Home [finally]

We made it back to LA, just two days and two hours late. =]
Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. I would write more, but I am tired and I am going to break all the rules of getting over jet-lag and go to sleep now.
Good night!

in Christ
kevin

FLIGHT DELAY

It is approx. 5:30pm local time and our flight is delayed...United made an announcement that we are going to be boarding at 6:30pm and should be taking off around 7:15 (approx. two hour delay). Please check the United website to see when we scheduled to arrive at LAX.

in Christ
Kevin

And we're off (hopefully)

Well, we're off to the airport now... again, this SHOULD be the last post until 12:00ish Wednesday (PST) unless there is a hiccup in our travel plans. Thank you so much for your prayers and support! We can't wait to get back to LA to see everyone and tell you all the amazing things God has done and is doing!

in Christ
Kevin

And the excitement never stops...

It's 9:40am and there has been an announcement that there is a fire alarm ringing. We have been told to stay in our room until further notice...well, they just said there is no fire... yeah... go figure...

Stuck in Tokyo!

Hey everybody!

We just got back from our day excursion to Tokyo. Needless to say, it was a pretty relaxed day. We arrived in Tokyo (after an hour train ride from Narita) at about 12. Lunch and shopping followed. I think we have the worst luck at picking places to shop at because the place we stopped at was all designer clothes... -___- Needless to say, we didn't buy anything. We also stopped by at another street filled with shops--but didn't buy anything there either. So we headed back to Narita for dinner and then back to the hotel.

SOOOO, tomorrow..... Lord willing, everything will go according to plan. We are planning on going to Justco (similar to a mall) in the morning, then check out by 12:30 and head over to the airport. Our flight leaves Wednesday at 4:55pm local time. We should be back on US soil by 10:55am Wednesday--then we just have to clear customs. It's going to literally be the longest day ever.

Alright...its about 11:30pm here now--time for bed! Keep us in your prayers as we head back home to LA (hopefully) in about 18 hours. Unfortunately, we have not been able to check in online, so we're going to have to check in at the airport.

That should do it...I'll try and post at about 12:15 pm local time (approx. 8:15pm PST) before we leave the hotel for the airport. After that, there should not be any more posts, unless there is a hiccup in our flight plans.

Thanks guys!

in Christ
kevin

Airplane Erupts into Flames at Airport ***UPDATE 2***

Well... we missed our connecting flight from Narita/Tokyo to LAX. Actually, we didn't miss the flight, they would not let us on board. We landed and disembarked at Narita/Tokyo Airport at about 4:25--30 minutes until our scheduled departure time on United flight 890. From there, we sprinted to the United gate--only to find out that they would not let us on because our luggage could not be put on the same flight with us. SOOOOO... we are here in Tokyo for a little while.

As of right now we have reservations for United flight 890 departing Narita/Tokyo International Airport at 4:55 local time and arriving Wednesday around 10:52 am (PST).

We will continue to post and keep you updated. Thanks for all your prayers and support!

in Christ
kevin

P.S. Here is the link to the news story about the airplane fire.

Airplane Erupts into Flames at Airport **UPDATE**

We are scheduled to take depart at 1:00 Japan time (delay of about an hour). Approx 9:00pm PST.

AIRPLANE ERUPTS INTO FLAMES AT AIRPORT

That's right folks...we're here at Naha/Okinawa International Airport and as we were checking in, a China Airlines flight erupted into flames [we dont think there were people on board, however some emergency slides were deployed] ... needless to say, our flight is delayed. The latest announcement is that the flight time is unknown. Sooooo ... assuming we leave soon, up next is a three hour flight to Narita/Tokyo then on to LA. We're due to get into LA around 11! BUT, if our flight to Narita/Tokyo doesn't take off soon, only God knows what is going to happen. We will keep you updated as much as possible, hopefully i'll be able to blog when we take off from Naha/Okinawa International. Thanks for all your prayers and support!

in Christ
Kevin


ps... here are some pics of the airplane...

Sayonara Nihon

Well, today was our last day here in Japan (Nihon) and boy are we all going to miss it. Today was a sad day of goodbyes to people we had built such fun and loving relationships with. Our team was split for the morning to attend our church services. At Agena Sensei's church, Wil and Janet gave the sunday school lesson and played duck-duck-goose with the kids. The kids loved it! Nicole and I walked in the church with our homestay and the kids upstairs were screaming and laughing and having soo much fun! By the way, just to tell you a little bit about Nicole and my homestay...we visited a castle and then did some shopping with the three girls (two about Nicole's age and one, a fourth grader) and their mom. When we got home after the couple's party, we played the game Sequence with the entire family (mom, dad, brother, 2 sisters, and a friend.) Unfortunately, it was a short stay and they brought us to church the next morning where we said our goodbyes. It was a lot of fun and though difficult to communicate, Sequence really broke those barriers and helped us all to have a good time. And now...back to church! Nicole and Wil gave their testimonies and did a great job, really touching a lot of hearts in the church. Following service was a potluck similar to last week with even more great food. (If I come home 10 pounds heavier, please try not to make fun ;) After that, Nicole and I got a chance to go karaoke with Stacia (Mary Jo's daughter, our Asian Access contact) and some of the members from her home church. So that was a lot of fun for both of us and totally different from what we envisioned. It was very mellow and calm with an atmosphere that we could just relax in after two long weeks. Tonight the entire team went to another potluck at Higa Sensei's church and ate some more delicious food. (I tried goya, the vegetable of Okinawa, for the first time...it is sooo bitter!) But don't worry that is the ONLY thing I didn't particularly care to eat for this entire trip. We did some awesome worship (One way, Jesus!), listened to a short message from Higa Sensei and then got to eat everything from rice balls to tempura to KFC. Then we all gave our thank-you speeches and fellowshipped with the youth and other people there afterwards. Finally, we said our goodbyes to all of the wonderful members of Higa Sensei's church :(... which brings us to now where we are all packing up and getting prepared to go home. These two weeks have been absolutely incredible and I know I have been so touched and moved by the pastors and people of Okinawa. The pastor's visions for their churches are incredible and truly inspirational for the entire team. Sure, I can't wait to get home and sleep on a comfortable bed with a pillow, drink ice-cold water, and shower without getting out and sweating again anyway, but I will miss Okinawa, waking up to screaming kids in the preschool, talking with the awesome translators, and just being able to minister to and serve the people here. Thank you for all the support you have given us through your prayers and for being faithful "checkers" of the blog. See you all after our trip home!

Love, Britt

Duck duck goose with the kids!

Sunday school lesson

Fellowship at Higa Sensei's church. Holler!


Our awesome homestay family!

My wish came true and we were able to take pictures in the photo booths...it was sooo cool!

couples party!!

The best was yet to come. . .

Well, Kevin thought that might be it, but the best . . . well, most challenging was yet to come. Today was the BIG couples party at Seiizumi church (Chew’s church). This was the culmination of the busy schedule for our team and the one event that our pastor was really looking forward to doing. It was another big outreach event for the couples in his community and a chance for them to have a nice dinner “a real Italian dinner cooked by California family” as the flyer said. We needed to plan a program, cook, decorate, and serve our 5 course meal for 28 people in a restaurant theatre setting. Leader Matt really pulled through with a completely new menu: he planned it, shopped for it, and it came off perfectly (his mom would be proud). Nicole came up with the idea for the table decorations and Britt and I helped execute, Wil and Virginia planned the program, and Kevin handled the technical end. Needless to say, we all better understand why we are not in the restaurant business! But it all went very well, the couples all seemed to have a good time, the food was great, the pastor was pleased, and we have NO pictures, which goes to show you just how busy every single one of us was!!

One last update from Higa Sensei's church...

Hey everybody!

This looks like it's going to be the last update [from here in Japan] for our half of the team, as we will not have access to internet after today. I'm sure we'll be posting some closing thoughts once we get back to the States.

So, in this "closing post" I thought it would be nice to provide you guys with a picture post of our daily trek from our home church/homestay to the Chew's church.... Enjoy!


The morning starts off with breakfast! Akiko (our homestay host) provided us with A LOT of food for breakfast at the beginning ... then we began opting for more sleep instead of more breakfast... Anyways, the toaster was not just any toaster... it was a toaster with that toasted with a picture of DORAEMON!!!! [It was a little strange at first...but we got used to it =)]

Picture of Jesus on the toast???... naw, its Doraemon!

There's our homestay house, at the end of the street, second floor

And so our journey begins....

As you can see, everyone is happy as we start out....



(but Matt is still a little tired...heheheh)



But those happy smiles soon change, as the heat and humidity take its toll...


As we continue on our journey, come up to the part I call the "yellow brick road"...



One turn off the "yellow brick road," and we see our most favorite landmark...
What is it, you may ask. Is it a park? Is it a statue? Is it a person sitting on a porch who waves to us as we walk by each day...?


Nope...it's FAMILY MART!!!!! Much like a 7-11, Family Mart is an anything and everything store...although, no slurpees. =[ Why do we like Family Mart so much? Because its AIR CONDITIONED!!!



We would always stop for drinks, and we found this one to be quite fitting...



Once we pass Family Mart, it's three quick turns, and we are there!

Our fearless leader leads the way.

One of the parks along the way.

After a long walk, here is the expression that greets the Chew's every morning...heheheh...


Looking back at the past two weeks, it has been such a blessing being here. God has definitely taught me a lot--and I'm sure that's the general feeling with the rest of the team. Again, thank you so much for all your prayers and support. We can't wait to come back and share with you all that God has done, is doing, and will do here in Okinawa.

in Christ
kevin

Henzajima Outreach...food!

Well, it is nearly 1 am here in Okinawa and we've finally arrived back at church after a long day of grocery shopping, prepping, and serving the people who came out to the Henzajima cooking class. Thank you for your prayers because the typhoon did miss us and we were able to carry out the cooking class. No big waves to carry our car off the bridge connecting us to Henza! It was a fun day and well worth the work despite our tired feet from walking barefoot around the school. We began our day where it usually begins... at the 100 yen store (just kidding but we probably do go just about every day :) and then we went to a couple different grocery stores to pick up supplies for the day. We had our first lunch at Macadonaldos (how they say McDonalds in Japanese) and Kevin ventured out to try the McPork sandwich. Looked...interesting...hehe. The drive out to Henza was around an hour and a half and we spent the first portion of our three hours of prep time for table setting and then started to prepare the food. The women seemed to have a great time helping to cook the food, dredging and seasoning the chicken, stirring the pasta, among many other things. The night went really well with around 35 people coming out to the event. It seemed everyone was satisfied at the end of the meal and enjoyed all of the delicious food! Tomorrow Nicole and I head over to our homestay, which we are sooo excited about, and the rest of the team works through blood, sweat, and tears to prepare for the couples party. Haha. Just kidding. They actually might get to spend some of the afternoon off eating some more good food like...conveyor belt sushi??? Well, your prayers have been soo helpful and encouraging for our entire team. God has been doing great things here in Okinawa through our ministries. Please continue to pray for the planning and preparation of the couples party as well as our last two full days here :( We will, sadly, be seeing you all soon! (I meant because we will have to go home ;)

Love, Britt

School used for the cooking class

Me and Ronald

Matt wanting KFC and Kevin riding in his McDonald's fire engine

Henzajima Outreach...FOOD!

Well, it is nearly 1 am here in Okinawa and we've finally arrived back at church after a long day of grocery shopping, prepping, and serving the people who came out to the Henzajima cooking class. Thank you for your prayers because the typhoon did miss us and we were able to carry out the cooking class. No big waves to carry us off the bridge connecting us to Henza! It was a fun day and well worth the work despite our tired feet from walking barefoot around the school. We began our day where it usually begins... at the 100 yen store (just kidding but we probably do go just about every day :) and then we went to a couple different grocery stores to pick up supplies for the day. We had our first lunch at Macadonaldos (how they say McDonalds in Japanese) and Kevin ventured out to try the McPork sandwich. Looked...interesting...hehe. The drive out to Henza was around an hour and a half and we spent the first portion of our three hours of prep time for table setting and then started to prepare the food. The women seemed to have a great time helping to cook the food, dredging and seasoning the chicken, stirring the pasta, among many other things. The night went really well with around 35 people coming out to the event. It seemed everyone was satisfied at the end of the meal and enjoyed all of the delicious food! Tomorrow Nicole and I head over to our homestay, which we are sooo excited about, and the rest of the team works through blood, sweat, and tears to prepare for the couples party. Haha. Just kidding. They actually might get to spend some of the afternoon off eating some more good food like...conveyor belt sushi??? Well, your prayers have been soo helpful and encouraging for our entire team. God has been doing great things here in Okinawa through our ministries. Please continue to pray for the planning and preparation of the couples party as well as our last two full days here :( We will, sadly, be seeing you all soon! (I meant because we will have to go home ;)

Love, Britt

MATT HAS A GIRLFRIEND!!!!!!

okay, okay...just kidding about the title of the post, but it made you laugh, right? heheheheh ... I was a little bored and wanted to have some fun. =]

Yesterday was a pretty relaxed day. The morning was pretty much free. We (Higa Sensei's church) walked over to Agena Sensei's church at about 10. Mike Wilson came by at around 11 to pick us up for lunch with the Wilsons and the Sonnenbergs.

The rest of the day was filled with food, debriefing and shopping!

In the evening Higa Sensei's church had a prayer meeting.

And that was yesterday. If you read this before you go to bed for the night (Thursday night in the States), pray for us as we head out to Henzajima Island to do an outreach cooking class. Pray for strength and energy, and a sense of peace for everyone. [The typhoon missed us and is still heading toward Taiwan. ]

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

in Christ
Kevin

Wednesday Cooking lesson!

Hi Everyone,
Now it's my turn! Today was our first of three cooking opportunities. We are doing Italian menus each time (but why they think Chinese and a couple of Japanese people know anything about Italian cooking is a mystery to me.). Anyway, the "girls" went out to pick up the last of the ingredients for our lesson this morning, including a very long but eventually fruitful search for french bread. Our menu was chicken cacciatore, fettucini (hard to find) carbonara, salad (expensive!), garlic bread, and strawberry cake (strawberries in Japan?!!? most people laughed, but God is good and after 8 days of searching we found some frozen!). Anyway, this cooking lesson was basically an outreach for the Seiizumi church to gain more interest in their "Alpha" groups, kind of a "intro to Christianity" group. They had 5 new women who came to this cooking lesson, seems like a small number, but we have learned that this church really only has a core of about 12 people, so 5 is huge! We enjoyed our time cooking, eating, and talking (what women do best!) with the women, and the guys(Matt, Kevin, and Wil) were off in the kitchen doing dishes - how much better can it get than that?!!! The food was delicious, we had a good time, and PRAISE the Lord!, 4 of the 5 new women were interested in signing up for an Alpha group - it was a success!

After the cooking lesson, the Cho/Matt team and our team (the Chew's) both had prayer meetings at our respective churches. Don't know how about the other team, but ours was a very blessed time when the church members just come together to worship and then pray for the various needs of the church and the members. They do what they call "Korean-style" praying which is when everyone prays out loud together at once. Seems chaotic, but it is great because we can all pray together for the same need and there is no language barrier!

Now we are prepping for our next cooking outreach assignment on Friday. It is on a small island, Henzajima, and there appears to be a typhoon headed that way. Please pray for the weather and that if God wills that we do this ministry, the typhoon will turn another direction. Also please pray for the homestay visit (2 nights) for Nicole and Brittany. They are staying with a non-Christian family and the church has high hopes that the girls can lead them to church on Sunday. We also ask that you please pray that God will multiply our time and help us to finish strong. We are definitely feeling like we are being pulled in many directions and that our schedule is jam-packed until we leave on Monday. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are very full days and nights with important ministry opportunities which we are excited to do, but we are also looking around thinking . . . we never got to see anything or get any shopping done (sorry to all those expecting omiyage!). We are not in an area which has much "shopping" within walking distance, and the Cho's/Matt are even more isolated, so our hopes of finding neat things to take home is dwindling. Just pray that God would help us to deal with our expectations (some had more than others) and that we will have a sense of peace about all the other great things that we have seen and done here (and there have been sooooo many!!) and those will definitely be the treasures that we take home!

Again, thank you for your prayers and support. We compare our time here to a very extended VBS - every day we wake up there is sooo much work to do, but the work brings such great joy!
Good night and God bless,
Janet


the kitchen..yes it's that small
eating the yummy food!

Tuesday night update

hi!
It's Tuesday night and we all just got back from a youth cell (much like a youth group) at Higa Sensei's church. It was a lot of fun talking to the high schoolers and college kids. Our team opened the night by teaching them Dibby Dibby dip and playing Machines. Then we did body worship for them and even taught it to them. (And it only took ten minutes to teach them, compared to the hour it took us all to learn it). Then Britt shared her testimony, we did a short skit, and Matt closed with a message. I think the best part of the night, however, was sharing our snacks. It was basically like a snack shop with all the junk food we had! We discovered that Pringles are a hit and so are Nerds, but jelly beans are not really a favorite (you should have seen some of their faces :0 ). Our team enjoyed the Japanese snacks they brought- especially the tempura seaweed and sushi-flavored Lays. So overall it was a great night, but a long one, and we are all ready for a good nights sleep. Tomorrow is a big day with our first cooking class so keep us in your prayers!
love,
nicole and britt

Body worship with everyone.

Matt shares a brief message as Rio translates.

Some of the youth at Higa Sensei's church.

Strike three in dibby-dibby-dip!

Food, Fellowship and Fun! (They don't like jelly beans here...)

An update from the team at Higa Sensei's church

Hello! It's tuesday at 12:30 in the afternoon! We are past the half way mark!

Hopefully I'll have time to compete my post this time.. hehehe =]

Sunday was pretty intense for us. Virginia taught church school to the 3rd graders through high schoolers, and I taught the 3 year olds through 2nd graders. It was pretty challenging teaching 3 year olds about when Jesus washes His disciples feet... but I made it =]. Worship service started at 10:30. Virginia gave her testimony and Matt gave a message on 1 John 3:1. I think I was pretty tired because I don't remember Matt's second point...-___-

At 2:00, we did it all again. There was a home church service at Akiko's house (where we are staying). Matt gave the message and Virginia shared her testimony. This time I was awake the whole time, and didn't zone out. =]

Then at 6:00 pm we went out to Okinawa City (I think it took about an hour...but I fell asleep, so I really don't know) for a cell group meeting. At first, we thought it was going to be similar to a house church, but when we got there we were a little surprised to see the same people from Sunday service. We quickly had to change our game plan, and everything turned out great!

The cell group provided a "make your own" sushi dinner, which was VERY good. Higa Sensei still had Virginia share a testimony, but this time she shared about God's mercy and grace as He watched over our family during Dennis' battle with cancer. We also played "Machines," which is an icebreaker where teams are given a machine (like a washing machine or cell phone) and they have to act it out for a person who has to guess the machine.

Needless to say, we all slept very well that night.

Monday we went to the aquarium in northern Okinawa. (click here for pictures from yesterday's post--about half way down). After the sight seeing, we (Matt, Virginia and myself) headed off to another cell group. This time it was at Higa Sensei's house. Dinner was amazing! Okinawan food! Matt had his first encounter with goya! Now he says "its ok" but last night was a different story =] ... but he ate it with a smile!

And that brings us to today, Tuesday. We spent the morning at Akiko's house with the kids that attend the day care that she runs. At 11:00 we set off on our daily trek to the Chew's church. Let me just say, "Thank GOD for Family Mart!" (It's much like a 7-11...but more importantly it's air conditioned! Which makes it a very convenient stop on the nearly 3/4 mile walk from Akiko's house to the Chew's church, especially when its nearly 80 degrees with over 90% humidity.)

I think Matt said it best, "God bless this place!"

Well, that's about it. Sorry this post is so long (and there are no pictures), but there is no internet at my church.

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

in Christ
Kevin

Pictures! [and a short update]

Hello!

Yesterday was church...and it was an all day affair. Church school started at 9:00 am. Virginia taught the older kids and I taught the 3 year olds through 1st graders. And I [kevin] have to end now, because I am off to our next event, and there is no internet at our church... Enjoy the pictures of the preschool party at the Chew's church and pictures of Matt preaching and Virginia giving her testimony at service.

in Christ
Kevin





hello everyone!
today was our first sightseeing day. we visited the aquarium with our pastors, Mary Jo, and Jeffrey and his family. It was neat seeing all the fish and sharks. britt and i had a fun time taking pictures in front of all the different tanks of fish. for lunch we ate pizza which was very close to American pizza. and the restaurant had a beautiful view, which was an extra bonus. so here are some pictures from our very busy and hard-working day! :)
in His love,
Nicole