Welcome to ITO NEWS

We are so thankful to feel God leading us each step of the way as we settle in Japan--finding a place to live, providing household needs, providing Christian fellowship, and countless other blessings. He has also blessed us with many opportunities for Akihiro's work--actually so many opportunities, that he (we) are having a difficult time to see which path we should take. He has a 2 day a month job as a preceptor for residents in the Kofu area (closer to Shioda church area) and was planning to do part time jobs while he established his education for residents/medical students business. This week, though, he was informed of a nursing home near the Shioda church who really needs a full time doctor. We are waiting to get more details, but are wondering what God's will is. Please pray that we will know God's perfect will in this matter!

We also had an interesting job opportunity. Akihiro was contacted by a publishing company that publishes medical books. An editor would like him to write a book about medical English. Once the editor found out that I was American and a nurse, he was interested in having me help with the book too. We met with him last week and are excited to start this project. We are thankful that it is a project that we can do from home and is flexible in its hours. I feel excited, yet somewhat hesitant, though, because I certainly am not trained as an author! I am praying for God's help as we start this project--knowing I can't do it on my own! The book is a great opportunity to publish Akihiro's company name in Japan and could prove very beneficial for his business. It is amazing to see how God has opened doors for us!

Thanks so much for all your prayers on our behalf!

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!

Thanks for your prayers as Akihiro began his new job at Isawa Nursing Home! He had a great first day yesterday. Mark and Bev and I got a tour at the end of the day and were impressed by the cleanliness of the building and the cheerfulness of the staff. Some patients are confused, but many are alert and oriented. Akihiro has his own office which is quite nice. He seems to have a good rapport with the staff already and looks forward to working with them. It is about a 10 minute drive from our hotel, so very convenient for me to drop him off and then have the use of the car during the day. I can now use the Japanese GPS navigation system (sorta--pick the second line of kanji, then the third line of kanji, then the longest choice, then click three times and follow the map!)

I got a call from my language school in Kofu that they are "down" a teacher this week and were wondering if I could help out with some of their English classes for children--5 and 10 years old. I worried that I wouldn't be able to do it because of my poor Japanese, but he says that I will be with a Japanese teacher and that if I can just say, "My favorite color is____" I will be a success! Sounds easy enough for me! I will teach Tuesday and Wednesday for about 2.5 hours in the late afternoon. I am looking forward to it!

Spring continues to be in full bloom here! The flowering trees are done, but there are lots of other interesting flowers--many I have never seen before! I've got to be careful though, when I am out for a walk. Today as I walked along a narrow street gauking at the flowers, I about walked into the open gutter! On the older roads here they have these open gutters that are over a foot deep and at least a foot wide that rain water runs in. Lois told me that it is so funny to observe when somebody drives in one. The other drivers get out of their cars and lift it back on the road, bow to eachother, and get back in their cars and drive away. I have never seen it and am trying to be very careful not to put my car in the gutter! I'm still not totally used to driving in Japan--nor the bowing thing! It makes me get the giggles sometimes! I do find, though, that I am starting to bow too--almost unconsciously. I hope I don't bow to the minister on the pulpit in Tremont when he says good morning or finishes up!

Well, I am counting the days until we go home to the States--we leave on Saturday! My mother, the typical mom, is already asking about our favorite foods she can cook while we are home! My mouth is watering already when I think about a nice juicy steak!

On Tuesday we were relieved to learn that we will not be commuting to the north island of Hokkaido for work. Akihiro's dad's company did not win the auction for the medical facility. We were prepared to go there if that is where God wanted us, but as we look back on the situation, we can see God's hand and (seemingly) why it did not happen! I'm so thankful that the Lord knows what is best and will gladly lead us if we allow Him to! So, now, where does Akihiro work? Well, he has many objectives and desires and we are waiting on the Lord to see how he opens up the way. Overall his objective is to remain available to support our church people and be somewhat of a missionary in whatever his work would be. He also continues to be interested in learning real estate and working with his dad's company, yet also has dreams about improving Japanese medical education. When we came to Japan 9 months ago and didn't have clear direction for work, the Lord provided, so again, we are waiting on Him to do his wonderful work. In the meantime he his twice a month work in a Yamanashi residency clinic and is doing physicals and part-time jobs--this week he read 100 EKGs and Chest x-rays one day!

We really enjoyed our Australian visitors, the Pentsa Family. Their Australian and Hungarian accents were a delight and an inspiration to listen to and the mother's good Hungarian paprikash was a delight to our palates! We took them out to the Shioda area and then in to Tokyo a day! They told us much about their homeland and invited us to visit some spring--September or fall-April. Seems weird that the seasons are backwards like that! We would love to go visit them someday--nearly our same time zone and an 8 hour flight, so not too bad!

Looking at my pictures, I realize I didn't post any from our fishing/business trip to Hakodate! We got to ride in Akihiro's dad's new boat--it was huge! The scenery was beautiful and we didn't get skunked on our fishing trip! Akihiro's dad had caught the fish you see on the plate the day before and the chef at our hotel prepared it, so we enjoyed fresh hand-caught sashimi!

Mt. Hakodate

Yumm!

The rainy season continues here with very humid days. We will have to postpone our Mt. Fuji hike until another week as it is supposed to rain all week! Oh, well.

Yesterday we drove to Chiba-ken (Tateyama, for those who know Japan) to visit a family practice clinic that is run by an acquaintance of Akihiro's. This doctor was trained in family practice in America, just like Akihiro. He returned to Japan about 5 years ago and eventually started his own family practice residency program and clinic. This type of set up is very rare in Japan. Most of the doctors are specialists. This doctor would like Akihiro to help him, so after some prayer and discussion, we decided to give it a try. It is about a 2-2.5 hour drive from our house in Hachioji. He will work two days in a row twice a month (4 days a month) and will stay overnight there two nights a month. He is excited to again be doing true family practice--seeing geriatrics, pediatrics, obstetrics, etc. The drive there was interesting as we drive under the Tokyo Bay about 10 km and then went above the bay on a bridge for several more km. It was a very clear day and we could see Mt. Fuji from the parking area/ rest stop in the middle of the bay. Akihiro will also be starting to teach nursing assistants one day a week for a few months. He likes the variability of his many different jobs and likes the flexibility that it allows.

He met with the architect today to start planning for our house. It is exciting, but also fairly overwhelming! We are keeping busy with the third revision of our book and Akihiro is studying hard for an accounting test he takes this weekend.