Two Typhoons

Please pray for Okinawa and Taiwan-- there are two typhoons headed our way.  Okinawa is right in between the two.

We are supposed to be traveling to nearby Tokashiki island to help with a youth camp. Pray that we do not have to cancel this camp!

VBS at Calvary Chapel Okinawa

This week was pretty busy and a lot of fun!  We attended VBS, which was a Double Blessing-- not only could the girls attend, but Debe and I were able to help out.

Each day went something like this:

Children arrive at the church and are greeted inside and out with an "Island" theme (Our VBS is Promise Island). Yeah, it's a little weird to do a tropical island theme while ON a tropical island...

 First there is a large group meeting where we sing, pray, watch a skit about today's "promise."

 Then each group moves to a different room. This was the games activity which Dan helped with.

 There was a Drama room as well; the sets were great!  Here are Paul and Silas in "Jail."

 Josh and Zach helping out with the drama.

 There was a craft activity each day as well.  All the activities related to the same Promise.

The smiles say it all!

Five Things I Learned About Alabama

It was a quite interesting visit to the "Deep South."  It was way different than my image before we left.  I guess I pictured hillbillies in pickups with shotguns or something; instead Birmingham is a place I could probably live in.

Here's what I learned:

1. It is HOT down here! Check out the car thermo: (Yep, it hit 107 one time)





2. Southern Hospitality is alive and well.  Everyone seemed courteous and friendly, at least compared to my experience in New York.

3. Sweet Tea really is.  Sweet, that is.  To be honest, I found it to be too sweet, but than again so is Snapple or Arizona.


4. Many famous people were from Alabama, including Helen Keller, Hank Aaron, Nat King Cole, Coretta Scott King and others!

5. Without question, the BEST BBQ in the world comes from the South.

Heading back to Japan

Well we are on our way back to Okinawa.

It was a wonderful 3 weeks in the U.S., but it will be nice to get back to our own place too.

Alabama Botanical Gardens

Today we went to visit the Botanical Gardens here in Birmingham.  The girls all had matching dresses and we wanted to take some nice shots.

Thanks to Rebecca who made all the dresses by hand-- they came out great!!!

Happy July 4th!

The girls made Tshirts with their hand prints.  They came out pretty good!

Thank you Honey and Rebecca for helping the kids out!

Road Trip, Day 6

Well, being that it is Sunday, we decided to go to a local church.  This is Calvary Chapel Johnson City (Tennessee).

It must have been by design, as we met a couple that know some friends of ours at CC Oki!





We also stopped at a "Hands-On" Museum.  They had this interesting Noah's Ark display as well as many other things you can touch.