Autumn is here! It’s
my favorite season of the year. To me, one of the things that autumn represents
is the excitement that a new school year is about to begin. I guess it’s more
associated with late summer to kids nowadays, but school started in September
when I was a kid so it was definitely cooler and more autumnal. I guess for our
three kids though, Spring will be that exciting time of year for them as the
school year starts in April in Japan!
There was an article recently about suicides
in Japan spiking on September 1, the date with the highest
number of suicides. In Japan, after about a 2-3 week “break” (during which many
students still have to go to school some of the days and need to study for
tests), the school year starts around April 10th, breaks for summer
vacation around end of July, and then starts back around the beginning of
September (although this year, summer vacation ended at the end of August). In
April, many kids dread going back to school – the rigidity, the rigorous
schedule and rote-based curriculum, the bullying – but some have hope that maybe, things will be different this
year. In September, all kids – those that were looking forward to school in
April and those that were dreading it – already know what they’ll be going back
to. For too many young people, it’s too much for them to handle and
unfortunately, they think that suicide is the only way out.
Teenage students have been committing suicide in Korea for a
long time too. But I think one major difference between suicide in Korea and
Japan is that in Japan, it’s more widespread. It’s not just the students, but
people of all ages. It’s probably one of the few things that make Japan’s
famous always-on-time trains become delayed. Maybe it’s because of the samurai
tradition of killing oneself to preserve one’s honor (because committing
suicide is better or “more honorable” than living with shame?!) or the kamikaze
type mentality of dying for one’s country being a noble act, but suicide in one
form of another has been happening for centuries in Japan. Korea had a history
of honor killings too, but it was for situations like when a woman was about to
be raped. Women used to carry around little knives under the top layer of their
traditional Korean dresses. I’m not saying that it’s acceptable, but it seems very
different in a way. It’s hard to explain…
I was reading a Japanese kids’ comic book that someone had
given to us and within the first few pages, it mentioned suicide. I put it
away. I wasn’t going to let Juhee read it. “Mommy, what’s suicide?” wasn’t
really a question I wanted to hear from my 7 year old daughter, especially not
from having read about it in a comic book making light of the subject! The
Japanese have a fascination with death and ways of dying that is easily seen
through their media. There’s also a lot of dark spirituality in their anime,
dramas, and movies, which our kids are being exposed to while at friend’s
houses and getting rides. We talk to them about why we don’t watch those animes
at home and although our kids are not happy with the decision, they (seem to)
understand our reasoning behind it.
Please pray that Peter and I will be able to guide our kids wisely and that they will be able to deal wisely with
all of these issues while growing up in Japan. We know that we can’t shelter
them completely from a lot of these things, especially if we keep them in the Japanese
public school system. We barely watch any Japanese TV at home and only watch
the educational channel, but our kids still know the names of all of the
characters in the popular animes. Juhee often has nightmares in Japan. I know
it’s more than just the media, but there is definitely something... It’s been
amazing to see how much more at peace she is here in the U.S.
I watched a short documentary once about Japanese anime. One
of the illustrators said that the reason for anime being so extreme and so
popular in Japan is because the society is so restricting and conformist, that
people need a way out, a way to escape and fantasy. For many, manga or anime
provides this outlet.
Pray that our kids will be able to experience the same
excitement that I, and hopefully many of you did, at the beginning of a school
year & semester / trimester. I loved school (in America, Korea, Germany,
and the UK), and I really hope our kids will too!
I feel like I should start a new blog post now for our October Focus… Doh! :P
(Pictures: Juhee and her classmates at their Panda Express fundraiser, Juhee at school: learning about American history (9/11), receiving an award for Perfect Attendance for 1st grade - all 5 out of 5 days!, in her classroom at Back to School night; Juhee at her lessons: gymnastics, cartoon drawing (her favorite1), and keyboard class. Sungjae and his soccer classmates in the HUGE park/field their classes are held, Sungjae with his tiger coloring homework and sharing about the time he pet a tiger cub during "Tiger Sharing" time, Sungjae at his karate and gym classes, and Sungjae getting his lunch in the school cafeteria.)
Juhee is enjoying her piano/keyboard, cartoon drawing, and
gym lessons. Sungjae is enjoying his karate, soccer, gym, and tennis lessons.
From mid-October, they will both be taking 4 horse riding lessons at a farm
nearby too. We are SO grateful for the huge discounts that the City of San Jose
is providing for our kids so that they can experience all this while we’re
here! Kind of ironic that the YMCA, a “Christian” organization, didn’t provide
us with one. Well, when I applied, the manager at the YMCA closest to us
couldn’t understand why our “pay slips” had different amounts. I tried to
explain to her that we’re missionaries, kind of like a charity, so we receive
different amount each month. Her reply was, “So, you don’t work.” Um… Sungjae
really wanted to learn how to swim, but we can’t afford the classes without a
scholarship. But it’s all good! Instead of swimming classes twice a week, Sungjae
is having a great time at karate and gym! They're both loving school, too! God is providing for us in ways that we could not even have imagined. God is so good! (Pictures: Once our kids start eating cheerios, daddy has to put one on their little noses! :P Jiyeon is now good at sitting, starting to eat solids, likes getting on all fours (but not crawling yet - phew!), used to love dogs but is now sometimes afraid of them, LOVES playing with her big sister and brother, and is just plain cute (says her slightly biased mom!))
Here’s a calendar of our church-related activities for this
month:
2nd – JOL, SCVJCC
4th – LivingStones Christian Church (LSCC)
6th – Parents of Preschools (POPS), SCVJCC
8th – Bring Your Bible to School Day!!!
9th – Speaking at UC Davis’ Christian college
group, Mustard Seed Ministry
10th – Davis Korean Church (DKC) Missions
Committee Meet-and-Greet, small group fellowship in the evening
11th – Speaking at DKC’s English service and
Korean service (I’m interpreting)
14th – Tohoku Charity Concert, SCVJCC
16th – JOL, SCVJCC
17th – LSCC Missions Committee meeting
18th – Speaking at the grandma’s Bible Study
class at New Vision Church (NVC)
21st – Japan (Missionary’s / Church’s) Coffee
Shop Network Skype
23rd – Speaking at Agape’s Small Group meeting
25th – Speaking at SCVJCC’s two English services
and Japanese service
31st – Community Family Festival at Berryessa
Valley Church, trick-or-treating with LSCC small group families and friends
Please come join us at one of these events if you're in the area!
The grandma Bible study class might seem a bit random, but
they’re prayer warriors who love us and have been praying for our family since
even before we became missionaries. I’m so grateful to them and am looking
forward to sharing about our time in Hiroshima with them.
(Pictures: Peter's college days DKC reunion (our kids were shocked that these people have known daddy longer than mommy's known him hehe), enjoying Chinese-style hotpot with our LSCC small group, Peter speaking and me interpreting at NVC's Early Morning Prayer Meeting, SCVJCC's POPS (about 18-20 moms + 30 kids come!), I loved being able to just enjoy a Women's Ministry event!, and at our kids' PTA Meeting - SO different in so many ways to a Japanese one!)
Please pray for all of our church-related ministries, that we’ll be able to bless those we meet and serve, and that we’ll be able to share about God’s goodness to us and the hope that He has for the people of Japan in the short time that we have with each group. Please pray for our kids as they go from church to church. For the first time, both Juhee and Sungjae refused to go to yet another new Sunday School last month. :( I was thankful that it happened at a church that we weren’t actually speaking at. They sat with us in the family area during the service. I think they’re going to be OK at the churches we’re going to this month though – yay! :)
Please pray for all of our church-related ministries, that we’ll be able to bless those we meet and serve, and that we’ll be able to share about God’s goodness to us and the hope that He has for the people of Japan in the short time that we have with each group. Please pray for our kids as they go from church to church. For the first time, both Juhee and Sungjae refused to go to yet another new Sunday School last month. :( I was thankful that it happened at a church that we weren’t actually speaking at. They sat with us in the family area during the service. I think they’re going to be OK at the churches we’re going to this month though – yay! :)
This month, Juhee and Sungjae will be taking part in their
first ever school walk-a-thon and the fundraising that comes with it. So
American! :D There’s also going to be a Harvest Festival at their school which
they’ll get to enjoy with their friends. They (well, at least Juhee) will also be taking part in the 2nd annual national Bring Your Bible to School Day (organized by Focus on the
Family). Juhee’s sad that so many of her friends at her American school know
about God but don’t seem to believe. Juhee’s super excited about taking her
Bible to school! Her teacher is a Christian and she’ll be bringing her Bible to
school too. Please pray that both Juhee and her teacher will be able to be good
witnesses at their school, and that the Bible will provide opportunities for
them to share their faith.
Pray that we’ll be able to use our time wisely and
communicate well with each other and with our supporters. Please pray that more
brothers and sisters will join us in supporting us financially during the next
couple of months. We know that God will provide and wants us to trust Him for
His provision! He likes to keep us in suspense. ;P
Grateful for each and every one of you. :)
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