We are blessed that Joanna is able to attend the Calvary Chapel Pastor's Wives Conference in Murrieta California, but we are going to miss her greatly. She does so much for the family and the Bible College, but we should do fine. She has all the students on good rotations so the cooking and cleaning should go smoothly. We love you Joanna, have a wonderful time in California.
Well this person is really tired. It is not easy being a Bible College Student. Lots of homework, late nights and early mornings. Sometimes they take their toll. You just have to stop and drop. Who do you think is this relaxed person? Write your comments below. Stay tuned to e3missions and find out who it is.
We are talking with Kinjosan. He is a builder of Okinawan designs. God willing he will be designing an Okinawan entrance to the New Sanctuary. We are asking him to build us an Okinawan tile roof in the downstairs entrance. Also, the stage will be designed with an Okinawan style roof overhang as well. It is all in the planning stages, but we hope the sanctuary has an Okinawan house feel to it. Please pray for us, we want the sanctuary to serve two purposes; our Sunday morning gatherings and a Christian live house to host bands, concerts and the such. It is not a big sanctuary, but we want to use it to the fullest for the Lord.
Today, Liz and Jesse came to the Cafe and cooked up some yummy Indian Curry. It was so good and spicy. The students loved it! Jesse is taking the Missions class with Joanna and scheduled a time to cook up her famous dish. It was a great lunch. Afterwards we ate some of Liz's cake. The students were full and happy.
Congratualations Robert! Well, Robert Senior that is! That is right, Rob's dad got married this past year and he just recieved the pictures in the mail. You probrably thought Vunder got married! He received a special package from home today and was blessed with cookies and candy. He's blessed so we were all blessed (he gave us some jellybeans).
Jesse is leading in worship for this week at Bible College Devotions. Jesse is always a blessing. It really is a privelege to be able to start our day in worship to the Lord. God bless you bro, keep up the good work for Jesus Christ.
Daniel heads out today flying back to California for two weeks to attend his sister Jamie's Wedding. We are going to miss this guy, but don't worry Keli'i is covering Daniel's worship schedule at Foster Chapel. Be blessed bro, don't forget to do your homework (especially your Chuck Tracts). Have a safe flight.
Let me introduce to you Hikari from Tokyo. Well she is really from Ishikawa City here in Okinawa but she now lives in the Tokyo area. She has visited CCTokorozawa and knows Mike Snider. She has not been back to Okinawa in about 2 years. She heard about us through Mike and wanted to come and visit with us. She is hanging with the girls at the D house and will be spending the day with us at the Bible College. It is always a blessing when God brings us new brothers and sisters from differents parts of the country.
It is not easy to find bulk foods in Okinawa, so when you find the stores that the restaurants and the hotels are shopping at, you are blessed. Ichino took Joanna to a place in Okinawa where those businesses shop. I went today and it reminded me a little but of the garment and food district in Los Angeles. There are a lot of vendors, the shopping area opens at 4am. Businesses come from all over Okinawa to buy fish, meats, produce and supplies. But you better get there before dawn or the fish market will be closed, and they say you cannot even find a parking space. Well we stocked up on the can goods and picked up some produce for the next few days. We go through a lot of fresh vegtables, about 6 heads of cabbage in 3 days. The local vegtables are very healthy in Okinawa, they contain a lot of coral calcium (I will leave that for another blog entry). Well, running the Bible College is a real blessing, and it is a super blessing when we can find cheaper food to fill this small army.We got the guys live. The team of Trevor and Andrew teaching at the Koinonia Cafe. It is always a blessing to hear the Word of God in Japanese and English. These guys are incredible with their study and delivery. I hope you like the video.
It was a blessing to see Pastor Chizuo's daughter Hannah at w2 this Sunday night. She is visiting from Mainland Japan staying with the folks at CCOkinawa. Hannah is the 4th girl from the left. She will be hanging with us starting this Thursday night for 4 days. We are looking forward to her being with the girls, and getting to know all of the Bible College Students.
It was a blessing to have the potluck in honor of Joe and Tammi. Sunday morning during first service at Calvary Okinawa, Pastor Rick and the congregation were able to say good bye to their old friends. They were faithful servants at CCO and their home church was sorry to see them leave. At CCGinowan we were also able to send them on their way in Jesus Name. The Lord gave me a Scripture for Joe and Tammi last Tuesday at his retirement ceremony. Matt.5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God". Joe has one of the biggest and purest hearts that you will ever meet. They are such a blessing. Where are they going next? Next stop Calvary Honolulu where Joe will be on staff working at the Cafe at the church. Check out the beautiful cake that Liz baked for them. God bless you Joe and Tammi, may the Lord, lead, guide and direct all your steps.
This is a big one and it is twisting our way. The intensity of the Typhoon is targeted as "very intense". Please pray for us here in Okinawa as well as the other countries in its path. We really appreciate all of your prayers. God is able to calm down the strength of its force. We do need the rain, but not all of the destruction.
Hakugaijin had a busy day today, first ministry at the special needs school, and then in the afternoon at Keisho's work. He works with the elderly in Okinawa. They sang and ministered to the people there. They were blessed meeting a 98 year old lady, they said that she did not look that old. If you did not know, Okinawa boasts the most Centurians in the world (country with the most 100 year old people). Most of the elderly here in Okinawa are involved in some type of physical activity, the diet, water, and air here in Okinawa help promote longevity of life. The guys were really blessed.
The ladies at CCGinowan got together with other special guests for a breakfast at the Koinoinia Cafe. It looks like they had a wonderful time. Joanna gave a special message while Natsuki translated they also had some good food. Some of the ladies got together for a picture. May the Lord continue to use the Koinonia Cafe in a special way.
Hakugaijin ministered at a Special Needs Hospital in Okinawa City. The kids actually live there also. It is a nice facility for them. They were blessed and we were blessed with the opportunity to share the Love of Jesus Christ. It is amazing the opportunities the Lord has opened up for us to minister His love.
Saturday morning the ladies at CCGinowan are having their Women's Breakfast. It is a blessing having the larger cafe. There is more room for events such as these. Our vision is to use the cafe for event like this, so christians would be able to get together, fellowship and share the love of Jesus Christ.
Ayu and Tim are doing great. Monday night they were in a car accident. At Koza Crossing (where the 330 and 329 meet), a police car pulled in front of them. Tim had a green light and the officer came into the intersection. Tim crashed into the side of the car. Again, they are doing good, Ayu stayed in the hospital for a few days just to make sure that the baby was doing fine. Please forgive Tim if he did not contact some of his immediate family right away, he has been super busy meeting with the police officers, doctors and filling out forms. They are real thorough here in Japan. Please keep them in your prayers, for continued health with Ayu and the baby and all the paperwork that they will have to go through. The police admit that it is 100 percent their fault. But there are still a lot of hoops to jump through.
A recycle shop (second hand store) was closing down the street. They had these two appliances for sale. One is a large commercial grill and the other is a commerical stove. Growing up in the restaurant business I know that these things are not cheap, especially in Japan. They wanted roughly $700.00 dollars for the grill, and $500.00 for the stove. That was still inexpensive as I ocassionally stop by the restaurant supply stores. Well, they were blowin them out for $200.00 dollars for the grill and $100.00 dollars for the stove. They were closing the doors to the shop the very next day. We talked for a while and asked him what he wanted. To make a long story short, if we would drive the items away he sold them to us for $250.00 dollars and he threw in a stainless steel counter. There was no way that we would be able to afford something like this for the Koinonia Cafe, God totally provided for us. Our next step is to put in a stainless steel sheet for the wall and put in the exhaust hood/fan. We will keep you posted on our progress.
For 4 years we were blessed with the "Party Van". This is what the Bible College students called it because the side door did not close right and anyone who sat near the door had to have their seatbelt on (because we would drive down the road with it opened. Hey it let the fresh air in) This van was incredible! If we were not packing 14 people in it, or if it was not hauling concrete to the dump or carrying furniture and surfboards, it was carrying the massive Koinoinia Cafe sign down the street. (The neighbor who owned the plumbing shop down the street knew that we were moving. He said that he saw the sign going down the street bouncing up and down on the van). Let's see, Daniel backed up twice putting two dents in it (the tail light was smashed), Pastor Tim crushed the back roof when he backed into a low overhang, I crushed the side door, and Andrew scrapped the wall in his first date with Kayo. Those are just the ones we know of, only time will tell how many dents Joanna put in it. (Maybe you can write a comment below and tell us if you crashed the van too, that we did not know about. Don't worry you won't get in trouble). The van reminds me of the "Torrent Van" back in California, (some of you remember that sweet surf van!). But to tell you the truth, the "party van" was better, more memories, more incredible stunts. But it is now gone. (sniffle) We "junked" it last week (I didn't even get to say goodbye, sniffle). Rob deregistered it and it was sold for scrap metal. (we got $400.00 dollars for it). We are going to miss old brownie, it was a total blessing. For those of you who know the "party van" please tell us your favorite story below. God bless you and God bless the "party van".
We were blessed recently as someone donated funds to bless us with a stove and a freezer. We have a vision to start cooking the meals for the students at the Bible College facilities. It is really coming together. American stoves are hard to come by here in Japan. Most Japanese houses do not have ovens, they do not do a lot of large baking. So the Lord blessed us with the oven and a freezer. We need to start stocking up on things like frozen chicken and vegtables. Praise the Lord for His provision.
Tom was studying his homework then suddenly everything came to a halt! He stopped and dropped. You can see that his book is still in his hand as well as his pen (more difficult to see). Well, we all had a good laugh, then we tried to wake him up, that was the hard part. These students are really doing a great job, not only do they study, but they keep the place looking sharp with their christian service. On top of all that, they also handle their extra curricular ministry outreach and service all over the island.
