Sept. 1, 2008

Dear Friends,

You are receiving this email because I count you as a friend of mine!

As I look through the email list, I see that you are all from “all walks of my life”. Some of you are family scattered in different parts of the world, some of you are friends from church, some are friends from my Swedish choir or SWEA, some of you are friends from Littleton High School days, and some of you are “old” friends from Sweden or Japan. Some of you already know that I am heading to Japan (in just a few hours!).

It has long been a dream of mine to go back to my childhood/teenage roots and actually be able to stay longer than just have a brief visit. My years in Japan truly influenced my life more than any other single period of my life. Through the Board of International Ministries of American Baptist Churches, USA, I have been given the opportunity to return to the land I love, to do some volunteer work. I will be living in Osaka. Although Osaka was never my home town, it is within a half hour to both Kobe, where I attended Canadian Academy for 8 years, and Kyoto, where I lived for about 2 years. I am hoping that I will be able to reconnect with some friends.

I will be gone from September 2 to October 17. Another dream I’ve had is to introduce Kristina and Kevin to my life “over there”. They have grown up hearing stories about life in Japan, what it was like living in a dorm, what it was like being the only western family living in a Japanese city, what life was like living in a house surrounded by rice paddies, etc. I’ve also had the desire to show them what mission work was really like and to be able to help them have a deeper appreciation for their grandparents who spent their entire lives working in China and Japan. So tomorrow the three of us will be heading to Japan. We will be traveling together for 8 days and that will give us the opportunity to visit the places that were significant in our family history. When they return to Denver on Sept. 10, I will begin my assignment. My plan is to write about our trip and my stay in Osaka and you are welcome to join us on our journey, if you wish!

I covet your prayers for a safe journey.

Margareta/Margie