Mission Okinawa Video -Beautiful!

Edwin and Linda's pastors son made this video of our missions trip to Okinawa for their church. It brought me to tears! Grab a tissue!

Church service at CC in Okinawa

Here's Pastor Tim and Trevor translating for him at a regular Sunday morning service at Calvary Chapel Church in Okinawa. We were so blessed to be able to worship with this awesome family in Okinawa. When I lived in Okinawa as a new Christian I was always amazed at how many churches there were in Okinawa, but the American churches stuck to Americans and the Okinawan churches were only Okinawans. I always thought how special it would be to have everyone together, worshiping together. It was awesome to find this CC church doing exactly this! I thank God for them!

Sherry Pierce's Okinawa Report

My beautiful fellow team mate to Okinawa has written up her Okinawa Report. You can view it here.

Praise the Lord!

Interview with Yui..Part 1 and 2

Here is Edwin and I interviewing Yui. This was such a beautiful witnessing encounter and Yui was very receptive to the Gospel. It's mostly in Japanese, but part 2 at the end Edwin and I give a recap of the interview. You can read about the interview if you scroll down a bit.

Pray that Yui gets soundly saved.
Part 1

Part 2

More Okinawa Missions Trip Stories

Kissing the PIG!!!! EEEEKKK!!! We visited the fish market and they have real pig heads as they sell the pig heads for eating! Linda and Sherry wanted nothing to do with the pig, but leave it to Edwin and I to gravitate to a decapitated pig! LOL!

Kissy kissy! Snort!

Edwin! The pig doesn't want to eat his own hoof!!!

More Okinawa Missions Trip Stories

Here's some series of Curved Illusions pics. These were such a HUGE hit in Okinawa! Here Josh shows a guy and then he turns around and does it for Josh..and Josh acted so surprised! lol....

Dave's turn!

Edwin's turn!

Josh's turn again! In this pic you also see how the team, including the wonderful brother in the orange hat, Joe from CC, as we stormed around this market place doing the Curved Illusions! It was so much fun!
Donna's Turn!!

More Okinawa Missions Trip Stories

Here's some pics showing folks reading the tracts, including one man who got out a magnifying glass to read it!

More Okinawa Missions Trip Stories

Here's a man named Higa-san who I spent about 2 hours witnessing to at the Koinonia Cafe. With me is Trevor who attends CC and praise God he was there to help me! Trevor was on his way home when he felt a need to one more time walk around the cafe and even though I really didn't know him, I knew he spoke fluent Japanese as he translated Pastor Tims sermon the Sunday before, I reached out and caught his sleeve and asked him to help me. What a miracle from God again! This is why he wasn't supposed to leave just yet! Higa-san has read one too many books in every sect of religion you can imagine. He was asking so many questions and he kept telling me "I don't understand why He would save me...I can understand why He would save others, but not me" Oh how sad to hear him say this! Trevor and I showed him scripture after scripture, and finally we just prayed! Higa-san continued coming to church and the cafe, he was there for every event as well..including the hula outreach we did. Pray for Higa-san to be set free!

More Okinawa Missions Trip Stories

In this picture you will see a beautiful witnessing encounter with a precious girl named Yui. Yui agreed to do a video interview with Edwin, and I would translate and Josh was taping. This turned out to be an incredible divine appointment from God! When Edwin asked her if she thought she would go to heaven, Yui said matter of factly, No, I am going to hell because I have disobeyed my mother and have given my mother much grief! We were stunned! Edwin continued witnessing to her and eventually I kinda took over as I couldn't translate everything Edwin was saying. To make a long interview short, Yui was so influenced by a Mormon doctrine, she felt there was no hope for her as she was too bad to go to Heaven! I am not kidding you when I say there are so many that have been witnessed to by Mormons in Okinawa! Saints, this shouldn't be! Anyway, Yui was so grateful to hear the good news of the Gospel. She now had hope! She could be saved! At one point towards the end she said to me, "I must pray! I must pray!" We encouraged her to get hooked up to a godly church and we asked her where she lived and miraculously Yui lives in Ginowan City, exactly where Calvary Chapel Church is!
Please pray for Yui! She didn't come to church while we were there, however, about a week after we met her, Edwin saw her near the church and he was able to wave to her. We have this interview on video and as soon as I figure out how to get the video onto my new puter I will upload it somewhere so everyone can see it.

More Okinawa Missions Trip Stories

Here's Linda and I witnessing to what we called a mini-open air with these school girls. Linda started handing them tracts and one girl asked what these were for, so I told them it has a million dollar question, and I asked them all if they thought they would go to heaven and one girl said very confidently Yes! and I asked her why and she put her two hands under her chin and said, "Because I am cute!" I turned and told Linda what she said and we both laughed as that was a first for us! So I started witnessing to them and in the second picture you will see the girl on my right look convicted...well she was! She was very convicted throughout the entire witnessing encounter. Some of the other girls were typical teenagers and laughing and cracking jokes, but this witnessing encounter was obviously for this one girl. At one point she looked like she would just break down and cry.

More Okinawa Missions Trip Stories

Here's another picture of Josh and some school boys. Josh had just done the Curved Illusions tract and one of the boys after Josh was done grabbed him and hugged him! It surprised Josh as typically Okinawan people are very shy and not huggy or anything. So it really took him by surprise. We were cracking up! They all were excited to receive the tracts and the "suteki manga" (This Is Your Life-Chick tract). Pray for these boys as you look at their faces. We don't know what happens to the hundreds of seeds that were spread in Okinawa, but we do know we worship and serve a Great and Mighty God Who has the power to save to the uttermost! May He be glorified and may the Okinawan people bow before the mighty name of Jesus!

More Stories from our Okinawa Missions Trip.

We had a blast! So much to type up and share! I don't even know where to start! By the 3rd day I was saying we should have carried a recorder or something so that we could record all the conversations after they happened because we were even forgetting the divine encounters, there was just so many! Here's a team pic..also pictured with us is Christina Duran from Living Waters who introduced us to our host church. Starting from the left in the red shirt is Edwin Lo, Linda Essary, Christina Duran, Joshua Brevick, David Redondo in the back, bottom is me and Sherry Pierce. Our host church was Calvary Chapel Church, Ginowan, Okinawa. We can't thank them enough!The Okinawan people were very receptive to the Gospel. Many had never even heard of Jesus, some have maybe heard of Him but had no clue what He was all about. What an honor it was for us to be the the first people to share with them!

One of my most memorable conversations was with a 71 yr old man named Suzuki-san. One of us handed him a MDB and a Chick tract. Can't remember who. Linda started talking to him first I believe, then I was called over to talk to him more. Suzuki-san was so precious! He was asking so many questions, he said he had been visiting Mormon churches but he had never heard the gospel before. When I took him through the law he realized now why he needed the Saviour. He said he would read a bible and so we gave him a bible. We have pictures of me and Suzuki-san looking through scriptures together. He was so hungry to know more! I told him to stay away from Mormon churches and JW churches. He was taking notes as I was speaking and he wrote in big letters, NO MORMON or JW churches! I was amazed to watch him slowly start to understand the message and to see him thirsting for more and more. How precious he was and he is 71! Wow!


Here's 4 pics in order. This will show you the typical reaction we received from doing the Curved Illusions tract. Here is Joshua and Edwin with these 3 young girls. Watch their faces. And as many times, they would end up doing the trick for us! It was the greatest ice breaker in Okinawa.


And here's a funny pic of me doing the Curved Illusions...

Quote of the Month

"Christ never fails of success. Christ never undertakes to heal any but he makes a certain cure, 'Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost,' (John 17:12). Other physicians can only cure them that are sick, but Christ cures them that are dead, 'And you hat he quickened who were dead' (Eph 2:1). Christ is a physician for the dead, of every one whom Christ cures, it may be said, 'He was dead, and is alive again' (Luke 15:32)."

THOMAS WATSON

Back from our Okinawa Missions Trip

All I can is WOW! Glory to God! What an incredible trip we had spreading the Gospel to the island of Okinawa, Japan. There are so many praise reports, glory stories, divine appointments and not to mention a wonderful new family in Christ with Calvary Chapel Church Ginowan.
We will be writing up a report with pics and making a photo video soon.
Here's a few pics of the trip. Still jet lagged so will write more soon. Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible. We are changed forever and look forward to returning to my island.

In this picture Donna had witnessed to these 2 young men, Shingo with the white hat and Totsuyama. That's Josh in the middle. They were so receptive to the Gospel, they took Bibles and asked if they could take my pic with them as they wanted to remember the "lady who gave them the beautiful message of truth" This was only 1 of MANY conversations with the Japanese/Okinawans.


Here's me with a new sister in Christ, Reiko-san. I was able to encourage her in her walk with Christ as she had questions about totally surrendering her life. She is so precious. She is a single mom of 5 kids. Pray for Reiko to be strengthened and encouraged as she walks with the Lord and trains her children in Christ.