(Sorry the font is so small. Can't fix it - argh!)
Spring, rainy season, hot & humid summer, have all come and gone. Typhoon season is here and the strong wind is helping the heads of rice bow, a sign that they are almost ready for harvesting. Summer teams and special summer outreach events have come and gone. The lack of blog posts during the first half of this year signals to me how crazy life has been. It’s hard to believe that we’ve only been in Fukuoka five months! It seems like we’ve been here for longer. We’ve made so many friends, so many of them have started coming to events at our church, and we’re definitely getting settled into our new home, new church, and new schools. We have so much to praise our Father for! But let me share with you a few things that we covet your prayers for during the month of September.
OK, the first few are in August, but close enough… ;)
After working hard on finishing up her summer vacation homework till yesterday evening, Juhee started back at school today, August 29th. Please pray for good friends, fun times, that she’ll be able to do well academically, and that she’ll be a loving and compassionate friend.
My weekly adult English classes start back up for the fall term on Wednesday, August 31. Please pray for the two students who have been coming regularly, for the couple that come when they can, and for new students who have shown interest in coming. We have fun and laugh a lot during class! I also learn a lot from them too. The last half hour of our class is Bible time and we’re still on Creation! ;P
Sungjae starts back at his kindergarten on Thursday, the 1st. His teacher says that he sets the mood of the class – lively, active, and fun! (I’m sure she’s being nice. ;) ) Please pray for good friends, fun times, and that he’ll be a loving and compassionate friend too.
3rd – Juhee and I (and maybe Sungjae) will be driving down to Kumamoto to join volunteers from our church and another church to run a kids’ outreach event at a church that was impacted by the earthquakes (in April). We’re taking lots of goodies and crafts that were leftover from our events and some that were donated to us while we were in the U.S. Please pray for safety during the two-hour long drive down, for safety while we’re there, and for kids from the neighborhood to come and be blessed!
11th – We have a sister coming to visit from New Zealand who worked with us while we were in Hiroshima. She’s interested in café church ministry, so we’ll be going to Lighthouse Café Church together with her for service this Sunday morning. We haven’t been there for a Sunday service since last May and a lot has changed within the church, so please pray for our time together at Lighthouse. Pray for leading for the sister, and for us to be able to encourage the small church plant. We’ll be starting weekly English classes there soon too.
16th – There’s been a monthly English outreach going on at our church for a number of years now called “Coffee&Chat” or “Coffee&Bible”. This class will be a handover class – the current missionary couple will be handing over the class to Peter. He will start leading these monthly Friday evening classes from October. Please pray for Peter as he leads and for our family as we adjust to another change. We’re so grateful for the missionaries that have been serving our church!
17th – Juhee has school 5 Saturdays per academic year and this is one of them! This particular Saturday is actually a parent participation day so I’ll be going too. Please pray for me as I connect with other moms. A representative from the orphanage nearby will be giving a talk that day at the school following the classroom presentations, so please pray for our meeting too. Working with orphans is something that has been on my heart for a long time so I’m looking forward to meeting her and seeing if we can do something together. That evening, we’ll be hosting our next monthly college fellowship at our house. We want to take it up a notch – up till now, we’ve been focusing more on getting to know each other. From this month, we want to study the Word together and pray for each other too. Pray for wisdom for us as we lead this precious ministry together!
23rd – Our next monthly moms & tots English class. We’ve had between 3-6 kid/mom pairs come each month from May and let me tell you, it can get a bit crazy in there, especially with the 3-year-old boys! But they’re very sweet and I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to get to know the moms too. I’ve been out to lunch with a few of them and most of them came to the Kids’ Ice Cream Party in July as well.
24th – Our next monthly kids’ English class. We’ve had between 9-17 kids (not including ours) come to this one and the class with 9 (younger) kids was crazier than the class with 17 (older) kids! Pray for these kids too as they come and become familiar with the church, English, and Bible stories. We’re grateful for the parents that come and stay for the younger ones as they help with crowd control and it gives us a chance to get to know them and for them to hear the Bible stories too.
One overarching prayer request is for more workers. We need more workers to join us, both Japanese workers from within our church and missionaries too.
Please also continue to pray for our language and culture acquisition. Peter has started attending free weekly Japanese conversation-based classes at a community center nearby. I’m hoping to carve some time out for book study soon.
Please also pray for our physical, emotional, and spiritual health. I’m trying to be more proactive about my physical health this time around and have signed up for Jazzercise. My goal is to go at least 4 times a month!
Spring, rainy season, hot & humid summer, have all come and gone. Typhoon season is here and the strong wind is helping the heads of rice bow, a sign that they are almost ready for harvesting. Summer teams and special summer outreach events have come and gone. The lack of blog posts during the first half of this year signals to me how crazy life has been. It’s hard to believe that we’ve only been in Fukuoka five months! It seems like we’ve been here for longer. We’ve made so many friends, so many of them have started coming to events at our church, and we’re definitely getting settled into our new home, new church, and new schools. We have so much to praise our Father for! But let me share with you a few things that we covet your prayers for during the month of September.
OK, the first few are in August, but close enough… ;)
After working hard on finishing up her summer vacation homework till yesterday evening, Juhee started back at school today, August 29th. Please pray for good friends, fun times, that she’ll be able to do well academically, and that she’ll be a loving and compassionate friend.
My weekly adult English classes start back up for the fall term on Wednesday, August 31. Please pray for the two students who have been coming regularly, for the couple that come when they can, and for new students who have shown interest in coming. We have fun and laugh a lot during class! I also learn a lot from them too. The last half hour of our class is Bible time and we’re still on Creation! ;P
Sungjae starts back at his kindergarten on Thursday, the 1st. His teacher says that he sets the mood of the class – lively, active, and fun! (I’m sure she’s being nice. ;) ) Please pray for good friends, fun times, and that he’ll be a loving and compassionate friend too.
3rd – Juhee and I (and maybe Sungjae) will be driving down to Kumamoto to join volunteers from our church and another church to run a kids’ outreach event at a church that was impacted by the earthquakes (in April). We’re taking lots of goodies and crafts that were leftover from our events and some that were donated to us while we were in the U.S. Please pray for safety during the two-hour long drive down, for safety while we’re there, and for kids from the neighborhood to come and be blessed!
11th – We have a sister coming to visit from New Zealand who worked with us while we were in Hiroshima. She’s interested in café church ministry, so we’ll be going to Lighthouse Café Church together with her for service this Sunday morning. We haven’t been there for a Sunday service since last May and a lot has changed within the church, so please pray for our time together at Lighthouse. Pray for leading for the sister, and for us to be able to encourage the small church plant. We’ll be starting weekly English classes there soon too.
16th – There’s been a monthly English outreach going on at our church for a number of years now called “Coffee&Chat” or “Coffee&Bible”. This class will be a handover class – the current missionary couple will be handing over the class to Peter. He will start leading these monthly Friday evening classes from October. Please pray for Peter as he leads and for our family as we adjust to another change. We’re so grateful for the missionaries that have been serving our church!
17th – Juhee has school 5 Saturdays per academic year and this is one of them! This particular Saturday is actually a parent participation day so I’ll be going too. Please pray for me as I connect with other moms. A representative from the orphanage nearby will be giving a talk that day at the school following the classroom presentations, so please pray for our meeting too. Working with orphans is something that has been on my heart for a long time so I’m looking forward to meeting her and seeing if we can do something together. That evening, we’ll be hosting our next monthly college fellowship at our house. We want to take it up a notch – up till now, we’ve been focusing more on getting to know each other. From this month, we want to study the Word together and pray for each other too. Pray for wisdom for us as we lead this precious ministry together!
23rd – Our next monthly moms & tots English class. We’ve had between 3-6 kid/mom pairs come each month from May and let me tell you, it can get a bit crazy in there, especially with the 3-year-old boys! But they’re very sweet and I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to get to know the moms too. I’ve been out to lunch with a few of them and most of them came to the Kids’ Ice Cream Party in July as well.
24th – Our next monthly kids’ English class. We’ve had between 9-17 kids (not including ours) come to this one and the class with 9 (younger) kids was crazier than the class with 17 (older) kids! Pray for these kids too as they come and become familiar with the church, English, and Bible stories. We’re grateful for the parents that come and stay for the younger ones as they help with crowd control and it gives us a chance to get to know them and for them to hear the Bible stories too.
One overarching prayer request is for more workers. We need more workers to join us, both Japanese workers from within our church and missionaries too.
Please also continue to pray for our language and culture acquisition. Peter has started attending free weekly Japanese conversation-based classes at a community center nearby. I’m hoping to carve some time out for book study soon.
Please also pray for our physical, emotional, and spiritual health. I’m trying to be more proactive about my physical health this time around and have signed up for Jazzercise. My goal is to go at least 4 times a month!
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