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Merry Christmas!
December 2024
I hope you are all having a wonderful Advent season! It feels like we were just celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas is already almost here. November was so busy that I thought maybe December will be a bit more relaxed, but I'm sure as many of you are currently also experiencing, it has been quite packed!
At the end of October and into the beginning of November I went on an Annual Retreat in northern Japan for about half a week because I knew I wouldn't have time the rest of the year. My retreat was a really refreshing time and opportunity to reflect on the previous year. I have seen God work so much in this time in my life and in the people I do ministry with. Even just thinking about the fact how last year at this time I was still in fully time Japanese classes and struggling to understand what was happening at church, but just a couple weeks ago, I was hosting my church at my apartment, and during our small group update time I shared all in Japanese and was able to understand most of what was said in the Bible study time.
I still feel like I am in a season of transition as I have stepped out of full time language and been adding in more ministry, but God has really blessed me in this time. Not only has my Japanese ability grown, but my relationships with my church members has been such an encouragement to me. At church at the beginning of December I mentioned how I wasn't going back to the States like last year and would miss my family. In response, some of the other members suggested we all get together and spend time as a church family for Christmas instead. Most of the others in my church either don't have family in Japan or their family's don't celebrate Christmas so it will be a blessing to everyone. Our plan is to order a bunch of KFC and eat together at my apartment. You might have heard about it but apparently in Japan there is a tradition of eating KFC on Christmas because this is what they thought people in America did.
After my retreat, the whole team attended a church planting conference in November. There were hundreds of missionaries from across Japan there. There aren't that many missionaries in Japan so that was a good chunk of them. It was really cool to all worship together. Dane Ortlund who wrote the book, Gentle and Lowly, was the main speaker.
At the conference I went to a networking session about art and community and met some inspiring people who are using art for ministry. Since my missiology cohort case study earlier this year was on art and beauty in Japan and how we can connect that to the Gospel, I was really interested. Some of the people I got connected with work for another ministry in Tokyo called Shalom House that hosts art classes in their community. I've been trying to find a time to visit them so I can keep learning and getting ideas about how I can incorporate art into my ministry. Hopefully I will have more updates on that next year.
Also in November we celebrated Thanksgiving together as a team. I made stuffing for the third year in a row which seemed to go over well. We gathered our churches together for a celebration service after we finished another four week study over the fourth article of our statement of faith. Then the last week of November we had a few days of team meetings to discuss TeamTrac which is essentially just a format for helping us evaluate our ministries over the past year and start thinking about next year.
You can be praying for our next celebration service happening this Saturday! We will be gathering our churches for a time of singing Christmas songs, a pageant acting out the Christmas story, and a candlelight service. Many non-christians have been invited and plan to come so pray that they would clearly hear the Gospel and want to regularly join a church. The flier that my teammate Sarah made is below:
This month our team had a Christmas party, I went to a Christmas market with some of my friends, and I've been scrambling to get most of my work done this week so that I can really relax over the Christmas break.
I am really excited to be celebrating Christmas this year with my friends here in Tokyo. Please be praying for rest for me over the break and that I would be ready to jump into what God has for me next year. I pray too that your Christmas would be joyful and that we could all continue to remember that what we are celebrating is not just the good things like family or friends, but the main reason is that Jesus gave up his life in Heaven with God to be born in a lowly manger to be here with us on earth.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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My Japanese study group and I have been going through Christmas vocabulary the last few weeks so that we can better share it with others.
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Japanese Study
At the beginning of December I took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). I signed up for the N2 level which is the second hardest one. It was definitely difficult! I'm not sure I passed. Even if I don't pass though I am glad I took it as it helped me to know where I need to be studying more and I can retake it next July.
While the JLPT wasn't the most encouraging, my Japanese study with church member's Niina and Esther is going strong. Recently we've been studying Christmas related words like angel (未使い), shepherd (羊飼い), and manger (飼い葉桶). Learning them has helped a lot as we've been going through an Advent Bible study in church and a lot of the words come up.
During our study time this week we were going through another Daily Bread devotion and my teacher Niina was really impressed that I was able to understand most of the devotion and explain it in my own words all in Japanese. Usually I pick out a few words and we go through it again to understand the meaning better. So that too has been a sign of my progress.
Please continue praying for my Japanese learning progress that I could move into being able to more accurately share my thoughts in church and be able to share with my other Japanese friends more about my faith.
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Earlier this year I took a Kintsugi class and this was the final product!
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Art Ministry Opportunities
Something that really struck me when I first came to Japan was how beautiful it was. There is a real reverence for art and beauty in the culture here. Years later I am continually amazed by everything from the numerous art museums and galleries, the varied architecture of Tokyo, the curated Japanese gardens and parks, and all of the different crafts that originated in Japan such as origami, bonsai, woodblock printing, calligraphy, and kintsugi.
Because of this, when I was thinking of what to focus on for my contextualization case study, I immediately thought of art. I already knew that art and beauty were a part of the culture, but in order to find a connection to the gospel and find ways to use it to share Jesus with the Japanese, I had to see what the Bible says about art and beauty. I was amazed by the value God places on those things.
One of the biggest wow moments for me in my research was looking into Genesis 1 and reading about creation. We learn how God created the heavens and the earth and then we see that he created people in his image. For someone just reading the scripture without any other knowledge, the only thing they would know about who God is to understand what it means to be created in his image would be that God creates and he takes delight in his creation. Now, we know that being made in the image of God has a larger meaning than just that, but it seemed important that that was the first thing mentioned in the Bible. I think we often overlook how creativity is part of who God created us intrinsically to be. That creativity looks different to everyone, but I think we need to do a better job of embracing it.
Using this knowledge and other scriptures such as God giving the Spirit to Bezalel in Exodus 35 to build the tabernacle, I started seeing how Japan's fascination with art and beauty can be not just a God given thing but a real part of our identity. From there, I've been able to start building a bridge using something that is a part of Japanese culture and point people to God.
Even a year on from when I started working on my case study I am still looking for ways to incorporate art into my ministry and build bridges for the Gospel using it. I am really excited to see where God leads in this! I'm hoping next year that I can have more opportunities so please be praying for that!
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At the end of November, the whole team gathered in person (plus Melanie over Zoom) for our annual TeamTrac meetings along with our team's new supervisor (my team leaders' boss) Amy, who I worked with while I was in Michigan.
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End of Year Giving
As I shared in my last newsletter, I am currently underfunded by about $1000 a month. I am incredibly grateful for all those who support me financially, in prayer, and in so many other ways. As we finish out 2024 and enter into the new year, if you would like to give a one time gift to help me with my support, or if you would like to get set up to start giving monthly in 2025, I would greatly appreciate it!
The button below will bring you to my website that gives more information on giving. You can also email me and I can help you get it set up.
For those of you that already have committed to giving, thank you! Especially as we enter into the new year though I would be helpful for me if you would check that your donations are still going through. Sometimes cards can get updated or something else happens and the donations can stop being processed. You can check the status of your donations or update your information by going to donors.efca.org and entering your email address.
If you need help with any of this this please let me know or you can email donor services at donorserv@efca.org.
Thank you!
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If you'd like to give, please click on the link below!
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The leaves change colors a lot later here in Tokyo so this was a picture I took of Waseda University at the beginning of December.
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Prayer Requests
- Pray for the Christmas celebrations. We have our Christmas Celebration service coming up on Saturday and then I have a couple other Christmas and New Years events I am going to. Please pray for all those who don't know Jesus that come to our church service or that I meet and share the Christmas story with. Pray that their hearts would be open to hearing about the Gospel and that they would accept Jesus as their salvation! Pray as well that the believers in Japan would be encouraged this advent season.
- Pray for rest. I am looking forward to taking some time off for the holidays. Please pray that I can sleep well, get reenergized for ministry and life here in Tokyo, and get excited for what next year has!
- Pray for my financial support. I am currently underfunded and while I have enough to survive for now, I want to get back to being fully funded! Please pray that God would provide people who would give monthly or give a one-time gift.
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Thanks for reading!
I appreciate you all! As always, feel free to email me at adam.bailey@efca.org. You can also go to my website at adamintokyo.com. Thanks! - Adam Bailey
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