the church people in the area, working on the book, catching up on emails, learning Japanese, and perhaps talking on web camera to my new Japanese friend who wants to learn English!
Amazing how God provides! Thanks for your prayers--for surely they have been answered in the provision of this job! Please continue to pray for us as we begin this new phase!