It's definitely too late to wish you all a Merry Christmas, but maybe I can squeeze a "Happy New Year!" in. Although, can you believe that it is already February? Anyway, I'm praying everyone had a wonderful holiday season, and maybe it's kind of a blessing that we are so behind on writing our blog post. May this be a good reminder for all of us to not forget about our hopes, dreams, goals, and ambitions we had at the start of this 2022 year. May we all be reminded of God's goodness and faithfulness in our lives, and continue to do the good work that He has started in us (Philippians 1:6). I know

Tommy and I have seen God's hand throughout our marriage, our relationships with friends, colleagues, and our students, and in the small, peaceful moments amidst the craziness of this past year.

Well we had a wonderful Christmas & New Year break. We were able to travel with a few of our friends to mainland Japan. We spent 5 days in the Kyushu prefecture of Japan and the main cities/towns we visited were Fukuoka, Yufu, and Beppu.

School has started up again. We started 2022 off pretty strong, but shortly after the first week back in school there was a spike in Covid-19 cases on island. Our school remained in person throughout the whole month of January, but many students were doing online learning from home. Unfortunately, from that spike in cases, sports have been on hold here at OCSI. Tommy and I have not had basketball practices for most of the month of January, however, this week we have started back up! Praying and hoping for a good end to this basketball season.

January was an interesting month...but there were some good highlights! We celebrated my 28th birthday on January 16th. We also celebrated a few of our friends' birthdays -- we took a trip to the Okinawa Zoo and went to a 1-year-old's birthday party! Really good times spent with our friends.

Tommy has started his Masters' classes again, he is currently enrolled in his last one!! He should be wrapping up his program soon.

Just this past weekend we took a trip north to see cherry blossoms (or sakura, as they're called here in Japan). It is nearing the end of cherry blossom season here in Okinawa, so many the trees were no longer blooming. However, we were still able to see some! Here are a few pictures from that trip:

Prayer requests:

- PRAISE! Our car has been in the shop for the past 2 months but we finally got it back and it is fixed! Praise the Lord.

- Prayer for Tommy has he works to remain diligent in his studies for his program.

- Prayer for both of us in our teaching.

- Prayer for our students -- that they continue to grow and learn, and that they embrace the love of Jesus.

This is a short post, but just wanted to give a quick update!

As always, feel free to send us a message, we'd love to hear from you! :)

And if you'd like to financially support our ministry here in Okinawa, you can give to our ministry through RCE.

Sending lots of love from Japan!