• Thank you for all of your prayers and support. We just finished the 3rd quarter of the year, and we are blown away by the fact that we have not had to cancel a single day due to COVID! Currently there isn’t a state of emergency in Japan, but Okinawa still has small restrictions put on bars and restaurants (they have to close by 8)
• Secondary Camp - Every year we have camps for our students, and this year our camps looked a little different. We were not able to actually go camping at a campground, because of COVID, but we still were able to let the kids have a nice three day break from normal classes and enjoy a few excursions, alongside chapels everyday. This is a great chance for the students to grow in their faith and bond as a class.

• Culture fair - This month our elementary classes had their culture fair. The students got into groups of 4-5 and created a presentation to talk about a different country’s culture, food, religion, government and then pray for the country they have been studying. This is always a highlight of the year for the Elementary students.
• ​Easter is this weekend, and we are having a neighborhood Easter event. We have lot of neighborhood kids in the area, and we are going to have an Easter outreach in our neighborhood with an Easter egg hunt and an Easter message. We pray that you and your family have a wonderful Easter, as you celebrate the resurrection of our wonderful Savior.

• End of January, beginning of February and Okinawa is the first in Japan to have their cherry blossoms bloom.  There are several popular places to go and view the cherry blossoms, this year we went to a place call Yae Dake. As always, it was so beautiful.
• Mia had a gymnastics competition she was able to compete in. She wasn't able to do her full routines, however, it was very exciting for her to do what she could. It's only been 3 months since both her elbows were dislocated, and it was nothing short of a miracle for her elbows to have healed so quickly. Her coach commented that he has never seem a gymnast recover in less than 6 months.  Praise the Lord, thank you for praying for her. 
• We also participated in a local marathon event. It was a very small event, Megan and the girls ran the 5 km run and Andy took part in the half marathon. We love getting out in the community as much as we can. 
• OCSI loves to incorporate service in the student's learning. This year with Covid, it is a little bit difficult since we are encouraged to limit our travel and interaction with other people. So, as a school we had a rice drive, asking all of the students to donate rice. We gave all of the rice to a church that provides meals to the needy.
• Each week Andy provides chapel services to all 13 classes in the elementary department. Three years ago, he started teaching the children from Creation to Revelation. This last month we covered passion week, including the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These students KNOW the gospel, please pray for the hearts to receive salvation.
• Megan puts together a newsletter for the school to tell everyone what's going on. There are other pictures from our school and articles sharing about what's going on. Check it out below.

We pray that you and your family had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New years. This last Christmas holiday was extra special for our family. We had the chance to visit Sapporo, a place we called home for 8 years (from 2007 to 2015). We saw many friends, enjoyed the snow, and worshiped with our church family there. 

This year we were indeed blessed by the Lord here in Okinawa. We are incredibly thankful that we were able to have zero covid cases at our school, and no cause to prevent us from going to school in person! Our number of students also has even increased since the pandemic. We were even able to have some school Christmas concerts this last month.  Not to say we didn't have our challenges. We had to go through this first semester without being fully staffed, missing a few teachers and teachers assistants. Andy has taught algebra 2 and precalculus all semester (maybe for the rest of the year). Megan is teaching AP English. We both love teaching in the classroom, and even though it makes us a lot more busy, we enjoy getting to know the students more. Okinawa still has some guidelines for us to follow, we have to prevent large gatherings, so there are no large chapel services or sports. 

This summer, like many of you, has been an unusual summer. Due to COVID restrictions, we were not able to travel for most of the summer or gather in large groups. We were able to take a small 3 day trip to Osaka at the beginning of the summer. We got to pet some deer, go to a theme park, and visit a few world heritage sites. It has been a little bit different, not bad necessarily, just different. We were able to spend lots of time together as a family. Also this summer, all three girls had an orthodontist appointment, and to our surprise, ALL THREE girls needed braces! ​

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. We have so much to be thankful for! God is so good. Praise the Lord... 
-We made it through the school year. 
- We were able to welcome the students back to school for the last three weeks of the school year.
- We were able to have our high school graduation, 8th grade promotion, 5th grade promotion, and kindergarten promotion.  All of them were held outdoors with a limit in attendance to immediate family only. Nevertheless, the students were able to be honored on their special day. 
- We are also able to continue with summer school as planned (6/22-7/10).
​- Over the last month, churches have started opening up. 
- A student in Eliya's 3rd grade class committed his life to Christ.
- Japan’s state of emergency was lifted, people can feel free to travel between prefectures, however Japan still has its travel ban enforced, not allowing anyone from most countries around the world in (including America) to enter the country. 

Summer plans, We are planning on staying in Japan this year. Megan is going to do AP training online, Mia and Eliya will continue to do gymnastics, Naomi will continue to do soccer. We are planning on taking a three day trip to Osaka, and if time a trip to Hokkaido to visit our friends and church in Hokkaido.  


Prayer Request:
Please pray for the new staff for next year, Immigration is still not processing visas; and it would be difficult to not have them to start the year.

Hello from Okinawa, we hope and pray everyone is well in these unusual days... we are in good health and spirits, spending lots of time together as a family and not in crowds, enjoying taking our puppy on walks, some jogs, and going hiking. This month we celebrated Eliya’s 9th birthday with pizza and a big dinosaur cake. Naomi has learned how to sew and have started sewing homemade masks, since all of the stores are still sold out. Mia continues to do gymnastics, with a heightened sense of precaution and despite her spring competitions being canceled. Andy and Megan have stayed busy at school. 

Compared with the rest of the world.  Okinawa remains relatively safe at this point. We have only had 13 people confirmed who have the virus, however with Tokyo spiking in recent days, people are feeling a little more cautious. To promote social distancing, church services moved online, events, parties, and festivals have been canceled.  This month, in response to the Prime Minister of Japan's orders, we closed the OCSI campus and went to online school for two weeks.  This brought some challenges as we all navigated how to continue giving our students quality education and support online. All the OCSI teachers did an amazing job, using online platforms like Google classroom and Seesaw.  I (Andy) created a devotion video for all of the students and a chapel messages for the students. It was for only two weeks, and because Okinawa is at a low risk we were able to go back to school! Praise the Lord!  Spring break starts tomorrow, we hope that we will be able to come back to school after spring break, but with the situation changing so fast we return to online school. 
Thank you for your prayers for our family and for OCSI! Please join us in praying that through this stressful time, that Japan and our community would turn toward God and be ready to seek a relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

As we approach Easter, Paul tells us this from 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, “What I received I passed on to you. And it is the most important of all. Here is what it is. Christ died for our sins, just as Scripture said he would. He was buried. He was raised from the dead on the third day, just as Scripture said he would be."
Of all the things Paul has written in the New Testament, he says the resurrection is of first importance. The resurrection, the empty tomb is our hope. Paul tells us to “hold fast” to it. Hold fast to it when there is peace and prosperity and especially hold fast to it during uncertain times. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me will live forever, even if they die.” This Easter, we may not have all of the celebrations we are used to having, however, we have Christ and we have the hope of resurrection. Let's hold fast to the resurrection and be reminded of God's great love for us. ​