Christmas with the Mexicans

No, Sosimo didn't come back to Oki for Christmas... I was invited over to my friends' place for dinner and good times. The Barrios family have been in Oki for over a year now, and they are a lot of fun to spend time with and be chased by their kids. Julia, Alondra, and especially Nico are so much FUN! Here's a pic of Nico wearing my Santa hat. Also included are pics of Yoshi beating Dave (Barrios) down at chess, a pic of Ayu and Tim appearing from behind a cake, and one of a bunch of people sitting around while Tim laughs.
Christmas is a great time of year, isn't it?

Christmas Service - W2

Last night we gathered as always at the Koinonia Cafe. Instead of continuing through (and finishing) the book of Job, we had a special Christmas service. Andrew and Dan led us in worship and Christmas songs, and some guy named Trevor gave the message in Japanese. Pastor Tim translated into English for the non-Japanese folks. Afterwards we had a dessert potluck. To the best of my knowledge there were no confessions of faith, but I know there were some non-believers who came, heard about the miracle of Jesus' birth, and experienced God's love and Word in a powerful way. It was an amazing night!


昨夜、コイノニアカフェで礼拝をいつもどおりに行ったけど、今回は旧約聖書のヨブ記を学んだのではなくて、クリスマスメッセージがありました。朝礼拝では、ティム牧師がルカによる福音書から教えてくれました。英語通訳はトレバーという変なカナダ人がやった。夕方礼拝は朝と逆で、トレバーがマタイによる福音書から教えてて、ティム牧師が英語に通訳してくれた。礼拝後はデザートポットラックがあって、たくさんの甘～い物をいただきました！初めてイエスの救いを受け入れた人はいなかったと思うけど、未信者は何人かいて、神様の愛、みことば、そしてイエス様の奇跡的な誕生を味わうことができました。本当に最高な一日でした！神様に感謝します！

HP Acquitted - Computer Owner Blushes

Ginowan, Okinawa (AP) - It turns out HP doesn't stand for (Mis)Handles Parcels. In an earlier story, a shadow of doubt was once again cast upon HP's competence. After a rigorous investigation, the truth has come out. It turns out the problem was a clerical error by the merchant combined with a hasty assumption made by the new computer owner.

"When I got the computer back from F-S [name omitted for store-anonymity] there was a CD attached," new HP owner Raj Raichura explains. "I just assumed it had my son's data on it."

Raichura further revealed that he quickly made a back-up copy of the disc before sending it off to his son. Turns out the CD was filled with pictures of a stranger, and songs no longer in the possession of Raichura's son. At his request, we are not authorized to divulge his identity.

The Raichuras have agreed to try anew to get the data from the HP to the new Acer, somehow. Our coverage will continue as the story develops.

Has HP struck again?

My saga with my old computer continues. For those of you who don't know what happened, I posted a short article found in the Ginowan Times a few months ago. In any case, after a major run-around with HP, I finally understood that my only option was to ship my computer back to Canada for repairs - at my own expense! Well, after them wasting a month to diagnose the problem and fix it (the computer's under warranty), I decided the best thing would be to sell it to my father and buy something new, something local.

I wound up buying something online, as most computers in Japan are about twice the cost of the computers in the West. So anyhow, I asked my dad to burn all the data from my old computer (pictures, videos, music, work files, etc.) onto DVDs and mail them to me, so that at least I wouldn't have to start all over from scratch. After a long wait, I finally got an envelope in the mail last night. I ripped it open excitedly, and pulled the CD out of its sleeve. To my surprise, it said "Camile Backup" on it. "Hmmmm..." I thought to myself, "My name isn't Camile!"

I put the DVD into my computer, and found a folder for iTunes, and another for My Pictures, so I thought maybe everything was OK. But the pictures are not mine, and the music isn't either! (Although there was a lot of stuff that I used to listen to as a teenager!) So I'm left thinking...

HP must have sent the WRONG computer to my Dad! If this is the case, then first of all, someone else has MY old computer with my old data! And that kind of frightens me! (Not that I have anything to hide... but I don't want some stranger somewhere in Canada to be looking through the past year of my life!) It also means that the problems my Dad says he's been having with the computer (and that it has some kind of virus and that HP didn't fix that problem while working on my computer) are not actually problems with MY computer, but with some stranger's computer. Man, HP is definitely on my black list!

So anyways, I'm left puzzled and wondering if the data I had on my old computer will ever find its way back to me. *SIGH*

Hula Classes

Our fellowship was blessed with a visitor from Ishigaki Island. Her name is Teresa, and she is originally from Hawai'i, though she has lived in Japan for some 21 years now! So she came to our li'l church and offered to teach us "gospel hula." Being a mix of white and brown, and having gotten the dancing skills of both my parents (I'm just guessing here as I've never seen them dance), I decided to skip the actual lesson in favor of taking pictures. However, my camera ran out of battery half-way through, so all I got was a bit of the action! Anyways...

Teresa gave a short testimony at the start, while the people sat down and listened to all she said. It was cool because she translated for herself, and her Japanese is incredible! If her Japanese ranks 10/10, mine's about a 5! Anyways, it was awesome to hear how God is blessing her as she reaches out to the people of Ishigaki via hula and other things.


While this was going on, the kids (Julia, Alondra and Nico) were in the back room watching a movie and snacking. I actually took part in their stuff, and it was so fun! Nico sat in my lap and chilled... made me wish I had my own kids! Check out Nic eating a sandwich in the video below. He's so CUTE! All in all, a night well spent!

Back-blogging

Well since I did take a few pictures while I had no computer, I do have some stuff I can update on my blog. And since they allow bloggers to change the date of each post, I will do so and it will look as though I didn't miss a beat! Hahahaha! Enjoy the "old news"...

Look who's back?

Well folks it's been awhile. HP basically welcomed me to the harsh realities of their customer service (I use the term loosely). Fortunately for me, I was able to get the computer fixed under warranty (unfortunately it cost me $100 to ship back to Canada), sold it to my dad, and now have bought a new computer. So now I can get schoolwork done with greater ease, update people on my life more regularly (as in, actually updating the blog at all), and even prepare for sermons better! Life is somewhat back to normal... and I welcome you to come back frequently to see what's going on. Hallelujah!!!

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!