We were scheduled to have potluck this past Sunday, but due to the high numbers of Covid in our area and the quasi state of emergency, we felt it prudent to cancel.  We had our normal Sunday schedule and attendance was good.  We also have begun practice for our Easter program that will be here before we know it.

Our normal Sunday schedule begins at 10:00 a.m. with Japanese Sunday School and the Japanese service at 11:00 a.m.  There are a lot of foreign residents in our area with English as the common language.  At 2:30 p.m. we have English Sunday School followed by the English service at 3:00 p.m.  After that, we have a coffee/tea fellowship time.  The foreign residents tend to stay longer for fellowship.  Church is family here.  We look forward to this time every week.

On the 4th Sunday of every month, we normally have a combined bilingual service in the morning followed by a potluck.  It is a very international potluck.  You never know what might show up.  During our last furlough, the young man filling in for Tim sent the photo below to let us know what we were missing!  There is always lots of good food and fellowship.  The fellowship can go on for most of the afternoon.  If the weather is nice some will move to the outdoors.  This is a time that we all look forward to each month.  As I said before, church is family here.

We had our monthly Men’s Bilingual Bible Fellowship on Saturday the 19th. We started it a few months ago. Attendance has been good despite the pandemic. It starts at 9:00  a.m. with breakfast. Bible study time starts at 10:00 a.m. We usually wrap it up around 11:00 a.m., but the men tend to hang around for more fellowship.

On Sunday, Tim was teaching the adult Sunday school on the Baptist Distinctives. He was talking about baptism by immersion and what it represented.  He also mentioned that some denominations use sprinkling and should have used the word tekirei. Instead, he used the word tenteki which is an IV! Everyone had a good laugh over the idea of baptism by IV!

Tim made a video a while back of our facilities.  I have included it in this update. Enjoy!

We have been under a quasi-state of emergency since the New Year holiday ended. Last week it was announced that it would be extended until March 6. We are still holding services and our people remain faithful for which we are grateful. 

We read a news article recently that indicated Japan may begin to open their borders to businessmen and students in limited numbers. Please pray that the borders will continue to open and that new missionaries will be allowed to enter. 

The plum trees are beginning to bud. They usually bloom the end of February or the beginning of March. The picture above is from a past year. We look forward to this sign that spring is on the horizon.

Welcome to the Melton ministry update blog! We decided to start this to help keep you updated with how things are going in the ministry here in Japan. Thank you for your faithful prayer and support.