Serving in Our Community

We teach a lot about "Loving Others." This is a major reason Christians are on this world! What better way to show God to others than to serve them? Is this not exactly what Jesus taught us by doing the most menial job of washing feet? 

Too often, we "know" these things mentally yet fail to actually put them into practice. This week, our students had the opportunity to put some action into those words. Students were placed into one of 16 service groups that did everything from visit elderly homes, to working with kids or animals, to cleaning beaches or churches.

Our group was blessed to help out at a couple local churches. We had an awesome group that really stepped up and we got a lot done!

Summer of Savings #3

This summer we are on a quest to find fun things to do that won't break the bank.

We borrowed paddleboats and enjoyed the pond at Okinawa Comprehensive Park.

Total Cost: $13 for 5 of us.

Summer of Savings #2

Whew! It sure is hot out this year!

We found a good deal on a pool in Kadena. True, it is a pool for kids, but our kids still enjoy going there!



While free for those living in Kadena (not us), it is reasonably priced: $3 per child entering the pool, plus $2 for an adult escort.


As Dan was prepping for teaching Summer School, it was just Debe and the girls, so $8 total.

Summer of Savings #1

Well, many teachers find summertime a little tight on finances. Our challenge this year is to find fun things to do on the cheap. Let's see how many things we can find to do for about $20 or less!

Rented some bikes at the Comprehensive Park...

Making...friends?

Well, bikes were $4, and some drinks were about $5, so today cost $9--not too bad!

Update

Here is our latest update! Click the link to download the PDF Version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B191Kcvn6vOAQWFuYmNPQnBQRms/view?usp=sharing

Graduations!

 Debe's 3 year olds performed at the Kindergarten Graduation last Monday.

They did a great job and were all excited/ nervous to be on stage, but the real stars were the K5 students who are now officially 1st graders!

Oh, and there was another graduation as well: Emi finished 5th grade and graduated that same day.  She is now a Middle School student (6th, 7th, & 8th graders).

Congratulations to all the graduates!

Recycling for Jesus!

As students and teachers are clearing out lockers and desks, it was a great time to recycle some paper!

We have been collecting paper for a couple weeks to benefit Kumamoto.

As you likely heard, there was a severe earthquake there recently. With the 1000 or so aftershocks, many people have had a difficult time sleeping.

Operation Safe provides Summer Camp, with counseling for children affected by this tragedy.

Our recycled paper will go towards the cost for some children to attend this camp. We were able to raise 10,000 yen (about $100) for this one van, which will help to send 3 kids to camp. Pretty cool, since all this paper would have been just thrown away--Praise God we are able to use it instead to further His kingdom!