Halfway

Hey everyone, we've made it halfway into the semester! We've learned a lot and have so much to look forward to. Classes are going great and we are still learning so much and look forward to continue learning everything that our classes have to offer.
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We had Friday nights, Equipped again this last Friday and we really had a blast again. The Lord is completely blessing the ministry that is going on there.
Also, just to let you all have insight of how the night is going on: We first open up with a small ice-breaker, there are usually kids showing up that a lot of us might not know, then we have Manda Drew, who has been completely blessing us in leading us in worship -- lead worship! After worship we get right into the Word, we've been going through the book of John and are going through it systematically. After Word, we have snack and then we've been playing "Hide and seek Tag." It has been a lot of fun and the kids try to scare each other a lot while trying to be sneaky and get to base before those who are it tag you out! However, on Friday night, I was being chased by one of the Bible College students, I tried to turn, but I was running to fast so I had to stop myself from running into the wall by using my hands. Well...the wall was made out of some really weak stuff, so my hand ended up going through the wall, it was pretty funny, except for the fact that i made a hole...Everything turned out alright though and no one got hurt!

We (me and the leaders who help me) are also constantly getting new ideas and vision on how to better the ministry that is going on there. Please continue to pray for fresh vision and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and for His continual work in all of our lives.
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Some things to keep in prayer:

• Next weekend we are headed out to Tonakijima, an island with a 2 hour ferry ride away, we are going to have some awesome ministry there while we camp out on the shores!
• A couple weeks after the Tonaki trip, most of the Bible College will be heading out to our short term Korea missions trip, please pray for safety, witnessing opportunities and that the Lord would prepare hearts to be harvested!
• A short time after the Korea missions trip, Japan has golden week which nearly everyone has off (adults too!), truly a golden week! During this time, we are going to have a worship conference at the church here, this is for the Japan Calvary Chapels.

Thanks so much for your unending support!

Thank You mom and dad!

We finally got it! Our long awaited package has arrived!
Look! it's full of american candy! All those things you tend to miss for no apparent reason! But also some really awesome medications and toiletry items!
I've also started learning the guitar, so my dad threw in some sweet pics and a tuner than teaches you cords also! You guys are really awesome and we appreciate how you guys are keeping us full of candy! (so do the other students, because we shared the robin eggs and creamsavers with them ^_^)

Equipped Youth

Friday nights are our newest event of the week. Last week Rusty started up a youth group on Camp Kinser. The first week was small, but as you can tell, our second week exploded! It's been so amazing to see God bring the kids.
As we are expositionally going thru the book of John we are
hoping to make a real and
lasting impact on these kids.

God has been giving Rusty the vision to really equip these kids in the Word in the same way that we have been equipped for everything they will be going thru in their highschool years.
The youth group is a Jr. High youth group (it is the biggest age group that previously had no ministries) and these kids are still young enough to be impacted positively for Christ. We have a time of worship and bible study, and then we spend the rest of the night playing high activity games like hide-n-seek in the dark and our own version of "Infection!".

Please keep us (Rusty, Amber and 'Manda) in prayer as we are trying our best at something we don't know how to do, and for all these awesome kids. Please pray that the Lord would touch their hearts and show them it's cool to be a christian too!

a collection of pictures

The past 2 weeks have flown
by without much warning at all.
Here are some of the joyful pictures
that came from it!

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-the spearmans

smack down by the customs

Well I guess it happens to everyone, and it was just our time.
My mom decided to be a real sweet heart and send me and rusty a package filled with all sorts of snacks and reminders of home, but to our surprise, we didn't get a package but we got all this paperwork along with a warning of customs violation!


We're not in trouble or anything, and it's not really that big of a deal but as we can see in this bright and clearly marked flier, Beef Jerky is not allowed to
be shipped into japan.

Apparently from what I could gather from it, some sort of outbreak happen awhile ago with pigs and all packaged meat from america or canada has been labeled unsafe unless intentionally inspected by a customs officer. But because we just want our package, we decided to fill out the paper work to get it back to us.

We really just wanted our
care package, so we our only option
was to consent to incineration
of non-permitted articles
(the thought of which made pastor Tommy cry out because he wanted to snag a piece!).
Alas, we shall not have our beef jerky, but within a few days (hopefully!) we will receive the safe, un-life-threatening package!

what a beautiful life

These last few days have been a little gloomey around here. The sun has been behind the clouds and its been cold and rainy. But even tho sometimes that tends to stroke a mellow tone in our hearts, as christians we should be looking at it as a way that the Lord makes us quiet, especally in our hearts. At least, that is what i know it means to me. God has been moving my heart to quietness so i would like to share with you a few things he has reminded me of.

Although I am far away from home, and from my family I have been given a new home and so many new beautiful people to grow close to. I am living out the life I have always wanted to and the life I was designed to live. I can't believe it many times, and I am prone to wonder how long it will last. But even while I wonder how long I will get to live this way, I am so content. I understand more what it means to abide in the Lord. To make the Lord my life.


Everyday here in ginowan, we are doing ministry. We have no room for shallow christianity and we have no financial provisions for procrastonating. The Word of God, our bibles are our real and tangible guides and strengths. For so long I was seeing christians at church and christians at class, but now I see christians doing so much more. I see christians working. I see christians living. I see christians loving. People will always be people, I understand this, but I have never been in such a place of surrender to the Lord. We are all growing, but growing closer to the Lord has a sparkle that just growing in life does not carry and I see that in the eyes of these people I stand next to in ministry.

I would like to thank everyone who has prayed and supported rusty and I, it has put us and kept us in a place where we are seeing the Lord in ways we didn't even know how to ask for.
Please continue to pray for us and for the little island we call home now because it so despretly needs Jesus. Please remember they are a nation with no hope.

Laundry day!

Well every once and awhile it happens, we have to do laundry. I thought some of you may be wondering how we do it here in Okinawa! So here is a detailed, step-by-step picture demonstration!

First, we look for one of these guys! The sign says Coin Laundry, Bingo! (this one is our favorite so far, its a 2 min walk from the cafe!)

Then off we go with our biggest suitcase filled with dirty laundry. This is just the most efficient way of carrying it around. (notice how small this one is? Some are bigger, some are smaller!)

Alright, next is the washing machine! At this laundry station, its only 200円 for a full cycle! The machines are smaller than most American ones, but they also dont throw fits as often if you fill them very full, so it doesn't bother us much. ok....next!

Here are the dryers! They are huge machines!! But they are pricey! 100円 for 7 minuets. ($1/7min) So it's good so much can fit into one. We try to use as many as we can at once to cut down the price. We seperate all the things that take a long time to dry from the things that will take only a little while and try not to put in 7 more mins than we need! It's quite a game, but i think we just about have it figured out!

And lastly, our amazing laundry soap! It may be small, but it gets everything super clean! This bottle costs aboooout 280円 and will last us alllllmost the whole semester! (and it smells great!)

Mandas birthday

this is a few days late, but in the 5th 'manda turned 19! we had a cake and walked to Mister Donut! Happy birthday 'manda!_____________________________________

Japanese hair cut

Yesterday me, rusty, manda and tokito all went out to get us girls a haircut.
First we went to a salon i went to last semester, but it was closed. We learned some new information about japan too! Tuesdays are the normal day that salons take off, and mondays are barbershop off days. Who knew? Well we found out and unfortunately everywhere we went that was open, was about 3,500yen! A little to pricey for just a trim and a style! So onward we went, and soon we found a salon that was open, and would cut our hair for 2,000yen each. 20bucks is about right, so we decided to do it!

These ladies where the cutest thing. Tokito translated what he could (ありがとうートキトさん)but they where so chatty, and they really just assumed we understood what we said by their hand motions and pointing, so adorable. But at the same time, they understood how complicated japanese can be, so they knew we didnt catch most of what they where saying. They talked to us a lot about our hair, how we look like movie stars and our clothes. They where so cute and we had such a good time.

What do you think?


Mines so short, but Rusty gives it an enthusiastic thumbs up, so its prefect in my book!!


'Mandas isnt that different, but with the weather here, you need thin hair.
So she asked to thin it out and shape it around her face
alittle more, ちょかわいい〜〜マンダちゃん！So cute Manda!



Also, afterwards we spent some quality time at King Taco.
We got some ジュンーボーバーガ and ポーテートーフーライドー Jumbo hamburgers and french fries! What a day!

(the ladies also said something about okinawa being part of california...does any one know what their talking about? Please comment if you do...)

To Korea!

Hey everyone, it seems that me and Amber are going to be able to make it to Korea again this semester! We are not going because we have to renew our visas, but because the Lord brought in finances for us to go! We are really excited about being able to go and experience what the Lord has for us there! There will (not a confirmed final) be about twelve people going this trip.

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We have been taking a class (with a lot of others) this semester called Biblical Preaching/IBS (Inductive Bible Study). We are learning all about how to give a Word centered devotion and how to prepare a message. The focus is to learn the principles of how to deliver an exegetical study. We have both benefited so greatly from this class, and will continue to be.
(Exegesis (from the Greek ἐξηγεῖσθαι 'to lead out') is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. Biblical exegesis: The goal of Biblical exegesis is to find the meaning of the text which then leads to discovering its significance or relevance. (Via wikipedia.org))

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Well, not everything can be spelled right.



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Oh yeah, Tokito Escaped through Mordor.


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Thank you everyone for all of your prayer and support. God bless you in everything you do!

-The Spearmans

another monday adventure.

Today was such a beautiful day. Monday is our school adventure day. It's a chance to the new students to see more of the island. God gave us such a wonderful day for kicking around the northern part of the island. Although it was cloudy, it was the best for walking around outside. We visited a smaller island off of okinawa that you can drive to, and then we went to pineapple park, and then the aquarium! What a gift. I hope you can enjoy the pictures. Rusty and myself didn't go inside of the aquarium this time, but we got a chance to discover some beautiful coral during lowtide. The pictures dont do it justice for the colors and wide open spaces, but im sure you will be blessed.

-The Spearmans.

A giant owl!? *phew* good think it looks like he already ate!

Pineapple park! Do you see the little pineapples? We ate so much....



It's so amazing every time we go out to the water. Sometimes i forget how clear the water is and how good God is for making it.

The Land where ye shall never thirst....