April Newsletters

Top one's in Korean, bottom one's in English. Click on the images to see legible =) larger versions of the newsletters.

If you would like to receive our newsletters by email, please email us at peterandjennyoh@gmail.com. =)

Random Rash?!

(Juhee squatting caught on camera. =D Taken on a non-rash day.)

On April 2nd, Thursday, mum asked Peter to preach for Korea School on Saturday, April 4th! So the next day we were busy preparing to preach to a group of about 150 students ranging from the ages of 3 and a half to 18 year olds + about 10-15 adults (mostly teachers).

Peter preached in English and I interpreted into Korean, not because the students couldn't understand English but because it was for Korea School. I was holding Juhee for most of the time I was interpreting and they were having technical problems so we were sharing one microphone. Despite the challenges, we had fun and I think the listeners did too. :) They had fun learning about Japan, the difficulty we had in ordering food, and learning that we really need their prayers.

One example of why we need your prayers arose that morning as we were about to leave for church. We were all ready to go and then when I went to pick Juhee up to put her jacket on, I noticed that she had a rash all over her face! She didn't have it even an hour earlier when I dressed her. When did it happen? How did it happen so quickly? So I checked her arms, legs, and the rest of her body and she had a rash all over. I panicked! I told Peter and we decided to call the doctor. I told them that she hadn't had anything to eat that she hadn't had before so we didn't think that it was an allergic reaction to food. They said that in that case they weren't sure what it could be but we could bring her in if we wanted to. Peter in the meantime did a bit of an internet search and couldn't find anything significant.. so we decided to go to church. :) We were more bothered about the it than she was. Actually, she wasn't bothered at all.

By the next morning, the rash was completely gone. But as Peter mentioned during his sermon that Saturday morning, every time we're doing things related to Kingdom work, something happens to one of us. It wasn't until afterward that we found out that the rash she had was probably connected to the 100+F fevers she'd been having a couple of days earlier.

It's not going to be an easy journey. But we know and are very thankful that we'll be covered in your prayers.

Thank you! =)

Need to learn how to blog

(Juhee enjoying grandma's birthday dinner at Armadillo Willy's. She ate sooooo much! She enjoyed the different types of meat, corn bread, potato salad... The cup has water in it, not soda. ;D)

I need to learn how to blog. I sit in front of my laptop and type so much.. stuff! So much detail... I'm a very detail-orientated person. =)

I actually write a lot of blog entries in my head that never get typed up because I don't have the time or energy. Maybe that's why when I do get the chance, I tend to overdo it. Oops!

Sorry there's always so much text (like the one below). I'll get better I promise!

Thank you for bearing with me while I learn how to blog. =)

Love,
Jenny

Amazing Times

(She's suddenly started noticing these days that some of her toys are.. uh.. not dressed. So one day, she was playing with her polar bear, stops, rushes to our room, rushes back with a diaper, puts it on top of the polar bear trying to figure out how to get the diaper on the polar bear, and then eventually looks at me with a big smile. She was very happy when I put the diaper on the polar bear. All of her "naked" toys have diapers on them now. :D)

April so far has been just absolutely amazing!

We sent out our March newsletter on April 1st, a day later than we wanted to. So it started out a bit disappointing, but then everything changed...

Very soon after we sent out our newsletter, we had a sister from Pathway Bible Fellowship reply to the email saying that they were interested in hosting a Small Group Gathering but wanted to find out more info first before committing. PTL! We were so nervous about whether or not we should even ask in the newsletter about hosting Small Group Gatherings. But as we were praying through these types of decisions, God really gave us peace about communicating our heart and allowing the Spirit to move people to respond. It was really exciting and encouraging to get a reply back so soon.

On April 3rd, Friday, I had a wonderful evening catching up with my pastor's wives friends and meeting new ones too at the Pastor's Wives Fellowship. We had such a great time we didn't want to leave! We could've kept talking all night. But duty called... :) We were so pampered physically (luscious food provided by Pathway's Women Ministry), spiritually and emotionally.

The following Monday - Wednesday we spent preparing for our first ever speaking engagement to an all-adult crowd at Pathway's Singles Cell Group. There were so many things we wanted to share we nearly got into an argument! We shared together, which was fun and we ended up adding things we hadn't anticipated and not sharing things we'd planned on sharing. The listeners were open and responsive and we really appreciated their timely laughter, funny faces (esp when I was explaining parts of the Japanese bathing culture!), and attentiveness to what we had to share. Peter did a great job setting up the display table too (while I stayed in the car with Juhee for a bit while she was napping). We didn't have our camera with us so we unfortunately didn't get any pictures but we'll definitely have to take some on April 19th when Peter preaches at Pathway. If we forget, someone remind us please!!!

After we spoke, Kevin Ch came up to me and spoke to me about an idea he just had. We still need to figure out exactly how, but it seems like God's leading him in some way to help me with the 15 units of Bible I'm required by Pioneers to complete, whether it's as an encourager/pusher or as my Independent Study teacher! Either way, it looks like I'll finally be starting my studies too - yay!

With Juhee going to daycare, I'd finally been able to read through the DMV (US version of the DVLA) booklet and practice on a few sample tests. So on Friday, after we dropped her off, we went to the DMV and I took my California driving theory (or what they call the "written" test here) test - and passed! Yay!!! We had In-N-Out as our celebratory lunch. :)

When Juhee and I went to the Easter Egg Hunt at SCVJCC on Tuesday, I saw the poster for their Good Friday service and as it was earlier than ours, the church is closer, and we wanted to catch up with a few friends and hopefully meet some new ones, we decided to go to the SCVJCC's service. We're so glad we did! We had such a good time and it was good hearing Japanese again. It was good to meet more members of the church as the mums who attend the POPs group are mostly non-Christians / not members of SCVJCC.

Slowly but surely, more and more is happening, and it's so exciting to have this momentum! It's so awesome to take part in the things God has planned for us in this journey, as we seek to follow Him step by step. :)

SCVJCC POPs

Sorry, I used to work in the pharmaceutical industry, notorious for its (over-)use of acronyms, so I still get a kick out of using them. Sad, I know. :)














We haven't been able to go for a while, but Juhee and I were able to attend the last two Parents of Preschoolers meetings of Santa Clara Valley Japanese Christian Church.

The one on 31st March was at the Children's Discovery Museum which we'd never been to. Now we're members! Juhee had lots of fun there and if we had the time, I think I would've stayed there with her a bit longer. She didn't have a whole lot of fun downstairs which is more for the bigger kids, but she did like the very simple tennis ball rolling down slopes thing in the first picture. Once we got upstairs and went to the toddler's section she had more fun crawling & sitting on the dragon and play-eating with plastic food and plates. She's really starting to like play-acting these days. It's so cute! Hopefully we'll be visiting many more times.














7th April is when they had their Easter Egg Hunt - Juhee's first ever! She was so busy watching the other kids running around grabbing eggs, she didn't go get any herself! She just sat there (left bottom corner of pic), bewildered. The ones that ended up in Juhee's basket were ones that I put right in front of her and then she put in her basket. Some of the kids were so competitive! Some had dressed up for the occasion and even had fancy baskets too - so cute! Even some of the mums were wearing bunny ears. :) They had watercolors and stickers available for pre-cut egg shaped pieces of paper as craft for the older kids. The stickers were too small for Juhee but she still enjoyed it. She likes stickers.

The plastic eggs had all sorts of goodies in them - Japanese marshmallows (they were delicious!), small stickers, big scented stickers, stuff you sprinkle onto rice, sweets... For those that wanted to, recycling was available for the eggs, which I thought was a very good eco-friendly and budget-friendly idea. Of course, we had to bring our basket home complete with the eggs to show daddy, grandma, and the uncles. ;)

We also sang the ABC Alphabet Song but with the Japanese hiragana alphabet too. I'd never heard a Japanese alphabet song so I was fascinated! I had fun singing it too 'cause it's one of the songs that I know the "lyrics" to - well, almost all of the lyrics. :)

I met a lady that day who just started studying Korean on her own because she likes a Korean pop singer ("Rain" 비) so much! So we said that we'll help each other learn each other's languages.

March - Week 4

(Enjoying brunch with grandma.)

The week started off with Juhee having her 15 month check-up which included two vaccines - ouch! We were told that she's a very healthy little girl, growing very consistently at 50% height (30 and a half inches) and 15% weight (20 lbs and 5 oz). Yay! :)

On Tuesday, we registered Juhee at daycare so I can have time to complete tasks that I need to do in order for us to better prepare to go to Japan like finally study for and take the test for my California driver's license, look into and start my 15 units of Bible classes, read the 5 books I've been assigned to read, help more around the house, preparing brochures, marketing packets, and organizing speaking engagements for us at churches, small group meetings, etc. She's been doing ok. She cries a lot in the morning and then gets better progressively throughout the day. Peter's been peeking in on her when he goes to pick her up and she'll be playing fine until she sees her and then she suddenly starts crying. :) She's been eating well there and learning to sleep on her own in a little cot too. We've bought her a bed which she really likes so once she's a bit more used to daycare and not so stressed about it, we're planning on training her to sleep in her bed for naps first and then during the night too. She's been sleeping with us since we started traveling last October so it'll be a big adjustment for all of us!

We had a playdate with one of my dear close friends and her kids on Wednesday and that was a real blessing for me. It was unexpectedly cut short, but hopefully we'll be able to hang out again soon. Peter was really not feeling well that day... Poor hubby. :( We were able to spend a lot of time with his parents though which was good. :)

Thursday we found out that my possible ulcer is actually gastritis. Not sure if that's good news or not, but I guess it's better than having an ulcer! So I was prescribed exercise, meds, and a restricted diet (no caffeine, no soda, no spicy food). From the blood tests and x-rays, we also found out that I have high bad cholesterol and low good blood cholesterol. As always, I'm still borderline anemic too. So apparently I need lots more exercise!!! Especially because I had gestational diabetes... So overall, I'm healthy, just having occasional "tummy aches". :)



On Friday we had lunch with one of our old youth who's more like a sister. It was really good catching up with her.

Saturday was a crazy busy day! Juhee and I attended Pathway's Women's Ministry Brunch which was great! It was great hanging out with other women, enjoying food together, chatting, getting to know each other better, and praying together. After the brunch we went to a 1st birthday party where Juhee had soooooooooo much fun! She experienced her first ever bubble making machine and she was fascinated! She had fun playing with other kids while knowing that mum & dad were around. She ate lots too. She was very very tired by the end of the day...

So were we! :)

March - Week 3

Highlights of Week 3 -

1) Skyping with the Murrays in Hiroshima, Japan (Monday pm),

2) spending time in SF with Jade & Elisa (most of Tuesday),

3) going around daycares for Juhee with preschool expert Jade (Thursday),

4) hosting a Cookie Lee Jewelry Party and getting to hang out with my friends and their girls (Saturday pm), and

5) meeting with our prayer group (Saturday evening).



On Tuesday, we picked up Elisa from her place and then went for a walk in Crissy Field. It was so windy and so cold!!! Silly tourists from sunny San Jose ;) didn't take jackets so Jade and I ended up sharing her Mythbusters sweater and she took off her.. uh.. beige lace-y thing so Juhee could wear it. We had to bunch it up and tie it so that it wouldn't drag. A few people commented on her being "fashionable". =)




Afterward, we had a beautiful Italian dinner at Tommaso - yuuuuuuuuuuuummy! Would def recommend it to anyone who's visiting SF. They had this cool baby chair that you hook onto the table - Juhee was hanging mid-air! She really enjoyed her dinner too. Even if it wasn't for the tummy pains I was having, I definitely would've eaten more. So sad... We wanted to hang-out with Elisa more after dinner but Juhee fell asleep and we didn't want to wake her and have her screaming and crying the whole way home so we had to give up on the extra hang-out time.

That day, I felt like we were on a holiday! I had lots of fun. =)

March - Week 2

Week 2 of March was our week of recuperating from Week 1 and re-adjusting to San Jose time (3 hours behind). We had meals with friends during the week and my sister Jade arrived from Dallas on Thursday evening too for a week's stay! Yay!


We also had fun watching my brothers perform in The Wiz, Leland HS's Spring musical. John played The Wiz (an Asian martial arts version) and Sunghwan was in the chorus. Juhee had fun watching it until she realized that her uncles were in it. After that she wouldn't sit still or stay quiet! Every time her uncles came out on stage she would point to them and call out trying to get their attention! So I had to take her out or to the back every time they came out on stage.

When we were taking pictures after the show, she couldn't stop staring at John's special Wiz glasses so we eventually gave up trying to get her to look at the camera. =)

March - Week 1: PFC, Orlando, FL

Where did March go??? Were we in Florida again just a month ago?

Here are a few pics from our 2nd week of training called "Pre-Field Connection" (PFC) at Pioneers HQ in Orlando, FL. Click on the pics below to see larger versions.

























1. Juhee having fun in the dining room with new friends. She loved hanging around the older kids, holding their hand, and bossing them around. The older kids loved her and took really good care of her, for which we were very grateful. She ate really well while we were there too - yay! :)

2. About to give the tallest attendee there a "five". He's very tall. It's not the angle. :D Unlike the one-week training / orientation we attended in Jan '09, childcare was provided - except Juhee refused to stay! We tried every single day and on Monday, she did actually stay the whole day. But from Tuesday to Friday, she cried and cried so we ended up having her with us. She walked around the seminar room making people smile and being her cute little self. :)

3. Having a blast playing with another older kid's toy (the girl behind her), who thankfully knew how to share!

4. Juhee's not the only one who made lots of new friends. Peter and I met many more wonderful, like-hearted, passionate people who are also wanting to obey God in His calling, wherever He may lead, in His perfect time, and in His awesome way. It was so sad having to say good-bye to them!

5. We left San Jose around noon on Feb 28th, arrived late night in Orlando where we were once again picked up by volunteers and driven to Pioneers HQ. It was surreal being back there again, knowing that it would be a different group of people this time, that we would be one step closer to getting to Japan. Here we are, one week later on Mar 7th, waiting to board our last flight - well, for a while anyway! Juhee actually looks like she might be doing some "business", but I think she was just making a face. Juhee's already been on 12 flights and she's only 15 months old. This year, we still need to travel to SoCal and Dallas/Houston, Texas too.

PFC was a great time to connect with the Pioneers family as well as other missionaries who were in a similar stage of preparing to go to the mission field as we are in, but just a few steps ahead of us. We were so encouraged by the stories we heard and the advice we received on how to best prepare ourselves for the field. We also learned so much about church planting and team building, that we’re still processing all the information.

One of my favorite sessions was the special impromptu evening session we had with just the moms that were there that focused on the challenges experienced by missionary wives, especially those with children. It was such an eye-opening time for me and I hope I'll be able to retain at least some of the wisdom and encouragement that was passed on to me that evening.

Another one of my favorite sessions was one that wasn't part of the program, but one that I specifically asked for. After the formal program had finished, we asked Linda, the Clarion Consultant who we'd been working with during our sessions, if she could go through our individual FIRO-B & MBTI test results with us so we can have a more in-depth understanding of how we're wired and how this affects our communication, our needs, and how we can use this tool to gain a better understanding of not only ourselves but also of each other as well as to improve our marriage. There's always room for improvement, right? :) The session ended up being much longer than I'd expected and we learned a lot. I think it was one of Peter's favourite sessions too. We like this kind of stuff. :)

March Newsletter

Click on the picture for a larger view of the newsletter. Blessings!

(Korean version on top, English below.)