(photo: a view of Lake Nojiri in Nagano Prefecture. As a family we have the chance to spend time here in the summer and occasionally in the winter as well.)

Dear praying friends,

January seems to have almost completely escaped us…..without getting a report or newsflash out to all of you. Please accept this as a January / February combined issue as we try to briefly fill you in on what’s happening in our lives.

LOOKING BACK….

December was particularly fast paced as we had the joy of being part of many Christmas events. Thanks for praying. One highlight – our children’s Christmas event in the village of Shintomura on Dec. 20th was a first attempt at such a gathering in that location. We weren’t sure if any children would actually attend and we have no direct contact with families in that area yet. We handed out small flyers at the gates of the two local elementary schools on the day before the program. The following day around 40 children showed up and about 15 parents / grandparents as well. We met in a large room at one of the community centers. With our own group from 2-3 of our area churches that were helping out we were probably a gathering of around 75 or so. It was a lot of fun to share the Christmas story for the first time with many of the children.  We continue to pray that God will give us good ideas about how to proceed from here and to know how best to continue reaching out to people of Shintomura.

LOOKING AHEAD….

Here are a few items for which we would appreciate your prayer help:

1. On January 25th (this coming Sunday) we will be holding a joint worship service with a Brazilian church which is located near us. Most of their members are from Brazil or other South American countries and are here in Japan working. We have actually had various contacts with this church over the years and it seems that God is leading us toward more and more cooperative ministries. Perhaps we can take time in next month’s bulletin to give a few more details. Anyway, please pray for the Spirit of God to work in all of our hearts, showing us clearly how we can be working together for outreach in Isesaki.
2. For Andrea, as she continues a busy teaching schedule. She will be finishing up her university teaching schedule for this school year in the middle of February.
3. Feb. 1 – On this day our Isesaki Church will again be splitting our Sunday worship between two locations. One will be a house-worship situation and the other group will be meeting as usual at our church.  Please pray for continued growth in leadership and vision.
4. Gunma Harvest – on Feb. 1  in the afternoon we will be having our monthly worship gathering in Shintomura. We hope to continue passing out tracts in the village of Nanmoku although a date for February has not yet been set.
5. From Feb. 13-20 our whole family will be traveling to Thailand to join together with other Covenant missionaries working in Asia. This is the second time that we have held such a gathering and we look forward to the fellowship and renewing of relationship with so many colleagues as well as to the opportunity for change and challenge in our own faith.

Here is a  link to some photos:     Some pictures of Christmas events

Thank you for remembering us in your prayers….

Your partners in prayer and mission,

Tim & Andrea Johnson

Sam, Lilla & Sky