THREE Months in...

     We are entering into our third month on the island.. WHAT?! So crazy to think about, time is moving so quickly for us and we feel like we have so much to share with you!! From personal updates to ministry updates, it seems like we have a lot going on! So here it goes…

     

Matthew at the start of his desk

     We have a second car, whoot whoo! It’s called a fun cargo and we love it! It is fairly spacious for the size and has AC, which is a must on the island. Our apartment is still coming together. Matthew has been taking one of our days off to focus on building things for our apartment. He has made a shelving unit that fits in our closet for the clothes that aren't hung and he's made a desk for the each of us. It is so relieving to have all of my clothes out of suitcases/off the floor and in a home! Our office is starting to feel and look more like an office now that we have desks, but it is far from finished! Next, Matthew will be working on an entry table and more counter space for the kitchen, I will do all the painting and detailing when he is finished.  We are also on a hunt for a guest bed. We will be having our first guest this week and it would be nice if he had a place to sleep! ;)

                

Enjoying a visit to the seawall

We have become more intentional about setting aside one day a week where we rest and enjoy our new life in Okinawa. It has been very easy for me to justify not resting because we still have so much to do in our apartment and because there is a lot of ministry planning to accomplish. But the truth is that no matter how much we get done in a day, there will still be more to accomplish on the following day. There is always work to be done and I don’t think that will change. Remembering that, as well as, remembering that we need time to rest so that we don’t burn out has helped encourage the time away from all that needs to be done.

                

     We have some exciting news to share regarding Camp Foster… We now have 4 children coming on Saturday evenings! Whoot Whoooo! We have grown from 1 to 4 and we know we will continue to grow! For the month of December, we taught on what and what not to get wrapped up in during the Christmas season and how that can carry throughout the entire year. Each week, we spent the first few moments together wrapping the kids in various Christmas themed décor, it was pretty great! This month we will be teaching on Commitment-making a plan and putting it into practice! I am excited for this month's Life Application because we will be giving the kids practical ways to live out their lives for Christ!

                

     We will also be kicking off the New Year with Commitment on Camp Kinser! We are excited to have the same program on both bases because it will lessen our work load a bit. By the end of the month, we are planning to have our weekly bible studies up and running on both bases, which we are hoping to stream line as well.

Some of the picture frames the kids made. 

     We also had a lot of fun directing the Christmas Play for the kids on Camp Kinser. They performed it on the Sunday before Christmas and they did an excellent job! This past Sunday, we had a Christmas party. There were three stations for the kids to rotate between; snack, games and crafts. Matthew led the kids in some games and from what I hear it was pretty great! The kids had a donut eating contest… where they weren't allowed to use their hands and the donuts were swinging on a string! I led the kids in a little picture frame craft. Of course, I enjoy anything crafty so it was a lot of fun! We used our finger prints to make a string of Christmas lights and wrote the beginning of Matthew 5:16, "Let your light shine..." We had a total of 34 kids cycle through, it was a great turn out!

     As always, we are so incredibly thankful for each one of you!! God is using your prayers and support to impact His kingdom!! Thank you, thank you for choosing to walk alongside this journey with us!

*We did not add any photos of the kids because we haven't asked permission from their parents.. But don't you worry, we will post ministry in action once we get the O.K.! =)

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

Eight Week Challenge

Eight weeks, Matthew and I have eight more weeks to raise our support so that we can be on the mission field in September. Some of you may be thinking, “September isn’t in 8 weeks, so why do you only have eight more weeks?” Good question. We need to be fully supported for three consecutive months before we will be released to the mission field. We are hoping, praying, and asking for our monthly support to be in by May 31^st so that we are able to count June, July and August as our three consecutive months—seems easy, right?

Now, you may be wondering how in the world we plan on raising the rest of our support in 8 weeks?! Another great question! Matthew and I have created an eight week challenge! This challenge was created to motivate us and those around us. We are going to work and pray diligently for a new person/family to join our support team every day for the next eight weeks.  We have and will continue making phone calls, sending emails, sharing our hearts and meeting with people for dinner, coffee, etc. Our challenge technically didn't start until this past Saturday, but we got a little head start because we were excited! So far, we have had seven individuals/families pledge their support! Whoot whoo!! We are now bringing in 40% of our monthly goal, which is $7,055 and have $13,500 (out of 19,800) of our start up fund!!

What can you do? 1. Pray/consider becoming a monthly supporter. 2. Pray for our boldness as we ask others. Pray God will continue to send new supporters our way! 3. Let us know of anyone who you think may be interested in supporting us.

Ephesians 3:20 “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”

Now What?

Leading K-3rd Grade Worship

After January came to a close and we weren't fully funded, I was pretty discouraged. Matthew and I spent the previous months sharing with people our goal to be supported 100% by January and we missed the mark. I was embarrassed and neither of us had the answer to the daunting, “When will you leave, now?” For the next couple of weeks, we spent time praying and seeking for an answer. What did we come up with? One simple verse: “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” (Proverbs 16:9 NLT) After reading that verse and then reading it another 50 times, peace filled my anxious spirit. I was reminded that it is the Lord who decides when we will leave and when we will stay; He is the one who has and will always guide our steps. What an encouragement for us— we will continue planning and raising our support, but it is the Lord who officially decides when we will leave.

Matthew leading Large Group

What’s next? We will still work as hard, if not harder, to raise our necessary funds. We have set a new goal; we would love to see our full support come in by June of this year. In order for that to happen, we are going to pray like crazy, invite as many people as we can to join our team and get the word out there!! We currently have 22 pledged supporters giving close to $2,400 a month. We need to almost triple those numbers in order for us to be released to the field! Please pray for our support to increase and consider joining us financially. 

In between raising our funds and working part time jobs, we will continue serving the children in our church through Kid's Quest and AWANA. As I have mentioned before, we love our church. We love serving and we love the people we serve alongside. Matthew and I have been given an amazing opportunity to learn from them, for that we are truly grateful. 

Trust in the Lord.

"Dot your leader night" at AWANA.
Every time a child said a bible verse, they put a dot on us!

“Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 has not always been an easy verse for me to swallow. I tend to think my way is the best way; I like to be in control and I like to have a solid plan.. After all, I am so wise and full of infinite knowledge. The truth is that I don’t like to make mistakes, but who does? And no matter how hard I try, I will still end up making quite a few… I will let people down, I will say mean things, and I will make bad choices. If I did not make mistakes; if I was always put together and perfect, Christ coming to die for my sins would be pointless. Traveling across the world to share the Gospel with military children would be meaningless. And that is surely not the case. Because Jesus Christ did indeed die for me and everyone else for that matter, my life has purpose, Matthew’s life has purpose, we all have a purpose.

           

Matthew leading Large Group

There have been times on our journey of support raising where I wonder if our full support will come in and where it will all come from, if we will ever have the opportunity to minister to military children or if we will be “stuck” in Virginia for the remainder of our lives. When those thoughts begin to creep in, I am taken to the very words spoken by God, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:11-13). God did not promise to give Matthew and I an easy, happy-go-lucky road/life. God promised that His way will not harm us and that His way will cause us to depend on Him. It is in this dependence we will learn to trust Him fully. In this life, we will have smooth travels, ride on bumpy roads, get stuck in traffic and maybe even have a little road rage. But one thing is for sure, if we trust in the Lord, He will make our paths straight. And this path will one day lead to military ministry.

            As Matthew and I continue to rely on the Lord and watch as His plan unfolds, we will continue

serving in our church. On the Sundays Matthew and I don’t lead a small group, Matthew has been helping co-lead large group and I have started to learn more of the “ins and outs” in leading children’s ministry. We have had an amazing opportunity to connect with a church body that has encouraged us, strengthened us and taught us so much! It will be hard to say goodbye when we head to the field, but we know we will always have a home here in Virginia.
            Matthew and I have big hopes to have 100% of our support by the end of next month (January 2014). As of right now, Matthew and I have 14 people who are giving to us on a monthly basis, which is averaging 25% of our monthly goal. We would love to have 72 more people pledge $75/month or 54 people pledge $100/month. Join us as we pray for God to send more people our way! Maybe you are one of them!!

The End of Our First Year!

Me listening to a memory verse

  Ministry at our church, McLean Bible Church has been a great time for both Sarah and I! We have helped lots of kids with learning bible verses, core truths, and made lots of friends.  The ministries we volunteer in are Kid's Quest and Awana! We enjoy the ministry at McLean and hope to incorporate into our ministry one day. One thing that I really enjoy about the Kids Quest ministry is the leadership team that is in place.  The director, Mary Scott, does a fantastic job communicating the vision of the church and leading her coordinators.  Her coordinators are Yasmin (Large Group) and Ana (Small Group), they do an outstanding job bringing the kids great material that is engaging!  Yasmin’s team tells the bible story, do funny skits, and sing interactive songs.  Anna’s team leads the kids in a more in depth study of the story. We are both on Ana's team. I am going to join Yasmin's team this summer!  I hope that we are able to construct a leadership team of volunteers wherever we are stationed.

Sarah and I lead the kindergarten small group.  Recently, we had to say good bye to our kindergartens as they are moving up to 1^st grade.  We are going miss them!  We taught what the bible says about compassion, friendship, truth, faith, mercy, wisdom, and many others!  As small group leaders, we lead them in scripture memorization and dug deeper into the large group message.  My favorite part of the small group is the scripture memorization.  Our favorite way to memorize a verse is by putting it on a white board and erasing one or two words at a time.  When the words are all gone…everyone knows it!  We meet our new kindergartners next week; we are super excited!

Sarah  hanging with the kids

During the spring, Sarah and I had to get jobs. Sarah got a job working a Chick-fil-a. It is her second passion right after missions.  She enjoys working there but is really excited to start our future ministry! I started substituting and I really enjoyed it!.  I substitute all the grades, K through 12^th. The elementary age is my favorite! They all call me Mr. A because I don’t want them mispronouncing my last name just like when I was in school haha.  A few of the classes asked me what the “A” stands for, but I tell them its my secret. As a response to that, they picked the A to stand for Awesome!  It is quite the ego boost when I walk down the hall and hear a bunch of kids say “Hey, Mr. Awesome!” followed by high fives!

For the rest of the summer, Sarah and I are finishing our growth plan!  This means that I need to finish school as well as read a few books.  I am very close to being finished; I only have 4 more sections to complete! Yippee! Sarah is reading the same books as well as setting up dinners with potential supporters and working!