Mar - Apr 2012 Newsletter

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Asaminami Chapel has officially started!

This is what we’ve been waiting for!  Asaminami Chapel is now open!

We had our first worship service on Easter Sunday.  What a great day for a church to start!  We had 20 adults and 10 children present for our very first service, which was quite a surprise.  Asaminami Chapel is the third church plant envisioned by Pastor Haitaka; Koyo Chapel being the first and Kabe Chapel being the second.  This church plant has been in the works for approximately the past 7 years, and has finally come to fruition. By God’s leading, His provision, in His timing, and through His people, He has established this church.

To find out more about Asaminami Chapel, check out their facebook page here. It's mostly in Japanese, but at least you can see the pictures.

Pictured above from top left is Pastor Yamada and Peter thinking through how best to set up the chairs since this was the first time, Jenny and Sungjae getting settled before our very first Sunday service, and the Oh family in front ofAsaminami Chapel. The panorama picture on the bottom is what our very first Sunday service looked like. Thank you for your many prayers in helping to make this happen.

Please pray this new church plant will brightly shine the light of Jesus Christ in the Asaminami area of Hiroshima. We pray that many people will come to know Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord through the ministry of this church.

Prayer Meetings

I went to my first one! :)

The multi-site church that we work with has Prayer Meetings on Wednesdays, one in the morning and one in the evening. I haven't been able to go to them as I've had Sungjae in the mornings and evenings are difficult for mommies so Peter's been going to the ones at Kabe Chapel alone (prior to Asaminami Chapel starting).

HOWEVER!!! With Sungjae now in daycare, I was able to attend my first ever Prayer Meeting at Asaminami Chapel, which just so happened to be Asaminami Chapel's first ever too! Yay!!! :)

We sing hymns together, listen to a sermon and then hear an update on praise and prayer requests from the pastor, give offering, and break out into small groups for personal prayer requests. In the small groups, we're each given one or two of the larger church-related prayer topics to pray for and pray for the person on the right.

The first day I went, we had an international team comprised of me, Peter, and Jess so we got to do everything in English - hurrah! :P The second time I went, I was in a group with one of the older ladies and Pastor Yamada. I'm very happy to say that I prayed in Japanese, albeit very simple Japanese, but I did it and both the older lady and the pastor were impressed. Peter and Jess were too. =D More importantly, they understood everything that I said! :)

This is a picture from the third time I went (May 2nd). Jess was in Malaysia and one other lady who's been coming out in the mornings wasn't there that day. It's awesome that we already have so many coming out regularly to pray corporately, share prayer requests with each other, and pray for one another.

White board had just arrived the previous week. Tables and chairs are still on loan from Koyo Chapel, but hopefully we'll get our own soon. Still need curtains too and a few other bits and pieces, but by God's grace, it's all coming together really well.

Awesomeness. :)

Sungjae's Growing :)

I guess it's something we take for granted, yet often forget about... You have a baby, you feed the baby, the baby grows... But there are certain times when you're watching your own kid and you think to yourself, "Aww, he's not a baby anymore... Look at him!"

Pick-up time is always difficult 'cause neither of our kids want to go home! Sungjae loves the playground at his daycare and he surprised me during one of his first few days there by hanging on that bar for a good few minutes. I didn't even know he had the grip and arm strength to hold up his weight! I couldn't believe my eyes. He was having so much fun and was so proud of himself.

Here's a short video of him hanging happily from bars on a monkey gym. "See~" he proudly says. This mommy was on edge the whole time! Eek! ^^;

One afternoon, we needed to make lots of cards. Sungjae got in the action too and this was his side of the card. His fine motor skills are definitely improving.

He's also always wanting to dress and undress himself these days. He usually gets frustrated while putting on his pants 'cause the back gets stuck under his puffy diapers. He hasn't figured out how to pull up the back and only pulls up the front. On this particular evening, he put on his pajama top, head first. Pretty clever, right? It's not easy, ya know. =D He knew it wasn't on right and kept on trying to pull it down more, but then he soon forgot about it and started doing his own thing. He was happy when I fixed it for him and he could pull his top down. :)

Sungjae doesn't like being taken out of the car seat. As soon as we unbuckle him, he flips around and climbs out of his car seat and out the door on his own. He's becoming a really good helper around the kitchen and is always willing to take the spoons for everyone - except he tends to give them to the individual person wherever he finds them, rather than putting them on the table! He does the same with chopsticks, forks, etc. He likes taking his bowl of rice / plate of food to the table and putting his empty bowl / plate / silverware, etc in the sink when he's done. He's also very competitive and is always competing with Juhee - competing for attention, wanting whichever toy she's playing with, wanting to wear her school bag and hat, wanting to run faster than her... He's also started to speak Japanese too, which adds another interesting layer of confusion as we're constantly having to figure out a) which language he's speaking in, b) what he's saying, c) what he's actually trying to communicate (not always the same for toddlers). :) From when he was about 18mths old, he's also been putting his arm under my neck when sleeping. When he puts his face right next to mine and lies on his side, he can now get his little arms around my head/neck to give me a big hug before falling asleep. It's an awesome feeling, absolutely the best. <3

I can't believe my baby's turning two this month... Sniff... :'(  =D

Thank you God for a beautiful, healthy, bright, cheerful, strong, sociable, affectionate, loving, curious, outdoor loving, wonderful little boy. :) Help us to be the godly parents that you long for us to be so that we can help guide him to be a lover and disciple of You. Thank you for surrounding him with awesome Christian family and friends who will spur him, guide him, keep him accountable, and sharpen him as he grows older. We look forward to seeing the man that you have planned for him to be and pray that he will always be one that is ruled by ("jae") the Holy Spirit ("sung"). <3