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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Fall!

Well here it is! It's already October! September feels like it never came it went by so quickly.

We are proud to announce that our little sister (Amanda's younger sister) gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy on October 7th (8 pounds just like Elena!). Here he is! Nathan Job Hebert:

Mama is doing good, please pray for a quick recovery though! They are excited to take him home.

This month is a busy one this year. We have first, Elena's first birthday!!!! We are having a party for her towards the end of the month to celebrate with everyone. Just going to have a small family party on her birthday. Can't believe it's been a year...she has grown so much, and keeps growing into this amazing little person. We are so lucky we get to pour into her life from ours. What a privilege.

We also have two concerts we are playing Hakugaijin at, one is for a pretty big event so we are preparing (trying to make our "stage presence" skills more polished). So we have been able to see all our friends and family down south when we gather for practice.

At the end of the month, there is the Harvest Festival at Calvary Chapel Okinawa, and we are playing with Hakugaijin for that as well. That event is always so much fun, kids get to come and dress up (Japan doesn't have halloween like in the states, but they all know about it and love it), and get to yscome to a safe place and play games and get candy, and hear about God's love for them.

We had our women's bible study, with a fall theme. We studied through the first part of John chapter 3, and made felt apple coasters! It was a blast! Even the kids had fun in the back playing with Eder and Tim (we had a lot of people and kids this time). It's a real blessing to see all the women learning something new in the Bible and something new to make. A lot of ladies end up giving them away as gifts because others like them so much.

Eder has been listening to a band called "Starfield" recently at the house, and i keep listening to and singing their song called "Cry in my heart". I have loved this song since highschool, it has always had a spot in my heart.
The chorus says "For what do I have, if I don't have You, Jesus? what in this life could mean anymore? You are my Rock, You are my glory, You are the lifter of my head."
I don't think at the end of my life that i will care whether i had my house in perfect clean order everyday, or that i made the best meals, or that i had the coolest "mom" wardrobe (most days i fail at all of these pretty bad). I'm only going to care that I am close to Jesus. That He is my all. That I loved Him with all i had, and poured out that love on my husband and children.
If we don't have Jesus, what do we really have? I NEVER want to hear Jesus say that my heart is far from Him, that I only honor Him with my lips. I want to have a heart near to Jesus.
Our relationship with Jesus every day is so important. Don't put it low on your priority list. If you don't get anything else done in your day, but you spent time with Jesus, that day was a good day.

Please keep us in prayer, we are just seeking God every day and relying on Him. He takes such good care of His children, we really have nothing to complain about. We know He will always take care of us.

Prayer Requests:
- A car
- Wisdom and diligence in raising Elena
- Providence for time in the states this Christmas
- God's Spirit to guide us in all the ministries out here and in the steps of faith we are taking and will take in the future.
- Always grow in our walks with Christ

God bless you, thank you for following along with us through our blog!

Summer Ending

August rushed by us in a flash! It doesn't feel like it's September already, the years go by so much faster than when we were kids. And even faster now having a kid of our own.

It is looking and feeling like we will be getting an early winter again this year! Were very excited, and now we have to get all our swimming in before the beaches close!

So far everything has gone pretty smoothly at the church and with the english classes. And the Newell's are having a blessed time with their family in the states.

Last Sunday, our good friend and brother Yasutomo came up and taught for us, and we had a few people we had not seen in awhile come that morning too. It was a really good time for all of us, we were really blessed that people came.

Then Sunday night we were able to make it down to Calvary Chapel Okinawa for Glen and Kevin's ordination (they both got ordained to be pastors). It  was really awesome to be there and to see that God was really just confirming the calling He put on their lives with everyone there agreeing with the work God is doing.

Then, we actually got to head down again on Wednesday night for a going away party for Glen and his family, because they are moving to mainland to pastor a church there. Awesome to see steps of faith being taken, it really encourages us because we have to count the cost it takes too, and we know we are not alone and that we follow a good, and loving God.

We also just recently (only one time so far actually) started a Saturday youth study and game night, twice a month. It was really fun, and i think really a needed thing here. There are lots of youth and they come to a lot of our events, but there has never been anything consistent where they can come and learn and make friends.

Since before we made our visit to the states, we were in the process of getting Eder's Japanese driver's license. Today, Eder passed the test!! He now can officially drive in Japan for long term!! We are so happy! God gave us favor because a lot of foreigners have trouble getting their license, and many of our fellow foreigners at the church have taken the rest many times before passing.

Eder passed the second time!

God is awesome :)

Next month we celebrate Elena's first birthday...it came so fast! We love watching her grow and learn, but its bittersweet to watch her grow this fast! We can't believe it was that long since she was a tiny bundle in our arms, seems like a month ago.

Also, this month my little sister (not do little anymore!) is having her first baby! We are do excited, and she is about to pop! Can't wait to meet out little nephew soon :)

Please continue to pray for us and the ministry here, God is always doing things, even when we don't see it all the time. :)

Prayer Requests:

-English school

-Visa renewals (coming up after new years)

-New car

-Church and those that come

-Women's study

-Youth study (just started)

-Children's ministry

-Teaching our own children to trust in the Lord.

-Wisdom and contentment

-To keep growing in the Lord

One of our students and friends, Nanami and Elena hanging out.

Playing the "Cup" game after a study.

The kids at our vbs this summer (older picture).

The Phipp's before they left (rest of their boys were running around haha).

Summer!

We apologize for the lack of posts recently! We have been busy getting back into the swing of things here after our trip to the states.

So here is an update of what's been happening recently and how our trip went!

Last month we had our yearly kids VBS, and beach youth event. This is our third time doing the VBS and I think it went the most smoothly and fun for the kids and everyone involved.

We did the wordless color bible theme, which we have done the past two times, but every time we get different kids, and the past two times it felt like the message just didn't stick with the kids. This year, even though we had less then the previous year, we split the teaching up into stations, one person sharing each color with a color craft, having games in between. It went pretty good! 

We were able to talk more on the level of the kids about the section of the story they heard, and what they thought of it while they colored and drew on their crafts. We made a wind-sock craft, with each color hanging off of it, and they colored and drew on the tags that hung off of it to help the, re,e,bet what was important about each color.

All the kids said they had fun, and the crew that came up to help really got to have fun and play with each kid.

The youth event went well too, but we sat out on that one due to an injury. Eder sprained his ankle in a hole hidden by grass walking over the hill to the beach. He is doing fine now, but the day off it swelled pretty bad! So we took Elena in the water to swim and give his ankle a break. But, everyone said it was so much fun and they got to hear a study as well.

We have women's bible study coming up this month, and a youth night, and the Newell family is heading to the states for a visit the end of this month.

Please be I'm prayer for them (safe and easy travels with their two boys, wisdom while I'm the states ministering, blessed time with family and friends), and for us as we hold down the fort while they are away (taking care of church service on Sundays/Wednesdays, taking care of their house and cars so they don't mold or rust).

We know the enemy will try to get us down during this time on both ends, but we know God is strong and trust He will watch over us.

Also, our car broke down and is no longer with us (junked). So that was our 2nd car we have junked this year. But, we have been blessed to be able to get a little more exercise getting groceries, and catching rides from the Newell's so we don't have to walk too far in this heat with Elena.

Please pray for God's will in the area of a car for us.

Our trip to America was a lot of fun! We were so blessed to see our family and friends, the home church, and to see everyone get to meet Elena and be blessed by her.

We got to share with the church a little bit about what we do out here and the vision of the church here in Nago, we helped on the worship team while we were there, and Eder got to share the Word on a Sunday morning. It was a really good time, and so much fun.

We hope to be able to head back soon, Lord willing, and be able to make it to Michigan to see the other side of our family.

Oh! We have a praise to report for those who were praying for Elena: her cough is gone!!! It was really bad when we got back from the states, and we were really concerned about it, not wanting it to become chronic or her to always have to be on medication. But! It is completely gone! She hasn't had it for awhile now. Praise our God :)

We are really blessed by everyone who prays for us, supports us, and thinks of us. We know we are prayed for, we can feel it.

We will post photos in a separate post soon, waiting to get pictures from the events!

Here are our prayer requests:

-wisdom in raising Elena

-leading of God in our lives

-ability in Japanese to grow

-wisdom and God's leading in renewing or changing our apartment contract, and visas.

-car situation

-health to stay good

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March

This month flew by! We wanted to get a post in at the beginning of the month but didn't manage to.
So here is an update of what has been happening and what we have been doing here.

It was my birthday (Amanda posting) the beginning of the month, and also White Day. White day is the girl's turn to recieve chocolate, Valentines is when girls give chocolate to the boys here in Japan.

We celebrated Japanese style, Eder got me my favorite breads and candies, and me and Elena got a bouquet of sunflowers and lilies! So beautiful!

We had our second women's bible study on the 16th, and 5 people came! We made a craft and had fun talking and getting to know each other, and after made desert balls in the Tako Yaki maker (a frying pan with molds to make little batter balls with veggies and octopus inside). We are really being blessed to have it every month and know that the women will be fed and grow every time they come.

The English school keeps on growing and changing, always new students and new ideas. Keep it in prayer so that God may use it as He pleases for His purpose.

This Easter we combined services with another local church here in Nago. Pastor Tim taught, Eder taught kids, and me and Ayu led in the worship. There was a missions youth team visiting from Taiwan, and they shared a testimony and did a gospel skit. It was really fun! Everyone was excited and friendly and ready to serve and love on each other.

We had a beach event planned for the afternoon, but canceled because of the weather (typhoon-like rain!). We are rescheduling it for later. So we headed down south to Ginowan and got to fellowship with the crew and hear some testimonies and worship. It was a really blessed time, just relaxing and praising God for His goodness towards us in His Son.

We stayed the night, because the following day Eder had to drive to Naha and start the paper work to get his Japanese drivers license. Since then we have been down to Ginowan three more times to get more of the paperwork done, and the last time for a women's conference that I helped lead worship for.

A group from the Calvary in Virginia came out with pastor Tom Hallman and his wife, so while she was here we had the conference for all the churches in island.
It was so fun, so many ladies from all over came. The theme was from Psalm 61, how God is a shelter for us.

Well, Easter evening we bought our tickets to the states! We will be heading out May 30th to June 30th.
Please be in prayer for us as we prepare things to go (trying to keep the house from molding is the trick!), for Elena on the flights, and overall safe travels and to be a blessing to everyone we see there and travel alongside. We are excited to share the good work within family and friends that God has been doing out here these past 2 years.

Prayer requests:
-Trip to the states.
-Women's bible study (growth of women and fellowship).
-Elena's health (still has a cough).
-Eder and mine's growth in understanding of God's Word.
-Continued growth and ability to learn Japanese.

February

It's already March, this year is going fast already! Elena turned 4 months last week, and learned how to roll over! (Though its not consistent if she can repeat it haha)

This past month a bunch of new students have signed up for English classes, and next month a new class with a preschool will start. We can see the students growing in their abilities and its so encouraging to hear them speak back in English.

We got Elena's passport and birth certificate applications accepted and turned in, just waiting to receive it in the mail. What a load off our minds! There were so many applications to prepare.

Another baby-blessing this past month was receiving Elena's first hand-me-downs! She got a bag full of cute clothes from an old friend who visited us this Sunday! Yuko-san and her husband and two kids Eishu and Yuriko, used to live here in nago but moved down south last year. It's always a surprise and blessing to see then again, we live playing with the kids! And it was their first time to meet Elena out of the tummy haha

We weren't able to have it in February due to busy schedules, but on March 16th we are having our next women's bible study. We're hoping that more ladies and girls will be able to come this time. So exciting! Pray for us as we prepare.

Life is a huge blessing having a kid. I was thinking the other day as I was folding laundry how it feels like we have always had Elena with us. And I thought about the times I feel stressed out with things I need to get done on top of taking care of Elena, and I remember how easy it was before she was born. Even though I wish I could get it all done, I never wish to not have her.
If I don't get the floors vacuumed because baby made a mess all over herself and needs a bath, that's okay because she is way more important than the floors, which won't die if I don't clean them today. I just think its crazy that we can put the obviously less important priority above the most important without batting an eye.

Here are our prayer requests for this month and the next:
-Eder getting his Japanese drivers license, provision for financially and time to do it.
-Women's bible study/preparation.
-Elena's health (she has had a cough for a while now).
-Trip back to the states in June.
-Eder studying for message and teaching in Japanese on Wednesday nights.
-Diligence in spending our time wisely, and keeping our bodies healthy.

Here are some pictures!