Celebrating Christmas through Ministry

It's already been a busy week! Most of the CCBC Okinawa family has gone to the States to visit relatives and friends, including our Pastor, Tom Ruiz, and his family. That leaves us, a handful of the Bible College students, staff, and church members to head up the holiday ministries going on until the New Year. So far, it's been a fruitful and rewarding week!
On Tuesday morning, I went with a couple from church and one of my classmates to a daycare just down the street from our church. They were needing someone to play Santa, so we dressed up our brother Joe in red and white and strummed Christmas songs while the daycare staff took some pictures with the kids.


It was a memorable morning and the kids were super excited. Of course, the babies cried the whole time, but the older kids loved "Santa Joe-san" and proved it with some enthusiastic hi-fives. God also opened the door for us to minister to the lady who runs the daycare and we were able to invite her kids to our Integrity English classes that are starting up again next semester.


That night, myself and a few others went to an adult English class to talk, eat, and play some games at their Christmas potluck party. One of the assistant Pastors at CC Ginowan volunteers here every week, teaching English to native Okinawans and then invites them to our church. The students are mostly older people in their mid-40s, and even a few grandpas and grandmas come regularly. One of the ladies that attends is 80 years old! We ate donuts, sushi rolls, and Okinawan dishes and then played Telephone (the game where you go around whispering the same phrase and see what you get in the end). This is certainly a game you play when you're like seven, but I learned that it's even better to play it when you're old! Telephone game + elderly people who are hard of hearing + ESL students = a hilariously awesome time :)


The night ended up being pretty fruitful. I had a good conversation with an older gentleman who was curious about the Bible College. And we also invited another interested man to our Sunday morning Christmas service.
(p.s. The phrase we started off with was, "I want to go to the United States next year." At the end, it turned into, "I want spinach.")


As Christmas gets closer and closer (only three days away!), it's becoming a great time to see what God is doing in Okinawa this season.

Also, please keep in prayer the rest of our ministries and events going on in the next two weeks:
- for M.E.L.T. today (conversational English class at local university)
- Kids English outreach on Saturday
- A Hakugaijin Christmas concert (christian band with CC Ginowan members)
- two Christmas services on Sunday
- preparations for our Christmas morning kids party
- our Christmas morning breakfast at CC Ginowan
- New Year's Eve fellowship gathering

And please be praying that this Sunday will bring some newbies to Calvary Chapel Ginowan for our Christmas services, and that they'll be able to hear the true meaning of Christmas. It's in Jesus Christ we celebrate!

Thoughts from Chambers

Timothy's second epistle, chapter two, verse fifteen, was the portion of scripture that God revealed to me when I decided to go to Bible College. A month later, I saw the same verse on a friend's CCBC sweatshirt... and smiled. Today's devotional excerpt by Oswald Chambers in his book, "My Utmost for His Highest" was on this same verse. He writes some good stuff. I pray it encourages you as it encouraged me today!

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" — 2 Timothy 2:15

"If you cannot express yourself well on each of your beliefs, work and study until you can. If you don’t, other people may miss out on the blessings that come from knowing the truth. Strive to re-express a truth of God to yourself clearly and understandably, and God will use that same explanation when you share it with someone else. But you must be willing to go through God’s winepress where the grapes are crushed. You must struggle, experiment, and rehearse your words to express God’s truth clearly. Then the time will come when that very expression will become God’s wine of strength to someone else. But if you are not diligent and say, “I’m not going to study and struggle to express this truth in my own words; I’ll just borrow my words from someone else,” then the words will be of no value to you or to others. Try to state to yourself what you believe to be the absolute truth of God, and you will be allowing God the opportunity to pass it on through you to someone else.

Always make it a practice to stir your own mind thoroughly to think through what you have easily believed. Your position is not really yours until you make it yours through suffering and study. The author or speaker from whom you learn the most is not the one who teaches you something you didn’t know before, but the one who helps you take a truth with which you have quietly struggled, give it expression, and speak it clearly and boldly."

(taken from "My Utmost for His Highest)

Reflecting on Semester Three

(Christmas donut from Mister Donut, courtesy of my classmate Zannie)
I finally have time to post, now that finals are over! Whew, it has been such a fruitful semester. It ended with our Semester Banquet, Graduation, a Women's Christmas Tea, movie night, some Christmas shopping, dorm cleaning, English class with Asa, and relaxing at a Sento :)


Our semester banquet was at the Tokyo dai-ichi Okinawa Grand Mer Hotel (yes I did type that out because it sounds awesome). Semester banquet is when the Bible College students and teachers all get dressed up and fellowship over food. We ate and then received yearbooks for everyone to sign. (photo above, courtesy of e3missions)


The highlight of the past few weeks was graduation. Three students graduated this semester, all from Okinawa. I've only been here about four months now but it felt pretty special to see them graduate. (photo from left to right: Taliya, Natsuki, and Yoshua). I was so blessed this semester by all of them: Taliya and I served together in Korea and kid's ministry at CC Ginowan. Yoshua's testimony touched my heart this semester to conquer the past and continue in God's work. Natsuki and I bonded over some good conversations in Hebrews class.


Last Saturday, we held a Women's Christmas Tea at Calvary Chapel Ginowan. I helped out with serving and the soundboard. It was my first time working sound alone, so it was pretty nerve-racking but the Lord was so good to guide me through it. We served tea (of course), sandwiches, and dessert. Afterwards, Taliya's mother did some hula dancing to worship music. It was pretty awesome. At the end, church member Kayo shared the gospel through a short Christmas message.


Now that the semester is over, it was been difficult to reflect on all that's happened. However, James 1:22 and Jeremiah 33:3 come to mind.

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." - James 1:22
"'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'" - Jeremiah 33:3

This semester was so different compared to my year at the Murietta campus. The Lord was so faithful to bring me to Okinawa to study His Word, but also put it into action. God has been doing so much here already and to have seen it with my my own eyes amazes me still. During my time this past year serving in Mexico, Korea, and Japan, I've learned so much. And calling out to God to reveal His calling on my life has resulted in serving Him on the mission field. He really has shown me great and mighty things that I definitely did not know. Can't wait to see where He'll take me next year!
I pray the Lord does the "impossible" in your life in this next New Year and that He shows you all He has in store for you.