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

A Word of Encouragement

Dave and Bonnie Lambert

"Her words frustrated me.  It seemed as if she really did not understand what she was saying.  I wanted to scream, to pout, (OK to be honest I probably did pout a bit), to demand that my wishes come true.  The year was 1995 and I was in the Base Exchange on Yokosuka Navy base in Japan, the store where you find everything from electronics to clothes to jewelry.  My wife had sent me out with very clear directions, find our first grade son new jeans.  Seemed simple enough, as the only store on base they had to have 6 year old boy’s pants.  But try as I might I could not find a single pair.  Not jeans, not slacks, not anything.  I finally got a salesperson to help and that is when they informed me that they were all out of stock on any pants that would fit a 6 year old boy.  Their solution, drive the 2 hours and pay the $40.00 in tolls to make the trip to the next nearest base and see if they had any pants in stock.  I could not believe it.  I asked to see the manager who as politely as possible affirmed her sales clerk position.  There were no pants to be found and they were not sure when any new stock would arrive.  Her rational response to my frustration is still is a vivid memory to this day.  'Sir, the school year is just starting and you know there are many 6 year old boys on this base.'  I did know that.  My boy was one of them.  The elementary school was just down the road from my office.  The assistant principal was a friend.  It was then that the realization of the need for ministry to this demographic hit home.  On our one small base that was way too overcrowded there were over 1800 elementary students. Those numbers did not include the satellite bases close by or the other bases in the Tokyo area or spread throughout Asia.  There were 1800 kids whose parents were active duty Navy all down the street from me.  All were growing up with parents who would deploy up to 9 months of each and every year and there was no ministry focused on them.  

Friends, that is why we are so excited to have Matthew and Sarah Annanie join the Cadence family.  They have huge hearts for not just kids but military kids.  The need is incredible, they have been called to go, now they need people who are willing to catch their vision and send them, to stand shoulder to shoulder with them to reach the thousands of children growing up with parents in our military.  Would you consider partnering with them as they minister to these kids?  As far as the jean expedition went, as I was walking out of the store another sales clerk ran up and informed me that she had found a single pair of 6 year old boy jeans in the storage area.  Mission success!"
                                                                                      With expectation,

                                                                                               Dave Lambert
                                                                                               Director of Mobilization and Training

Military Bases on Okinawa

The need for children's ministry is tremendous! The DoDDs (Department of Defense Dependent Schools) serve over 24,000 students in 45 schools across Japan, South Korea, Okinawa, and Guam! That includes all Kindergarten through 12th graders! Okinawa alone, currently has 4,288 K-5th graders! That is just Kindergarten through 5th grade, which is roughly 18% of all the U.S. military students currently living in the Pacific region. We want need, to be there now to reach these kids for Christ!! Will you help us reach those kids for Christ? Are YOU with us??
-Matthew

No Matter the Distance, Christ is the Difference (Part 2)

   From Yokosuka we took an hour train ride, a three hour plane ride and an hour car ride to get to Okinawa, Japan! Our first stop that night was The Harbor, a hospitality house. On Sundays, they have a service so we were able to sit in and meet some servicemen!  Monday, we were up bright and early to meet with the Youth missionaries (Don and Mark). Don and his family run the youth ministry on Camp Foster and Mark, along with his family, run youth ministry on the Kadena Air Base. They teamed up to bring their high school students together for a retreat over the weekend; we were able to catch the last day! There were daily sessions, worship, games and a time for personal devotions for the teens to take part in. They seemed to have a blast! The speaker for the retreat was our friend, Mike Hilt. We met him along with his wife during candidacy this past summer.

Our friend, Mike.

   On Tuesday, we met with two chaplains on Kadena, Chaplain McCain and Chaplain Sellers.  They were excited to meet with us and pleased to hear Cadence is forming a children’s ministry. Chaplain McCain and Chaplain Sellers expressed how having a structured children’s ministry would be invaluable. Having missionaries focused on children’s ministry would allow the Chaplains to provide a better adult ministry. Parents want to provide good, healthy and fun environments for their children. As it stand right now, their children’s ministry isn't growing because they don’t have man power to run it. Sarah and I would become some of that man power. Chaplain McCain and Chaplain Sellers also mentioned the huge effect CCM will have on marriage retreats (as we shared in our previous post). They repeatedly told us having CCM in any chapel would be a blessing and have a great impact on the chapel community!  Wrapping up, the Chaplain McCain and Chaplain Sellers said they will pray for God to provide everything needed for us to be out in the field as soon as possible!

"GaGa Ball" with some Junior High students

   Later that evening, we were able to experience the junior high youth ministry on Kadena.  We saw a discipleship class on leadership as well as the middle school youth group.  When the parents started picking up their children at the end, we met another Chaplain. He had a daughter who attend the youth group. We told him about CCM and the first thing out of his mouth was “When are you coming??!?!”  We were pretty excited to know that Chaplains we didn't have meetings set up with were just as excited as the Chaplains we did meet with!!

   The next couple of days we were taken to visit the marine bases of Camp Foster and Camp Kinser.  Our meeting on Camp Foster was with Chaplain Bradley -Davila.  Chaplain Bradley -Davila was a wonderful lady full of the Spirit!  She was very excited to hear about CCM.  She had great insight for what CCM would look like between the three Marine Bases.  She said that CCM is needed to affect the whole family unit; the chapel ministry would grow and grow.  She understands that if the family’s children are taken care of in a structured, safe and fun environment then the whole family is going to benefit.  She also told us that any chapel would be stupid if they didn't want CCM.  This was very encouraging!                 

   On our last day in Japan we had the chance to meet with a Chaplain and his wife about children’s ministry. They echoed everything the previous Chaplains told us. We talked about how having CCM will be extremely beneficial having a tsunami effect. Meaning CCM will impact the kids first; reach their parents and then the military community as a whole! They were excited to know our hearts and our dedication is for children’s ministry! They also encouraged us to continue pushing to make our dream come to life!

       The theme for this trip can be summed up in two words: exciting and encouraging. We were excited to see Japan and our potential place of ministry, excited to meet Chaplains and hear their hearts, and excited to see Cadence in action! We were so encouraged by the support the Chaplains gave us; encouraged by their excitement for us to come and encouraged to get there as fast as we can! We see the need and the potential for children’s ministry in Japan and we can’t wait to see God move in the hearts of these children!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

No Matter the Distance, Christ is the Difference (Part One)

  

   Every good adventure has a purpose and is filled with excitement! In our case, our purpose was to introduce Cadence Children’s Ministry (CCM) to our U.S. Military Chaplains and to hear their hearts for children’s ministry. Our excitement came from many different things. We were excited for the opportunity to travel to Japan for the first time, excited to introduce CCM overseas for the first time and excited to take another step closer towards serving our military children!! Leading and guiding us through Japan was our VP for Field Ministry, Todd Tillapaugh. He, along with his family were missionaries in Japan for nine years!

  

The Chapel on the Yokosuka Naval Base

   After about 24 hours of continual travel; Sarah, Todd and myself made it to our first stop in Yokosuka, Japan where we met the Cadence missionaries to the Yokosuka Naval Base! We were super tired from a day of traveling, real excited to be in Japan and thankful we finally had a place to call home for the next couple of days! The following morning, I had the opportunity to visit the Yokosuka Naval Base with Todd, Matthew Bachali (the director of the Yokosuka Hospitality House) and his friend Jason! We met up with one of the Chaplains to play ultimate Frisbee with some Sailors; this has become one of his avenues for outreach. After playing, we were able to sit down with him and discuss what children’s ministry currently looks like on base. We learned that the Chaplains actually attempted getting rid of children’s ministry because there wasn't enough man power to keep it running. Taking away children’s ministry had parents up in arms and not wanting to attend chapel, so the Chaplains kept it running. Now their children’s ministry is solely run on parent volunteers! To hear that our hope and dream is to minister to military children was a huge encouragement to the Chaplain, which turned into an encouragement for us! Not only are we wanted on military bases, but we are needed.

Game night at the Hospitality House

   For the remaining 3 days we spent in Yokosuka, we saw ministry in action at the hospitality house and we also took some time to see Japan! Our first night there, we walked in during their Bible Study. We were also able to sit in on their weekly Friday service! Another night, we had dinner and “game night” with the Sailors and their families, about 80 in attendance. Some of the sailors and their families come over on Saturday mornings for breakfast, giving us the opportunity to have another meal with them.

  **This is only the first half of our adventure; stay tuned for the final half...