A Year of Blessings

Here is a copy of our year-end update letter:

December 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

Seasons Greetings from Okinawa!

It is amazing how fast time goes by! As we enter our 7^th year in Japan, it seems to have gone by very quickly. It has been six years filled with challenges, blessings and new steps of faith. We are so blessed to be able to serve in Okinawa and are very grateful for all of your support and prayers.

This past year has seen several changes. I realized this acutely at our Thanksgiving Service. After the message, Pastor Tom asked if anyone wanted to share what they were thankful for. Many people shared and as I thought about the past year that was when I realized just how much God had blessed us. God has provided us with:

• a new apartment in a new city (Uruma City)
• a new job for Dan in Okinawa City (Close to Uruma)
• a new car (not "brand new", but new for us)
• a new family member (Mika Lei was born in March)
• 2 new ministries:
  
• Wednesday night Bible Study and
  
• Friday night prayer time (both held in our apartment)

Actually, it seems like every area of our life has been blessed – God sure is good!

Ministry-wise we keep rather busy. Dan teaches every Wednesday evening and every other Sunday night. He teaches in English and another person translates it into Japanese. One of those people is now Debe.

This is a first for her, so she is a little nervous (Dan gets nervous too, but doesn’t like to admit it). However, despite any nerves or doubts we just trust God to use the abilities we have or to empower us with added ability at the time it is needed. Really, we should always be trusting in His power instead of ours anyway.

Please pray for Dan as he prepares 1 or 2 messages a week. Also pray for Debe as she steps out in faith to handle the translating. And please pray for us both as we continue to study the very complex and difficult Japanese language.

Future goals include renting a space to open a coffee house. While there are several spaces available, some people do not care to rent to foreigners. Others do not like the idea of anything “religious”. There are several cults in Japan and they have given all churches a bad name.

However, we know that God has the perfect place for us, so we continue to wait on His timing.

Aloha in Christ,

Dan & Debe Pallmann