Hey it’s Naoko’s Birthday

Naoko’s Birthday was Monday the 25th, so we made her a cake this Wednesday and celebrated after the midweek service. Naoko is such a blessing and it is wonderful to see the work that God is doing in her life. Please pray for our sister and for all that God has in store for her life. Happy Birthday Girl!

Finished Product

We finished the roof tiles today with the help of the guys with a few ideas. The tiles are so old that they cannot even be dated, before WWII. It was great bringing them back to life. Also the wood beam on the corner is also really old. When you look at it you can see that it actually is a 4x4 but as the top got smaller they did not bother to square it off. A real cool piece of old wood.

Congratulations Joel!

Joel received his Japanese License today, he passed after one try! This is awesome! Usually it takes 3 to 7 times before you pass in Japan. Every time you take the test it cost over $40.00 dollars. For an average Japanese person it cost over $3,000.00 dollars to get your license. If you have an American License, you have to take a written test and then take the driver’s test, and it is hard to pass. Great job Joel, Praise the Lord and all Glory to God!

Scripture Tiles

We started construction on the roof tiles in the Koinonia Cafe. It is looking good. We had everyone write Scriptures on the tiles before we hung them up. Anna wrote in German, Eder wrote in Spanish. Some really cools stuff.

John Michael in Tokyo

Praise the Lord John Michael is back from Korea and now in Mainland Japan. He is staying with the Boek's for a week, and then will return back to Okinawa. He is hanging with Emi today and from the picture it looks warmer in Tokyo than here in Okinawa. God bless you both, we are looking forward to seeing both Emi and John Michael next week.

New Construction

We started construction on the inside of the cafe. We are putting up a little Okinawan style roof as decoration. We will not put the tiles up until after Wednesday night. After midweek study we are going to have everyone write Scriptures on the tiles, it will be really cool, just like we did for the tile roof outside. Go for it guys, it is looking great!

Nago Trip

Thursday we had some good fellowship time visiting the Newell’ in Nago City. We went to the famous “Pizza in the Sky” and then visited this beautiful place with awesome waterfalls. Absolutely Awesome! A good looking crew in a good looking place.

Eder's Story

The video is self explanatory but Eder was excited to actually see the house. A Japanese movie was made here in Nago and this house was a big part of the movie. Let Eder explain the story.

Oh no! Not another tooth!

Asa said that he was playing Ninja with the students in his Japanese school. One of them gave him a kick to the mouth and loosed his other tooth. It was ok, it was getting ready to fall out anyways. Well there you have it, his two top teeth are gone. It is kind of cute the way he talks now, with a lisp.

Tamiko’s Birthday

Wednesday we celebrated Tamiko’s 23rd Birthday. Rob and the gang made her a special cake, chocolate with chocolate shavings, her favorite; anything chocolate. She loves it so much we made two and it was delicious! Happy Birthday Tamiko, and God bless you!

Banana’s for Masaki

We were blessed with the opportunity to hang out with Pastor Tim, Ayu and Masaki overnight Wednesday. We spent the day hanging out and seeing the sights. Tim emailed us and sent us these pictures. His neighbor “Eda”, like Eder has a banana plantation and brought over this big stock! So Tim hung them in his kitchen “Samoa Style”. I think that he remembers this from his past visits to the island of Samoa. Good job Pastor Tim, great idea.

Pray for Haiti

As you read this post please take time to pray for the people of Haiti. Pray for the relief workers. Pray for everyone involved and those who will be involved in the near future. Please pray for the service men and women who will be deployed in the relief efforts. Pray for the Christians who will answer the call to go and help sharing the Love of Jesus Christ through medical aid, giving out food and lovingly sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Don't let your heart get hard or turn away from what is happening over there, thinking that "it is not happening in my neighborhood". Even though it is difficult, take time to read CNN, Fox News or the such and see video and let your heart be filled with compassion and pray for those in greatest need at this time. Love, Pastor Tommy

Cold in Okinawa

The weather has been absolutely cold here in Tropical Okinawa. It has been dipping into the low 50’s and maybe into the high 40’s at night. It might not seem cold to you, but is sure is to us. Joel and Anna dress in parkas. The reason for the cold spell is that China is experiencing freezing temperatures like the rest of the world. So the wind blows down from China to us here in Okinawa bringing the cold front. I don’t remember it being this cold, but some say it was like this last year. Go figure, but we know one thing for sure, it is cold!

Some Good Juice

While in California Joel’s Dad knows how much we like coffee. Mr. Coronado loves coffee too, so much that he actually orders the special blend online. So he gave us some of his special blend from Guatemala (home of Mario Mendoza). It was absolutely delicious! Look at Tom’s face, it says it all. Thank you Gerald, we are all blessed!

Lost a Tooth

Asa hates loosing his teeth. He said that he does not want to look ugly, but he actually looks more adorable. We told him that loosing his teeth is a part of growing up. He got more excited when we told him tomorrow we will give him a 100 yen so he can get himself a little toy. He was ready for bed.

Out like a Light

Tom was super tired from the long trip from the States. He hit the wall about 6pm. We let him sleep for a little while, then he went home to take a shower and get ready for B.O.B, the men’s Bible Study. We did not want him to go to bed until 9pm, or he would be wide awake at 3am. He needs to get adjusted to Okinawa time.

Sukiyaki Nabe Party

In honor of Zach’s Birthday, Joanna cooked us all a special dinner, Sukiyaki and Nabe. It was absolutely delicious! We had two cookers going on at the same time. Everyone really enjoyed it.

Thomas Cotton

The Cotton man arrived with Anna via China Airlines. The plane ride was smooth even though it was 14 hours long. Tom arrived in good spirits so off we go to the Cafe. It is good to have him back, he had a great time in the States hanging with Daniel, thanks a lot buddy for blessing this Australian.

Anna is Back

Anna arrived safely from California. We picked her up today at the airport in Naha. She is really tired even though she had some good sleep on the plane. She has a bit of a cold so that is why she is so drowsy. Great to have you back girl!

The New Cotton

Phil Joel meets the 21st century. The new Cotton, we dig his wild hair but it was getting out of control, wild man status. But Iza tamed the beast giving him a good haircut. He looks great! Good looking hairstyle Cotton, we really dig it. We are looking forward to Tom getting back to Okinawa. He will be teaching the book of Hebrews for the Bible College. Watchout! Tom is now a College Graduate and he is going to put all the learning to good work.

 

Happy Birthday Zach!

Zach turned 20 today January 10th. We were glad to be back in Okinawa for his birthday. We celebrated with a big cake! It is also Debbie Pallman’s moms birthday Hirokosan’s today. Happy Birthday Zach and Hirokosan.

Liquid Gold

Coming back from America we made sure to bring the Hot Sauce. Valentina and Tapatio are the No.1 choice of chili lovers. Tapatio is produced in California while Valentina is “hecho en Mexico”. You be the judge, which is better. As you can see from Eder, he is one happy boy!

Celebration

It was a great day for the Ruiz’s to celebrate Zach “Coming of Age” in Japan. Zach is 20 years old, where did the years go? I can still remember the day he was born. We all had a great night.

Coming of Age Day

In Japan, January 10th is a holiday celebrating the “Coming of Age” for all the 20 year olds in Japan. At 20 years old they officially become adults. We celebrated at w2 by praying for them. This year there were no gals. That is really interesting because when Zach was born in America, I remember the nurses telling us that there were a lot of boys born that year. Here you go, again, prayed for all guys and no gals.