Summer update

Time slips by so fast. Our last post was after the winter holidays!

We will try to get you caught up to date in case you aren't able to follow us on facebook.

Since last time, we had the church dedication, our summer trip to the states, and are now on to our summer outreaches and events.

The dedication was a very hot day but a very fun day. Friends from all over came to be there and just rejoice and thank the Lord for providing us this building, and to be there to support us in just dedicating it to whatever God wants to use it for. It has already been a huge blessing to our small but growing church family here, everyone really feels at home here. In a few weeks we will be recieving the ac units for the main room (only have it in the kids room right now), and everyone will be blessed by that!

We also have a few new things happening. We have a new missionary moving up here to Nago, Joel Coronado, who is also Eder's best friend from college. We are excited! We are hoping to get some bible classes started so the locals can come and study the Word in depth.

Also, we have a friemd from the states who is heading up here to do some ministry with us for a few weeks. We are doing a kids VBS and then a youth outreach, and taking him around the island.

We ALSO have another joining us, but not until the new year. Diaz kid #2 is due to arrive January 1st!!! We are so excited!!!

We also can't believe how fast this year has gone, because Elena is turning 2 in October. It goes by in a blink. We feel so blessed and are trying to just enjoy and cherish every second we get with her.

On Wednesday nights we are going through the book of Exodus, where the children of Israel have left their captivity in Egypt and are traveling through the desert. They don't have awesome circumstances (in a dry desert with no food or water), and they start worrying and then start complaining. But what they kept forgetting (even though God provided everything they needed) was that God was so much bigger than what was around them. He gave them water from a rock, He gave them quail in the evenings and manna in the mornings, every day without fail.

It's encouraging to know that God takes care of His people. He takes care of those who follow Him.

Sometimes, we don't know how we are going to pay our rent. Or we don't know what we will be able to eat for dinner because we are out of money and are eating the last of the food in the house.

But, every time, every day; God provides. Not once have we skipped a meal. Every time we couldn't pay something, we recieved money from out of no where.

Money is a hard thing not to worry about, especially with a family to take care of. And we have worried about things. And when we did, we got stressed, even sick. But everytime we took it to God and said "okay Lord, we trust You. We KNOW you are good, we KNOW You are big. Take care of us, provide for us. We will trust You to do what we cannot." He came through.

We just do what we can, and let God take care of the rest.

Our prayer requests:

-health (stay healthy/not get sick)

-relationships with friends/people at church

-preparing Elena to be a big sister

-baby's health/amanda to have healthy pregnancy/easy and quick labor

-new missionary (find apartment/work and ministry)

-growth in language

-vision for ministry

Pictures!

Our children's ministry sign

Elena eating her birthday cake

Elena's birthday party cake decorations (we had her party the weekend of her birthday)

Having fun with Masaki and Tomoki

Our students (Nanami and Karin) on New Years

Hannah and Micah's wedding! (this was everyone who lives or lived in Okinawa)

Games at Ayu's baby shower

All the ladies that came to the baby shower.

The first day opening up and cleaning the new building!

Elena playing her alphabet game patiently while we clean

Tommy came up and built a wall to separate the kitchen.

Painting!

The main area is finished being painted!


Thank you for reading our blog! We hope you enjoy the pictures.
God bless you and your family!

Since last time (a new year!)

Wow, time gets away from us fast! We are so sorry once again that our blog has been post-less for so many months. It's very easy to forget to get updates posted on here.

Since last time we have had a lot change! Elena had an awesome first birthday, We made a trip back to report and encourage the church and visit family, saw our English students graduate from highschool and go off to college, getting a car, the Newell's new baby girl, and bought a building for the church and English school!

Our trip to the states was a real blessing, Elena got to experience her first Christmas in America and had a good time with her grandparents and aunts and uncles.
We also invited two of our English students to come back with us. It was a treat for them after passing their college entrance exams. We were really glad to be able to share Christmas and New Years with them and to be able to just pour out love on them. They got to hear about God's love for them and see and feel it from all the family around them.
We saw they both (along with a few other students we know) graduate in March, and send a lot of them off to colleges in mainland. It was sad to see them go! It felt like we would have them as students forever, it was almost 3 years ago that we started teaching them! Time goes by so fast! But we are so proud of them and are always praying for them.

The Newell's had their newest addition to the family, little Yui Emily! She is adorable! It is so fun to see her grow everyday and to watch her family love her. She is God's little princess, and has some good big brothers to watch out for her.

The new building is really exciting for the whole church! We had been praying and looking for a long time, but nothing had really worked out or felt right. But finally we found one and God just led the whole thing, it's really amazing the favor God has poured out on the building and everything pertaining to it. Not that long into cleaning it up, we were given a truck-full of furniture and supplies for the church! So amazing.

So far, we have cleaned it, tore off wall paper, sanded things, pulled weeds, and painted! It is really looking great, and we are planning to have a church dedication and first service on May 4th.
We are all very excited!

We will be making a trip back to the church again next month also, and attending a few weddings (always weddings when we go back! so fun), and Michal's highschool graduation! We are so proud of her and excited!

Also, Eder just applied to renew his visa, asking for a 5 year extension. We are praying he gets it! And that it would process quickly before our trip so that we have no complications leaving and coming back.

This Sunday is Easter! Getting ready and praying for good weather, hoping to have an outside beach event and picnic.
Also coming up is Mother's Day, and our women's bible study, which we have not had for a few months now. Please pray for it and for hearts to be stirred up, we got busy with the new baby and the church building, but we don't want to neglect the things God has called us to do.

Here are our prayer requests:
-Praise God for our car!
-Eder's visa
-health (all 3 of us are congested)
-trip to the states (safety, God's leading and blessing)
-continued guiding/vision
-new church building (God's continued favor and blessing, finish on time)
-women's study (women would come and grow)
-English students (to grow and come to know Jesus)
-family in the states (grow in walk/come to know Jesus)


(next post will be of pictures!)
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