Japan Update 4

We've been back in Sasebo since Saturday. The mainland was in the middle of the crux of rainy season when we returned. It poured the first two days we were back, and showers (heavy showers, I might add) after that. Today, thankfully there was no rain, and only a little this evening. There is a typhoon headed our way, though, so be praying!
Tract distribution went well on Tuesday. The rain held off until the afternoon, so our morning was not disturbed. Madelyn and Luke were my constant companions, though Luke was more interested in stepping on the baby frog than putting tracts in mailboxes. We were in an older neighborhood where the houses just sort of "sprung up" wherever they wanted. There is no rhyme or reason to the placement of houses or roads. It was a little confusing, but we got the job done.
Church tonight was a blessing. Kimberly (one of the kids in the church) and I played a violin-flute duet for the offertory. Kimberly's family is leaving on Saturday, so it was fun to do it together before they leave. Pastor preached out of Ps. 18 on "Who is YOUR God?" Our time of prayer afterward was sweet.

Japan Update 3

I am now into my second day of Field Conference in Okinawa. First a rundown of camp:The first week I had nine girls ages 12 through 17. They were a lot of fun. The second week I had five girls ages 9-12. Also a lot of fun. But I was sick most of the week. :( not so fun. Tuesday I had a pretty killer migraine again and I was nauseated the entire day, so I went to bed before the evening service and one of the other girls took my girls. Wednesday was a lot better, but still not a hundred percent. One of my girls, Hannah, kept saying *Miss Ali, I'm praying for you that you will feel better so you can be hyper with us!* :) She's cute. So I was feeling much better on Thursday and had a good time with them. They left Friday morning, and after a while of cleaning the camp, the camp staff went to the aquarium. It was pretty neat. We saw this sorry dolphin show, with a song that had bad words in it (although, I did not catch the bad words...one of the other girls that had known the song earlier in life was listening for them and noted that they played the unedited version of the song...) It was fun.Then we came back to camp and watched a movie (National Treasure) to which I fell asleep several times...and then we got up early Saturday to go Snorkling. It was SOOOO fun! At first it was hard to get the hang of it, but once Dan explained how to do it, it wasn't so bad! I found a starfish, and he stung my hand when I picked him up. But he:s dead now, so we're good. Joel found some really great shells and Dan picked up a bunch for whoever wanted them. The other girls found a ton of cowrie shells, but I only got one...I tried to pick up two others but the tide was coming in and it would knock me off balance as I was trying to get it. When we first got to the beach, we found this little black puppy that Alicia named Freckles and Amanda named Diamond all by herself. (The puppy was all by herself, not Amanda naming her.) Anyway, we begged Dan to take her with us but he said no. So she was waiting for us when we got back to the truck about four hours later, and we renamed her Snorkle with the nickname Snorkie and again begged Dan to let us bring her home but he held fast and wouldn:t let us. We gave her the last cheese crackers we had and left her at the beach, calling Dan a puppy killer and other such names. It was very emotional for us. ;) I taught Kierstyn, Ty and Cody SS on Sunday morning...well, Cody is only 9 months old, so I held him and fed him while I taught Ty and Kierstyn. It was so much fun. We sang and then I told the story of the little boy's lunch of 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread. I found some flannel graph in the closet, but no little boy and no lunch, so we pretended with an old guy. Then we made lunch boxes and lunches like the little boy out of paper...We went to Maranatha Sunday night for church, so I got to see a bunch of my campers again. That was fun. Afterward we went out for supper on base, and the WC girls were flirtin' with the GIs again! I tell ya what...Monday was the first day of Field conference. Lots of fun. Today (Tuesday) we went to the peace park with the Harris girls...so much fun. Jessica and I were bonding being nerds together. I:ll have to upload a picture later. Well, it is super late and I have to get to bed.