Christmas Breakfast

Well, instead of sleeping in on Christmas morning, we got up early to go to the Ruiz's for breakfast.


Are we gonna eat all this food?

Mark had this great idea to have a Christmas Breakfast.
We were not sure how many people could come, since it is not a Japanese holiday, but a regular workday for many.

Well, about 30 people came out. We had a great time eating (too much) and fellowshipping. Special thanks to the Ruiz's for allowing us to use their home as they were not even in Okinawa at the time.

W2...by candlelight

SInce it was Christmas Eve, we decided to have a special W2. W2 stands for "Worship" and "the Word".

We still had a time of worship and prayer, but the message was (a little) shorter to leave time for some Christmas Carols by Candlelight.

Christmas Eve Service

Pastor Tom is away, but the ministries continue.

Ayu, Hide & Rob led worship.











Pastor Tim gave a special Christmas message, as we took a break from John's Gospel.

As you can see, we will soon need more space.

Emi turns Two

Well Emi turned two years old today. It seems like only yesterday that all she could do was cry and fuss...oh wait a minute...that was yesterday.


Seriously, Emi has been such a blessing in our life and she is growing up very quickly.


We pray that she will continue to have good health and will grow up strong; physically as well as spiritually.


I'm 2!

Ladies Christmas Dinner

Some pictures from the Ladies Dinner:

Some Prayer Requests

We have a few events coming up that we would love to have prayer for:


1) 12/15 - Stephanie (Debe's sister) comes for a visit.

2) 12/16 - Ladies Christmas dinner/tea

3) 12/16 ~ 18 - Bible College students go home. We will miss them all!

4) 12/19 - December's Ladies Tea. Debe will share true meaning of Christmas with her English students.

5) 12/22 - Ruiz's leave to visit U.S. (Our Pastor and family). Pray for the church while they are away.

6) 12/24 - Christmas Eve at the Coffee House. Outreach/Worship.

7) 12/25 - Christmas morning breakfast. For all those here without family.

Pirates of Okinawa

This was from an outreach in Ginowan City, where our church is located.


We wanted to have a local outreach to meet some local kids and invite them to Church/youth group.


The team from California led and our church assisted. It was neat, they had some songs, some games, a Pirates skit, the Christmas story, and a craft time.




For many of these kids this was likely their first exposure to church or the real meaning of Christmas.

Pray that we can have more of these kinds of outreaches.












Shiori was listening intensely

Christmas Party Outreach

Debe has a monthly luncheon with her English students.

For Christmas they had a Christmas party.















The party was at Mrs. S's house.

She is a wonderful Christian who has a heart for outreach.

There were some games and some food.

Joanna (our pastor's wife) came and shared the gospel message.






By all reports, it was a good time of feasting and sharing.

Makin' Muchi

What is "Muchi"?



Muchi is Okinawan style Mochi.
It is a little different from mainland Japanese mochi.


Mrs S. (right) showed us how to make it.


Two big differences from mochi:

1) The flavors: Beni imo, or Okinawan sweet potato, and Kurosato, or brown sugar, are two popular flavors.



2) The wrapping: In Okinawa they wrap the mochi in geto, similar to ti leaves. These grow everywhere here.



The students had a good time making muchi -- and an even better time eating it!





We were all blessed by Mrs. S coming and sharing a bit of Okinawan culture with us.