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Fall Update
September 2023
Autumn has arrived but we are not feeling it here in Tokyo yet! Japan has had it's hottest summer on record and only this week are the high temperatures finally seeming to break. With the nonstop heat, I feel like I've also been running nonstop throughout the summer. It has been a busy few months.
Since my last update which you can read here, we finished out our last three weeks with the Apex team. The six students we had were all fantastic. My first introduction to Japan and cross-cultural ministry was an Apex trip to Tokyo seven years ago so it felt like things had come full circle to help host a team.
Our last few weeks were filled with outreach events on Waseda University campus, meeting with Japanese students, a debrief retreat, and a goodbye party. Unfortunately in all of that I got covid and had to miss the retreat. I was able to recover and join the team for their last week though.
At the goodbye party it was really cool to see the Apexers connect with the students they had been meeting with and talking to over the summer. Since many of the Apex team members want to come back to Japan some day, you can be praying that they can keep up those connections. You can also be praying for the Tokyo team to be able to stay connected with the students who the Apexers met and that those students would stay involved with our different college ministry opportunities.
Among the chaos of hosting a short-term team for six weeks, we had nine other visitors over the summer as well from various EFCA churches and ministries across the States. They were all excited to see what we do as a Tokyo team. Since this was the first summer that Japan was fully reopened since covid, it makes sense why we had so many people come, but I think as a team were all pretty exhausted afterwards.
In August I took a much needed vacation and was able to return to a much more normal schedule before restarting my Japanese classes. Another nice thing was being able to return to my church. With the Apex team we wanted to show them not just how our team was planting churches, but how other churches in Japan look like so I wasn't at my church much in June or July. Finally in August I was able to attend again and it was very encouraging. After such a crazy couple months I was honestly a little burnt out but my church has been a great support through this time. Now that I am back in Japanese classes full time and my schedule is returning to a more normal pace, I am looking at ways to get more involved with my church so please be praying for wisdom for me to be able to do that.
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The Tokyo team and APEX team together for our July team meeting. We also celebrated Sarah's and my birthdays.
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Japanese Study Update
I started my Japanese classes again at the end of August. After three months off from class I was a little worried that I had forgotten everything. It turns out I did forget a lot, but my teachers were gracious and I was mostly able to catch up pretty well. Thankfully there was a lot of review this past month.
From here on out I will be focusing more on my Japanese study again. I'm hoping with another year of intensive study that I will be in a better place with my fluency in order to start doing more ministry.
I signed up to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) in December. They only run the tests twice a year in July and December. There are five levels between N5 and N1 with N1 being the most difficult. I already passed N5 so I will be taking N4 even though my level will probably be a little above it by December (hopefully). Even though I am not required to take the test, because it is standardized, I think it is a good judge of where I am at with my language ability, so I am looking forward to it.
I am currently in the middle of a break this week, but I will start my classes again next Monday. They go every day Monday to Friday. This past month I had four people in my class. Interestingly we were all Americans. One of them was my friend Joel who is a missionary with IMB. It has been encouraging to have another Christian in my class as we both try to be a good witness to our classmates and teachers. Next month, three of the four of us students will continue into the next class which I am glad for. It is always better to have classes with people I am more familiar with. I will have a couple of the same teachers as well.
Please be praying that I can continue to have opportunities to get to know my classmates and teachers better and be able to share the gospel with them!
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My September Japanese intensive class.
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Prayer Requests
- Pray for the Apex team. Even though the Apex team has returned to the states, please continue praying for them. Pray that God would continue to work through them and help them process their time in Japan. Pray that they would be able to discern their next steps whether that is pursuing ministry in Japan or something else.
- Pray for my Japanese study. Now that I am back in class, pray that I can have good study habits and retain the information I am learning. Pray that I would enjoy my classes and have good teachers. Pray that I would have have good time management and be able to be well rested enough to do well in my studies.
- Pray for my church. I am considering how I can better help out in my church, so pray that I could have wisdom moving forward and the capacity to do more if that is what God is asking me to do. There are a few guys in my church that I am hoping to get to know better and possibly disciple so pray for me in that opportunity and if I am not able to do it then that someone else would be able to disciple them.
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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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