|
Winter Update
December 2023
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving a few weeks ago and are having a great Advent season so far! I think you hear this from me every update I send, but it has been a busy couple months! In October my church went on a retreat which was a really special time for all of us. In November we had a Tokyo City Team retreat, I finished out three months of intensive Japanese classes, our team hosted a large Thanksgiving dinner that over 40 people came to, and we had a couple days of team meetings to think more about the future. So far in December, I have hosted church at my apartment, took the Japanese Language Proficiency test, and we had a team Christmas party.
It's always interesting celebrating American holidays here in Tokyo. For Thanksgiving we had to import turkeys because you can't get them in Japan. In the past, we have primarily just done Thanksgiving among our team and maybe invited a few other American friends. This year we opened it up to our churches and to other friends. While the food was really good (I helped make the stuffing), and I appreciate the intention of being thankful, I don't care as much about whether or not I celebrate American holidays like Thanksgiving while I'm abroad. What I think is most special, especially this year since we had so many people, is that we are bringing so many people together to eat and have fellowship. I don't think a lot of Japanese people get to experience that. And to do it with our churches and to get an idea of what Christian fellowship among larger groups of believers can look like is such a blessing.
Christmas in Japan is also interesting because it takes all the commercialization of American Christmas with no understanding of its original meaning or proper context. The challenge for us here is to not get caught up in that and be able to share with our Japanese friends our true reason for celebrating. While I am still studying, I have not been able to be a part of as much ministry, but I am encouraged by what my teammates are doing to share about Jesus's birth this Christmas season. My teammate Melanie has worked really hard to develop a Christmas Bible study. My church is also having a Christmas outreach party that many new people have already said they want to come to. Please be praying for all these opportunities!
The Tokyo team just had our Christmas party too where we did a Secret Santa gift exchange and ate dinner together. It was a lot of fun! Between the various dinners we’ve had together and our team retreat in the beginning of November, it’s been great to spend so much time together. We are often all busy doing our own ministries so it’s a blessing to be able to get together and see each other. The team retreat was really great too because we were by Mount Fuji and the leaves on the trees were all changing colors. It was beautiful! At the retreat we went over our history from when the team was first started until now. I think remembering where we have come from and how far God has led us is really helpful. Sometimes in the moment it can feel like nothing is happening, but looking at the timeline we can see all the progress. In 2013 when the team was first getting started we didn’t have anything other than a desire to pray and to see where God is leading us. Now ten years later our team has grown to fifteen people, we have four house churches we’ve planted, thriving prayer ministries, and fruitful university student ministries on two campuses.
Likewise, with Christmas and the new year coming up, we have an opportunity to reflect on the past year, not just on all that has happened but also on our faith and the many ways we’ve seen God at work. When I do that, I am just so thankful and it makes me excited for next year and all that God will do. I thank God for all of you and the support that you give me!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
-Adam
|
|
|
|
Thanksgiving at the Nakazawa's apartment was packed! We had over 40 people come. The food was really good and I had some nice conversations with people I hadn't met before.
|
|
Japanese Study Update
The last three months I have been working through my intensive Japanese classes. As my level increases, the amount of time and effort I need to put into studying is also increasing so it feels like I’m putting nearly all my energy into it. It can be discouraging at times since I don’t have as much capacity to put into ministry, but I am starting to see how it will really pay off. In church I am able to participate more in Japanese and understand what is being said. I’ve been able to have more random conversations with Japanese people out and about as well. Just the other day I was in a shop and the shopkeeper was so relieved that I could understand her Japanese since there were a lot of other foreigners in the shop. She asked me if I lived in Japan and I said yes. We talked about how I’m studying Japanese and then I shared about how I work with a church. She seemed to understand and asked if I was a missionary. It’s pretty rare that Japanese people know what I’m talking about when I explain it so that was really encouraging!
Another fun experience was in my Japanese class I was supposed to give a speech on a popular tourist destination in my home country so of course I shared about Vermont. I talked about the autumn leaves and Ben & Jerry’s. For my speech I showed a picture of Vermont in the fall that you typically see online with the beautiful fall colors and the small town white church building. I tried explaining that in the picture you see the church steeple sticking out among the trees but “steeple” is not an easy word to translate into a culture that doesn’t really have anything similar! With advice from my Japanese teammate Shige, I called it the 教会の塔 (kyoukai no tou) which basically translates to church tower.
A not so fun experience I had recently was taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) in the beginning of December. There were hundreds of people taking the test in a large warehouse and it was pretty intense. I think I did alright, but I don’t find out my results for a couple months. Despite how difficult it was, I’m glad it took it. It should help me better understand where I am at with my Japanese and know where some of my weaknesses are. I’m hoping to take the next level in July 2024 since the tests are only offered twice a year in December and July.
|
|
|
|
One of my favorite pictures of my church from our retreat in October.
|
|
Church Update
In October my church spent a three day weekend outside of Tokyo for a small retreat. Most of our time together was spent sharing our testimonies with each other. It was such a blessed time together and I loved hearing everyone’s testimonies. We were all very vulnerable with each other and I think it brought us all closer together. We also had Shoki, a Japanese believer who normally attends one of the other churches, come and share with us what he has been learning about sharing your faith in your workplace. He was just baptized last year so it was really exciting to see how God is really growing him and equipping him to teach others. Something else that was really refreshing was that we brought a guitar and sand worship songs outside by the ocean. I gave a devotion on our last day there as well which I think was well received.
I’ve been able to host church at my apartment a couple more times too. Because of my language studies, I don’t have as much ability to do more than host, but I am glad I can at least do that! When I originally got my apartment, I wanted to have space to host people so I’m glad that I can finally do it. I want to keep hosting if I can and opening up my space to others since that seems to be one of the ministries I can really be a part of right now.
|
|
|
The top two photos are from our church retreat and the bottom two photos are from a church outing and hosting church at my apartment.
|
|
|
|
At a recent team retreat we stayed in some beautiful cabins by Mount Fuji. We were really blessed to see Fuji so clearly.
|
|
Prayer Requests
- Pray for the Tokyo team. Recently we had some of our Asia leaders come to Tokyo and help facilitate some discussions on our future as a team. Since we are the largest ReachGlobal team in Asia we are trying to discern the best way to steward all our people and gift on our team. I am excited to see where God takes us. He is at work in Tokyo and through our team so as we plant churches and pray and participate in the ministries He has given us, we want to hear from Him how we can do that better. Please be praying for us as we listen to the Lord's leading and plan for the future.
- Pray for my church. I am excited to have more opportunities to plug into my church and serve more. Especially in this coming year, please be praying that I would see the opportunities I have and be equipped to take them. Pray that I could meet with and possibly disciple the guys in my church. Pray that I could use more of my Japanese in church and connect better with our Japanese members. Pray for us as a church too that we would grow in our relationship with the Lord and with each other.
- Pray for rest. It has been a long and busy year. In the next couple months I have a lot of travel coming up and then I am jumping back into full-time language learning. Pray for me especially this upcoming holiday season when I have more time off that I could rest well. Pray that I would have good sleep and feel God's peace in what I am doing.
- Pray for our Christmas ministries. Please be praying for my church’s upcoming Christmas party, for our Christmas celebration service on December 23rd, and for the various bible studies and other opportunities we have to share about the Gospel this Christmas season.
|
|
|
|
If you'd like to give, please click on the link below!
|
|
Thanks for reading!
I appreciate you all! As always, feel free to email me at adam.bailey@efca.org or text or call me at 802-505-7676. You can also go to my website at adamintokyo.com. Thanks! - Adam Bailey
|
|
|
|
|
