Our story

In the summer of 2010 Kermit returned to Tokyo to seek more of what God was leading him to do in Japan. He first met Kaori after a church service while eating with mutual friends. By chance Kermit happened to sit at the same table with Kaori… but her first impression of him was that he was not friendly. They only saw each other a few more times that summer before it was time for Kermit to return to America, but oddly Kermit felt led to pray for Kaori and just a week before returning to the States ask Kaori about hanging out together. She kept wondering “Why does he want to hangout even though he doesn’t know me that well…?” But she decided to see him anyways and thought it would be nice to enjoy getting to know one another as brother and sister in Christ.

But! While hanging out with Kermit he told her that he had been praying about her and thought it was possible they would get married. Kaori was very very shocked! “Is he crazy?!?!”… Kermit too thought he himself was crazy! He knew she wouldn’t understand but felt he needed to tell her anyway. Surprisingly Kaori prayed about it.

A few days later we met once more at a JCFN rally event. We went to get ice cream before it started and that’s when we both felt a strong peace of God’s confirmation leading us to be together… it was a highly unusual experience.

Kermit returned to the States two days later and soon after we began a long distance relationship. From the beginning there were many challenges with personal issues, cultural differences, family problems, health, and so on. But after 9 months Kermit returned to Japan. Through many prayers and the grace of God our relationship has gotten stronger. The more we experienced and have had to work through together the more our uncertainty about marriage became clear and we were married in the fall of 2012.

God has done a tremendous work in both of our lives and we look forward to walking together on this on going adventure that remains ahead of us. We are sure that there will be many more challenges a head but we trust God will continue to give us strength that we don’t naturally possess ourselves to press on in this life he has called us to.