Dear Praying Friends and Family:

My apologies for not getting the last letter out sooner – my bank account was being emptied by someone using my check card number, and this put our funds on hold.  We have gotten everything back, but it inconvenienced us for a bit.  Thank you for your faithfulness.  We trust the Lord’s richest blessings will be upon you in the New Year!  Maybe we will all even get our Inheritance – Look up  - you never know!!

Finances

Other missionaries we know have seen their support cut in half!  What does all of this mean?  It means that the God that provided a red Suburban when a van broke down, and plane tickets for 10 people to fly to Japan, and endless amounts of gas fill-ups, and every NEED that we had over four years of deputation will,once again, have to meet the need in Japan.  There were many times on the road that I would purposefully not tell anyone but the Lord about a need, watch Him provide, and then give HIm all of the glory.  I wanted to know that God would be able to take care of my family in Japan  BEFORE we moved here.  He, of course, never failed us once.  So, here is what He has done to meet the needs. . .

• -Provided a constant supply of venison.  (Sorry Bambi lovers – deer are overpopulated here and deer season lasts from Oct. through Feb.)
• -A pantry and freezer loaded with goodies from this years bountiful harvest – (we’re out of sweet corn though :o(  )
• -Special gifts from churches, families, friends, and people we don’t even know.
  
• -New supporting churches.
• -The price of kerosene dropping a great deal.
• -An unchanging Word of God that tells us HE will supply and meet every need.
• -I must confess that I have done my fair share of worrying and griping about the yen rate (Sorry Brother Randy) and finances and had to be rebuked by an ALL SUFFICIENT God.  In the end – the bills are paid, my family is clothed, sheltered, and fed,  and God is still on His throne.

Fellowship

We have had a couple of opportunities to fellowship with other missionaries on the island, which has helped ease the homesickness during the holiday season.   We gathered with four other families to give Thanks unto the Lord at the end of November and will get together again the first part of the New Year.  We spent the latter half of Christmas day with the Minks (13 children under one roof), and delighted the neighbors by playing in the snow until close to 11 PM.  We get together with the Smiths regularly (whether they want to or not!  ), and have had some folks drop by for a few hours on occasion.  Each time is a great opportunity to be refreshed, sharpened, and encouraged by folks with the same bond in Christ and same desire to extend that relationship to 127,000,000 Japanese.

Festivities

The Christmas season is known mainly as a time for parties and Santa Clause here in Japan.  It provides a great opportunity to tell folks about the original reason for the celebration.  Emmanuel Bible Baptist Church held a Christmas program which presented the Gospel beginning with Creation.  Shellee and I sang “Born to Die” in Japanese and everyone got a good dose of Japanese language practice. Twenty three Japanese attended and many heard the Gospel for the first time.   Brother Randy recorded some of it and put it on his blog (http://www.nayorosmiths.blogspot.com).

New Years is a big holiday for the Japanese.  Many will travel to the Buddhist temple to ring in the new year.  Bro. Randy and I plan to pass out tracts at the temple in the town north of here called Bifuka.  Please pray for those receiving the tracts, that they will accept them and in turn accept Christ. 2009 would be the greatest year of their lives!

By His Grace Alone,

Duane for the Wilhites (ALL 10!)