hope@japanmin.com www.japanmin.com www.youtube.com/user/hopechrist http://issuu.com/japanmin

Want to contact us directly? Write to:

Ron & Debbie Galbreath PHONE: +81-50-1414-2412 50-9 Takadate Kawaragi FAX: 1-777-234-8472 Hachinohe-shi Aomori-ken 039-1161 JAPAN (Some names may have been changed)

2011 NO 2

850 VINE ST. JUNCTION CITY, OR 97448 (206) 279-2762

We had our Christmas outreach on Sunday, December 5th. For the first time, rather than have it in our house/church, which is much too small, we decided to try to have it in a community center. We had approached the neighborhood association previously about using the community center for church services, but they had refused, saying that the community center was not to be used for religious functions. (They use it regularly for Buddhist ceremo-nies, but I guess that doesn’t count.) This time we told them that we wanted it for a

“Christmas Party”. After consulting, they agreed that our church would be allowed to use the community center for a “party”.

More than 50 people attended, including several who had never been in church before. Joseph invited several of his teachers from Shimonaga Junior High School. The kids have invited their teachers and fellow stu-dents every year, but this is the

first time that we’ve ever had a teacher re-spond. It seems that teachers feel that it is not right for a person in their position to at-tend a religious meeting (of course, this does

CHRISTMAS OUTREACH

Page 2 Japanese Ministries

(1 ページから続く)

not count Buddhist or Shinto meetings), especially some-thing related to one of their students. Three of Joseph’s teachers came to our out-reach: They were his home-room teacher (who teaches Japanese), his technical arts teacher, and his music teacher. His music teacher is also head adviser for the ninth grade, a position just

under the principal and vice principal. Although I believe the teachers really wanted to come and see what church was all about, they used the ex-cuse that they wanted to see Joseph play the piano and sing. At lunch, these teachers commented that our boys (Joseph and Samuel) are different from the other kids in the school. His music teacher said, “I don’t even think that kids 50 years ago were as honest and obedi-ent.” I couldn’t help but be

proud. I told the teachers what I’m sure they already sensed, “It is Jesus in their hearts.” One day a few weeks before the Christmas outreach I had taken the kids to the gym for exercise. Daniel be-gan playing with a little four-year-old boy who was there with his mother. Hannah saw the opportunity and of-

fered the mother an invita-tion to our Christmas out-reach saying, “My father is the pastor of a Christian church. We’re having a spe-cial Christmas meeting in a few weeks. We would love for you to come.” She took the invitation and showed her friends. A few minutes later a couple of other moth-ers came by and asked if they could have an invita-tion, too. All three of these mothers came to the Christ-

mas outreach and brought their children. Samuel invited all of his teach-ers. His home-room teacher even offered to print up extra invitations for everyone in his class, but an-other teacher scolded him and told him that he should not be promoting relig-

(Continued on page 3)

Elijah Singing

Samuel and Esther played Joseph and Mary

Japanese Ministries Page 3

Debbie’s Birthday Blessing My (shhh! 44th) birthday was on Friday, No-vember 5th. It was a typical, busy Friday – up early for devotions, making breakfast, send-ing the kids off to Japanese school for morn-ing classes, doing the laundry, exercising, homeschooling in the after-noon, taking care of the baby (Noah got his chicken pox vaccination at 2:00), choosing the songs for Sunday’s services, etc. I wanted to bake a cake so that the kids could enjoy a birthday celebration (they like any excuse for a special dessert), but I soon gave up on any baking when I saw all that needed to get done for the day. Later in the afternoon, a neighbor lady (from the house on the corner) came over with a small (about 6-inch diameter) bundt cake in hand. She said that it was made out of “goya.” I was amazed that anyone could make ANYTHING delicious out of goya. Do you know what it is? It’s a vegetable that looks like a cucumber with lots of warts on it (for lack of a better description). I tried add-

ing some goya to a vegetable soup one time and it made the whole soup horribly bitter. I couldn’t imagine making a cake out of it, but the cake she brought looked delicious – like a little angel food cake with green specks in it. I thanked her for sharing this treat with our family and wondered how in the world she

knew it was my birthday! The truth is that this neighbor has never brought home-

baked goods to us since we’ve lived here. We often share garden pro-duce with her, and her husband of-ten shares his catch of fish with us. But this was a first for a cake!

A few days later, I walked by and saw the

neighbor doing some work outdoors. I stopped and talked with her for a few min-utes. “That goya cake was delicious! Could you share your recipe with me?” She replied that the cake was a gift from her friend and that she just wanted to share it with us. My next question was, “Did you know that Nov. 5th was my birthday?” She didn’t have a clue! I told her that she delivered a special gift from God as a reminder of His love to me.†

(Christmas, Continued from page 2)

ion in school. Samuel was in high hopes that several of his teachers and fellow students would come, but in the end only one girl and a couple of her friends showed up. This girl has come to our Christmas outreaches for several years and always looks forward to it. She seems to have an open heart, and we’re praying that she will one day accept the Lord. Altogether we had about 20 people attend who had never been in a church service be-fore. The Christmas outreach started at 10 o’clock. (Continued on page 4)

The Galbreaths www.japanmin.com

www.youtube.com/user/hopechrist

BETHEL CHURCH 132 Kirkland Rd Chehalis WA 98532

NON PROFIT ORG. U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 14 Chehalis WA 98532

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

(Christmas, Continued from page 3)

First we sang Christmas carols. Joseph played the piano, Samuel played the guitar, Elijah played the tambourine, and a couple of our church members led the singing. Next, the children in the church put on a Christmas pageant. This was Samuel’s idea. He wrote and di-rected the entire play. Then Ron gave a Christmas message. The ladies in the church put on an incredible Christmas potluck feast for lunch. After lunch Joseph, Samuel, Elijah, and Hannah sang their own arrange-ment of “Mary Did You Know” with Joseph

playing the piano and Hannah giving a Japa-nese narration in the beginning. Samuel put on a magic show that kept everyone on the edge of their seats with curiosity and laugh-

ter, and Joseph led the whole group in a game. We ended with everyone singing “Silent Night” together.

Please pray that God will continue to open up doors of evangelism with the people who were touched at our Christmas outreach.†

Ron with Joseph’s teachers

More than 50 people attended, including several who had never been in church before.