Emi's First Awana Patch

Every Wednesday Emi has Awanas. It is similar to Girl Scouts, but sans the cookies. Oh, and it is Christian based. So each week Emi has been memorizing a new Bible verse. She has 5 memorized now! Not bad. It is a blessing to have access to Awanas in Japan.

This week she received her first patch. Only question now is: who's gonna sew it on?

Ryukyu Mura

We had a day off today (for Autumn Equinox), AND we had free entrance to Ryukyu Mura, so we decided to stop in for a visit. It is basically several houses set up like an old village would have been.

We enjoyed the culture and music, but Emi seems to like the food the best!

Gospel Hula

It is always great to see our sister Teresa when she comes for a visit. Teresa lives on another island, but comes every 3 or 4 months to minister here. She teaches hula using Christian music and opens the class up to non-Christians. So not only is the class fun and encouraging for Christians, but it serves as an outreach as well.

Surprise Guest!

We were happy to get a call from our good friend Crystal!

She got "stuck" here waiting for a flight back home on mainland Japan.

The girls loved meeting a new "Auntie"!

It's funny, because we got to see Crystal's husband, Erik, a few months ago. Hey, you guys ever consider, like, vacationing "together"?

Just kidding, but great to see you Crystal!

The Sun, (or is it Son?)

This week Emi learned about the Sun.

So she learned everything from the letter "S", to light, and shadows and more.

We made a sundial:

Made raisins:

Well, we tried to... I think it's too humid here!

Fun with Paint:

A visit to a "real” sundial:

But the most important part was this week's Bible verse:

"Jesus is the Light of the World."

イエスさま は 世 の 光 です

Big Change in Japan

August 30th was Election Day here in Japan. While foreigners are not permitted to vote, we have been interested in this election. They had predicted that the ruling party, the DPJ (the Democratic Party of Japan), would be ousted from power. This is significant because they have held power in Japan for almost 55 uninteruppted years.

Record high unemployment (5.7%) and a stagnant economy made people consider a change.

Well the prediction turned out to be correct, as the LDP (The Liberal Democratic Party) now has about 75% representation. They will undoubtedly select their party's leader Yukio Hatoyama to be the next Prime Minister.

Mr. Hatoyama is reportedly a Christian, so we will be praying that he will be led by God as he takes the reins of Japan.