The Bible College students were invited to be a part of the Kinser Harvest Carnival this past Saturday. Everyone joined in and had a great time. They incorporated Jeremy Z's artistic skills, and he created a cool booth. There were so many different kinds of sweets everyone's heads were spinning. Check out all those cup cakes! Well, again we were blessed to be able to serve the kids on base. God always blesses us with opportunities to serve Him.
Pastor Rick heads up the youth side of the Franklin Graham Festival that is coming up Nov. 3rd-5th. Friday night, we headed out to the Sunabe Seawall where there is a skate park. A team from CCLahabra is here, and together they put on a skate competition. It was really cool. What a blessed night.
This past week, Keegan Davis was in charge of the morning devotion. He did a great job, but as you can see, he was a little stressed out. Just kidding. It was just that he got up a little late. Again, just kidding. These guys and gals have the craziest hair styles.
This past Monday we met at a local restaurant and had a dinner with the faculty of CCBC Okinawa. The only person missing is Pastor Tim Newell. As we discussed the first 8 weeks, we look with anticipation on what the Lord will do in the final 8 weeks that remain. Please keep us in your prayers and we have many things planned for the rest of the Semester.
Monday, on our day off, the team helped Pastor Rick from CCOkinawa move into his new rented house. There were a lot of us, so it went real fast. Afterwards, they were hot and wanted to go for a swim. We headed out to Yomitan, swam out to the break structure, and took turns jumping into the water. Some of the gals have never been there, so they had a great time. Even Misty got into the action. These guys and gals are great swimmers.
On Okinawa, one of the most dangerous snakes in the world live on this island. The guys were doing some cave exploring, when they found this old chest like box. They opened it up, and found all kinds of old artifacts, but also, there was a Habu snake inside (look closely at the photo it is more towards the left). Well, they did not pick up any of the artifacts inside, but they took this picture. On their time off, the guys will go cave exploring. This cave was actually man made. The Japanese made cave tunnels all throughout the mountain side. Seriously, there are some caves that have not been explored since WWII. The guys will read about battlesites on the internet, and then explore the sites and find caves that are still there. They are modern day Indiana Jones-jers.
Sunday night we gathered again for another night of Worship/Word. The guys did a great job of leading in worship tonight. These guys are really gifted by the Lord. Afterwards we were blessed with a good curryrice dinner donated to us by CCOkinawa. They had a fund raiser that afternoon, and we were blessed with the left overs. We won't be having w2 at the coffeehouse for a few weeks. Next week, we will be at Mihama Sega center for "Sambi Fest", and the following week will be the last night of the Franklin Graham Festival. Please keep us in your prayers for these next two weeks. We will be really busy.
Saturday night, Nick Pukish (bottom left) invited the guys to be a part of the Lester Hospital Carnival. We had a great time. We all hung out, walked around and Dr. Cyrus Rad blessed the college students by buying them, hotdogs, hamburgers, chips and sodas. Thanks a lot Cyrus, you are a blessing. After the festival we went out to Mihama and passed out fliers for the Franklin Graham Festival. Then after that, Joe Tipton invited us to his house for chips and sodas. It was a blessed afternoon, evening and night.
photos by Haley Brooks
Today marks the halfway point through the Bible College Semester. On Friday's we usually have "Lectures in Ministry" the first hour of the day. Instead, we went up to Kakazu Ridge. This is a place that was famous during the Battle of Okinawa during WWII. Many American and Japanese Soldiers lost their lives here, and now it is a memorial park. We had a time of worship and got into the Word. We were reminded of the story in John 4, when Jesus met the woman at the well, and Jesus later told His Disciples to "look up for the fields are white unto harvest". We were encouraged to remember that the second half of the semester is before us, and there still is a lot of work ahead of us. God wants to use the students in a mighty way, and to stay open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We were all encouraged and blessed by this special trip up the hill in Ginowan city.
Today was the first midterm for the Bible College students. Natsuki gave her Japanese I test to the students. I think that they did very well. The students are blowing me away! They are learning Japanese so fast. They are learning sentence structure, which enables them to read and speak Japanese in sentences. We are only half way through the semester, I wonder how far their Japanese will be in eight more weeks..
Well, my son Asa turned 4 today, and as Joanna and I were reflecting on him, we realized that Asa has now lived longer in Japan, than in the United States. Wow! We asked him what type of cake he wanted and he said "green". So there you have it, a green cake. We put a few of his hot wheel cars on top, but he got upset and made us take them off. It was a lot of fun. All of the college students were with us in the early evening, and the next door neighbor Oba (grandma) came over and gave Asa a present. Happy Birthday son, may the Lord continue to bless us all as we serve Him here in Okinawa. Love, Dad
Tuesday night, Nile and Vanessa came over after the Revelation class at the College, and cut Joel and Asa's hair. In the bottom left picture, you can see how long Joel's hair was, and the finished product in the center picture. If you look at the upper left picture, you can see Aaron clowning around with Joel's hair. That is one long mustache. Thanks a lot Nile, you really blessed the guys.
Asa is the youngest son of Tommy and Joanna. He does not like getting his haircut. He cries and makes a huge fuss. But the finished product looks pretty good. Thanks Nile and Vanessa for your loving service.
Saturday night, we had the opportunity to head down to the Famous Kokusai Street, located in Naha City. Almost all tourists go to this street for shopping and a good time. There are many souvenier shops, restaurants, and bars. We met people from all over the world. We spent the night passing out fliers for the Franklin Graham Festival, and talking to people about Jesus Christ. We met a lot of interesting people. Everyone was blessed to have this opportunity to witness for Christ.
Some of you have never met our Japanese I teacher, Nasuki Iha. We have known Natsuki way back when we were in California. She attended CCBC Murrieta for a few semester before coming back to Okinawa. Natsuki is talented by God in so many ways, one of them is teaching. All of the students are learning a lot from her. Please continue to pray for Natsuki as she follows the leading of the Holy Spirit in her life. God bless you, Pastor Tommy
Friday mornings we begin with what we call, Lectures in Ministry. This week, we had the honor of Glenn Phipps from CCOkinawa, who came out and shared his heart with us. His message was entitled "Qualifications for Ministry", the students were blessed. We are looking forward to having him back in the near future.
How exciting! They have arrived, Mikans! You might be thinking, "what is a Mikan". I am glad you ask. They are like tangerines in the States. The first crops are green and yellow, they are not as sweet as the orange ones that will follow in the next couple of weeks. But the reason that we are excited is the price. Fruit is costly in Okinawa, and these mikans will go on sale for about 10 yen per 100 grams. That is under 50 cents a pound, and that is cheap in Japan. So here we go! We are ready for some real sweet fruit, at a reasonable price.
What these guys won't do to get alone with Jesus. I was walking back from the bank and I looked up at the CCBC building, and I thought "what is up there on the roof". As I focused in closer, it was not until I took this picture that I could figure out who it was. Can you tell? It is Aaron Meigide. This guy really loves to climb, and here he is reading his Bible on the roof of the building. Don't worry though, it is not as bad as it looks. There is a ladder that leads up there, and there is a large deck below, right at the railing. Sometimes the students will head up to the patio area on the roof, to get a good view of the city and beach in the horizon. What is the best name for this Superhero? Write your comments below, and remember, keep them nice guys.
