Thursday, November 27, 2014

Adjusting and Adapting

Our apartment building!!
   Matthew and I have been living on the island for a little over one month!! Whoot whoo!! We now have our own apartment, it’s awesome! We were able to purchase and have our refrigerator, washer and dryer the day we moved in!! The furniture store was out of ovens, so we had a lot of crock meals.  We did, however, get an oven this week!! We had internet installed and picked up a router, so we now have Wifi! As far as furniture, we have the three main things: a bed, couch and dining room table! We are planning on making everything else in due time. For now, we are glad to have a place we call home!
   We have enjoyed walking the streets where we live and checking everything out. The sea wall is very close to our apartment, so we like to go down and watch the sunset while looking for seashells.
Our FREE car
The first Sunday we visited the Kinser Chapel, a family GAVE us a car!! It was super encouraging for us. We didn’t know the family which makes it even cooler. I don’t really believe there is any other reason for someone giving us a car other than God providing for us. We are still adjusting to driving on the opposite side of the road and car. It feels like we are teaching ourselves how to drive all over again! There are some very tiny streets in Japan, so that always makes driving more fun. The roads that look like one ways really aren’t… they are just super small.
Driving on the left side!!
Ministry wise, Matthew and I will be focusing on two Marine Bases for the next few months, Camp Foster and Camp Kinser. Early next year, another Cadence missionary will join us on the field and take over children’s ministry on Camp Kinser, allowing Matthew and I to focus solely on Camper Foster.
   As of right now, the Chapel on Camp Foster has one kindergartener. Yup, only one kid attending. There is clearly A LOT of potential for ministry and we are excited for this challenge! We have started strategizing how to bring more families to the chapel, we have decided hosting Back Yard Bible Clubs is a great way to interact with kids. There are some logistical things we need to work out with the military, but we are super excited to get things rolling!!
   Camp Kinser has been extremely blessed to have a CRE (Coordinator of Religious Education) who has structured a children’s ministry for the Chapel. There are a handful of kids attending Sunday School on a weekly basis and we have enjoyed getting to know them the last couple weeks. Matthew and I have starting working on a Christmas Play with them, which has been lots of fun. We are excited for this opportunity because it has given us an extra day in our week to get to know the kids more.
Our Cadence Team and volunteers!
We also had an awesome Thanksgiving yesterday!! We were able to serve Marines and Sailors on Kinser and Foster. Over 400 servicemen and women came for a home cooked meal! It was awesome getting to talk with some of them, play games and EAT! My heart was overjoyed. We ended our evening sharing a meal with our fellow Cadence team members and youth volunteers. It was good to be together with our Cadence family and build stronger relationships!
  We are incredibly thankful for each and every one of you that has followed us on this journey so far! We could not be here without you, so thank you for sacrificing your time and money to support us!! =) We love you all and have so many reasons to be thankful!! =D

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