Dear Gospel Co-worker, Christmas December 2009

Blessed Christmas greetings to you from Tokyo, Japan! We are amazed yet again this year at how “high tech” the Japanese are becoming. More and more homes are displaying expensive and fancy Christmas lights and decorations. Supermarkets, department stores, and even train stations “wow” your ears with the sounds of beautiful classic Christmas hymns extolling the birth of the Savior, The Lord Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas is spoken “unashamedly” by store attendants and clerks. My, how the Japanese “openly” love to celebrate Christmas! And yet … only one or two percent of 126,000,000 Japanese have ever “received” God’s Christmas PRESENT! The Japanese do not yet know … they have not yet heard … the true REASON FOR THE SEASON! But, through YOUR prayers, and sacrificial giving, God is working to change things here. From the top leaders of government and business, to the lowest of the homeless on the streets, the Japanese are hearing and coming to know they have a Savior… and His Name is not Buddha or Mohamed or Confucius… but it is JESUS! And isn’t it sadly ironic, if not truly heart breaking, that so many in the West … DO KNOW and HAVE HEARD … what the real meaning of Christmas is, yet growing numbers at every level, are increasingly rejecting and or removing the Gift of God’s Son, The Lord Jesus Christ! Personally, Mari and I believe the time is coming, when the Good News the shepherds heard long ago, is going to sweep through Japan, and this land called the “Rising Sun” will become the land of the “Risen Son!” So echoes the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” (Isaiah 9:2)

How do you feed 400 hungry homeless men? With the Word of God! Sharing a hot meal opens hearts to Jesus!

May God grant you the best Christmas and most prosperous New Year ever, as we continue to faithfully share the Good News of the Gospel in America and here in Japan!

Your missionaries and co-workers in Japan, Neal & Mari Hicks

Please write our email address at: nealtms@gmail.com

The Mission Society 6234 Crooked Creek Rd., Norcross, GA 30092 Phone: 800-478-8963 Website: www. themissionsociety.org