My Last Christmas Party in Tokyo!

On Saturday, my roommate and I hosted a Christmas party at our apartment for our friends! It was a lot of work (and my roommate did so much of it!) but it was a lot of fun. My sister was also able to be a part of the celebration so that made it extra special for me :). I think about 40 people were there in all, and we had expected about 20! Good times!

We had many desserts and snacks that our friends contributed to, lots of meeting and greeting going around (I didn't know several people there! haha), cookie decorating (boys joined in as well!), Christmas singing time with Mark leading and playing the guitar (he was so good!), and we read the Christmas story from the children's bible that we have in both Japanese and English (our friend Mi-Ri-san helped out by reading the Japanese part!). We were able to share American Christmas traditions and everyone walked out of there having heard about the birth of Jesus Christ. It was a wonderful time.

Some of our friends wanted to know more about Jesus' birth and Christmas time. This led to many good conversations where we were able to share more of the Good News (that's what Christmas is all about!) and future meetings where we will study the Christmas story in depth from the Bible (the regular version, not the children's version)! I am so excited for what God is doing!

Enjoy the pictures:

The first group getting ready to decorate cookies!

Mark leading Christmas songs!

Mi-Ri-san, her sister, D-san, roommate, and I

my sister and her new friend!

Look at all the shoes! There were more outside of the door!

The goodies area :)

Some decorated cookies!

Reading the Christmas story. That's me doing the English part, and Mi-Ri-san doing the Japanese part.

A group picture after half the people left. I hate forgetting to take group pictures when the whole group is there! We had so many attempts, this is the best one out of all that I can get my hands on.

Christmas Greetings

I received this Christmas greeting and wanted to pass it along to you :)

Merry Christmas!

Christ, your hope of glory

Hiding you in the shadow of His wing

Radiating His love through you

Instilling His character in you

Speaking His Word to you daily

Touching you along life’s journey

Mindful of your every need

All glory belongs to Him

Savior born in a manger crib

May each of you truly enjoy the joy of lingering before Him who lay in a manger, left the streets of gold to walk the streets of old, to suffer and die for us.

The Ending Can Also be Exciting

As I think about my time in Japan ending (I return to California for good for now at the end of January), I stop to peer more closely at the tiny glimpses I can catch of how God is working around me. Of course I know that everyone who has been in my position have had their moments of reflection, but that's not going to stop me from contributing my two cents! :D

But to get back to the point, I am thankful to God because I see that He is faithful and He has allowed me to be a part of His eternal kingdom work. A really exciting part of this is that He has allowed me to also be able to see some of the fruit! I know that there are many workers who do not get to see the fruit, and they may find that discouraging. I think I too would struggle with discouragement if that was my case.

I am thankful to God that He is working in the lives of the people around me. Many of them have become good friends, and it has struck me how much I will miss them when I leave. It is an amazing testament to God that people who had nary an inkling of any interest in the Amazing News of Jesus Christ and who expressed it clearly and multiple times, are now quite interested, asking deep questions, and wanting to learn more about the Bible and who this Jesus is. Praise God. He works in amazing and mysterious ways. Seriously, who would have known, and still only God knows, and we know we can trust Him because of how faithful He has been and is and will continue to be. And He continues to draw people to Himself.

I know I have had many ups and downs in my journey, but right now as I can sit here thinking clearly, I just want to say wonderful, wonderful, how wonderful our Creator is! I am excited to see how His story will unfold!

Tobu World Square Photos

Everything is built in scale but miniature. It was really funny. I got to travel around the world in only 2 hours! :)