Fun Times in May =)

Here are a few fun pictures taken during the month of May...



We visited a family-friendly farm near Half Moon Bay for the first time as a family during Memorial Day Weekend. Thanks to the chilly weather, it wasn't as packed as it should have been! Juhee rode a horse for the first time that day. She refused to get on the horse when I tried but when daddy just plopped her down despite her protests and the horse started moving, she absolutely loved it! She enjoyed it so much that when it was time to finish, she kept on baby signing "more". After horse-riding we went on to feed the goats. The goats were a bit pushy so she stayed safe and sound in daddy's arms while he fed them.

We went to the beach afterward and it was really windy and very cold but she had a great time - even when her lips (and mine) started turning purple!



Hanging out with the big girls (and a boy) during a playdate with a couple of other families from church. So much concentration... >












^ Exploring nature together with Martin (6 weeks older). I wonder what they were looking at? I wonder if they were looking at the same thing and what they were thinking?


Our first time on the seesaw together. She knew exactly what it was for (from daycare) and while pointing up excitedly said "up" as soon as she saw it. We were on the seesaw for a lo~ng time, more than once! The constant up and down movement while looking down at her was starting to give me motion sickness (it's not just bad when I'm traveling!). @@

Seesaws have been added on to my mental list of things-for-daddy-and-Juhee-to-do-together. Rollercoasters top that list! ;) >


Thank You God for allowing us all these fun times with friends and family, for wonderful times of fellowship, of bonding, and of encouraging each other in our daily walk with You. We cherish every moment. Thank You... =)

Learning From Children

Juhee's two Japanese friends in this picture - Chiho-san and Takumi-kun - are both from non-Christian families. Juhee's main purpose for playing with them is so that she can have her turn down the slide and have fun with her friends! =) No hidden agenda. No wonder why "Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these"" (Matthew 19:14).

We want to be able to share our lives with people here and in Japan like Titus did with the Thessalonians: "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us" (1 Thessalonians 2:8). We want to build true friendships and share our lives with the people around us. Hopefully it'll stay that way and we won't develop a "hidden agenda" which will end up closing doors. But if that does happen, we'll hopefully have the wisdom to reflect back on our actions, know what we did wrong, to repent, and to learn from our mistake.

This is an excerpt from pp. 56-57 of Professor Al Hammond's book, Stories from Japan.

"Learning From Children
When Japanese are offended by you, they do not use abusive speech, but use a very indirect polite level of language. By so speaking they create social distance and buffer themselves from further pain. At a time when I thought we were finally accepted, I experienced this estrangement from my neighbor, Masuda San. I felt the sting of his formal polite greetings which had replaced the friendly insider expressions. I had been placed on the outside of his circle of cordial friends and I did not know why.
Months passed until one day the smile and warm informal greeting from this usually friendly farmer resumed. After a comment or two about the warm summer day he paid me a complement. "I like your children," he said, beaming at me. "Domo," I replied, reciprocating with the plain male speech for thanks. "Why do you like them?" I added, which was probably the wrong thing to ask. "Because they ain't thinking nothin," was his mystifying reply.
I knew that my younger children not only accompanied Mr. Masuda in his farming adventures in his field but also frequented his home where they received cookies and juice. Out of natural curiosity, the Masudas enjoyed the youngsters, who spoke colloquial Japanese with less foreign accent than their parents. But why did he say he liked them, because, "They ain't thinking nothin,"? I pondered.
A reflection on my relationship with Masuda San in contrast to that of my children suggested the answer. I had approached my non-Christian neighbor as an object of missionary evangelism. From the start I was giving cues of my impatience to get the right response from him. I had subsequently angered him when I had given his daughter a translated Moody Bible Story Book without asking permission from her parents. My youngsters, on the other hand, had accepted Mr. Masuda, just as he was, as a kindly neighbor willing to teach them about farming and ply them with cookies. Their trusting approach opened his heart; my hidden agenda had closed doors (Romans 5:8)."

Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Help keep us accountable please! =)

Work of Art

A really good friend of ours created this for the evite that he sent out for the Small Group Gathering (SGG) that him and his wife will be hosting for us in a few weeks. I had no idea he was so artistic! I really like it and think it's brilliant so wanted to share this with you (with his permission of course!).

I asked him for a bit of an explanation and this is what he said:
Buddha sitting there
The Son is starting to rise
A cross can be seen

The interpretation, I leave to you. =)

Not very Japanese-y! =)

A few things have happened during SGGs that made us laugh and I wanted to share a couple of them with you. =)


At the one gathering where we had over 30 people including a lot of kids, I noticed the shoes were in a disarray and remembered the story that Susan Murray told me while we were visiting them in Hiroshima of how surprised she was the first time she had people over at their place because as they came in and took off their shoes, they stooped back down, put their shoes together, and turned them around so that they were all facing in the same direction (toes to door, heels to house). Seeing the shoes here made me smile and just reminded me again of how different so many of even the seemingly small things of our lives are going to be different once we're in Japan.



After a wonderful Japan-themed dinner and our presentation, it was time for dessert! Everyone got excited at the prospect of green tea ice cream - yummy! Of course, the kids were the first to stand in line and get their green scoops of ice cream. But then, one by one, the kids started complaining that the green tea ice cream tasted weird... Sure enough, the green tea ice cream was actually AVOCADO ice cream!!! =D The brother who bought it, rushed into an Asian store, picked up a tub of ice cream with green scoops on the lid, paid, and left the store. Even the ladies serving the ice cream assumed that it was green tea ice cream until the kids started complaining. The poor dads ended up having to eat most of the avocado ice cream. I didn't try it but apparently it wasn't bad. ;)

Assumptions are a funny thing. I'm sure we'll have many such mishaps once we're in Japan and end up with things we thought was something else!

SET2009 Japan Team

This year, our church, New Vision Church, has a Short-term Evangelism Team (SET) going out to Sapporo, Japan. They're only going to be there from June 2nd - 9th but they have a packed schedule including teaching English classes to Youth and to older women, street evangelism with tracts in Japanese and whole conversations and Bible verses that they've committed to memory during the past few months, leading praise time during services with songs in Japanese, Korean and English, sharing personal testimonies, body worship, and more.

The training's been intense, the fundraising's been a challenge, and I'm sure they've had to deal with a lot of pressure and stress too in preparation for this trip.


I was able to help out with their fundraising on Sat, May 16th at the SET2009 Missions Bazaar held in our church Fellowship Hall. I love being out there, meeting people, and making myself useful =) so I had a blast! It was great catching up with some of the youth parents too.

I was on my feet for most of the 5 hours so was physically tired but spiritually and emotionally energized.

On Mon, 18th, Mr. Ryu, one of the team members, invited me to one of their last meeting / practice sessions before leaving for Japan. It was such a wonderful time of praise, fellowship, sharing, and prayer I regretted not having asked to be a part of their meetings earlier! They asked me to introduce myself and our mission and I was given the opportunity to share in more details thanks to a question asked by one of the members there. It did two things for me - 1) put me on a high as I love sharing our story and it was my first opportunity to do so in Korean so it was especially exciting, 2) gave me confidence to share to more people in Korean and to proactively look for more opportunities to share to the KM congregation.

I'm so grateful that God opened this door for me at the perfect time. He's so good and his timing's always perfect. =)

It's such an honor for me to have got to know and spend time with the SET2009 team. I'm really looking forward to spending more time with them when they return.

The SET2009 Japan team leave next Monday. Please pray for them.

Hot and Cold

Everyone talks about the weather, right? We recently learned the importance of having an appropriate introduction regarding the weather and the changes of nature outside when writing in Korean, rather than just going straight in to what we want to talk about as we do in our English newsletters / letters. It's so hard to be culturally sensitive 'cause it makes you think out of the culture-box!

Well, the weather in San Jose, California just can't seem to make up it's mind. Daytime temperatures have been fluctuating from the high 90's (Fahrenheit) back down to the 50's!

This is Juhee sweating profusely on Sunday when we joined my mom's Sunday School potluck group after church so Peter could spend some time with his old Youth kids + some new ones and so I could spend some time with the Korean women. We had to ditch our own potluck group last minute, but I think we made the right choice. Her hair was completely soaked!

It's been cooling down over the past few days, but last night, it was so cold that I had to ask my brother to bring a blanket out to the car when we arrived home 'cause the temperature had dropped so much!

The weather this year is different to how I remember last year and the year before. It's up and down constantly. Very similar to the way we can feel hot and cold, or even worse, lukewarm about the things that really matter in life.

PS: On hot days, Juhee says "a-du!" (아뜨!) which is Korean baby language for "hot!" when we put her in her car seat. She's so cute! I was so surprised the 1st time she said it 'cause we knew she knew "hot" in terms of food, but she knows it applies to other things too now. She's learning so fast. =)

Small Group Gatherings (SGGs) - The First Few

They've been amazing! PTL!














(Praying together before we enjoyed a meal of shrimp tempura, sushi, teriyaki chicken, soba noodles, squid, roasted corn... There were 18 adults and 17 children at our 2nd gathering (San Ramon). A BIG Small Group Gathering! =D)

They've all been different: Impromptu praise at the end with two guys picking up guitars, planned praise (iPod & speakers!) at the beginning, no praise; no children, lots of children (17 kids!!!), few children; had singles, no singles; ohp on a wall, ohp on a sheet, on a widescreen tv; lunch, early dinner, late dinner...

They've all been similar: It was fun & exciting to tell our story, the listeners were all very gracious, they asked questions and wanted to know more which was a real encouragement to us, they prayed over & for us, very uplifting, we had a wonderful time, and we got to know people better. I think we could even very safely and honestly say that they're our friends now, not just acquaintances from church or elsewhere.


(Juhee joining in the presentation as we start our 2nd SGG, a potluck style gathering with home-made hamburgers, hot dogs, and salad.)

They're constantly changing and evolving: We added trivia questions and prizes (Japanese sweets) to our presentations to add a bit more fun and so our friends can try Japanese sweets, and also so that they can get to know us better too 'cause the questions at the beginning were personal ones about us. We have also been updating our support levels so that they're always current.


(Some of the items that we carry around with us to every SGG - our financial support packs, extra brochures, some Japanese items like hand-made origami paper, our mystery item =D, chopsticks, etc.)

One friend who attended the 1st one and then was kind of at our 3rd one (he was babysitting =)) commented how it was unfair that we didn't have the trivia & prizes at the first one and then was surprised at how much change there had been in our support levels during the one week that separated our 1st and 3rd. PTL! =)

We're also learning too... At the 1st SGG, I made sure we took our camera but then I forgot I had it until we were nearly done so I just left it, but like the host mentioned afterward, we definitely should've taken a few pics! So we made sure we had pics from the 2nd and 3rd SGGs.

Hopefully they'll just get better and better. We love sharing our story - God's been so good to us, there's always more that we want to tell and never enough time! =)

CA Driver License - Finally! =)

Yay! On May 4th, I finally took and passed my CA Driver License driving test and will hopefully be receiving my license in the mail any day now. I passed both theory (US: written) and practical (US: behind-the-wheel/driving) test first time around. Yay!!!

I'll finally have CA ID and am now legally able to drive anywhere and every where. Drivers of CA - beware! Even as I was driving out of the DMV, I was suddenly unsure of which side of the road I was supposed to be driving on. Usually I double-check to make sure using road signs or observing other cars, but neither were available so I had to guess and judging by the fact that the instructor didn't stop me, I carried on. =P Need to remember: Americans drive on the right side of the road. =)


I almost failed though. You're only allowed to get three major things wrong and I got two - before I even turned on the engine! One was because I didn't know where my "defroster" was. For some reason, I heard "defogger" and from the "fog" part I just thought 'lights'. The driving test person later pointed at it and said "it's your demister". @@ The other one was when he asked me where my "emergency parking brake" is. I thought, 'does he mean hazard lights?' and pointed to them but he said no. Then he pointed to it and said "it's your handbrake". @@ Why didn't he use those terms in the first place?! Hazard lights he called "emergency flasher". @@ I'm glad I got that one!

Peter helped me a lot by taking me out, making me practice maneuvers, pointing out things while I was driving, trying to get me to relax... One of the most helpful things he said to me was something that he said while I was studying for my theory test. He very honestly said, "you know, I don't know if I'd pass the tests if I had to take them again." I didn't feel as silly for having to take the tests even though I'd already been driving for 10 years (albeit on the other side of the road) and worried about embarrassing myself by failing the tests after he said that. =)

We celebrated by having Subway for lunch afterward. I'm very happily posing with my Interim Driver License in one hand, our delicious Subway in the other.

Big tick (US: check) off of my to-do list!!! Yay!!! =)


Post script: I received the actual license afternoon of the Wed, 13th. =)

Mother's Day (Sunday, May 10th)

Happy Mother's Day to all of you Mothers out there. =)

This year, my mom was in Dallas with my sister for her graduation (Dallas Theological Seminary) so she just got a text from me. =P


Juhee and I together with Peter's mom at church. Juhee's wearing the cute green dress her (paternal) grandmother bought her. All moms received flower corsages that day. I received a rose (as opposed to a carnation) 'cause I attended the English Ministry service. =)


Sara Juhee Oh, the beautiful little girl who made me a mom. A very very happy mom. I'm so blessed to be her mom. =)

I've said it before and I'll probably say it again: being a mom is the hardest, most challenging, unpredictable, enjoyable, heart-wrenching, blessing, blissful, love-giving and receiving job ever. We love watching her grow up, learn how to do things, test her boundaries, make funny faces, eating, sleeping, pooping - everything! The love a mom has for her child is... Indescribable. Incredible. I love Juhee soooooooooooooooo much! =)

It's very different to the love I have for my mom and different again to the love I feel for my mother-in-law.

Love is a funny thing. <3

From a much loved daughter, daughter-in-law, & mom,
Jenny =)

The Rising Son

It all started with "OHayo OHsaka"
Back in September 2008, we were busy thinking up of a name for our Google group and blog... We wanted it to have something to do with us, the Oh family, and our destination, which, at the time, was Osaka. So after using process of elimination, we decided on "OHayo OHsaka".

Osaka was truly the best place for us to go for our vision trip. Unbeknown to us, God had already prepared divine appointments for us in the Kansai (area including Osaka) area. It was the perfect place for us to be based to meet missionaries already serving in Japan - the Crowhursts serving with WEC in Hikone, the Thomsons serving with Asian Access in Sanda and the Ryus also serving with Asian Access in inner-city Osaka, and of course, the Murrays, serving with Pioneers in Hiroshima. It was also the perfect place because there's a large Korean population in Osaka, which meant that there was a Korea town, lots of Korean restaurants, Korean food shops, and even Korean signage in subway stations! So we were a bit less stressed and felt a bit less like fish out of water. =) We even got to experience a bit of the Japanese Korean pop culture craze while we were having lunch at a Korean restaurant in Korea town. We were also able to attend a Korean-Japanese church with services in both languages and meet with teachers from Korean schools in Osaka too. The apartment that we stayed at was perfect too for the 28 days that we were there 'cause we had privacy, we could cook our own meals, it was right next to the subway station, and we were able to experience (a bit) of what it might be to live in an apartment in Japan - it's really hard to find a place to stay for just a month (without it being a hotel / hostel / motel).

Osaka was truly the perfect place for our vision trip. God knows best! =)

But then...
God confirmed to us in many ways while we were there and once we got back that our long-term destination in Japan was to be Hiroshima to work with the Murrays! So what do we do about the name OHayo OHsaka? We were having a hard time coming up with a name with Hiroshima in it. We shared this at our Friday night Married Couples' Fellowship and our friend A suddenly said "Rising sun... But with an 'o' instead of a 'u'." It was perfect!

Transitioning to the "Rising Son"

We had many many logo ideas and the one to the left is the one that was chosen in the end by us, and those that we asked. It was designed by my very own Peter! =) He put a lot of thought into it.

He designed it using a "free" logo creating website, but we found out that you have to pay for it if you want a copy so we asked our designer friend of a friend to recreate it. The symbolism behind it is that Japan is covered in (ri)SIN(g) but when covered completely by the blood of the Son, He will bring wholeness to the people of Japan... Or something like that. :)

I think it depicts perfectly what we want to do - to spread the Good News of the Risen Son in the land of the Rising Son.

A New Beginning
Along with our new logo we'll also be using a new email service soon so our emails won't be going out with our OHayo OHsaka Google group anymore. Well, maybe once or twice more while we get things sorted. =)

There are lots of amazing things happening. It's a very exciting time for us. Thank you for tracking with us!

Lots of love,
Jenny