week 8 Begins

Hey everyone,

Time is flying by! we are already halfway done with the semester!

Since I last posted we have had quite a bit happen here in Japan. The biggest things was the earthquake and tsunami that hit. Here in Okinawa we were not affected by it at all physically but we are all spiritually affected by it. We are all praying hard for Mainland Japan, for Fukushima, and for the Salvation of the lost. please be sure to remember them in your prayers as well.

There was another monumental event out here also and that was the wedding of Rob and Rika, it was a beautiful wedding and we were all soo blessed to be a part of it. please lift them up in your prayers that God would bless their marriage abundantly.

and on sunday night, Amanda and I played our first Hakugaijin show together. I have been playing on and off with the band since I got here (literally it was the first thing I did with pastor Tim at an old folks home). Amanda has been doing some singing lately with the band and now we are being integrated more into it. it was a huge blessing to be a part of it.

Here is a video

God bless

E.Diaz

Romans 10: 14-15

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

already 6 weeks in

It feels like the semester just started but it's already six weeks in!

So much has already happened and yet i feel like it's been only a little that has happened.

This semester i've been teaching the class of Exodus for the first time and i have been loving every second of it. They are recording the classes for use by future semesters so i'm trying to make sure that i'm able to finish the whole book so that future semesters will have the whole lesson down.

In anycase it has been a huge blessing with many reminders of God's grace and the importance of obedience and submission in our lives.

The Wedding is coming along really well, Amanda and I have been extremely busy here at the Bible college so to be honest we haven't had as much time as we'd like to plan our wedding, but God has really shown us ALOT of favor in that we are blessed by other people who have stepped in alot to do things for us and help us out. Lord thank you soo much for the blessings that you have poured out on us. Thank you to everyone who is helping and making an effort to help us.

This semester the students are (again) a huge blessing, each of them has a different story of what is going on in their life, and what God is doing in their lives. everyone has such a special relationship with our Lord and yet it's still exactly what we have in common; and thru that God blesses every moment of fellowship. please continue to pray for the students, pray for God to help them with all the work that they have to do, pray for God to give them patience with all the staff (^-^), and above all pray for them to leave as a completely different person in the Lord, transformed, renewed, and refreshed by the Lord.

Please remember me in your prayers:

Pray for my health

Pray for God's provision to continue

Pray for God to continue to deepen my love for Him and His Word

Pray for God to keep the fire in my heart for the lost burning hot

Pray for the wedding

Pray for Me and Amanda's vision for the future.

In Christ

-E.Diaz

Break in a NutShell!

Hello everyone! sorry it's been so long but it has been a very busy break/not-really break time. Pastor Tom and most of the crew is back in the states enjoying their time out there and ministering in the States.

Well while everyone was Gone a surprising amount of cool stuff happened. We got invited by Sonoko-san to come and do an English class/Christmas Party for her. We put Josh, Anna, and Taliya in charge of that and they did FANTASTIC!!!!!

God really blessed all their efforts for His kingdom and in turn really blessed those children.

Then before Christmas we were invited by Teen Challenge to have a Nabe Christmas dinner, that was amazingly delicious! The fellowship was a blast, and over all it was just an awesome blessing from our dear brothers there at Teen Challenge.

Then on Christmas Day! We had a small group go and hangout with the Moran Family, it was a really great blessing to spend the day with Chris, Julie, and Julie's parentals!

New Years was pretty quiet, well that is until Joe Magnussen busted out the game 'Sorry!

what a fun time that was! we played games all the way into the New Year, we were blessed with American and Japanese company that evening. it was alot of fun and a huge blessing.

Now it is soon time for things to get started again, Manda has already come back from spending time with the Spearmans while Adelle was born and now we are getting ready for the next semester and were starting to plan things for the wedding (whoa!)

I love you all and miss you all! God Bless!

E.Diaz

We're Engaged!

Hello Family,

Well it happened now, i know some of you have been anticipating this for quite some time now and most of you have been praying for this moment but Manda and I are engaged now. I took her on a "photo-date" to some castle ruins in Yomitan, while we were there we took lot's of pictures and goofed off. We got up to a lookout point and i dropped to one knee and pulled out a Ring-pop and proposed, she asked if was serious and i said "no i'm just kidding but here's a ring-pop for you". We then headed up to the Castle and took lots of fun pictures, and then I got her in the Courts of the king. I looked at her and said, "I don't know of an better place to do this than in a Kings courts, You are the daughter of our King so this is how i should ask you, will you Marry me?" after some surprised responses she said "yes!"

we are truly blessed, God has given me many blessings out here in Okinawa. They all have a very special place in my heart but this one is the most amazing thing that He has done for me and it's the blessing that I treasure the most.

Keep us in prayers for the wedding cause we are praying for God's timing on when to do it. Pray for both of our ministries as they will begin to become one BIG ministry.

Thank you,

E.Diaz

Okuma

We are all back now in Oki. City, we were at Okuma beach up north for 3 days (Mon,Tues,Weds) and we all got refreshed in the word and blessed in fellowship.

We were blessed with a guest speaker and another surprise guest, it was Pastor Rich who taught and then the Newell Family paid us a surprise visit and we all got to meet little Tomoki Newell.

We had sessions in the Word, and prayer and fellowship by the bon-fire.

The focus of the retreat was in 2nd Timothy the whole book. Truly it was an amazing retreat, alot of things got brought out there from in our hearts alot of relationships were strengthened and restored too. God faithfully answered prayers out in Okuma.

2Ti 4:2

Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

Okutama

I was blessed to come out and be a part of the Tokyo Pastors and Leaders Retreat. Here is what it looked like at the site. There are more pics on my Facebook if you want to see them.

Sunday Morning

I was asked to come and teach the Sunday morning service in Tokorozawa. I was blessed to be given the opportunity. It went really well because nobody tried to stone me afterwards! (just kidding) It did go really well though. Praise Jesus! it was a blessed time. Travis translated for me, and Mike did worship. Travis is an amazing person, he didn't even need my notes! He just glanced over them and then just went at it in the message. over all it was great and I was blessed to share.