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

Password:

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.

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.

Welcomed home

We spent four nights at Elisabeth’s parents home. And we were well taken care of. Noah was doted on by grandpa, grandma, Aunt Joanna and the three girls live there as part of the family: Emiko, Youko and Mami.

The Fowler home

Noah and Grandpa Ben in his office with three computer monitors!

Grandma Chany, Bebe and Noah going out in the cold for a stroll.

Noah loves Aunt Emiko! She makes him laugh!

TEN Flat: fantastic new digs

When people think of living in Japan, they probably think of cramped living spaces. But not so with us! We left a one bedroom apartment an old building in Moiliili for $1150 a month. But God put us into a much larger two bedroom apartment in Hamamatsu for only $670 per month! We have been so blessed. So many people gave generously to us both in Honolulu and here in Hamamatsu. We have been overtaken with blessing!

My desk is already set up with all my computer stuff in our master bedroom which has a niced sized closet. The church had a desk and chair I could use.

Noah now has a room of his own for the first time! It’s great for putting him in there and letting him cry himself to sleep. We are trying to train him again to be able to sleep through the night … something he hasn’t been able to do since we moved out of our old apartment four weeks ago.

The tatami mat room works as a great living room. It even has sliding doors which will make it great to use as a guest room. I’m so thankful for the old digital piano that the church lent me. We’ve had some good worship times already using it. Thanks, Gloria, for the soft and rocking chair! We decided on an orange and dark brown theme for the living room.

Here’s Bebe in our new kitchen/dining room just before we had our first dinner in the apartment (take out from an Indian restaurant which is just a few doors away from us). Yummy!

Brand new appliances, again!

Back in 2006 after our wedding, God gave us brand new appliances (refrigerator, oven and washing machine) in the Moiliili apartment. And now He’s done it again: almost brand new appliances (refrigerator, oven and washing machine). And we’re not talking about cheap appliances. We got top of the line stuff! One of our relatives is friends with some people who work for Corningware who were relocated to another area. So they just gave away their appliances and we got them for free!

This high tech washing machine is also a dryer … an all-in-one machine.

Our snazzy refrigerator is ambidextrous. The top level can open from either side! The oven looks like your ordinary microwave oven but it can also grill and bake. On our first morning we baked frittata for breakfast. Hopefully Elisabeth will be able to bake pies, cakes and brownies in there, too…our secret weapons for hosting parties.

Ofuro

Sunday was our first night in the apartment. But the gas man was not coming until the next morning (Monday) to connect our gas. So we didn’t have any hot water. We weren’t sure whether to take a bath that night or not. In the end we make about 10 pots of boiled water in our electric kettle which made about 2 inches of water in the tub. After a very quick and COLD shower, we jumped into our shallow tub of hot water and used a tupperware container to scoop the hot water over us. It felt SOOOOO good!

Hamamatsu Church of the Savior (HSK)

On Sunday we got to go to HSK, the church Elisabeth’s parents planted 25 years ago. Sunday was a special day because it marked 31 years of being missionaries in the Japan for the Fowlers.

Here is Elisabeth’s sister, Joanna, praying for her parents, Ben & Ruth Fowler (my favorite in-laws).

Hiro and Sara with Noah

Mami, Masayo and Bebe

Other first week highlights

Had a fantastic anpan … it was so fresh the bread was still warm and soft.

Weird English translations never cease to amuse me.

In Japan you have a choice of drinking sweat or cow piss!

You also get a choice of small or large flush when you’re done using the toilet!

Oh and I almost forgot to mention the very sanitary bidet feature of our toilet. … I tried it today and couldn’t help but wonder how they keep the little spout germ-free!

Apples are HUGE (look at my iTouch in comparison) and delicious! But green peppers are super tiny.

Today I got to have a delicious bowl of ramen (in Tonkotsu flavored soup) with my new friend, Hiro.

Elisabeth’s Dad’s Birthday Dinner

Tonight we celebrated Bebe’s dad’s 61st birthday in our apartment … our first dinner party here.

Truman, Elisabeth, Ruth, Noah, Ben, Mami, Youko, Emiko

Of course we had to take one crazy picture … keyword: constipation.

Happy Birthday, Dad-in-law!

Thanks!

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading through my LONG blog post! We have a busy week and are so grateful for all the Lord has provided for us and everyone who has helped us so generously. Tomorrow the mattress we ordered will be delivered. It will be great to sleep on a bed after a week of sleeping on futons on the floor. And tomorrow I’ll finally be able to get back to work on my business.

Whew, it’s 11:27pm. Can’t believe I was able to stay up so late! I think we’re finally conquering our jet lag.

Aloha from one odda island! We made it to Japan, arriving 2 days ago and welcomed by Elisabeth’s family and friends here. We had a nice little time having breakfast with Truman’s parents outside of the Hawaii airport.

The flight was really good…Noah was a little fussy but nothing too awful. And God blessed us by not having to pay any extra fees for all our luggage. We looked life refugees traveling with 5 boxes tied with strips of old sheets, 3 suitcases, knapsacks, and a baby. It was quiet the adventure.

We feel like so much has happened already here in Hamamatsu and that our Hawaii life was a long time ago. Strange how we could be in one country just the other day and now be living in a totally different environment. Truman and I went walking the first morning and he commented that it felt like an Asian Europe over here. The neighborhood that my parents live in has a lot of closely built homes, narrow roads, and little shops and supermarkets along the way. We walked alongside a river bank lined with cherry trees, the branches almost bare. The air is chilly but not too cold, a light jacket was enough. At night, it’s colder outside and we’ve been sleeping under several blankets.

Noah refuses to wear socks (never has in all his little life). I guess when his toes start to get frostbite, he’ll succumb. ha, ha. We walked to the apt we will be moving into which took only about 8-10 minutes from my parents’ house. The building looks fairly new and clean from the outside. 2 or 3 doors down is a Nepalese curry restaurant that looks really yummy! 2 nice supermarkets are within walking distance and a bus route close by. We forgot to take our camera but will take pics today and send some your way!

We had an appointment with the realtor for our apt. yesterday. We met them along with my dad and handed over a wapping sum of money…almost 5 months of ren! So, today, we will get the keys and be allowed to start moving things in. After over a month of moving, packing, and cleaning, we’re looking forward to getting settled into our new home! Here’s a map of our neighborhood. We’ll be only 0.7 km away the Fowler house!

View Our Hamamatsu Neighborhood in a larger map

We bought a cell phone already (the prepaid kine that doesn’t require a contract). Unlimited text/email for only 300 yen a month!

Last night Elisabeth’s mom made us a nice dinner and surprised us with anniversary gifts … socks that really came in handy because it’s COLD here!

It was bittersweet leaving all of you in Hawaii. And if I think too long and hard about, I’m gonna start crying so I’ll just say, WE LOVE YOU!!! You are the awesomest peeps in all the world and we’re so grateful for your hearts of generosity and love towards us. We’ll keep in touch, k?

Your missionary friends,
Elisabeth, Truman, and Noah