This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Doctor Who is one of my favorite sci-fi shows. Two animated mini series have been released: The Infinite Quest (2007) and Dreamland (2009) with David Tennant as voice talent for The Doctor. You can watch both mini series, with all episodes, in the YouTube playlists below. I have to admit though that they are pretty juvenile and meant for kids. Dreamland is more interesting than Infinite Quest.

The Infinite Quest

Dreamland

Dear friends and family,

So much has happened since the beginning of the year when we sent out our last newsletter. We …

1. went to Taiwan
2. applied for China visas to visit friends in Chengdu
3. (Truman) preached at a Brazilian church
4. all caught a stomach virus (and learned about household hygiene)
5. celebrated birthday week for Elisabeth

And now we are preparing for two upcoming events:

1. Elisabeth’s mom’s 60th birthday party
2. a two day relationship seminar for singles called OnePlusOne

New Hope Taipei

During our visit to Taiwan (Jan 3-13) we got to spend quality time with the pastors of New Hope Taipei, Steven and Joyce Hsaio. They shared their vision for the new church, scheduled to open in August of this year, and introduced us to other team members. It was a great trip of discovering more of how we would fit into this ministry and also the practical side of living in Taipei. And of course, we did some touristy stuff! Steven and Joyce took us to a museum, drove us out to nearby mountains too see an amazing view of Taipei, took us to Taipei 101, and all throughout, treated us to delicious Taiwanese food! We were also blessed to visit a YWAM base in the nearby county of Danshui and throughout the trip, reconnected with old friends from Hawaii who were living in or visiting Taipei. Now, back in Japan, we are prayerfully considering what we should do in the future. We know that God has great plans and we’re trusting in Him to speak to us!

OnePlusOne

As for the “Relationship Seminar”, it started from a casual conversation between us and Elisabeth’s sister, Joanna, who leads the youth ministry at church. Families in Japan often have no real sense of love, security, or trust. Many fathers are absent (physically and emotionally) and sexual immorality is commonplace. Many single Christians in Japan struggle with finding a suitable spouse and relationship problems between family members seem too difficult to overcome. But, we know Someone who has the answers! We are so excited about presenting this 2 day seminar to single Christians in our city of Hamamatsu and have invited 8 churches to participate! Please pray for us as we prepare and seek God for what to say, how to say it, and most of all, for His presence and power to touch the lives of these dear believers. The dates are March 26th and 27th!

OnePlusOne seminar flyer (2.6 MB)

Misc News

Last month we got to take a road trip to visit a town that used to be a village for ninjas! We visited the museum and later got to relax in an onsen. What a life!

Spring is almost here. Last weekend was warm enough to wear a T-shirt to the park where we took pictures in front of ume (or plum) trees that are in bloom.

On the night before Elisabeth’s birthday the Fowler’s watched Noah so we could go out on a movie date, our first movie out since Truman’s mom watched Noah back in May 2009 so we could see Star Trek. First we went to a fantastic little mom-n-pop tempura restaurant where the cook actually dips the tempura into the boiling pot of oil with his fingers. Then we got to watch Avatar in 3D. That was fun! On her birthday we had a surprise party with lots of family and friends that have known her since she was a child.

Noah had his first haircut, is walking all the time now and laughs all the time. Our little boy is getting bigger!

We are so thankful for all of you and never stop missing you!!! Thank you for your prayers…they REALLY help! Keep sending us updates and pics of you and your family! We love hearing from you!

Love,
Truman, Elisabeth and Noah

p.s. You can click on any of the above pictures to see more photos.

Wash Hands, Wash Hands!

This is the heartfelt advice our doctor friend, Steven Orimoto, MD. Florence Nightingale’s hand-washing campaign for hygiene maybe 150 years old but its wisdom still rings true.

A BabyZone article recommends that frequent hand washing be a rule for every family member especially:

• before eating and cooking
• after using the bathroom
• after cleaning around the house
• after touching animals, including family pets
• after visiting or taking care of any sick friends or relatives
• after blowing one’s nose, coughing, or sneezing
• after being outside (playing, doing yard work, walking the dog, etc.)

Eat Your Own Food

One of the first things I learned as a husband was that I was now the household garbage can. Any food Elisabeth didn’t want to eat, I ate. When I became a father and Noah started to eat table food, I ate Noah’s leftovers, too. Yes, it’s a wonder that I didn’t gain weight!

When Noah was sick, I automatically ate his leftover food. Maybe I got his stomach virus then and later passed it onto Elisabeth.

Every family member should have their own cups, eating utensils, own towel and own food.

Cough Into Your Elbow

Coughing in your hands lends itself to spreading germs because you will mostly likely touch something two seconds later. Instead cough into elbow which almost nothing touches.

Disinfect

Just so you know I’m not a germophobe, I’ll admit that I think people who use hand sanitizers ten times a day are over doing it. Once I was at Borders Cafe and I watched a man find a table and use a hand sanitizer squirt bottle to wiped down his entire table before using it. That might be a bit excessive.

However it makes sense to use an alcohol to sanitize a phone or remote control after it’s been used by a family member who is sick. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can kill bacteria and some virus that won’t go away with just hand washing. And studies show that using hand alcohol doesn’t dry out your skin.

A study entitled, “Illness Transmission in the Home: A Possible Role for Alcohol-Based Hand Gels“, published in 2005 made the following conclusion: “In homes with young children enrolled in child care, illness transmission to family members occurs frequently. Alcohol-based hand gel use was associated with reduced respiratory illness transmission in the home.” A full-text version of the article is available online.

I hate stomach flu, don’t you? Gastroenteritis, or stomach flu, as it is commonly known, is caused by the one of several viruses including the rotavirus. Interestingly, the above study noted that alcohol kills the rotavirus whereas hand washing with plain soap only served to spread it around. Did you know that half a million children under the age of five die from the rotavirus every year? This sobering factoid (PDF) is from the World Health Organization. Okay, that’s mostly from developing countries. But the rotavirus can be deadly.

Beware of the poop! Feces of a person infected with the rotavirus may contain 10+ trillion infectious particles per gram. It only takes a hundred particles to infect you.

Word to the wise: use a hand sanitizer after blowing your nose or changing a diaper.

Go Easy on Milk Products After Stomach Flu

This isn’t anything about preventing other family members from getting sick, but it is so interesting. My mom always told me not to eat dairy products after you get sick. Now I’ve found medical evidence why. The rotavirus destroys cells in your intestines called enterocytes, which are responsible for secreting lactase which is what allows you to digest milk. Restoration of enterocytes may take a few weeks, so go easy on the milk and cheese for a while.

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure

• Make sure not to skip meals. Immunity doesn’t function well when you’re malnourished.
• Get plenty of liquid so your system can flush away viruses and waste that can cause sickness.
• Eat good bacteria found in yogurt or probiotic capsules.
• Get plenty of rest every night.

新年快樂！恭喜發財！Happy New Year!!! あけましておめでとうございます.

We’ve been thinking of all the great things that happened in 2009 and are so grateful to KNOW YOU!  Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s celebration.  We welcomed the New Year in with the winter’s first snow flurries here in Hamamatsu, Japan!  The climate in this area of Japan is too mild for snow to stick but it was fun to see the flurries and feel all wintery.  ;)

How have you guys been???  We love hearing from you on Facebook and getting your emails/snail-mail cards.  Hope this letter finds you “genki” (healthy and happy!)

We’re nearing our 2 month mark here and have been blessed with a lot of new activities and fun experiences.  I think the last time we wrote, it was before Thanksgiving!  So here’s the shortened overview of the Leung’s life in Japan since then…we’ll write more details  in our blog and include pictures.

Near the end of November, our friends Matt and Elaine White from Shanghai, came for a week-long visit and we had a blast with them.  Got to do some touristy things (like mikan picking … that is, mandarin oranges that were so yummy straight off the tree!) that we would otherwise have not done on our own AND had some good times of prayer and worship with them.  In the early part of December, we celebrated Noah’s first b’day and Truman’s 38^th.  Noah had his first bite of ice cream and Truman had a temakisushi party…wrap your own rice-roll…?   ;)   Then, the Christmas season was upon us and we started preparing for parties and a special church service.  Truman played/sang in a trio and I (Elisabeth) danced a sign dance with a group of women.  Noah just played cute.

In Japan, Christmas isn’t recognized as a holiday so it felt a little different for us…we REALLY wanted to smell the scent of pine but couldn’t find a single real tree in the city!  We’ll never forget our Christmas in Japan though…we got to visit a local jail with a church friend and although the guard wouldn’t let us sing a Christmas carol, we could “say” the words and he let us pray.

Truman finally had the chance to update the Ascribe Data website…its first update in about 4 years!

Tomorrow, the three of us will fly out to Taiwan to visit our friends in Taipei.  We’ll stay 10 days and spend our time meeting with Steven and Joyce Hsiao who will be starting a new church in the city.  Please pray that God will lead us and give us wisdom about joining their team and taking our next step in this “missionary journey”.   We’re so happy to be here in Japan and excited about what God will do in 2010!

Thank you for praying for us and being party of our extended “ohana” (family).  We love and miss you all!

“Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu”  for you who understand Japanese…

God bless you and your family with all the richness of His love and grace!

愛你們, Love,
TEN in 2010!

p.s. TEN = Truman, Elisabeth, and Noah

BTW, this church has an incredible number of screens for their video team: eleven! You can watch Sunday morning services live on via the web.

Yesterday, Noah reached several milestones: he refuses to eat baby food any longer, he learned to clap and he now knows how to safely back down from being up on a couch.

Today (Monday) was a national holiday in Japan: Labor Thanksgiving Day. Elisabeth’s dad drove us out to Kakegawa where the Fowler family first lived when they moved to Japan thirty-one years ago. We saw where Elisabeth lived from age two to six. We tried to find her kindergarten school, but so many rice fields had been turned into homes and apartment buildings that we couldn’t find it.

We got to visit the Kakegawa International Christian School, which is run by Paul & Cheryl Bostrom, Elisabeth’s cousins. They have thirteen children!

Interestingly, Kakegawa is the site of the main Yahama piano plant.

Today I learned how to use iMovie and am have a blast playing with it. Now, if only iMovie would quit crashing constantly!

New Japanese word of the day: Tomodachi (友達; ともだち; or トモダチ) means friend.

Interesting factoids about Japan:

• they record birthdays according to the year of the Japanese emperor who was reigning at the time of birth. Other dates are recorded with the emperor date as well.
  
• they still use bank books. When you go to an ATM machine, you insert your bank book into it. The ATM will print a line for each transaction in your bank book and when you’re done it spits it back out. No monthly statements are mailed because all records are in your bank book. Transactions are recorded in the emperor year.
  

Elisabeth’s grand aunt Berni saw all our boxes piled up in the genkan (玄関 or foyer) of the Fowler home the day before we transported them to our new apartment in Hamamatsu. A few days later, she called Elisabeth and remarked about the strips of cloth my parents had used to bind up our boxes. She had thought about it after seeing the boxes and realized that they were a symbol of my parent’s love. And it’s true.

Originally my mom had taken out five suitcases for us to use to transport all our stuff from Honolulu to Hamamatsu. But when we weighed the suitcases by themselves, they each weighed about 9 or 10 pounds. But Japan Airlines has a weight limit of 50 pounds for each piece of packed baggage. That meant the suitcase itself would take up about 20 percent of the allowed weight. Since a box only weighs about 1 pound, it made more sense to use boxes instead of suitcases.

So my mom hunted for boxes for us at supermarkets but couldn’t find any. Finally she went to Ben Franklin (a arts and crafts store) where she found workers putting product on shelves and asked them if she could have the boxes they hadn’t yet finished emptying. Thanks, Mom, for getting our boxes for us!

Then on the eve of our flight, while we were chatting with last minute visitors, my dear mom and dad were busy reinforcing our boxes. My mom had found some old fabric and cut them into rectangles. Then my dad would tie them together and strapped each one in three times (once lengthwise and then twice around the width). If you look carefully, only one box is still strapped up in the picture because I had already removed the strapping of the other boxes by the time I had snapped this photo. But one box was still strapped up. It’s hard to see it (but you can see it if you click on the photo and view the larger version), My dad even fashioned a carrying handle for the box at the top out of the cords.

Thank you so much to my dear parents. I love you so much. Thank you for taking such good care of me all my life. I miss you.