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.