Hi from P-Chan
Hello! This month Shiori-san has asked me to write a brief self-introduction as an Associate Staff member.
My name is Roberta Peabody, I am a missionary with The Evangelical Alliance Mission since 1991. I have lived mostly in Tokyo for many years. I grew up in a very small town in Massachusetts that no one has ever heard of. I never dreamed as a child of serving the Lord, nor being a missionary but here I am!
God leads us in ways we rarely anticipate, but when we reflect back on the path, aren’t we glad we followed in obedience.
I visited Osaka, Japan when I was a college student just for a summer to teach English, even though I wasn’t so excited about the teaching part, I enjoyed getting to know the people. Even back then, the pastor’s daughter was a “returnee”. It was a hard summer as I knew no Japanese vocabulary other than words for “toilet”, “exit” and “thank-you”. I had only been a Christian for five years and I was so stressed out and overwhelmed in that summer. I do remember that my English class translator would pray with me when I was feeling the most homesick and I learned that God could understand her prayers in Japanese and mine in English, that was a huge spiritual lesson and encouraged my young faith.
When I came back to Japan as a full time missionary many years later (more on the in between years next time) I lived in Nagano prefecture and some of the first Japanese Christians I met were RETURNEES. Isn’t it amazing how God knits our pathways even when we are not paying attention.
