Saturday, November 30, 2013

Sept-Nov Newsletter

Yay! We finally sent it out! Let us know if you didn't get it. Click here to see it online. Thank you for your prayers and support. :)


Sunday, November 24, 2013

Newsletters, newsletters, newsletters...

So...  Our Sept-Oct newsletter has now become a Sept-Nov newsletter.  Our monthly newsletters became every other month and now sometimes they're quarterly. :/  At least we do get out newsletters in English...  We've been really really bad with our Korean newsletters this year...  Really bad...  We've only sent out TWO.  It's been at least six months!!!

As our newsletter for this month is starting to become too long (and I keep on having to changes tenses from future to past...) I'm going to post up a few of them as blog posts, lengthened from their original succinct newsletter versions and with more pictures too. :)  I'm going to back date them though so for those of you who don't get our automated blog update emails, here are a few posts that have been sneaked in...

Deepening Relationships
Finishing Well: STM2013
All Asia EV Free Conference

There may be more later, some that are more personal.  There's always tons I want to blog about and share with our friends and family!  When I see God working in and through our family, it really makes me want to share.  I want to share the blessings that He is pouring out onto our family.  And sometimes the not-so-awesome things too.  I guess I do a bit on Facebook...  But we need to do newsletters for churches/missions committees, for supporters not on Facebook/online, and for our missions agency.  It's hard to keep things succinct in newsletters.  Actually, that's one of the hardest things about writing newsletters.  There's always too much I want to share.  I love sharing! :)

A few months ago, we had someone unsubscribe from our newsletters saying that we send them out too often...  I was kinda surprised... =D  A couple of months ago, we had a friend visit and she confessed that she didn't read the ministry parts of our email and skipped straight down to the Family Update section! =DDD

Anyway, we're very grateful for everyone who keeps up with us on our blog, newsletters, Facebook, email, KakaoTalk, iMessage, etc. :)

Hoping to get two newsletters our within the next week... :/  Pray for me please!!! :)

Random photo collage for you...
Juhee's new haircut.  She goes to get her haircut 1-2 times a year but she hasn't had her hair cut this short since her first ever haircut when she was just 2 and a 1/2.  She wanted to get it cut short so it wouldn't take so long to dry it in the evenings after bath time.  Very practical. :)


Sunday, November 10, 2013

November Focus

Hey! Thanks for keeping up with us on our blog. :)

For some reason, I couldn't update this little mini side section last month, but I'm going to try again this month.

Let's see... For November, could you just pray for wisdom, endurance, lots of energy, and health please? I also want to thank you for your prayers. As I was "reviewing" last month's Focus post (while fixing the spacing problem ^^;), I realized how your prayers really sustained us were such a blessing to us, that God really answered your prayers. Thank you!!!

November marked a few milestones for us - I turned a year older, our 3-year anniversary since arriving in Japan, 5 years since our Vision Trip to Japan and our first ever outreach event in Hiroshima, and 7 years since Peter and I got to know each other... :) Praise God for His leading, every step of the way! :) 

Juhee had her 2nd ever ballet performance at the beginning of this month and she and her little friends were so cute! It was stressful with all of the extra lessons & rehearsals, sewing, hair, and make-up, but they did a great job and she's loving ballet more and more. This time, prep started at 12:30 for a 2pm performance, and was at a location within walking distance from Asaminami Chapel, so we were able to go easily after church. 

The day after the performance was a national holiday so we invited the ballet families over for dinner. 2 out of the 5 families couldn't make it, but it was just right. It was great to have them over for dinner, to just sit and chill, for the kids to have so much fun playing together, and for the dads to get to know each other too! One super-shy dad didn't say a word most of the time, but finally opened up towards the end... About 3 hours after he and his family arrived at our house! We prayed before the meal and talked about God during the time too. I haven't been able to host in a long time so I was super glad that God somehow made this happen. Thank you God! 

This month, we have Bonnie visiting us again for a weekend. Her third visit in three years! Next month, we have the Chu family visiting us and it's their third time in three years too! Both are helping us with our ministry here. Bonnie's bringing over a guitar that Peter will be using while leading praise at the Asaminami Bilingual Chapel + a suitcase full of items for 7 of our Christmas events this winter. The Chu's will be bringing over some stuff too and helping us during 3 of the events. We're looking forward to their visits! 

Asaminami Bilingual Chapel (no longer Asaminami Bilingual Service) has now started! The official start is the 23rd, but as of the 9th, prayer meetings have begun taking place at 4pm on Saturdays. Pray for the PI Hiroshima Team as they lead this new adventure that God has laid before them. 

 Asaminami Chapel will be holding their annual Kids' Christmas Party on the 30th. Last year they did one but it was packed, so this time they're having two - one in the morning for 0-6 year olds + moms and one in the afternoon for the elementary school kids. Pray for all of the prep that's taking place, pray that we'll be able to get enough people together to pass out flyers at all four gates of the elementary school adjacent to the church, and that we'll have enough people to help out at the event. Pray that the kids will have a great time, will want to come to church again, and that most importantly, that they'll learn the real meaning of Christmas. 

There are Christmas events that I am a part of at the kids' preschool too (like reading to the kids and singing in Handel's Messiah as part of the "Hallelujah Chorus"!) so pray that God will use me.. for something, somehow. :) 

There are lots of other things going on too, but those are probably the big ones. :) Thank you so much for your constant prayers and encouragement. :)