Tomoe /toe-MOE-eh/ Hasegawa is an eleven-year-old girl in seventeenth-century Japan who aspires to be courageous like the samurai. After Christianity is banned and persecutions intensify, Tomoe’s Catholic community flees to a remote island. They are pursued by the...
Invited: The Power of Hospitality in an Age of Loneliness
Coming into marriage, my husband and I had very different experiences with hospitality. I grew up in a socially “quiet” family. My parents’ friends never stopped by unannounced (or practically ever) and I can only recall one memory of our family hosting a party. We...
A Prayer for the Nation
My piano teacher slid onto the piano bench beside me, but neither of us touched the keys. The studio was unnaturally quiet. My weekly lessons were usually filled with simple sonatas and easy etudes as Hallee encouraged me, an adult beginner, to relax my hands and lean...
Laura Peterson
Laura is a travel writer turned fiction writer who sees God’s creative hand in the rich tapestry of cultures around the world. She worked as a travel writer and managing editor for The Best Places to Kiss series (Beginning Press) before the US Navy sent her family on a three-year adventure to southern Japan. When she wasn’t teaching English or exploring her host country, she was writing. Her travel essays have appeared in TheRavensPerch and Wanderlust-Journal, and she was a contributor to Her Fork in the Road: Women Celebrate Food and Travel (Travelers’ Tales). Laura currently lives outside of Seattle with her dentist husband and two spunky daughters. She enjoys hosting friends from around the world and discovering the best places to eat sushi in the Northwest. Her work-in-progress is a middle-grade historical novel set in seventeenth-century Japan. Connect with her on Facebook: laura.j.peterson.author, Instagram: laura.j.peterson, or her website: laurajpetersonauthor.com.