So, we went to look for some places that were open after the big part of the storm hit. It was still very windy and rainy. Much of the street was flooded... then out of no where! Typhoon Scooter Boy came racing past us!
We took a picture of him as we drove. The added bonus to Typhoon Scooter Boy was he was wearing flip-flops too! The question on everyone's mind.. who is Typhoon Scooter Boy and will he ride again in the next typhoon?
Tonight was special. We had the honor and privilege to dedication Steve & Tiffany's second son, Luke to the Lord. God has richly blessed us by bringing this family into our lives.
Steve is notorious for never smiling. Pat, who took the pictures, got a picture of Steve smiling!
Please pray for the Gaines Family. Steve left the next day for the desert.
This is actually the 4th typhoon of the year for the Pacific area (notice the official designation is 04W) but it is the first one that is projected to hit us.
We just went into Typhoon Condition 1. That means that destructive winds of 50 knots or greater are anticipated within 12 hours. Please pray for the visiting CC Montebello team - they are excited since it is their first experience of a typhoon. We're going to have a "typhoon party" here at the church.
So this is the projected path the typhoon is suppose to take. If you want to track the storm with us, you can visit this link. https://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc.html
Over the course of the week, these two have become quite the duo... 
Ashley (on the right) is serving here as Missionary staff. She recently graduated from CCBC at the Jerusalem campus and returned to Okinawa. She has been a tremendous blessing and we are excited to see what God will do in this new season.
Jessica has been a huge servant. She is back home on summer break from college. God brought her back in perfect timing to help with worship and they both found a new friend.
Our Summer VBS "Take the Plunge for Jesus" kicked off on Monday. Everyone's hard work came together and the Lord just blessed it big time. Thanks to Farah who took the helm and served as the Director.
The first stop is the "Raise the Praise Reef" where the kids learn new and fun worship songs. 
Jessica and the Montebello girls lead the kids with the hand motions.
Since God sent our worship leader off to New Jersey (and the Andersen's are doing great by the way - check their blog to the right), we have been praying for a new worship leader that God would send or raise up. This month we are blessed because Jessica is home from college and was willing to make herself available to lead the church in worship.The Lord has really gifted this young gal - she has a beautiful voice and a very humble spirit.We've known Jessica for almost 7 years now- it has been awesome to see her grow in her love of Jesus. Please pray for her as she will return to school in August. Please pray for us as we still need a worship leader.
The team from Calvary Chapel Montebello arrived safe and sound! They got in on Friday night and hit the ground running! They will be here on Okinawa for about 10 days. Please pray for them. They will be mostly helping us out with the VBS but also visiting with Ginowan and Naha too! It should be a blast for the team.
By the way, you will notice, they are mostly girls! Praise the Lord that God is doing a great work in the heart of the young women. Most of them just graduated high school and instead of going on their school's senior trip- they opted to come and minister here with us on Okinawa! Isn't that cool? So, pray for Shelly, Jessica, Sonia, Jennie, Nicole (3rd time here), Lynsie, Johanna, Allison, Diane and the boys- Roy & Joseph! Mensore CCM Team!
This week we said "good bye" to the Wilson's. They have been a great blessing to the church serving in almost every area. Steve was kind enough to let me tease him from the pulpit on occasion even though he is a Marine's Marine and could rip my head off. They are a wonderful family and we will miss them dearly.Every week, we have been praying for various families as they depart due to the military rotation season. It is bitter sweet. God has really given us a sincere love for them but we also know that the Lord is now sending them out like missionaries all over the world! So, it encourages us to continue in doing good... knowing that God is sending out His missionaries to share the love of Jesus.We will miss you Wilson family! God bless you in the new season at North Carolina!
Pictured above is Joseph with new friends, Riho and Rina. They came to visit us on Wednesday night. Please pray for these girls along with the rest of their family. Their mom passed away recently and the family is adjusting to the tremendous change. Praise God, the church was able to love on them and share the hope of Jesus.We have been so blessed the past few weeks. Joseph Totsis from Calvary Chapel Montebello has been visiting with us again. This is Joseph's 5th trip to Okinawa. He serves on staff at CCM and his pastor gave him the green light to come to Japan to serve along side some of the ministries here. He was in mainland Japan prior hanging out with some of the Calvary Chapel's there. There is a team from Montebello coming soon and they will join Joseph for outreach and more ministry. Thank you Joseph and CCM for blessing us so!
This year for the 4th of July, the church had a Potluck BBQ before services and then we gathered together for some fun fireworks "CC Oki Style Backyard Blast".
Glenn played host for the fireworks show. We had many different types of fireworks that Glenn lit off at the "oohs" & "aahs" of the crowd. :) We had the kids come and hold the sparklers- it was a great time had by all.We were blessed by several Japanese guests with whom we got to share some culture with them. 
Pictured below is our Wednesday night Summer Series entitled "The Incredible Race". The teachers and staff did such a great job decorating and getting our children's rooms in the racing theme! What a blessing for God's kids. Thanks Wed. Kids' crew!
So, we went to look for some places that were open after the big part of the storm hit. It was still very windy and rainy. Much of the street was flooded... then out of no where! Typhoon Scooter Boy came racing past us!
We took a picture of him as we drove. The added bonus to Typhoon Scooter Boy was he was wearing flip-flops too! The question on everyone's mind.. who is Typhoon Scooter Boy and will he ride again in the next typhoon?
It was the last day of our VBS. The typhoon cut us one day short! Don't worry though, we're planning a make-up day very soon. We'll be going to the Okinawa City Comprehensive Park Water Slides!!
The Montebello crew helped with the tear down and clean up. We had just as much fun taking things down as we did putting them up.
Roy shows us the master deflating the raft technique. Awesome.
Here is our group photo. We missed a few smiling faces but caught most of the crew. Thanks again everyone for a job well done. Thank you Montebello for loving our kids!
Steve is notorious for never smiling. Pat, who took the pictures, got a picture of Steve smiling!
Please pray for the Gaines Family. Steve left the next day for the desert. 
This week, we were blessed because the CCM team got to join us. It has been a blast to have them around.
Here's Tamiko... what is she thinking? She's thinking, "hey, that kid better not take the last meatball or there will be heck to pay".
Takako made "so-men". It's a cold noodle dish that you can add various veggies to and then you dip in a yummy sauce. Derek's got a plate full.
We start eating together at 5:30pm every Wednesday. Prayer starts at 6:15pm and then service begins at 7pm.
After service, we come back and have dessert and more fellowship as well! See you next time.
We just went into Typhoon Condition 1. That means that destructive winds of 50 knots or greater are anticipated within 12 hours. Please pray for the visiting CC Montebello team - they are excited since it is their first experience of a typhoon. We're going to have a "typhoon party" here at the church.
So this is the projected path the typhoon is suppose to take. If you want to track the storm with us, you can visit this link. https://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc.html
So on Tuesday, we took the team to Shuri Castle. It was a hot day but a beautiful one.
Here in Okinawa, some places have this special drinking faucet that shoots out mouth wash. Here Sonia is using the gargle option. Isn't that fun? Fresh breath at Shuri Castle.
It was a treat for Rebekah to come along. She got to hang out with all the girls. She's my little princess.
Joseph is giving them instructions on how to use the one of the thousands of vending machines found in Okinawa. Just kidding. He's explaining how they are going to order.
Bekah found a new friend in Shelly. We took the girls to one of the most greasiest "hole in the wall" kind of places there are... but it's choo ooshii yo! Glenn recommends the yakisoba at "My House" restaurant located outside Futenma front gate.
The plates were simply too much for these girls.
Nicole, Jessica and Johanna are about to begin! O-boy! Don't they look excited?
Ashley (on the right) is serving here as Missionary staff. She recently graduated from CCBC at the Jerusalem campus and returned to Okinawa. She has been a tremendous blessing and we are excited to see what God will do in this new season.
Jessica has been a huge servant. She is back home on summer break from college. God brought her back in perfect timing to help with worship and they both found a new friend.
The first stop is the "Raise the Praise Reef" where the kids learn new and fun worship songs. 
Jessica and the Montebello girls lead the kids with the hand motions.
Jesus brought his pool- it was huge! We could use it for baptisms if the typhoon comes this Sunday!
Roy from Montebello is all ready for the water fun!
Jessie & Lisa & baby Maira Grace take a break from the decorating action.
The Montbello girls put their artistics skills into work!
Then there's the hibernating bear.... while others worked... well.. a picture's worth a thousand words. Feel free to share some if you like.
Since God sent our worship leader off to New Jersey (and the Andersen's are doing great by the way - check their blog to the right), we have been praying for a new worship leader that God would send or raise up. This month we are blessed because Jessica is home from college and was willing to make herself available to lead the church in worship.
By the way, you will notice, they are mostly girls! Praise the Lord that God is doing a great work in the heart of the young women. Most of them just graduated high school and instead of going on their school's senior trip- they opted to come and minister here with us on Okinawa! Isn't that cool? So, pray for Shelly, Jessica, Sonia, Jennie, Nicole (3rd time here), Lynsie, Johanna, Allison, Diane and the boys- Roy & Joseph! Mensore CCM Team!
With our week long VBS just right around the corner, God brought out His servants to come and help the church get ready the "fun in the Son". Pictured above: Maria, Maricela, Johanna (from Montebello) and Bekah are getting the Snack Shack ready.
We had to turn the sanctuary into a Water Amusement Park. The church folks came out in full force and they did such an incredible job! 
Steve and Tiffany Gaines were the decoration team leads- and they went over the top! Look at Steve's penguin! It's awesome. He made it out of wire mesh over an old vacuum cleaner and paper mache' ! By the way, please pray for Steve- he deploys this Friday for 9 months in the desert!
This is the waterfall! It's really the entrance to the lobby but how cool is that!?
Here the team is turning our G-Force trailer into the water themed craft cove. There is no doubt the kids are going have a blast! Thank you everyone who gave of their time to help us out.
This week we said "good bye" to the Wilson's. They have been a great blessing to the church serving in almost every area. Steve was kind enough to let me tease him from the pulpit on occasion even though he is a Marine's Marine and could rip my head off. They are a wonderful family and we will miss them dearly.
Pictured above is Joseph with new friends, Riho and Rina. They came to visit us on Wednesday night. Please pray for these girls along with the rest of their family. Their mom passed away recently and the family is adjusting to the tremendous change. Praise God, the church was able to love on them and share the hope of Jesus.
Glenn played host for the fireworks show. We had many different types of fireworks that Glenn lit off at the "oohs" & "aahs" of the crowd. :) We had the kids come and hold the sparklers- it was a great time had by all.
Pictured below is our Wednesday night Summer Series entitled "The Incredible Race". The teachers and staff did such a great job decorating and getting our children's rooms in the racing theme! What a blessing for God's kids. Thanks Wed. Kids' crew!
We will miss you guys big time. Thank you Niel, Vanessa, Gen, JP and Grace for all your love and ministry to the CCO family. God has used you greatly and we know that many more great adventures await you all.
Here's the Langley's with the Orpilla's... the Langley's will be leaving us shortly as well. Another incredible family God is launching out.
One of the very unique ministries that Vanessa had with us is that she would help to do "sign language" interpretation for the hearing impaired. Our dear sister in Christ, Seiko was one of the gals so blessed by Vanessa. The coolest part is that Vanessa learned some Japanese sign language to communicate with Seiko! God is so good! But Please pray, we need another sign language interpretor!
Sarah Ikeuchi was back in town too! She is in her final year as a Pre-Med student! Please pray for Sarah, she will be going on severa missions trips this summer with her school.
Steve made it back too! It was great to see him. Steve will be around for a few weeks and then heads off to Afghanistan. Please pray for the Gaines family.