Ressurection Day in Williamsburg

The worship team was a blessing and began preparing our hearts for the message
It was a blessing to see everyone and their families come and worship and hear the Word

Here's Pastor Tom teaching the Word from the Book of 1st Corinthians 15
Here's Brittany with some of our youth helping in children's ministry (Lydia, Alexis, and Lana)

What a glorious day it was after the snow had fallen the day before. It was clear and bright! This reminded me of truly what the Lord did on the day of Resurrection... after 3-days in the tomb, He rose as He said He would and made the Way possible for us. He too made everything clear and bright for we who follow Jesus into eternity.

SNOW...the day before Easter!

The day before Resurrection day was a day to remember. After getting back from our missions trip in Okinawa, Japan... we knew the weather wouldn't quite be like Okinawa... but we didn't expect snow! The rain throught the night soon turned to the puffy white stuff and blanketed the entire town of Williamsburg. It was really beatiful and it made the next day... Easter a very special day indeed. We praise the Lord for anything He does and He really surprised us with a late but awesome reminder of His power and majesty. We love you Lord. Thank you for the awesome gift!

Refreashing times with Family

What a wonderfully blessed time we all had in Okinawa. We meet new family and were refreashed by the family we knew. God is truly doing a work on the island of Okinawa...

Thank you all for a blessed time and we can't wait to see you all next year!

Final Days in Okinawa

Here's the "2-Tom's" ... "TnT" as known by all. Pastor's tommy ruiz or CC Ginowan and tom hallman of CC Williamsburg
This is a wonderful picture of Pastor Tommy's family (Joanna,Zach,Hannah,Michel, and Asa)
This is one example of the size of the average vehicle on island
Here's a partial family picture of Pastor Rick of CC Okinawa and his wife Kristy and newest additon... Benjamin

Mihama Saturday Night Outreach and Evangelism

This was the Saturday night outreach at Mihama Shopping Center at the large Jusco store. It was a great night of outreach and telling people about the upcoming Passion Week at CC Ginowan. The ferris wheel is actually on top of the second story building of specialty stores...increadible! You can see this ferris wheel for miles. This is a very popular spot for military and locals...there's even two Starbuck's! In fact, a Japanese family came on Monday night to hear the Word... What a blessing! You can see in one of the pictures Matthew and Tristan from CC Williamsburg in the percussion section of the worship team... way to go boys!

McDonald's in Okinawa?

Oh yes! Here is Pastor Tony Clark of CC Newport News enjoying some semi-american food at a Japanese McDonald's nearby the church. Nothing like "almost" the feel of home! Later on the trip Pastor Jim "Jimbo" Alcodray enjoyed the Japanese version of a new McDonald's burger with 4 HAMBURGER PATTIES! Jim said... "it was no problem"

Men's Breakfast at CC Okinawa

This was the men's breakfast at CC Oki on the first saturday of our missions trip. Tony Clark taught the men and encouraged them from the Book of Ephesians chapter 5, and Daniel, Nick and Matthew did the worship... a great morning with the brothers of CC Okinawa and Pastor Rick... is that a new veggie-tales character? sure looks like Pastor Rick...hee,hee

CC Ginowan

Even being around the other side of the World we have technology to keep us "linked" together. You see Pastor Tony Clark of CC Newport News getting in-touch with his emails and staying in touch with the folks stateside. Also pictured is Joanna Ruiz (Pastor Tommy's wife) and one of the CCBC Bible students and i don't know if it's Matthew Hallman or Nick Fensterman in the cage...just kidding...but if you want to have some monkeys as pets, you can by them here...for $5000.00 U.S. dollars...OUCH! Here's a very typical car driven by the Okinawan's.

Beautiful Okinawa

Despite the tradtions and customs that surround the people of Okinawa... the island is increadibly beautiful and peaceful. Here is Pastor Tommy of CCGinowan explaining about this all-paper hand-made ornament that is supposed to catch the "Wind of the Spirits" Also is a street view in front CC Ginowan and if you look close... you can see Pastor Tom of CC Williasmburg's name spelled out in Japanese.... very cool huh?

Ministry at Calvary Chapel Bible College & Sightseeing

This being our first day...everyone is ready to serve and get into some ministry. You can see Pastor Tom from CC Williamsburg sharing a devotion before the CCBC Bible Students and then our day of seeing some sights. The traditions and customs are so prevelent here on island that there are many old ancient places of worship and traditions. Pastor Tommy of CC Ginowan took the team to Ginowan Springs... an ancient springs are shown and old traditions continue to this day. The door pictured is a door where the spirits of the dead are allowed back to "dwell" with their living relatives...yes kinda creepy... but the Okinawan people really have ceremonies of this kind and even think their dead relatives need money so they put Japanese Yen at the door for the "afterworld." Pastor Tommy is explaining the traditions to us and Nick is picking some Japanese Papaya fruit....he's the tallest so he could reach it... :) thanks Nick!

Finally in Okinawa!

Hey guys...we made it! This is the first night (actually real early morning - 12:30am) we are in Okinawa. We arrived there late at the airport and when we got out of customs and to the church it was really early in the morning. The time has been a little adjusing to (Okinawa is 13 hours ahead of the East Coast/Mid-Atlantic time zone) but we are adapting well. As you can see the first thing is to get some "gPrub." We were starving and looking forward to some great food. Pictuerd are Pastors Tim Newell and Tommy Ruiz who oversee CC Ginowan and the Calvary Chapel Bible College. We all are refreashed by the love of these guys.

Catching Up on some Sleep

Well, as you can see...the guys are a little worse for wear...but hanging tough for the Lord! Here they all are just getting some rest before the last leg of the trip...we're almost there...just about 2.5 hours from Okinawa! We are all at Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan and waiting for our next and final flight. By this time we have been flying all around the globe... we started in Richmond, Virginia and flew over Canada then the Polar Cap then over SIBERIA and finally into Tokyo then over to Okinawa. Although some delays represented us arriving 2 days behind schedule...the Lord has allowed us to catch up quick and give us rest. We have had late nights and early mornings, but the Lord continues to give us peace and rest.
You see in the pictures...Pastors Tony Clark and Jim Alcodray from CC Newport News; Tristan and Nick Fensterman and Matthew Hallman from CC Williamsburg.
SWEET DREAMS GUYS!

Williamsburg Missions Team are on their way!

Missions Trip 2007 to Okinawa, Japan is under way!

The trip has been filled with blessings and some unexpected surprises in delays and some real tired missionaries. These pictures were at the beginning of the trip to the airport... all looks well and the team looks great... but as you will see the team gets a little tired. But no matter, because the team found their strength in the Lord and the Lord has been giving us much Grace and Mercy. We are here now and the ministry on island is fantastic! We also were blessed as the church prayed for the team at last Sunday's service.

Ladies of Calvary 2007 Women's Retreat

The Ladies of Calvary were blessed last month when they all caravanned to Blackstone Virginia. They had a wonderful time getting into the Word and days of blessed fellowship. There were wonderful reports from the ladies on how the Lord blessed their time. It was great to see them when they returned as they were all "fired" up for Jesus!