The new year brings many new things, including an overdue family photo update in the header our email updates! Much happened over the last month, so please be sure to visit the updates page on our website for all the details.
In December, the Lord opened the door at a local high school for helping with their English Speaking Society. This is an after-school club that meets once a week for students who are interested in brushing up their conversational skills. They only met twice during December, but the door remains open to continue attending.
We hosted a Christmas Party at our house and invited friends and prior church visitors to come. We introduced these friends not only to gingerbread house making, but also, more importantly, to who Jesus is. This is a first step of many to come.
During December, we also had the opportunity to be a part of the second church plant Bro Hill started in the central part of the city. The picture above is from the special Christmas Eve service we did. One of the most exciting parts of the Christmas events was that Takafumi, who got saved in November, led singing at some of the services.
The New Year’s holiday is when many people go home and spend time with family. Additionally, it is a very idolatrous season in Japan. We stayed up to watch the new year come in, but many programs were being broadcasted from shrines and temples all across Japan. Seeing the people flood into these places was indeed heartbreaking. On New Year’s Morning, we did a couple of live Facebook videos so you could see what it is like. Please visit Facebook.com/ReachingJapan to watch.
As the dust settles from the New Year’s festivities, people begin to get back into their normal routines. There are a couple of guys who have attended the recent church plant who are interested in studying the Bible. Please be praying for us as we work to show them Jesus.
Yours for Japan,
James, Rosie, Silas and ???