January Newsletter

Monday January 31, 2011

New Year, New Experiences

Dear co-laborer in the Lord,

We are honored to be your partners in the Gospel here in Japan. We hope you will be excited and encouraged by what you see and hear God is doing through us in Japan. May we be faithful in clearly communicating our experiences so that you may be blessed through His story through us.

The picture above shows Juhee's first experience getting her fingernails painted. She was hanging out with the girls, and later came downstairs with nail polish on. Here she is showing us her newly painted nails. We were hoping this wouldn't happen until she was at least ten. Oh well. *sigh* :)

Blessings!

Peter, Jenny, Juhee, and Sungjae Oh

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Osechi

On New Years' Eve, Jenny took a small container of kimchi fried rice (김치볶음밥) and a sweet and slightly spicy Korean radish side dish (무생채) as a thank you to our neighbors who gave us radish, spinach and cabbage a couple of weeks after we arrived. As Jenny was chatting with the neighbors, they asked if we'd ever tried "Osechi" (we didn't even know what "Osechi" was!) and when Jenny said no, they asked what time we usually have breakfast. After some discussion between the husband and wife, the husband said that they would bring some over early the next day. It turns out that "Osechi" is traditional Japanese New Years' food. Sure enough, the next morning, on New Year's Day, our neighbors came over together with lots of yummy food (Juhee with plate of food in pic)! Our favorite was the black beans and chestnuts. It even had gold flakes on it! Jenny showed a picture of it to one of our friends, and she said that only rich people put gold flakes on it. Another friend said that the size of the black bean was also a sign of prosperity. Bigger black beans are more expensive. Ours were pretty big! Everything was a bit crazy this year, and we didn't even read up on how they celebrate the New Year in Japan until afterwards. Next year, we'll know better.

Please pray that a good friendship would grow between us and our neighbors, and that opportunities for spiritual conversation would arise.

Read about our New Year's in more detail here. You can see more pictures too!

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First Tea Ceremony (well, kind of)

Every Friday, ladies from each church - Koyo Chapel and Kabe Chapel - meet to have their weekly Bible study at their respective churches. On Friday, January 14th, they had their New Years' celebration together at Koyo Chapel and they invited us to attend. There were performances from individual ladies as well as a group performance from the ladies of each church. They ended the celebration by serving all of the attendees traditional Tea Ceremony sweets and tea that was whisked to a froth with bamboo whisks pictured above .  It wasn't a "real" Tea Ceremony with all the formalities and rituals, but hopefully we'll be able to experience a real full-blown Tea Ceremony soon.

You can read more about this event and also see pictures of the food, the tea and, as it was a New Years' party, Juhee wearing her hanbok (Korean traditional dress) here.

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Teaching English and the Bible

Peter subbed in for Scott's (Team Leader) English classes while he was away at a conference. It's been quite some time since Peter taught English, and was a bit rusty, but the students were all very gracious. All the students are middle-aged women wanting to learn English as a hobby. Some students are members of the Koyo and Kabe Chapels, but most of the students are not. The best part of the English class is that after the English lesson, a Bible story is shared (also in English) from the Read with Me Bible (pictured above). During the last class, Peter shared the story of Elijah challenging the prophets of Baal to determine which god was the one and true God. This story sparked many questions from the non-Christians in the class and a lot of discussion (in Japanese). Peter was very glad one of the students was a member of Koyo Chapel, and was able to answer many questions. However, some questions seemed to be too difficult to answer, and so they were encouraged to ask Pastor Haitaka. Because everyone was participating in the discussion (in Japanese), at one point one student asked another student, "Are you Christian?", to which she replied, "No, are you?", to which the first student replied, "me neither" (all in Japanese). They both seemed to be a little surprised the other wasn't a Christian. This was a great segue in reminding them of an English ladies-only Bible Study that Susan (Team Leader's wife) will be teaching from February. Some of the students seemed very interested in the class. Please pray these students would continue asking questions and seeking truth to know that our God is the one and true God.

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Ministry Opportunities for You?!

We are hearing of ministry opportunities through the pipeline and would like to share them with you. They are requests for English teachers to help existing churches in their outreach ministries. One such request comes from a church near Nagoya; they offer housing and help with other expenses for someone willing to come out in October and to stay for one year. There is another, almost identical opportunity for an English teacher in Miyazaki, which is on the east coast of the island of Kyushu . We wanted to let you all know, in case you or someone you know might be interested. Just let us know if you do, and we’ll provide you with the rest of the details.

Pastor Haitaka, pictured above, is pointing at you and asking you to prayerfully consider these ministry opportunities. ;)

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More Stories...

We have so much to share with you, but don't want the newsletter to get longer than it already is. Click on the links below to read more about...

Banking in Japan Trying to figure out the best way to get our money here and why we now have more than one bank account.

Playdate with the Kitano kids Juhee had so much fun! :)

Baby Things Learning and getting used to Japanese-y baby things.

Big Snow We've had lots of snow - again!

MaryLou's Visit Our first visit from the US by a friend and a visit to the Hiroshima Castle - double yay!

Kid's Update Our kids are growing so fast.

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Prayer Partner Calendar

February Prayer Calendar

We are joyful to have our friends, mostly from Dallas Chinese Bible Church and Binnerri Presbyterian Church  support us in prayer this month. As always, our prayer requests are in the left hand column of our newsletter. Even if your name's not here, please continue to pray for us! We covet your prayers. :)

February

1 Amy Hung                                           15 Yee Fun Olsen

2 Darrell and Leota Buhler                 16 Yow-Yi Amstutz

3 David and Eileen Ng                        17 Pat Lee

4 Gordon Ngo                                       18 Richard Lim

5 James Cheng                                   19 Roger Ginnett

6 Silas and Denise Chan                   20 김태중 목사님

7 Stephen Tin                                        21 Kathleen Wu

8 Joseph Swanson                              22 윤미정 자매님

9 Kathy Dees                                         23 성만군 집사님

10 이영진 집사님, 홍성애 집사님        24 민경열 집사님

11 곽연태 집사님, 이향숙 집사님        25 Jon and Jade Chia

12 한동식 장로님, 한경자 집사님        26 조원호 장로님

13 Jeff and Shari Jongejan                 27 Lucy Chang

14 지정인 장로님, 지정란 집사님        28 유정남 집사님

Banking in Japan

In the US, the two of us together had ONE joint bank account. Here, I have one account and Peter now has FOUR! Why? Well, our landlord banks with JA Bank and the school that Juhee is starting in April banks with Hiroshima Bank. Because there is a fee for transferring money from one bank account to another, we would have to pay a fee every month for two of our major expenses because we're with Hiroshima Shinkin Bank. The fees aren't substantial (about $6) but they add up! So Peter withdraws money from our main bank account and then makes deposits at the other two. @@

And then, thanks to Wells Fargo's International Wire Transfer system not working very well (silver lining :)), Peter did some more research and found out that another bank, Shinsei Bank, doesn't charge to receive money wire transfers which saves us even more on fees (about $30 per transfer). Shinsei Bank also allows one free intra-Japan bank transfer per month so it saves Peter from having to withdraw money and physically take it to the other two banks if he alternates every other month. Save time and money - yay!

We also found out that we get a better exchange rate and pay a much lower fee if we withdraw money directly from an ATM instead of doing a wire transfer using our Wells Fargo ATM card at the post office. Like in the UK, post offices here also have a banking system. We can't withdraw money from our Wells Fargo account at any of the other ATMs, only the ones at post offices.

We're so happy we found out about these better, quicker, money-saving ways of transferring money to Japan early on during our time here. We'll be saving hundreds, if not thousands (not exaggerating) of USD every year - yay! :)

Kids' Update

(Click on pictures to see larger versions.)

I would like to have a family section on our newsletter but they're already so long I feel bad about making it even longer. My parents say that not writing about personal things is better. I, however, always like the more personal parts of the missionary updates that I receive so I can see the human side too and not just the work side. I wonder if it's a cultural thing or a generational thing? Maybe just a personal preference? What do you think?

Anyway, so a few updates on our beautiful two kids. :)

Sungjae at just over 8 months:

Sungjae started crawling a few weeks after we moved to Japan and he's now crawling very fast, standing, "cruising" (walking sideways while holding onto things) and can walk around in his walker. He loves pulling off the dish rag from the hanger by the sink and playing under the dining room table. The only problem with that is that he's now too tall and keeps on bumping/scraping his head on the top! He's also now tall enough to touch the on/off controls on our gas stove...


When he's in his walker he opens up the bottom part of our two-tier trash can (top for combustibles, bottom for recyclables) and takes things out. When he's crawling, he pushes the foot pedal for the top part of our two-tier trash can and tries to take things out of the bottom part but can't - yet.

Everything still goes straight to his mouth. He's a great eater and eats a rice bowl full of baby food plus dessert (usually fruit) 3 times a day, snacks on cheerios and nurses 5 times per day too. When I asked the doctor how much he weighed at his first appointment here in Japan, the doctor said "8.7kg. Heavy."

He loves giving big slobbering kisses. Sometimes he misses and ends up eating our nose. =D


He has the cutest smile and loves laughing. He has two types of laughs - one is an outright giggle type laugh and the other one is a gasping type laugh. They're both really cute. :)

Unfortunately, he loves using kerosene heaters as a prop for standing and likes banging on them too. It's one of the few things he gets in trouble for.

He's figuring out how to open our sliding doors - not good! He also knows that with some of our doors, he just needs to push slightly and it'll open. One in particular we need to be very careful of because it leads to our "doma" which is an outside area kind of inside our home but it's just a concrete floor with one concrete step leading down to it so if he ever opened the door and fell down, that would not be good!

When we lift him up he makes running motions with his legs. =D

When big sister has no one else to play dress up with, he becomes her model. =P

By the time he was 6 months old, he'd been on 4 flights and been in 3 different time zones (not including pre-birth). Hopefully we won't be flying anywhere or changing time zones again till after he's at least one!


Juhee at just over 3 years of age:

From when she was 10 months old till just before she turned 3, Juhee went on 22 flights, 5 of them being flights lasting over 10 hours. She's been to lots of churches and attended 3 different schools in the US in 2 different states. She's been a real trooper and we're very grateful for her flexibility, outgoing extroverted personality and adaptability. Hopefully we'll be able to provide her with a more stable life now that God has brought us here (well, at least until we go on furlough).

Earlier this week, after watching a DVD on "building words", Juhee wanted to spell out her name using the fridge magnet letters we received in a care package from Auntie Lynn & Uncle Aaron. After spelling her full name, she said she wanted to also write "The End". I was very surprised, and I asked her "You know how to write "The End"?" "Uh huh. Mommy, where's the D? (looking inside the ziploc bag full of letters)" "Here." "Oh (puts D on fridge). (Looks through bag again.) And here's the N. Look! See! D N. See!" :)

After dinner, Peter was playing with Juhee. He held her upside down then flipped her up and then back down again, swinging her in between his legs. Then he put her down and then she would crawl through his legs and then run around one side. She was sooo happy and having so much fun! We could tell by her laughter but she also told us so in her own words: "Daddy, your legs are so much fun!" =DDD

A Korean lady who attends Koyo Chapel gave us a series of children's Korean books that her teenage children have outgrown. I have been reading them to her now and again and it seems to have helped Juhee's Korean to improve. She's actually speaking more Korean now than when we lived with my mom, even though she's hearing it less. Hopefully Juhee will continue to love reading as this will be key in her learning Japanese quickly and correctly and later on, in her being trilingual.


Juhee loves dressing up, singing and dancing, playing with blocks, playing outside, going through her "study" books, playing in her kitchen, helping me in the kitchen (she's getting better ;)), Skype-ing with friends and family back home, reading books, and lots of other things too. :)

"Big Snow"

"There's a snowstorm forecasted for this weekend so be careful. We might be snowed in!" Pam, who is always so helpful and also just so happens to live up in the mountains, gave me this important bit of information when I saw her on Friday morning. She also told me that in Japanese, a snowstorm is called "O-yuki", as in "big snow".

Side note: I went to Sweden for two weeks during December/January over 10 years ago and someone told me that there are more than 20 (I think) different ways of describing snow in Scandinavian. I wonder how many different words they have of describing snow in Japanese? I know two now: "yuki" (snow) and "o-yuki" (snowstorm). They probably have a word for sleet and others too..?


Sure enough, we got our snowstorm on Saturday and so going to church on Sunday morning was a bit more of an ordeal than normal. :) We'd had snow before a few times, enough to settle and for Juhee to play in, but not this much! It took Peter a while to get the car ready to go and the snow continued to fall too. Thank goodness we already had our snow tires on! One family (with a 5 month old baby) took the bus to church because they didn't have their snow tires yet and it took them 80 minutes to get to church - eek! That's dedication.

After church, there was still a lot of snow around so Peter and Juhee played in the snow for a bit before coming in. They made a little snowman on a rock outside our entryway and a lion :) to guard our front gate. ;) It's hard to see from the picture, but the snowman did have all of his necessary facial features and two small twigs as arms.

Note to self: buy Juhee waterproof gear so she can play outside in the snow and not get her pants & socks all wet and cold.

According to an elderly Japanese lady, this winter is apparently going to be especially cold - eek!

Our First Tea Ceremony (Well... kinda)

It wasn't an actual Tea Ceremony but it was close. :)

Every Friday, ladies from each church - Koyo Chapel and Kabe Chapel - meet to have their weekly Bible study at their respective churches. On Friday, January 14th, they had their New Years' celebration together at Koyo Chapel and they invited us to attend. As it was a New Years' party, we dressed Juhee in her hanbok (Korean traditional dress). She loved wearing it! :) She especially liked the "puffiness" of it so she kept on sitting down... On the floor. @@

There were performances from individual ladies as well as a group performance from the ladies of each church. Both performed plays. Koyo's was about a cobbler named Martin and how he came to faith. They'd prerecorded the voices/words of the play (very smart - no need to worry about microphones!) and one of the ladies played the piano to fit each scene - amazing! "Martin" was so well disguised, people couldn't tell who she was so she was asked to reveal herself at the end. :)

Kabe's was the story of Queen Esther from the Bible. Their costumes were amazing! Their play was set to music too. It seems to be the norm here. Plays aren't just plays. They always have music playing in the background too to help set the mood. Book reading is like that too. So much effort is always put into everything they do! Nothing is merely just simply done.

The food was of course delicious and beautiful. :) There was one thing though that I took one bite of and just absolutely could NOT finish... I can't remember the name but it was a pickle dish and it was marinated in sake (and other stuff too I guess). One of the ladies tried really hard to explain it to me and then said, "Traditional Japanese pickle. Please try." So I put some on my plate. It smelled like sake too but the potency of the sake was what really caught me off guard. I felt like I'd just gulped a glass of it! Well, let's just say that it's one of those acquired taste things and I haven't quite got there yet... I didn't even take a picture of it 'cause it looked so simple and I guess plain, but man did that simple plain looking pickle really have a kick! :P

One thing that I thought was really awesome was the way in which the two pastors, Pastor Haitaka and Pastor Kitano, served during the party. They took care of the kids so that the moms could sit comfortably, act/perform, eat, chat... It was also obvious that the kids were comfortable with them and that it was not the first time that they'd been taken care of by them. I just thought this really showed how loving and caring the pastors are to the church members. They're really more like family than just church members. Keiko-san, Pastor Haitaka's wife, is a~lways watching kids during Sunday services and at any and all other events too.


The special Tea Ceremony sweets and tea were served to us while we were sitting watching the performances, which is why I say that it wasn't a "real" Tea Ceremony. I was told that the sweets would be very sweet and the tea very bitter. The sweets were very sweet but delicious (I wanted more!!!) and the tea wasn't actually that bitter. I think the green tea that they drink normally with their meals is more bitter (and very very strong). I have a hard time finishing the green tea that they serve with every meal. I hope I get used to it soon!

After the performances were done, Juhee and I were at the back and Pastor Haitaka showed Juhee how to make the green tea frothy. She loved it! He then showed her that before one drinks it, one turns the tea bowl around a few times and then drinks.

Hopefully we'll be able to go to a real full-blown Tea Ceremony soon. It'll be difficult to keep the kids quiet and respectful and to keep our legs from falling asleep but we'll try. I love traditional stuff like that. :)

Baby Things

As you'd expect, things for babies are a bit different in Japan...

Like baby food for example. In the US, they tend to be veg-based - peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes (for constipation), and then they start going on to things like pastas, beef, rice... Here, the veg is different (like barnyard millet), they put fish in it (which I don't think is very common in the US), and the type of meat they put in is different too (like liver!). I tend to make Sungjae's food but I like to keep an emergency supply, just in case.

Another example is diaper sizes. First of all we had to figure out how much Sungjae weighed in kgs as opposed to lbs and then we had to try to find one that fit OK.
He's a bit on the chubby side so we had to go for larger options but they're harder to find. I asked a lady at church one day about diapers and from what I could understand with my limited Japanese, is that they tend to use pull-ups here on older babies / toddlers because they think it's easier to use. Her baby turned one this month and she's already on pull-ups. Juhee didn't wear pull-ups until she was almost 2 and a half and she only wore them while she was being potty trained. I think pull-ups are more for toddlers going through potty-training in the US. We figured out that Sungjae is a size "4", Huggies brand, US (diaper on left in pic) and size "Big" or "Large" here in Japan (diaper on right). =D Another thing we need to get used to when Sungjae starts wearing pull-ups is that we have to roll the diaper in from the back 'cause the tape you use to tape up the diaper is in the front. @@

They also use sippy cups earlier here too I think. In the US, the tendency is to use bottles till about 1 year of age and then change to sippy cups, but here they use sippy cups from before one. So we've started Sungjae on sippy cups too and he really likes it! Yay! :)

There are still things we need to figure out but we're finding out mostly on as-needed basis. I definitely need to go clothe shopping though. I don't think I have the appropriate winter clothing for them (like long socks and leggings) especially for sleeping. Babies / kids / adults too(?) wear fleece outer layers as they don't heat the whole house during the day and they don't heat rooms at night (yes, even the room you're sleeping in) so they get really cold. Need to go shopping!!! :( (For those of you that don't know, I don't like shopping.)

12월 업데이트

Wednesday January 12, 2011

응원해 주심에 감사

안녕하세요!

새해 복 많이 받으세요! ^^

기도와 후원으로 저희를 보살펴주심에 감사드립니다. 이제 히로시마에 온지 두달이 되었습니다. 그 동안 소포도 서너개 받고, 카드, 이메일, 페이스북을 통해 많은 분들의 응원을 받았습니다. 저희가 여기에 홀로 온 것이 아니라 많은 분들의 사랑과 기도가 저희와 함께 있다는 것을 알고 그 보살핌에 힘입어 열심히 배우고 있습니다.

처음으로 기도 파트너 달력을 아래에 첨부했습니다. 매달 꼭 확인해주세요.

2011년에도 하나님의 평화와 기쁨이 늘 함께하시길 기도합니다.

Peter Oh 선교사 가정 드림

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크리스마스 쿠키 교환 파티

선교사가 되니 크리스마스가 어느때 보다도 더 중요하고 바쁜 시기가 되었습니다.

12월 17일에는 머레이 선교사님 가정에서 여성들만의 파티가 있었습니다. 지난 3년간 수잔 사모님께서 친분을 쌓게된 여자분들의 모임이었습니다. 서로 모르는 사이였기 때문에 자기소개하는 시간을 갖은 후 크리스마스 쿠키 교환하는 시간을 가졌습니다. 미국에서 크리스마스 시기에 친구들끼리 흔히하는 행사랍니다. 수잔 사모님께서 초대장에 쿠키 30개씩을 가져오라고 했기때문에 그 날 정말 다양한 모양과 맛의 쿠키들이 있었습니다. 쿠키 교환이 끝난 후 수잔 사모님께서 기도하시고 집에서 손수 만드신 파이를 커피와 미국의 크리스마스 음료인 apple cider를 즐겼습니다. 마지막 행사로는 크리스마스 advent calendar(강림절 달력)을 만드는 시간이 있었는데, 미국에서 수잔 사모님의 어머니와 친구분께서 작은 주머니 525개를 손으로 직접 다 만들어 준비해주셨습니다. 그 주머니들 속에는 아기 예수 탄생 이야기에 관한 일어 성경구절이 하나씩 들어있었습니다(사진). 이 craft를 한 모든분들은 성경구절 25개를 읽게되고, 크리스마스의 참 의미를 알게됩니다.

밭을 갈고 씨를 뿌렸습니다... 씨에서 싹이 나도록 기도해주세요!

더 자세한 내용과 사진들은 여기에 클릭하시면 보실 수 있습니다.

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일본에서의 첫 크리스마스

크리스마스 날 점심식사에 머레이 선교사님 가정에 초대를 받아서 함께 미국식 크리스마스 점심을 먹었습니다. 머레이 선교사님 가정의 한 미국인 친구분이 믿음이 없으신 일본인 시어머니와 조카를 데리고 왔습니다. 함께 기도한 후 미국식 크리스마스 점심을 즐기고 테일러가 (선교사님 딸) 일본말로 예수님 탄생의 이야기를 어린이 성경책에서 읽었습니다. 게임도 하며 친분을 쌓는 귀한 시간이었습니다.

사진들과 더 자세한 내용은(영어) 여기 저희 블로그에 있습니다.

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일본에서의 첫 침례식

12월 12일에 코요교회에서 6명이 모인 교인들과 친구들, 그리고 가족들 앞에서 간증과 믿음의 확신을 나누고 침례를 받았습니다. 간증 시간에 일어를 아직 알아듣지 못하는 것이 너무나도 아쉬웠습니다! 그래도 다행히 코요교회에는 한국인 자매님이 한분 계셔 저에게 조금씩 통역을 해주셨습니다. 우울증에 시달렸는데 카운셀러가 코요교회 교인이고 또 이웃에도 자기에게 사랑을 보여준 자매도 코요교회 교인이어서 나오기 시작한 후 우울증이 치료되고 이제 삶에 기쁨이 넘치는 자매님(사진). 친구들이 결혼할때 마다 교회를 방문하게 되었다 기독교에 관해 관심이 생겨 성경공부를 시작하고 믿게 된 한 형제님...

저희가 깜짝 놀란 일도 있었습니다. 교인들이 모두 예배당 앞쪽을 향해 앉아 있다가 침례식을 할때가 되니깐 갑자기 다 일어나더니 의자를 돌리고 뒤를 보고 앉았습니다. 깜짝 놀랐습니다! 자리가 좁아 침례식 할 때 마다 조립식 나무 침례탕(?)을 예배당 뒤쪽에 조립했다가 예배가 끝나면 다시 옥상에 넣어 놓는답니다. 침례를 받고 나온 후에는 아래층으로 내려가서 옷을 갈아 입어야하는데 한명이 침례탕에서 나오면 다음 사람이 들어가기 전에 미끄럽지 않도록 바닥에 뚝뚝 떨어진 물을 연세드신 사모님과 몇몇 자매님들께서 바닥에 엎드려서 얼른 닦았습니다.

침례식에 관한 더 자세한 내용, 사진 그리고 동영산은 여기에 클릭하시면 보실 수 있습니다.

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아사미나미 개척교회 회의

12월 27일 월요일은 너무나도 신나는 하루였습니다. 하이타카 목사님과 케이코 사모님, 키타노 목사님과 마사애 사모님, 머레이 선교사님과 수잔 사모님, 그리고 저희 부부. 이렇게 8명이 식탁에 둘러 앉아 함께 기도하며 2010년을 돌아보고 2011년을 내다보며 아사미나미 (히로시마내 지역 이름) 개척교회에 관한 여러 가지 이야기들을 나누었습니다. 회의는 아침 10시 부터 저녁 6시까지 계속 되었고, 점심은 각자 도시락을 싸갖고 오는 것이었습니다. 모임 장소였던 카베교회의 윗층이 키타노 목사님댁이고 목사님의 자녀 셋이 마침 겨울방학을 맞이해 집에 있어서 주희는 하루 종일 신났습니다. 성제는 여러 사람한테 사랑을 받으며 (사진: 성제가 자기를 앉고 있는 하이타카 목사님을 보고 있음) 안기고 식탁으로 성제만의 놀이 장소도 구석에 만들어주고 낮잠 시간에는 아기용 요를 깔고 잤습니다 (블로그에 사진들 더 있습니다).

한 팀이 되어 일본의 복음화를 위해 함께 일하며 지혜로운 목사님들의 인도와 지도 아래 계획을 한두가지씩 짜보고 기도로 한걸음씩 나아가는 것이 너무나도 행복했습니다. 계속 지켜봐주세요~ ^^

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더 많은 이야기들...

함께 나누고 싶은 이야기와 사진들이 더 많습니다. 다 영어로 되어 있지만 사진들만이라도 구경하러 가끔 들려주세요~ ^^ 아래에 간략하게 요약해 보았습니다.

"Christmas in October". 미국 산호제 저희 지역에 있는 일본인교회에서 후원하는 선교사님들의 자녀를 위해 매년 10월에 크리스마스 선물과 카드를 준비합니다. 올해에는 저희도 선물과 카드를 받았습니다. 주희가 카드 앞 사진에 있는 친구들과 교회를 알아보고 너무 좋아했습니다.

Our Little Juhee. 저희 주희가 일본생활에 적응하는데 생각 보다 힘들었습니다. 반항도 더 많이 하기 시작하고 동생도 몇번 깨물고, 안 하던 행동을 하기 시작하고 자꾸만 산호제로 돌아가고 싶다, 이제 일본에서 안 살고 싶다, 생일선물로 산호제로 돌아가고 싶다는 등의 이야기를 해서 좀 힘들었습니다. 계속적으로 주희의 적응을 위해서 기도해주시고 저희가 주희의 새로운 생활 변화에서 오는 스트레스를 고려하고 지혜롭게 사랑으로 잘 인도하고 도와줄 수 있도록 기도해주세요. 조금씩 좋아지고 있습니다. ^^

Bugs on Steroids. 벌레를 좋아하지 않으시는 분은 보지 마세요! 일본 바퀴벌레는 성장호르몬제를 섭취한 것 같습니다. 이렇게 큰 바퀴벌레는 처음이었습니다! 봄이 되면 집을 드나드는 독성 지네가 있답니다...!

Kabe Chapel's Christmas Party. 코요교회, 카베교회, 두 교회에서 각각 다른 주에 크리스마스 파티를 가져서 저희가 두 개 다 참석 할 수 있었습니다. 예배 후 점심 시간때 음식은 모든 교인이 한 접시씩 가져와 potluck 스타일이어서 여러 가지 일본 음식을 맛 볼 수 있는 좋은 기회였습니다. 점심 시간 이후 교인 탤런트쇼가 있었는데 머레이 선교사님 가정과 함께 저희가 짧은 소희극(skit)을 공연했습니다. 교인들의 공연중에는 자매님들의 하와이 훌라춤, 수화 찬양, 동화책 읽기, 한 어린아이의 훌라후프 돌리기, 신칸센 기차역 순서대로 알아 맞추기 게임, "주 나의 모든 것" 찬양, 간단한 체조 등 다양했습니다.

Christmas Day - Take Two! 정작 크리스마스 날에는 바빠서 선물을 열지 못했습니다. 2010년 저희의 크리스마스는 여러 크리스마스 행사들이 다 끝나고 정신을 차린 후인 29일에 왔습니다. ^^; 주희가 선물들을 열어 보고 기뻐하는 모습 보세요~ ^^

(위에 줄쳐져 있는 부분들은 해당되는 글로 가는 링크들입니다.)

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1월 기도후원자 달력

이번달에 뉴비전교회와 Pathway Bible Fellowship 성도님들께서 기도해 주셔서 감사합니다. 기도제목들은 항상 왼쪽 칼럼에 있습니다. 성함이 없더라도 저희를 위해 계속적으로 기도해주세요! 기도 없이는 아무것도 안됩니다.

1 Alan and Marrian Fujinami 16 Agnes Lee

2 Tim and Sojeong Stoutamore 17 Jeff and Clara Lee

3 Michael and Anne Lee 18 Yoon and Youngjoo Kim

4 Min Chin 19 Annette Wong

5 Rebecca Wang 20 Kevin G. Lee

6 Jennard and Janny Cahatol 21 Andrew Lee

7 Sara Kim 22 Deborah Song

8 Christine Lee 23 Julia Park

9 Josh Jung 24 Yeri Chang

10 Steve Lin 25 Aaron Lee

11 Amy Kim (Pathway) 26 Jenny Lee

12 Stephen and Grace Lee 27 Soo Yi

13 Sam and Amy Cho 28 Carl Ryu

14 Young and Patricia Kim 29 Daniel Brown

15 Eunhee Koo 30 Jihoon Lim

31 Jong Sung Lee

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MaryLou's Visit

Our friend MaryLou from Berryessa Valley Church dropped by while visiting her Brazilian family here in Japan. Here are a few pics of our time together. :)

They all came to our house the evening they arrived in Hiroshima and after an initial period of being shy, Juhee soon warmed up to them and was playing "ring-around-the-rosy" and serving up a feast with Uncle Mario (yes, he's very tall)!



A few days later, Peter, Juhee & Sungjae went to Hiroshima-Jo (Castle) with MaryLou and Filipe (I was sick at home). Peter even got to try on a Samurai warrior hat! :)




It was so nice spending time with MaryLou and her family here and getting to do a bit of sightseeing in our new city too. Yay for visits from friends!!! :)

Playdate with the Kitano kids

Following a morning family devotional regarding "good friends" and "bad friends", we asked Juhee who her "good friends" are she said "Rise (pronounced lee-seh), Sogo and Kenshin!"

Introducing the 3 Kitano kids, Rise-chan (bottom left), Kenshin-kun (top left) and Sogo-kun (next to Juhee):


They came over for a playdate on January 3rd, during their short winter vacation, and we baked cookies together, ate lunch together and the four of them had LOTS of fun together! Juhee didn't do too bad a job sharing although she definitely could have done better. ^^;

At Kabe Chapel, the elementary school aged kids play in the tatami room during the sermon. On our first Sunday in Japan, Juhee went to play with the other kids and Sungjae and I went too. When Juhee spoke to them in English, the oldest kid there made fun of her. And so the other two kids there did too. She wasn't quite sure what to do. She'd never been in that situation. I didn't interfere 'cause I wanted to see how she would react and also because I didn't want her to become reliant on me defending her. Rise-chan, although younger than the other kids, told them off and blocked Juhee from trying to play with them.

I was so glad Rise-chan was there for her that day. As well as making fun of her, the kids were playing really rough too. Kids here tend to be much more physical, much more touchy-feely than kids in the US. They're almost like opposite extremes: America's almost becoming overly-cautious (slightly paranoid?) about physical contact and Japan's very open about it. Well, while they're kids anyway. During the few years I was in Korea as a child, I remember play being much more rough too. I don't know if it still is though. Kids here are also louder than kids in the US. I think it scares Juhee a bit because they're sooo loud sometimes and right in her face so sometimes she just turns away from them. Hopefully she'll get used to this soon.

Juhee's not been very nice to Rise-chan recently so they're becoming a bit distant. Part of it is cultural misunderstanding. Rise-chan keeps on wanting to hug / protect Juhee and Juhee doesn't like the feeling of being contained / stopped so she keeps on fighting back and running away when Rise-chan is just trying to love on her and protect her. Hopefully they'll get through this soon because Rise-chan is a very sweet, caring, loving, sweet, intelligent little girl and I would love for them to be good friends. Sogo and Kenshin have just been completely awesome too and Juhee's always asking for Sogo. :)

Juhee keeps on asking when they can come again to play so I guess the playdate was a success. She conked out for over 2 hours after they left. :)

Osechi

"Happy New Year" in Japanese is "新年あけましておめでとうございます!" You could just say the last half too ("omedeto gozaimasu" - a general "congratulations"-type meaning) which is what I did the first few times I had to do it 'cause I couldn't remember the first part. =D

On New Years' Eve, I took a small container of kimchi fried rice (김치볶음밥) and a sweet and slightly spicy Korean radish side dish (무생채) to the neighbors that gave us radish, spinach and cabbage a couple of weeks after we arrived (ref: Blessed Beyond Words) as a thank you. The radish side dish was actually made from the radish that he gave to us. While I was there giving it to them, the wife went in and brought out some homemade mochi that a neighbor had made and some expensive ham! They were trying to explain to me how I should heat the mochi and they ended up inviting me into their kitchen so she could show me. She was a bit perplexed when I told her that we didn't have a toaster oven, just a toaster. :) They asked if we'd ever tried "Osechi" (traditional Japanese New Years' food) and when I said no, they asked what time we usually have breakfast. After some discussion, the husband said that as the wife wasn't done preparing the New Years' food, that they would bring over some early the next day. Wow! I left very excited and amazed at what had just happened.

Sure enough, the next morning, on New Year's Day, they came over together with lots of yummy food! Click here (or "Osechi" above) to read more about the food we ate. We had no clue that each item represented something. We just ate. =D

Our favorite was the black beans and chestnuts. It even had flakes of gold on it! I showed the picture to a Japanese friend and she said that only rich people put gold flakes on it. Another friend said that the size of the black bean was also a sign of prosperity. Bigger black beans are more expensive. Ours were pretty big! The hardest thing for us to eat was the hard fish eggs. I love fish eggs but these were very different. I really like the radish-carrot-yuzu (summer tangerine) one and have learned to make it but Peter doesn't like the yuzu flavor, which is what I think makes it so yummy. Also, you can't tell from the picture, but the cubes of white radish had tiny cubes sliced into one side of each cube. Sooo much time and effort went into that one dish! It was like eating art. The mochi was delicious! She'd just baked them and brought them over so we had to eat them quickly - crispy on the outside, soft and melted on the inside. The green powder was delicious too. Yummy!!!

Next year, we'll know better. This year, everything was a bit crazy and I didn't even read up on how Japanese celebrate the New Year until after. Maybe next year we'll even be able to visit a temple or make our own mochi? :)

For lunch, we had a traditional Korean New Years dish: rice cake soup "dduk gook", which I made for the first time. Wasn't too bad. :P Next time I'll prepare the stuff that goes on top the day before! Well, maybe next year it won't be so hard as the kids will be older.

Oh! And as our neighbors were leaving, the wife told me that they really enjoyed the Korean food I took them the previous night. Yay! That made me so happy. :) Apparently she really likes spicy food. :)