Happy New Year!

A very Happy New Year to you all from Japan! I hope you had a wonderful holiday with family and friends.

Our Christmas here was great. My sister, Anneke, was able to come home from Calvin College for 2 weeks, and my fiance, Thomas, was with us for 3 weeks. We had a lovely time relaxing and being together, and introducing Thomas to all the Essenburg Christmas traditions.

We were also able to be a part of several Christmas outreach programs. My family and I baked cookies for two events aimed at introducing non-beleiving Japanese people to the true meaning of Christmas. Both were well attended!

What else has been going on?

1. At the Family Life Group Christmas party we shared games, crafts, and goodies, and sat together around the "fire place" (a DVD of a camp fire) to listen to the Christmas story.
2. Not For Sale Japan is preparing for a showing of the human-trafficking documentary Nefarious later this month.

This month, please remember these prayer requests:

1. Praise God for the success of various outreach Christmas programs put on this year! Pray that the message of Christmas would stick with the non-beleivers who heard it this Christmas season, and that it would be a first step in discovering the gospel. 
2. Pray for growth for Family Life Group this year. Several families that came regularly in past years have not been attending recently. Pray that these new Japanese Christians will make time in their lives for Christian community.
3. Pray that the showing of Nefarious will be well attended and that those who see it will be motivated to take a stand against human trafficking.

Shalom,

Caitlin