Spiders, and sweat, and food - Oh My!

I'm tired of posting simply by date, so I decided to give a little more creative thought. I am writing to post about Saturday, June 30th.

This morning, I was blessed to get to go on a couple hikes near school. The first one took us through some thick weeds and bamboo forrest. It soon became aparent that the person in front needed a stick or branch of some sort to pull down some of the massive banana spider webs. It isn't fun to get entangled in the webs, but it is even less fun to think of getting the critters themsellves on you. This hinder ed our progress some. That first hike took us to the top of a peak that allows us to see both sides of the island at once. It was beautiful! After finishing there, we drove about five mintues further up the road to complete another smaller hike. This time, time was limited, so we could only get part way before turning around. However, the view was incredible. I know pictures never do it justice, but I thought you needed to see some of what we were seeing today. After hiking up the hill, we hurried back to school to meet up with a crew of people who were signing on for round two of my Yomitan tour today. Our first stop was the pottery villiage.

I am not sure the difference this time, but we were able to see the village really at work today. We saw pieces drying, we saw them taking clay from their resevours, one gentelman pulled aside barriers and gave us a mini tour of his kiln. It was very interesting. Randy and Kathy Fagan have family visiting so I believe they were able to get some wonderfull photos of the villiage in action. Upon the completion of our visit, we went down the hill to Murasake Mura (Purple World) were we had a "traditional Okinawan" buffet for lunch. Other than partaking TOO MUCH it was a nice meal. After lunch 7 of us made our way to Ryukyu Mura. There, we were able to see them grinding the juice from some sugar cane the old fashioned way - with water buffalo - and the hilghlight for me was watching a dance/music show. We even got pulled into the act a couple of times. I got too many nice pictures to share here, unfortunately.

At the end of the day, I returned home sweaty, still full from lunch, and very itchy from my numerous bug bits and rashes. I decided to take my bike (which I managed to fix) down the hill so I could jump in the water to cool off. It was wonderful! I returned home via Max Value to prepare my potluck dish for church the next day. I think I can safely say, "A good time was had by all."

Friday morning - week one of Summer School

I got up early this morning to go for my morning walk, but alas . . . I started to get rained on as I walked. Therefore, I find myself in my classroom doing some pre-school work instead. I remain blessed to work with the sweet class that I have. 5 students. I hope to take their pictures today. Because I only have five of them, we are able to do quite a bit of oral work and they get a lot of individual attention. It is pretty hard for their thoughts to wander off. One bright little girl, Himari, got all excited yesterday because I apparently taught her how to turn fractions into decimals and percents. She said, "I learned something new today!" and skipped off. That was fun to see. Chapel continues to go well, but like last year, I have some concerns. We have at least one angry young middle school student. You know how one negative attitude can bring down a whole group or activity. The same is extremely true with chapel experiences. I continue to pray for this young man and I pray that God will preserve and protect the atmosphere of chapel. It is not going at all as I have planned - it probably never will - but at least the lessons are of top quality and they are sharing God's truths. This is better than I ever hoped for, so I hope the students and teachers get that much out of it as well.

It is amazing how much energy it takes to make it through the few short hours of school each day. I have to be on my toes and ready at each moment. Elementary is truly a different part of my brain and a totally different part of my personality. It's a nice switch though. I spent quite a bit of time yesterday trying to arrange and organize some potential get - togethers for the faculty and staff here. We'll see if they can come together in the days to come. Yesterday - early evening - a friend and I decided to go snorkeling. Since it was just the two of us, and it was rather wavy, we decided to explore a bit in the process. I didn't really want to drive all the way up to Maeda, so I suggested that we try "Zampa Arches" . . . who knows what they are really called. I knew it would be 20% guess, 80% recollection to see if I could find it. I also had to rely on an overturned trailer to mark the entrance to the cane fields. Luckily the trailer was still there! We found it and parked, prayed for the habu to stay away from us, and set off! First we tried a path that led to the right. It was the "arches" that I remembered, but the waves and current were too strong. We climbed back up the hill and tried a less used path to the right. It took us through thick grasses (again praying away habu) and then to a cliff on the edge of the water. The cliff had some ropes attached to it and enough of an edge to create a patch down to the water. With snorkeling gear and water shoes it was a bit of a challenge (which I loved). We made it and it was beautiful -- however, still a bit too wavy. We swam around a bit, but decided a calmer day would be better. Then, we went to Nirai Beach at hotel Alivila. We should have gone there first as it was calm and glassy, but not really great snorkeling. Fun none-the-less. I marvel at God's creativeness and His continued provision and protection. What an honor to serve Him each day!

Tuesday Summer School Update!

I will tell you again how much I love working with this group of students! This morning in chapel with the kids, I had asked the 5th grade teacher, to share about "A Brand New Me" . . . focus on the life of Paul and share how we get a new start in life when we turn our lives over to Jesus to control. I Cor. 5:17 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" This was our theme verse for the day. Mr. Eyke (as he is called) shared some videos of people getting a "new life". They were given ear surgeries or implants to allow them to hear for the very first time. We talked about the extreme change gaining hearing could be and how it dramatically transformed their lives. We then talked about the transformation in Paul and how we can change when we let Jesus lead us. Well, I wanted to review this with my students when we got to class. I was so impressed with them because they predicted my line of questioning before I even asked it. We are reading a book about a dog that has just gone blind. Yesterday we had talked about what a huge change that would be for him. Today, immediately, one of the girls said that the dog was getting a "brand new life." We then talked about how brand new lives could be for the good or for the bad sometimes depending on the choices we make. As we read on, God designed it so that the section I was reading to them today ended with the main character of the book, a 10 year old girl, talking about her "brand new life." God tied ALL of our lessons together today! As we prepared to end for the morning, one of the girls asked to pray. (I am blessed to have a group of children in my classroom that all profess to be Christians and on fire for Jesus. It is my prayer that they will so deeply fall in love with Him that they will NOT be swayed by peer pressure, or the negativity of adolescence that so often pulls our students away.) Her sweet prayer - so on target and truthful - nearly led me to tears. I had shared with my class that my mom is going to have hip replacement surgery on July 3rd. Each day now (for two days) they have tenderly and sweetly prayed for her, without my even bringing it up to them again. Maybe God brought me here to bless me, not the other way around, neh? Again, as I was trying to sneak home for my gluey rice lunch (oh, that rice that never cooked yesterday? Well, it turned into quite a mess of glue. . .it is awful if I don't say so myself) two of the girls ran up to give me a hug and begged me to stay with them all afternoon long. They want me to be with them so we can "make the best time ever of our short 18 days together!" Aaaah...so sweet. Tomorrow in chapel, we will again review the life of Paul and I can help the students learn some songs to solidify their lessons. I will have lunch duty too, so I plan to play some songs for them while they eat too. (I'm intentional when it comes to hiding God's word in their hearts. I will do it subconsciously if needed!) This evening, we have a missionary Bible Study fellowship. It has been a quieter afternoon. I even managed to sneak a nap in. I have done some light housework and taken care of some work around the house. What a blessed day!

"Behold I stand at the door and knock..."

TO GET OUT!!!! Again! Believe it or not, I think it was a year ago, that I found myself trying to get out of my apartment and holding a doorknob in my hand. Well. . . yesterday morning as I was struggling to get to schooll - once again I found myself STUCK in my apartment. Allow me to tell you about my first day at school: I was excited to begin my day with a nice bike ride. Unfortunately, the ride was VERY short. As I started up the hill by school, I went to switch gears. All of a sudden, the chain came off! I had to walk back to school and park the bike and opt for a prayerful walk instead. While I was walking, I had put some rice in a rice cooker for lunch. When I got home, it was still all liquid. I assumed that I had forgotten to push cook, so I tried again. It lasted only two minutes on the cook cycle and then flipped over to warm. I tried this three times and eventually gave up and unplugged the machine. Unfortunately, that meant I didn't have any lunch for the day, but that was a minor problem. Then, I tried to get out my door to go to school and prepare for the first day. Unfortunately, I couldn't open my door. I tried everything I could think of, but the doorknob just woulnd't open the door. I had to call a neighbor to let me out! Once released (and free) I managed to get into the cafeteria to ensure Chapel was set up and ready. For some reason, the projector wouldn't talk to the computer! I had to find someone to help me fix that glitch. Then, surprisingly still with joy in my heart, it was finally time for the kids to come. Chapel didn't go quite as I had planned, but the atmosphere was very good. The kids were willing to participate and seemed to enjoy it. I fell in love with my class immediately. What an amazing, sensitive, sweet, and kind group of kids I get to work with! After school, I came home because I had to run a few errands for my students. I had learned of some needs and decided to pick things up at the 100 yen store. I was so proud of myself because I remembered NOT to shut my door fully. I placed a shoe in the door to prop it open. I changed clothes and got ready to rush out. I was going to take a different car simply because it is important to start cars and use them at least once a week over here. I was going to give a different car a spin yesterday. Well, as I got down to the car, I learned that the left rear tire was locked. It was as though the break wouldn't release it! I couldn't make it spin at all. Oye....What else? I gave up with that car and decided to go back up to my apartment to switch keys. Unfortunately, I forgot to prop the door open this time. Oh no. . . when I went to get out, the doorknob came off in my hand! JUST LIKE LAST YEAR! What is with me and doors over here? Anyway, I sat and tried to jimmy the door for a while, but eventually gave up and started to call various apartments just seeking someone to release me from my apartment of bondage. I found a gal, Gay Grenninger. She came down to let me out. She also decided to go find a screwdriver and we found a way to release a pin so I could escape should it continue to happen. My neighber on the other side also came out and he helped me reconnect the doorknob so I could get out! It was quite an adventure! I found myself reflecting on the day a lot! There are SO many spiritual applications of that story. One that stands out to me is the imagery of freedom that Christians face in Jesus. Yes, I know the verse in Revelations talks about how Jesus stands at our door and knocks for us to allow Him into our lives, but bear with me for a moment. I started thinking about how when we accept Him as our Savior, we are set free from our bondage of sin. Over here, there are these HUGE gutters next to the roads. They are wide enough that if a tire were to pass over it, it would fall in. I have been told to always watch those "Gutters of death" as one of the missionary teachers here refers to them. Some of these gutters are overgrown with weeds and other normal roadside stuff, so it looks just like a roadway. People accidentally drive into them and their whole car can flip. I started to compare my trials (which were minimal) yesterday to the gutters of death. In all of our lives there are problems, bumps, pits that we can fall into. Things want to steal our freedom that we have in Jesus. Then, I started to think of Jesus as the road. The Bible says He is the Way the Truth and the Life no one comes to the Father but through Him. So, following the road is like following Jesus. I have freedom to drive anywhere on that road as long as I am ON that road! I have joy and safety in travel. (There still will be speed bumps, rocky areas, road construction, and problems, but I am safe and secure on that road.) I need to not let the gutters of death steal my joy or trap me (or any of my students.) In the evening, Max had his boat in the water and asked a few of us if we would like to go out on the boat snorkeling! I can never turn that down. It was predicted to be a rather bumpy/wavy ride, so I was a little cautious. Aidy, who came along, knew that I LOVE to sit in the bow of the boat and asked me why I wasn't sitting up there. Once I knew it was safe enough, I climbed to the bow and let my legs dangle right over the front. I could feel the splash of the waves hitting my feet,, feel the rise and fall of the swells, feel the breeze blow through my hair, and watch teh beautiful landscape that the Lord created go by. Let me tell you, if that is what it feels like to be "FREE" in Jesus, I think we should all desire that! May this day find you walking in freedom with your Lord and Savior! I rejoice in the bumps I had today - minor though they may have been - and I rejoice that I didn't let those bumps lead me into the "gutter of death." They did not steal my joy!

Dressing my washing machine and squealing at a gecko!

Yes, I could title this post Sunday, June 24th, but I am officially losing all touch with what the date is. I know the day, but the date? Eh? No idea! Besides, my title is far more fun and captures the moment. Yesterday - Saturday - wound up being a very nice day. The sun came out for much of the day and I can officially, I think, say that we did not have any rain yesterday! Yippee! After working in my classroom for a while, and making up a list of things that I would like to do - or am willing to do while here on island, I decided I had better go to a church barbeque at a beach in the Southern part of the island. The church was saying farewell to a military family that had been part of the congregation for three years. This is a normal part of life here on Okianwa, but Central Baptist Church looks for opportunities to socialize with each other and celebrate. It helps to build a tight church family. I am glad I went. After the barbeque, and a little grocery shopping, I made it home to do some cleaning, laundry, and general housework type things. Yes, even in paridise, kids, you have to work in your house! I didn't have long to do that, however, because I had to get ready for evening church at Koza Baptist. I had some friends that wanted to meet me there so I was hitching a ride with Randy and Suellen Hadley from the school. We had to leave by 4 PM. I made it! The moment I walked into the church, the first face I saw was Meg Ishikawa's! Meg was a missionary here on island when I was serving here as well. She speaks fluent Japanese and really has a strong ministry with any of the people she comes in contact with. I think I visited with her, and her daughter Emily, for a good half hour as they prepared for the service. I truly look forward to hearing about their mission experiences and how God is working in their lives more in the coming days. I hope He will allow for us to spend some more concentrated time together soon. That was an unexpected meeting, however. I did connect up with Yoko Uehara, one of our OCSI office staff. She is such a blessing and positive encouragement for all of us around her. Her attitute and smile keep us all going! It was a special treat to get to spend some time with her visiting and catching up. By the time I returned home Saturday evening, I was absolutely exhausted! I couldn't finish putting my laundry away or anything, so I am up early this morning to do it. Thus the title of my blog today! HA! I am currently living in the absolute cleanest apartment I have ever lived in here at OCSI. It is a blessing and honor to get to stay here. Part of the reason it is so clean, is because Gail Anderson (the gal who lives here full time) maintains it so well. Our washing machines sit outside on our back balconies. Often they are weather and bug worn, but not Gail's. She has found a way to preserve it. She has something like a dress for her washing machine that she wraps around the body and then covers the top with a plastic table cloth. She then bungi ties everything down. So, this morning, I was out "dressing" up my washing machine to make it look pretty on this fine Sunday, but alas. . . uh, I forgot to watch for bugs or critters. The next thing I know a gecko (an albino one at that) ran out and nearly ran across my hand. I don't usually make noises - but geckos can bring squals out of me. I think I did so this morning. . . even though it was 6 AM! I calmed myself down and finished the wardrobe of my washing machine. As I was putting on the final touches - pop - out came my little gecko "friend" again. He startled me once more and I did a little dance around the balcony. Yup. . . my heart is awake and pumping. I am not afraid of him, but that startle factor gets me each time. At least he didn't drop on my head or run down my back like sometimes happens. It is more than a squeal that comes from my mouth when that happens. Well, on this glorious day that the Lord has made. I plan to rejoice and be glad in it. May you worship, relax, and be glad in the day God has given you as well! Hold tightly to His hand. We never know where our days will take us!

Saturday morning, June 23rd

It is Catch - Up Time, I guess! Once the week got under way everything has progressed at a rather fast pace. I actually am on limited time this morning too, so I came over to school to do this a bit faster. Wednesday, was a day full of wonderful activities and fun. There was quite a rain/wind storm going on so outdoor activities weren't much of an option for us, but it didn't stop what we were doing. In the morning, I took some time to work in my classroom until Sunita (a gal both Janice and I used to teach with and "play with" when we lived here) kindly drove up to OCSI so we could catch up again. It was nice to see her and hear how she was doing. It was "BIG DIP" day that day, so after three different reschedule attempts, Janice and I were finally able to meet Mary and Gay down at the Blue Seal Ice Cream restaurant for our treat. I celebrated with a scoop of Ube, Okinawan Salt Cookie, and Matcha! Oishi Desu! Then, the fun really began! Nancy Perete and Aidy Cruzado (sisters who work at school with us) treated Janice and I to 3 hours of Karaoke, birthday cake, and FUN FUN FUN! We had a lot of laughs. Wow....I wasn't very good! I didn't even nail my two Barbara Mandrell songs. Sigh...I'm losing my touch! Seriously, it was a wonderful day of memories and fun. Janice even SANG!!! The next day, Thursday, was Janice's last day on island. A group of us: Gay, Mary, Linda (who had just arrived on island) Janice, and I all went to the Yomitan Kokuto factory - a place where they refine sugar cane and turn it into candy or sugar. We got to see them boil the juice down and then pour it into pans to cool and cut. Then, of course, we were also able to sample it! The weather still left a lot to be desired that day. As a matter of fact it was so windy I was worried that Janice's plan wouldn't leave on time. After taking some pictures at the lighthouse and of our very stirred up ocean, we did start our trip down to the airport. Upon checking in, Janice did learn that her flight would be delayed 3 hours! We wandered over to the domestic terminal and looked around some, but the process of saying good-bye over and over again gets very hard. Janice was worried about me catching up with Randy and Kathy (whom I was meeting that evening) and I think she was ready to just sit and decompress. With much prayer I did leave her at the airport, but continued to pray that she would make it to Shanghai that night. I just heard from her sister that she is back in the US now, so I will assume all went well - just not on schedule. I did meet up with Randy and Kathy and we just sat and talked at the food court at Jusco (which is no longer Jusco but AEON - or something like that. Just like Max Value is still PriMart . . .Aeon may remain Jusco for me) for almost 3 hours - until we heard that Janice was safely boarding. Yesterday, Friday, I spent the morning and much of the afternoon at school getting ready for the kids and chapel on Monday. When I got most things in order and taken care of, I called Randy and Kathy and we met to take a trip down to Ryubo department store. There was a display of some sort that I never did figure out why he wanted to go see it. It was food stuffs from another prefecture of Japan. Nobody could tell me which one, but it had to be further north as they had cherries and apples in a lot of their things. After exploring many stores (Muji, 100 yen, and an Okinawan tourist trap) I drove home and crashed! I'd also like to add the only purchases I made all day were: a new pair of UGLY sunglasses, and some bandanas to tie my hair back. Walking in this humidity and crazy wind makes my hair go crazy! It was sticking in my eyes, around my face and everywhere that morning. I had enough of that, so I had tied my jacket around my head (turban style) in order to get home. I hopefully won't have to deal with that any more! Today? I'm unsure what the day will hold, but a lot of details (cleaning, school work, errands, planning, etc. have to take place at some time!) There is a barbecue at church, church service tonight at Koza, and I am supposed to meet up with three people there, so . . . We'll see where the day takes me! Thank you all for your continued prayer support and interest. The real work begins now!

Tuesday, June 19th - Janice's 60th Birthday!

After a good night's sleep (which wasn't expected due to the scheduled. .. but never ariving) typhoon, I woke to see almost sunny skys and nothing more than some strong winds. I decided to go for a walk while the nice weather lasted. Apparently, our typhoon took a course that brought it further east than forcast, so we missed it completely. There is another tropical storm right on the tails of this one though, so the window of nice weather would be small I could tell. I took off while I could. On my way home, I decided to stop off at Max Value (the only store open at that time. I waited as long as I could, hoping to buy her a Choux Creme for breakfast, but couldn't wait that long.) I know Janice loves flowers, so I picked up some lillies for her, some pineapple, and a little treat. Then I came home to fix her a nice breakfast. She finished taking care of her banking business while I did some much needed work at school. It was a good thing that I walked while I did though because it started raining around noon. I am n ot sure it let up much until about 7 that evening. Blankets of water poured down. Our soccer field and the whole cathedral area were flooded. The winds howled. . . we joked about the weather here (in no storm condition) being far worse than what we had in the typhoon. That shouldn't have surprised us though; it does tend to happen often. That evening, Suellen Hadley had arranged a group of missionaries to go to Sam's Cafe to celebrate with us. We took the school van. We were all very grateful that Randy was driving however because we could hardly see the road through the blanket of rain falling. We managed to "swim" our way to the restaurant and home again. It was a quiet, restful, yet hopefully pleasant birthday for Janice. I hope her day was special and memorable. It is now the morning of the 20th as I write this. The winds are howling (sounds like a blizzard outside) and it is still raining - but just some sprinkles here and there. This will again limit outdoor activities, but won't stop our fun today.

Monday, June 18th

I found it rather difficult to get up this morning, but alas, I wanted to make the most of the few hours of sunshine I was supposed to get today. Janice was off to some government offices to take care of some paperwork and business here (after two hours there, she has to go back again because par - for - the course another piece of paperwork was required for her). I decided to go for a bike ride. Yesterday, Max had drawn me a map to show me where some roads near the castle go and he encouraged me to go down to see a dam park (I AM spelling that right. . .not swearing at anyone or the park). I opted to give it a try. So, I biked my way to Nagahama Dam (I think that was the name) only to learn that it didb't open until 8:30. I decided to bike on. I rode on up to cape Maeda and took some beautiful pictures. I was hot, tired, and sweaty when I got back, but it was great. No typhoon strength winds yet! Upon returning to school, I spent about 4 hours at school working on the chapel schedule and program and trying to get things set up in my classroom. We are no in TC - 1 (that means the major winds and typhoon should be hitting in the next 12 hours. . . or before). We were invided up to a "typhoon party" at Hadleys from 4 - 8 this afternoon. Typhoon parties are what I remember most about our typhoons here. We always had lots of food and played a lot of games. Maybe this afternoon will be a walk down memory lane. As of 3 PM, there is a grey overcast sky, but no real sign of the typhoon hitting yet. update -- at 8:40 pm. no typhoon yet. small non-typhoon party with a game of skipbo was fun though.

Sunday, June 17th

This morning I was up early enough to go for a walk before church. I walked or biked over to a little river walk that Janice had pointed out to me earlier in the week. I was excited to explore and look around, but once I started walking, I realized not very many people had taken that trail recently. There were spider webs all across the walk. I had to avoid fist sized banana spiders and be careful of what was falling around me. Next time (if there is one) I will surely wear a hat while walking there! By the time I was done walking, I was completed wrapped in spider webs. I was gross! Later in the morning, I was able to catch a ride with Max and Aidy to Central Baptist Church on Sunday. It was wonderful to reconnect with old friends and worship in my old church home again. After church, Cruzados took Evin Lloyd (another OCSI teacher) and I to an Okinawan restaurant near church. It was a sunny, beautiful, and hot day - but I wanted soba (which means hot soup) down here! It was wonderful. Once returning back to OCSI I walked down the hill to a little beach. The plan was for me to pick up some fresh produce at a little market down the hil, then walk over to meet up with Janice at the beach. There was a funeral across the way at the Seraen Center, so traffic was terrible! I didn't really even think I would be able to cross the street. Finally, I realized, I am just going to have to cross when the traffic is at a stand-still. That's what I did. I got my produce and then wandered the back roads - and beach - in order to make my way to the spot I told Janice to meet me. We finally did meet up. She did some playing in the water and I just enjoyed relaxing and watching the blue skys and listening to the waves. Most excitng, was the fact that the red rubber bands and an improved pair of flip - flops made another appearance today. After a little clean up (on Janice's part. I opted to go out again all sticky and yucky) Janice wanted to hike the hija river walk. I had never done that, so I was game. What a beautiful park/walk area. I will definitely have to go there again After our walk, Janice suggesting watching the sunset and spending some time in prayer at Toguchi Beach. Even though we were worried that we might miss the sun, we opted to give it a try. Well worth the time. It was a full day and we were grateful to return home to have some dinner before crashing into our beds. I think we may have been awake at 10 PM still, but not much later! Oh, and typhoon update. The typhoon is named "Butchoy " - - my favorite one to say, or "Guchol". It was upgraded to "Super Typhoon" status - category 4. It is supposed to hit tomorrow afternoon, so we spent some time typhoon - proofing the balcony before bed.

Saturday, June 16th

Does anyone out there reading know why this thing posts with no paragraph breaks? Hmmm...I really am writing and using them, but it just blends everything together! Sorry about that. Today, was a sunshine filled day from morning unitl evening. It was a much more typical Okinawan day! This morning,, we had the honor of meeting up with some more former Japanese teacher coworkers and some more of the office staff or former office staff. All these ladies played such an important role in our lives while we lived here. It was such a blessing to reconnect with them and just spend time with them. In typical Okinawan fashion (like yesterday with Etsuko - San and Katsumi) they go out of their way to show hospitality and make us feel special. It is the two of us that should have been doing that for them. We'd be lost without them. I was so excited to reconnect with the ladies that I managed to forget my key chain in the restroom of a restaurant we actually were not eating at. I had the presence of mind to recall where I placed them and guess what had happened. I felt pretty special when I was able to go into the restaurant and, completely on my own, ask if they had any keys with a key - chain that said "Lisa" on it. They understood, nodded, and brought them back to me. I thought - "See, I do know more than I think!" Then I flashed back to how incredibly hard it was to communicate ANYTHING at all in China and how at ease I feel here. I guess that's the difference living in a place for so many years can make. After our lunch gathering, Janice and I were scheduled to meet Max back at school. He was taking a group of us snorkeling, but it just wound up being Janice, myself, and a newer teacher named Evan. The water was far too rough still for the boat, so we drove up to Maeda flats. We saw MANY, different kinds of fish. Red fish, blue fish, one fish, two fish. . . No, we commented on the amazing creative sense of humor God has. He has designed some unique undersea creatures! The vibrant colors are amazing. After our adventures with Max, Janice and I decided to go to Royal Restaurant - for old time's sake - even though everyone tried to warn us that it was a buffet now days. They were right. Our cute little log cabin restaurant is now a huge - high class - pink hotel. I knew that much from last summer, but now they only serve a buffet. It was very good, but really didn't feel like the same restaurant at all. After eating dinner, we went to the grocery store to stock up. You see, there is a super - typhoon scheduled to hit us on Monday evening. The last few category 2 typhoons that the school has seen caused great damage and even power outages. Super typhoons are category 5. Who knows what this typhoon will bring us. We decided to be prepared - come what may. We will leave the rest on God's hands. I will keep you posted on what is happening with that.

Friday, June 15th

I ha ve a news bulletin for you! It was not raining when I woke up on Friday! As a matter of fact, it didn't rain from 6:00 AM on that day and we actually saw the sun! After a morning bike ride down to the lighthouse, around the park area there, and up to the castle grounds before returning home, we had a pretty quiet morning. Janice and I bid farewell to some of our missionary friends here as they caught flights back to the USA - Lisa Sorley, her brother and his wife, and Gail and Joel Anderson - whose apartment we are now staying in. After their leaving, we cleaned up the guest room and carried our belongings up to our new home in the "sky" - apt 304. How nice it is to be able to spread out and have some more space to settle into - not to mention the great kitchen area. It was very generous of the Andersons to let us stay here, but we sure are appreciating it! Once settled in, we were blessed by Estuko Oeschle, Katsum and Lisa Metz as they took us out for lunch at a traditional Okinawan restaurant. Lisa was one of my 3rd graders back when I taught in 1998-1999. I then tormented the poor girl by teaching her middle school and some high school classes as well. She said she remembers the musicals best, but it was fun to remember the good times we shared. Lisa has now graduated from college and is settling back into life here on Okinawa. I hope to hear more about her plans and future later this summer. Her mom, Katsumi, teaches Japanese here at the school and Estuko - San is one of the foundational secretaries in the office. Both ladies are friends and coworkers from the school. It was a blessing to get to hear about their lives and learn what is going on for them. After lunch, we opted to not waste a beautifully sunny day! While we knew it was VERY windy and the waters were very stirred up, we wanted to see the beach and Janice wanted to try her hand at snorkeling again. We got all ready and headed out. Janice wanted to go to Toguchi Beach which is a relatively close to the school. Once we got there, I was a bit of a party pooper. It was cool enough that I didn't have a huge desire to get into the water, and the water was murky. I'm spoiled here; I an choose to swim in the crystal clear waters later this summer. I promised to be her life guard and take care of her if she needed it. I felt badly for not joining her, but not enough to jump in. She then proceeded to give me the best laugh I have had in a long time. I share this because - A I think she will let me. B. Her family is reading and they will understand this. C. Some of our former coworkers may be reading this and also get a kick out of it. Well, Janice had only brought flip - flops along to snorkel in. I didn't know this when we set out. She, however, was "prepared". HA! She had brought along 4 flimsy little red rubber bands. The managed to connect them to each other and then secure her flip flops to her feet/legs. This alone I found entertaining, but the show got better. Once in the water, she floated just feet from shore. I'm not sure what all she saw, but I could easily have grabbed her by the hand with only getting my lower legs wet. Then, the show improved. After some work reattaching her shoes and fixing the shoes, she had decided it was time to get out. By this time, she had beached herself - for lack of a better word. She was laying belly down on a ridge of sand. Her flip flops were floating on the surface of the water - but still secured to her legs by those red rubber bands. Her arms and legs were just floating up on the surface and the waves were crashing over her so that her hair had all managed to stick over the front of her mask. I"m not sure I am painting the picture well enough for you, but we were both laughing. I helped her to get her footing and come out of the water, but I confess to giggling a bit in the process. This was so Janice. 8 ) She keeps life interesting. I only wish I had a camera there to share the image for real with you. After our snorkeling party, we went over to Max and Aidy Cruzado's for dinner. Aidy prrepared chicken adobo for us and Max made some plantain fritters for dessert. Hazel - another of my former students and Max and Aidy's daughter - was able to join us for dinner too. It was a night of memories, catching up, fun and fellowship. We returned home full, tired, happy, and blessed beyond words!

Thursday, June 14th

Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day. . . Upon rising in the morning, to nobody's surprise it was again - or still - raining. This was the first morning it was raining early enough to keep me from going out exploring, walking, or biking. I just managed to start packing my materials to prepare for the move fromt he guest room into the apartment I'll be staying in for the summer. imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"> After much discussion, Janice and I decided that rain or not we would take the drive up North to Nago and then I would hike Hiji Falls with Gay. We prayed for nice enough weather to make that happen. We opted to leave early enough to stop along the way to visit Manzamo and take some pictures along the beautiful coast. Well, God knows best! His timing was perfect. While we were driving it was nice enough for Janice to get some great pictures and while at Manza mo the sun actually shone for a few minutes. It was beautiful. In Nago, we met Mary and Gay Grenninger for lunch. Gay and I drove north on our own to hike the falls. For those of you who have done the falls before - not much has changed. There are still numerous stairs and it is stil a beautiful hike. God was faithful and kind to Gay and I. We had a great visit, loved the scenery, but above all praised God because He kept us dry! Well, we were dry from rain anyway - - He did allow us to prespire some in the huidity with our exercise! 8 ) The rains were making the falls flow in a way I have never seen them before. It was well worth the time and effort! The moment we got back into our car and shut the door, it was like the clouds split open. All the rain God had held back all day poured forth. At times, I couldn't even drive 50 KM per hour because it was raining too hard. After exchanging Gay for Janice (who was able to do some shopping, touring, and beach combing with Mary while we hiked) again we drove back down to OCSI and had dinner with Joel and Gail Anderson. They gave us some helpful hints about their apartment, which we will be moving into today.

Wednesday, June 13th

Another rainy day on "the rock." I was up at a relatively early time, so I decided to walk in the rain - or mist as it was at that time. I wandered my way back up to the castle and then decided to see where some of the other roads lead. After about two hours I found my way back to the school, but not via Max Value as I intended earlier. We still had no hot water, so it was another cold sprinkle to get ready. The teachers at the school had a work day/records day to take care of things today. That meant a little more freedom for some of them, so we were leary to take out the car for too long. I spent some time at school in the morning catching up on some computer work and managed to do a load of laundry (this is such an exciting post - - but rain makes for exciting posts like this.) In the midst of my MANY trips to and from the school that morning, I managed to misplace my wallet. I knew it wasn't lost - just misplaced. This however, caused me stress and put a damper on some nice plans that had been made. I decided that's what happens when I don't take the time to start the day in my Bible like I usually do! We went for lunch with Mary Davenport - a missionary at the school who teaches 1st grade - but alas I had no money (due to the lost wallet) so I had to beg money off of Janice for lunch. Thank goodness she was there to save me. After lunch, we went to explore the pottery village and then spent the afternoon helping to prepare for the evening's farewell barbeque. What I found most unique was the face that Martha Migita came into the cafeteria as the elementary good-bye speaches were being made. It flashed me back to my first good-bye here at OCSI. While I was trying to say good-bye I recall the huge bear hug and sobs that Martha was giving me - thus leading me basically into about a two day period of tears and heart break while leaving the island. We both commented on how little we knew at that time. Who knew that 13 years later we would have a reunion hug during the exact same ceremony. We have seen each other numerous times since and God has allowed our paths to cross. Little did we know. God is like that. We have to trust Him for our tomorrows and live our todays for Him. Today - - Thursday - - our today rests in Him. We are driving North to Nago where adventures and hopefully less rain await us. It is however, still quite drippy. . . no, more like a permanant shower. . . but we will have fun none-the-less. Photos to be posted tonight. Thank you all for your prayers. Tomorrow, or Saturday, will be much planning for chapel. I need to seek His will and allow Him to put the pieces into place for the kids. He alone knows what we most need this summer.