Just church stuff

The day after Vunder's triumphant return to the mound, I was sitting in church and felt like taking a few pictures of the people I call 'family' here in Oki. Andrew leading worship, with Naoko singing back-up, Vunder playing the electric and Hide on the bass. Tommy giving the message in English, and Natsuki making it make sense to the Japanese people. And then there's me. Just sitting in the back, taking pictures. Church is such a blessing. Keep praying for our fellowship, that the people would be fed the Word.

(Incidentally, as I update this blog on December 20th, I can now say that this picture of Tom is actually the next-to-last time he has given the message on Sunday morning. The following week I was up, and then he spoke once more - I was sick and missed it - before Pastor Tim took over. We're going through the book of Mark now, and Tim is giving the message in Japanese! He's hired a few good men to translate for him. Pray that it will bless the people and the Lord!)

The Return of The Man

A shaky outing last game wasn't enough to deter Robert "Vunder" "Double Death" Wunderlich from taking the mound on Saturday. His team of formerly great ballplayers were slated to face Meio University of Nago in the first round of what was a grueling tournament. Not for the Naha Samurai, though, as they bowed out after this game. But for Meio it was a tournament to be remembered. They took home the championship trophy (a shiisa baseball player batting with a goya stick) and declared themselves the best among the washed up and the never-will-be's.



OK enough of the sarcasm. Back to the main point. Vunder came out smokin', but his team came out chokin'. Despite allowing no hits and just 2 walks in the first inning, somehow the score was tied 2-2. Then after allowing a mere single (and a walk), Meio took a 3-2 lead after 2. Then the dam broke. A couple of consecutive hits followed in the 3rd, followed by a couple of walks, and that was all she wrote. But Vunder struck out 5 of the 7 batters he retired, and definitely would have lasted much longer were it not for a plethora of errors causing multiple runs to score. It was a lot of fun to watch, and we're all so proud of our buddy Vunder, the best pitcher on island, possibly soon to be scouted by the Yokohama Bay Stars?

Harvest Carnival

Last night, Calvary Chapel Okinawa hosted its annual Harvest Carnival. The kids gather together and have a whole lot of fun at various booths. There are games, candy, Twinkie-eating contests, live musicians, bouncy-houses, and even the occasional scary person! It was a real blessed night, as I got to see a few people that I hadn't seen in a long time. I also got to invite some of my former students out to the event... eight of them showed up somehow, and got witnessed to by my buddy Shawn Shavers. So I don't know what's happened since then, but prayerfully they will come to know the Savior soon!

Another former student of mine showed up on her own and it was cool to catch up with her. She was always a lot of fun to talk with at school, and even though her English is limited, she was never afraid to try. So it was cool seeing Shino again - the cool thing is that she goes to the same school as one of the girls at CCO, and they're the same age. They had never met before last night, but now they know each other, so I'm hoping that maybe Shino will start going to church or youth or something! Anyways, fun night!