Dear Friends,
Thank you for remembering us during 2010. Some highlights of our activities this past year, and where we are headed in 2011.
CAROL
As many of you know, Carol lost her mother in June, and life will never be quite the same. The Aglow meeting that Carol leads is growing, and continues to meet the needs of women in the area.
ALECIA
Alecia (19) came back to Japan in June after completing a year of college at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa. She went on a summer missions trip to Poland with ORU, and then flew back to Japan from Europe. Alecia is taking a gap year off from college and is presently working for a Japanese company, that produces and markets a popular English language CD learning course, called “Speed Learning.”
CHRISTOPHER
Christopher (17) is in the 10th grade at the Christian Academy, and lives and breathes American football, which is his passion right now. He plays quarterback with a Japanese adult team on weekends.
JOSHUA
Joshua (15) was voted the “class comedian” at Christian Academy in Japan, where he graduated from Junior High in June. Joshua decided that he wanted to return to the Japanese education system for high school and so now is in a local Middle School, and preparing to take exams to get into a Japanese high school that starts from April.
BRIDAL MINISTRY
One major change for us was getting involved with the Bridal Mission which sends pastors/missionaries to hotels and wedding halls on weekends to conduct wedding ceremonies. Christian style weddings are the fashion in Japan right now, and so this presents opportunity for ministers to bless new couples, and present a simple gospel message to the participants. This past year I conducted over 100 weddings, and had a total audience of about 5,000 people. Most, if not all, are unbelievers, and would be first time to hear presentation of the gospel.
MEDIA MINISTRY
We finally completed the new Alpha Express DVDs in Japanese for Alpha Japan, which is being put into good use to reach businessmen during lunch hour. We also videotaped two more teaching series for Elijah House, and both Carol and I had the opportunity to interpret at some counseling sessions with Elijah House directors Robert & Kathie Fetveit. At the end of the year and into this New Year, I videotaped a conference with John Scotland at a large AG church in Tokyo. John has a unique ministry of delivering the word of the Lord while under a heavy anointing of drunkenness in the Holy Spirit.
OTHER MINISTRY
We are currently overseeing a home church in Hitachinaka about 130 km north of Tokyo. We send message CD and DVDs to the small group and visit them when we can. Some of our time is taken counseling individuals who come to our home, or even over the phone, to individuals as far away as Okinawa. Often times, people are not able to receive the proper counsel and care in their own churches, due to the simple fact that many churches don’t have a place for the healing/deliverance/prophetic ministry in this day and age. I also was invited to speak at the local Niiza Aglow that Carol leads, and also spoke at an Aglow group in western Tokyo near the Yokota US Airbase.
LOOKING AT 2011
With the advent and advancement of Internet technology, and the unique situation we have of being in media ministry and having hundreds of hours of video material in our archive, we are looking into ways to partner with others to develop an online TV ministry.
Please note our prayer requests for 2011.
Love in Christ,
Don & Carol Thomson
Alecia (19), Christopher (17), Joshua (15)
Video of young man healed of deafness at a Mel Bond meeting we videotaped a few years ago, and who was still healed in 2010.
