It was a real blessing tonight to begin our evangelism classes let by Melissa and Christina Duran. We were blessed to be able to learn more about evangelism and to take what we learn to the streets. Both gals have a real heart for evangelism. The Okinawan Japanese people need to hear about the Love of Jesus Christ.
Three times a week a group of us guys go and train with weights on base. I guess it was too much for Sosimo. After devotions he had a few minutes and fell asleep. Too many late evenings in the Word of God take their toll. The guys had fun clownin with him.
Let me introduce to you one of the interns here at CCBC Okinawa. This is Christina. She is a real blessing to the Bible College and church. She teaches Women's Discipleship at the college and assissts in general ministry at the church. Today, she gave a wonderful devotion for the students. It was a blessing to hear and see how the Lord is doing a great work in her life.
Last Saturday the Ladies at CCGinowan had a Purity Seminar. It was a real blessing. All of the gals were blessed and touched in a special way. They had different ladies share in the Word and in workshops. This is a picture of some of the ladies who were there that day. This was the single ladies picture but some of the married gals jumped in. God is so good.
Today Andrew gave a wonderful devotion for us at the Bible College. For those of you who do not know Neely, he is originally from Iowa. In college he was majoring in Japanese studies. The Lord got a hold of him and now he is teaching at the Bible College (Worship class) and is a missionary here in Okinawa. It is amazing how the Lord can get a hold of your heart at a young age. Andrew tells as a part of his testimony how he was following his grandmother up the stairs at 4 years old telling her that he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart. Finally his grandmother led him in the sinners prayer. He stated that something happened because he knew at an early age the things that were wrong, and he should not be doing them. God is good, please continue to pray for Neelysan, that the Lord would continue to lead and guide his life.
This is the new advertizement to come and try out for the Naha Samurai. If you look closer, the guy on the far right is our own Robert Wunderlich. Watchout, this guy is making it big time. His head coach, Nakagomi (center) is no longer the coach. He was promoted to the big leagues and is the coach of a major league team in Taiwan, so Rob will be getting a new coach. Please continue to pray for Rob and his upcoming season. His teammates all know that he is a Christian, and he wants to keep up the good witness for the Lord Jesus Christ.
The fellowship and ministry time was such a blessing tonight at w2. We have been doing things a little different lately. Shorter worship in the beginning and ministry time after the message. It is hard to explain it in words, in short, the Spirit of the Lord was with us in a sweet way. Afterwards we ate some Puerto Rican rice con leche that Frede got from her mother in the states, it was oishii! (delicious)
The youth at Foster took over; that is they served the people in the chapel. It was such a blessing to see the youth kids leading in worship, giving announcements, and helping in any ways. Chaplain Owens and Chaplain Morton looked like two proud pappas as they oversaw the morning Chapel.
Vunder led the group outing to Kakazu Ridge where we took the students for Lectures in Ministry. This is the 4th week of Bible College (can you believe it, it is 1/4 already over) and we always do something special. It was a blessing visiting this historic sight. This was the place where a fierce battle took place during WWII. Over 2,000 Japanese soldiers lost their lives here, and during the first day of battle, the Americans lost 25 tanks. Today this place is a peace memorial park.
Daniel runs the youth group on Camp Foster. The other day they had a youth lock-in and the kids had a blast. Some of the Bible College students went along and helped with the event. They were all blessed! They did not get a lot of sleep, but that is ok, they are still young.
Today we were granted "Permanent Residency" in Japan. In faith we submitted our paper work three months ago and today they stamped our passports. It is virtually impossible to get permanent residency in Japan unless you have at least, bear minimum, lived here 5 consecutive years (we have only been here 3 1/2 years). Plus, you usually have to submit a lot of paperwork and go through a screening to see if you know the Japanese language (in the future, passing a Japanese proficiency test will be required). We are just blown away by God's amazing love by granting us this request. Thank you Lord for allowing us to continue to minister here in Okinawa Japan. Lord, open the people's hearts to Your amazing love, we love You. In Jesus Name, Amen.
We just found out today that Armila's mother, had a massive stroke. She is now uncontious and in a coma. They will perform surgery on her tonight. Will you please lift her mom up to the Lord in prayer that God will guide the surgeons hands, do a miracle and heal her body, bringing her out of the coma and back to full recovery. We serve a Great and mighty God. He still does miracles today. I do not know Armila Horne's moms first name but we call her Mrs. Quasan. Love, Pastor Tommy
Today Tom Cotton shared his testimony with the Bible College Students during devotions. It is always amazing to see how the Lord brings the students together here at CCBC Okinawa. Tom Cotton comes to us via Australia via CCTokorozawa in Mainland Japan. He has been blessed with the opportunity to be discipled by Travis Takamiya. Tom is a real blessing to us all, thank you Lord for sending him to us this semester.
This morning Nate gave the devotion and Evan is in charge of leading worship this week. Nate did a great job even though he thought his devotion date was for tomorrow. He shared his testamony with us and everyone was blessed. Great job Nate!
While visiting Okinawa everyone has to visit the Pineapple park up in Nago. We had a blast checking out the sights, and yes, eating all of the pineapple products. This visit to the park was the busiest I have ever seen. There were more than usual tour buses at the sight. It was still ok. There was enough pineapple for everyone.
On Monday we took a big group up to Nago city to check out the Cherry blossoms. Well, the season for the blossoms is almost over but we had a great time. The day was absolutely beautiful. Everyone was blessed with this great afternoon.
Saiyuri came to the house and taught the girls how to make a professional cake from scratch. She used to work at a bakery here in Japan, so she spent some time at the Ruiz house baking away. Her cake was so beautiful and it tasted as good as it looked. Oishii! (Taste good!)
The Bible College students were invited to a dinner on Foster which was hosted by the Chapel on base. Like always it was a blast. The students had a great time. There was food galore. I think hat Masao broke all records with how many ribs that he ate, that guy can chow down. While the adults played the Newlywed game, the students helped with crafts for the children. Everyone had a great time.
The Lord put it on the heart of Pastor Tim to allow more of a time of ministry at the end of our Sunday night service. That means shorter worship in the beginning and moving in the Spirit more at the end. Our extended time of worship allows us to pray for one another, lift up the needs of the body and more time of reflection in the Word.
Saturday night we had the blessing of heading out to Mihama and sharing the Gospel out on the streets. It has been raining off and on for over three weeks, and this was the first Saturday that it did not rain. We packed up our gear and hit the streets. The Lord truly blessed the night. We were able to pass out so many tracts and share the Love of Jesus with so many people. We did some breakdance, played music and had a good time. We were also blessed because two Japanese guys accepted the Lord into their hearts for the first time. The Lord is so good. Please continue to pray for us as we continue to share the Love of Jesus Christ on the streets.
