An update as requested

I actually started to write an update letter the other day so here is a portion of that.



Greetings from Japan
Well where has the time gone , it is incredible to think that an entire month has already past since my return to Japan. I trust that you all are finding this new year as full of God’s grace as I am. I have recently been marveling more and more in His incredible grace which He bestows upon those who believe in Him. This is serving as the basis by which I am motivated to serve others. I have recently been reminded of 1 Peter 4:7-11, and in there I find the challenge to “above all keep loving one another earnestly”. Love, the very thing that sent Christ to the cross; the very thing we must respond with in our daily lives. God has been challenging me in my life in how I need to be more loving and compassionate with people. I have found this very difficult in my flesh but the more I remind myself of God’s grace in my life the more I am able to show love to others. That I am be found and know just as Paul referred to Timothy in Philippians 2:20 as one “ who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare”.
A lot has happened since I have been back in Japan. First let me share with you how the winter youth retreat went. I was given the opportunity to be the retreat speaker for a middle school retreat. (6th -8th grade) This was an amazing experience, the retreat lasted for three and a half days and was held at a camp up in the mountains of Nagano. As you may recall this was the area of the Winter Olympics several years back. So the retreat was filled with snowboarding lessons for the kids, night games , and an evening session time. The topic that I covered during the retreat was running the race. This race that Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 9 and we find mentioned also in Hebrews 12. I spoke four times during the retreat and really enjoyed being challenged to do that. Who knows what God has done already in the lives of those 25 students or what He will do with the seeds that were planted in their lives.