My name is Stephen Carrell – I’m a missionary who has lived most of my life in Japan. When I was born my parents were preparing to go to Japan to be missionaries, so I had an early start in having the privilege of learning about a culture and language different from the nation of my birth. For me, living in Japan is not unusual and being bilingual is a very natural part of who I am. After my first 15 years growing up in Japan, my introduction to the country of my birth began with high school, college, graduate school, and marriage, as I prepared myself to become a full time missionary. My wife Debbie (now deceased) and I were able to serve as missionaries for 36 of our 39 years of marriage. I’m currently preaching and teaching in Japanese each week at a church just outside of Tokyo. Our children were both born and raised in Japan until they finished high school and currently reside in the U.S. I also have 2 grandchildren who bring me great joy as well. Perhaps the greatest joy I’ve had in life is being a Christian and sharing my faith with those around me, so that they might have opportunity to find purpose and meaning for life wherever they might be. Explaining the Japanese culture, language, and the Christian life in Japanese and training others to pass on those values is what make my life most meaningful. Besides my work of pointing others to Christ, I also enjoy different kinds of historical research – like family genealogy, watching movies, music and singing, traveling (mostly by car or train), cooking, reading a wide range of books, and networking via the Internet. It is my hope that this site helps you to learn more about Japan and living the Christian life.
You can see the links to studying about Japan and its culture. I hope to work through other sites I’ve made and will be giving some links to those pages in the near future. Thank you. Steve