It was a night of firsts. It was the first time that Simon (upper left picture, left person) translated announcements, and a first for Yoshi (upper right picture, right person) to translate the message for Dan Pallman. It really is a blessing to see God using different people in the ministry. The Lord did not call us to make converts, but to make "Disciples of all men". Please continue to pray for us, that the Lord would continue to raise up men and women in the ministry.
Chaplain Charlie Owens is the first Chaplain assigned to duty by Calvary Chapel. CCOF (Calvary Chapel Outreach Fellowships) have recently been allowed to station Chaplains in the Military. Chaplain Owens took over as the Senior Chaplain for Foster Chapel on Base. They were in need of someone to lead worship for their Sunday Morning Service. It was a blessing that the Bible College students have helped in Children's ministry, and it is a blessing that we will be able to help in the area of Worship. So for the coming months we will help build a worship team for Pastor Charlie. Please keep us in your prayers as the Lord again has us stepping out in faith.
Well Typhoon Man-Yi was upgraded to a Super Typhoon and it packed a wallop! Talking to Glenn Phipps he said that there are so many downed trees that he could not count as he made his way to CCOkinawa. Pastor Rick suffered some damage at home. A small tree fell on his car, and a large tree fell and blocked his way in the driveway. The winds were powerful! You could really see the effects of the wind. The Typhoon is right above us now 2:15pm Okinawan time, so prayfully the worsed has already past. Please continue to pray, the Typhoon will now make its way up to Mainland Japan, and they are not as well prepared as we are here on the island. Double click on the photos and get a closer look on the Typhoon. God bless you all, Pastor Tommy
Christina (right) and Kimberly (left) made it safely from California. They were a little tired but in good spirits. They had an interesting adventure getting here, but I will leave the stories for them to tell you. They are safely at home at the girls D house now. I am sure they will wake up early tomorrow as their body clocks will take time to adjust to our Okinawan Time Zone.
We are in step three of a four part series in getting our Japanese Drivers licence. First we had to go to a company and get our California Drivers licenses translated into Japanese. Then we had to registar at the Okinawan DMV. Next we had to take our written test. That is what we are doing in the picture above. Praise God we passed the test. Now the real work begins. We have to take the actual behind the wheel driving test. Most people fail the first, second,third and fourth times. Each time we have to pay around $30.00 dollars. We will need all of your prayers to pass quickly.
This is one of our favorite local restaurants in Ginowan city. The portions are huge and the price is right. Not many Gaijin (Foreigners) come into this place so we always stand out, but they like us! We always make sure to bring our friends to this good restaurant. What is their specialty you ask? Chicken Karage (upper right pict), stacked high, chunks of white breast chicken meat fried in a tempura type batter, yum yum good!
Let me introduce to you Rachel (left). She is an english teacher working with the NOVA company. She is a Christian who loves the Lord. She found out about the church as she did a web search and found Deb and Dan Pallmann's address. She called them, and we hooked up together, what a blessing! She had the day off so we all headed up to Nago city to have a fun day. Rebekah (middle right) only has one week with us, so we are trying to pack in all the sights. Please pray for Christina and her sister who arrive this Wednesday night.
A beautiful day heading up to Nago city. When we got there, we traveled over a large landbridge to Sesekojima. The white sand beach was so beautiful we had to go snorkeling. When we did we found this blue starfish. Asa had a blast holding and playing with it. We had a blast.
Well, Typhoon season has begun and we are ready for Typhoon Man-Yi to hit us this weekend. Please pray for us because it is projected to come right over Okinawa. Pray that it veers either to the left or right of us. Prayer works and we believe in the Power of Prayer. Also, Joe Tipton will be arriving back on Island this Saturday, please pray for his safe flight. God bless you, Pastor Tommy
Patrick Hallman sent me this picture of the group in Hungary. He stated that some are preparing to lead in worship. He needs our prayers in that they will be leading in Hungarian. They are blessed to be ministering in a different country for Jesus Christ.
Today we went to Rob's practice with the Naha Samurai. It was really cool! The team practiced like the pros, well I guess they are; Semi-pros. Rob did a lot of pitching and even some batting. Go Samurai! Just some interesting news. Rob's number is 44. In Japanese the number 4 means death. So we are calling him the double death. Watchout when he gets on the mound!
This day only comes once in a hundred years. This is the Lord's day, but really every day is the Lord's day. May this day be filled with wonderful things in store for you. Would'nt it be awesome if the Lord came back today?
Tonight was the start of the new work in Ishikawa. We began praying together for the new work that has begun. It was such a blessing to be in the city and be a part of the very beginning. On Friday nights the church in Ginowan City is divided into 3 groups. One group led by Pastor Tim prays at the Girls D house in Ginowan. Another group, the youth group meets at the Koinonia Cafe. And the last group meets in Ishikawa at the Pallmann's. Prayer is the Powerhouse of the church. Let's get involved for Christ.
Hi everyone! Mikey Snider emailed me the other day and sent us this picture. He meets every Tuesday with this group of brothers in Virginia for a Bible Study. He is really blessed! Please continue to pray for Mike that the Lord would give him guidance and direction in his life. Peace out Mike, we love you bro! The Oki Crew
Some of you know Patrick Hallmann, and some of you don't. Let me introduce him to you. Patrick is the son of Tom Hallman from CCWilliamsburg in Virginia. He recently graduated from High School and went on a "Summer of Missions" with "Vision for Life". He is presently in Vaiti, Hungary serving the Lord. He has asked for prayer this week in that he will be leading Worship at CCBudapest, and he has to learn 4 songs in Hungarian in less than a week. Check him out in the picture above, he has everyone sport'in the 3N1 sign. What I find more interesting is that Patrick is the only guy in the picture! Oh, mom and dad are going to love this. Just mess'in with you. Be blessed Patrick, may the Lord continue to lead and guide you as you continue to serve the Lord overseas. Agape, Pastor Tommy
We were totally blessed at the beach. We arrived about 1pm, set up the tents and volleyball court, and went for a swim. Afterwards, we started cookin, and cookin and cookin. It was an awesome time. At 7pm we started the service. Sorry for the bad pictures, I had to use one of the cell phone cameras and it did not work well. We will put better pictures up soon. At the end of the service we gave an invitation for people to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. An older lady named Keikosan gave her heart to the Lord and also a High School Senior named Shinyasan. Please pray for both of these people, that they would grow in the Grace and Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. After the service, we fired up the BBQ again. Keisho and his crew brought some more food. We did not leave the beach until after it was closed. It was a 4th of July to remember.
She came from Kansai Airport around 3:30pm. Joanna picked her up right after she got off from work. It really is a blessing to have Rebekah with us for these two weeks. We have anticipated her arrival for some time now. Rebekah originally comes from Richmond Virginia where she works full time in a Medical office. She obeyed the call of God to come and serve in Mainland Japan for two months. She will finish her time with us as she assists in ministry to the Okinawan people. Please pray for her that God will give her clear direction while she is here.
These boys have been coming around our house every day for the past week looking for the "Semi" bugs that come out of the ground every year about this time. They are quite creepy. They burrow out of the ground, attach themselves to leaves and the such and bust out of their shells becoming these loud flying bugs. Double click on the picture to your right to get a better look. It is a blessing to see these guys every day. The kids that is, not the bugs, yuck!
Hello everyone! Let me introduce to you Josh, Gina and their beautiful daughter. The Dean's have been praying about serving the Lord in Japan for some time now. Some of you might remember Josh, he graduated around the same time as Pastor Tim Newell from Norco High School. Well, they have been praying about serving as full time missionaries here in Japan, and they would appreciate all of your prayers as they continue to seek the Lord's leading and guiding through provision of finances and total direction. God continues to do a great work in Japan and He continues to speak to His servants hearts to fullfill the Great Commission to "Go into all the World and Preach the Gospel".
Monday night we were invited to Yoshua Higa's house for a traditional Okinawan gathering. Yoshua's father is a local Pastor here in Ginowan city. Yoshua attends CCGinowan as he feels called to grow with us at the church. He recently gave his heart back to Jesus Christ and the Lord is doing a wonderful work in his life. His father wanted us to come over his house to thank us for the love and support we have been giving to his son. We are looking forward to doing ministry with Pastor Higa in the near future, as our hearts were bonding together that night. It was really a blast. Let me set the mood for you. I was personally blown away as I was sitting on the tatami mat, looking outside and seeing the beautiful clouds and the full moon up in the sky. The weather was unusually cooler that night as the breeze was coming into the third story house. We were singing praise songs and Okinawan tunes on the sanshin (okinawan guitar). Sitting around with all the families and friends, I thought "life does not get better than this". Please continue to pray for the Higa's and all the other Okinawan Pastor's on the island. Pastor Tim's heart and mine are to reach out to the Okinawan people as well as bring unity to the body of Christ with the other churches on island. Agape, Pastor Tommy
This year the 4th of July falls on Wednesday. Well like most of you know Wednesday night is our mid week service here in Ginowan city, so we thought "why not have service at the beach". So we rented a table and canopy and we'll be having service right here on Tropical beach. If you are in Okinawa and would like to join us, we will begin service right at 7pm. But if you want, you can get there early for a game of volleyball, swimming, or just kicking back in the shade. Oh yeah, one other thing, if you want to BBQ, we will have the grill there, so just bring your chicken or whatever kind of meat and cook away. Just remember one thing, Pastor Tim loves steak, so make sure you bring some to share with him.
Saturday night we were invited to the first meeting of the Christian Surfers Japan here in Okinawa. CSJ has been in Mainland Japan for some time now, but recently Mr. Lacar (upper right, right photo) invited David (upper left, right photo) who is the director of CSJ to come to Okinawa and tell us more about the ministry. It was a blessing to hear of what the Lord is doing through the Christian Surfers in Japan. We look forward to see what the Lord wants to do here on the Island of Okinawa.
Then and now, Mark Starr on his way to teach english in China. This is what happens to you when you leave Okinawa, layed back to clean cut. We are going to miss this guy, but we know that God has wonderful things in store for him as he begins teaching english. Please remember to keep Mark in your prayers. May God continue to lead you buddy, as you follow Jesus where He guides you. Agape, Pastor Tommy
