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 into missions, we were initially relatively clueless about how to get started. We knew very little about missions in general, and certainly nothing about missions in Asia. But God led us relatively quickly to OMF International, a mission organization that focuses specifically on people from Asia. This organization was founded in 1865 as the China Inland Mission (CIM) by the English physician James Hudson Taylor. His heart’s desire was not only to proclaim God’s good news in China’s coastal cities but also to bring it to the previously unreached inland provinces of China.

Hudson Taylor and the missionaries who set out for China with him were men and women of prayer who entrusted both their daily work and their provision entirely to God. As a result of their unconditional, childlike faith and the hours they spent in prayer each day, they saw God working powerfully in China.

In the 1950s, however, after the Communists had seized power in China, the CIM was forced to leave the country. Instead of dissolving the mission, the leadership decided to move to other countries in East Asia. Although Japan was not a focus of the CIM at that time, after receiving two large donations for mission work in Japan, the mission felt led by God to go there as well. Following the pioneering spirit of Hudson Taylor and his concern for the unreached, they began in places where there had been no Christian mission work until then: the two northernmost prefectures, Hokkaido and Aomori. In 1964, the CIM changed its name to “Overseas Missionary Fellowship” (OMF).

When God led both of us to OMF, we were particularly drawn to the values of this mission fellowship. As a faith-based mission, OMF has operated since its founding on the premise that when God calls people to a work, He will also provide for their work, their livelihood, and their protection from danger—in keeping with Hudson Taylor’s motto, “Have faith in God!”

When we visited OMF’s German headquarters, it felt to us as if we were visiting family. Although everything was new, the atmosphere was both warm and familiar, and we immediately felt a spiritual connection with the team. This further strengthened our conviction that we should go out as missionaries 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 enthusiastically told us 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 great deal about intercultural communication, anthropology, 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-related 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 students from many different cultures live together in close quarters on campus, our time there was a major adjustment for us, with many new challenges. In hindsight, however, we couldn’t have imagined 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 trust relationship with God. We were also able to learn a great deal about emotional health and healing during our time at Bible school, and were able to work through our own emotional struggles as well.

It wasn’t easy for Julian to write the final chapters of his doctoral thesis while attending Bible school, but God made it happen that he was able to successfully defend his dissertation in February 2020. That happened not a month too soon, because shortly afterward, 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, as part of our Bible school training, we spent eight weeks doing an internship in Japan to get a first-hand look at OMF’s work there. However, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, our return flights were canceled. So, we were stranded in Japan and had to complete our Bible school training from there—which, thank God, the school made possible.

Because there was now also an entry ban for Germans to Japan, and it didn’t look like it would be lifted by the time of our planned departure in the fall, we began to wonder if it wouldn’t make more sense to just stay in Japan. The only problem was that we didn’t know if there would be enough time before our tourist visas expired to apply for a long-term visa. Furthermore, it’s normally not even possible to apply for such a long-term visa from within Japan.

As we prayed about this matter, we increasingly felt God leading us to give it a try. So, we took a step of faith and applied for a long-term missionary visa through OMF Japan. Although the immigration authorities accepted the application, they told us that—regardless of whether it was legally possible or not—the application would not be processed as long as the entry ban remained in effect. So, we had no idea what would happen with the application. To be honest, we also didn’t know which was better: staying in Japan or returning to Germany for the time being? Both had pros and cons. And so, we placed this decision entirely in God’s hands as well. We told ourselves, “If it is His will that we stay in Japan, He will somehow take care of this visa as well.”

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 still don’t know how God managed to do that. We had heard some miraculous visa stories from other missionaries during our Bible school classes. Now, to God’s glory, we can share our own!