Segmon Cali bound!

Tonight Segmon left for California. Yesterday, we tried to send him home, but the airline cancelled his ticket for some reason. Well, we got things straightened out, and he left at 7:30pm this evening. Segmon has been such a blessing to many of us, we will miss him dearly, and we are grateful for his heart of service. For those of you who might want to meet him at LAX. He arrives from Taipai at 7:30pm May 30th. That is right! May 30th. He arrives in Cali around the same time he left, the same day he left Okinawa! Segmon gains the day he lost when he arrived in Okinawa. Kind of weird! Oh! He arrives on China Airlines. Take good care of him guys, he sure was special to us here in Okinawa.

Segmon's going away party

On Sunday night we had our regular w2 Bible study, but afterwards we had a going away celebration for Segmon as he heads home to California. It was a great night. Many people brought food, and we ate the night away. After the food, many people had encouraging words for Segmon. It was amazing to see how many lives Segmon affected in the short time that he was here. One thing in particular stands out on what someone said. They stated that Segmon always made you feel welcome. He always greeted you with a smile and made you feel special. For people who visited the first time, they were always welcomed by him. With those words I encouraged everyone that we need to have that same kind of spirit, always welcoming people, thinking of others first, and serving the Lord with all of our hearts.

On the top left is June and Kodai. They did some rapping for Seg, as well as going all the way with the costumes. It was a blast of a night. Pastor Tommy

David Downs heading for Italy

Hi everyone! I just recieved an email from CCMissions, and there was a prayer update from Italy stating that David needs one more paper from the I.N.S. in the United States so he can recieve his Italian Citizenship. Dave has been such a blessing to many of us and it is incredible to see the work of God in his life. I remember many years ago David stating that he wanted to move to Italy and serve the Lord. So, here we are, years later, in God's timing, he is on His way. God is so faithful. Please continue to lift our bro in your prayers.

Renaissance Okinawa Resort

Let me introduce you first, to two wonderful men. The first one is located on the upper left. His name is Mr. Charles Elofson. He is the Principal and founder of New Life Academy. We are priveleged every month to minister in Chapels for the school. Monthly we minister to the Elementary and Middle schoolers. To the upper right is Mr. Steve McGee. He is the Vice-Principal of the school and is actively involved with all aspects of the ministry. We were invited to attend their end of the year luncheon for all teachers and workers of the school. We met at the beautiful Renaissance Hotel in Northern Okinawa. The food was wonderful (desserts in the lower right) To the lower left is a picture of Ping, Lisa and Hirokosan. We had a good time eating lunch together. Thank you, New Life Academy for all the blessings throughout the year. God bless you, Pastor Tommy

Amazing Day!

Incredible! Today, Rob, Segmon, Kayo, Junko and Naru spent the afternoon at Kokusai Dori (Kokusai street) in downtown Naha. Kayo treated the guys out to lunch since it is Segmon's last weekend before he heads back to Cali. They were walking, and all of a sudden the street was stopped and there were many policemen (uncommon in Okinawa). There were these official cars passing by. Rob and Segmon were right near the street, and all of a sudden the Prime Minister of Japan rolls right past the guys. His name is Junichiro Koizumi. It is the same as seeing the President of the United States. Seg and Rob were literally 5 feet away from him! The Prime Minister waved to the guys and they waved back at him. I wonder what Koizumisan was thinking "Hello Okinawa, Hey, look a big blonde guy and this dude with the Afro, what are they doing in Okinawa? Well, this was really cool, the guys were blown away, a real honor for them.

Segmon heading back to Cali 5/29/06

It has been such a blast with Segmon here in Okinawa. We just finished up our Semester at Bible College. We all believe that it is time for him to head back home to CCLivingwater, so he leaves this Monday, May 29th. I want to take this time to thank Pastor Jerry and Pastor Cisco for allowing our brother to serve along side with us for these last 10 months. Originally when he was sent out, I asked Pastor Jerry to send him out with no financial support. People wondered "how will you support him", well, we have lived by faith for the last 10 months and God has always provided for our needs. Never once have we been hungry. God is so faithful! It has been wonderful to see God develop Segmon in different areas, we know that when he is back in Cali, God will continue to use his gifting for His glory. Thank you so much for all of you who have continued to lift up Segmon and this ministry here in Okinawa. Your prayers are so needed and appreciated. God bless you all, Pastor Tommy

Prayer Request

This is a prayer request that I am sending out to everyone. We have the opportunity to rent this third floor building. It is about 100 feet from the coffeehouse. If it is the Lord's will we want to use this for the Bible College and also for Church services. We meet tomorrow with the realtor to go over final details and requirements for rental. This will be another huge step of faith for us. Please join us in prayer for the Lord's will to be done.
God bless you all, Pastor Tommy

The Silva's in Iwakuni

Hey everyone! This is a prayer request sent out from Mike Silva in Iwakuni Mainland Japan. They have been renting this house for some time now, but there is an opportunity for them to live somewhere else and maybe use this house full time for the church. They would use the downstairs for the sanctuary and the upstairs for children's ministry. They want the Lord's perfect will. Please join them in prayer for God's direction. They know that if it is not this house, God has something else in store for them, which is much better. God bless you all, Pastor Tommy

New w2 video

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We put up a little video of w2 the other night. It was Yumi's birthday, so the guys and gals did something special for her. We hope that you like it. When you get a chance, please leave Yumi a cool birthday greeting. Pastor Tommy

w2 - Off the charts!

We had an incredible time this Sunday night at w2. Tim was totally led by the Spirit, leading us in a time of great worship. Dan Pallman gave an awesome message, and the fellowship time was off the charts! Many people came this weekend, and there were these new Christian rappers who showed up. They heard about the coffeehouse and brought some friends, and they did some rapping for us as the night got going. Also, we had a special surprise birthday party for Yumi, which she almost missed, because she fell asleep taking a longer than usual afternoon nap. We are working in a video of this night, and we will upload it soon on e3missions, so stay tuned.

Samurai Tug-O-War "Final Chapter"

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These guys had a lot of fun. We hope you like the little video. Remember you can check out part I and II by looking in our archives (April 18th and 26th). God bless you all, Pastor Tommy

Ministry to the Widow's in Nepal

Every Friday night we gather for prayer at our house in Ginowan. This week we invited a lady named Satsuko (pictured above next to Ayu) she attends CCBC Okinawa taking Joanna's class on Women in Leadership. Satsuko had a vision to help the widows in Nepal. This is her story: In Nepal, the men can divorce their wives for any reason at all. If they get too old, cannot work, even if they did not recieve enough dowry from the wedding. So when the women are divorced they are thrown out of the house to fend for themselves. Well, there is this ministry in Nepal who reach out to these women. They teach them to knit and sew and they in turn sell these items to provide food for themselves (pictured above). There is also a small store in the house where they stay (upper right). Well, Satsuko recently traveled to Nepal to help at the woman's shelter and returned excited for the work of the Lord. She collects money from some of her friends and then in turn sends the money to the widow's work in Nepal. If you are interested in helping in this work, we have opened up a paypal account that you can donate money to. All of the donations will be given to help this work in Nepal. God bless you all, Pastor Tommy

Neighborhood Kid's Club

pictures by Natsuki Iha



Wednesday night, we hold the Kid's Club at our house, while the adult Bible Study is at the Koinonia Cafe. Natsuki Iha, Julie Milwood, and Joanna Ruiz head up the festivities for the Kid's Club. This week, they made Pinatas out of crepe and tissue paper, can you tell what they are: they are chili's. The kids always have a great time. After the activity, Joanna gives them a Bible lesson, and they like singing "Open the eyes of my heart Lord" in Japanese, but mostly English. Please continue to pray for this outreach in Ginowan city, that we would reach more kids for Jesus Christ.

The new signs are up!

Yesterday, the sign guys finished up by installing the lights on the building. They did a good job, they worked late at night. If you look closely you can see that we started putting up three small patios in front of the window area. The two on the left are done but the last one on the right is still in construction. We ran out of wood so we have to finish the job tomorrow. There are a few other things that we need, so if you can keep these up in your prayers that would be awesome. We still need to finish the kitchen area, we need a refridgerator, and some other minor things.

Sunday morning and Tropical Beach Bash

picture by Jason Arbogast

It started out a cold, windy Sunday morning. The weather Saturday was beautiful, tropical warm, perfect for the beach. But Sunday, the forecast was mostly rain. So, Saturday night got rather cool, by the time we woke up Sunday morning there was a chill in the air and heavy clouds. We got down to Tropical beach about 8:30am and the wind was blowin. We did not know if we were going to have canopies because the wind was up. I was wondering if we should cancel, but Vunder and the Lord said "go for it". So we did. In the morning the service was cool and windy, (the beach was filling up, wind and rain does not keep the Okinawan's away) but we were blessed. By the end of service the weather was beginning to change. The wind began to die down. We ate, played volleyball, and by the time that w2 began at 6pm, the weather was perfect. Still cloudy, but the air was wonderful, and the temperture perfect. We were so blessed! During the day, we got to know some of the people on the beach, so we invited them to come eat with us and join in on the music and the message, and they came. The people who normally attend services with us, brought their friends, so there were a lot of Japanese people there who did not know the Lord. We worshipped, and then shared in the Word. Like always, Natuski did a great job translating the message. There were all kinds of God appointments that day. This guy walked up to me, he was from Mainland Japan, teaching english there. He was visiting Okinawa for a few days and was just coming off the airplane two hours earlier. He just ventured over to us and started talking with us. So, the guy was a Canadian dude and I introduced him to Trevor. Trevor spent a lot of time talking with him, and so did everyone else. Matsu, the guy who accepted the Lord the other day at the coffeehouse came over at night, and also brought some of his friends. It was a blessing spending the day at the beach with God's people. The beach closes at 9pm, and we had to brake up the festivities or they would have kicked us off the beach. All in all, the whole day was a total blessing.

M.E.L.T. at Kadena Marina

Saturday afternoon we were invited to a beach get together at Kadena Marina. Every year, MELT meets for a BBQ and fellowship time with the students. Mr. Lee (pictured on the bottom left with the microphone) he heads up the group and is a missionary from Korea. We all had a beautiful day, hanging out, talking and taking in the Son (and the sun).

First Pastor's Leaders Breakfast

This was the first Pastor's Leaders Breakfast that we had at the Koinonia Cafe. It was a blessing to have the guys who were there. After breakfast, we got into the Word. We were challenged to be "Men of Character". We are hoping to do another one on July the 1st, so please continue to lift us up in your prayers. Pastor Tommy

Espresso machine is in !

Thanks a lot Pastor Cisco for sending the Espresso machine, it got here a few days ago (pictured on the bottom left). We started using it right away. On the bottom right is a picture of Vunder teaching a free english lesson that we give every Wednesday. We invite the high schoolers to come in and we teach the lessons. On the top center is a picture of Kokai who lives next to me. He attends our services here in Ginowan. He is giving the sign of approval on the new Espresso machine.

Like the Children of Israel

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This is the video that we showed the congregation last Sunday. We wanted them to be informed on where were will be holding our new services. We are meeting in a new place on Sunday mornings. God has opened the doors for us to meet at the Festone Resort in Ginowan City. The area is known as Mishiki in Ginowan. As the Lord opens new doors for us, we feel that we need to be faithful to where He guides us. Also, please continue to pray for us, we are talking to a realtor about a place close to the coffeehouse to start renting for the Bible College and also a permanent place to hold worship services. It is a beautiful building located on the 3rd floor. We hope that you like the new video. Pastor Tommy

Hannah leading worship

Photos from Larry Torrez






Hannah had the opportunity to lead worship with Yasutomo at Tsunami Extra at the house of Larry Torrez. It is a blessing to see her using her gifts for the Lord. This group that meets in Larry's house are the jr highers from CCOkinawa. They meet for an extra time of worship and Bible study once a month.

Michal is 10 years old !

We celebrated Michal's 10th birthday with food and a good cake. Vunder made the cake and it was delicious (upper left corner). We had a good time laughing, sitting around fellowshipping. My mom and dad left Monday morning, so they were not able to join in the festivities. When you get a chance, please leave a birthday comment for Michal below.