California Homestay USA is a Christian homestay program for Japanese students between the ages of 8 and 16. The program was started in 1998 by Kyle Yates, a missionary-English teacher at Suita Bible Gospel Church in Suita, Osaka, Japan. Calvary Chapel of Oxnard, California is the base church for the program in America. The program is 3 weeks long during summer break. Each student is matched up to one volunteer host family that comes from either Calvary Chapel of Oxnard, Ventura or Camarillo churches. Students attend VBS at Calvary Chapel of Oxnard for one week and enjoy other activities that include: Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood, Dodgers baseball game, the beach, (sometimes) camping, sightseeing, BBQ at a park, a Sayonara party, shopping and other activities usually organized by the host families.

It is a fun program and everyone that is a part of it has had amazing experiences.

Students learn through interaction with their host families, the VBS teachers, music they learn and sing, stories they hear, games they play and friends they make at VBS and church. Through these experiences, we have seen many students have wonderful growth in their lives; host families even.
We have had students who’ve joined our program but didn’t really enjoy English. By the end of the program, however, they had better listening and understanding of English and had begun to desire to learn English on their own.
Many students who’ve been a part of the California Homestay USA program now travel or live abroad using their English skills they have improved on since the program. Some students even travel back to America and stay with their host families outside the homestay program schedule.
We have seen many wonderful things happen during this program. Students, even host families, have had heart changing experiences. Students, who were somewhat spoiled when they first began the homestay program, became independent and more selfless. Host families, who were going through difficulties before the program, felt God telling them to host a student. In the end, they were blessed by the whole experience and cried tears of joy at being a part of the program.
This homestay program is great to be a part of each year we do it. If you are not a part of the program and live too far away, you can still participate by praying for us, the program and the students that attend each year we do this.
Join this website and/or interact with us on Facebook. We appreciate all the prayers we can get!