September 29, 2011

Dear friends,

How ya'll doin' ^_^? Things have been going well for me here. The college is in full swing and the semester is getting intense. But, praise God, even though there is a tone of work to do, I have been blessed to be able to minister in ways that I didn't really expect.

Firstly, at the school, we have been able to start a english outreach for children similar to what I used to do in Tokyo. There are two classes; elementary and kindergarten. Joanna, the pastor's wife is running the kindergarten kids, and I am teaching in the elementary age class. Currently, we have about three kids in the elementary and about six in the kindergarten and are teaching every Saturday morning. Please pray for growth and blessing in this ministry as we try to serve the kids of Ginowan city and there families.

Secondly, there has been opportunity to serve the kids on base as well. At the Kadena air force base here in Okinawa, there is a woman's discipleship that meets every tuesday morning. During that time, there is also child care provided for them that is sort of like a sunday school class for the kids. I have been blessed in being able to go many times to this and it has been very fun. It has been a while since I have been able to be involved in a sunday school for American kids. It is so interesting to be able to serve both the Japanese and the families of American Soldiers during my time here. But I am thankful that God has seen fit use me in this way. Please continue to pray for guidance in how best to serve the families of our soldiers over seas.

The translation ministry is going well also. It has even expanded. In addition to translating devotions once a week, I have also come to be able to translate weekly at the guys discipleship as well. This translation is still a bit difficult for me. There is so much for me still to learn. I mean sure, I can talk about regular stuff, but then when you get to things like camel's fur clothing and pits of vipers and all that, things get a little more complicated ^_^. (I was translating about John the baptist by the way) However, this has been a amazing experience for me in expanding my biblical as well as regular Japanese. I still have a long way to go, but I can see God using this to perfect my ability to preach in Japanese and go more in depth than I ever have before. So... Praise God ^_^. Please continue to pray for my language ability, the more that I learn, the better I understand that I have soooo far to go. This might take a lifetime ^_~.

Another fun thing we got to be involved in recently was a surfing outreach. There is a organization in Japan that ministers to Japanese Surfers, and the leader of the southern branch of that organization invited us to go out and minister to the surfers. We brought out food, guitars, cajons, sat on the beach, feeding surfers and beach goers and talking to them. It was a great time. Even got to talk with some people who had recently moved down here from Tokyo. They lived close to Takadanobaba which is about an hour away from where I used to live in Machida. Their kids are going to be enrolled in a international school soon, even though they don't speak english. I told them about out saturday school and gave them our number. Please pray that they would come and also that we can continue in these beach outreaches in the future.

Other than that, it has been business as usual. Rockin' the studies, late to bed, early to rise, running on coffee and the Holy Spirit ^_^. My devotion time has been good and have been growing. I have been learning a lot about prayer. Been a blessing.

Anyway, I am on my way to tutor homeschoolers at Calvary Chapel Okinawa now. I love you all and hope you are all well. Feel free to drop me a line sometime if you feel lead ^_~.

Because He lives,
Alex