The Blessings Come Pouring~

It's about time for another update of what God is doing with our lives, and there's a cause for rejoicing: answered prayers, and seeing God stick to His promises.

This morning, we signed to rent our first apartment! The one we had been praying about and waiting on, was still open, and ended up being a lot cheaper than we had originally thought. Giving it over to God, He made it even better for us!
We officially have it on the 1st of next month, so only a couple of days away!

Here are some pictures of the apartment:

It's got three rooms, one in the middle (kitchen/dining room), and two on the sides (one tatami room - bedroom, one on the otherside - livingroom!). then there is the mini entrance way to put your shoes, and a bathroom to the left (has a tub, and space for washer/dryer).

 

It's really nice, we like it a lot and are excited to move in!

The other blessing, was our Okinawa Wedding Reception party we had at the church in Ginowan. We got blessed with a gift that paid for us to put it on. So everyone at the church helped to set it up, decorate, and put it on for us! We were SO blessed, it was a great night.

We also got another blessing, from the Gushiken family! They are a pretty famous family on the island, they (together as a family) perform traditional Okinawan songs and dances, with Christian lyrics. They are a really cool family, and we have recently been able to spend time with them and have started to make really good friends with them.

Well, they called us and told us for a wedding gift, they wanted to perform a traditional wedding dance for us, AND to dress us up in the outfits a husband and wife would wear to a wedding party! (called Kyuusou, with Bingata designs on it - hand painted Okinawan patterns, instead of machine made designs).

one of the ladies at church made us a cake! it was SO delicious!

Eder and Joel!

Excited!

The Gushiken girls!

Mrs. Gushiken helping me put the socks on.

Eder is tall.

Finished!

Eder's almost done!

Make-up time~

Eder got a hat!

I'm not good with hair, so they helped me out.

Oh, what a handsome king of Okinawa!

Coming into the party.

Ready to perform~

Everyone!

Performing the wedding dance. (song and dance talks about/shows the growth of a flower, the flower and even the bud are beautiful and important because it will grow. I think, someone explained it to me, but it was a rough translation.)

Hakugaijin (Aka: Tim and me with the CD) performed too!

Rob jumped up for his guitar solo.

Hanna and Ayana enjoyed the kakigori (shaved ice).

Answering Tommy's questions about our marriage thus far, and making a thank-you speech.

TheNewell's!

Joel making his "best man" speech.

Us and the Gushiken family (minus their sons).

Eder's old English student, Chiaki! And her boyfriend.

The group from Paradise Chapel!

Last picture of the night.

So we were completely blessed by everyone, and really were so glad to share our wedding celebration with our family and friends here in Okinawa. Over 100 viewers of our wedding were from Japan, watching the live feed. We have never felt so loved.

"Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him."
1 John 3:1

We are so loved, and get a huge family of brothers and sisters out here.

We would like to ask you to keep praying for us, we are never not in need of prayers.

Please pray that everything goes smoothly with the apartment, that we meet our neighbors on the right foot, and that we can make good relationships with the owner and everyone around us. Pray for opportunities in the area for ministry (there is a track field right down the street from us).

We don't have a car yet, there might be one we can get but it is still not certain.

Pray for our health (a lot of colds and flues are going around right now).

And for continual guidance for whatever the Lord asks us to do here! We are excited! And want to stay willing for whatever God has for our lives.

Thank you everyone, God bless the rest of your month.

Summer's heating up!

This past week, it has gotten hotter here in Okinawa. But that also means it has become even more beautiful on this island, the clouds and blue sky, the color of the ocean becomes even brighter.

Well this past week has been busy, but really good. This past Sunday, we all drove down to play at an outreach concert. We both have been helping out in Hakugaijin, Tim's local band that plays around the island at different times. A year or two ago (about that much) they got the opportunity to produce a CD, and do a little mini tour around the cities on island. It's not anything huge, but that's not the focus or goal of it to begin with. We just want to get the music into people's ears, for them to hear about Jesus and for the Japanese Christian's to be encouraged.
So we got the opportunity to be a part of the groups that played at this outreach, with other Christian bands and groups from the island.
The Gushiken family was there to perform (traditional Okinawan music), a group called "String Hoppers" (i believe), that played violins, a two man rap group, solo with acoustic guitar, and a "Real" (i say real because they actually tour and are a band that has a CD and record deal) band from Sweden. It was really cool to see so many different people from all over the place with different backgrounds, come to sing for Jesus and share His message of love and hope.

On the drive.

The stage where the groups played.

CC Nago church came to watch! (most of them)

Waiting for everyone to arrive.

The Gushiken family! (minus Dad, and brothers).

Tamiko was there! the crew from Ginowan came to watch the event.

Intent crown.

One of the mom's from CC Ginowan, and her daughter Ayana.

The band from Sweden, "The Big Street Band".

Tom Cotton enjoying the "Jazz" rift in the song.

Drying out the sheet. (we had a temporary island downpour, lasted about 5 minutes or less, then cleared up).

Islanders! Yoshua, Kazuki, and Natsuki!

Beautiful sunset on the way back.





So we had a really great time at this event. We got to meet a lot of new people, a lot who are already friends with the Newell's. We are really started to get more and more excited about our new life up here in Nago.

Another cool newer thing, is the growing children's ministry here in Nago. Not too long ago, there were no kids on Sunday mornings. But now, there are 4-5 every week! We both get the chance to teach them and learn songs with them. But it also stretches us, because we do it all in Japanese.

These are all of them, minus one (he was sick i think). Left to Right: Hina, Eito (red shirt), Kago, and Masaki (Tim's oldest son). 

We learned about the 12 spies sent into the Promised Land.

So we are learning a lot, growing a lot, and just waiting upon God a lot. We are watching as He provides what we need, blesses us and others around us, and encourages us to keep waiting upon Him.

God bless you all, please keep us in your prayers. We are making decisions about apartments and things now, so keep praying for the Lord's guidance and provision.