Year in Review. Merry Christmas and Hello!
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| Thanksgiving dinner. Yum! |
I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving, and pray you are safe and well as we celebrate the joy and wonder of Jesus' birth.
When I first sat down to write this update, I had great news, that Japan was relaxing their entry ban and I was working on the last paperwork before applying for my visa, looking at going in February, 2022. Monday, November 29, I woke up to news that the new variant has, yet again, put everything on hold. Japan has re-tightened their borders in an effort to keep it out, and only God knows how long it will be before those are relaxed.
In the absence of a positive update on that situation, here is an update on my life in the meantime!
Missions Conference and Support
In July, my home church had a Mission's Conference, with a special event on Sunday, and training and fellowship throughout the week. The event on Sunday included a sermon with a mission emphasis, and displays placed throughout the building to acquaint attendees with the countries and ministries of missionaries sent by, or endorsed by, my home church. This was a wonderful opportunity to share my heart for Japan with new people, and to update those who have supported and prayed for me. Through this event, I gained many new supporters and prayer warriors!
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| My table at the missions conference at my home church this summer. I got to share my heart for Japan with lots of new people! |
Through the missions conference and other face-to-face meetings, my travel and set-up costs have been fully funded! Praise the Lord for His provision through His people! Now, I am beginning to raise the monthly support that is so key to keeping me there long-term, as I am solely support-based through the generosity of believers like you. While every dollar helps, and I am beyond grateful for any one-time gifts, the gifts that make the most long-term impact in helping me spread His Kingdom is a monthly donation. This provides for things like groceries, gas in my car to broaden my ministry area, ministry supplies, language tutoring so I can communicate and minister more effectively, and utilities in the apartment provided by the church.
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Faithful in the Waiting, Blooming Where I am Planted
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| My sweet nephew! |
During this period of waiting, I have continued to help my parents take care of my nephew a few days a week while his parents are at work! During the school year, I substitute teach once or twice a week, mostly in middle school band. These have both been of great benefit, as I gain experience as a teacher and an aunt, and have enjoyed getting to see my nephew growing in these first months of his life. The hardest part of eventually moving to Japan will be not being here in person to watch him grow up, and being apart from my family for a long time for the first time. One comfort is the wonder of technology to text, call, and video-chat as often as we like. Pray for peace in this separation, whenever it comes, and that I will not feel too homesick, especially as restrictions will most likely still keep my family from visiting me or I them.
One thing the Lord has taught me during this waiting is to trust that His plan is perfect, and as long as I seek and follow His will for my future instead of my own, I will be exactly where He wants me, whether here, there, or anywhere. I asked Him many times if He wanted me somewhere else besides Japan, and any door I tried to open to other places refused to open. I held, and continue to hold, Japan with open hands, not grasping it firmly, refusing to give it up, but willing to go there or stay here. It is like when some ask, "How long are you going to stay in Japan?" and my answer is, "Until He takes me somewhere else," I learned that I am still here until He takes me there. I learned more about being useful wherever I am, even when at home, blooming where I am planted. The sermon yesterday even addressed this! Even if you are somewhere for a week, bloom while you are there. Might we all live this way, willing to be useful for His Kingdom where we are, to go wherever He leads, to do whatever He asks, for however long He wills, ready to go when He calls.
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PRAYER REQUESTS
- Pray for God's comfort at this further delay after the hope from the relaxed regulations. There are several teams, including myself, who have been waiting so long and were working on the last paperwork to finally go, and are now being kept from that mission field. Pray we are all able to find how God would have us bloom as we stay planted where we are for the foreseeable future.
- Pray as I continue raising support, as I will be relying solely on the support from people like you for monthly living and ministry expenses once I am there. Pray that God would especially provide monthly supporters that make it possible to stay there long-term as a missionary.
- Pray as I face the reality of staying here for the foreseeable future, that I could look forward with hope and excitement for whatever God has for me. Pray that I can feel His love, especially during this holiday season, as we celebrate the reason for the season, the perfect Christmas gift, the Son who came as a baby, to save us from our sins.
- Pray for each other. Pray for the person who reads this next, only God knows who that is, that they will feel God's presence in their day today and know He cares for them. As Paul urges the Ephesians, be "eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3).
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Him,
Amanda
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If you feel led to partner with me financially, just click here, or go to cten.org/missionary/amandagriffin/ and click donate, or mail a check to "Commission to Every Nation, P.O. Box 291307, Kerrville, TX 78029-1307" and include a separate note stating that you are supporting Amanda Griffin.
