Hello! :)
We had an awesome three weeks in Dallas and are now back in San Jose. We were showered with so much love and generosity during our time in Dallas. We also enjoyed our first date night in probably over three years! I really wish we had more time to spend there, but alas, we had a full August booked waiting for us in not-so-hot-and-humid California. ;)
We had an awesome three weeks in Dallas and are now back in San Jose. We were showered with so much love and generosity during our time in Dallas. We also enjoyed our first date night in probably over three years! I really wish we had more time to spend there, but alas, we had a full August booked waiting for us in not-so-hot-and-humid California. ;)
A few days after we arrived back in
San Jose, a family of four
came to visit us from Hiroshima. Juhee and the daughter of that family were
in the same class at the local Japanese elementary school in first grade, and
they’re currently in the same class for second grade, too! I got to know the
mom in May of 2014 after the school’s annual Sports Festival and we’ve become
closer and closer since. She started attending Asaminami Bilingual Chapel (ABC) with her daughter and sometimes
her son (older brother of Juhee’s friend) too since summer of 2014. Before we
left Hiroshima to come to the U.S., my friend invited me over for lunch. I
asked her whether or not she thinks that her daughter will want to continue
going to ABC even if Juhee is not there (as there had been instances like that
before), and she said she didn’t know. We were so happy when my friend
excitedly emailed to say that her daughter said she wanted to go! We were also
so thankful when she emailed later on to say that she is understanding more and
more of God’s Word. While she was here, we had lots of opportunities to talk at
home, in the car, while walking… Through sharing Peter's testimony, I was able
to share the Gospel message with her. One of the things that really touched my
heart was when she told me about how her mom’s passing made her feel somewhat
lost and perhaps even insecure, but she feels happier now because she knows of
God’s love and that He loves her. I was so encouraged! God arranged for a
Japanese-American friend that we met when we first arrived in Hiroshima and
haven’t seen since, to feel led to attend the Japanese service of the
Japanese-American church that we attended with our friends. We were so
surprised to see him there! He joined us for lunch and shared some of his
story, of how God has been leading him the past couple of years in providing a
dream job for him. There were
just so many instances where we knew God’s hand was in this whole trip and He
was using it to really amplify His love to them. Since returning to Japan, they’ve
started praying everyday before dinner. God is definitely working in the hearts
of the K family. Please keep praying for them! We had an awesome time and we’re
so thankful that God allowed us to have this concentrated time together, where
we were really able to live life together. For a quick summary and some photos,
check out my Facebook status update here. You can also read a little bit more
about them in a past newsletter we sent out here (see Jenny's section of the Family Update).
So… Let’s see… More about August. A
friend / church member of our Hiroshima Evangelical Free Church came and went,
we had a reunion with our
short-term teams that came out in July of 2011 which was great and kinda
surreal, Juhee and Sungjae took their CELDTs (California English Language
Development Test – mandatory) and we think they did OK, Sungjae had his
Kindergarten assessment and introduction, and we’re now getting ready to hit
the road again to go down to SoCal!
Peter will be preaching at both
morning and afternoon EM services on Sunday,
the 16th, at Global Missions Church in Diamond Bar, LA for those of you in
that area. We’re good friends with the EM pastor there, but it’s our first time
connecting with this church, so please pray for a good connection with the
brothers and sisters there and that they will want to take part in the work
that God is doing throughout the world, especially in Japan. Please pray for
our kids too as they adjust to another church, another Sunday School, a long
day, and new friends.
During this SoCal trip, we’ll also
be connecting with Peter’s
sister and her two sons. We haven’t seen them for probably something like
six years! It’ll be their first time seeing both Sungjae and Jiyeon. It’ll be a
short couple of days, but please pray that we will have a good time catching up
and be able to make fun memories together.
We’re also really excited about reconnecting with our former
Pioneers Japan Area Leaders, the Hoisington’s! They were awesome leaders
and we really miss them so we’re really looking forward to spending time with
them. I had a short chat with Cindy today and as we were talking about our
arrangements to meet, she said that she wanted to try and make things a little
bit easier for us because she knows that furlough isn’t really restful at all.
Hallelujah! It was just so refreshing to speak to someone who understood. I
already know that our time together on Sunday afternoon is going to be far too
short!
What else… We’ve officially become
members of LivingStones
Christian Church, our new commissioning church. We’re really enjoying being
part of their church family and have been encouraged by them so much! This
month’s small group meeting will be at our place and we’re looking forward to
it!
On the 24th, kids start school!!!
We’re looking forward to having more of a routine. Peter will be walking them
to school in the mornings. We still have a few Back-to-School items we need to
buy but they’ll have to wait till after the SoCal trip. The kids don't seem too
nervous about the start of school, but I guess we'll know better closer to the
time. Pray for them please! :)
From the 28th-30th,
we’ll be going to our first
church retreat in many years. We’re looking forward to getting to know more
of our brothers and sisters at LSCC and deepening our relationships with them
too. We’re looking forward to some R&R physically and spiritually too!
We're still pretty tired, busy,
stressed, behind on reports / newsletters / materials churches want us to send
them, and trying to navigate through constant changes. Prayers for perseverance, energy,
and health would be awesome! We're
hoping that we'll be able to finish our speaking engagements by the end of
October so that we can enjoy weekends together as a family in November before
the craziness of preparing to go back happens in December.
Going on a family vacation still remains a dream. Maybe it'll
happen. Other than finances and time, I think one of the reasons why it hasn't
happened yet is because the needs of our older two are so different from our
youngest. I'm so grateful that Peter had the foresight to buy season passes to
Great America for the family. He's been really good about taking the older two
when he can. Peter, Juhee, and Sungjae have probably been there 6-7 times!
Maybe a family vacation is more work than it's worth right now in our current
stage of life?
- Juhee and Sungjae came back from
daycare one day and said, "Mommy! Bad news!!!" "What? What is it?"
They listed a whole bunch of names and said, "They're not coming to
daycare anymore!" "Well, maybe they're just not going on the same day
as you two or maybe they went on a family vacation or something."
"What's a family vacation?" "You know... Like when we went to
Korea for one week last year..." (When mommy was trying not to throw up
'cause of her morning sickness and had a fever one of the days too...) >.<
- Sungjae's r's sound like w's, just
like most American toddlers, even though he didn't grow up here hearing it.
It's kinda cute. ;) He's learning how to write his name, goal is for him to be able to write it all by himself before school starts.
- When Family K came over, Juhee and Sungjae both had a hard time switching back to speaking Japanese! Sungjae kept on speaking English to them the first day. What a change from when we arrived in the U.S. just two and a half months ago!
- Jiyeon, at 4 and a half months, is now wearing 6-9 month clothing and has two teeth. :)
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