Just in Time!

Our church back in Hawaii is so generous to send us a gift every year for Christmas. However, this year (due to our changing addresses) the package was in limbo for a week. Finally on we got hold of the person in charge of the box. It was at the airport, about 2 hours away. Well with the coming holiday 1/1 - 1/4, we resigned ourselves to not seeing the package until well into the new year.


Well one thing about Japan, they really do try to be punctual. Do you know that they delivered the package the very same day (12/31) at about 8 pm? It was a blessed way to end the year. Thank you HCC!

All I want for Christmas...

We've been waiting and waiting for Mika to get her teeth. Emi seemed to get them much earlier (6 1/2 mo.s). Well, just in time for the new year, Mika came through!

Mika already has a nice smile, so this should make it even nicer.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!



We had a Blessed day here in Okinawa and we hope that you did as well.

Christmas Breakfast

Our church has a "tradition" (at least the last 2 years, anyway): we gather together for breakfast Christmas morning. Pastor Tom is away, but that didn't stop us from taking over his house for the morning. (Just kidding, he knows and approves of eating breakfast).

There was about 40 people, so it got a little tight.


The food and the fellowship was plentiful and we even got a phone call from the man who originated the idea last year: Mark Davis! (nice talking to you and Keegan).

It was a great time; the only drawback was that not everyone could attend due to work...





"White Elephant" gift exchange: one man's junk...





Some "merry" cooks

Dessert Fellowship

Sunday nights is "W2" night. W2 stands for "Worship" and the "Word." But we also have a time of fellowship afterwards. Hmm, maybe we should change the name to "WWF"?... oh wait, that's taken.

Anyway, last Sunday night was a special time of fellowship as we had a Dessert Fellowship. It was a potluck, so many people brought or made a variety of desserts. Here are some pics:

Bike Blessing

Emi is 3 now and really loves to move. She is always running or dancing or falling or something. It is rare that she will just sit still. Well, she also loves bikes or little cars to ride around in. Usually we will use the cool shopping carts (that look like race cars) in some grocery stores. I don't remember those when I was a kid! Or else we sometimes use the display models at Toys R Us.

So we wanted to get her a bike for her birthday, but they are so expensive. Come on! $100 for a little kids bike that she'll only use a year or two? Well, we just couldn't afford it, so we didn't get one. Yet God got us one for free! When our neighbors moved out they left a perfect sized bike for Emi! God always does provide; often in a different way than I expect.

A Year of Blessings

Here is a copy of our year-end update letter:

December 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

Seasons Greetings from Okinawa!

It is amazing how fast time goes by! As we enter our 7^th year in Japan, it seems to have gone by very quickly. It has been six years filled with challenges, blessings and new steps of faith. We are so blessed to be able to serve in Okinawa and are very grateful for all of your support and prayers.

This past year has seen several changes. I realized this acutely at our Thanksgiving Service. After the message, Pastor Tom asked if anyone wanted to share what they were thankful for. Many people shared and as I thought about the past year that was when I realized just how much God had blessed us. God has provided us with:

• a new apartment in a new city (Uruma City)
• a new job for Dan in Okinawa City (Close to Uruma)
• a new car (not "brand new", but new for us)
• a new family member (Mika Lei was born in March)
• 2 new ministries:
  
• Wednesday night Bible Study and
  
• Friday night prayer time (both held in our apartment)

Actually, it seems like every area of our life has been blessed – God sure is good!

Ministry-wise we keep rather busy. Dan teaches every Wednesday evening and every other Sunday night. He teaches in English and another person translates it into Japanese. One of those people is now Debe.

This is a first for her, so she is a little nervous (Dan gets nervous too, but doesn’t like to admit it). However, despite any nerves or doubts we just trust God to use the abilities we have or to empower us with added ability at the time it is needed. Really, we should always be trusting in His power instead of ours anyway.

Please pray for Dan as he prepares 1 or 2 messages a week. Also pray for Debe as she steps out in faith to handle the translating. And please pray for us both as we continue to study the very complex and difficult Japanese language.

Future goals include renting a space to open a coffee house. While there are several spaces available, some people do not care to rent to foreigners. Others do not like the idea of anything “religious”. There are several cults in Japan and they have given all churches a bad name.

However, we know that God has the perfect place for us, so we continue to wait on His timing.

Aloha in Christ,

Dan & Debe Pallmann

Emi is Three!

Well Emi is officially 3 years old!

We had a little party for her (for the people that couldn't go to the other one).

She made out pretty good! We are blessed to have such generous friends and family.

3 Birthdays!

Wow!

3 girls all had birthdays really close to each other.




Julia: 12/17
Emi: 12/18
Alondra: 12/19


Alondra and Julia are sisters.


We had a birthday party for all 3 girls at Barrios' house.
It was a "Happy Feet" Party. Liz made this cool cake!

There were all kinds of cool games and even a pinata.



Emi had a lot of fun!



Thanks David and Liz for including Emi!

Getting the word out

Debe, her mom, and Emi and Mika go out every week to pass out chirashi, or advertisements.

We are trying to get the word out that we are getting the WORD out every Wednesday night.

We are praying for those in our community that God wants to bring through our doors.

Wednesday Night Bible Study

Well we had our first Wednesday night bible study in Ishikawa.

It was a small, I mean, intimate group.





Zach led in worship and did a great job, as usual.





We believe that this is just be the beginning of the work God wants to do here.

Sightseeing

We don't always get the chance to visit the many beautiful spots here on Okinawa.



So it was nice to have Jess here -- it gave us a reason to do some sightseeing.









This is Manzamo, or the Elephant Rock, for obvious reasons.

Giving Thanks Again!

Well, Thanksgiving was so much fun on Thursday that we decided to do it again on Friday!

Actually, Thursday was not a holiday for many (it is not a Japanese Holiday).

Plus our friend Jess was not here, so we had another meal on Friday.

And really, we will take any excuse to eat!

This time we did it Japanese style, which meant no turkey, but chicken. Not just any chicken, but Garlic Roasted Chicken.

Oh, we did sneak in a little turkey for those that might have missed it on Thursday.

Jess is Here!

We are so happy that our good friend Jess was able to come and visit.




We know Jess and her fam from when we lived in Hawaii.

It is great to see her... I hope our kids don't drive her crazy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Well we are so thankful for many things.

One thing we are thankful for is our "American sized" oven. After 6 years of smaller Japanese ovens, it is nice to have a larger oven.

The Japanese ovens work just fine, but they aren't big enough to cook a large casserole or something like a turkey.

Of course, they don't eat turkey here, so they don't see it as a problem.















This turkey was donated to our church for our annual Thanksgiving Potluck. God has blessed us with many generous people at our church.

Well, many people came: some came later (it isn't a holiday for most) and there were many first time guests.

After a great meal, we played a couple games and then they brought out the Pumpkin Pie!

Now they do sell Pumkin Pie in Okinawa, but this was the real thing; what a treat!

Our Daily Bread

Well, we like bread. Especially a nice, grainy wheat bread.
Only problem is, you can't easily get it in Japan.

Oh they have "wheat bread", but it is mostly inedible.
Okay, it isn't that bad, but it is more reminiscent of cardboard than wheat bread.

Especially right now (while Debe is nursing) we are trying to eat healthy. But you make do with what you have.

So you can imagine our surprise when a good friend of ours walked into church last Sunday and handed us a loaf of 100% whole wheat bread.
He "wondered" if we could use it...

See the cool thing is, our friend had no idea that we had this need right now..., but God knew! God was providing for our needs through his generosity.

Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Luke 4:4

Harvest Carnival

So, Halloween came and went.

It is interesting to get a Japanese person viewpoint of Halloween, since it isn't really celebrated here. Most kids know that it has something to do with pumpkins and candy and... funny costumes?

Well, one of my duties as an English teacher is to teach about "International Culture". So I do teach about Halloween. I try not to dwell on the negative aspects, but more of "What we do on Halloween" (trick or treat, costumes).

Every year Calvary Chapel Okinawa City has a really cool Harvest Carnival. Tons of games and candy and music, but no scary costumes. It is a great safe, alternative way to spend the evening.



Dan's school is close by, so many of his students were able to come as well.









Mika got to wear a bunny suit thing, while Emi went as a Princess.

No more Nova?

Well it looks like Nova, the largest English school in Japan, is in deep trouble.


They closed their doors last Friday to students and teachers alike.

Perhaps they will be able to restructure and stay afloat, but it seems unlikely.

Unfortunately, many students will probably lose the money they pre-paid for classes.

Worse, about 7000 staff suddenly have no income.

Many of the English teachers are Christians that are essentially missionaries, so would you keep them in prayer?

Bullfight!

Well you know you're living in the country when the popular pastime is bullfighting.

This was pretty cool -- they usually cost about 25 dollars, but this one was free.

It was part of the Uruma City Matsuri (festival).

Uruma is known for its bullfights -- They don't really hurt each other (well, except maybe for feelings) ; it is more like sumo.


As you can see, it was well attended!

Pizza in the Sky

This is a famous restaurant in Okinawa. They only sell two things: pizza and salad.


Lisa and Ping look at the menu

If you don't know, Japanese pizza is a little...well, different (strange?) than American pizza. It is very common to find tuna, corn and even squid as toppings. Actually, we are getting used to them.

What makes this place unique is that the pizza tastes almost like American -- it is pretty good. The salad was good too.




But the best thing is the view!

High Tea

Debe invited some of her former English students to a "High" Tea.






They started out with Tea, and Sandwiches.









This was followed by Tea, and dessert.





Then they washed everything down with...more Tea.

No wonder they call it "High" Tea.

My only question is, is there such a thing as a "Low Tea"?



More seriously, this was a good opportunity to keep in touch with some of the friends we made before.

Everyone had a great time!