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!

Guess Who's Standing? --UPDATED

Had to post this picture of Mika standing.

She just can't wait to run and play with her big sister, Emi.

We of course, could wait another couple months, but what can you do?

Actually, we do have a prayer request regarding Mika:

• At her 6 month exam a couple weeks ago, the doctor was concerned because Mika had grown very little in the past 3 months (maybe a cm or less). Everything else seems to be developing just fine, but we are praying that she will grow at a faster rate.

***UPDATE***
Well, Mika grew 2 cm in 3 weeks! While she is still a lightweight, she is at least growing again. We are very thankful to God for His watching out for Mika.


Thanks for joining with us in prayer!

Stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. -- 1 Cor 16:13

Lisa's 23 (again!)

Well Lisa went and had another birthday -- another excuse to eat!

She requested lasagna, so that is what we had.














Instead of cake, Ping made some yummy chocolate brownies.















Well, good going girl...see you again next year (when you can be 22).















Hey, do I get some brownie too???