PACKING AND CLEANING

The past couple of days our family has been busy getting ready to move out of base housing... We started with moving and delivering furniture to several friends homes, then packing books, clothes, videos, CD's and other things that we have accumulated over the past 3 years. Yesterday some of the girls from Calvary Chapel Bible College Okinawa came and helped clean the house, it was a huge blessing and we are very thankful for their servant's heart. Please continue to pray for all of the college students there in CCBC OKINAWA and for our upcoming move as well.

Micah the Rock Star

Hi everyone we just wanted to share new pictures of Micah jamming for Jesus, he was listening to some Crowder and decided to pick up Hannah's guitar, Sandra couldn't help but take a few shots of Micah's session and share them with you all. In the bottom picture he is doing some finger work, perfecting his ability to arpegiate. God is really awesome and we see many ways that He is shaping and molding the children He has blessed us with.

Women's Dinner

Here are some random pictures taken by Misty Blu from Calvary Chapel Okinawa Women's Dinner. It was a wonderful evening at Macaroni Grill for fellowship and getting to know the women from the church, seventy-five women attended the event. Please continue to pray for all the women here at Calvary Chapel Okinawa to grow in Christ and also to build relationship with one another....also keep in your prayer the new Women's Bible Study that will be starting this coming Friday morning on the book of Esther, the Friday evening Japanese bible study and also Thursday evening Coffee Shop Study they will be going through a book about prayer.

Silas new dew...

Greetings! Well with the temperature increase here in Okinawa and with Silas' long hair I finally decided to give the young man a hair cut. He is almost 1 now and it was about time. People have commented on how much he looks like Ghandi or a baby Buddha, we're not really sure about either of them. One thing is for sure that he sweats alot less now than he did before, be blessed.

Gen and Tamiko off to Austria

Meet Gen and Tamiko....both of these girls have been a tremendous blessing and a huge encouragement as they have been serving here with TC-1, a youth minstry of Calvary Chapel Okinawa. They are currently in Austria participating in
"A Vision for Life" a ministry of Calvary Chapel Bible College in Austria. They will be there for 3 months doing missions and Bible classes, so please remember them in your prayers.

MORE NEW PICTURES

Here are some new pictures of Hannah(4) taken from (Wed Night VBS at our church presentation of many songs they learn from the whole summer program), Micah(2) and Silas(11mos). They are all doing well
and growing so fast, we are trying to cherish these days of their life. Sandra started to homeschool Hannah(pre-K) and ofcourse Micah is learning along with his big sister, and Silas will turn 1yr old in couple of weeks.

KIDS NEW PICTURES

Here are some random new pictures of the little Velarde's....
As you can see...Micah is growing his hair like dad....
Little Silas is not so little anymore..his crawling around and tries to keep up
with Hannah and Micah. Hannah loves helping me around by watching her little
brothers. It's such an awesome priviledge to raise up the children the LORD
bless us with.

OKINAWA EXPO PARK

Here are some pictures taken when our family went to Okinawa Expo Park with our good friends Niel, Vanessa and JP Orpilla. We spent the weekend at OKUMA a military beach resort then off to the park for a day of exercise and sea explorations. Expo park is the home of one of the largest aquariums in the world. It is the home to the largest whale sharks held in captivity, we spent several hours there before we departed home. The kids had so much fun watching all the different sea animals. Before we left the park the kids cooled off in the fountains in front of the park. IT WAS SUCH A BLESSING TO HAVE TIME TOGETHER WITH THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS THAT GOD HAS BROUGHT INTO OUR LIVES!!!

Sandra's 30th...Part 2

Forgive us beacuse it has taken is so long to post the remaining picures from Sandra's birthday. We were incredibly blessed that while were out celebrating many of our closest friends came and "decorated" our house for us (toilet paper and balloons) much to our surprise when we returned home we were shocked by all the "love" that was demonstrated by the 400 ballons we found in the house. We count ourselves as blessed to have so much family here in Okinawa and friends with such a strong desire to make Sandra's day one she will never forget. Truly the Lord has blessed us out of our minds. PRAISE THE KING!!!

Danny and Michelle in Morocco

Many of you are familiar with Danny and Michelle if not they with another couple run S.E.N.D. Ministries, a ministry focused on Serving and Evangelizing Nations in Despair. They have been serving the Lord in Many countries over the last couple years. They have spent time in India, Israel and now Morocco, they passionately have hearts for the lost and have labored much to share the love of Christ to a non-Christian world.

They are currently in Morocco sharing Christ through many different ministries to include construction, orphanage visitation and worship. Morocco is heavily muslim, therefore it is a dangerous place for Danny, Michelle and their team. Please continue to pray for them, that God would use them mightily. Also pray that the Lord would soften the hearts of the people of Morocco so they can know Christ the Savior as Lord. Pray for vision and ministry opportunities for the team.

Pray for Italy!

Well we are down to about 80 days remaining in the Navy, we have been incredibly blessed as the Lord continues to do a wonderful work in our lives, here in Okinawa. We are excited about the next season that the Lord is going to take us through as we continue to make preparations for our move to Italy. I have below some staggering information about the country of Italy and we ask that you pray for Italy, for a fresh move of God's Spirit throughout the land.

About Italy

Many people believe Italy is a 'Christian' nation and not in need of missionaries. The following statistics, however, speak for themselves:

Italy Is Spiritually Bankrupt


Out of 57 million people living in Italy, only one-half of one percent (285,000) are members of a Protestant denomination.


Of the 33,000 communities in the country, only 2,000 have an evangelical witness. The other 31,000 have no evangelical presence whatsoever.

Witchcraft Is Widespread


Approximately 100,000 people are believed to be practicing magicians (psychics, witches, and fortune tellers). This is more than the number of Catholic Priests, and 324 times the number of Protestant missionaries and evangelists.

Satanism is very strong in the north and is rapidly moving toward the south. Satanic practice includes praying for the removal of all Christian evangelical missionaries from the country.

Approximately 80% of the Italian population have consulted or will consult a witch, psychic, or fortune teller at least once in their lifetime.

Many politicians consult witches and psychics before every election, and some big corporations consult them before investing in major projects.

The magicians, fortune tellers, and psychics have daily programs on local and national television. They are also invited to the majority of television programs for fun and to help entertain people... So they are becoming part of daily life for most Italians.

What surprises and alarms me is how carelessly people engage in and entertain these satanic practices, while these same people would be self-conscious to proclaim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior! Apparently, they'd rather listen to what a witch or psychic has to say than to hear what God has to say!

So please pray,pray,pray because God is able and willing to deliver these.

Random Pictures of the Velarde's!

Greetings from Okinawa! We are all doing very well as the Lord has been so faithful. We are now less than three months from our departure from the NAVY and our excitement to serve the Lord full time continues to grow as we eagerly await our separation. We have been very busy here serving the Lord and the students here in Okinawa. We had the opportunity to visit the Botanical Gardens here in Okinawa with some friends, it was an incredible place, we really had a lot of fun. There are several other random pictures from the last couple of weeks pictured. Please continue to remember us in your prayers as our time here in Okinawa expires.

The Mckay's in Costa Rica!

In the above picture is one of my best friends Phil Mckay. I met Phil almost 7 years ago, he was instrumental in my coming to know the Lord. He was a young Marine who had a heart for the Lord. He was full of the Holy Spirit and the love of Christ pervaded all aspects of His life, especially in his relationships among people. You could see Jesus all over him. Well as time went by we grew closer in our friendship amongst the other 4 guys that we all lived with. The Lord began to do a wonderful work in all of our lives. Phil soon went on to get out of the Marine Corps and go on staff at Calvary Chapel in Vista where He served the high school and college age members of the body.

A few years later the Lord brought Rebekah into his life and they were married, a season later they had a child named Eden. Well Last February Phil and his family stepped out in faith after hearing the call of God to start a work in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. He has been there serving the Lord faithfully for the last several months, through many trials and tough times the Lord has brought them thus far where they are today in the grace of our Lord. Please pray that God would continue to fill them with a love for the Costa Rican people and that he would be lead by the Holy Spirit in all that they do as the labor in the harvest of Costa Rica. Pray also that the Spirit of God would break through to the hearts of the people there in Tamarindo.

Sandra's 30th...Part I

Happy Birthday Sandra!!! Today we celebrated Sandra's 30th birthday. We were really blessed because some good friends of ours took Micah and Hannah for the night. Sandra, Micah and I went out for dinner and coffee ending our night at the Laguna Gardens Hotel in Ginowan. It is a really nice place and we spent the evening swimming and sitting in the jacuzzi.

This morning I picked the kids up early and brought them to the hotel to come swimming with us, we had a really good time as a family. The weather was great and the water felt so good. They had a water slide there at the hotel that Sandra and I got to play on, it reminded me of my childhood, although Hannah and Micah just sat and watched Sandra and I act like children. The breakfast buffet was out of this world, I wish I had taken pictures but I didn't want to look like a silly tourist taking pictures of the buffet line. I strongly recommend this place to anybody desiring to come and visit Okinawa, or those living here. Overall we had a great time ringing in 30 years for my lovely wife. Tonight we are having a party for her here at our building, church family and friends will be with us to celebrate and rejoice with Sandra, please check back with us for the Part II of Sandra's 30th for pictures of her party, also please leave Sandra a Happy Birthday comment, be encouraged.