Okinawa missions

Ah, homesick

2006-03-01T19:17:00.000-08:00

Okay so i wrote this a while back and for some random reason i decided to read it and there were a lot of mistakes so i went back and edited it:
There is a song by mercy me, I'm not in the same situation as the writer but many of these words speak better what my hearts feeling than i can.

Your in a better place, ive heard a thousand times
and at least a thousand times ive rejoiced for you
but the reason why im broken the reason why i cry
is how long must i wait to be with you

I close my eyes and i see your face
if home's where my heart is then im out of place
lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
ive never been more homesick than now

help me lord cause i don't understand your ways
the reason why i wonder if ill ever know
but even if you showed me, the hurt would be the same
cause im still here so far away from home

i close my eyes and i see your face
if homes where my hearet is then im out of place
lord won't you give me strenth to make it through somehow
ive never been more homesick than now
in christ there are no goodbye
in christ there is no end
so ill hold onto jesus with all that i have
to see you again
to see you again

So now Im at Oklahoma Christian University. Somedays i wish i weren't here and then somedays I praise God that I am. I see purpose for me being here, it took a while. Love God and do as you wish right. Everything will fall into place right. OKINAWA was amzing, ive never been more pulled, pushed, stressed, tempted, joyfull, tempted, blessed, humbled. I can't remember the old me, I cant remember my thoughts before this experience. I look back and think who was that person. And yet I still feel like I'm only getting a glimps of whats to come. God is awesome and does awesome things through his people. I pray that he continues to use me in the biggest movement this world has ever seen no matter where I am. God is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do, therefore I am who He says I am (and thats his child) and can do what He says I can do (THINK BIG for God) Scroll down and enjoy some pics from my time in Japan just understand that this can't even begin to tell the stories behind the people in them.

Last night with my karate boys :(

2005-11-09T22:09:00.000-08:00

This is "workout sensei" I used to be realy scared of him. But now he's totaly cool. He reminded me the other day how this time last year he would make me throw up during practice. That was his way of saying congrats for now being able to make it all the way through and stay strong, I will miss wed. night workouts with him, I pushed myself hard cause they would always offer me to sit down just cause im a girl.

Ahh my okinawan grandfather. tear

and the boys... here are just a couple of the many guys that have become my brothers since being here. Ive spent every mon, wed, and fri. night from 9:15 to about 11:45 with these guys at the dojo. I will miss them but we all exchanged email addresses so we could keep in touch (we'll see how well communicating without being able to do hand signals works!)

How can I have "s'more" if i haven't had anything yet!! HA

2005-11-07T00:47:00.000-08:00

HALLOWEEN!!! for halloween we got on base to go trick or treating. They don't celebrate halloween here but you can get on base. I was a human smore. Don't you love it.

Yo Jump back

2005-11-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

Well can you believe they gave me a black belt... yeah i know scary!! I tested yesterday and passed. Sensei framed my certificate for me and had my name put on my belt. Thats sensei beside me on my right. Its his dojo, and the guy on my left is one of our main sensei's too. After testing we all went out for Yaki Niku!!! ahhh yumm. We did the whole "speech" thing and i bit back a lot of tears. These people have such kind hearts and told me over and over... "now we've met... now were brother and sister". Thats kinda an okinawan motto, but its more than a motto, they realy do live by it.

2005-10-09T21:19:00.000-07:00

Okinawa Christian School CAMP

2005-10-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

2005-09-25T23:38:00.000-07:00

Thats right!! we found a church called Jesus Christ Superstars

2005-09-25T23:37:00.000-07:00

Holly will be leaving me soon. She will be going to san fransico for a friends wedding and then on to Mexico to stay with her sister for a while. I will miss her much. We have been taking advantage of our days off to run into town together to shop and have some fun. This one is for all those "Roman Holiday" fans.

2005-09-25T23:36:00.000-07:00

Everyone stuffing into the church vans for kids club

2005-09-25T23:35:00.000-07:00

This is a picture from our team retreat, camp trip. We had just gotten back from the beach and were discussing some new plans over soba noodles and curry.

2005-09-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

a few of the girls were having a bit to much fun with the seaweed at the beach the other day. So me and Holly just had to join in.

2005-09-25T23:32:00.000-07:00

Mikayla "FALLING"

2005-09-25T23:31:00.001-07:00

Keishi checking to make sure his friends where still behind him while doing a trust fall during Jeff's devotional.

2005-09-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of the Chibana (military church) girls that came to our capture the flag day at the park.

2005-09-25T23:30:00.000-07:00

At our kids club we always have a devo. Its a great time for the military kids from chibana to get to know and fellowship with the japanese children.

2005-09-25T23:29:00.001-07:00

Kids club at the beach. It was a beautiful day and we had another great turn out.

2005-09-25T23:29:00.000-07:00

kids club capture the flag, the kids decided to use me as a destraction. My job was to get caught so they could try go for the flag.... I spent a lot of time in jail.

Dragon Fruit

2005-09-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

This is me learning the ways of the Dragon fruit from some members at naha. I don't remember if I posted about it or not but our camp was cancled due to sickness so we had a beach party instead. It was fun because we very rarely get to hang out with our brothers and sisters from Naha.

ONE YEAR LATER!!!

2005-09-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

This is the team as a whole. We've learned a lot together and have grown close. Its hard to remember what life was like before this experience. It has changed my attitude and my outlook for the better.

2005-09-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

This is michelles last night in Okinawa. Happy birthday michelle we love you and miss you already!!

My teammates are leaving :(

2005-09-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

well ... Its that time of the year. Tim and michelle left the other day. We had a party for them the night before they left and it was also michelles birthday. Holly is leaving the end of the month and I will be moving in with the Bezners untill I leave. Please pray for smooth transitions for everyone. We have kids club today, were going to go play capture the flag. It will be fun but its still SO hot here!!! Looks like another sunny day.

Red Blue Green.... Head shoulders knees toes

2005-08-31T18:50:00.000-07:00

2005-08-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

prayer requests. Yoko Tomeyose san the preachers wife in naha fell a while back and hit her head on some steps outside the church. She has been in the hospital with really bad headaches and swelling. She is starting to recover and feel better though. Please pray and thank God for the recovery so far and for a full and speedy recover so that she can go home. She is the woman I posted a picture of earlier blowing out her birthday candles.

2005-08-13T17:33:00.000-07:00

Holly and I decided we needed more excersise.... so what better way to get it than to take up a new sport. Holly played tennis in junior high so she was able to show me some basics. There is a local gym near us with some pretty nice courts. Its fun because there are always some junior high and high school students there practicing and I'm pretty sure by now they are getting used to seing our faces there. Maybe with a little more practice we will be able to challenge some of them and get to know them. (the picture in the top left im sure was taken while holly had to run and retrieve one of my crazy hits.... I get a lot of rest that way :) )

MATSURI TIME!!!

2005-08-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

This is michelle, holly and I dressed up for a private eisa matsuri (festival) and cookout over looking the ocean in naha. We have come to know the resteraunt owner through a friend of ours and have enjoyed not only his company but he's cooking as well!!!

2005-07-30T16:38:00.000-07:00

The other day was my dads birthday. Awwww aren't we cute. Sorry zach you got cut out of the pic..... well with that tiny swimsuit mom had you in, you might be glad you got cut out. I miss my family. can't wait to see them.

2005-07-30T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some old random tokyo pictures. It was literatly snowing cherry blossoms. It was so pretty. They say if you can catch one than you will get good luck so the whole week we were chasing them around and sticking our heads out of the car as we were driving down the road. The other pic is in Asakasa (sp?). We were given a tour of some of the history in the town.

Midin Point

2005-07-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

Te papa museum and Wellington

2005-07-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

More NZ pics

2005-07-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

This was a waterfall that we we went to see. This was my first day there and the first day of our road trip. I was still in shock of how cold it was... going from okinawa summer to New Zealand winter was hard for me but after a couple days it didn't seem as cold.

Karate

2005-07-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

Ill have to post more nz pics when nathan sends me a cd of all of them. Here are a couple from karate. I have my blue belt now and a few of our classmates have shown interest in studying. Some of them have started hanging out with us outside the dojo so thats been fun as well. We go bowling sometimes after practice together.

2005-06-29T02:55:00.000-07:00

enjoying some take away "Fish and Chips" or fish and fries as we would say. Even though I love the japanese food this trip has been a good break away from it.

2005-06-28T19:57:00.000-07:00

Sunrise

2005-06-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

The morning nathans family left we all drove out to the beach to see the sunrise. At first it was cloudy but it turned out nice. We all had a lot of fun (notice im chasing the birds on the beach).

2005-06-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

The "boys" as they call them are always coming over to nates house to play xbox and hang out. They are all pretty cool guys.

Hitsuji!!!

2005-06-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

Lots and Lots of sheep but aren't they cute?? I keep telling nate I want to sheer one but then i saw them do it on TV and it doesn't look like much fun. I felt sorry for the sheep.

2005-06-15T21:49:00.000-07:00

There are so many of us now!! and two more have come since this pic was taken

2005-06-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

The boys think they are cool

2005-06-15T21:46:00.001-07:00

holly and I

2005-06-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

okay i couldn't resist posting some pics of a pretty beach day

Long Time No Write

2005-06-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't written in a realy long time sorry. My computer is taking a short vacation for a while. Latest news. My studies are going AWESOME and getting better every day. Kirie just finished up all the study books so now we are just haveing bible study on our own without pre written LST materials. Misako is doing great and has been asking many questions about the Logos church. I have now gone back to karate. I will be grading up to blue belt soon yay! Last night after karate practice a bunch of us went to a bowling alley and we invited the people at the dojo. A few came and it was fun to hang out with them outside of practice. I will be leaving for my vacation to new zealand soon. I won't be taking my computer but should have access to one so maybe i can post a few pics when i get there. I will try to be better about postings just in case people are still reading this. LOVE YOU all and thank you for your prayers and encouragments

2005-05-11T18:40:00.000-07:00

This is just a nice pic of Shuri Castle. It has been rebuilt many times due to fires and war. We visited it yesterday

2005-05-11T18:39:00.001-07:00

Here is our cordinator with a shesa dog. What he is doing we don't know

2005-05-11T18:39:00.000-07:00

AHHH summer time peeling. My forhead tends to be several different shades during the summer time and the boys got a big kick out of it.

2005-05-11T18:38:00.000-07:00

Here me and holly are with our new AIMers. On the left is Jeff Hultman from California and on the right is Jake Normington from Tennessee. Holly and I and Joe were out showing them the beaches on this night.

2005-05-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

The other night Joe wanted me to repierce his ears. Again we will do pretty much anything for entertainment at night time

2005-05-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

Ever since our new aimers came last week, we have been taking late night trips to places. This is a cave called Chidi Chidi gama. A thousand people died in this cave during the war and there is now a memorial at the entrance in their honor.

2005-05-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

Another funny sign.. When I came to Okinawa I was told that anything realy important that I needed to know out in public they would probably make an english sign for.... Its just sometimes still we don't know what that means.

2005-05-11T18:34:00.000-07:00

My team has a thing with finding funny signs... Here was our latest found yesterday at shuri castle.

2005-05-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

Here's mahya after a suprise attack from a water balloon. She wasn't playing water balloon volleyball and someone thought she was looking too dry

2005-05-03T18:46:00.001-07:00

The favorite activity of the weekend was to sneak up on people with water balloons

2005-05-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

On the last night we had a big cook out BBQ

2005-05-03T18:40:00.000-07:00

Here we are playing the all famouse water balloon vollyball

2005-05-03T18:36:00.000-07:00

Camp went smoothly. This is my BLUE team! This picture is actualy missing two japanese girls that hid from the camera. They were great girls and helped out a lot when it was out time to cook and clean. We had around 51 total campers plus us seven workers and a few moms who came to help cook. It was the biggest camp yet.

2005-04-24T20:27:00.001-07:00

Once in our own dining room out of the view from the other resteraunt visitors we couldn't help but relax a little and have some fun taking pics

2005-04-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

This is Sunikawasan. He baught this Okinawa bingata print kimono for his grandaughters birhtday and offered and insisted I wear it for mine as well. Turning twenty is a special event in Japan

2005-04-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the week some of my elementary friends joined me in karaoke to celebrate

2005-04-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

For my 20th birthday we went to a realy nice sukiyaki resteraunt and they dressed me up.

I'm Back!!!

2005-04-16T04:36:00.000-07:00

I arrived safely back from Tokyo. It was a great trip. I'm pretty tired but looking forward to jumping back into the swing of things here. We soon will be preparing for camp and thank you for all of those who helped raise money for camp supplies. They arrived this week and I'm very excited and I'm sure the kids will love it all.

TOKYO!!!

2005-04-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry there isnt a pic yet but Im in Tokyo and realy enjoying myself. The Inue family have been so good to me and joe and have taken us all over to see the sights, we even went to disney world a couple of days. Weve eaten some realy good food and being here has helped me understand the language a bit more and also understand the Inue family a bit more. I will post some pics from my trip once i get back to Okinawa in a day or too!!

2005-04-06T23:09:00.000-07:00

Me and holly spending a pretty sunday afternoon at the beach... It was the first time i went swimming this season. It was a bit cold but it was still fun!

2005-03-27T20:36:00.000-08:00

Childrens class during outdoor worship

2005-03-27T20:32:00.002-08:00

Outdoor worship (ishikawa member)

2005-03-27T20:32:00.001-08:00

Easter picnic

2005-03-27T20:32:00.000-08:00

Playing soccer with zach keito and johnna

2005-03-27T20:31:00.000-08:00

outdoor worship easter morning

AIM LINK

2005-03-19T00:32:00.000-08:00

This is a link to the AIM website. I realized some of you might not know to much about it so if you have time check it out. It has pictures of all the current aimers on a field and you can search through past as well. There are tons of pics of our trip to mexico last year and other trips. Its also a great way to keep other aimers in prayer. The ones that are about to leave lubbock are going to need a lot of prayer right now as they try to set their minds on going home for a short while and then onto their field.

2005-03-19T00:22:00.000-08:00

Mahya getting set up to climb

2005-03-19T00:21:00.001-08:00

Us clowning around in our climbing gear

2005-03-19T00:21:00.000-08:00

Today we went rock climbing with the Inues and some of the Bezner children.

I'm Still Alive!

2005-03-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in so long but ive been busy. The christian school here is low on teachers because of illness and what not so I've been filling in as a sub a lot recently. Ive pretty much done it all from kindergarten to fifth grade. Also my teammates holly and michelle and tim are in America right now so its been weird having the girls apartment all to myslef. Please keep all of them in your prayers. Last night was a great blessing. A member of the Naha (southern) church.... wich is the actual established church here on the island took me, joe and the bezners out to an awesome resteraunt. We had to walk through these big stone gates and into a japanese floating garden type of a place. It was on a pond with realy pretty gold fish and all very floral and green. You had to walk on the small bridges connecting all the different little houses. We had an individual house for us to eat in and had a great tatami mat floor with tables that have built in grills so you just cook your own food. Great food and great fellowship.
1peter 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

2005-03-04T22:37:00.000-08:00

Last night we had Mikayla and Jonna Bezner over for a girly pj party. We watched chick flick movies, ate ice cream and taught them the word "exfoliation". We fit all five girls on three futon beds and they kept us up pretty late chatting and asking us questions. I never thought that when I came to Okinawa that one of the ministrys that would tug at my heart the most would be a couple of american girls.

2005-03-04T22:27:00.000-08:00

These are pictures of my favorite girls at and after a curry party at the kindergarten. All of the kids are so sweet and cute and i know teachers aren't supposed to have favorites but over the past couple of months i coudn't help but to get really close to a few of the girls and guys in my class. I will miss them so much now that this term is over.

2005-02-25T19:51:00.000-08:00

So having no TV or Telephone at the apartments makes for late night entertainment interesting in the girl apartment. I thought you guys might get a kick out of seing the picture of our rendition of "okinawa floating head ghost legend" This picture was taken in our sliding door, tatami mat bedroom.

2005-02-22T19:02:00.000-08:00

a collage of the birthday party

2005-02-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

At the party we had suki yaki!! Its this awesome japanese food that you cook in a big electric bowl that you plug in and it heats up and cooks. You put everything in the bowl together, vegi's and tofu and meat than pour in this terriyaki type sauce and put it over rice SO GOOD! we had 3 bowls going at once at the party so there was a lot of food

2005-02-22T18:59:00.001-08:00

This weekend we had a party for Yokosan's birthday and suprised her with a cake. It was a fun party.

2005-02-22T18:59:00.000-08:00

This is the preacher in Naha and his wife acting goofy! They were teaching us old okinawa little kid dances and songs.

Another week has Started!

2005-02-20T17:36:00.000-08:00

This weekend was long but good. Working at the Rojin home on friday was eventful. We helped the day care members cook okinawan pancakes. It was fun learning from them and we could tell that they enjoyed teaching us a new recipe! Saturday I had four lessons scheduled but only three showed up. But the three that I did teach were with old students and that is always encouraging. Saterday night we hosted our bimonthly movie night. We showed a chinese movie and then talked about the theme of love and forgivness in the movie. We had a few visitors and some other returning people. Sunday was a very relaxing day, Anne Bezner (my cordinator's wife) and her kids didn't have school today so yesterday we played all day. The kids invited over Mahya and Keito Inue and Maria after morning worship. Then later Emiko Inue came to pick up the kids but ended up staying for quiet a while just talking and hanging out. We talked about our trip to Tokyo together that she is planning for Joe, the kids, herself and I. Tickets have been bought for April 10-16. So it looks like I will be spending my birthday in Tokyo! I'm very excited about this trip. Please keep my teammates in your prayers as three of them will be traveling home for a month. Tim leaves this wed. Michelle leaves march 7 and Holly leaves march 8. Pray they have a safe trip home and a good vacation.
Tonight I'm going to Naha to have a Sukiyaki party with the Naha preacher Tomeyosa san and his wife.
Sorry I don't have pics on my computer to post today. Check back tomarrow and maybe I will have some from this weekend and the party tonight.

2005-02-15T19:38:00.000-08:00

Today I held a valentine party for the kindergarten class that I teach. I let the kids decorate their own cup cakes with frosting and sprinkles. It was fun to watch the children (very much unlike american children). They were all very neat and tidy and wouldn't touch their cupcake with there hands... It took me five minutes to realize they weren't eating cause they didn't have forks. It was so much fun and the teacher busted out some milk for us. Thanks mom for supplying the cake mix and frosting!! Jen i passed out my valentines and they kids thought they were cute, thanks!! :)

MORE LESSONS!!!!!

2005-02-13T22:14:00.000-08:00

Well this past week i dropped a lesson. Fusae the older woman who has been studying with me asked to only study once a week now since her husband has quit. I was a little bummed about this but then..... This afternoon during a flustured (sp?) moment two new ladies showed up and asked to study. I reluctantly took the lessons even though I was feeling a bit overwlemed. The two woman wanted to study together, one of then had somewhat good english and the other had no experience. Even though the two hour lesson was a bit draining for me, having to juggle verb congegations and japanese translations IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!! the girls were great and very relaxed people to study with. We started into Luke and talked about how it was history and what history means. They plan on coming back three times a week now. Please pray for my new students. THANKS! I'm heading off to Ojana tonight to spend the evening with Emiko and her kids and eat dinner. Should be some good cookin!

Teaching in Japanese!

2005-02-12T21:40:00.000-08:00

Today during my fourth fifth and sixth grade bible class I talked about David and Goliath. Some of the kids acted like they had never actualy read it before and enjoyed it. The girls all giggled when we read about David cutting off Goliaths head and when it said that David was ruggy and good looking. But then we talked about how David had faith in God and knew that God was our strength. We talked about the different things that might be "Goliaths" in our lives and how God will take care of us. The kicker was that some of the kids had helped me write out portions of my lesson in japanese and I tried my best at it. It was fun and atleast my horrible japanese kept the kids attention!

2005-02-12T21:27:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines day!! We had a party after church today. The logos members weren't able to stay so the kids grabed a quick cookie and left. We did have a couple students show up so that was good. One of wich is a realy sweet college age girl. I got to know her so much better today so even though our numbers were low it still turned out good.

Up coming plans

2005-02-10T22:36:00.000-08:00

It looks like tickets have been bought to go to the mainland. Emiko, Mahya, and Keito have invited Joe and I to go to Tokyo over spring break to visit their father and sister. I am very excited about this, not only seing Tokyo but spending more time with this family and getting to know their father and sister as well. I believe we leave april 8 and stay a week

2005-02-10T18:22:00.000-08:00

Another day at the Rojin home!

Thursday

2005-02-09T18:22:00.000-08:00

Yo. ore no na wa Inigo Montoya. Kisama wa chichi o koroshita shinu kakugo shiro.
Hello My name is Inigo Montoya you killed my father prepare to die

Sorry a little "princess bride" rendition.
So anyway I had a lesson with Sawako this morning. It was a great lesson. We read about the birth of baby jesus. She had a hard time with the story because of all the new towns and places and names that were introduced (galilee, quirinius, syria, bethlehem ect.) But she got the point of the story and we had fun. I hadn't seen her in a couple weeks so it was good talking to her again.
Prayer requests.
This is a very busy weekend. We have a kids club party and a valentines party. Please pray for those that will come. Also this afternoon we are passing out more flyers for our english bible studies. Pray for those who will be recieving those.

2005-02-08T22:14:00.000-08:00

Okay now this is funny.... we showed up to church to help decorate only to find out that the japanese had already put up the tree. Only we don't think they put it together in the right order because it was somewhat of a diamond shape :)

2005-02-08T22:13:00.000-08:00

Christmas services at Ishikawa Church

2005-02-08T22:12:00.000-08:00

While some friends were in town we climed out to the extreme north point of the island to go whale watching and even saw a few

2005-02-08T22:10:00.000-08:00

After watching our friends Shiho (middle grey jacket) and Rio (pink shirt purple jacket) perform in Swan Lake some of us pose for a quick picture

2005-02-08T21:46:00.000-08:00

Teaching at preschool

First entry

2005-02-08T21:34:00.000-08:00

This morning I taught once again at the kindergarten and the children were unusualy hyper. But still it was fun. Each child presented me with an origami creation and then the whole class gave me a bound book of different pictures they colored of me teaching them. I can't believe my time with them is almost over. Just a couple more weeks. I will be very sad when i have to say bye to these cute kids.