The Kings came to Japan

Pastor King and son Joe from Maryland came for a two week visit in mid-July. 

Their first Sunday here we had sukiyaki for lunch.  This is a Japanese dish cooked on the table in large frying pans.  It is thin sliced beef, cut up cabbage, leeks, onion, a clear noodle, and mushrooms with the sukiyaki sauce added and the whole pot is simmering on the table while your mouth salivates.  

This is a typical Japanese watermelon with a typical price-tag.  Put in a decimal point and add 20 percent.  

Monday night we went to the local Sushiro restaurant.  It serves individual plates of various sushi that comes around to your table via a conveyer belt.  Here Pastor and Joe are trying sushi. Joe had his first taste of wasabi.

 Those are bottles of Ginger Ale on the table and the stack of empty plates after dinner.  Each represents about $1.20

May 26, 2011

The Osaka Quilt Show was today and four of us from the Kansai Sakura Quilters group went to see it.  For me this was the largest quilt show in Japan that I have seen.  As with previous shows, all the quilts on display (all four of us agreed) were way beyond our skill levels.  The colors, blending, designs, hand quilting, and workmanship was superb.   I’m looking at all the quilts and wondering first, where do the designers get their ideas and second, I am in awe at how the quilts are done.   Since these were made by Japanese (as I did not see any foreigners among the entries),  the subjects of many of the quilts was Japanese culture like tamari balls, sakura, there was a Buddah and several oni or devilish characters. 

One of the vendor displays was of hand made mini kimono.  Looked like a small army of them.  Bigger than a baby or child kimono, smaller than a full size kimono.  The color spectrum was all in earth tones.  Here is a photo. 

There were several walls of mini mini quilts; about 18 inches square.  Many were done by members of the same quilting school so you saw similar designs and techniques.   These pictures do not show the intricate detail of each quilt.

We spent about half the time looking through the many vendor displays.  I bought a beautiful blue yukata for about $12.00 that I think I will turn into a skirt.  I found an Olfa rotary pinking cutter and it works beautifully.  Now to find replacement blades.  I may be cutting my fabrics with this blade for some time. 

One vendor sold variegated fabrics from yellow to green to purple.  Very pretty.  What to do with it?  I also found some Americana prints I can use in a quilt. 

On another note, I finished the blue/brown diamond quilt for the Gardner’s Bible camp.  Turned out to be king size and actually beautiful.  The quilting was very simple, nothing intricate like at the quilt show, but serviceable. 

May 2011

The first week of May here in Japan is called Golden Week.  It has a string of national holidays, so most people take a spring vacation.  One learns not to go anywhere during this week because everyone else is going there.  

There is a heron standing in this rice field.

On Mother’s Day May 8^th we had 12 people in church, no visitors.  We gave each of the moms a furoshiki (a square cloth used to carry items) made from purple or orange fabric from Senegal.  Matsumoto-sensei gave us several meters.  I received phone calls from each of the kids except Peter.  It was good to talk to them. 

Thursday, May 12, was Peter’s 24^th birthday.  I called him and he said he was doing great.  He moved to a basement apartment in a location that takes 10 miles off the commute to Virginia.  The rent is about the same that we paid back in 1995 for an entire house.  It would be nice to own something.  Be that as it may, Stephen turned 27 on the 16^th.  He is also doing fine, not much info coming forth.  The 18^th was my birthday and I spent part of the day with the quilting group making one for the tsunami victims.  It will be pretty when done.   Teresa and Matthew called and Stephen sent a short email.  

This peach or salmon iris is the only different colored one in the yard.  The rest are lavender or purple.  

 My set of ceramic sheep representing each family member.  They need a repaint job. 

 The common lavender iris in the yard.  One year recently there were over 100.  Something happened to most of them in 2010 and they rotted. Just a fraction remain, so will start the multiplication over.

 Frog friends are content to sit in the lillies.

 Ajuba is a ground cover with these beautiful purple flowers in May that last for a couple of weeks. 

This is our nightly frog song. 

April 2011

Spring has come to Kobe, Japan.  After an unusually cold winter here with more snow than normal, the sun started to shine and the sakura trees bloomed.  For about 10 days around here and at least 2-3 weeks in this area, the trees burst forth with delicate pink blossoms.  These are not at all like the sakura we saw in Okinawa in February.   So very refreshing. 

 

The garden has started to bud and bring forth their floral.  Most of my garden has purple flowers of various kinds.  Don’t know how that all happened when the garden was originally planted.  

This year I’ve decided to have a small vegetable garden, using the square foot method.  Much easier to manage the ever-present weeds.  Mostly salad items have been planted:  tomatoes, mini tomatoes, colored peppers, sunny lettuce, beets, chard, okra. 

Monday-Wednesday, March28-30, 2011

Spring Camp 2011
Seven Independent Baptist Japanese churches joined together for the annual Youth Camp for these three days.  This year the camp grounds were located in Tanbata area of Hyogo prefecture.  It was about an hour's drive northeast from our church.  It is a beautiful camp area in the mountains with running water going through it.  The local farmers use it for irrigation so we were admonished not to throw anything in the streams. The giant riverbed, however, was dried up.  Maybe in the summer it runs.

The grounds itself have a small pond and a flock of ducks (or is it a gaggle?) and the lone mascot--a wild boar in a cage.  He looked so sad being cooped up in a cement-floor cage...no dirt around at all. 

A very bored boar.This video was actually the last day of camp.  The brothers sang the theme song Press On! with the teens from Senri New Town Baptist Church in Osaka. 
The Herbster Trio, Matthew, Mark and Mike, were the camp speakers; each spoke twice and challenged hearts every time.  Each speaker emphasized the importance of serving God when you are young and letting God use you to impact or influence the people around you.  Good, solid, Bible preaching.   Several teens made decisions to follow Christ and put Him first.  On the last day, five of boys indicated they were called to be preachers.  They range in age from 17 to 25 and one will be starting Bible college in a couple of weeks.  Let us pray this is the start of a revival here in Japan. 

The group activities were a blast!  We first played volleyball with a huge ball and it was so fun. It did hurt the wrists the only time I got to hit it.  The kids loved it.  We had a Blue Team headed by Mark and the Red Team headed by Mike.  The Blue Team won that contest. 

  Big Ball Volleyball

We next played a game called Tagalot.  One team is sitting back-to-back in chairs spaced about 2-3 feet apart down a long line.  The other team is to run between the chairs trying not to get tagged by a baton the sitting team uses.  The baton holder cannot go through the chairs buy has to hand it to someone seated and then take his/her place.  The new baton holder tries to tag the runner and it goes until that happens.  It was tons of fun and very tiring.  The Red Team won that one. 
  Tagalot
The second day after the morning service we went to the ball field and played Three Ball Baseball.  The object is that three members at a time of the batting throw or kick a ball to the outfield.  Then they run the bases trying to make it to home plate before all three balls are thrown to three people from the opposing team and put into a bucket near home plate.  If the runners stop at second and third they get points and 5 points for making it home; no points for standing on first base.  The Blue Team one that one.
 Three Ball Baseball
After the evening service there was a Bible Quiz game of sorts.  The questions were all about the messages the Herbsters preached.  The first one to stand got to answer the question and if it was correct, they got to play a computer game called Sorry, Pig!  The winner could choose different colored circles and if what was behind it was an animal with a number, they got points, or double or triple points.  They could choose to stop or try again.  The animals kept moving around so it was not certain where the Sorry, Pig was.  If you got that, you lost all your points.  The Red team won that one.  

The last game of camp was dodge ball. The Red Team won Dodge Ball. Actually this photo is from the Red side looking at the Blue Team. 

We appreciate the Herbster Trio taking time out of their schedules to minister to us here in Japan.  They were a blessing to everyone; their singing was superb and harmony was great.  They have such a happy, fun, positive attitude about Christ and life in general that we hope it is contagious to the Japanese who tend to take a more serious and fatalistic approach to life.  We pray God will use their time here in a great way so that the church can see an increase for God's Glory.   Thank you for coming! 

These two videos are of the Herbster brothers singing in Japanese.   They did a good job!

Mike and Mark singing Be Not Afraid in Japanese. 

This next one is the Herbsters with Isaiah on the left and Elijah Ogawa on the right singing It Is Enough. 

Friday, March 25, 2011

 Henry and Mark Herbster

This is the final day of the Bible Conference.  Mark preached this morning from Ezekiel 3:17 about being a watchman whose task it is to see and speak.  He is not to save the city, but to warn of danger.  The gospel tells us everyone is to preach the gospel, simply proclaiming what God has done for you.   Tell people they need to change course to go to heaven.  We are accountable for our own obedience.  It is not just the job of the pastors and missionaries.   Mark was encouraging in this message as he got many excited about sharing the gospel. 

Mike preached second on 2 Cor. 11:15 on being masters of ministry.
1)  The joy of ministry is to see people we have led to the Lord serve God on their own, continuing with strength and power.  2) the duty of ministry is to spend and be spent.  Keep telling the gospel to a lost and dying world.  3) the disappointment of ministry is true, but we need to press on  and keep telling people how to get saved.  It is not our job to save a person; we cannot.  It is out job to warn and tell and God will do the saving.  

At the end of the morning service, Matt told how he came to write Lord Send Laborers.  As he toured many foreign countries his heart was broken for the lost people and the song was written as a prayer for God to work in Matt's heart and send him to the foreign field if that is what God wanted.  He then led the congregation in singing that song in Japanese.  It was a very fitting end to a wonderful week.  

At the graduation service in the evening, several special songs were sung.  Matt Herbster preached the message.  First though, he gave Kato-san a Wilds Camp T-shirt.  He said it was the smallest one they had (it was too big for Kato-san).  Mind you, Matthew is 6'6" and Kato-san is about a foot shorter.  

Anyway the message was from Deut. 8:11 and warning us to beware not to forget God.  We forget God by acting if sin never happened.  when we live contrary to God's commands it means we have forgotten God.  When we are proud, we have forgotten God.  2 Tim. 10:17 says let him that glory, glory in the Lord.  We forget God when we are consumed with other gods.  Lastly, we need to teach our children, the next generation, about God or they will forget and that generation will be lost.  

Kato-san received his diploma and everyone stood and clapped.   Afterwards, there was a reception at the Bible School.

 

Next week we go to spring camp and will hear the Herbster brothers encourage the teens to stand for God.   May it be a blessing to everyone going.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Isaiah Ogawa leading Saved by the Blood of the Crucified One---one of my favorites in both languages.

This morning Kato-san, the only graduate this year, preached from Isaiah 55:5.  I did not take notes in my Bible, so I do not remember what he spoke about.  His delivery was good and he will be effective as an assistant pastor at his home church. 

The singing was great, the spirit is good and God is moving.

Mark Herbster preached the second message this morning from Genesis 39 about Joseph and fleeing temptation.  He faithfully served his master and had a good testimony. Satan wants to ruin our testimony any way he can.  The time of temptation is when we are strong.   The truth of God is persistent, persuasive.  Joseph repeatedly told Potiphar's wife NO, daily.  Joseph had decided in advance that to sin against God would be worse than doing any sin.  He recognized the consequences of disobedience.  "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"  When the wife finally caught him, he fled and left quickly.  Run as fast as you can in the other direction.    Joseph is an excellent example of putting God first and asking Him to help in time of need.

Ron White preached in the evening service from Isaiah 43:18 which admonishes us not to remember the former things, neither consider the things of old. 

1)   The promise is for now.  God is getting ready to do something.  We are not to be discouraged about what has not happened in the past, as far as the work here in Japan is concerned.  God is ready to do a new thing.  Phil. 3:13 and 2 Cor. 5:17.

At the end of the service, all the graduates of KIBBS who were in the service sang the final medley.  They had NO practice.  Jenny Harris played piano and Ron led.  

March 23, 2011

David Harris interpreted for Mike Herbster

The first to preach this morning was Mike Herbster, the younger of the twins,  who preached from 2 Tim. 6:11-12 about being a man of God. 

First we must flee sin—the danger of sin—stay away from it.

Second, follow the things of God:  righteousness and godliness, faith, patience, endurance.  Thirdly, fight the good fight of faith with the right spirit, follow His steps. 

Matthew Herbster also preached again this morning out of 2 Tim. 3:10-17.  The point was that we should expect persecution as a Christian.  Paul admonished Timothy to remember what he was taught by his mom and grandmom.

Persecution involves these:

1)   Purity is given by God  2 Peter 1:20

2)   It is Profitable, beneficial and valuable  Isaiah 55:5

3)   Purpose of persecution is to make us perfect

This is the theme song of the Conference written by Matthew Herbster.   It is called Lord Send Laborers.  It is a bit shaky as I was trying to keep Pastor Hiraoka in the camera site.  He is a very energetic song leader! 

March 22, 2011

This week is the KIBBS Bible Conference.  The Herbster Trio are the speakers at this annual event at the Bible School at which Henry teaches English.  This year there is one graduate, Kato-san.  The videos I will upload are just of some of the music sung there, all in Japanese, of course.  You will probably recognize the hymns.

The oldest of the three brothers, Matthew, spoke this evening with Ron White translating.  His text is Nehemiah 1:1-4.  A brief outline follows.   The main point was now is not the time to stand still or retreat.  

1)   Compassionate man.  Nehemiah saw the need of rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. He was a man of prayer and supplication.  When he was told of the condition of Jerusalem, he wept.

         

         

2)   Consistent man.  2:1  As the king’s cupbearer he was never sad in front of him.  The king took notice and asked the reason.  Then Nehemiah told him and God moved on the king’s heart and he provided what was needed for the rebuilding, plus safe passage to Jerusalem.

3)   Courageous man.  Somebody needs to do it.  He had a plan and put it to work. Even in the face of constant opposition from two people in particular, he did not quit and kept working until the work was done.

4)   Contageous man.  He was excited about the work.  He started praising God.  He was persistent.  His excitement got everyone motivated.

   The title of the song is Keep the Race Before Us sung my Mark, Matthew and Mike Herbster

Thursday, February 17, 2011

We all left about 8:45 am for camp, packed up our laundry to do there, took the lunch, finished curtains and shop vac for cleaning.  

We stopped for a few minutes at the beach they use for camp swimming.  It was clean, private and had tons of shells and coral washed on the sand.  Some of the clam shells were really heavy, others were buried in the sand and could not be dug out by hand.  It was a beautiful beach and we got some small things to take home. 

 There was alot to do at camp.  While the guys started the painting, I got the laundry going and did a couple of loads.  Terri and I then went and put the curtains up in the guest room and large dorm room.  They turned out rather nice.  
   
We got Sara to vacuum the floor downstairs.  There was lots of dust.  Dan emptied the container two or three times.  Anyway, while she did that, Terri and I dusted things and picked up stuff and took stuff to the shed and generally straightened up.  Then I got all the laundry folded and put in the van to take back.  Then I located a scraper and started to scrap up the dried mud on the floor of the new area.  That took a couple of hours total. 

After lunch Terri and I tackled a room upstairs and sorted sheets and towels and put them in proper containers for use in the summer.  That room got cleaned up nicely.


We left there about 5:30 and returned to the church about 7:00 pm.  Later we went to the Gardners for a marvelous dinner of baked spaghetti.  Different and delicious.    Then it was back to church for the night.  

 The ocean

 Okinawan family tombs. There are thousands of these all over the island.

 Coral and sea shells on the beach

 The walls were painted ivory and the ceiling white. 

Friday, February 18, 2011

It was nice to sleep in a quiet neighborhood--no music blaring or extremely loud motorcycles at 4:00 a.m.   The Gardners live in a quiet neighborhood except for the military plane overhead sometimes, but none late at night.

We got up a little later than usual, had breakfast and then went out to China Pete's to exchange Sara's cup.  The lady refunded her money and was happy to do it.  We then walked to the Christian book store to find something else for Grandpa.  Sara took her time deciding but finally picked a small wood cross that would stand on a desk, and a couple of other small items.  She insisted on paying for these herself and conducting the transaction with the cashier.  She is learning.  

The guys came back after 4:00 p.m. and we got ready to go to another church tonight.  Dan drove us over to the Stearns home where we met the family and had a very simple, delicious dinner.  About 6:45 we went over to the church.  Henry played the piano for the service to give Mrs. Stearns a break.  I think there were about 13-15 in church.  Henry preached as well.  After service, Pastor drove us back to the church.  

Tomorrow we will go to camp for the day. 

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

It was nice to sleep in a quiet neighborhood--no music blaring or extremely loud motorcycles at 4:00 a.m.   The Gardners live in a quiet neighborhood except for the military plane overhead sometimes, but none late at night.


We got up a little later than usual, had breakfast and then went out to China Pete's to exchange Sara's cup.  The lady refunded her money and was happy to do it.  We then walked to the Christian book store to find something else for Grandpa.  Sara took her time deciding but finally picked a small wood cross that would stand on a desk, and a couple of other small items.  She insisted on paying for these herself and conducting the transaction with the cashier.  She is learning.  


The guys came back after 4:00 p.m. and we got ready to go to another church tonight.  Dan drove us over to the Stearns home where we met the family and had a very simple, delicious dinner.  About 6:45 we went over to the church.  Henry played the piano for the service to give Mrs. Stearns a break.  I think there were about 13-15 in church.  Henry preached as well.  After service, Pastor drove us back to the church.  


Tomorrow we will go to camp for the day. 

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Today the guys went back to camp and Terri came over mid-morning. Dan called and said they were thinking of spending the night at camp in order to get more done; he is to call later about the final decision.


Since Terri was feeling better we decided to do a little shopping then Sara and I would spend the night at her house and have a "girls' night."   The guys had decided to stay at camp.   We did some shopping at the San-A mall where a jeweler was located.  He fixed Sara's new watch for just 525 yen and it fits nicely now.  


After we got back to the house in the afternoon we watched two of the movies in the Love Comes Softly series.   It is one of those tear-jerkers.  I read the books years and years ago as Janette Oke was popular then.  These were made by Michael Landon, Junior, and quite good.  

Monday, February 14th, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day from cool, wet Okinawa.  It is again overcast and rainy here today.  Terri came over about 10:30 a.m. and left us some goodies.  She was doing worse than yesterday, so I told her she needed to just go home and rest.  We did not need to go any place today, so Sara and I stayed here at the church.  I took a walk to the post office around the corner then walked a couple of kilometers around the streets near the church.  There was a crew of men that were laying asphalt on a parking lot next to a new apartment building behind the church.  I watched them pour it and flatten it starting about 4:00 p.m.  By this time they were over half finished and it started to rain again.  They finished about 6:00 p.m.  That was the excitement for the day.

 About 4:45 p.m.

Finished

 One of the Japanese ladies from church invited us to dinner at the same restaurant we went to last week with Dan and Terri only this time Terri did not go.  She insisted we all get steak so we obliged.  It was delicious.  

On the way back to the church Henry got an email from Noseh-san saying that Kobe had four inches of snow!  It was clogging up traffic terribly, like snow usually does.  We missed it, but it could not have been that much colder than it is here.  Anyway, February is being February here in Japan.  

Sunday, February 13, 2011

We went to the Faith Baptist Church here in Okinawa.  Henry spoke in the 10:30 a.m. service while Terri, Sara and I went upstairs to the small group of kids for junior church time.  There were a total of 22 people in church, including the 5 Americans.   Then we had lunch in the fellowship hall and  Henry preached at the 2:00 p.m. service.  There were 9 in that service; two of which did not come in the morning services.

We then went over to Maranatha Baptist Church, a military work started back in about 1968.  That church has supported us for probably 20 years and it is the first time we have reported to this church.  Henry showed the presentation then preached the message on A Cup of Cold Water out of Matthew 11 (it was about the 5th time I've heard it).  It is still a good message about service God by giving a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple,to someone you don't like, and to those that hate you.

 

The chart on the right wall there indicates the church has just two more payments on their property and they will be debt free!  That is such a good place to be.  


After the service, Pastor Monteith and his family took us and Dan to the A&W Root Beer place where we ate a late dinner. Good food. (hope I have not gained too much weight while down here).  It was good to talk to Bob and Tammy.  We saw them at West Coast last May and again in June at BIMI's 50th Anniversary.  

Tomorrow Henry and Dan will head back to camp for more work.  Terri will not go as she has a cold, so Sara and I will stay at the church. 

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln and my friend Glenice in Australia!

The day was cold again here in tropical Okinawa.  I don't think we really got warmed up.  Anyway, we Wards did some cleaning here at the church building  like mopping floors and cleaning the restrooms.  It smelled really good about 10:30 when the Gardners came over.  

Dan and Henry passed out church tracts and made some visits.  Terri worked on her Sunday School lesson and practiced the piano.  

We made a visit to China Pete's for some gifts then had a hot stew dinner.  Now it is time for rest before Sunday Services.  Henry will be preaching at two different churches tomorrow.   

Friday, February 11, 2011

Dan and Henry left for camp about 8:40 a.m.    
It was actually cold in Okinawa today.  It had rained hard overnight and was overcast all day; the temperature was in the lower 50's.  I needed my jacket and mittens when I took a walk around the neighborhood.  The wind was blowing hard sometimes, so that made it seem much colder.  I saw people with heavy winter coats and hats.  When the sun does not shine down here, it is really cold.  Anyway, not like Tokyo or Washington, DC, but cold for the tropics.  

Terri came over about 11:00 and we worked on things for Sunday. 

After Henry and Dan came back, we went to a local restaurant located on a new golf course where we had an early Valentine's dinner.  The men had steak, Terri and I had the fish platter, and Sara ate chicken fingers and fries.  It was a lot of food.  Delicious.

When we got back to church, we were having something hot to drink and Sara wanted to play the Chocolaopoly Game.  It is similar to Monopoly only everything is chocolate related.  Fun facts to know and tell about chocolate:
What is the holiday that has the most chocolate sales?  

We finished about nine and left the game up in case we get a chance to play again before Sunday.  

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Boulders that rolled down the hill

This week and next we will probably do a couple of overnights out there to get as much done as possible,  Henry will help Dan with the construction, mudding, painting and whatever else.  Terri and I will clean and make some curtains for the rooms.  Sara will help where she can and read the hymn books.  

Henry doing some mudding.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

This morning Dan and Henry took off about 8:00 a.m. and went to camp to do more mudding and other stuff.  Meanwhile, Terri came over later and we ate lunch then went out in search of curtain fabric for the rooms at camp.  We went to a place called Shalimar, House of 66 Cents.  It is a fabric store in two buildings.  There was a variety of Japanese prints by Quilt Gate.com, a Japanese company.  The prints and colors were so gorgeous.  The cotton prices were very reasonable so I bought about two meters total of three or four fabrics.  I told Terri I did not need to be in this store.  :-)

She found a neutral fabric for the curtains also at a reasonable  price.   We saw some items made from waterproof fabric--a small purse and a folded book cover that was really spiffy and looked easy to do.  Maybe someday.

Later we returned to church and the men came back so we had dinner about 5:30 p.m.  There was a 6:00 p.m. English class in which a Mr. Miyashita came.  He was saved last August; his wife has been a Christian for a long time.  Henry then preached the service at  7:00 p.m.  He preached out of First Corinthians chapter 2.  

It was a long day, but we did get a lot done.  Tomorrow we will be cutting and sewing curtains.     It is a nice warm 70 degrees down here.  I am thawing out.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Dan and Henry left for camp about 8:40 a.m.    
It was actually cold in Okinawa today.  It had rained hard overnight and was overcast all day; the temperature was in the lower 50's.  I needed my jacket and mittens when I took a walk around the neighborhood.  The wind was blowing hard sometimes, so that made it seem much colder.  I saw people with heavy winter coats and hats.  When the sun does not shine down here, it is really cold.  Anyway, not like Tokyo or Washington, DC, but cold for the tropics.  

Terri came over about 11:00 and we worked on things for Sunday. 

After Henry and Dan came back, we went to a local restaurant located on a new golf course where we had an early Valentine's dinner.  The men had steak, Terri and I had the fish platter, and Sara ate chicken fingers and fries.  It was a lot of food.  Delicious.

When we got back to church, we were having something hot to drink and Sara wanted to play the Chocolaopoly Game.  It is similar to Monopoly only everything is chocolate related.  Fun facts to know and tell about chocolate:
What is the holiday that has the most chocolate sales?  

We finished about nine and left the game up in case we get a chance to play again before Sunday.  

Sara in front of shark Jaws

We left about 2:00 p.m. and ate lunch in the van on the way to camp which was about 45 minutes from the aquarium located in the mountains.  Before we got there we went up a mountain to see the cherry blossoms in bloom.  The trees in Kobe are a lighter pink and bloom in April.  These were very pretty.




Dan has added an extension to the main building.  Henry helped do the mudding.  Terri and I cleaned upstairs.  There are three large rooms with bunk beds and room enough for about 35 campers.  They have had as many as 50 for family camp so they put futon out on the floors.   Each room has its own shower and toilet plus portable racks to hang clothes.  The bunks are all hand made and sturdy.

The camp sits on the edge of a hill and probably is about 2-3 acres all told.  They have had two retaining walls installed.  However, one was not done right so when it rained heavily the large boulders rolled down the hill.  Now that needs to be redone.  
Boulders that rolled down the hill

This week and next we will probably do a couple of overnights out there to get as much done as possible,  Henry will help Dan with the construction, mudding, painting and whatever else.  Terri and I will clean and make some curtains for the rooms.  Sara will help where she can and read the hymn books.  

Henry doing some mudding.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Today we took a flight from Kobe to Okinawa where we will spend the next 11 days helping the Gardners do some work at their camp.  We took a Skymark Airline flight which lasted about 2 hours.  The entire way down over the ocean we were above cloud cover.  As we approached Okinawa, it was still hazy, but we landed safely and deplaned out on the tarmac.  Passengers were loaded onto buses and taken to the terminal.  We got in about 30 minutes later than scheduled due to a delay in departure.

Three years ago they put up a steel-framed building for their church called Shinko Baputisuto Kyoukai  or Faith Baptist Church in English.   Henry and Joe flew down then to help out a couple of weeks; Joe stayed a month.  It is a nice square structure with classrooms, offices and a guest room on the second floor.  The first floor is half church and half kitchen/restrooms.

It has been nice visiting with Dan and Theresa, also called Terry.  It is also nice being in warmer weather and we may finally get over the flu from the past two weeks. 

The first photo is the wing of the Skymark Airline.  The second is approaching Okinawa.  The last is a display inside the terminal near baggage claim.