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APEX Team Update
July 2023
After preparing for nearly two years, our summer Apex team finally arrived in Tokyo on June 9th, and they have been here for a little over three weeks! It has been so good so far. I'll be sharing more at the end of the summer and reflecting on the Apex students full trip here, but already half way through there is so much I could share.
I am co-leading this team with my teammate Kim which has been really great. I'm not sure I could have done this on my own and Kim had a lot of previous experience leading short-term trips with Apex. Our Apex students have been great too and made things pretty easy for us. We have John, Henry, Emily, Jenna, Kali, and Olivia. They are all college-age and come from all over the states. While they are all very different, they have a shared desire to dig into the ministry here in Japan this summer and see what God is leading them to do in the future. Many of them already want to come back to Japan as missionaries which is exciting!
The Apex team will be here for a total of six weeks, but from the start Kim and I packed it full. On their first full day we jumped into orientation with a fun Welcome to Japan Jeopardy game and plenty of tips on how to survive in Tokyo. During their first week we really wanted to give them a picture of what life in Japan is like and what the culture is like so that they understood how they could be praying and how the can best try to reach people. We visited a Japanese Buddhist temple and Shinto Shrine to learn more about the religious background of most Japanese people and also get a picture of the spiritual warfare that is happening behind the scenes. We ran all over the city seeing the business districts and entertainment districts and even a graveyard to understand where everything leads to. What is cool about the graveyard is that in a small corner of the huge area where there are mostly Buddhist graves, there is a section of graves with crosses on them proclaiming that there are Christians buried there.
While the Japanese are the second largest unreached people group in the world and less than 1% of Japanese people are Christian which can seem kind of daunting when trying to spread the Gospel, there are faithful Japanese Christians in Japan. As an Apex team, as the Tokyo City Team, as Christians, our goal is to see many more Japanese people come to know the hope of Christ. What we tried to instill into the Apex students was that their work, no matter how small, is valuable. They are planting seeds that God will grow.
With that, they have participated in a lot of prayer ministries as well. They've been a part of Pray Yamanote and pray walks around Waseda University and Gakushuin University, two campuses that they are doing ministry on and that the Tokyo team does ministry on.
For their third week, the students planned a "4th" of July party that we had on July 1st. They handed out fliers on Waseda and Gakushuin campuses and invited all the contacts that they had made to that point. They made sandwiches, potato salad, deviled eggs, and fruit salad to have at the party which was unfortunately the most American food we could make with the things we could find, but everyone seemed to enjoy it still. It rained on the day of the party so we had to move it inside, but we all played board games and talked over the food. Everyone who came seemed to have a lot of fun and many new connections were made. I heard the gospel being shared a few times as well which was great!
There is about three weeks left before the Apex students have to leave, but I am so excited to see how they go. Please be praying with me for the remainder of their time!
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From left to right we have Jenna, Emily, Kali, Henry, John, and Olivia.
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Church Updates
On June 24th we had a baptism service for Chikako and Tamayo who are two members from my church. We gathered our small churches together on the beach at Odaiba for the celebration. We sang worship songs, heard a devotion from Shige, and heard the testimonies from both Chikako and Tamayo. It was such an encouraging time! The Apex team got to be a part of the celebration which I think was really special since baptisms are not that common here.
You can be praying for Chikako and Tamayo as they continue to grow in their faith and face new challenges and spiritual warfare as believers. Pray that they have opportunities to share the gospel with their families as well.
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We had a big group to celebrate the baptism of Chikako and Tamayo.
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We played a Welcome to Japan Jeopardy game on the students first full day in Tokyo as part of their orientation and they did pretty well!
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One of the first places we visited in Tokyo to give the students a better understanding of Japanese culture and religion was Senso-Ji Temple which is one of the first places I visited on my Apex trip in 2016.
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The students joined a Japanese pastor who goes around to different areas of Tokyo each week to do street evangelism. They joined while he was in Takadanobaba which is close to where I live and where a lot of Waseda University students travel through. They helped by handing out tracts and Bibles.
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The 4th of July party the students organized was a lot of fun! A lot of university students showed up and even though it was raining we played lots of card games and ate some good food.
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Prayer Requests
- Pray for the Apex team. This summer has been so busy and there has been so much planning going on even while the Apex students have been here. Pray for Kim and I as we lead the students and continue to organize all the details of their trip. Pray for the students that God would work through them to reach the people they have been meeting and for opportunities for them to share the Gospel. Pray as well that those of them who are interested in missions would hear from God and have clarity in their calling.
- Pray for my Japanese study. I finished out my intensive classes at the end of May and I am currently on a break until September. Pray that this break would be good for me and that I wouldn't lose what Japanese I know in that time. Pray for opportunities to use my Japanese even if I can't sit down and study as much as I'd like.
- Pray for my classmates. Please continue praying for my classmates that I've slowly been building relationships with. I just went out with them again recently and we had a great time, but I would love more opportunities to share about my faith. Pray that I could do that and that they would be interested in listening to what I have to say.
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If you'd like to give, please click on the link below!
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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
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