Tonaki jima

Tonaki!
_____________________________________________

Everyone farms here, even just a little.
_____________________________________________

Most of the houses look like this! No western style here!
_____________________________________________

Check out this bug! It was about the size of my thumb! These things sell for about 50-60 bucks on okinawa and the kids keep them as pets. They train them to fight and knock over the other beetle. Kids don't really get to have cats or dogs, so big bugs like this are the new indoor pets.

_____________________________________________

Rusty was the donkey lol.
_____________________________________________

This was our church service. Throw up a tent, sing some songs, get into the word.
_____________________________________________

Our group gettin ready.

_____________________________________________

Craft time!
_____________________________________________

This was the alter call!
_____________________________________________

We're back guys! Still alive. Our adventure on Tonaki Jima has come to an end and we return suntanned. Rusty and I, along with 'Manda, Eder and Joel went on the late boat saturday morning. (we stayed back one extra night because we all have ministry on base and didn't want to cancel) We arrived on Tonaki around 10am and we received a warm welcome from the rest of the students who arrived on Friday morning. Thank you all who where praying about the water, it was the smoothest i had ever seen it. It was as if our Ferry was driving on a gigantic pond the whole way (2 hours!) This was in stark comparison to last semester when most of us spent the 2 hours puking! But anyways, shortly after we arrived we took a hike to see the island and then ate lunch. God has created such beautiful places, i wish i could show them to you all.

_____________________________________________

Tonaki is a small island off the coast of Okinawa, Japan. It's population is about 400 people and it has only 1 christian who takes residence there. No churches, as everyone is primarily bhudist and those who aren't are Shinto. Here is a link so some condensed facts of the island.

Get some of the energy out!

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

Friday afternoon was the beginning of our Outreach to the kids. The adults won't come to any outreaches, but the kids come in droves to play games and learn some English. We played a detective game with the kids. They interviewed 3 characters (Nicodemus, John the Baptist and Ponchas Pilate) to find out who the mystery man was. Saturday we had a play for them to find out it was Jesus. It was great and we had so much fun getting everyone in bible costumes.

_____________________________________________

Everyone did a great job and many of the kids raised their hands to have Jesus be their best friend. Please pray for these kids.

The only christian influence they will receive is our group and Izulu (the christian on the island) but he is limited to what he can do without compromising his job. Please also pray for him, that he may grow in the Lord when we are not there to encourage him.

Even tho we just got back, please pray for our next trip. Next week Friday we will all be shipping out to South Korea for more ministry.