First Service at Koinonia Cafe

So tonight was the first service held at the brand new Koinonia Cafe. Calvary Chapel in Ginowan City just started in January. Pastor Tommy felt called to start a new church plant and a coffee house. The coffee house will open next month, but started having Wednesday night services tonight.



A ton of work went into restoring the building. It was quite a mess! It now looks so beautiful, but these night pictures don't do it justice.



Emi, being Emi, had a ball running back and forth.


God will surely use this place!

Homemade Ice Cream

Debe and her homeschool student made ice cream. It is actually a scientific process (a chemical reaction).

The fun thing about this kind of experiment is you get to eat it in the end. And it tasted good!

White Day

So today is White Day!

What is White Day? Well, in Japan Valentine's Day is the day that girls give chocolate to boys. Not necessarily boyfriends, but fathers, bosses and co-workers are all game.

Then on White Day, March 14, the men are supposed to reciprocate with cookies.

Mythical Creatures

So we went to see a "flower show". Obviously, this wasn't your average, everyday flower show. This one was kind of cool!


There were dragons and warriors and stuff. And yes, they were made from flowers. Except for the parts that weren't flowers that is. There was also wood, straw and the parts that made the head or claws or weapons.


This was on the grounds of Shuri Castle -- a centuries old site on Okinawa. It is the only standing castle, as the rest (and there are many) are just ruins. Well, after the war Shuri was ruins too -- it was reconstructed and finally reopened in 1992.

Bread of Life

Every Friday, Debe gets to minister at another church.

There is a group of women that want to learn English. The church allows them to meet there. Debe leads an English class, which is followed by a Bible study in Japanese.














Last Friday, they learned to make special bread from scratch.


They also learned that Jesus is the bread of life.

Please pray for these women, as most of them are not believers yet.

Super...Monday!

So in Japan we are a day ahead of the US. Well, half a day really. Well, it depends where you are in the states. Anyway, when the Superbowl was played, it was Sunday in the states and Monday over here.

Being a Monday, Dan usually has to work. But this year it worked out that Sunday was a workday with Monday being the off day. (Sunday was a Music Festival that all the students and teachers had to participate in).

Living in Okinawa, some areas are able to get AFN, the Armed Forces Network. Designed for the military families, it gives them a lot of television programming from the states. While we don't get the channel in Naha City, our friends Larry and Mona do!

Here we all are watching and eating. Oh, by the way the game was live, so it started at 8:30 in the morning. While the game was not one of the greatest played, it was a blessing to be able to watch it and fellowship with some good Christian fellows.

Happy New Year?

Does it seem a little late for a New Year's Party?















In some places in Asia, they celebrate the New Year according to the Chinese calendar. They base it on the lunar cycle, so it doesn't line up with our western calendar.

Our friend Ping, from Taiwan, decided to throw a New Year's party. We had fun and good food.