I'd like to begin by saying that Susan Murray is an awesome hostess. I have so much to learn from her! She prepares pretty invitations and the decoration, food, craft, layout, every aspect of the party is very carefully thought out and planned. She's very graceful and has a smile on her face the whole time even though she can't understand everything that the Japanese ladies are saying to her, which could be stressful and overwhelming but she takes it in her stride and tries to learn. She also has two great, absolutely fantastic helpers. :)
The party was a gathering of ladies that God had brought into Susan's life during the past 3 years. There were former and current Japanese language teachers as well as other teachers and neighbors too. Pastor Haitaka's wife, Keiko-san (older lady in white sweatshirt in 3 of the pics) was there as well as Pam, Susan's old friend and a member of Koyo Chapel, so a few of us knew each other but the rest only knew Susan. Apart from Keiko-san, the other 7 Japanese ladies present were non-believers.
The morning began by everyone introducing themselves by writing their names on a white board in English, Hiragana (the Japanese alphabet used for Japanese words as opposed to foreign words), and Kanji (Chinese characters). We also had to tell about how we got our names. It was a great way of breaking the ice and getting to know one another better too. 
Then came the Christmas Cookie Exchange part! On the invitation, Susan had asked that everyone bring approx 30 cookies. Susan had baked probably something like 200! I don't know the exact figure but I think she baked 30 of like 5 different types of cookies (NoBa, Snickerdoodles, Peanut Butter Chip...). She brought out one type of cookie at a time, asked the person who brought it to tell everyone a bit about the cookies, and then everyone took how ever many Susan told them to take until they were all gone, and then she'd bring out the next one. She'd also prepared big plates for everyone to arrange their cookies on. I think the ladies all had as much fun arranging their cookies as they did taking them! :) We all had trouble fitting all of the cookies onto the plates 'cause there were so many!After that, Susan prayed (in English) and then we had coffee and homemade apple cider with home baked Banana Cream Pie and Chocolate Mousse Pie (both were soooooooooo delicious!!!) while Susan explained the Advent Calendar Craft. Her mom and an elderly lady named Bessy, who helps the Murrays a lot with anything and everything that needs to be done, plus one more friend, cut & sewed together 500 little pockets with 1-25 sewn on them and pre-cut the pieces of ribbon to make 20 packets of this advent calendar craft. Each pocket has a Bible verse in it in Japanese too, 25 verses telling the Christmas story which they printed, cut, and put inside each pocket too. Aren't they amazing??? The ladies had so much fun making the craft too. One lady, who is an art teacher, said that she was going to put up the craft in her classroom and read the Bible verse to her class!
We finished about an hour late, but everyone stayed till the very end. Keiko-san invited one of the ladies to our Christmas Concert the following day and the lady was hesitant when she found out it was at a church but she came - yay! :)
I am thankful for all of the people that God has brought into the lives of the Murrays during the 3 years that they have been here. I'm also thankful that the Murrays are awesome people and that they have been able to build solid relationships with people. I'm thankful that these ladies attended and will be reading Scripture and finding out about the true meaning of Christmas. I am thankful that I was able to participate in this event and see the possibilities / future potential events and just experience ministry. I am thankful that God called me to be here, to be with the people here and I pray that the Lord's message will ring out from me as we share our lives with the people here.
Courtesy of Biblegateway.com: The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. (1 Thessalonians 1:8)
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