December 2006
Season’s greetings in the joy of the Lord!
The Fujii family wishes you a merry Christmas from Los Alamos,
New Mexico.
Nice: the first Thanksgiving celebration with the rest of the
Hamada family in over 10 years! How good it has been to have this
time here in New Mexico these past five months. Thank God for
inspiring this idea and making this provision for us to be in
Los Alamos, a town so different from what we are accustomed to,
but just the right place for now.
I (Leith) have also enjoyed having the opportunity to visit with
and mutually share with churches out of state as well as here
in Santa Fe Presbytery. This autumn, I have been with the churches
in South Carolina, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan,
and Carol and I visited together with the church in Colorado.
In each of these visits, I have been impressed with people of
the church, many already of retirement age, who are earnestly
still going at it full-steam ahead for the cause of Christ’s
mission! Wow, what an encouragement and model they are!
Carol Fujii with her two ESL students.
Since Leith has been traveling, I (Carol) have been thankful
to pursue relationships and opportunities that God has given in
Los Alamos. Besides basking in the love of my parents and family,
I am developing relationships with international women in ESL
classes offered at the local university. I tutor some of them
in English, while naturally sharing Jesus through conversation
and time spent together. It is good having dialogue with these
women about what they believe in order to better understand their
worldview and ideas about life and God. I am impressed both with
their ability and their dedication to improve in the English language.
I also like blessing these friends and neighbors with homemade
baked goods, although I am gaining weight as a result. Before
I return to Thailand, I’ll have to buy that “I’m
not fat, I’m just American” T-shirt!
I’m also thankful to have the opportunity to rediscover
an interest in art. For years, I’ve brushed this former
training aside because of family, ministry, and mostly my fear
of failure—not wanting to waste because the end product
didn’t turn out “perfect.” It’s been a
wonderful and freeing experience to take a pastels course at the
local art center under the tutelage of a nurturing instructor.
I’m beginning to bloom and discover some untapped talent
God has entrusted to me.
On a more serious side, my heart feels burdened as I experience
immersion in U.S. culture after being away for eight years. I
am so aware that we are in a post-Christian era in which tolerance,
secularism, relativism (whatever is right in one’s own eyes),
convenience, and political correctness, the newer “religions,”
often conflict with biblical truth and righteousness. The United
States may become like Rome, a former great nation, which was
defeated not from without but by the moral decay from within.
The United States is ripe for revival.
In spite of these sobering thoughts, I am reminded that God is
in control, working out His sovereign and just purposes even in
light of our unfaithfulness. During these uncertain times, we
continue to look to Jesus because He is the hope and salvation
of the world and still reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
I am reminded of Jesus’ promise, “In this world you
will have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.”
We are looking forward to having the whole family visit with
us to share Christmas together! My Thai teacher and friend, Ju,
will be visiting during this holiday season. We just had a Christmas
open house for friends, and it was a good opportunity to showcase
one of the ministries in which we are involved, called the Well.
See the Well's Web site
for more information.
Please pray
- For Leith as he prepares for travel in January to California
and Hawaii. The entire month of February he will be visiting
with presbyteries in Pennsylvania.
- For all families who have lost relatives to war, not only
the United States, but throughout the world.
- For our country to turn back to God in humility, repentance,
and faith.
Thank you for partnering with us in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
May your Christmas and upcoming year be filled with hope and blessing
because Jesus, Emmanuel, is with us.
Love,
Carol and Leith Fujii
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 122
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