Earthquake

Hello, everyone is doing fine. Today at 5:30am (Okinawan time) we were hit with a 7.0 earthquake. It shook pretty good. There was a Tsunami warning for most of Okinawa but reports back everything is ok. So for the Bible College parents, family and friends, just wanted to drop you a blog and tell you “daijyou bu” (Everything Ok). As you can see from the red dot towards the bottom of the picture. That was the area close to the epicenter. We have also contacted all of the CC Living Water missionaries here in Okinawa and everyone is ok.

Boy Wunder is Legal

Rob was given his new visa status today from immigration. Think about it, in 4 years he has gone from visitor, to Missionary, to Professional Baseball status, to Entertainer, to special circumstances. The only one he needs next is “spouse of a National” just kidding Rob. Only in God’s timing homeboy!

Congratulations Tom Cotton

Tom received his Diploma from CCBC Murrieta today. He is an official graduate from the Main Campus in California. Tom is doing a great job teaching the Hebrews class for us this semester. We were all stoked! The diploma also came signed by Pastor Chuck Smith. Way to go mate, our first Australian Graduate!

Amazing Devotion

Emi shared her testimony in Japanese while Kentaro (John Michael) translated into English. John Michael did an excellent job, he was not just reading the notes, but you can tell he is understanding the language better each day. It might not seem so, but he knows more Japanese than meets the eye, great job Emi and Kentaro, go forward for Jesus!

Japanese Instructor: Robert Wunderlich

Rob teaches our Prayer/Japanese class for the Bible College. He is a good instructor. The students are learning how to converse in Japanese as well as learning how to “pray in Japanese”. They are doing pretty good. Rob has learned a lot, now he is passing on what has been taught to him.

New Easter Look

We are getting ready for the Easter season so we put up the new banners in the Sanctuary. Actually Eder and Joel were the decorators for this season. They picked out the colors and the fabric. They did a good job, the Sanctuary looks beautiful.

At Asa's Japanese school, they grew potatoes and garlic with the students. So Asa brought some of the vegetables home and his teacher wanted the parents to cook something with them. So Joanna cut the potatoes thin and make some potato chips. Check out Asa and what he has to say by clicking on the video above. God bless you all!

Valentina Watch!

Tapatio is made in Central California (I don’t know if you knew that), so we started using the real stuff made in Mexico, Valentina. Pastor Tom brought back 12 bottles for this semester. We just finished our second one. Only 10 more left, and as you can see there is some concern on the face of Eder. We are only in the beginning of the 4th week and the students have already consumed two huge bottles. Don’t worry Eder, just pray; remember the story of Jesus and the Wedding of Cana. Jesus turned the water into wine, how about the water into hot sauce, it could happen!

Japanese Surprise

Everyone is stepping it up in their Japanese; Jillian is leading in worship this week singing in Japanese and English. Amanda gave half of her testimony in Japanese while Tamiko translated into English. It is a blessing seeing everyone growing in Jesus.

Featured Missionary: Joel Coronado

If you go on the website of Calvary Chapel Wildwood, you can see our very own Joel Coronado featured as this month’s Missionary. There he is, our very own Joel, sporting his visa picture “I’m Legal”, can you see it, Joel has a “green card”, well they are really white here in Okinawa. God bless you Joel, and God bless your home church in America, CCWildwood in California.

Nago Sunday Night

This was an email and picture that was sent from Pastor Tim. He has a free English Bible Study class on Sunday nights. You can read the email below and rejoice with them. Please keep the Newell’s in your prayers as they continue to be faithful to the Lord!

“Praise the Lord!!!! Our second week doing this and people came!!! for the other English class that we do, we've been waiting for such a turn out since September!!! And tonight we were blessed to minister to these folks. They heard The beginning of John one. Jesus Is God and Creator, the holder of Life that is The Light. The first time for some of them to hear. I believe the Lord spoke. He alone gives life, and brings light to dark hearts!!!!

Thank you for your prayers!!!!”

Happy First Anniversary

Chuck and Yumi celebrated their First Wedding Anniversary today! Can you believe it, already one year. We are so blessed for them both, God is doing a great work in this couple Happy Anniversary Chuck and Yumi, we love you!

Andrew and Kayo’s Wedding

  It was an absolutely blessed Wedding! Everyone enjoyed themselves greatly! We were all so honored to be a part of Andrew and Kayo’s Wedding. There were so many other people who took great pictures. Yumi and Tamiko were the wedding photographers, they have some great pictures. Make sure the check out other people’s facebook picts for some good shots.

Andrew and Kayo Rehearsal Dinner

After the practice for the big day, we headed to the Koinonia Cafe for the Rehearsal Dinner. We ate Joel’s Famous Fried Rice and Gyoza. Pastor Rick really enjoyed it “compliments to the chef”. It was a blessing being able to hang out together.

Chaplain Ken Espinosa

It was a blessing to have Chaplain Ken from Futenma Chapel come and speak Friday morning as our guest lecturer. Like always he did a great job. This was his first time using a translator. We were blessed in the Word of God. Thank you Ken, Praise the Lord!

A Glorious Day!

We are all so blessed! Amanda received her visa today. She is now an official Missionary at CCGinowan. It is such a blessing to have Amada with us here in Okinawa. God continues do do a wonderful work in her life. Thank you Jesus for bringing Amanda to us.

They’re Engaged!

Chris and Iza wanted to formally post their engagement on e3missions, but many of you have already known about this. It is a blessing to see them together and all that the Lord has in store for them. Remember Ira, you are not loosing a daughter but gaining a Marine! Now Ina don’t get any ideas, don’t come home with any Peruvian surprises (just kidding). We are so blessed for you Chris and Iza, thank you for allowing us to post these pictures, you are both in our prayers.

Third Floor A/C Unit

Winter is the best time to have a new A/C Unit installed, the workers are not so busy and you get a brake in the price. So we ordered a new unit in the Children’s ministry. It will be a dual unit (two blowers) and also it has a heater unit installed for those cold days (like today, can you believe it, it is still cold in Okinawa). The kids are going to be blessed this winter, Praise the Lord, thank you Jesus!

Restoring the Guitar

About 5 months ago I was searching at a recycle shop in Okinawa (one of my favorite things to do) and I came upon this old beat up guitar. The body was good and solid, but it was dirty, missing some tuners, no strings, or fretbar. I knew that it was going to be a good guitar but needed some work. I have been shopping around looking for another broken guitar to get some parts off of it. But with no good results. Finally I found the parts that I needed and thus started to work. It was really dirty, I need to put some guitar polish and oils to restore the finish. Once I put the new strings on it was ready to play. Whalla! It sounded beautiful! Here is some spiritual juice; that is the way God found us, in the recycle shop of life. We were all beat up, not really worth anything, but then God purchased us. He cleaned us up, put in some new parts, and there you go. We are a new creation in Christ.

Fellowship at the Newell’s

After dinner we spent some time at Pastor Tim and Ayu’s house. We bought some snacks, played some games, and just hung out. We have a good time, a late nighter. We still have to drive home, and make sure we wake up early for classes Tuesday morning.

Miyazato Soba: Nago City

This is a down to earth big soba shop in Nago City. That is all they really specialize in “Okinawan Soba”. It was packed with noodles and meat. A great price, only 500 yen ($5.50) for a large bowl, and 300 yen for a small bowl. They also had spaghetti for 400 yen and Curryrice for 400 yen too. As you can see from the pictures it was a lot of food for a low price. This will definitely be a destination place when we visit the Newell’s in Nago.

New Style: Pineapple Park

They have done some new work on the “Pineapple Park” in Nago City. But the pineapple is still the same, absolutely delicious! It is always fun bringing up a big group. Only one problem, I ate too many pineapple products, but it was sure good!

Hey, Goya Man!

Yoshua is one of our Japanese Bible College Students. He used to work full time but gave us his career to attend Bible College. This was his first major outing with the group. As you can tell he was a little excited. This is a “goya” cut out. What is goya? Well, thank you for asking. Goya is a famous vegetable that grows well in Okinawa. There are many health benefits of eating goya. It is said to keep you cool in the Summer, and also to help lower “high blood pressure”. Amost all Okinawan’s eat goya, it does take some time to get use to it, in the west it is known as “bitter melon”.

Nago Adventure

Monday we celebrated President’s day, so the Westerners were off work. We all caravanned up North for some “fun in the Son”. The weather was cloudy and at times it rained but all in all, an excellent adventure. Tom Cotton said “I think Justin had to use the restroom”.

Valentine’s Love Feast

The Love Feast was rockin! It was such a blessing to get the body together for a potluck and some great fellowship and music. We re-designed the Sanctuary to be more like a mini banquet hall. Different people shared in their musical talents. It was a blessed time.