I left my house in Cleveland on Thursday morning around 7am and after 24 hours of travel, landed in Okinawa last night, Friday, at 9pm. Do the math... I lost like 14 hours! That just shows how far ahead Japan is ;-) Jet lag has been brutal... woke up at 2 am this morning... and my goal is to stay awake until 10 tonight. Can't do it.
Okinawa, Japan has quite a history in my book! I came to this very island in July of 2003 with Teen Mania and have loved it ever since. The 3 weeks of intensive ministry I had that month was really a turning point in my life - it was on this very island that I dedicated my life to the Lord for the missions field, and I'm back! Being back has very quickly refreshed my love for the people of Japan and although the future is so so blurry, the mystery of it seems so exciting again like it was in 2003.
I'm coming back to Okinawa this year with very different connections and purposes. In 2003, it was through Teen Mania and Kadena Community Church. In 2008, I come because I was referred to Okinawa Christian Schools International's (OCSI) English in Action program by Nancy Geischen, the regional representative who came to TFC during our missions conference. The crazy thing is, I found out over dinner tonight, that those connections are also connected! I hope I don't lose you here.... Katie, an OCSI teacher I'm teaching with for the next 3 weeks is originally from Oregon. She worked as a Teen Mania intern for a year and was the girl who referred Diane and Keith (Okinawa military peeps who lead teams to Kenya through TM) to Kadena Community Church who organized the 2003 Teen Mania trip that I ended up going on! So tomorrow morning, I get to go to Kadena Community Church again to hopefully see a lot of my team mates from the 2003 Teen Mania trip that I haven't seen for 5 years! Either Okinawa is a really really small island... or God is huge!!
www.ocsi.org/
I spent the day today getting adjusted. Went to the bank... the grocery store... (I discovered that shopping for one person is extremely difficult and in the long run, expensive! In Japan too! Gotta love the single life..). My accomodations here are in the missionary apartments. I have a 3 bedroom for myself since all the missionaries are gone for the summer. I'm not complaining now, but I'm sure I'll get lonely very soon. Oh, and I might mention that I open my curtains to blue sky and ocean every morning with a 10 minute walk to it! I spent the afternoon today ruining my Old Navy flip flops walking on the coral reef observing see urchins and crabs. I frickin' love this island!!!
Starting Monday, everyday from 8-3 Katie and I begin the English in Action program. Every week, a new set of 20 kids (2nd-5th grade) are getting dropped off from the local area (some even from Tokyo). We have the same schedule each week and the objective is to teach English through the Gospel. So we're starting out with creation and teaching vocabulary out of that... Max Lucado's You Are Special with star crafts afterwards... games... games... and more games... pretty much, FUN. ALL of these kids come from non-Christian homes, so please keep us in your thoughts and prayers that the Gospel would penetrate their hearts each week and somehow it would be taken back to their homes.
No photos this time.. my apologies. I soon will plaster this page with aqua blue shots of the ocean to smear it in your face. No worries. LOVE YOU!
Hannah
1 comment:
Oh Hammah! You're amazing! I'm so excited for you and the work God is doing through you!!! Enjoy TESOL! make the Crosb proud!!!!
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