Early Sunday evening, we gathered at American Village-Mihama for a street outreach. The weather was perfect and God blessed us with a stage and great turn out. We were able to handout over 1000 tracts! Please pray for the "seeds" that were sown in the lives of many Okinawan and Americans.
On Friday, the Barrios Family stopped in at church. David, who gave his life to Jesus this past Easter has grown leaps and bounds in the Lord. Today is their 5th Year Anniversary, so they wanted to renew their wedding vows before the Lord. It was such a blessing. Glenn led us in a time of worship.. yup, Glenn... and then we shared from John 2, where Jesus was invited to a wedding and performed a miracle. Anytime we invite Jesus into our lives, the wonderful and miraculous takes place as it has in the Barrios Family. An d just like the comment of the head waiter... Jesus saves the best for last! The best is yet to come for David, Liz and their wonderful family!
Last week, Larry Torres and family moved from Okinawa and are being stationed at Cherry Point, NC. They are making several stops along the way. Larry sent me this picture of his boys (Raphiel, Brandon and Anthony... actually one more is missing, Noah) eating world famous Matsumoto Shaved Ice. Our good friend, Travis Takamiya taught me when you eat something yummy - you can say "it broke da mout'" (Hawaiin pigeon for 'tastes good'). It "broke da mout'" eh boys? PS... love those shirts!
Mike's so excited for the dessert potluck! It was great to see our brother, Mike Silva who almost one year ago was sent out to start a work in Iwakuni. Since then, God has done a neat work there and the bible study has grown into a church, which currently meets in their home. Mike shared that God has been faithful and he thanks everyone for their prayers. Please continue to pray for the Silva family. With Mike is our good brother in Christ, Joe. Joe's a Marine, can you tell?He's a great Sunday school teacher, loves the Lord with all his heart. You can't help to get on fire hanging with Joe. He'll set you on fire. No more PT for Mike.
So, we're in Typhoon Condition 1 Emergency now. The storm's not too bad. There's rain and wind as expected and an occasional gust but nothing major. The bummer is we missed church services but it didn't stop us from worship and the Word. The family got together and worshipped and learned about Paul's shipwreck on Malta- because of a similar style storm (Acts 27-28). We learned that even when others might be mean to us, we can still serve them and God can protect us in stormy times. It is always an interesting but fun time teaching the kids the bible. God bless our Sunday school teachers.
Here it is. Typhoon Ewiniar. Today we are in Typhoon Condition 3. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center http://www.npmoc.navy.mil/jtwc.html shows the storm coming right up at us. It is a category 4 storm. It was down-graded from a "Super Typhoon". For the Oki alumni family, you miss those "typhoon parties" huh? Big bag of chips, cokes and a few board games... and if you were lucky, the power stayed on long enough to watch some movies too.I think everyone's excited for the first typhoon. It's suppose to hit us Saturday or Sunday- bummer! I hate missing church. So I also found out that "Ewiniar" is a Micronesian name for a "storm god". But we know that our God Jehovah Reigns! I'll keep you posted.
Jodi, Caryn, Vanessa and Caryn's son, Gabriel are working hard in adding a little color to our nursery. Please pray for us! At one time we had 17 ladies expecting! 10 of them have had their babies this year already! We praise God for our very "fruitful" church family and as expected our nursery ministry is in need of loving help! Congrats to the Ferry's, Armstrong's, Herrera's, Walton's, Dormer's, French's, Schmidt's, Campbell's, Morales', and Fuller's!
Glenn left today with his son Caleb to meet up with Farah and the other boys for vacation in California. Please pray for them for a great time of relaxation and refreshment. The Phipps family has been such a huge blessing to all of us here at CCO.Pictured with Glenn is Matt Andersen. Matt and Jessica are expecting their first baby this year! Of course, I gave them a great name to consider... "Richard". Matt likes "Magic Irvin".Pray for Matt & Jess and their growing family- we are blessed by their ministry here with us!(Since Glenn loves pink, I used this font color)
Here are some of the ladies that help lead in ministry (a few were camera shy or off-island). God has brought us a great group of gals that love Jesus and are incredible servants! We are so blessed by them. Please pray for them. One of the challenges for us here is that many of our servants are in the military or connected to it and due to change of duty station, they have to leave us after only a few years. We will be loosing nearly 20 military families this year due to pcs season (perm. change of station). It is hard to say "good-bye" but we know that it's not really a permanent "sayonara" because we will see each other in heaven soon!
On July 2nd, we celebrated our 4 Year Anniversary as Calvary Chapel Okinawa!God has been so good and faithful to us over these past few years. The church got together after service for a time of fun fellowship and food! (Calorie Chapel). We have been so blessed by God.The Lord gave me Joshua 3:5 as His promise when I first came to Okinawa and He has been faithful to that promise. The Lord reconfirmed that promise for us today- "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." We are so thankful for all the wonderful people that God has brought over the years and looking forward to the next season of ministry as God leads us "that we may know the way which to go".Thank you all for your love and support- God is faithful to answer your prayers and we are so grateful to you all.
These are a few of the guys that I roomed with. Pictured above is Charlie Owens. He is a Navy Chaplain stationed on Okinawa with us. He was sent out of Horizon. He is one of a handful of Calvary Chapel sponsored military chaplains- "Charlie the Chaplain" :)Pictured below are two good brothers. Dion is the pastor of CC Haggerman Valley, ID (in black) and Jerry is the pastor of CC Livingwater in Corona, CA. They are sporting the standard issue "Calvary goatee".
Early Sunday evening, we gathered at American Village-Mihama for a street outreach. The weather was perfect and God blessed us with a stage and great turn out. We were able to handout over 1000 tracts! Please pray for the "seeds" that were sown in the lives of many Okinawan and Americans.
On Friday, the Barrios Family stopped in at church. David, who gave his life to Jesus this past Easter has grown leaps and bounds in the Lord. Today is their 5th Year Anniversary, so they wanted to renew their wedding vows before the Lord. It was such a blessing. Glenn led us in a time of worship.. yup, Glenn... and then we shared from John 2, where Jesus was invited to a wedding and performed a miracle. Anytime we invite Jesus into our lives, the wonderful and miraculous takes place as it has in the Barrios Family. An d just like the comment of the head waiter... Jesus saves the best for last! The best is yet to come for David, Liz and their wonderful family!
Last week, Larry Torres and family moved from Okinawa and are being stationed at Cherry Point, NC. They are making several stops along the way. Larry sent me this picture of his boys (Raphiel, Brandon and Anthony... actually one more is missing, Noah) eating world famous Matsumoto Shaved Ice. Our good friend, Travis Takamiya taught me when you eat something yummy - you can say "it broke da mout'" (Hawaiin pigeon for 'tastes good'). 
Yasutomo Miyagi did a great job sharing his testimony and the good news of Jesus Christ!
Mike's so excited for the dessert potluck! It was great to see our brother, Mike Silva who almost one year ago was sent out to start a work in Iwakuni. Since then, God has done a neat work there and the bible study has grown into a church, which currently meets in their home. Mike shared that God has been faithful and he thanks everyone for their prayers. Please continue to pray for the Silva family. With Mike is our good brother in Christ, Joe. Joe's a Marine, can you tell?
On Wednesday night, we had a dessert potluck in honor of Mike Silva! I have to admit, God has blessed our body with some incredible cooks! Lisa Freeman made Snickerdoodles. She's my favorite person right now. :) It was Regina's recipe since Regina's deployed! Come back soon Regina!
We have been blessed over the years to participate in the special time in a Christian's life as they are baptized. More and more, we get to see God's kids come forward, accepting Jesus and making a public stand for Him. What a joy! Recently, we were blessed to baptize the entire Loquist family before they headed out to Virginia. Please remember them in your prayers.
Last Saturday, I got to go with Noah to his school. Noah is in the 2nd grade and attends a Japanese elementary school. We are blessed that another family from church, the Pubol's daughter, Erika also attends (pictured above- Erika doesn't like exercise day like me). 
So, we're in Typhoon Condition 1 Emergency now. The storm's not too bad. There's rain and wind as expected and an occasional gust but nothing major. The bummer is we missed church services but it didn't stop us from worship and the Word. The family got together and worshipped and learned about Paul's shipwreck on Malta- because of a similar style storm (Acts 27-28). We learned that even when others might be mean to us, we can still serve them and God can protect us in stormy times. It is always an interesting but fun time teaching the kids the bible. God bless our Sunday school teachers.
Here it is. Typhoon Ewiniar. Today we are in Typhoon Condition 3. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center http://www.npmoc.navy.mil/jtwc.html shows the storm coming right up at us. It is a category 4 storm. It was down-graded from a "Super Typhoon". For the Oki alumni family, you miss those "typhoon parties" huh? Big bag of chips, cokes and a few board games... and if you were lucky, the power stayed on long enough to watch some movies too.
Jodi, Caryn, Vanessa and Caryn's son, Gabriel are working hard in adding a little color to our nursery. Please pray for us! At one time we had 17 ladies expecting! 10 of them have had their babies this year already! We praise God for our very "fruitful" church family and as expected our nursery ministry is in need of loving help! Congrats to the Ferry's, Armstrong's, Herrera's, Walton's, Dormer's, French's, Schmidt's, Campbell's, Morales', and Fuller's!
Glenn left today with his son Caleb to meet up with Farah and the other boys for vacation in California. Please pray for them for a great time of relaxation and refreshment. The Phipps family has been such a huge blessing to all of us here at CCO.
Here are some of the ladies that help lead in ministry (a few were camera shy or off-island). God has brought us a great group of gals that love Jesus and are incredible servants! We are so blessed by them. Please pray for them. One of the challenges for us here is that many of our servants are in the military or connected to it and due to change of duty station, they have to leave us after only a few years. We will be loosing nearly 20 military families this year due to pcs season (perm. change of station). It is hard to say "good-bye" but we know that it's not really a permanent "sayonara" because we will see each other in heaven soon!
Hey everyone! Remember the Reedy's? It was such a blessing to be able to swing by and fellowship with them for a bit. They live really close to the bible college. The kids are getting so big and they are as cute as ever. Ralph & Debbie send their love to you all. They were such a wonderful blessing in our lives and ministry here in the "early days" and will always be "family" to us!
Pictured on top are pastors, Tom Hallman (CC Williamsburg), Mike Ramsey (CC IloIlo), who is coming to visit Okinawa this week, and Francis Kamahele (Horizon Christian Fellowship Honolulu).
At the conference, I got the honor to hang out with these two awesome men of God that serve the Lord in Africa. The one closest is Francis. He is a pastor in Rwanda. The other guy is Jean Pierre. He is a pastor in Burundi. They are so full of the joy of the Lord. It was such a tremendous blessing for me to hang with them and the other pastors from Japan. Please pray for these guys!
For one of the lunches at the conference, we were treated to an outdoor BBQ. It was a great time of fellowship with the guys. Notice in the center picture, Dion (pastor-CCHaggerman Valley) accidently dropped part of his potato salad- poor guy.
Of course! When we were in California, we made a late-night stop to Cold Stone Creamery. Santo (pastor, Calvary Chapel West Tokyo) is enjoying his very first Cold Stone! They say he looks like Jackie Chan! He is telling Mike Stangel (pictured below - pastor, North Shore Christian Fellowship, Hawaii) what toppings to get. And Dan (CCNaha) and Chizuo (pastor- CC Kokubunji, Tokyo) are eagerly waiting for theirs. We need a Cold Stone in Okinawa!
These are a few of the guys that I roomed with. Pictured above is Charlie Owens. He is a Navy Chaplain stationed on Okinawa with us. He was sent out of Horizon. He is one of a handful of Calvary Chapel sponsored military chaplains- "Charlie the Chaplain" :)
It was blue skies and California sunshine at the recent Calvary Pastor's conference held at the very beautiful Bible College and Conference Center in Murrieta, CA. While Okinawa experienced 25 days of straight rain, we were suffering for the Lord here. These are pictures from the first day of the conference on our way up to study.