Jon and Lina will be married in less than two weeks. What a blessing! They has been a testamony for other couple's to follow in the future. Monday night, all the guys got together and threw him a Christian Party, with all the fixin's. Pastor Pule gave a great message, and they games were off the charts. Don't forget about the food, we were chowin down Livingwater style. Please leave Jon an encouraging word in the comment section below.
Hi everyone! This is Tim and Ayu's new blog, but let me warn you, it is all in Japanese. Pastor Tim is rockin the Nijongo language! There is a little danger to this blog, you might begin to supernaturally understand the language or get a real heart for Japan, so look at it with caution. For those of you who know Japanese, practice your language with Pastor Tim by leaving a comment in Nijongo for him and Ayu. www.newellsnewsletter.blogspot.com Peace out! Pastor Tommy
Sunday morning we had the opportunity to minister at Pastor John Greenroyd's Church in Seal Beach. We led in worship as well as had the blessing to share what the Lord is doing in Okinawa. Most of the gals wore their yukata's (Okinawan kimonos) and talked to the people of the church. As you can see in the picture, the new batch of CCBC shirts came in. Pastor Tim made us a new design so we will be printing them soon. Please keep the team in prayer, we have many opportunities to share what the Lord is doing through the ministry here in Okinawa. God bless you, Pastor Tommy
The other day this article was on the cover of the Wall Street Journal in the USA. In a nutshell it states that Japan is warming up to foreign workers. It states that Japan is allowing foreign workers to get visas easier since the growth rate is declining they need to allow foreign workers to come into the country to help with the work load. Good news for us Gaijin (foreigners) who are trying to get visas to serve the Lord in Japan. Please continue to pray that the Lord will send more workers into the Harvest.
There were so many pictures to put up, so we had to narrow them down to these. Many of you remember the crew that was with us last semester at the Bible College, well, they graduated. The only ones missing in the pictures are Michelle Bonner and Haley Brooks. The top picture is none other than servant of the Lord Misty, she is always serving, Praise the Lord! The graduation was wonderful, we are so proud of all these students.
Daniel Sedota, Brittney and us, had the opportunity to share what has been going on with our ministries for the past few months. Daniel has been attending CCBC Okinawa, Brittney is in Williamsburg Virginia and we have been in Okinawa. It was a blessing to see the church family here in California.
We took the whole crew out to Ontario Mills Mall to shop their hearts out. They were there for a good three hours. There were some good deals. As you can see in the picture, some of the crew from CCBC Murrieta joined us, Doug, Shannon and Joel, it was a real blast for everyone.
Right off the bat, Wednesday morning we visited with the group at the School of Ministry. Jesse Hernandez taught the Word that morning, as well as Pastor Pule and the crew did some rappin. The second year students will graduate soon, they are a blessed group.
We are now in Taipai heading to the United States. Our family will be spending some time back in California. I will be attending the Calvary Chapel Pastor's Conference as well as speaking at the School of Ministry in CostaMesa. I am blessed again with the opportunity to minister back at CCLivingwater. This trip we are bringing along 8 Japanese students who will learn American Culture as well as show Okinawan Culture to the Americans. We will keep you up to date with all of the events that will be happening. Please keep us all in your prayers. God bless you, Pastor Tommy
You heard right, Vunder is now an Amateur Baseball Player here in Japan. He was picked up by a semi-pro team in Okinawa called the Naha Ryukyu Samurai. He is being coached by a retired Pro ball player who played in the Major's in Japan. He was excited to see Vunder pitch and sees potential to play in the Big leagues. Please continue to pray for our brother, that the Lord would lead and guide his every step.
This was a switch. Tamiko preached in Japanese and Pastor Tim translated. Usually Pastor Tim teaches in english and Tamiko translates in Japanese. For our Biblical Preaching Final the students had to teach using a translator. Tamiko did a wonderful job.
I've never really given this any thought whatsoever, but it's rather dazzling to see it presented this way. 
I certainly thought this was enlightening. Didn't even realize we knew much beyond our sun. It's a big universe.
Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky.It is more than 1000 light years away.
As you walk up the steps to the building which houses the U.S Supreme Court you can see near the top of the building a row of the world's law givers and each one is facing one in the middle, who is facing forward, with a full frontal view .. it is Moses and he is holding the Ten Commandments!
Hannah and Joanna for the past year have been invited to teach at the children's Chapel at OCSI (Okinawa Christian School International). This was their final chapel of the year, so the Principal (right) gave these awards to the girls. It is always a blessing to go to OCSI and minister to the children there.
At the Waterfall in Nago, while we were standing around, their were these small flies. They were some type of biting flies because after they bit you, in the area it began to bleed. Vunder was standing around during the swimming adventure and he got all bit up. Some of you might remember when Joel got bit up last semester, but this was worse. For the last two days, his ankle has been swelling up. As you can see it is all red and puffy (upper right pict). As I write this article it has swelled even more. Praise the Lord! Rob does not hurt, but it is just uncomfortable.
Our final exam in Biblical Preaching was that they had to teach using a translator. In the center picture is Daniel, and he is using Naokosan, this was her first time translating. In the upper left is Matt and he used a pro, Natsuki. To the left Erin asked Liz if she would translate, and she did, in Spanish! It was great! There are a total of 10 students taking Biblical Preaching. Each one of them got a taste on what it is like using a translator. The translators here at CCGinowan are amazing! Think about it. They have to first hear the message in their second language (English), process it in their heads, then say it in their first language. All if this is done in a few seconds. Then they do it again. They do this for almost an hour long for each message. Amazing! 
On Dish (restaurant in Urasoe) was On Dishilisious! The Lord again blessed us with a wonderful group of students this semester. It will be sad to see them go, but we know that God has great things in store for each one of them. Our two graduating students (Matt Gaston and Mark Starr) will be heading out for bigger and better things. Matt will be heading out to Mainland Japan to help Mike Silva in Iwakuni, and Mark Starr will be heading to China to teach and be a missionary. Please pray for all of the students that the Lord will lead and guide their every step.
The Students will be leaving soon, so we took them to the secret waterfall outside of Nago. The day was cold and rainy, but that did not stop the Bible Students from having a great time. In the center picture you can see Gershon doing a back flip off the cliff (he is a great diver). Don't worry, this part of the waterfall is real deep. In the other two pictures you can see the guys way up the side of the rocks. Double click on the pictures to get a better look.
The other day we were going down memory lane. We have now been here in Okinawa over 2 1/2 years. It has gone so fast! That was 56 pounds ago for Zach. Since he has been training over here the pounds have been dropping. Maybe it is his mom's home cookin, or the Japanese food. We are looking forward to visiting back in California soon, our hearts are to minister to our family and friends.
On Friday mornings we have a class called "Lectures in Ministry". This is when we either have a guest speaker or like today, we see the lectures that are given to the students at CCBC Murrieta. The Bible College in Murrieta podcasts the lectures and we are able to down load and see them. It is a real blessing! We are able to stay in touch with what the Lord is saying at the Main Campus. This was our last leadership class for the semester. Next week begins our finals and the students will be heading home soon.
