Christmas Through Ministry - continued

Greetings to you in 2012! It has been an amazing time reflecting on this past year and all that God has done in my life. I am sure He has done many things in your life as well, praise Him for that! Christmas in Okinawa was one of the best I've ever had. I often found myself sitting back and enjoying all that God was doing in the lives of so many people, through His chosen few. It brought so much joy to my life.
On Christmas Eve, a group of us went to help out at a Christmas party that a church member was hosting at her house. The attendees were her ESL students, mostly kids and young teens. We playeda few games, did some face painting, and a Christmas craft project. The theme of the party was "Christmas around the world." We had different booths doing an activity that represented something that another country might have or do on Christmas. We also had a short message for the kids on the true story of Christmas and did a few Christmas songs, in English. The kids were first being a bit shy about coming and participating, but later they got into the party and we all ended up having a lot of fun.



Christmas is celebrated in Japan, but not as festive and glamorous as other countries. At most, families will have a small tree in their home, eat a special Christmas cake on the day of, and go see Christmas lights in the area. Giving gifts to your children isn't practiced either. Any gift giving is usually between couples. And unfortunately, as with most people who celebrate Christmas, many Japanese people don't know the true meaning behind Christmas. But the Lord allowing the holiday to be nationally celebrated in Japan must mean that those who know it's true meaning are to share with those who don't know. Good opportunity!
I was in charge of the face painting. It's interesting how this simple skill has come in handy so much. During my first semester of Bible College, I took a Children's ministry class and we learned how to face paint. Since then, I've done it for several kids events in Mexico and Japan. The funniest thing about face painting at this party was that none of the kids wanted it on their face, but on their hands. And they loved it when it was super small. Below is our "miniture hand painting creations".



On Christmas day, our children's ministry leader Taliya had a big Christmas Party for the kids at church. We had a raffle going, played some games, did a Christmas message, and then the kids all got to take home a candy lei and tons of prizes and Christmas cards.



I helped out with supervising and translating for Taliya. Working with children can be a bit difficult but I learned that usually they'll have tons of fun if you're having fun with them.
Post-Christmas weekend, I left to go to mainland Japan for a week to visit relatives. Check out the next posting on my trip to Osaka and Kyoto, Japan!