Dinner fit for a king....

Well...i normally am in charge of making dinner on Thursday night...but this night was special....we were having Brian Yates come over for dinner....but we pulled out all the stops and made so many great and tasty things...

I was able to put some ground beef in my already great sauce for spaghetti....mmm....

then we made some japanese style fried zucchini...pretty awesome





And we got blessed at the store with some really cheap fruit....so we made a fresh fruit salad...which Hannah is holding here....with apples, asian pears *the ripest I have ever tasted*, bananas, kiwis, pineapples, and Craisins....and in that order....mmmmm...

Then...sort of like normal....we had some cabbage....but we have been making it really good lately....shredded instead of cut....and it makes it easier to put in your mouth....we put all these great veggies and stuff too....so good....









There was much more....like the Piccasia bread and garlic bread....mmm...we had some satisfied customers this night....yumm yummm....



afterwards we watched the videos my parents had sent me from TV back home....first the "I survived a Japanese game show", which was pretty fun....but then she sent two episode of "Wipeout", and oh my it was hilarious....we were literally on the floor laughing....i had a raspy throat from laughing so hard...Wipeout is about people who try to get across a hard obstacle coarse, for a chance to win $50,000, but it is fun to watch them eat it, get all dizzy and stuff....wow....American's got TV down....making people want to hurt themselves and humiliate themselves in front of millions of people, just for money....yep...

Military here I come....

Well I'm just scaring you again....im not really entering the military, but I did get a real military haircut today....well here is the story....

I always love cutting my own hair, but this time I didnt cut it really that great, so I decided for our very own Christina Duran to cut the back of my hair and freshen it up....she took about a quarter of a semester of hair school (hint hint....jk). Well fast forward....she was cutting the back and messed it up, cut a part of the edge in towards the middle of my head, about an inch in....ahhh....had to get it fixed and she was too freaked out to try again...

I went on base and got royal treatment....I haven't had a good haircut in a long time....I literally almost fell asleep in the chair, it was pretty relaxing....and then when she finished, the lady gave me a mini massage, chopped on my back and my shoulders, ahh....all for 5 bucks....wonderful....here is the final product....sooooo typical Marine style haircut too...but its ok....peace!

Meet Nick

Nick has been here for a week or so now....but this guy has been a big blessing so far. He has come from Temecula, and it was just really random how he found us...he just was looking online for Bible Colleges, found Tommy's blog, started talking to him, and decided to come down for 2 weeks....sweet juice huh?

We went out to lunch and I showed him the ropes for Chinese style lunch in OKInawa...he enjoyed some chicken karage (just big fried chicken goodness) and I got a good ol' shoyu ramen (Soy sauce ramen noodles).....good times...

Meet Mika

Well...amidst the rumors, I found that it is the right time to tell you that I have fallen in love....she is so beautiful....ahh....


Meet Mika...
Oh did I scare you? You should be ashamed! Nah this is my little friend....she's so cute....this is Dan Pallman's youngest daughter...she is so funny, I love to make faces at her, and she always smiles and flirts with me....lol love it....but honestly there is no other woman in my life....yet....hopefully she will be as cute as little Mika though! Peace guys...

Aniya Baseball Practice....

As of late.....Mr. Rob Wunderlich got out of his semi-pro contract with a team called Samurai in Naha city, and signed with Aniya, which is another semi-pro team in Okinawa.....I have been messing around with Rob for close to a year, on and off, catching him as he need pitching practice....we would jsut through it in the street by Tom's house....but he trains in this underground building that has like a bullpen and batting practice area.....well I went with him and caught for him in front of another pitcher and his coach....it was fun....

I haven't suited up for baseball in like 7 years....it was a blessing....they had some gear and stuff, but what stunk was that it was boy's gear, and it was way too small.....man it was humid and hot in there too! Here are all the video's that we took for last night's practice....mostly we took them for fame and glory....no just kidding.....Rob needed them to watch his form and stuff, get better....stroke his pride....nahh just kidding....lol love you robbie....

This was me in my greasified condition......im telling you it was hot.....whoooooo.....

I caught off of a Japanese dude too, probably like 30 pitches....i think his name was Jin...not sure though.....what stunk really bad, is that he was only 50ft. away from me, when the normal pitching range is 60ft.....he was so close, it felt like it was coming 90mph.....but it was just because I was too close....i caught it bad once....felt like i broke my thumb....but it was fine....just a little sore today.....

Well then Robby came up and started to pitch....we moved the home plate about 10ft back...then we started.....Rob pitches pretty fast ya'll.....he was bringing it....watch and you'll see....i felt a lot more comfortable with Rob pitching....again I have been catching for him now for some time....it was a great practice....

CC Ishikawa....

Well there isn't a church formally yet....but doesn't that sound really great! A church is definitely not a building, just the people that come to meet with the Lord.....and we did that this Wednesday at Dan Pallman's new house that he just moved into! It was a great time, in the book of John....Dan is also translating for himself the message, just in faith, even when everyone can speak English great, but he is preparing for the time that someone comes through those doors that needs some Japanese translation.....what a blessing!

Japanese Class

Well we have been so busy the last couple weeks with stuff, that we havent been able to have japanese class....we have been learning from the beginning of the summer how to witness in japanese....but we are memorizing Bible verses and sentences.....so sweet....I have been so blessed. I was missing this class, it was good to get back to normal and study again....this is what we learned this week....














We dont just learn how to say Bible verses in japanese, but write it down too...this picture are all the Kanji that I have been practicing....for the next couple weeks we are talking about sin, pretty much going through the Romans Road....we had to memorize Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
ローマ人への手紙　三章二十三節
”すべての人は、罪を犯したので、神からの栄誉を受けることができず。”
Subete no hito wa, tsumi wo okashita no de, Kami kara no eiyo wo ukeru kotoga dekizu.
All people, sin committed, God's glory receive can not....literally, that is kind of what it says...sentence structure is completely different, that is apart of the reason why Japanese is so hard.....

Learn with me! hehe

Here is Tommy trying to recite the memory verse for the week! Ganbate Tommy....keep it up bro!

B³ Youth Evangelism @ Mihama

Well on Tuesday we went out for B³ to evangelize Mihama....we went out and passed out tracts, to share the light of Jesus to the people that were around town....Mihama is such a "happening" place....it is awesome to go there and share the love of Jesus with people....it was funny because I was wearing my "神学生”, Shingakusei, or Student of the Bible shirt on.....I tried to give it to some lady, and immedietly she said "I'm a Buddist..." I told her it was ok, and tried to give her one anyway, but she refused.....hmm....I thought she was just seeing the light of Jesus in us....but I noticed I was wearing my shirt....but I pray that people would be able to see that Light in us, as we walk around to show them the person, Jesus, that can set them free from their sin!It was hot, but we walked all the way down to the seawall, and then back and forth in between the shops....gomen ne! I'm sorry....I forgot to take a picture of the girls....but we were 6 in total.....Solly, Austin, Myself in one group.....Christina, Hannah, and Michal in the other.....we have been going through the book of Matthew, and in Chapter 10 and especially 11:1 it talks about how Jesus was to send out the disciples, and in Chapter 11:1, they were faithful to do the things that Jesus commanded them, to go and preach the Gospel, and to heal people, cast out demons, to meet people's physical and spiritual needs....that is all we desire to do also! Praise the Lord!

W2 Sunday Night Service @ CCGinowan

I really enjoyed service this night....we went over Isaiah 1....it was such a blessing to study the Word with everyone....This Bible is pretty sweet huh? Japanese/English Bible....its like $60, but I am praying that I can get one....I would love to study more....there are cheaper alternatives...but we'll see....whatever the Lord wants!

Foster Chapel

Lately, we have been having service in the Chapel Center building instead of the normal sanctuary....they are redoing the pews and stuff...so the Chapel Center is where we have Youth on Fridays.....it is just like a big multipurpose building with lots of little rooms....anyway....I took two really sweet pictures....the clouds when I was walking into the building were super awesome....in Okinawa, the clouds are always awesome!But even better was the next night....monday night, when I usually have worship practice with my team, and there was a sick sunset.....ohh.....the colors are changed for effect....but we do have sweet natural sunsets.....beautiful huh...

Guys D House

Well....we have been in the "Discipleship" house for about 2 or 3 weeks now....sorry I didn't get something up sooner....but here is a quick video of what our roof looks like.....Tommy just actually put up videos on his blog about the inside....before and after.....the blog is called "The Upper Room"....there was alot of work that went into our new apartment, I'm so glad I could take part of it too! It is good to be in this new building....thank you Lord!

After B³ Youth

So after youth the other night.....just after the candy that we had.....mmmm.....Austin invited me over to his house, and his sister, right next to me, Meagan, her friend Caitlin, and Austin's dad Mike played some Uno....I was blessed to eat some of their pizza and some sweet tea....mmm....thanks alot guys, I was blessed to fellowship with you all!

Oh, and the white shirt I was wearing was from my grandparents....an early birthday present....I got a 100 yen ($1) towel to sport with my new shirt....it is really hot in Okinawa....sweat city! Peace!

Japanese Candy #3

Alright.....for now.....this is the last one of Japanese candy that I have taken pictures and videos of....I brought these to the youth group I teach at on the military base.....only Austin showed up, so he partook of the awesome blessing of Japanese candy.....#3......lol















This stuff was pretty good....the one on the left is "Wata Gamu" or Cotton Gum.....pretty much really sour coca-cola cotton candy.....it was hard to eat this one.....but it was funny for a "stuff-it-down-your-face-or-you-get-consequences-game." And then the second one was good...."Wata Pachi" Cotton Patch.....it was grape cotton candy, not sour, but with pop rocks inside....mmm.....so good.....here is a video.....kinda gross sorry.....

The last thing that we did was a consequence round....because I ate the cola cotton candy one, which was pretty nasty, the fastest.....so for losing....I had to give Austin a very, not-so-nice-consequence-food. Umeboshi.....梅干し。。。it is a pickled sour plum, and it really takes some getting used to, and Japanese people like to put it in their bento (like a take out container for lunch).....he didn't like it to much obviously ......lol

Japanese Candy #2

Well these two different candies were just so sweet....like cool sweet....and good sweet too.....i bought them at the 100 yen store.....but 2 for 50 yen.....or .50 cents....pretty sweet deal....again like a pretty good deal.....anyways.....

The first candy that I tried was Mogimogi Fruit。。。as I'm writing this I just found out that "mogi" is the sound that you make when you pluck something of the vine....so just like the sound....the whole point of this game/candy is to pluck the grapes off the vine and then put it into the baskets....so funny....the grapes taste like grapes, but the vines taste like coca-cola! weird.....heres some pics...



But this is probably one of the best games I have found to date.....sushi making candy game.....called "Nigiri Sushi Man"....nigiri is the sound of squishing the rice ball and fish together....literally to grasp....Solly and I had fun with this one though.....we copied the movements on the cover during the taping of this video.....no real fish were hurt in the process of this video....lol enjoy!

Japanese Candy #1

Well all I gotz to say is that I am in love with Japanese Candy.....japanese people are so smart, and they think of the funniest and coolest things for their kids and candy....well get prepared.....because the next couple blogs are all about japanese candy....starting off with....


SONOMANMA....Peach flavor.....mmm

Most Japansese candy is meant for kids...(of adults with kids hearts....lol) and kids of course love to play games....this game is meant for three people....we were about to watch "Dark Knight" at Foster when we decided to play this game. Tom Cotton, Neely, and I played...but with this game, there are 2 winners and 1 loser...the winners get sweet, peach flavored goodness of gum, but the loser gets a very very very sour peach flavor, and then the other people laugh at that person....lol....Cotton lost....haha sorry cotton...love ya bros!

Solly is here...

Well after we had the last day of our VBS that we had last week....which I didnt take photos of...I took some kids home, but they live right next to Mihama. Tommy told me to take Solly, who had only been here for a day or so out to stop by....it was pretty fun....stopped and got a drink and then went down to Sunset Beach and took some pictures....hope you like them....didnt actually get in any...but this is for zelda! peace!