I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Psalm 32:8

After God called us to missionary work, we were initially relatively clueless about how to get started. We knew very little about missions, let alone missions in Asia. But God led us relatively quickly to OMF International, a mission organization that focuses specifically on people from Asia. We identified strongly with OMF’s values. As a faith-based mission, they have trusted God in all things since their founding by Hudson Taylor, whether it be financial provision, protection from danger, or guidance in their work.

When we visited OMF’s German headquarters, it felt like we were visiting family. Although everything was new, the atmosphere was warm and familiar, and we immediately felt a spiritual connection. This confirmed once again that we should go with OMF.

Our Training at Bible School

As long-term missionaries, we needed at least two years of theological training. God guided us in this as well when He sent a couple our way at the OMF Autumn Mission Festival 2017 who told us enthusiastically about the “Cornerstone Bible College for Mission Training” in the Netherlands.

The focus there is on Bible-based and practical missionary training. This means that in addition to theology and Bible study, you also learn a lot about intercultural communication, mission history, and teamwork—skills that are essential for working in an international mission community.

After spending the following months clearing out our household, reading up on mission topics and Japanese culture, and gathering prayer supporters, we began our training at Cornerstone in August 2018. Since Cornerstone is an international Bible school where you live on campus with students from many other cultures in close quarters, the time there was a big adjustment for us with many new challenges. In retrospect, however, we cannot imagine a better preparation for our daily life as missionaries in Japan.

This time has confronted us with our own cultural biases and taught us to rethink many things. After all, we don’t want to impose our own German Christian culture on the people of Japan, but rather help them find their own personal relationship with God as Japanese people. During our time at Bible school, we also learned a lot about emotional health and healing, and were able to work through our own emotional baggage.

It was also not easy for Julian to write the last chapters of his PhD thesis while studying at Bible school, but God made it happen, he was able to successfully defend his thesis in February 2020. This happened just in time, because shortly afterwards our plans were completely turned upside down.

Our Eventful Departure

Originally, we had planned to finish Bible school in July 2020 and leave for Japan in the fall. From March to May, we did an eight-week internship in Japan as part of our Bible school training to get a taste of OMF’s work there. However, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, our return flights were canceled twice. So, we were stuck in Japan and had to complete our Bible school training from there, which, thankfully, was possible.

Because there was now also an entry ban for Germans to Japan and it did not look like it would be lifted before our planned departure in the fall, we considered whether we should perhaps stay in Japan. The only problem was that we didn’t know if there would be enough time to obtain a long-term visa before our tourist visas expired. Furthermore, it is generally not even possible to apply for such a long-term visa from within Japan.

As we prayed about this, we felt more and more that God wanted us to try it anyway. So, we took a step of faith and applied for a long-term missionary visa through OMF Japan. The immigration authorities accepted our application but told us that it would not be processed as long as the entry ban was in place.

To be honest, we didn’t know what was better: stay in Japan or return to Germany for the time being? Both had advantages and disadvantages. So, we left the decision entirely in God’s hands. We said to ourselves, “If it is His will that we stay in Japan, He will somehow take care of this visa.”

It turned out that it really was God’s will, because He made the impossible possible, and our visa was approved exactly one day before our tourist visa expired! To this day, we have not learned how God actually did it. We had heard some miraculous visa stories from other missionaries in recent months. Now we can tell our own story to the glory of God!