Let me introduce to you Matt Davis. He finally arrived from Elsinore California. It is a blessing to have him with us this semester. Matt arrived late tonight at 10:30pm on JAL. He is a bit tired, he said he has been up for 48 hours. It was difficult for him to sleep on the airplane. Well, get ready Matt, we hit the floor running tomorrow. The whole team will be heading out to Ikei Island.
Well, we are working on the new website for the Thrift Store. It is really coming together. The smaller picture is of the first layout, and the bottom picture is after we worked on it more. When you get a chance, please click into www.koinoniathriftstore.com and check it out for yourself. Please continue to pray for us. We want to open it up to the Okinawan people in a couple of weeks. There are a few things that we still need to do, but in God's timing it will all come together. God bless you all, Pastor Tommy
Saturday evening the Bible College students were invited to be a part of the Chapel's Valentines Dinner. It was a real blast. They played a game with the adults as the students did some crafts with the kids. The Chaplains on base have been such a blessing and an encouragement to the students. God keeps on opening more doors to do ministry here on the island of Okinawa.
Pastor Tim will be graduating this year from Ryukyu University's Language School. It is normally a two year program, but because he passed the first year test, he only had to attend year two. It is quite an accomplishment to see this young guy from Norco California so fluent in the Japanese language. The reason for Tim attending this school is so he will be able to better communicate with the Japanese people. This was a speech contest that all of the graduating students had to participate in. In this speech, Tim had to speak for 5 minutes in Nijongo. He did a great job! He did not win the competition, but he gave everyone a run for their money.
Technology is blowing me away! It is so incredible to see that you can be on your computer now, and talk to someone around the world for free. Many of the students keep in touch with love ones back in the states by using the computer phone service called Skype. Here is Ms. Perkins talking to Josh in 29 Palms. We miss you bro! For those of you who don't know Josh, he is the cool looking dude on the computer to the right of the picture. Don't worry everyone, notice that they are doing a Bible Study online. Just kidding, I don't know what they are talking about. But she is reading her Bible.
Hard at work! Daniel is taking a little break between class assignments. We are in full swing of the semester now. Next week will begin week three. The students are getting settled into what it means to attend full time Bible College. They are starting to be sent out to do ministry. Please pray for the students. Many of them are gifted musicially and our vision is to send them out to serve in different churches leading in worship.
photos by Deb Pallmann 
We had our first Baby shower at the church last week. It was a real blessing as the gals got together to show the Love of Christ for Yuki. Baby showers are not a Japanese custom here in Okinawa. So some of the ladies who came did not understand what was going to happen. One of the gals was told to buy towels, soaps etc. She thought that when she got here that everyone was going to wash the baby (baby shower). She was surprised to see that the lady who the baby shower was for, was still pregnant. By the time the shower was over, she understood the idea. It was all about blessing the mom with gifts to help with the new baby. Kind of funny huh? We take for granted all of our customs in America. It was a real blessed night.
From the hills of Sakura, to the beaches of Nago. That is where we headed for some peanut butter sandwiches. We decided to eat a late lunch by the beach. It has been so cold in Okinawa. God blessed us with a wonderful day. It was warm, the sun was out, and if we would have had our swim trunks we would have dipped in for a swim. The water was so beautiful. On the way home, it was getting late, so we were blessed with a beautiful sunset (upper right picture).
Here in Okinawa, we do not celebrate Superbowl Sunday, but Superbowl Monday. We are 17 hours ahead of everyone in California, so the big game is held here at 8:30am on Monday morning. So we gathered this year at the home of Joe Tipton. Joe's mom Beth, was such a wonderful hostess to all of the Bible College students. She cooked us homemade egg burritos, fresh hot tater tots, chips galore, and she even made us homemade blueberry muffins, Mmm Mmm Good! Thank you again Joe and Beth for opening your hearts and homes to us, God bless you, Pastor Tommy
Today was such an awesome day of ministy. Sometimes you just sit back and are blown away at the work of God. People come up to you and share personal things on what the Lord is doing in thier life and how the church has been a blessing to them. You think "wow God, this is why we are here and it is all worth it". Sometimes you cannot put into words how you are really feeling. This is one of those times, you feel just in awe of His work. Please continue to pray for us here in Okinawa. God wants to do a huge work on this island. We just want to jump in on what the Lord is doing, and be a part of His great work.
On Sunday mornings we are teaching through the Book of Acts. It has been said that if you teach through Acts your church will be transformed. That is what is happening at CCGinowan. You can see the Japanese people understanding what is being said, and we are beginning to understand what the Spirit of the Lord wants to do in our lives. Zach drew this picture today and it made us crack up. In Acts chapter 2 we read that the Holy Spirit fell on the Disciples "like tongues of fire", and they spoke in different languages. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit transformed the life of the church. It was not quite like this picture, but definitely, the Holy Spirit ignited the early church. Love, Pastor Tommy
Our very own Trevor or actor Andy Garcia? Trevor has been sporting the beard for a few months now. Recently he shaved it and went with the goatee. Tomorrow he shaves it all off because he needs to send in some resume's with his picture and he needs to go "clean cut". Tell us your thoughts; either keep the beard or shave it all off. But in all seriousness, the Lord has been shaping him into quite a good teacher of the Word. Trev teaches on Sunday nights at w2 and is doing a good job for us at the Bible College teaching Japanese I. Go for it Trevor (Gambate) keep serving Jesus full time.
So many wonderful people we know around the world. These are some of our family in Iloilo, Philippines. Many of them in the picture attend Calvary Chapel in Iloilo. We are looking forward to our trip that we will be taking there with the Bible College Students in March. Will you please continue to pray for us that this trip would come together in Jesus perfect timing. Lord, please open huge doors for us to be there.
Saturday we had to opportunity to take the Students out to Tropical beach to do some "Reef Walking". What is reef walking? At low tide the reef begins to appear close to the shoreline of the beach. We walk around and check out the cool creatures that appear. In the lower left is a picture of a sea slug. To the lower right is a brown starfish. On the top left is Daniel clownin around with some crab claws that he found. To the right is a spiney starfish clinging onto the camera. My favorite picture is the blue jellyfish on a bed of seaweed. While we were out on the reef, there were some Okinawan grandma's gathering up seaweed to take home, dry out and eat. We had a great time for the two hours that we were out there.
Our very own Calvary Chapel Chaplain in the Military, meet Charlie Owens. We are blessed again this semester with the opportunity to serve at Foster Chapel this semester. We headed out to the Chapel to get a little orientation, and let the students get a feel on what ministry is like on a Marine Base. Chaplain Owens did a great job of letting us all know and feel what it is like to be a Chaplain in the Military.
Joanna had the opportunity to deliver a devotional to all of the students the other day. She did a great job of encouraging us in our Christian walk. She continues to help in all of the administrational duties in the Bible College. Thank the Lord for all of the wonderful servants that the Lord has brought to the College this semester.
