48 hours after we returned home from the trip to Miami, which we wrote about on our last blog, we got back in the car and headed to Atlanta! This time, we drove five hours north, from Jacksonville to Atlanta. And we went for 2 reasons.
First, we went to Kuroneko Yamato in Atlanta to bring all the packages we wanted to ship to Japan. After much research and word of mouth recommendations, we decided Yamato, a Japanese company, was a very reliable way to send our important studio equipment, musical instruments, and packages full of memories, to Japan.
We were told that it costs a lot just to have someone come to Jacksonville to pick up your packages…
But we were relieved when we asked if it was possible for us to bring it to the warehouse ourselves, and they said, "Of course it's okay.” 5 hours might sound like too much, but we love and are accustomed to road trips, so 5 hours is a great day trip!
We left at 4:30 in the morning. Driving early in the morning on weekdays is actually quite smooth because there’s not many people on the road and we arrived safely before 10am. We were told they were going to repack everything in their own boxes, so we put most of the things in random boxes and took them to Yamato ourselves.
When we got there, we were greeted by one of the staff. She said apologetically with cardboard box and packaging materials in one hand, "Usually there are three or more people working, but today I'm the only one." But of course it’s our stuff so we decided to help too!
While packing, Ayaka also made a checklist of what was in each box. We were there a total of 4 hours! When we finished, Suro couldn't help but give a high five to Akemi san with a sense of accomplishment. We asked her to take a photo, and she said, "I'm sorry it took so long, but it was fun talking to you two."
It seems that it takes about 4 months to arrive in Japan. Please pray that our packages arrive in Japan safely!
The second purpose of this trip was to meet one of our favorite families! ! ! ! ! The Tsuchida Family! We met at the 2018 Central Conference (CC) in Chicago. The Tsuchida family, who lived in South Carolina at the time, came to visit us inJacksonville.
At CC 2019, we served together as a worship team, and the family participated in one of our YouTube covers!
Jesus the same/Japanese worship cover⇩
They were in Japan from July 2019 to May of this year. When they returned from Japan they were assigned to Atlanta and the husband is now working as the secretary of the Japanese Christian Fellowship Network (JCFN). We absolutely wanted to see them before we went back to Japan! ! We had an amazing and incredibly fun time with them in Atlanta!
Daisuke-san and Hiromu-san lead a Japanese ministry in Atlanta. Also, they are preparing for the Equipper Conference (EC) which is being held in California at the end of the year.
If you are interested in their work, please check out the JCFN website.
We took our luggage to Kuroneko Yamato safely and were able to reunite with the Tsuchida family!
We still have so much to do but we’re excited to take the challenges that come!
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