February Update

I don’t know if there’s a lot of love in the air, but there’s definitely more and more pollen in the air! We just learned about a phrase, roughly translated as “First of Spring”, which refers to the first strong winds of Spring. Indeed, I was afraid our laundry was going to be blown away! With the coming of Spring, comes strong winds, strong winds blow pollen everywhere, and thus starts our least favorite time of the year – hayfever season! :/

Influenza has once again been the cause of many classes in many schools being canceled again this year. At one of our friend’s schools, an amazing 14(!) out of 18 classes were cancelled! If more than 5 students in a class of about 30 are absent due to influenza, school policy all throughout Japan states that the class be cancelled for 5 days. Juhee finally brought home a letter saying that one class has been affected at her school. Sungjae and Juhee have the sniffles. Please pray that we’ll be able to remain flu-free!

Upside to living somewhere where it snows is that it's exciting for the kids! Downside to living somewhere where it snows where there's no central heating and no ohndol (heated floors, Korean style) is that it gets really cold inside the house and you have to share the small space in front of the heater with the rest of the family, even if you don't want to! 

It’s been a very busy month and we’re so grateful that God has kept us all healthy during all of the transitions and busyness thus far. I thank God for keeping the snow at bay until right about the time the novelty of being back had worn off and then bringing snow to bring excitement into our kids’ days. It’s been a pretty stressful month for Peter and I as we’ve gone through another big learning curve applying for new phone contracts, Japanese health insurance, Japanese national pension scheme, go house hunting, get quotes from moving companies, discuss through a million (OK, maybe not that many) difference moving scenarios as the cost of moving differs so much depending on the date, learn about school transfer procedures, apply for daycare in a different city with different procedures, send things by same day delivery for the first time, wire money to a company account for the first time (and make a special card for future such transactions), try to live without wi-fi at home, and try to get settled into a routine again. I’m very happy to report that Peter and I have just been trying to deal with things one at a time and have been pretty good at dividing-and-conquering. With so many things taking so much longer than we anticipated and usually requiring the help of our guarantor or a friend, it’s been great that we’ve been unified (most of the time hehehe).

We’re so grateful that we got the house we applied for in January, and that God allowed us just enough time to make the deadline for Sungjae’s daycare application. We can’t do it without an address, so getting the house confirmed was the first big step! At the end of February, we will find out whether or not our application to Sungjae’s daycare was successful. Entry into daycare is pretty competitive, so please keep this in your prayers! We wrote down three daycare centers on the application form to the ward office, but our number one choice is a 3-minute walk from our house and is fairly new, with very nice facilities. We will have to go down again sometime before our actual move too to attend the daycare’s “Explanation Day” and complete some paperwork there (can’t be mailed, must be done there in person).

Sungjae enjoyed going around to look at the houses and giving his opinion. He liked the third and final house the best, as did we. Having his tablet with us really helped as the process was long, inside and outside the shop. There were lots of figures to go through and of course, lots of paperwork. Our guarantor, Pastor Miyauchi, had to come sign some paperwork too. We were grateful we were able to stay with missionary friends in Fukuoka - and for the waffle breakfast they made us too. What a treat! I had to take a picture of this sign at a service station bathroom. It reads: Please do not have a water soap stand seat. I had to look at the pictures to figure out what they meant. They're asking consumers to not take the soap dispensers. 

Once we had an address, I was also able to finally return the school transfer notification to Juhee’s current school and call Juhee’s Fukuoka school to let them know that Juhee will be attending their school from April. At the end of March, we need to call to schedule an appointment for us to go greet some of the staff, see the school, and do some paperwork. Juhee’s prayers for no uniform have been answered – hurrah! She doesn’t know yet that her walk to school will be much longer than her current walk.

Peter will be going down to Fukuoka on his own in mid-February to get the keys (the house owner is giving us a month’s free rent because he wants us to move in as soon as possible), and to receive the boxes from the US.

We’ll be going to a wedding this month and Juhee's just been asked to be a flower girl! It’s strange when we think about the fact that we missed weddings of friends in the U.S. being here, and then of course, there were no weddings in the U.S. while we were there but we missed two here. Peter could have gone to one earlier this month too, but he chose to stay home and bless the moms that we'd invited over by giving us some time to talk quietly without the kids. :) We’re so glad that we can be part of such a joyous occasion in the lives of friends here in Hiroshima.

I had lunch recently with my friend "I". It was so good to catch up! As always, we learned so much from each other during our time together and laughed so much too! I'm so grateful that God brought such an amazing friend into my life, so early on during our time here. A few days later, I sat next to her sister during Smile Club. Her sister's friend was sitting in front of me. Another friend who is usually with them, was absent that day because she'd recently given birth. The three friends have been attending events at Koyo Chapel and Smile Club at Asaminami Chapel for over a year now. All four of these ladies now know many of the ladies that were at the Annual New Year's Joint Women's Ministry Meeting the previous week. It's been so amazing to see one friend be the connection to more coming to church regularly. I pray that they continue to attend church events, get to know more of the Japanese Christians, start to ask more questions, and one day, come to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. I also praise God for allowing me to work with such a strong, dedicated, and faithful group of women during our time here. It's also been great for our kids to have other Christian kids their age to play with, even Jiyeon! So many amazing things to be grateful for. God is so good.

We are also continuing to invite friends to events at the churches we work with here. Please pray for one of my first-ever friends here in Hiroshima “I” who will be joining me at Kabe Chapel’s Women’s Ministry Event on the 19th. She’s probably been to the most number of church events with me during the past 5 years. In fact, she was the first one I ever invited to a church event, about 6 months after we arrived here. Her mom, who used to attend Sunday School at a church close by as a child, might also be attending. I would love for one of our mutual friends who is a member of Kabe Chapel, really take on inviting her to events. “I” is good friends with the pastor’s wife of Asaminami Chapel too. I invited “I” and her sister to Asaminami Chapel’s Friday morning Smile Club, and she’s been coming regularly with two of her friends. “I”’s sister actually lives close to Koyo Chapel and she and her friends have been attending their monthly outreaches regularly since we first went together for a Christmas outreach too! It would be so amazing if “I”, her sister, her sister's friends, and her mom all came to faith. Please pray for more boldness on my part and for the hearts of these three ladies to be softened and inquisitive.

It’s been good to hear that a few families have continued attending Asaminami Bilingual Chapel during our absence too. Please continue to join us in prayer for these families, that all of the love, joy, laughter, meals, sermons, Bible studies, discussion times, everything that they’ve heard, seen, and experienced will one day point them to Christ.

Thank you for your prayers. :)

* Update 1: I had to pick up Juhee early from school today because she had a low-grade fever. We were both disappointed as it was her last Parent Participation Day at her school. Another class at her school has been canceled because they had 16 kids absent with the flu.
* Update 2: After many hours of research, three trips to the shop, and many hours with and without our guarantor at the shop, we have wifi at home! Yay! :)