Hannah is 13 years old!

Happy Birthday Hannah! You are now a teenager (yikes)! After Wednesday night service we celebrated Hannah's Birthday. Joanna baked her a carrot cake. While we were celebrating, the neighbor's next door came over with some pasta, two big plates, so we had pasta, taco rice, and carrot cake. When you get a chance please click the comment button below and leave a nice birthday greeting. God bless you all.

More, more, picts of Korea

These are some other pictures from Korea. To the upper left hand corner, we went to the open air street markets and took some picts of the fruit and to the bottom right they had meat hanging in the streets. To the opposite bottom corner, is a lady who is making sushi rolls. They were very inexpensive, only 1,000 won (100 yen, or $1.00). They were so good. In the upper right corner is a great brother named Mike. He has recently moved there from Southern California with his wife who is Korean. He teaches at the School of Ministy. In the center picture is what the shopping streets looked like down town in the alleys. I thought that this was a cool shot, since right after this photo, the streets were crowded again. Lord, bless the people of Korea, may they be reached with the Love of Jesus Christ. God bless you all, Pastor Tommy

More picts from Korea

These are some more pictures that Jason took while we were in Korea. The guys were just having some fun in the upper left and right corners. The center picture is the cover of our new album (just kidding). On the bottom left is Segmon, and you guessed it, he is eating again. On the bottom right picture, when you get a chance, click on it, so it gets larger. A question to ponder, does she know Jesus. There are still many people in Korea, who do not know who Jesus is. Please keep on praying for the Nation of Korea, that people will come to know the Savior who loves them so much.

Ministry in Korea

Hi everyone! we are back from Korea and we just wanted to put some picts up of what we did while we were there. We were blessed with the opportunity to hang out with the guys there at the School of Ministry. In the bottom right is Rob and I leading worship for their morning chapel. In the center picture is Jason and the guys in the office at the SOM. To the left of the picture is a great brother named Andy. He recently graduated from the SOM in Costa Mesa and is serving at the school in Korea. To the right of the picture the guy standing up is Victor. He has been serving in Korea for over 5 years and loving it. The top left hand side picture is me, and yes you guessed it right. I am emailing, concentrating on getting those messages out. We had a wonderful time. Please pray for all of our brothers and sisters who are serving in the Nation of Korea. God bless you, Pastor Tommy

The team in Korea

Hello everyone! We are here safe in Korea. The flight from Okinawa was fast, it took less than 2 hours. When we arrived and exited customs, Mike from the Calvary Chapel School of Ministry met us and took us on the bus to Cheonan. The bus ride took us 2 hours. We met with some of the brothers and tomorrow we will attend the SOM (school of ministry) and lead in worship and share at the chapel. Please continue to pray for us that God will give us vision for the future. In the picture above is me holding a Korean 100 won. That is equivilent to 10 yen, or .10 cents. I have kept this in my coin purse for over a year and a half in faith that some day I would be in Korea, and there you have it! God answered my prayer. We are so honored to be able to visit Korea in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Saturday Morning Outreach

Jason sent me this picture from our outreach that we did at Samashita Park. We got up early Saturday morning, and people brought or made "bentos" (Japanese breakfast meals) and we passed them out to people who were in the park. We took them over to some people who were in their cars sleeping. Before we started, we sang worship songs, did a devotion in the Word, and
then went out. Afterwards, we came back to the benches and at breakfast. It was kind of funny, we ate whatever was left and then, some other people came by, but most of it was gone. (next time we will save some extra just for that). Well, Kayo, met a homeless couple and started talking to them, they were so nice. When I arrived, the man remembered me, and asked how my head was, (last month I fell at this park and got a concussion) he remembered who I was, so, we all talked to them. It was a real blessing, to share the Love of Christ in a practical way. Please pray for us, we want to outreach in this same way again next month. Pastor Tommy

Late night Fellowship

We had a great time tonight. On Friday nights we have P2 (Prayer and Praise) we gather at our house at 6pm and Joanna cooks dinner for whoever comes. Then we spend some time in worship and prayer with the Lord, lifting up different needs, our city Ginowan, and the country of Okinawa. Well after a full night, our next door neighbors, Mana and Kodai, invited us over their house to celebrate "girls day". They had all kinds of Sushi, clam miso soup, fruit and Pizza! It was a real blessing. It was so cool, to see Trevor, and Tim, talking it up in Japanese to Kodai's grandma. Those guys fit right in. To tell you the truth, I kind of got teary eyed looking at them talk to the aunts. I was thinking "this is what it is all about, sharing our lives with other people". This is exactly what Jesus would have been doing. Please continue to pray for us here in Okinawa, that God would continue to pour out His Spirit upon the people of Okinawa. Love, Pastor Tommy

Girls day in Japan

March 3rd is celebrated as "girls day" in Japan. This is a day that is dedicated to all of the young girls. They celebrate it by giving them gifts, and food. One popular food is a type of sushi rice. I forgot the correct name, but it is soooooo goooooood! They are also given a type of rice cracker, which is also tasty. So we celebrate girls day in Japan, but us guys get to eat all the good food.
Debe Pallman told me an interesting thing that girls used to do on this special day. They would make paper dolls and send them down a stream, signifying a type of cleansing of impurity, or of their wrong doing, sin. In Okinawa, the girls would go down to the beach and dip in the ocean celebrating the same thing. It is quite amazing as I was thinking about this custom. The water represents a cleansing. The Bible tells us that we are "washed by the water of the Word". It is through Jesus Christ we can be cleanesd. As believers we can share this hope of "cleansing" to a people who need to know about our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Ministry at New Life Academy

Today we were invited back to New Life Academy to give Chapel services for the Middle schoolers, and the Elementary children. We lead in worship, give an icebreaker game, and share in the Word. The kids always have a blast, and we love sharing with them the Love of Jesus Christ.

Homeless outreach this weekend

Hello, we are planning an outreach to the homeless people who gather at this park in our city of Ginowan. This is also the park where I fell and got a concussion a few months ago, as we were exercising. Please pray for us, and when you get a chance click the button above and hear our prayer requests for this week. God bless you all, Pastor Tommy

New pictures of the Javahouse

God bless you, everyone! These are some pictures that Jason Arbogast took today while we were working on the coffeehouse. We got a lot done today! We put up all the ceiling fans in the main room, and we are halfway finished with the final glass room. So, everyday we keep plugging along. We need your help! We have not decided on a name for the coffeehouse, outreach center. Can you give us some of your ideas? When you get a chance, click on the comment button below and give us your thoughts. I know that we are setting ourselves up for some jokes, but seriously, give us some of your input. Love, Pastor Tommy

New Church building in Delano, California?

We are asking for prayer for Pastor Gil Garcia in Delano. I recently recieved an email from him stating that there is a church available for rent. The previous church moved to Bakersfield and it has been vacant for 2 years. God is doing a good with in Delano, so please pray that if it is God's will, Pastor Gil will be able to rent it. Gil knows that God is in control, they want His perfect will.

Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hi everyone! This is a picture of some Okinawan instruments. The Sanshi (Okinawan Guitar) is a standard instrument in every Okinawan home. I recently read an article that states that there is one Sanshi for every two homes in Okinawa. Also, in the background you can see the Taiko drums. They are used for the Okinawan parades and folk dancing.
When you get a chance, can you please click on the audio button below and hear this weeks praise and prayer requests. God bless you all, Pastor Tommy

A lot of Dust

Well, as you can see in the pictures, we are working overtime in the new Javahouse. Today we joined two rooms by cutting a hole in the concrete wall. There was a window where Segmon, Rob, and Zach are standing (center pict) and we used a concrete cutter and a jackhammer (Vundernator is holding it) to get the job done. I just want to Praise the Lord for His faithfulness. The job was hard in the beginning, and Max said that we would probrobly have to jackhammer the whole wall. Well, when we cut through the sides, we just gave it a good push and it fell over! We were rejoicing, it fell and broke into 4 pieces (see the picture top right). The Lord saved us hours of hard work. Hallelujah! The building is really coming together. Pastor Tommy

Friday night at OCSI

We were invited to OCSI's talent show called "Cafe Dulce". During the evening, different people sing, do skits, drama, etc, and people came out for a good evening. Well, they asked "Red Letter Edition" (Vunder named the band) to come out and finish the evening with some praise songs, and afterwards if anyone wanted to stick around to worship the Lord. Tim Newell began with some of his rap songs, and then we led in Worship. It was a blessing to worship the Lord with the youth at OCSI.

Kids Club Ginowan City

This week Joanna had a special Kids club with a Valentine's theme. They had a great time. During their study of the Word, they finished up the 7 days of creation. The kids loved it so much they wanted to finish up their books this week. Please pray for the kids that are meeting every Wednesday night. Some of the parents sit in on the club, and most of the kids do not know the Lord yet. We are hoping that the coffeehouse will be finished in the next month or so, then we can move the adult Bible Study there, and give Joanna the run of the house. She has so many ideas for the kids to reach out to them. So please pray for them, and also that God would bring more helpers for Joanna.

Valentine's day in Okinawa

Well yesterday was Valentines day for us here in Okinawa. In the morning, Joanna cooked us all a Valentine's day breakfast and later in the evening Kayo brought this large chocolate bar for Joanna and I. People celebrate Valentine's day different here in Okinawa than in the United States. On this day, girls get gifts for the guys, and next month is White day. On white day, guys get gifts for the gals. We had a wonderful day. Click on the picture to see what we ate for breakfast.