MARSHALL MUSINGSAugust 2018 Serving the Lord in

Japan with OMF, but currently currently in Australia on home assignment.

Worker Needed by DavidOur workers in Northern Honshu have children who

need help with their education. These missionaries are based in rural areas, and send their kids to Japanese schools. This seems to be working well overall, but there is one part of their education that Japanese primary schools cannot meet: English!

Children of missionaries need to learn English at a similar rate to their peers back home. This means they need to be able to read and write, not just speak and listen.

OMF Japan is asking God to provide someone who is willing to spend a year or more tutoring di"erent children, helping them with their English school work. We do not know if it possible, but we want to ask. More about the opportunity can be found on our website: https://tinyurl.com/english-tutor-japan.

It would be demanding work, but such a blessing to the children that you serve. There would be opportunities to contribute more directly to the work of evangelism and discipleship, too.

Do you know someone who might like to do this? Would you like to do this? Please pray with us to see if this is God’s will for one of his people.

David and Wendy Marshall in Australia until early January, living in Collingwood Park.Phone: 0491 061 673 (Wendy’s)Blog: www.mmuser.blogspot.comWebpage:

ido.com.au/marshalls.phpOMF Australia website: www.omf.org/australiaOMF Japan website:

omf.org/japanOMF Japan Facebook page:

facebook.com/OMFJapan/

Hello from Ipswich! A lot of water has gone under the bridge in the two months since we last wrote. We’ve moved to Australia for our six-month home assignment. In the last two months we handed over (most of) our jobs in Japan, cleaned up our house, packed our suitcases, flew to Sydney for a week’s holiday, flew to Brisbane, moved into a rental house, and started meeting people and speaking at churches and other events.

That’s quite a list. What’s not included in that is the adjustments that we’ve all made, including the boys. Our lives in Australia looks very di"erent to our lives in Japan. For a simple example: transport. In Japan we live close to school, shops, and church. Most days we get around on foot or on bikes. In Australia, like most people, we drive.

In Australia we work together. Inste-ad of David going to school each day and Wendy booting up the computer, we’re both based at home, with various meetings outside the house. Instead of our jobs being mostly weekdays and o$ce hours, we’re busy on weekends. No two weeks are alike, with one-o"meetings in di"erent places most weeks. Instead of doing what we’re gifted at, we spend time talking about what we do, and trying to explain the needs of Japan and what a missionary lifestyle is all about.

In Japan Doug and Jamie both walk to school and spend all day there, often with sports training after school. In Australia we drive Jamie to school and Doug is doing his school work at home using online courses from CAJ and two American schools. Both boys have had a lot of adjustment: Jamie with di"erent subjects, teachers, timetables, sports, and friends; Douglas with not having physical classes, doing a lot more reading, and spending all day at home.

All these adjustments take their toll and we’ve found ourselves tired and out of sorts. We’ve also found that life (and

our responses to life) has been much less predictable than usual. We value your prayers as we continue to adjust and work our way through these six months. It is a pleasure to meet so many who’ve supported us over the years, sticking with us through thick and thin. But it also is challenging, as we work outside of our comfort zones.

Adjusting to Australia

schools. This seems to be working well overall, but there is one part of their education that Japanese primary schools

of sorts. We’ve also found that life (and

Supporting missionaries

Pictured are the house and car !that you prayed for and God provided.

PLEASE SUPPORT US IN PRAYER Prayer points % Pray for us as we speak to various churches,

groups, and individuals, that God would do the work he chooses to do through us, and that we would trust that he’s working.

% For wisdom in balancing our time, with deputation responsibilities, as well as time with family and friends, and time as a nuclear family also. Wendy continues to handle some editing responsibilities from her role in Australia, and David is available to teachers at CAJ on a consultation basis.

% Pray for us as we continue to find our way with Doug doing school at home with online courses from America and CAJ.

% Pray for OMF Japan as we continue to go through transition in our leadership. Several leaders are new and our new field director is on home assignment too, so his role is being covered by a senior missionary.

Praise points % For friends who found us accomodation,

furniture, and a car for our home assignment.% For safe travel and quickly getting physically

settled.% For many opportunities to share at churches.% Callum has received support from Centrelink

and passed his first semester subjects.% Jamie’s settled into school well (the school he

attended three years ago).% Quickly getting internet and phone access.% For many opportunities in our calendar to speak

to various groups.% Time to spend with family and friends.

June started with school and end-of-school events. It concluded with us shutting up our house and flying to Australia. In the middle we had farewell events with various friends,

Jamie did art for a week in a holiday prog-ram with CAJ and then went to a summer

camp for several days before we left Japan.We landed in Sydney,

Australia on July 2 and spent four nights in the city (with Callum), then a weekend south of there with good friends. We arrived in Queensland on July 8, and, thanks to the e"orts of many people, were able to sleep that night in our newly rented house.

The next 10 days were a blurr of appointments, debriefs, searching for wifi and libraries, setting up internet and phones, and preparation for school starting. Thankfully now we’re physically settled and more able to focus on getting into the work that God has for us in Australia.

We’ve been blessed with visits from family already, and also meeting up with a few friends too. It’s great to be welcomed back to Australia yet again. We look forward to seeing many of you in the coming five months.In Christ, David and Wendy

Pray for us as we speak to various churches,

the work he chooses to do through us, and that

June started with school and end-of-school events. It concluded with us shutting up our house and flying to Australia. In the middle we had farewell events with various friends,

Jamieram with CAJ and then went to a summer

camp for several days before we left Japan.

On the home

front

Please consider inviting us to your home or small group. Think about doing something simple, like ordering pizza and inviting us and several others for an informal chat.

Coming up… August 4 David speaking at a men’s breakfast (Sth Twmba BC) 5 Christlife (West Toowoomba Presbyterian) 15 Central Ipswich PC (Evergreens group) 19 South Toowoomba Baptist 25 am OMF Qld Heart4Asia (at Creek Rd Presbyterian) 26 Hertford St Baptist Church 31 OMF Australia meetings in Sydney September1 OMF National conference Sydney (all welcome) 2 Belconnen WPC Canberra (am and pm)

Time to spend with family and friends.

Please consider inviting

small group. Think about doing something simple, like ordering pizza and

Photos from top: playing tourists in Sydney, beautiful sunset at Scarborough, scrub within easy walking distance of our house in Ipswich, in Kangaroo Valley with friends—our first Aussie BBQ (it was pretty chilly).