road to recovery

...It's 5 a.m. Saturday morning and I've been awake since 4:30. However, yesterday and this morning I feel so much better than the first two days after returning from my 4 week journey throughout Asia.

...My internal time clock is starting to reset. To help it I went for a morning run on Wednesday and Thursday. This morning I plan on doing a 25 mile bike ride. Exercise always helps me recover more quickly.

...Mary handled the jet lag like a pro. She was back in her art studio creating away the last couple of days.

...We look forward to reconnecting with our church community this weekend. Tonight we gather with our small group for dinner and Bible study. Tomorrow we join with our church in worship and look forward to seeing more friends there.

...Where in the world is Bruce? - I wondered a couple of days ago when I was dragging from jet lag, but now renewed and working in Asia from Woodcreek Street.

bound for home from Tokyo airport

...Mary and I are at the Tokyo airport waiting for our flight home. It`s Tuesday morning 10:30 a.m. in Japan and 9:30 p.m. Monday in Charlotte.

...What a great trip. Mary has so enjoyed her "cultural plunge" into Japan and Asia. She can speak some Japanese with the best of them. By the way, while I am typing this on a computer at the airport, all the characters on the screen are in Japanese. So hopefully I am clicking on the right bottoms.

...Thank you tracking with us and praying for us.

...We`re coming home! But after 4 weeks in Asia this is feeling more and more like my second home.

great people in Japan

...Mary and I just wrapped up our time with the Asian Access North American missionaries serving here in Japan with Japanese pastors in planting churches. We rode a ferry each day to the meetings, as they were held on an island off from Hiroshima. The weather was beautiful each day of the retreat.

...What a great group of co-labors with which to be a part. Tomorrow morning Mary and I take the bullet train back to Tokyo and Tuesday fly home.

...We're ready. While it was been a great trip, it has been four weeks for me.

...Heading towards home on Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. in Hiroshima, while the sun is just rising in Charlotte, NC on Sunday morning.

Etijima Island

..It is Saturday morning in Hiroshima. Our Asian Access retreat is being held on Etijima Island in the archipelago of Hiroshima.

..20 Asian Access missionaries, plus their children are gathered for 4 days of fellowship, updates and thinking about how to strengthen the work with Japanese pastors to help them plant 1,000 reproducing churches.

..I led a 3 hour discussion yesterday on the continued important role of our missionaries partnering with the Japanese.

..Mary and I are feeling good. She has adapted to the culture like a duck to water. What a joy for both of us to be here together.

31st anniversary on bullet train

...Mary and I are riding along on a bullet train from Tokyo to Hiroshima. The towns and countryside are passing in the blink of an eye.

..It's Wednesday, October 11 at 11:30 a.m. On this day 31 years ago at 2 p.m. Mary and I were married in San Bernardino, California.

..Over breakfast this morning we talked about the blessings of the Lord. How amazing that we celebrate our anniversary while ministering and strengthening the church across Asia.

..Our son Olin called us on our internet phone this morning and we called Luke our other son. Now lest you think Olin was so thoughtful to call us on our anniversary, that was not the case. His Air Force crew had taken a trip to San Francisco and we wanted to hear about it. If you are interested you can see photos and his blog at http://ojohnson.blogspot.com

We called Luke our other son who is a high school teacher in Charlotte. It was in the middle of the day, so we just left a message. (Luke, we wish you were with us on this train, knowing how much you enjoy the relaxing ride via trains).

..That is to say, Luke and Olin are a great joy and blessing to us. My friend Perry Bowers challenged me in May to think out 3 generations, not just next week, or month or year. That has so impacted my thinking - in my responsibility to love and nurture Mary, my discipleship and relationship with our two adult sons and in my work with Asian Access.

..Thirty one years of being married to Mary Helmly Johnson has been God's greatest blessing in my life and brought me the greatest joy.

..Where in the world is Bruce - sitting next to the love of my life on a train going 120 mph across Japan.

reunited

...This photo pretty well sums up how Mary and I feel to be reunited in Tokyo.

...It's 4 p.m. Monday afternoon here. Both of us had good flights into Narita airport here in Tokyo. We slept 11 hours last night. Mary only slept about 2 hours on her flight, so she was tired. And today she has had very little jet lag.

...We've just been enjoying a relaxed day. Tomorrow we take the train into central Tokyo and spend Tuesday there. Then Wednesday morning we take the bullet train 5 hours south to Hiroshima.

...Where in the world is Bruce? - back with his sweetheart in Japan. Ooooooooyyyaaaaaaaa.

blogging from Singapore airport

...It's 10:30 p.m. Saturday night - this must be the Singapore airport.

...Hey, I found a computer in the Singapore airport - so I thought I'd do a self portrait of me blogging.

...I talked to Mary last night from Kuala Lumpur. She asked me what date it was. To be honest I suddenly was not even sure what month it was. I knew it was Saturday. (Okay, I can just hear some of you saying, "Hey Bruce, wake up! You're not getting any younger.")

...Give me a break - I have been traveling in warm climates close to the equator, so the thought of it being fall, with leaves starting to fall is not on my mind. When I left Charlotte three weeks ago it was warm, still summer like. In Kuala Lumpur it's the tropics.

...I guess I have been so focused on my meetings and taking one day at a time I lost track of the month.

...Well, when I get to Tokyo tomorrow morning, that will bring me back to reality. It is suppose to be in the 60's.

...Traveling and wondering myself "Where in the world is Bruce?"

Discovered Minnesota in Kuala Lumpur

...When I was in Kuala Lumpur last March 2006 I met a couple - Gary and Jessica Gilbertson. We discovered that Gary and I are the same age and had grown up 50 miles from each other in Central Minnesota. Gary and Jessica are now living in Kuala Lumpur and oversee a group of businesses that they own throughout the world. We have become good friends. We spend Friday afternoon and evening together and also Saturday morning, before I had to pack and head to the airport.

... Here I am with Gary and Jessica in front of the world famous Twin Towers of Kuala Lumpur. The towers used to be the tallest buildings in the world until Taiwan built a building 4 meters taller.

...Jessica was an executive with a hotel chain before she and Gary married. She serves Asian Access as our event coordinator for meetings we hold in Kuala Lumpur. She knows her business and is creative and talented. She's a great asset to Asian Access. Asian Access will be holding our 40th Anniversary celebration in Kuala Lumpur this coming March. It will gather together all our staff and leaders from across Asia, our board of directors and friends of the ministry. We're expecting 150 people. Jessica is helping coordinate the event from the KL side.

...Gary is a global consultant on entrepreneurship, having launched and sold literally dozens of companies. Both love Christ. So I always look forward to now coming to Kuala Lumpur to be with my friends Gary and Jessica.

...Indeed the world is small and seemingly growing smaller with friendships across the globe.

spending time together

...The culture of Asia is about relationships. There is no substitute for just spending time together and building a relationship.


...That's what David Dayalan and I have been doing the past couple of days in KL (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). David leads the Asian Access work in India. He came for the Asian Access leaders gathering, so we both stayed on. I had some meetings, in which he joined me. We both had work to do and we also spent time talking and planning about India. We did a little shopping. We even worked out in the gym of the hotel. It was just spending time.

...We got to know each other better. We discussed ministry. We dreamed about the future. We spoke into each others lives and talked about the importance for leaders to have people we help them see their blind spots.

...Our vision in Asian Access is to see a vibrant community of servant leaders serving the church across Asia. The last few days have been deepening and building that vibrant community.

asians reaching asians

...Because in Asian Access we focus our work among leading pastors we see a growing initiative - Asians reaching Asians. Globalization has made travel so much easier and affordable. People leave their country to move to another country of Asia seeking a better living standard.

...Increasingly Asian churches are training and sending trained leaders to other countries to minister and serve within these transplanted communities of citizens from their home country.

...Above is a Malaysian businessman who employees 150 Nepalese. As a follower of Christ, he has wanted to have someone who would work and live among them to meet their spiritual, emotional and cultural needs. As the Lord would have it this businessman sat across the dinner table from a pastor and his wife from Nepal at our Asian Access meetings this week in Kuala Lumpur. They discovered their common desire to serve the Nepalese community living in Malaysia - some 250,000. It reminds me of the teaching, man plans his steps, but God guides his way.

...Watching the Kingdom unfold from KL. Now its off to another appointment this Friday afternoon.

connecting with locals

...One of the interesting and enjoyable sides of all this travel is connecting with locals. Often times we can barely understand our spoken languages, but we communicate none the less. It's amazing how non-verbals of hand motions, facial expressions and head movement get the point across and bridge the language barrier.

...Above is a photo of me along with my colleague, Jeff Johnston with the waiter at a restaurant in New Delhi. I make it a point to go to this restaurant every visit to India. The food is excellent and I want to keep building the relationship to let them see and know about Christ in me.

...Jeff took some video of the cooks preparing our food. The chef and cooks felt like they were film stars. They loved the attention. So of course I took a photo of Jeff with the head chef. It's ways like this that open doors of communication. Now when I walk into the restaurant in New Delhi they know me and I can continue to build on the relationship and share my relationship with Christ.

...Often times these locals that serve us are from a lower cast. They are treated poorly by their countrymen. So just to smile and talk with them is huge. The fellow above served the pastors and me during our Asian Access training week. Several of the pastors took opportunity to connect with him. They know we are pastors and follow Jesus. Now they see the difference Jesus makes in our lives and how we care for people and live out the Great Commandment.

...Sometimes the connection builds on previous contacts the locals have with followers of Christ. Pictured above is David Dayalan, right, with two young fellows we met in a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. They grew up in the same city in India as David. David is the Asian Access director for India. You should have seen how the eyes of these chaps brightened when David spoke to them in Tamil. They quickly opened up and told David how lonely they are. David talked with them about faith in Christ. They said some other people had talk to them about this Jesus. So David encouraged them to read the little booklet that the other people had left.

...So, I journey on, connecting with locals and praying that the One who lives in me will quicken their hearts and draw them into a transforming relationship.