“We are a family of five, and we believe God has called us to love and serve the Japanese people.” –Jamison and Kathryne Pals
On the afternoon of Sunday, July 31, Jamison & Kathryne Pals, along with their three children Ezra (3 years), Violet (23 months), and Calvin (2 months) were all killed in a rear-end collision. They were pronounced dead at the scene in Nebraska, USA. They were traveling to Colorado to participate in their final training session for their long-term deployment to be global partners with Bethlehem Baptist Church serving Christ Bible Institute in Nagoya, Japan. The heart cry of Jamison and Kathryne was for the people of Japan to know the joy of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Is the message this family hoped to share in Japan now lost? Are their voices now silent? The answer is “no” to both questions. Likes the saints of Hebrews 11, though they have died, they speak. They speak to us by their testimony of love and faithfulness, and by God’s grace, this testimony has been well-recorded in their own words. During their journey to serve in Japan, the family wrote regular blog posts reflecting on their journey. Jamison was a gifted writer and these posts remind us that their calling was no accident and God was with them every step of the way. It was with joy they laid down their lives in quest to serve in Japan. This blog tells the story of a family who loved the Japanese and longed to share their joy in Jesus Christ with the people of Japan.
The hope for this project is to share the love of Jamison, Kathryne, Ezra, Violet, and Calvin for the Japanese in the Japanese language. Our desire is that Christians who read this will be encouraged and receive fresh courage and hope for serving our great God, and for those who are not yet Christians to taste and see that the Lord is good through their story.
The blog’s contents are copyrighted and belong to the Pals Family Foundation. The posts are being translated and posted chronologically until the entire joyofjapan.org blog is found on this site. The contents are available in Japanese and English by using the language toggle switch on the home page.
This project was completed by Christ Bible Institute with translation provided by Ruah Language Services.
For more about the Pals Family’s story please see:
CBI Director, Brett Rayl’s, eulogy (bilingual)
John Piper’s prayer at the memorial service (bilingual)