Prayer Request

We would like to remind you to pray for our Visa Applications. We sent them in about 2 weeks ago now, and are still waiting for news on them. It can take anywhere from 1 week to 1 year to get a visa.
We are praying for somewhere in the middle! (preferably before the month is out!)

Please pray for the application process and that our paperwork will be sufficient for immigration.

















Rusty and I would like to go wherever God leads us and we know he will provide for us just as he has in the past. Again, thank you for all your prayer and support.

-The Spearmans

South Korea pictures.

Since blogger has a lack of space for pictures, i would like to make available to you my picture albums from Facebook.com

If you follow the links below you can get to all my pictures from Korea and see all the fun things we did, amazing food we ate and beautiful people we met.

Link 1

Link 2

Please pray for Calvary Chapel Daejeon and CC Cheonan. Churches are on every corner, but the church is dead, so pray that the solid teaching of the word will transform my genration to stand up and live a life for Jesus.

Prayer Request.

About a week ago, Amber's father went in for surgery. He is still recovering and is running into some complications.
Although the doctors are still very optimistic, he is extremely uncomfortable while he is waiting for his health to come back to him. Please pray that his discomfort will be shortened and he will be allowed to go home very soon.

ただいま。。。

We're home!!

We landed back safely in Japan yesterday afternoon! We had such an amazing trip with so much ministry and fellowship. What a blessing it was for Rusty and I to take some "time off" for a different ministry. Our hosts are so wonderful and they provide so much for us, it's a blessing!

I forgot my uploading cord, so i can't show you any pictures, but i will be home tonight and i will try to get some images up.

Thank you for your prayer and support!

South Korea!

In about a half hour we will be heading off to South Korea! We're taking a team of 14 people for a short term mission, 6 days to south korea.

Please pray for us as we will be organizing and preparing a lot of outreaches and bible studies!

Check out the e3missions blog for more updates!
Expect to see us back Wednesday.

-The Spearmans

Paperwork...

Please pray for me and Rusty as we are now beginning to fill out our paper work for 3 year missionary visas. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would show us what to fill out and how to word it.

Easter Oki Style!

Happy Easter!

On Sunday, all the bible college got up early to set up the sun rise service on the roof. Our early morning was well worth it as God created one of the most beautiful sun rises i have seen yet! After the service the whole church went down to the cafe for a big style breakfast of eggs, pancakes and spam! (You know you've become an islander when you like spam more than bacon)

Also as some of you know, we split up into teams of 3 or 4 and go out to the military bases on sundays so that we can help out in the nursery or teach the kids so the parents can sit in the service, so we also went on Easter. Many of the teams where out late because the church blessed many of us with pot lucks and buffets! What a celebration, and it wasn't over! Sunday night we replaced the regular W2 (sunday night service at the Koinonia Cafe) for another big potluck dinner and party!

(it was so full i took the picture from the outside!)

Our packed house was filled with fusions of american, mexican, japanese and okinawan food and it was all so wonderful. We praised jesus late into the night and rocked the whole neighborhood!

Candy, Toys and Allergy Medicine!

What a Surprise!!

On Tuesday we received an Easter package from Rusty's parents! They sent all three of us things we would find in baskets from Grandma, even Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Bunnies! Thanks for sending us some chocolaty comforts from home!! It's always so much fun to
get any kind of mail or packages out here, especially when you don't know its coming!

Another awesome thing, is that they also sent a few huge bags of other Easter candies that we will be bringing to church to bless the other Americans and also we can introduce our Japanese friends to some sugary foreign candy! It's so much fun blessing others with a blessing we also have!

Tonaki jima

Tonaki!
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Everyone farms here, even just a little.
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Most of the houses look like this! No western style here!
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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.

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Rusty was the donkey lol.
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This was our church service. Throw up a tent, sing some songs, get into the word.
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Our group gettin ready.

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Craft time!
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This was the alter call!
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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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