November Focus

Hey! Thanks for keeping up with us on our blog. :)

For some reason, I couldn't update this little mini side section last month, but I'm going to try again this month.

Let's see... For November, could you just pray for wisdom, endurance, lots of energy, and health please? I also want to thank you for your prayers. As I was "reviewing" last month's Focus post (while fixing the spacing problem ^^;), I realized how your prayers really sustained us were such a blessing to us, that God really answered your prayers. Thank you!!!

November marked a few milestones for us - I turned a year older, our 3-year anniversary since arriving in Japan, 5 years since our Vision Trip to Japan and our first ever outreach event in Hiroshima, and 7 years since Peter and I got to know each other... :) Praise God for His leading, every step of the way! :) 

Juhee had her 2nd ever ballet performance at the beginning of this month and she and her little friends were so cute! It was stressful with all of the extra lessons & rehearsals, sewing, hair, and make-up, but they did a great job and she's loving ballet more and more. This time, prep started at 12:30 for a 2pm performance, and was at a location within walking distance from Asaminami Chapel, so we were able to go easily after church. 

The day after the performance was a national holiday so we invited the ballet families over for dinner. 2 out of the 5 families couldn't make it, but it was just right. It was great to have them over for dinner, to just sit and chill, for the kids to have so much fun playing together, and for the dads to get to know each other too! One super-shy dad didn't say a word most of the time, but finally opened up towards the end... About 3 hours after he and his family arrived at our house! We prayed before the meal and talked about God during the time too. I haven't been able to host in a long time so I was super glad that God somehow made this happen. Thank you God! 

This month, we have Bonnie visiting us again for a weekend. Her third visit in three years! Next month, we have the Chu family visiting us and it's their third time in three years too! Both are helping us with our ministry here. Bonnie's bringing over a guitar that Peter will be using while leading praise at the Asaminami Bilingual Chapel + a suitcase full of items for 7 of our Christmas events this winter. The Chu's will be bringing over some stuff too and helping us during 3 of the events. We're looking forward to their visits! 

Asaminami Bilingual Chapel (no longer Asaminami Bilingual Service) has now started! The official start is the 23rd, but as of the 9th, prayer meetings have begun taking place at 4pm on Saturdays. Pray for the PI Hiroshima Team as they lead this new adventure that God has laid before them. 

 Asaminami Chapel will be holding their annual Kids' Christmas Party on the 30th. Last year they did one but it was packed, so this time they're having two - one in the morning for 0-6 year olds + moms and one in the afternoon for the elementary school kids. Pray for all of the prep that's taking place, pray that we'll be able to get enough people together to pass out flyers at all four gates of the elementary school adjacent to the church, and that we'll have enough people to help out at the event. Pray that the kids will have a great time, will want to come to church again, and that most importantly, that they'll learn the real meaning of Christmas. 

There are Christmas events that I am a part of at the kids' preschool too (like reading to the kids and singing in Handel's Messiah as part of the "Hallelujah Chorus"!) so pray that God will use me.. for something, somehow. :) 

There are lots of other things going on too, but those are probably the big ones. :) Thank you so much for your constant prayers and encouragement. :)

Deepening Relationships

During October, we’ve had some amazing times of being able to deepen our relationships with our Japanese church members.  Fall is the time for Sports Days and last-time-this-year BBQs and camping trips.  Once again, we joined a few other families from Kabe Chapel at their annual Family Camp.  The first activity was fishing and Sungjae was super excited!  It’s been Juhee’s dream to sleep in a real tent (not just a blanket draped over chairs/sofas/etc) and she got to do it so she was super happy too!  She was also very happy that mommy, not realizing how expensive marshmallows are in Japan, offered to take marshmallows, Honey Graham crackers (thanks LSCC!) and chocolate.  Juhee and everyone else loved roasting marshmallows over the campfire for dessert.  For most of them, it was their first time ever making S’mores.

(Click on the pictures to see larger versions.)

Fishing at little man-made ponds with lots of fish - the fishing rod was SO long!!!, kids were very impressed with the fish that daddy caught, staff at the center filleted the fish for us, our family caught a total of five :) Even though there were a lot of fish in small enclosed ponds, it still wasn't easy!

Sungjae and I slept in a big classroom inside the renovated Elementary School on rented futons while Peter and Juhee slept in our guarantor's tent outside. Putting it up and then drying it after taking it down were all a LOT of work! I made sure Juhee was bundled up nice and warm for sleeping in the tent.

Food! After the BBQ dinner, we grilled most of the fish that we'd caught earlier that day, ate everything from crunchy mouth/head to crispy tail... We had some as sashimi the next morning as part of our breakfast too (together with our ham, cheese, lettuce, egg rolls)! Everyone had fun roasting marshmallows over the campfire and making S'mores. Those little packets of marshmallow were about a dollar each... Are marshmallows expensive in the US too? Our guarantor brought a huge teppan and made his famous yakisoba for the last meal too.

Sungjae and his friend being silly together before bedtime. They don't get to play often anymore 'cause we don't go to Kabe Chapel very often, but they love playing together. It's really cute too that when our families do get together, the two boys are both excited about their own friend being there and not just having to play with their big sisters' friends. :)

The 3 year old boys hanging out together. The boy on the far right has down syndrome, but to them right now, they're all the same. Hopefully it'll stay that way and they'll continue to grow up as great brothers in Christ. The mom of this boy became a Christian earlier this year and is the first in her family.

At the Hiroshima EV Free (i.e. Koyo, Kabe, and Asaminami Chapels) Mini Sports Day & BBQ,  members + family & friends came out for a fun morning of games for kids and adults.  Kids ate for free and adults were a mere 500JPY each.  As a family, we probably ate about 3,000JPY worth for 1,000JPY!  Juhee and I missed the sports part (believe me, we were so disappointed - not! ;P) but Peter and Sungjae had a great time playing Japanese-y games.  The members of all three chapels don't often get to get together, so it was a good opportunity for them to catch up and get to know new members too. (Pic: BBQ, prayer at the end, games using newspaper.)

Asaminami Chapel had their first ever “Outdoor” Service & BBQ.  “Outdoor” because the service was actually held indoors…  It was a bit of a challenge as one of the boys who has behavioral issues was having a particularly rough morning.  The men had to take turns controlling him and the boy’s mom ended up crying in a room for most of the time we were there.  There were also little logistical things like someone forgetting to turn on the rice cooker and defrosting the meat…  We took sweet potatoes wrapped in foil and most of them became absolutely delicious roasted sweet potatoes, but some of them burnt to a crisp.  On the positive side, there was an abundance of food, it was delicious, and there was a lot of time for everyone to chat while preparing, eating, resting, and cleaning up.  We took kimchi and it was all gone very quickly.  We took Honey Graham crackers and chocolate to this event too and so everyone got to enjoy S’mores (someone else brought the marshmallows this time =D).     

Our "Outdoor" service inside; Parents trying to keep kids happy and quiet in the back; The rice ball making group; Using solar energy to defrost very frozen meat

The kids sitting at tables inside - so much easier & neater than the kids eating outside! Peter, Sungjae and others "roasting" marshmallows above dying charcoals. Fellowship time while eating yummy food. Big smile for S'mores. :)

Juhee and one of our close friends picked flowers and put some in her hair; Group photo; Thank yous and prayer before going home.

It was great being able to spend good quality & quantity time with the members of all three chapels, along with their friends and family who don’t usually come out to church.

It was also great being able to enjoy BBQs three times, three weeks in a row... ;) 

October Focus

Hey! Thanks for keeping up with us on our blog. :)

October is already half over but here's a brief look at what has been and what we're expecting...

With October came craziness that completely exhausted me. There were new experiences that were planned and not planned and anything new usually means stress levels out the wazoo... This time, there were too many in too short of a time frame and it really knocked me out... :(

Juhee had her Sports Festival at preschool in early October. It was fun and painful at the same time. Juhee, of course, was super cute doing her little dance routines with her classmates. :) The Monday after, the teachers have the day off for having to do an event on a Saturday, so some of the kids & moms met together at a nearby park. I commented on how tiring the prep & the event was and she said that the tiredness felt for the preschool versions pale in comparison to the elementary school ones - great! :/

After more than 2 years of enduring pain, I finally got my right foot checked out at an Orthopedic Hospital with an English speaking doctor. Apparently there's nothing wrong with the bones so he said he can't treat my pain 'cause his diagnosis is unsure. He gave me some medicated patches to help ease the pain... Not looking forward to having to explore more options! Someone asked me why I didn't go sooner. Just in case you're wondering too: the pain was endurable the first two years. It was too time consuming and stressful for me to even look into getting it treated. I was also afraid of how much it would cost. The pain only started to get really bad in June when a change in my schedule meant me spending a lot more time on my feet. It started affecting my QoL so I had to look into getting it treated. 

After mo~nths of research, we finally bought Juhee her "ran-do-se-ru", the Japanese elementary school bag. We paid less than $90 for it instead of the usual $300-500... BIG ACHIEVEMENT that we a) finally bought one b) in good time c) a new one d) at a very very good price. Yay! :) Sungjae had his 3-year check-up run by the government which was sooo stressful and took a lot of prep too...

I attended Sumire Cafe at Koyo Chapel. It was a two hour talk on bullying, a very serious issue here in Japan, one which we know of first-hand with our Juhee. I wasn't going to attend 'cause it was talk-based (rather than activity-based, which tends to involve less language), but 9 of my non-believing friends wanted to go, so I went. 3 couldn't come in the end 'cause their kids got sick the morning of, but it was great to be able to take friends to Koyo Chapel. :)

I had a meeting with Sungjae's teacher, the head of the daycare side, and the overall head of the preschool/daycare to discuss changing Sungjae's class. This morning, Sungjae will have had his first experience of the "big kids" class. He's being moved from 2-3 year old kids' class to a 3-5 year old one. They all felt that he was ready and I think he is too. They're going to do the transition slowly so it'll be easier for him and hopefully for everyone else too.

We've just returned from Kabe Chapel's Family Camp and we had a blast! Hopefully more details and pics to come... :)

We're planning our Christmas events! All four of our Kids Brown classes will be having Christmas parties / performances and I'll be organizing the Kabe Chapel ladies' Christmas event too. The Chu family will be visiting us again from San Jose and they'll be bringing gifts for the Kids Brown students and Sandee will be sharing at the ladies' Christmas event. Henry's a great cook so I'm sure the whole family will be helping me cook the Christmas meal for everyone too!

Thanksgiving and Christmas is a great time to invite family friends over to our house for a meal and to get to know one another better. Right now, I'm so overwhelmed with what's already going on that I can't think of organizing anything on top of that. Pray for wisdom and energy for me and Peter, that we can balance our time and energy well. Juhee has extra practices 'cause she has a ballet performance coming up soon. There's more sewing involved again, but not a ton like last time.

Koyo Chapel is having their Mini Sports Festival & BBQ soon, I'll be reading a book about Thanksgiving to four of the classes at Juhee's preschool, Asaminami Chapel will be having their first ever outdoor service & BBQ, we have English Cafe at Asaminami Chapel, I'm substituting for Jess at her Kids Brown class at Koyo Chapel as she'll be in Hong Kong, Asaminami Chapel wants to try the Kids Brown program at "Smile Club" this month, Juhee has two more field trips this month and I just received notification for her general health check-up at the elementary school that she'll be attending. It'll be both of our first times going there. There's also the Pioneers Japan retreat coming up at the end of the month too. Lots on both home and church fronts. There are other things going on too, but those are probably the big ones. :)

Thank you so much for your constant prayers and encouragement. :)

Finishing Well: STM2013

You know that saying, “All’s well that end’s well”?  Well, that’s how we wanted STM2013 to end…  To end “well”.  Each of the three summer teams left us with monetary gifts at the end of their stays. With the help of these funds, we treated the pastors and their wives + a volunteer staff member and his wife + Jess + Scott to a Thank You Lunch.   

We don’t often get to just chat with the pastors and their wives, so it provided a great time of fellowship as well as a time for reflection and for giving feedback.  By God’s grace, a lot of good discussion took place and we all left encouraged and amazed at how much God had accomplished during the almost 6-week period the teams were here.  

One thing that stuck out for me personally was how the wives commented on how Jenny was probably too busy and too burdened as a mom with two young kids.  On the other hand, the husbands (pastors) commented on how the churches created extra events that the teams could participate in.  This in turn created a burden on the churches as the church members had to do more, but it also meant that a wider variety and a greater number of people attended events this summer.  So if they push themselves more, God can do more through them. J

One of the wives commented on how the JSC (what the churches here call their youth group - "Junior Senior Church") BBQ was just too much.  It was an event that the JSC staff had put together so that the youth of the churches here could spend some fun time with the youth kids that came over from Hallelujah English Ministry's (HEM) youth kids.  Part of the reason for the HEM teenagers coming over was to encourage the kids here in their walk in Christ.  The events that were planned and the crafts & everything else that they brought were also a part of their reason for coming, but encouraging the kids here was a big part of their trip too.  The BBQ was the finale of a super busy week and we were all pretty excited but also tired.  The pastor's wife son had asked his mom for help as he's one of the leaders of JSC.  She said she didn't mind helping him, but wasn't sure if the event was really necessary and was maybe a bit too much.

One of the other wives, who has two sons who are a part of JSC, said how the BBQ was one of the most meaningful events for her.  She talked about how her second son is now always a good witness as he's a bit of "black sheep", but the BBQ allowed her son to invite his friend over who is interested in English.  The friend had a great time practicing his English conversation with the HEM kids and trying Korean style BBQ too.  He saw a full gospel presentation too, as the HEM kids had prepared skits (Everything skit, Love skit) and songs/body worship that clearly portrayed Christ's love for us.  Despite language barriers, all of the kids and staff had a great time getting to know each other.  If you'd heard the amount of laughter and chatter that was going on, you would not have guessed that there were any barriers or that these kids had met for the first time!  It was amazing.  Two of the pastors who are actively involved with the youth group also commented on how the BBQ was one of the highlights for them and the youth here and that they were all very encouraged and impressed by the HEM kids.

For almost everything that was mentioned, there seemed to be a positive and not so positive viewpoint.  I think in general though, the positive outweighed the negative. :)

One thing that I explained to them is that there are lots of churches wanting to come.  We turned down two of our supporting churches this past year and we connected one church in the US (not a supporting church) to another church here in Hiroshima.  When our supporting churches send teams to us, it helps them to let the congregation know more about us, to get more excited and in tune with the ministry here, to pray more for the work here, and to really want to "support" us.  The churches here want the support and prayers.  But it means that they need to be open to having teams over.

We all agreed that a good balance is important and that it is something that we can improve on in the future.  Smaller teams, breaks in between, maybe not all in the summer, etc...

Toward the end of the meeting, I asked if they would be open to welcoming more teams next summer.  After a short silence, the volunteer staff member said, "Yes, definitely".  The others remained silent...

The meeting might not have made everything about STM2013 “well”, but we hope it was a good step forward in making things better for the next time.  And right now, only God knows when that will be!  But for now, about a year after I first contacted the Japanese pastors about the possibility of teams coming during the summer of 2013, STM2013 has finally come to an end.  A good one.  PTL!

All Asia EV Free Conference

In September, Peter was invited to go to Hong Kong for a week to attend the All Asia Evangelical Free Conference.  Pastor Kitano of Kabe Chapel (one of the churches we work with here) was one of the main speakers for the conference and Peter was asked to share for about 5 minutes on the “Strategic Partnership” that the Pioneers Hiroshima Team has with the Hiroshima EV Free Church as part of Pastor Kitano’s talk.  One of Pastor Kitano’s only “complaints” was that the only time the listeners audibly responded during their talk was when Peter showed the picture of me in my traditional Korean dress “hanbok” surrounded by over 30 Japanese women at Kabe Chapel’s Korean Festival. ;)  

Here are a few pictures...

Peter in the middle of the Japan team that went (Pastor Kitano took the pic), Peter in front of the "All Asia EFC (Evangelical Free Church) Conference" banner, breakout sessions, conference theater

View of HK from a ferry, Peter & Jackie Chan, fresh fish market?!, roasted pig,     um.. bat?!

It was great that Peter was able to go and get a bit of a break from, well, everything here, and to spend some time with others who are like-minded in wanting to build missional churches.  What does that mean?  What does that look like?  There were leaders there of some of the main EV Free churches in Asia and there were some who were just starting in their leadership roles.  

After we arrived in Japan, Peter's heard a few times from various women that he looks like Jackie Chan...  Really?!  Peter caught a cold on his way there but he thankfully didn't have any stomach issues from trying different types of food. :)

A few of the main leaders/organizers gave very good feedback, Peter was able to meet with many church leaders in Asia, he bumped into an old friend from college(!), and was also able to meet up with a friend from Seminary who is a missionary in HK.

The kids and I did OK during the week that he was gone too. :)  A friend helped out on Friday by picking up the kids for me.  I went to her house to pick them up after I finished teaching and was so happy that they were fed and playing happily!  She even had dinner ready for me too.  I was exhausted so got emotional when she offered me a simple, yet warm and delicious meal.  As I took my first bite, I said "Thank you mommy!"  It's so great to have awesome friends here. :)

PS: In America, the Evangelical Free denomination is abbreviated EV Free, and in Asia, it's abbreviated EFC.

Summer Newsletter

Here it is, a preview of our June-August, Summer Newsletter... Let us know if you want the full thing. :)

September Focus

Hey! Thanks for keeping up with us on our blog. :)

Wow... We're in the last quarter of the year. I'm not ready for 2013 to end yet, are you?

I forgot to write in the August Focus that Peter had two preaching engagements. Praise God that they both went well! They were shorter than the usual sermons and so allowed the church members to have longer times of fellowship after the service before having to rush off home. :) Peter shared about the chairman of a big company in Japan and how his life changed through Scripture. Apparently it was the first time that even our elders had heard about this chairman and many were blessed to hear about how he overcame difficulties in his life and shared his belief with those around him. Praise God! :)

September is the beginning of a new (pre)school semester and for Juhee, it's her last one at "Samuel". It seemed like just yesterday I was scrambling to get everything ready for her to start preschool. This last semester holds many new challenges for me - more field trips, more special events, more preparation done by moms for various things. I'm already starting prep for Juhee's entry into our local Japanese Elementary School. Pray for me as I maneuver through all of the paperwork and meetings during the next 6 months. Pray for people to come by me to help me with everything that needs to be done, like God did for me almost three years ago when we first came. He's given me a good base of friends to go to for help. He's so awesome! :)

On Friday, the 6th, I'm taking a friend to Koyo Chapel's Sumire Cafe. She's already been to Koyo Chapel a couple of times for various events. Pray that her son will be good so that she can concentrate on the sermon, craft, and fellowship. A Christian friend of mine is taking a friend of her's. My friend asked her friend and she said "no", but then I bumped into both of them last week at a shopping center and when the friend was away for a bit, my friend quietly asked me to invite her friend. When her friend came back, we chit-chat for a bit and then I invited her - and she said "yes"! Hopefully this friend will follow through and they'll come together on Friday. Please pray for this friend too. She came to the Korean Festival at Koyo Chapel a few months ago and this will be her 2nd ever time at church. Her son is coming too, so similar prayers for her too!

September's the third month of Kids Brown. I'm still kinda getting used to it, mainly because I haven't had time to spend a substantial amount of time exploring it since we first started it. But it's been a blessing as I've been able to teach 2 classes every week with very little prep. So far, no kids have dropped out either and we still have a waiting list. Praise God! Pray that God will continue to use the Kids Brown classes to bring kids and moms into the church, that they will remember the Bible stories that are told at the end of each lesson and that they will start asking questions, wanting to know more. Pray that their English will improve and pray for creativity and energy for me and Jess, the two Kids Brown teachers.

I'm leading 15 minutes of English songs during Asaminami Chapel's new toddlers' outreach "Smile" on Friday, 13th. Pray that the moms and kids will have fun singing and dancing in English as well as enjoy the rest of the program too. Pray for the Japanese staff who will be preparing fun and meaningful things in Japanese, and of course, a delicious snack. So far, attendance has been between 4-7 kids/mom sets except for when I taught English and there were around 12.

Peter will be away from the 11th-16th in Hong Kong at anAll-Asia EV Free Conference. He'll be speaking at it too! Pray for him as he prepares for the conference and that he'll have a great time of learning and networking while he's there too. Pray that he'll have time to relax and refresh and that he has a great time of connection with an old friend who is a missionary there. Pray for me as I'll be home alone with the kids during that time! :/

There are lots of other things going on too, but those are probably the big ones. :)

Side note: I got a lot done today. Not in terms of "work", but in terms of life. I went through a lot of paperwork from Juhee's school & ballet class, organized two areas in the house that have been bugging me, cooked a yummy lunch and dinner for our little family, enjoyed time with Juhee who came home early today, and thoroughly enjoyed her bright, fun, cheerful self. She laughed so much today! I was a very happy mommy. I spent time on the home front today. It wasn't a perfect day, but it was an awesome one. I wish I could spend more days like this... :) Now, time to get some "work" done! ;)

We're swamped! Pray for us as we try to deal wisely and in a timely fashion to all of the unexpected things that keep on happening. Many are due to the fact that we've never been through the Japanese school system or lived life in Japan / are not Japanese. We're also still newbies in terms of being missionaries, so there are many aspects of our "job" that we're not always very well prepped for. Pray that we'll be able to tackle situations well and that we won't drop too many balls...

Thank you so much for your constant prayers and encouragement. :)

Our Monthly Support is now at 85%! The support from approximately 50 individuals/families giving regularly + 16 churches currently make up our ongoing Monthly Support. THANK YOU!!! :)

"Massacre"?

What part does history play in our everyday lives?  How important is a word?

I take things very literally, at face value.  I'm a very in-the-box type person.  Very not out-of-the-box.  Peter's the creative one, the out-of-the-box thinker, not me. :)  English class during High School was fun to an extent - I enjoyed reading most of the books, but I didn't like having to analyze them so much.  I'm not good at in-depth analysis.  Unfortunately, it's the same for me when I'm reading the Bible too. :/

There are some things about living in Japan that make it difficult for me as a Korean.  They don't bother Jess and Peter so much though 'cause they're more Korean-American than they are Korean.  I don't think the history between Korea and Japan bother current Korean teenagers as much either as there's so much pop culture being shared between countries.  Also, most of their grandparents were born after the Japanese occupation.  I think our generation might be one of the last who have grandparents who told us first hand accounts of things that happened and for who things in history books came alive through TV dramas and movies too.

Most of the time, history doesn't bother me too much.  But then.. there are articles like this one titled "Yokohama recalls text describing 1923 "massacre" of Koreans".  I remember how pleasantly surprised I was when I read the article about how Yokohama city was planning on updating their history textbooks.  Instead of the text reading that Japanese authorities were responding to an uprising by Koreans, they were going to change it to properly reflect the unprovoked massacre that took place and correct the number of people killed.  They made the change, distributed them, and now they're recalling the textbooks. :(

I've heard from so many people since I was a teenager, from both Koreans and Japanese, about how Japanese history textbooks do not portray the truth about its country's history during the first half of the 20th century.  Most Japanese people don't even know that Japan occupied Korea from 1910-1945 and so have absolutely no idea of the atrocities that were committed before, during, and after that time.  One of my best friends here actually said to me recently "Japan's such a nice country. It's never started a war with anybody."  I was so shocked, I thought I must have heard wrong.  She said it in English so I couldn't have misunderstood...  She's born and bred in Hiroshima but spent time abroad as an adult so her English is pretty good.  Does she really not know why the US dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima?  Does she not know about Pearl Harbor?  Or any of the invasions that happened all throughout Japan's history?  Maybe history just wasn't her favorite subject...

Here's the story (as links don't last forever):

Yokohama recalls texts describing 1923 ‘massacre’ of Koreans

The stir caused by a textbook’s descriptions of the mass lynching of Koreans following the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake has prompted Yokohama’s board of education to order schools to collect the books from students.

In an unprecedented move, the board ordered municipal junior high schools to recall the 2012 edition of the book, a supplementary text, saying the use of the word “massacre” “can cause a misunderstanding.” The term has also been criticized by some historians.

Immediately after the Sept. 1, 1923, earthquake in the Kanto region, unconfirmed rumors spread that Koreans were rioting and committing acts of sabotage. Based on the rumors, the army, police and vigilantes killed many Koreans, as well as Chinese and Japanese mistaken for Koreans. It’s unclear because of the chaos how many were killed, but it’s thought the slayings topped 6,000 in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture alone.

Previous editions of the text, titled “Wakaru Yokohama” (“Understanding Yokohama”) and edited by the board, said “some members of the vigilante corps killed Koreans.” The book was first published in 2009.

However, the edition distributed in May 2012 states that “the military, the police and vigilante groups persecuted and massacred Koreans.” It also shows a picture of a cenotaph erected by Japanese as an expression of apology.

The revised entry made media headlines at home as well as in South Korea and China.

In July 2012, a municipal assembly member from the Liberal Democratic Party took up the issue during a session, saying: “It could affect historical concepts in our country and diplomatic relations. It is not a matter only for Yokohama.”

The board of education’s chairman at the time pledged to revise the edition and recall the books already distributed.

The board later reprimanded the person in charge of the revision, criticizing the decision-making process as inappropriate. The 2013 edition reinstated the description and a recall was begun of the 2012 version.

The board also twice instructed school principals to collect all the books and ask students who did not obey their reasons why.

On Wednesday, historians submitted a petition to Yokohama asking that the decision to recall the books be reversed.

If the link works, read the comments below the article.  There's an interesting debate.  How important is a word and the connotation behind it?  How do you know that your understanding of the word is the same as that of someone else's?  Which one is more accurate?

There are always lots of articles about Korea/Koreans/Korean history in Japanese newspapers.  Koreans are the biggest minority population in Japan and we've probably been here the longest too.  With our messy history and a nationalistic move on the rise here in Japan, living in Japan as a Korean isn't going to get any easier.  If it does, it'll be a miracle.  Miracles do happen...

STM2013

In July-August 2013, we had a crazy busy 6-week period!  Jess and us Oh's played host to 3 summer missions teams made up of a total of 22 wonderful people who came to Hiroshima, Japan for 8-11 days each, back to back. We have a lot we want to share and will be sharing a bit in our next newsletter. But in the meantime, here's some fun photos & stories from Peter. Enjoy! :)

--------------------

This summer we had the wonderful privilege of hosting three short term mission teams. Team Pathway came from the English ministry of our home church in California. The second team came from the youth group of Hallelujah Community Church in Bundang, South Korea. The third team came from our Pioneers’ team mate Jessica’s parent’s home church near Seattle, Washington.

We were truly blessed to have these teams partner with us in our various outreach events this summer. We wouldn't have been able to do half of what we did without them.

With thankful hearts,

Peter, Jenny, Juhee and Sungjae

Summer Teams
A picture is worth a thousand words, at least that's how the saying goes. There were too many experiences, outreach events, and conversations that took place during the summer to adequately share through words. Therefore, we'd like to share several picture collages with you. We hope that sharing snapshots of our experiences with "brief" captions will tell the story we can't do with just words. (All captions start with the description of the top left picture going clockwise.)

Pathway Team


The Pathway team is pictured in front of Asaminami Chapel, the church plant where our family is focusing our ministry efforts. The next picture is of the team with Pastor Haitaka, the Senior Pastor of the EV Free Church in Hiroshima, who says the summer teams act as a tailwind sent from God to help with our missionary efforts in Hiroshima giving us extra energy, momentum, and encouragement. In the next picture, the team is being introduced to the members of Koyo Chapel during Sunday service, and they also shared a special song. What a joy it was to be able to fellowship and praise God together as one family though the team came from thousands of miles away and just met the members of Koyo Chapel.


Jane and Rosa are pictured making popcorn for the Children's ministry's Day Camp at Kabe Chapel, and shaking the pot so the popcorn wouldn't burn. The team helped minister to over 30 children at Kabe Chapel's Day Camp, and even though language was a challenge the kids really sensed God's love through each member's interaction with them. We were so thankful for the team's playful and serving hearts. The team also folded over 7,000 Good News newsletters that would be distributed throughout the neighborhoods surrounding Koyo, Kabe and Asaminami Chapels. That's a lot of newsletters! The next picture shows the team after having distributed over 700 Good News newsletters on a sunny Sunday afternoon in one of the neighborhoods near Koyo Chapel, which was no easy task (they had to climb four flights of stairs to reach just 8 apartments- that's a lot of stairs!) We pray God would bless those who read the Good News, and really receive it as good news that would draw the readers to Jesus.


Here's the Pathway team preparing gift bags for one of the outreach events at Asaminami Chapel. This was only one part in the many needed to run a successful outreach as every outreach event took planning, preparation of activities, snacks, gifts and prizes, active participation at the event, and clean-up. That's a lot of hard work. We praise God for their joyful servant hearts. The next picture is of Pastor Yamada sharing a Bible Story at Asaminami Chapel's annual summer outreach event, an Ice Cream Party. There were two parties held that day, one for preschoolers and the second for elementary school kids. 40 preschoolers came, which was the exact number we prepared for. We weren't sure, however, how many students would come to the elementary Ice Cream party. We were anticipating maybe 17 to 20 would come. To our pleasant surprise, we had 69 elementary school kids come to the party. Praise God! We scrambled for extra gifts and prizes because we didn't prepare for that many kids to come, and just found enough. What an awesome opportunity to plant seeds of the Gospel in 109 kids that day. We might have to split the elementary school grades next year and have 3 parties! We pray God continues to bless the relationships with those kids, and the elementary school that is right next to Asaminami Chapel. The next picture is of the team preparing salad for dinner at our home. It was nice to fellowship together, encourage one another, and hear stories of how God brought the team members to Japan. The next picture is of Jane with Yamaguchi-san, who is one of our dear friends and a church member at Kabe Chapel. She is one of many church members who devotes much of her time volunteering for various ministry events. She preps, she cleans, she smiles and laughs throughout; what an encouragement she is. The final picture is of the team with the ladies of Olive Kai, the women's ministry of Kabe Chapel. This is a great ministry that provides a welcoming environment for ladies to come together to chat, eat, and be encouraged. Please pray these ladies' gatherings would not become a social club, but can be a place where the ladies are equipped to reach out to the other ladies in their community.

Hallelujah Team

The Hallelujah Team also came full of energy and with very willing and serving hearts. The first picture is of one of the leaders of the Hallelujah team, Yusuke, sharing his testimony to the Kabe congregation during Sunday service. The Hallelujah team also blessed the congregation with a special song through body worship. The team also helped with a special Summer Kids English Club outreach event at Koyo Chapel. Pictured is Caleb and Yusuke checking the BINGO cards as the kids say their BINGO numbers. There were lots of games and activities, and fishing for prizes was just one of those activities, which is pictured next. The Hallelujah team also distributed thousands of Good News newsletters. The final picture is of the team holding up a copy of the Good News after we passed out over 1,500 Good News newsletters in a neighborhood near Kabe Chapel (Thank you Pathway Team for folding all those Good News newsletters!)


The Hallelujah Team is pictured with some of the kids who came to the Summer Kids English Club at Kabe Chapel (the picture in the prior collage was of the Summer Festival at Koyo Chapel). The next picture is Jenny teaching colors in English and explaining to the kids what the different colors represent in the Hallelujah team presentation. Each color represented a different aspect of the gospel message. After the presentation, the kids made bracelets with colored beads while a Hallelujah Team member at each table reviewed the meaning of the colors. What an awesome and interactive way for the seed of the gospel to be planted into the hearts of these young kids. The team also shared a skit that encouraged all to share love with one another. The team was also very blessed by Mr. Ogawa who is one of our very dedicated lay leaders of Kabe Chapel. Not only did he open up his guest house to the Hallelujah Team, but he also poured out so much love and grace and demonstrated to the team what a servant's heart looks like. Pictured is Mr. Ogawa singing one of his favorite hymns for the team after having hosted and cooked a delicious dinner for them. They were truly blessed by his servant heart, his generosity and his kindness. The team sang Amazing Grace, one of Mr. Ogawa's favorite hymns, in English and Japanese for Mr. & Mrs. Ogawa too. The Hallelujah team was also able to visit and pray over a Buddhist temple that many people come to when they are seeking peace, which is pictured next. Notice the demon idol on the left of this picture, which is used by Japanese parents to scare their children to obey. If the children don't obey, the parents tell them a demon will come and take disobedient children away. I can see how this can bring peace to the parents, but I don't think it brings any peace to the children. Please pray for the people of Japan, that they can experience true peace in Jesus Christ.

New Life Team

The New Life Team were all smiles throughout the their missions trip. The first picture is of the team when we met them at the airport. Though they had a 23 hour layover in Seoul before they arrived, they were full of smiles. Like Pathway and Hallelujah, the New Life team also came with a great attitude and serving hearts. The next picture is of the team sharing a special song with the congregation of Koyo Chapel. Though language was a barrier, everyone was united in worship through their song. In the next picture is Tina JDSN as she shared a message at our prayer meeting. Discipleship has been a recurring theme in the hearts of the pastors and church members recently, and her message again confirmed God's desire and command to make disciples. Crystal also shared her testimony of how she came to faith, and reiterated the importance of having people in our lives who can influence and point us to Christ. The last picture is of the team giving small welcoming gifts from America to the church members at Koyo Chapel. Gift giving is a very important part of Japanese culture. It's not just about the gift, but the mind and heart behind the gift, and communicates warm wishes for a good relationship.


The New Life team was able to visit Miyajima Island, one of the most beautiful and touristy places in Japan. There is a deep history of Buddhism and Shintoism on this island, and at one point, many believed the island itself to be a god. The team prayed over the island, the principalities and strongholds of Japan, and for the Japanese people. Please pray that the spiritual strongholds that continue to blind the Japanese people would be broken, and that the truth of the Most High God and His salvation in Jesus Christ would be known. The picture also includes two young ladies with whom the team spent a lot of good quality time. One of these young ladies comes to church regularly, but her friend comes from a very strict Buddhist family. This was a great opportunity to spend quality time and share God's love with these two young ladies. Please pray our relationship with these girls continue to grow, and that both draw nearer to God. The next picture is of the New Life team pictured with Pastor Haitaka and some of the members of Koyo Chapel. The following picture is of the New Life team with Pastor Kitano and his family. This summer provided a great opportunity for three teams to visit Hiroshima. They served in many ways, and prayed for spiritual strongholds to be broken so that the light of Jesus can shine in Hiroshima. We are so thankful for each team to come and partner with us and the local pastors (pictured above) in sharing of the Risen Son in the Land of the Rising Sun.

August Focus

Hey! Thanks for keeping up with us on our blog. :)

Wow... It's August! Are we already in the latter half of this year? 

Two teams - Pathway Bible Fellowship and Hallelujah English Ministry's youth group STAND - have come, blessed us and (we hope) the Hiroshima EV Free Church. We have one more team left - New Life Ministry - this summer and we're looking forward to seeing how God will be using them too, here in Hiroshima. We pray that those that come will continue to pray for the people of Japan all the more, that they will share the things that they have seen, felt, and learned with those back home, and that God will hopefully bring some of them back to Hiroshima some day as a short-term, mid-term, or long-term missionary. We definitely need more workers here!!! 

During August, we have a few events at the kids' preschool, some that we're just attending, and a couple that I'll be leading. The two that I'll be leading are happening on the same morning and will have a combined attendance of about 200 people!!! About 140 of them are kids, the rest are adults. 

Kids Brown, the new weekly English classes, are off to a great start! I teach two classes every Friday afternoon at Asaminami Chapel. There's a waiting list for both! There are about 50 kids enrolled in the whole program in 4 different classes at the 3 chapels. About 1/4 - 1/3 of the kids are friends of ours. :) Memorizing the names of the kids in my earlier time-slot class was easy because I already knew most of them. Pray that I'll be able to memorize the names of the kids in my later class soon too so I can call them by name without having to check their name tags! Pray that I get used to the technology sooner rather than later too... :/

August is when Obon happens in Hiroshima. In the supermarkets, they've already started selling the lantern-looking posts that go up near the graves to celebrate ancestral worship. My heart just cries as I see those around me pouring so much time and energy into this... I don't even know where to begin when asking for prayer for this one... :'(

During Obon, most people are off work, so we'll hopefully be able to get together with a couple of our friends and have them over for a meal too. :)

Maybe after Obon, once all of the traveling craziness dies down, we'll be able to spend some time together as a family somewhere. Maybe... :/

We're swamped! Pray for us as we try to deal wisely and in a timely fashion to all of the unexpected things that keep on happening. Many are due to the fact that we've never been through the Japanese school system or lived life in Japan / are not Japanese. We're also still newbies in terms of being missionaries, so there are many aspects of our "job" that we're not always very well prepped for. Pray that we'll be able to tackle situations well and that we won't drop too many balls...

Check our prayer section below and our newsletter for more on what we're up to during the next couple of months. There's a lot going on and we really appreciate your prayers. :)

Thank you so much for your constant prayers and encouragement. :)

Our Monthly Support is now at 85%! The support from approximately 50 individuals/families giving regularly + 16 churches currently make up our ongoing Monthly Support. THANK YOU!!! :)