MELISSA (MEL) FALLON

Mel's Prayer Update

How is everyone there in the land of Aus? Enjoying the warm weather I hope!! I am doing my best to not dwell on the fact that it is cold here and warm there, though am struggling to get over it, as you can probably tell!!

For those I haven't spoken to in a while, I am doing really well, and getting into the swing of things here, learning heaps about me and heaps about God and heaps about Japan - and somehow my brain is not having a breakdown in the midst of all of this learning - great, hey?!

So here are some things we can thank and praise God for:

I can't believe how well life is going - I am settled, have a busy, full on but relatively enjoyable schedule. Praise God that in the craziness of life I have been settled emotionally and somehow have "found my groove" here in Japan.

There are some new church plants in downtown Osaka (Namba) aimed specifically at Young Japanese people, and I have been greatly encouraged by their presence here, and it is so exciting to meet young Japanese people working hard for God! Praise Him for that!

Thank God for the many Christmas parties coming up, that they present great opportunities for Japanese people to hear the gospel!

Some things which we can pray about, and put before God:

I am in the midst of making a decision about stopping my Hip Hop class, where I have made some good non-christian friends, and joining the house church attached with the Namba outreach - ask that God would guide me as to make a decision. Best outcome being that the Hip Hop schedule would be changed to Monday or Tuesday night, so I could do both.

This week I have Christmas parties instead of classes, so is going to be really full on, and not sure what is hapening really! So pray that I manage in this exceptionally busy time, and that the parties can lead to bigger and deeper discussions about God.

One other thing, would be the language. Generally, I am progressing pretty well, but if I am tired, I cannot speak Japanese, and have made quite a few funny mistakes. When trying to say "looks like a girl" (in the context it was funny), but I said "looks like a stomach person"...oh dear... hehehe I definitely need all the help I can get!!

And finally, I am organising my own Christmas Party for Christmas Eve. I have invited about 35 friends, christians, non christians, japanese, foreigners etc... Please pray that they would be able to come, and that it would be a positive influence and that people would enjoy themselves. It's always a bit risky to bring groups of people together who don't know each other... Pray that I might know who to really focus on and who I can share deep conversations with.

So that is about all for now! Please continue to email, or even start if you haven't yet! I really appreciate it, and would love to share in more detail about what has been going on here! I hope you all have a great Christmas, remebering all that our Saviour Jesus has done for us!!

Love from Mel.