January/February Update

We hope everyone is doing well this winter season. It sounds like it has been a rough winter for everyone in the US, Tokyo, and Sapporo. It is definitely not the case in Okinawa, It has been a very mild and enjoyable winter. In fact this year the sakura (cherry blossoms) came early. Okinawa is always the first in the country to get their sakura, but to see them in January seems a bit unusual.
This month OCSI had many staff who were out sick.  Megan and I had to cover for many teachers. I got to cover middle school Bible, high school Bible, digital tools, and even 2nd grade. When covering for other teachers, it makes an already busy schedule pretty hectic. A few times I thought maybe it would have been better to just cancel school, however, after seeing the students smile,  hearing the students laugh and play at recess, after hearing them praise the Lord at chapel, I immediately thought it is well worth all of the craziness. Wouldn't you know it, after covering for many teachers, Megan and I were out sick and needed teachers to cover for us as well :) As of now, the staff at OCSI are all better and Okinawa has ended their quasi-state of emergency.

Over the last three years we have not been able to bring any teachers from overseas, and we had asked that you be praying for staff for the next school year. The borders are still closed, but praise the Lord, we have found teachers for next year within the country of Japan, and it looks like we are going to be fully staffed next year. This is huge, so thank you for your prayers!

OCSI had our annual Kite Day last week. It's a great time where the students get to fly kites, and we welcome the parents into the school so they can observe their children learning in the classrooms. We also had our homecoming game and festivities. It was a little bit later than usual, but better late than not at all. We had the boys homecoming basketball game vs Zion Christian school. The girls basketball team played again female staff/parents. Megan and I crowned a homecoming king and queen, and took a moment to honor all of the senior athletes. It was a special night, and the seniors were truly touched, and it was good to see them have this experience. 

Prayer requests:

• We are planning on coming back to visit the US this summer, pray that international travel would become more simple and that we would be able to make arrangements.
• Continue to pray for growth and protection for the staff and students at OCSI. ​

Here is OCSI's latest edition of OCSI Connections. Check it out!