Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Surprise Party!


On Saturday, the ladies and their kids that come to our church had a surprise party.
One of the families are moving to another city down South, so we were having this party as a going-away party. But what we didn't know, was that it was also a surprise party for us: a wedding celebration!!!

The ladies didn't make it to our Okinawa reception, but they still wanted to celebrate with us 4 months after we've been married! We even cut a cake together, and received a gift!

Here are pictures from the event:








































They even brought a dress for me to put on (it fit too!), and we had karaoke, and cakes, and the kids helped cook Yakisoba for us (fried noodles). It was a really fun and really blessed time. These ladies are so king and so eager to love on us. We are really enjoying becoming friends more and more with them and their kids.

God keeps blessing our life together each day, and each little thing is amazing to watch happen.


Monday, September 12, 2011

Rejoice!!!!!

This past week we had people come on a Sunday night, and we played some English games, and had a short Bible study. Sometimes no one comes, but we always try to be prepared for anyone that does come.

One of the games we played was "Who am I?".
Everyone writes a character on a piece of paper (our category was "Disney" characters), and then you pass it to the person on your right, and stick it on the forehead of the person sitting across from you.
Then we take turns asking 1 or 2 yes-or-no questions and try to figure out who we are!



Yes, we did look a little goofy standing around with pieces of paper stuck to our foreheads. But it was fun!

Pretty much everyone guessed their character before then game ended!

We had two of Pastor Tim's students from the school he teaches English at, and a newlywed couple come. We have never met them, but they heard about our church and were driving by and decided to stop! they are a Christian couple! so sweet! new friends (they live on a nearby island, and he comes for work conferences here on Okinawa).

Ayu made Omu-Rice for dinner this past week! (its fried rice inside a big scrambled egg, with ketchup on top). This is Masaki's, its his favorite cartoon character, Ampanman!

Masaki was super excited!

Eder's.

all of ours!

This is a pic from our movie night we had on Saturday. We rent an American movie (sometimes Japanese) with subtitles (Japanese) and invite students and friends over to eat dinner and hang out and watch a movie or play a game (usually Monopoly!). This is Eda-san, he lives next door to the Newell's house. He is also one of Tim's students, and he is a movie lover. He really enjoyed his time.



We also got to purchase our FRIDGE!!!!! We have been waiting for these past two months to have the money and find a good deal. The other day, we went to the recycle shop down the street, and checked out the fridge selection there. We found this one and it is a good size (Japanese size, don't think American size haha), and good condition, for a decent price.

When we went to buy it, we asked if it could be cheaper if we brought it home ourselves, and they knocked off a good chunk! But then, the delivery truck guys were heading out with another order, and told them they would just take it because we live so close, and so we got the fridge delivered for free (they even brought it up to the third floor for us!) AND got the price knock-down!!
We prayed for God to give us a good deal that morning, and look what happened!

Here are links to a video we took of some of the new things in our  house:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIfl_vaEp2U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olSkmp7-WZM

Yay!!! Our fridge!!!

We also got given a Japanese stove top!! (they don't have ovens in their homes here). We can't use it yet though, we have to pay for the gas to be turned on, so we are waiting/saving up for that. Please pray for God to provide that! Meanwhile, we still have gas cans for the tiny cooker stove given to us :)

AND! We got our first visitors to our home!!! The Enciso's stopped by while in Nago! It was so good to see them, we both have not seen them since before the wedding. We are going to visit them this weekend for dinner, they will be moving off the island next month.


So we are still, and always will, really blessed. We can't believe sometimes how much God has given us. We are really learning a lot recently too about marriage. We have not had a lot of problems we have heard people have in their first months of marriage, but we are learning a lot that we did not know. Like learning how to do ministry non-solo anymore, and even how we grow with the Lord as a married couple now.
God is really, so so good. We can't say a lot more than how good He is to us.




Miss you all in the states, be blessed where God has you, and draw close to Him and obey Him when He calls you to do something. He takes care of the rest so good.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Pictures!

Here are the promised pictures!! Enjoy!

These are from the first day, English Kid Camp.























Here are the pictures from the second day, Kids VBS (vacation Bible school).






















And here are pics from the third and final day: Junior high/Highschool English Fun day!

Yuko and 'Manda.


Yoshiyaki and Eder.




Part of the relay race.







These are some of the photo challenge pictures (only had the memory card from the girl's camera though).
(find the "unlucky Lizard")


(take a picture with 2 strangers by a flower animal)


(picture by the front entrance)


(getting soaked in the "o'l faithful")


(fill up the face holes)


(get attacked by the whaleshark statue)


after the dash back to the meeting spot!


sweaty and tired.


also, sweaty and tired!


final challenge: Drip, Drip, Drop! (duck duck goose with water)


Eder running.


Eder falling.


Eder laughing in pain.



I had no chance, this girl runs track!


hurray! we finished!



our prizes!


hiking back (the waterfall path) to the top/park entrance.


it's pretty.


yay! Escalator!


And here are some pics from our last Wednesday night Bible study. We met at the Beach and swam, and hung out until dark.










It was a really blessed evening, God spoke to our hearts through His Word, and we had a good time relaxing together.


To all our family and friends, in Christ and in blood, keep up the good work wherever you are at. Keep going strong with Jesus our Lord. Live for Him where your at.


(picture Tamiko Muraki took of us at the beach)