The first journey

I was born in the city of Saku, Japan - a city about an hours journey from our mountain home in Karuizawa. On December 6, 1973, my brother Nathan came down with a bad case of the measles. My father and mother decided to take him to the hospital in Saku City for examination. My mother was three weeks away from her due date and took the opportunity to see a doctor in the hospital. After they examined her, they said, "Soon, soon, Dennis-san" and waved her out the door. As she walked across the street to do some shopping, her water broke. She hobbled back into the doctor's office and exclaimed that she was having a baby. As good Japanese people, they bowed and said, "Oh yes, we can see", not realizing that she was in labor. By the time they realized she was about to give birth, my father and brother were finishing up their appoinment with the pediatrician. An announcement was made over the PA system for Mr. Dennis, stating that his wife was pregnant and would see him now. This was no news to my father and so he made no effort torush to the maternity department. By the time he arrived and was prepped for the delivery room, he walked in just in time to see the nurse holding me precariously in the air while slipping on the wet floors, slick with afterbirth. My grand entrace took 20 mintues, however because I was a premie and had a heart murmur, I was kept in the hospital for several days in an incubator.
Each year on my birthday, we thank my brother Nathan for getting measles. Chances are, my parents would not have made the wintery trip to Saku in time and one can only specualte what would have happened then.
At 6 months, my parents took me to the United States for the first time. We traveled from Narita to Los Angeles and then rented a car for the rest of the journey to the east coast. The story has it that the car broke down somewhere in the Arizona dessert. Without A/C the family munched on ice chips to keep from overheating.
My missionary parents found a Baptist church in the phone book and arranged to stay at the church overnight while the car was fixed. On Sunday, my mother recalls that the small congregation took particular interest to preach the gospel directly to these strange vagabonds in an attempt to make sure they were truly saved. She found it peculiar to be on the other side of the fundementalist sword, fighting to save the heathen lost souls of the world.
After a year in Morgantown, PA, my family moved back to Karuizawa, Japan.

Nagano, Japan