2002 - 2003 Joy of Learning Report and Aloha

As we complete our 9th year of our JOL Ministry, I wish to thank our outstanding and loving staff who volunteered their time to teach our 41 students, and the dedicated and hard-working administrators, music and childcare coordinators and helpers. Each and every one of you working hand in hand to serve God has made this ministry such a "Joy"!

My sincere appreciation to Rev. Nakao for his monthly spiritual message which was the hi-light of all the students and teachers. He is a great messenger of God.

A special, special thank you to Sachiko Blume for all the wonderful things she does behind the scene for all of us. Her duties are too numerous to list. She does it with such grace and love.

My students, Hiroko Mizuno, Eri Nakae, Satoyo Shibatani, Chisato Susaki and Hiroko Yamamoto added so much love and laughter into my life. As conscientious students they showed outstanding improvements in their oral and written skills. We shared many delicious recipes in class and baked pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving at my home with a potluck luncheon. It was a fun year and I will miss them very much.

I would like to acknowledge and thank all the people listed below:

Have a relaxing summer!

Betty Takahashi, Dean

As the end of our 2002-2003 JOL Year approaches, I am thankful and count my blessings for the wonderful sessions of learning I have had with my few, but very special students. The text book assignments were, generally, well done and often served as a guideline to improve the students' conversation skills. I will miss Mikiko Saida, Akiko Takahashi and Tomoko Yoshida. Mitsuko Taniguchi had moved to Redmond, Washington in March when her husband was transferred. To our amazement, Tomoko only missed two sessions for the birth of her daughter, Koto. It has, indeed, been a year of Joy of Learning!

Annie Sueda

It has been a great year of learning, sharing and improving conversational skills. Class time went so quickly. Thank you Hisayo, Naomi, Satomi and Tomoko for your interesting reports and discussions that we enjoyed. Have a safe summer. Bless you all.

Heidi Ichiuji

I have truly enjoyed meeting you this year. I hope you could taste the Joy of Learning English in the class. May you continue to use English and explore the life in America. Have a great summer!

Makiko Dua

Thanks to Yumi, Fumio, Kumiko and Hitomi. We have had a great and fun class this year. Have a wonderful summer. May God Bless you.

Ruth Ellis/Alice Deguchi

Thank you Lord for the faith you had in engaging me with the Joy of Learning program. Summer is upon us and that means graduation for our students, another year of wonderful communication, resulting in the knowledge we gained sharing our lives. Let's pray for peace in the world. God Bless!

Dixie Ishikawa

Please pray for President Bush, his Cabinet members and Military leaders that God will give them wisdom, guidance, prudence and insight to end the conflict in the Middle East justly and quickly. Also, pray for the Iraqi people for their salvation and deliverance from the evil perpetrated on them by their leaders. In this world of chaos, we can take heart that our God is still in control! We can, therefore, look to the future with hope! As summer approached may all of you enjoy the summer with your children in good health. We look forward to seeing all of you again in the fall. God Bless!

Rose Tamura

In our Idiom class, our eager, beaver-eyed students; Fumie M, Fumie O, Keiko, Yumi and Akiko were very prompt and attentive. It was a joy to get to know each one. They are now able to recognize the idioms in every day American living. I pray that God, our Father, will bless us all with special blessings from the Risen Savior, Jesus.

Raiko Okada