Kudaka-jima and Teen Challenge

Yesterday (Monday) we went to Kudaka Island and where most of us snorkeled and explored there were nice sea creatures all around like crabs, sea stars, brittle stars, and sea cucumbers that squirt out watery stuff when their full and you squeeze them.
Then later that night we came back onto mainland Oki and visited the Teen challenge crew where they had invited us for dinner. Those guys were a blessing. After dinner Neely played worship and then Pastor Tommy taught while Tokito translated from a portion from the Bible about the story of the oil that filled every vessel in the house. it was a good adventure day

Joanna's Birthday

Joanna's birthday was also on Friday but we celebrated it with her awesome tea cake that Hannah made on Saturday we also celebrated Rob's coming back to Ginowan party. The night was filled with laughs and a game of Cranium

The Okinawan Tale of the Lady of Ginowan

This past Friday (24th) marked the twelfth week of the semester this 2009 Spring so we went on a little excursion instead of our lectures in ministry class to the Ginowan spring. Where it is said that the lady of Ginowan who was a daughter of the gods and could fly because of her magical clothes, took a bath while an Okinawan recognized her stole and hid her clothes then told her that she would not get her clothes back unless she married him. So the lady marries him and they have two sons. But she eventually finds the clothes that the man stole and flies away. The two sons inevitably are left and are said to have been the two kings of Okinawa. Thus Okinawans have seen themselves as descendants from the gods and as you notice many other island cultures believe that they have descended from the gods as well.

Korea Trip Video Summary

If you have ten minutes to spare... check it out.

For a better or more accurate explanation of what we did please check out Pastor Tommy Ruiz's Blog: http://calvarychapele3missions.blogspot.com/

or Iza's Photostream Album on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zputnikphotography/sets/72157617120851155/

Leaving on a Jetplane [to get to Korea]

This is the plane ride getting here . We are in Korea and have been for two days. This past Saturday and Sunday was packed.

Korea Here We Go.

Today we leave for Korea.
The Lord is going to do something awesome.
COntinue to pray for us we will be there till the 22nd of this month.

Pa's Birthday

My dad just turned 48. Yes that's right. We had dinner as a family it was delish. Then this Wednesday night we had my dad blow out candles.
But it just goes to show how faithful the Lord has been to Him to bless him with family and a good life and more years to come. All the students here definitely do love him and my mom for being generous to all of us kids.
Happy Birthday, Pa! don't know what i'd do with out you especially the part about existing.

Potluck Night

This night we had a potluck and a bit of an Easter service. It was just a time of fellowship, family, and food.

it's funny if you see the picture of the big group of Okinawans, they are all apart of Raiko-san's family. They're the best. They pretty much take up one third of the congregation.

Chapel

Iza, Nate, and I are helping at Futenma Chapel this month, but because of the busy schedule we have this month we'll only have two weeks to be there. But the kids are so adorable. we had 12 for the 3 of us. Iza was surrounded by children who just flocked to her and she's holding up Eder's favorite super hero.
We were definitely blessed.

" He is Risen Indeed"

It was a beautiful morning. We didn't have service right at the time the sun rose, but we all got up pretty early. Praise the Lord that He has given us hope in His life.

Mihama Outreaches

This past Saturday night we had another outreach which is the second one out of the semester here. What we do is go out on one of the street corners and play some worship sets. SO as we do that we hope a crowd might watch so that our bro's and sis's would reach out to them and pass out tracks. In one of the pictures you see that one of the men who was handed a track was reading it. It was good just continue to pray for their sincere seeking after God since many have been persuaded to be involved, we are now looking forward to the sunrise service in the morning this Sunday.

Good Friday

Here at the church we had dinner then a showing of the Passion of the Christ yesterday. We had dinner before the movie started, had worship, played the movie,then had Pastor Tim gave a short explanation of the reason Christ came to die and rise again.
The movie was all done in Aramaic and they had put up subtitles but they could only have Japanese subtitles. So those of us who spoke English had to either recall what they were generally saying or just guess.
It was still so very powerful. There was a good turn out of locals who came. Pray that the Lord use this holiday to bring many to Him through the love he showed by the death of His Son.

Tonaki- Jima

We went and saw and it was beautiful. There is definitely a need for the gospel although they live in such a beautiful place. There was a movie that was shot on this island that is supposed to come out this June so it will be positive publicity for the island. Aside from the beauty, there are so many ministry opportunities there because it is such a small island. We had the opportunity to do a vbs for the children's ministry though there were about only thirty or so children there that was probably the whole population of kids on the island. On Saturday there were about 12-15 kids who went up to accept Jesus as Savior. Keep praying that the Lord will keep those children and that hearts will be open to hear the gospel and that men and women will go and make disciples.

Please Pray

We are leaving for Tonaki Jima (image above) this morning and will be there this Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

It is a small island with the population of 400 hundred. They have no church on that island and the only experience they have had with anything remotely Christian is the Jehovah's witnesses and Mormons. We will be doing vbs type ministry for the kids and just evangelizing and passing out tracks. SO please pray for the whole team and the leader ship and the weather and our boat ride out and most importantly for the hearts of the people there and our own.
So please pray thank you so much, brothers and sisters.