Here's a link to our latest newsletter. It's weird to think that more than half of 2017 has already gone (and this is only our third newsletter :( ).
Again, our newsletter is longer than we would like it to be, but still missing so many amazing things that are happening. Big and small miracles are happening every day in our lives and hopefully in your too!
Thank you for tracking with us and for your prayers.
Here's a link to our May Newsletter, focusing mainly on the Mo family's mini missions trip and the activities that we had planned. God blessed us immensely through their trip! We're so thankful for the new relationships that were built through them, the encouragement that we and our church members received, and the love that they poured out onto our family❤️
Here's the link to our Christmas & New Year newsletter. As we wrote in the newsletter, we have many things that we are thankful for as we bring 2016 to a close. What a crazy year it's been! So many surprises! We thank God that you are constantly praying for and encouraging us. We really wish we had more time to share more of the amazing things God has been doing in our lives. Hopefully next year, we'll be able to do just that!
(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 dayso 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!
As always, thank you so much for your prayers! We
treasure them :)
Our names are Peter and Jenny Oh and we have been serving as missionaries in Japan since Nov. 2010. During our first term we served with Hiroshima Evangelical Free Church and the Pioneers Hiroshima team to plant two churches - one Japanese and the other bilingual. We also taught English classes and led or took part in other evangelistic outreaches too.
In March 2016, we obeyed God's calling to move to Fukuoka to work as supporting missionaries at Fukuoka Evangelical Free Church. It wasn't easy leaving our friends in Hiroshima, but God has blessed us with many new friends in Fukuoka.
We will be starting our third term in Fukuoka from Sept. 2019 and are anticipating some changes in our ministry. In prayer and anticipation, we are looking forward to how God is going to lead us during our next term and the people He's going to bring into our lives.
We celebrated my birthday together with my family at my parent's in San Jose, CA. One last time before departing for Hiroshima, Japan, 2 days later. (Nov '10)
Sungjae's 1st Day @ Church (Milpitas, CA)
Sungjae's 1st visit to our church, New Vision Church/Pathway, and the 1st time we attended as a family of four. :) (Jun '10)
Family Retreat (Pebble Beach, CA)
Thanks to a generous friend, we were able to go on a Family Retreat over the weekend. We had a great time of rest in the peaceful town and enjoyed some great scenery. This was the one pic we didn't take ourselves. :) (Oct '09)
Family Day Out (San Francisco, CA)
Took a day trip to a beach/park in San Francisco when Auntie Jade came to visit. Was a typical foggy, windy, San Franciscan day. :) (Mar '09)
Korea Town (Osaka, Japan)
Lots of shops and restaurants selling Korean merchandise all on one long street where people spoke Japanese, Korean, and English - a truly international destination. (Nov '08)