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Ministry Update | Winter 2019
Merry Christmas everyone!
After about a five month process, I'm excited to share with you that I've been reaccepted to ReachGlobal to serve in Japan as a long-term missionary! I really appreciate all your prayers and encouragement through this process. God first put it on my heart to seriously consider returning to Japan about a year ago so it's amazing to see how he's led me each step of the way.
Being back in Vermont is another step along this path, and already it's been an eventful past two months of being home. At the beginning of November I made a trip to Minneapolis for my final interviews with my sending organization. The interviews went great and I got to meet some new people joining the mission as well as see some familiar faces at the home office. During that trip I also got to see some friends and meet a short-term team that's currently serving in Tokyo this week.
 I received my acceptance about a week after I got back and since then I've spoke at four different churches in the central Vermont area. I've met with many of you guys too. Even though it's been busy, it's a blessing to be able to share about what God is doing in Japan and in my life. I have another church that I'll be speaking at on December 29th and a few more in the works starting in January. I'll keep you updated on those!
I've been trying to meet with as many of my current supporters as possible but if we haven't met yet and you'd like to, then let me know! I've already begun a little bit, but starting in January I will also be reaching out to more churches and individuals who would be interested in joining my prayer and support teams. If you know anyone like that then please connect them to me. Thank you for all you guys do! Again, none of this would be possible without your constant support.
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Prayer Requests:
- Pray for my support raising: Speaking at churches and connecting with my supporters and friends over the last couple months has been very encouraging to me. It's a blessing to have such a supportive team behind me as I move forward in returning to Japan long term. I still have a lot of funds to raise though, and need to add more monthly partners to reach my goal. Pray that I could continue to develop relationships with people and churches who would be interested in supporting me. And pray that I would trust God to provide through this process.
- Pray for my plans for the next year: I don't completely know what my plans will look like, but I know that this coming year will be pretty busy. I'll be traveling a lot for support raising probably around New England and up and down the East Coast. I'll be working on developing relationships with churches around those areas, and while I'm doing all of that, I'll be participating in church planting trainings. Pray that I can have clarity and direction in all these plans and that I wouldn't get caught up in the details.
- Pray for rest and healthy rhythms: I feel like I ask for this a lot, but please be praying for rest and health for me. With everything going on, I don't want to burn out or lose sight of the ultimate goal which is to bring glory to God through my work. I can easily fall into perfectionist habits or distractions that draws me away from my calling. Especially with the holidays coming up, pray that I can develop healthy rhythms for the new year and enjoy the time with my family.
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Visiting old and new teams
 Since I needed to be in Minnesota for my final Change of Status interviews anyways, I decided to fly out a few days early so that I could meet up with some friends. While I was in Tokyo last December I had the privilege of working with an awesome short-term team of college students from Winona, Minnesota. So, when I got into the airport, some of my friends from that team picked me up and we drove down to Winona to meet up with the rest of the team. It was cool to talk with them and see how God has been working in their lives since they went to Japan. It was a really encouraging time for me.
While I was in town, I also met some of the members of the team that are going to Tokyo this year. I got to answer their questions about Japan and pray for them. This team just arrived in Tokyo last Saturday! Please be praying for them as they do ministry in the city and reach out to Japanese students.
Part of my role returning to Japan long term will be to work with incoming short-term teams, so it's exciting for me to see how God has worked through these teams from Winona and how he's used me in this too.
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I got to visit with the team heading to Tokyo while I was in Winona last month.
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Schedule for the coming months:
December 29th - Speaking at Old Brick Church in East Montpelier, VT
February 10-12th - Church Planting Training in Los Angeles, CA
March 2-5th - Exponential Conference in Orlando, FL
If you'd like me to come speak at your church or small group or if I'm going to be in your area and you want to meet up, then please let me know! You can email me at adam.bailey@efca.org.
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Thanks for reading my newsletter!
 I hope you are having a great Christmas season so far. I'll be taking some time off over the holidays, but I'm still available through email. Many of you have asked about my cell phone number too. I have a contract with my Japanese cell phone carrier to let my phone work in America, but I've been having some problems with it so I haven't given out my number yet. As soon as I get it figured out I'll let you know.
Thanks again for keeping up with my updates and of course for you support too! Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!
In Christ,
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