Pastor Nohara

Sunday was a special day at Daiichi Baptist Church. After a wonderful time of worship, the entire church gathered in the fellowship area to celebrate the 25th year of service to the Lord of Pastor Nohara. It was a time to celebrate his life and calling.
He and his wife Keiko were brought to the Lord after their Christian wedding. Many in Japan have a Christian wedding that is performed by Christian pastors as they want the international feel the weddings have. Pastors often use this time to minister and share the Gospel and Pastor Nohara and his wife became Christians as a result and began attending church at Naha Baptist.
Pastor Nohara worked many years at the Post Office while working at Naha Baptist Church as a teacher and layman. His three daughters attest to his love and care of them even though he took all of his work seriously. When he told his family of his call to full time ministry, they were surprised and teased him a little but his wife told his daughters that if their father had made such a decision, it was their responsibility to respect it, and they did. They are currently working at Daiichi church as well in
He began his work at a church near the present day Daiichi church but after several years felt the church needed to be in a needier area so they moved to the church location today as a daughter church of Goya Baptist...an area very run down and very in need.
Presently the church is struggling but is very much alive and meeting needs. We are thankful to be a part of their ministry and truly feel a part of the family...
The photos and video you see here are are some of the festivities--many showed their love by special dances and singing. The video is of the Uehara family who have been members since the beginning of the church.
Please pray for Pastor Nohara and his very important work for Christ in Okinawa.

First Week of School at Okinawa Christian School

Wednesday, August 20 marked the first day of school at OCSI-the culmination of all the preparation done during the summer and the beginning of an exciting new year. Echoes of the West Virginia team are still being heard as all are amazed at the new kitchen floor and the new high school locker bay. In addition, the volunteer work done during summer school created a lasting impression.

The first week started off really well as Joanna was able to meet her new teacher and get reacquainted with her friends. Of course she is very happy about the lunch menu and loves being able to learn at school again. Her new glasses will make it easier for her to continue to be a good reader.

Leslie is so thankful that God was so evident and at work. We are all so excited about what the school year will bring in the lives of our students and parents. We have lots of new students, several new teachers and staff and new programs and improvements to be thankful for.
Please check the ocsi. org secondary page for all of our events.

Please keep us in your prayers.

Departure

With an 11:30 depature time from Naha airport, our crew had to get up and out early. We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare and said good-bye to the team along with Vee and Ai Tetsuo and their small son Setsuri.

We are so thankful for the time we were able to spend together and are excited about what this trip will come to mean to each person who was on the trip as well as to the church and family members who will hear about their adventures in the future. We also know that their trip has made an impression on many at OCSI, the Okinawa Baptist Convention and Hokuzanso Camp.

We truly appreciate how many of you made sacrifices so they could be here. Thank you for your support of them and of God's work in Okinawa.

Keep them in your prayers as they travel and as David and Joanna will be traveling back to the US on Monday and we ask for your prayers for them as well.

Peace Park

Today was the team's last full day on Okinawa and we had a lot planned for them. We left OCSI at around 8:45 after speaking with the Crossroad's Bible Study via Skype and arrived at Goya church to pick up the last crew when we were asked by Pastor Tomari if we would be OK with taking the wife of a visitor from Niigata Prefecture with us for the day. We readily agreed and enjoyed spending the day with Mrs. Nakamura.

Our first stop was at the Memorial Peace Park at the most southern end of Okinawa. This Park was built in 2000 to remember the over 250,000 troops who died in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. We first went to the area where the names of all those who died are memorialized on black marble slabs. Most of the names there are those from Okinawa and Japan but there are also names of Americans, Koreans, Europeans and those from Taiwan. The photo was taken at the memorial flame near the cliffs where many lost their lives.

After looking at many of the names, we then went to the museum where the complete history of the war and in particular the Battle of Okinawa is presented in order to get a more global view of what happened in Okinawa. This was a very sobering presentation and with artifacts, photos, video and actual testimonies of those who experienced the war, we all had a better idea of what life would have been like on Okinawa at that time.

We boarded the bus again and headed to lunch and after eating a choice of curry, beef bowl or McDonald's, we went to International Street in Naha. There the whole crew took advantage of the many stalls and vendors of all kinds of Okinawan goods. We met after shopping at a local Starbucks and there we saw the fun purchases. There were t-shirts, dresses, bags, sandals, robes, scarves and many other things that will be making their way to West Virginia tomorrow.

Dinner was at a local department store where everyone could split up and try their own restaurant. We chose our favorite called "Wafu Tei" where we can get good Japanese food. Hilda and Grace ate sushi and really seemed to enjoy it. Some used the time as a last minute chance to do a bit more shopping.

We then headed back to the apartments for some packing and much needed sleep to prepare for the trip home.

Hokuzanso-The Next Day

The second day at Hokuzanso started early when Jane and two of the Melanies woke up early and went to see the ocean at sunrise...it was a lovely sight and they said they felt they had been led by God to be there at that time and see His beautiful creation.

The rest of the gang woke up a bit later and began work on the main camping building. The men worked on cleaning off the roof while the women worked at cleaning the sleeping mats. The mats required getting them out of the closet, putting them up and hitting the dust out, carrying them out to the basketball court to be wiped down and then finally putting them back again.

Mrs. Kawamitsu was overjoyed and said that our WV team was the hardest working team she has had up at the camp. Mr. Kawamitsu was in shock and thankful for the new weed-eater that Roger bought for him. He kept saying, "kansha shiteimasu, kansha shiteimasu", (I am so thankful) over and over again. As the group were getting on the bus, Mrs. Kawamitsu pointed at Si and said, "You look like an international movie star." Si will certainly want to come back.

The team left the camp and headed to the pineapple park and were able to taste a bit of pineapple and drink some pineapple juice. They arrived back at school in time to enjoy dinner and Bible study with the missionary teachers at OCSI.

Tomorrow is a trip to the Peace Park and then shopping at international street...then to the airport by 9:20 for their trip back to the US.