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. 

One of those days

Today was one of those days where I was so glad that tomorrow is a new day... It was a frustrating day where I was trying to figure out how to teach something to my students even though it was my first time through. The name: Student-Led Conference. Anyways, not to make myself angry again, the short story is, now I know how to do it differently next year. Instead, I wanted to share a few funny stories of my students from the last few weeks:

1. Bad Breath
One morning, I was talking to one of my students (let's call him M) and he had ranking stinking, I mean for real, bad breath. It kind of smelled like one of those coffee breaths. I just left it at that and continued to listen to him. My students soon all went to Art which is conveniently right next to my classroom. Towards the end of art, I hear a loud crying from the Art room and immediately knew it was M's voice. I walked over there and asked him what's wrong and he said, "J told me I have bad breath! *bursts into tears again*." Well, let's just say I tried not to laugh hard and tried to console him with, 'just ignore what he says, stay away from him etc. Later I asked M if he drinks coffee, all the while hoping he doesn't because I mean, he's in first grade! He said no and asked me why I asked that. I said, "oh, no reason!" :)

2. Hairy Legs
Today was one of those mornings where I was tired, didn't have much time in the shower and it was warm outside which all equals one thing: Unshaven legs and capri pants. My hair is light anways so even a few day's rough is barely noticable. Well today, as I was helping a boy with an assignment, his hand accidentally slipped and swiped my leg, which he then cried "Ow!" oops... guess I should have shaved so I didn't hurt the kid with my poky leg hair!!! 

3. Coach
My favorite quote of all time is from a student who after seeing me direct my class in the hallways exclaims, "Ms. Turner, you're like a coach, a coach of all these kids!" Yes, you are exactly right, somedays I do feel like a coach of all 20 kids and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Stories like this make me excited that tomorrow definitely is a new day! :)

Weekend Trip - Ie Island

Last Saturday, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to a nearby island and help teach English. We were a group of 5 teachers from OCSI. We traveled about an hour north to a port where we were to board the ferry. I was SO excited! We boarded the ferry and I could not sit still.

I quickly left to explore the boat. The ferry ride was really nice, about 30 minutes and we landed on Ie Island. The island is fairly small, I think I heard 4,200 residents. There is one rock mountain in the middle of the island and the rest is flat. On the island there is one church (other than one Catholic church and supposedly some Jehovah's Witness). We were met by the pastor of the church. He runs a Kumon on his church property and that is the way he makes a living since only about 10 people attend the church.

First, we taught elementary students which included 9 students. Their English level was limited so we taught on family, played a bingo game, and made a Christmas wreath. Next, we taught 6 adults while we fellowshiped over lunch. It was so great to be with these people and share my time and smile with them.

Before heading home on the ferry, we toured the island. You could easily drive around it in 30 minutes. We went to the only mountain on the island. There was stairs that could be walked all the way to the top. The view was amazing! You could see all 360 degrees around the island. We then visited a few more sites including caves and monuments and hopped on the last ferry out.

The day was rainy and hazy but so neat to visit another island. I'm looking forward to going back! I'll definitely bring my bike next time and ride around the island. :)

Blessings,
Sarah

Thankful

2012 is quickly slipping by and so many events and things have been going on recently. Since the last time I wrote, I successfully completed parent-teacher conferences, report cards, finally found a church family, caught my first cold of the season, and so much more!

Today is our first day of Thanksgiving break. It's been so nice to have a few days off of school. I really needed the break. Last week I caught a cold which consisted of coughing and tiredness. My roommates and principal persuaded me to take the day off of school. I was so nervous to leave my kids for the day! I quickly wrote sub plans and hoped for the best. They survived fine, but I sure missed them!

Last week was also our big event in 1st and 2nd grade: Harvest Day. This was an all day event where the students rotated between the 4 first and second grade classrooms and learned about Thanksgiving in it's different aspects. I had my first parent volunteers which was a lot of fun, as well as got to teach the other class of students. 

My students eating Thanksgiving lunch on Harvest Day

Today for Thanksgiving, all the missionaries who teach at the school were invited to a potluck int he cafeteria. It was definitely family style where we all sat at a big long table, passed the food around, and plenty of food and desserts. We also went around the whole room of people to say what we were thankful for. It's so neat to be part of a family like this. It is definitely home away from home for everyone!

mmmm food!

a game of Mexican dominos

While most of the world is getting cold in these winter months, I was in a t-shirt all day. I know Okinawa will have it's moments of coldness soon too. I hope you all are staying warm! If you ever come to Okinawa during the winter months, I will take you to eat famous Okinawa soba to warm your heart and your hands!!

Blessings,

Sarah

Life recently

While most of the world seemed to have hit the fall season starting in the beginning of October, for Okinawa, the descent into fall is very slow. Once in a while you can feel a bit of a chill in a breeze where you are reminded that the winter season is coming, but it is very rare. Today, though, is very different with an overcast, gray day with no sunshine, and bits of light rain. As my Saturday routine is turning out to be, I jumped on my bike for a ride.

I rode to a near by beach with some pretty cave/cliff like formations.

The last few weeks have been very rewarding weeks:

2 weeks ago, we had a typhoon which took out our electricity for 3 days. I enjoyed every moment of it, getting away from the technology and hum of electricity and enjoying the quiet. I did get bored a few times and got stir crazy being in the house, but all the more, it gave me a much better appreciation for what we are given, as well as showed me that some of it is not necessary. Most of the time, I played cards, read a book, went out to the beach, and enjoyed the extra time God gave us.

Our typhoon weekend

I added another student to my class 2 weeks ago also which brings my class size up to 21. October is full of four day weeks with professional development days, records days, Parent-Teacher Conferences and so on. I'm not nervous yet for Parent-Teacher Conferences but I know I will be, so please start to pray for me as I prepare for that event.

Many of my students don't know much about God or the Bible and I am so honored to be the first one to teach them about our Great God! The Bible curriculum we use is made for students who do already have a background in the Bible, so on Friday, I stepped away from the curriculum and talked about the Bible and laid out the simplicity of Jesus and a God who loves them. Please pray for me that I may use this Bible time in our day to clearly show students how much God loves them.

On another note, I fulfilled a life long dream of starting my own garden! Planted eggplant, broccoli, and lettuce, as well as the stalk of a celery plant. So excited!

Blessings from Okinawa~

-Sarah