http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html This is a blog about Okada family living in Japan. Our kids believe that we are super heroes and thus the name of the blog. We will give you some insights on what is going on with Okada's and our ministry in Japan. Fri, 30 Jun 2006 11:15:55 +0900 60 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#wsk173326390
New Address:
http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/index.html

We will keep older pages available for a while until we completely move over. Thanks!

]]> Fri, 30 Jun 2006 11:13:10 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#scr165373344 Thu, 30 Mar 2006 10:02:23 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#sxk162226125 Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:48:44 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#pjj162225805 Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:43:24 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#pyd161060441 Immanuel Bible Church. Several key members of HBC (i.e. people like Etsuko if you know who she is), we began creating plans for JJ5D. We handed out flyers around the community hoping that the program was attractive to our neighbors. We weren't sure what to expect, but when it was said and done, we had around 100 kids signed up for this program. Since then, Etsuko and other key individuals have made the program even better and it gotten even bigger (last summer we had over 200 kids for JJ5D).

This spring, we are going to do something new along the line of JJ5D. We are planning to host Joy Joy 3 Days (okay, we are not so creative when it comes to naming things...) in order to better share the Gospel with older students of JJ5D. With the help of Valley Bible Church, we will do 3 day program with ESL and Bible. We will host 7-12 year olds and hoping to spend more personal time with them. We expect around 60 kids for this and we are hoping many will be returnees from JJ5D in the past so that we can have better follow up with them this time around.

We will begin the signup on 2/16. Please pray for the preparation for this program. Pray that the Lord will generate great interests in the hearts of kids concerning Him so that they are ready to hear His Word with open heart. Please pray that we will be able to minister not only to those children, but also to their parents. Please pray that many will come to the saving knowledge of our Lord who is the source of true joy.]]> Wed, 08 Feb 2006 12:00:40 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#kcc159790260 "when I didn't eat the stuff I didn't used to like, that's when I got Odoes."

End of Minna Mana, the era of Odoes begin NOW...!]]> Tue, 24 Jan 2006 19:10:59 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#wwa159768202
a couple of years ago, a lady got saved through the adult ESL program. At the time life seemed difficult for her but the Lord has changed her quite a bit over the years. This past summer, she invited her nephew to take a part in our Jr. + Sr. High ministry called Joy Joy 4 Nights. With much prayers and the work of the Lord, he came to know His Savior at the end of the summer. Now this past Sunday, her aunt professed her faith in Christ. Her sister (the nephew's mom) now is attending the church with quite an open heart. It has been exciting to see the Lord using this lady to spread the Gospel in her family.

Some might argue that the ministry is not successful because we are not getting as much result. True, there has not been much fruits in terms of conversion. But I believe that the Lord is using this ministry to propagate His kingdom in our neighborhood. ]]> Tue, 24 Jan 2006 13:03:22 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#nxf157346089
We hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Our Christmas day was a busy day starting with kids getting up around 7 am to open the presents, then getting ready for the church service, ended with having Mortimers over for the dinner. I was not particularly feeling well by the evening our but overall it was a nice Christmas for us.

We sent out snail mail to friends (whom we know physical addresses) in the States. We are putting the pdf file [1, 2, 3] (it's huge by the way!) on the web for you to read if you did not receive it.

Just wanted to let you know we deeply appreciate your prayers and support. We wish you have a wonderful new year!

... posted by Daisuke

P.S.
We are going to Tokyo to visit my parents for the new years. My dad has a liver cancer and has decided not to treat it. He is not a believer and has responded negatively to the Gospel. We are hoping to share with him when we go there. I'd appreciate your prayer on this. ]]> Tue, 27 Dec 2005 12:14:49 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#wpp156234583
I have taught a short evangelistic message for one of the events and will be sharing a Christmas message at Senri (a church plant site in Northern Osaka). He also will be directing the HBC's Christmas concerts on 23rd and 24th. There are a few other things that I will be doing besides these.

Thankfully, I have finished teaching classes this trimester so I can be more relaxed now. Praise God for the three deaf men I taught this trimester. I am not exactly a kind teacher when it comes to classroom discussions. They have endured and they have learned a lot. Although there are still a lot more to learn, I was impressed with their desire to know more. Please keep them in prayer as they continue their education in January. May God grant them a wonderful rest from loads of homework ;)

Noah had cold and had a bit of fever last week. Nathan is teething and cranky from that. Marcia is using all the patience she has to keep up with the demands of children. 4 boys she needs to take care (if you know what I mean) have given her much trouble ;)

Boys school is almost done as well. We are excited to see Nicki and Noah using Japanese more comfortably.

Well..., that's enough for now. I am trying to keep it updated :)

...posted by Daisuke]]> Wed, 14 Dec 2005 15:29:43 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#tqx155270620
As you have read the article below, I have experienced some Computer woes recently. After taking the PB to the Genius Bar (where Apple genius resides), I pretty much had a final verdict on my machine: Replacing Logic Board or Buy a New PB. The curse was put upon my PB and there seemed no possibility complete recovery.... yet God was way too powerful (Yeah, I am over dramatic here).

After I reinstall the system into my cursed PB for what seems to be 70th time in 3 weeks, I put it back in my carrying case and drove back to home. PB was sitting right next me on the passenger seat in the carrying case when I stepped on the break... That's when the miracle took place. I usually place my computer on the floor of the car and I usually belt the PB in the case and zip it up. That day when I stepped on my break, none of these was the case. I saw my silver PB flying out of the carrying case.... and "BANG!!!" (well, it did not make that kind of sound, but you know... gotta be a little dramatic for excitement) onto the floor. I surely thought that would be the end of my PB. In fact I was carrying it with it on sleep so the chance of damaging it was greater.

I went home, and woke the PB and... there it was, as happy as it can be. It's been about a week since that incident and I have not had a single system crash so far. I don't exactly know how safe it is to work on this but it seems like I have my PB back, at least for now. Hopefully it will continue to act normally until I can replace it sometime in the next few months... (hopefully...).

Thanks for your encouraging comments. Maybe it was God's way of answering your fervent prayers.

...posted by Daisuke]]> Sat, 03 Dec 2005 11:43:40 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#krq154734811 Here to view the pictures. ]]> Sun, 27 Nov 2005 06:53:31 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#qyh154456491
We will post the pics from the dinner sometime soon, but sad thing is that I took a nap in the middle of dinner. I apparently put myself to sleep as I tried to put Nathan to sleep. I felt bad for Mika because she was the only Japanese speaking adult in the house as I snoozed.

My deep appreciation goes to Christi and Amanda for their help. They did a great job cooking. And as usual, Marcia put a lot of effort for making this day a wonderful day. I was kind of grumpy all day but she made it good for everyone.

Nicki did a great job decorating the entrance, and Noah was just a cute and funny guy all day. There are so much to be thankful for in the midst of various challenges. We thank you all for your prayers. Knowing that only thing we deserve from the Lord is a judgment in hell, we are absolutely thankful that the Lord has granted us a wonderful family and life here in Japan..., and most of all the eternal fellowship with Him.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

... posted by Daisuke]]> Thu, 24 Nov 2005 01:34:50 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#pkc154187629
Everything began fairly quickly one day when my PB had kernel panic. It simply quits running in the middle of me doing something. It happened several times and then began not booting up at all. After fiddling with it for a day or two, I have found out that there is no other way to resurrect the PB unless I replace HDD. I did that hoping all my hardship would end, but the Lord had different plan.

After receiving a new HDD in my PB, I renamed the disk as "Lazarus" reflecting the fact the PB came back to life. Then I reinstalled the softwares and reloaded the backup files.... then it happened again, and again, and again, and again. There is no longer a HDD problem, no hardware failures, and no software issues. I even had freshly installed OS only HDD crash like crazy. So I have been without a properly functioning computer for nearly a month and my PB (formerly named as PBG4 then as "Lazarus") is now named "Devil" because of its demon possession like behavior. This morning was pretty funny since I had to print out my sermon and the PB would not want listen to my command. I almost spanked it, then I figured a way to print it out. This seems to be the story of my life recently.

All in all God is teaching me patience (Yes, I have not thrown it out of the window yet), and reminding me not to be depended upon things other than Himself (I now have realized my utter dependence on my computer for a lot of things). He even makes me preach without sermon notes fo that I speak from my heart rather than from my notes (..well, on this one, I really prefer to have notes at hand rather than trying to memorize my flow of thoughts, especially since I am not good at remembering any longer).

It is good to have challenges of life. I now pray before I boot up my PB or wake it up from sleep. We can always learn from events that the Lord brings to our lives. They are with good purpose.

... posted by Daisuke]]> Sun, 20 Nov 2005 22:53:48 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#dou153927176








If you want to see the complete collection, please click here.]]> Thu, 17 Nov 2005 22:32:56 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#ard153926617
]]> Thu, 17 Nov 2005 22:23:37 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#eko153878134 article explained the result of a research on how two culture differ in identifying and relating objects tracked through eye movements. There are some truths to the research and made me think about how I could better communicate with people in Japan as well as people in the States. I believe I am more Americanized than many Japanese, but still remain to be Japanese in the core. It puts me in a oddity as I relate to both culture groups.

What do you think about the article? Leave your comment ^_^

... posted by Daisuke]]> Thu, 17 Nov 2005 08:55:33 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#mjk153587880
I hope I can get this done in timely manner since my wife is telling me that I need to sleep. Well... I am sleepy but you know it is one of those guy things that I just gotta do it. Get this done! I feel like I owe you all for not keeping this website up (I can't even remember when was the last time I updated the main page). Well, just to let you know that change is coming... so keep checking the site.

...posted by Daisuke]]> Mon, 14 Nov 2005 00:18:00 +0900 http://homepage.mac.com/dokada/blog/Blog.html#xua153541878
I am here to announce today that we are starting another attempt to publish a blog of our family and ministry. I found this interesting software and thought I would try it. I have made attempts to write a blog on our family life in the past, but several technological difficulties as well as lack of discipline and interest/time on my part have prevented me to update the blog at all. But this software I found could solve all the technical difficulties I had in the past, so I am giving this a shot.

Whether this will continue or not really depends on how Marcia gets excited about it. I think this is a good way to send info to those of you who care about us (THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR LOVE & PRAYER), and good way to have ongoing contact with you all. So, please drop us lines to encourage us to keep posting.

...posted by Daisuke]]> Sun, 13 Nov 2005 11:31:17 +0900