Random things... :)

Juhee sharing her bicycle with Sungjae.

Today, I had to go pick up Sungjae a bit earlier than usual because he had a fever. He usually has seconds for lunch, but today he didn't finish his first serving. He's usually very active a~ll the time, but he stopped being so active a little bit before lunch time. After nap time, they checked his temperature and it was at 38.8C, so they called me to come pick him up. He was lying on his little cot when I came into this room. He was very happy to see me and wanted me to hold him. My poor baby!!! :(

Usually he's off running around and climbing up things as soon as I put his shoes on him to go home, but today, he just stayed in my arms. At dinner time, Juhee very thoughtfully said that I could sit next to Sungjae today as he's sick. I was worried that she would kick up a fuss if I suggested it, so I'm glad she said it first! She's a good girl, a caring and loving big sister. :) I only gave Sungjae a little bit for dinner and he thankfully finished all of it before climbing into my arms again. I gave him to daddy for a bit while I washed the dishes and he fell sound asleep in daddy's arms. But of course, he woke up looking for me as soon as I went to the bathroom... :/ While Peter and I were upstairs getting Sungjae ready for bed, Juhee was downstairs on her own. When we left her, she was drawing. When Peter went back downstairs, she was flossing! She was getting herself ready for bed too without us having said anything. She's becoming such a big girl!

Juhee and Sungjae brushing each other's teeth! =D

Sungjae said he wanted to brush his teeth ("이빨닦어!") before going to bed and wanted to shower too, but we said yes to brushing teeth and no to shower. He barely had the energy to stand and we didn't want him to get really cold (it's cold in our bathroom, especially if we don't run the bath). Thankfully, he was satisfied with just brushing teeth. :) By 8pm, both kids were fast asleep, an hour to hour and a half earlier than usual.

I pray that Sungjae's fever will go down tonight... And I thank God that Juhee's is such an understanding, thoughtful, caring big sister... :) At least when her little brother is sick. ;)

Sungjae doesn't like his veggies. The other day, Sungjae and I were having leftover curry and Peter and Juhee were having leftover (Costco!!!) pizza for dinner. I was surprised that Sungjae was eating his carrots, and not only was he eating them, he was gathering all of them up on his spoon and eating them first. He was also saying that horses like carrots and making horse neighing sounds. He calls horses "horsie" or "ee-hing", so I said, "성제가 이힝~처럼 당근 잘 먹네~" ("You eat carrots well, just like a horse!") to which Juhee said, "누나는~ 사람처럼 피자 잘 먹어." ("Big sister eats pizza well, just like a human being.") =D

Juhee and the boys following the exercises on the kids' show.

An English-speaking Japanese friend recently asked us to take care of her two boys. We were very happy to do so as they're one of our closest friends here. She came back from work to pick up her boys and I offered her some tea. She sipped the tea, sighed, and said, "I feel like I can relax now. But not because of the tea, or the house, I think because I'm with Jenny-san." I think my heart melted. Love her to bits. :)

One of many, many meetings I've had
with the other moms of Juhee's class.

Last week, I spent about 6 hours with other moms from Juhee's school. 2 years ago, I wouldn't have been completely lost and wiped out. Now, I can follow most things and am tired, but not wiped out. God is good. :)

Also last week, I was reminded that it's OK to not know everything. But more importantly, God chose me to be the person I am, doing what I'm doing, and living where I'm living, because according to His plan, I'm the best one for the job that He's given me. By "know"ing here, I mean things like biblical knowledge, theology, even things like Japanese culture, Christian history, etc as I sometimes feel like I'm not very well equipped to be here. But I was

One of my best friends here.
She thinks that us becoming friends was "destiny".

reminded that me doubting the "appropriateness" (? for lack of a better word), is like doubting God and His Sovereignty. I hadn't thought of it that way before.

The missionary's wife who spoke about this to me also said (without ever having met Peter) that Peter and I are very different, and that I should stop trying to understand him. =D It made me think about how we are similar in some ways, but very very different in so many other ways too. And although many say that "opposites attract", I think it was the similarities that we have that attracted us to one another in the beginning. We share many basic fundamental values. But yes, we are very different too. I think most couples could
probably say this about themselves...

Bought more than 20 English kids' books
at an International Festival, all for just $10!!!

I love buying books. I shouldn't because we'll be moving so often and books are heavy, but I love buying books, having lots of books at home, and being able to read a variety of books to our kids. I love that they have lots of books that they can just browse through. Buying books is SOOO much more fun than buying shoes, handbags, clothes... Blech! (Shhh.. don't tell my sister! ;P)

She refused to wear pants even to an athletic center.
She loves her skirts and dresses! :)

A good friend of ours back home has been the main provider of Juhee's wardrobe since she was about 2 years old. When we moved to Japan, I brought about two years' worth of clothes for Juhee, most from this one friend. Now, my friend sends clothes with people who come visit us from the San Jose area. When I changed out Juhee's wardrobe about a month ago to her Spring / Summer clothes, I noticed that she had almost everything she needed, but she didn't have many skirts. She had dresses sent to her from my sister and Juhee's grandmas, but hardly any skirts that she could wear to school. Juhee LOVES skirts and dresses. She does NOT like wearing shorts / pants. I mentioned this to my teammate one evening as we were chatting. The following week, two brothers from our home church came to visit and one of them brought clothes from my friend - including - skirts!!! When I told my teammate, she was amazed at God's provision. So were we!!! :) God is good.

Hmm.. Where did the "cookie jar" go?
Who took the cookie from the cookie jar? ;)

The value of the yen is dropping!!! I can't tell you how much this means to us. Our budget was created based on a $1=110円 exchange rate. For the past two years, the annual average has been around $1=78円. PLUS our monthly support has decreased significantly over the past 15 months. So having the exchange rate at almost $1=100円 is absolutely amazing!!! Thank You, God!!!

The mom of the girl in Juhee's class who is not very nice to her is always super nice to me. At the last meeting we had at the preschool, all of the moms were standing around in the classroom, looking for a seat. Most moms sat in the seat in front of them (as I did - being the non-shy foreigner, I was the first to sit), but the mom of the not-so-nice girl came over from the other side of the classroom saying "I'm going to sit next to Juhee's mommy" and came and sat next to me. She sat next to me when some of the moms went out to lunch together too. I'm glad she likes me so much. :) Hopefully I'll be able to have more in-depth conversations with her someday.

God sent us so many people to help us for our move!
It was truly an amazing experience.

I finally have a second floor balcony to hang my laundry on, just like almost everyone else! Yay! :) We also finally have an automatic bath filling mechanism. It's really cool! I love it! We finally have regulated water temperature so no one can accidentally burn themselves with water from the hot water tap like at our old house. We also have a nice, strong shower instead of a trickle. The shower in our last house always reminded me of the showers I took during my short-term missions trip in Uganda in 2004. It was a trickle there too. But at least it wasn't cold!!!

Can't get away from centipedes. They're everywhere here. But so glad the white powder repellant works! Two centipedes so far at the new house, but thankfully, they were both outside and dead!!! (Hope you won't be too disappointed that there's no picture to go with this tidbit.)

And on that happy note... :)

Jan-Mar 2013 Newsletter

Here it is, a preview of our latest newsletter. :)

Sweet or Sour Pickles?

I don't usually do this, but this one was special.  The below is most of a newsletter from our Pioneers teammates down in Shimonoseki, a couple of hours south from where we are.  Tony and Marcia Haug have been here the longest (out of the Pioneers missionaries in Japan) and are on their THIRD church plant.  Amazing, right?  Their ministry is slightly different from most of the other Pioneers teams in that they plant churches themselves instead of helping Japanese pastors to plant churches.  Marcia is actually a 2nd generation Japan MK so grew up speaking Japanese and Tony is fluent in it now too.  He has absolutely no problems preaching or giving talks in public forums in Japanese - unlike the rest of us! ;P  The story below is from one of Tony's most recent opportunities to be bold for Jesus in Japan.  It's awesome...  My jaw just dropped lower and lower as I was reading this...  I really pray that someday, I will be able to have the language, the Biblical knowledge, the ability to be able to have the Holy Spirit guide my speech, and the boldness and courage to be able to do what Tony did this day.  It's absolutely awesome!  I'm so grateful for and encouraged by the Haug's.  They have the most awesome stories. :)  Here's one of them...

Sweet or Sour Pickles?

Several years ago, the city of Shimonoseki began a yearly symposium called Rakuuza (translated Fun Seminar). Special speakers that have some type of relationship to Shimonoseki--politicians, musicians, artists, novelists etc. are invited to come and speak on their area of specialty. For the first time, I was invited to join the 60 guest speakers as a representative of Christianity. Along with a Buddhist priest, Mr. Koubun Nishijima and Shinto priest, Michio Naruse, I sat on a stage at Shimonoseki City College and shared some foundational principles of Christianity to over 100 people in a casual debate format.

I met the MC for our discussion and the two priests, the night before at a local hotel where we shared a buffet along with all of the other participants in the symposium. The conversation which took place at our table was  revealing of the core attitude of religion in Japan. There is a saying in Japan that says, "Minna chigatte, Minna ee."This basically means, "We are all different, but all good in our own way." This philosophy transfers over into the religious realm.  

Mr. Itou, Tony  Mr. Nishijima, Mr. Naruse

During the meal, Mr.Naruse, the Shinto priest, expressed to me, "Japanese are like sponges, they absorb religions from various places and tweek them a little to become their own." The Buddhist priest, Mr. Nishijima echoed a similar sentiment during the discussion the following day when he said, "I think Buddhism is like a recipe book, you play around with a recipe and create something. You decide what your soul wants to make. It is your own responsibility what you do with the ingredients."

The session I participated in was one of the most well attended of the symposium. Around 100 people filled every available chair in the college classroom to hear what we had to say. The stark contrast between the concrete Truth and direction which Scripture gives in living a fulfilled life and the empty, meaningless banter promoted as religion by the two priests was evident to all of those who were listening.  

Part of the way through the discussion, Mr. Nishijima, the Buddhist priest said, "I am afraid that about 80% of you are probably leaning his (Tony's) way! Uh Oh!" The Shinto priest, Mr. Naruse added, "I also thought he (Tony) was convincing. It could be because I had had a lot to drink last night, but I also thought, 'Maybe I will become a believer too!' I need to learn from him." I felt the prayers of God's people and a special enabling power from God as point after point, I respectfully brought the discussion back to the teachings of Scripture.

Mr. Naruse opened the discussion with his view of the importance of religion in life. He explained, "I don't think it is necessary to think too deeply about religion. For instance when you sit down to eat a meal, the main course is the rice. You have the side dishes. If you have pickles to go with the meal, it makes everything taste even better, doesn't it? I think you should think of religion like the pickles. It makes life a little better. If you think of religion as more than that, it will become a burden to you. Just as pickles make a meal a little more delicious, religion makes life a little more pleasant and enriches you a little more."

In response, I shared the reason why I came to Japan as a missionary--to share the Good News of a Message that changed my life. Salvation through faith in Christ and the forgiveness of sins is the most delicious message of all, I explained. Christianity is not a religion, but a daily relationship with a Living Being, I clarified. Coming back to this point time and time again in various forms throughout the hour, I was able to speak on topics of marriage, death and bullying.  

At one point, Mr. Ito, the MC, laughingly said, "Tony is so convincing in his speech that I thought at one point last night around the dinner table, that Mr. Nishijima was going to become a Christian!" The Buddhist priest did seem to have a piqued interest in the Truth I was sharing. He frequently nodded his head in agreement! During the panel discussion, Mr. Nishijima turned to the Shinto priest and said, "As I was listening to you speak, I wondered... We put our hands together to pray, but are our prayers answered? Is there a god or Hotoke*? Have any of you (speaking to the audience) ever said such a thing at least once in your life? Shinto worship nature, but can nature forgive you? Nature can't forgive your selfishness. Shinto teaches that nature is your mother and father. That is what you are worshiping."

I nodded my head in agreement at this astute observation and followed with three questions which everyone wants answered: "Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where do I go after I die?" I quoted John 14:6 for them:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

In response to Mr. Ito's final question of the morning, "What is important for the children of this generation to remember?" I was able to repeat again that what was important was the same now as in every generation before- salvation . Christ was put upon cross to resolve the problem of sin. "It is not enough just to believe in something, "I explained. "A point of reference is important. It is not enough to just believe, but the object of belief is important."

Pray that the seeds of Truth that were planted in this Buddhist/Shinto audience will take root and grow into faith in the Creator God.

Our Savior is the main course, not just the pickles!

Click here to see the symposium at Shimonoseki City College  

*Hotoke can refer to a person who has become enlightened and therefore has become a buddha. It can also refer to Buddhism as a whole. The word "god" is probably referred to as the shinto gods and Hotoke as the Shinto gods in this reference. 

(From the Haug's prayer requests section...)

7.**URGENT** Beginning August 2013, we will be in need of another Conversational English teacher to take Hilary's place. Are you or anyone you know interested in coming to Japan to help introduce people to Christ through teaching English? Teachers would receive 1350 dollars per month. The remaining 500 dollars per month and cost of the plane ticket would need to be raised before arrival. You can use a skill you already have--speaking English to help reach Japanese for Christ!  Please contact us immediately if you are interested!