June - Life in Okinawa

Okinawa has burst forth into summer with high humidity and hot summer days. I’m praying that God will continue to work in my heart like a flame as I serve Him in Okinawa. 

Last day of school!

End of School Year: School ended for the 2012-2013 school year on June 12th. I was excited for a break but also verysad to be leaving my students. My only was that I had done everything I could to show Christ to them this school year. For the last day of school, we decided to clean our room, have an awards ceremony, and go to the park for lunch and playing. I was hoping that all my students could make it, but unfortunately because of illness and early departures for summer, I was missing about 6 of my students. We still had a very relaxing day enjoying each other’s company for the last time this school year. I sure will miss these students as they hold a dear place in my heart. I am also looking forward to next school so I can iron our any kinks I had this school year and fix anything that didn’t work. 

My beautiful sister's wedding!

Wedding: After I cleaned my classroom and checked out for the summer, I hopped on a plane to head back to the States to attend my sister’s wedding. I landed in Knoxville for a night before flying the next day to Florida. My bags didn’t make it on my flight to Knoxville, but importantly, I had my bridesmaid dress in my backpack with me, just in case! Thankfully later the next day, my bags arrived. I had a wonderful week with my family enjoy the last few days until my sister got married. We drove up to Tennessee a few days before the wedding and had the wedding at a beautiful cabin in the Great Smokey Mountains. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and even though it rained partly through the ceremony, it continued right on when we moved it inside. Now I have a great new brother-in-law and blessed to spend a week with my family.

Summer School: I flew back into Okinawa on the night before summer school started. I was a little out of it the first day of summer school, but I am well rested up now. I teach Monday-Friday from 8:30-11:30. I have a great group of students about to go into 3rd grade. I’m enjoying the new perspective that comes from teaching students that are a different age then my own students. In the afternoons, my roommate and I have been exploring all over Okinawa. We are also in the process of moving one floor up into a 2 bedroom apartment. I’m excited to see what else the summer will hold. 

June was a blur, but I’m praying God will give me great new opportunities to serve him and that I can make the most of every moment given to me. 

Sending warm blessings to you all during this summer season, Sarah

July - Life in Okinawa

July had been a relaxing month where I had been able to wind down from the last school year, enjoy some time in God’s beautiful Okinawa with wonderful friends, and keep busy serving God in every way I can. 

 Summer School: After my sister’s wedding last month, I had to rush back to teach summer school. I was not looking forward to teaching again right after I just finished with the school year but, God is good, and he allowed me to have enjoyable five weeks of summer school. I had a total of 14 students for most of the summer school. We did science experiments, acted out reader’s theaters, and “tried” to make ice cream but failed. I think the students all enjoyed themselves too!

Beautiful island of Ie

Ie-jima VBS: For our monthly trips to the island of Ie, the other ladies who usually go with me were out of the country to I was put in charge. For the summer time, God gave me a vision to do a mini VBS with the children there at the island. I struggled with what theme to do with kids who had no idea what-so-ever about God. I finally came up with the theme “God made me special.” I recruited some other teachers and some middle school and high school kids from OCSI and we all headed out to the island on Thursday July 25th. There was 6 of us total. I was nervous about how many kids we would have. It was kind of a last minute thing AND I also didn’t have enough supplies for 50 kids! Amazingly, God brought us 14 kids! I started out by teaching a little bit about how God created them all very special, then we taught them body parts in English and played games with the body parts. After that, we made a craft of decorating a picture frame. We also had a snack where we made a face out of different foods. I had a lot of fun and I think the kids did too. Now, we leave it up to God to grow the seed planted in these kids.

Making the picture frames

The finished pose. 

Driver’s License: One obstacle in the way of most foreigners living in Japan is the Japanese drivers license. I had been driving all last year on my International Driving Permit which is good for one year (mine expires August 1st). But when that expires, all foreigners must go through the process of acquiring a Japanese license. Since we already have a US license, we have to switch it over to the Japanese license by taking a driving test to test your safety.  The course is relatively easy, but the testers are extremely picky. It is quite normal to take the diving test 5 times or more and fail it every time. Last Friday was my first try and failed, this coming Friday will be my second try. Please pray that I will pass it soon.

 I pray that August will bring you many opportunities to tell others how special they are in God’s sight.

Blessings to you all,

Breathtaking sunset (cannot even close to capturing it on a camera)

Sarah

Caves

In the village that I live in Okinawa - there are two very well known caves. One cave is called Shimukugama, the other Chibichirigama. One cave is known as the happy cave, the other is the sad cave.

I had visited Shimukugama a few times earlier in the year. After I bought my bicycle, I rode around looking for it and unknowingly rode right past it. You go down a small path with tall grass on either. In my imagination, it looked exactly that way 60 years ago during World War 2. During WW2 approximately 1000 villagers hid inside that cave as the US Army landed in Okinawa. An Okinawan who had recently returned from Hawaii told the 1000 people hiding in the cave that the Americans will not kill you and that it is safe to come out. Because of those words, all 1000 people's lives were spared.

The view from the outside

The view out from the inside

Just a short way down the road lies another cave - the chibichirigama. I had been searching for this one for a few times but finally stumbled upon it today. This cave is known as the sad cave and is off limits to go inside. In this cave approximately 120 hid during the war. When they realized that the US soldiers were outside the cave, many of the people decided it was better to kill themselves instead of surrender, as they were taught by the Japanese Imperial Army. They used poison and set fire to futon inside the cave. Around 84 people died in that cave and more than half of those were children. 

 The entrance to the cave with the story of what happened in the cave and origami cranes. 

A shrine set up to remember the victim. 

2 caves - 2 different stories.  Both stories of fear and war. 

We need peace. We need Christ.