Nielsen Paul Marcia 1957 Japan
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8/10/2019 Nielsen Paul Marcia 1957 Japan
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VERRY
r&6
HE
OkLh OF THE VILIAGES
nuary 1957
The
rush
f
the year
end season i s ever . I t
i s
hard t o all OHRISTin
beoause Ohrlst has been honored by such minority of people. In letters
r a few of you have
coramented
that we should be thankful to be
away
from
the
commercialized
part
of
the
season.
Had
you walked up lOHIBANOHO
(the shopping
street
of Sendai) and seen the
nany
large
XM S
signs and
the
brightly
wrapped bundles in the arms of busy shoppers, and heard th
jazzed carols blaring from music stores and from sound
trucks
on the streets as
they advertized
their
Christmas bargains ,
yQu
too,
would
have said,
just
like
at
home . Yea, the Japanese business
world
has made Christmas a highly commercialized
season.
Added to this
are the
t radit ional customs of New
Years
which make this
holiday
season
a long and busy
one.
^^BIZZY
I t was a busy time for us
too, but
in
i t
we
helped to
honor
Christ,
In the 4 Christmas services we conducted, Mr. Takafuji presented
th
true
meaning of Christmas
in
a
very fine
way.
We
believe
Christ is
more
significant
to the 5^ people who attended these services. Als
because there are only 2 Chaplains for 6 chapels in the area, I
was
asked
to
conduct a
Christmas
Day
service
for 12 families and a few
of our single
boys
stationed
out about
l4 miles
from
Sendai,
Paula
was
narrator in the play her grade gave in the school program. Russ helped the Teeh
ge
Club
give a party in a
home
for
200
orphans.
While
Ifertha'e
new
activity
is
no
Christmas activity, i t shows she is growing up. She
was
chosen to represent her clas
in school in
International
Red Cross work. She was a big girl and attended the mee
ing without any of her family along.
Most
representatives were Japanese but the
director commented on the outstanding
ability
and good will spirit of the missionary
children, tjfercia was busy keeping the household in order for all the varied activity
There were 5 service men with us
for
Christmas Day dinner.
In
September
we started
a
Bible
class
in
Furukawa, 29
miles
north
of
Sendai ,
We c o u l d n t
find a room 9r home t o meet
in
so
we
held
street
meetings on 2 Thursday
nights,
Then, with
introduction by a city o f f i c i a l we rented the Chamber
of
Co
merce
building.
Rent
costs
$1.59 ^
week
(including
coal
fo r
heat) and the
Sendai
church is paying
this
rent. We are happy
that this
l4 month old
group is
taking this responsibility.
I t is things like this that make Christianity a part of Japan
and
not
something
brought to
thorn by
the missionary
and
foreign funds.
Other meetings of the Chamber of Commerce
have canceled 4 of our meetings and
this
has
been
discouragin
Let ters hove been
written to
class
members on
weeks
we
did no
meet to
help keep closer contact with
them
and encourage
them to write
about their
s p i r i t u a l
problems. Two of them have
done
t h i s .
The
church and
Bible
class here in
town
s t i l l
remain
about the same. Problems
are
much
the same the world
over.
For example,
our
1 roan
who
came
to
church services
faithfully
until
November, became
i l l
and
shortly
after
his recovery
had
an acciden
on
his
byoicle so he
doesn t
come
to
church anymore.
To some
the Christian
God is to
aid in health and business like Sinto gods. It is not
just
the
work
here in Sendai
that
seems to be at a standstill.
Statistics
show that in the past 5 yeers church
attendance,
number
of converts and seekers have decreased thruout Japan, Japanese
gods are dead and do not need to be a part of daily l ife. This has been witnessed
this past
New
Years again
when
thousands
went
to the shrines. The
growing
Christian*
lives and works daily for the one true
od
who is a living Being, Christian progress
in Japan must
get beyond
the missionary teacher class
room
stage
to
the place wher
Japanese will be the leading witnesses of
Christianity. May od
hasten
this
day.
The
financial piggy has fared a l i t t l e better during the
past
6 months
Increased support
from
the
church
in
Ladoga, Tnd. and
the starting
of a
25
club (25 people giving 2^^ a week in
North Towne Church,
Pomona,
Calif,, along with a
few special
gifts from others has made possible
c h a t
a b o u t
t h e w o r k
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i m
THE
CALL OP
THE VILLAGES
PR 12
1957
Iferch
1957
Qroetings
from a cold
Sendai,
The a i r i s damp and the
cold
comes right
in the house even with the
stove
turned up. J^rch has started out like
a lion so vie hope i t
will
end up
like
a lamb. Tho end of February viao
qui te
warm
so
v zj fee l
t h i s
cold more. On
the
whole, th e w inte r has
not been
very cold
but there
has
been
far too l i t t l e
snow
for
the good
of
the farmers. We
v;ill
need a heavy rainy season
in
June to
make
up the shortage.
Our
Jaour.ry
news
l e t t e r
told about Koganezawa
san s baptism.
Thru
his
influence, and a
friend
of his who comes
regularly
to church
services
vrith him,
a
Bible c l a s s
has been s t a rt e d f o r th e Sendai
Hi-yi
group,
who
arc high school
students
tha t meet
together
twice
a month
in
the
YJOA.
Thpy
had Bible
study as
part of t h e i r
meeting
some timo ago but did not l ike
tho
philosophic lectures they
heard
Such
i s
common practise among Japanese ministers . I-Ir. Takafuj i has
boon using such
topics as
The Bible,
I ts
I-fcaning and Parts ; What
Is
The Christian
Gospel ;
and The Moaning Of God^s Love . These
young people seem hungry
for
such study
so,
instead of
the
50 minute study planned,
Mr. Takafuji speaks from an hour to an hour and 20
minutes.
Our prayer i s that the
message
of
Christ
will
bear
f r u i t
in
the
l ives
of these
young,
people
and
tha t th is
c l a s s
w i l l be an
added
means o f
c o n t a c t
f o r t h e church her i n Sendai ,
Koganezavza
san^s
desire
for
s p i r i t u a l growth
hag
star ted
a
Wed
nesday night time
o f f ell owsh ip
a t the
church. So
f a r from
2
t o
h of those young people have gotten
together
each week and have
stayed as late
as 11 o^clock. There i s no planned program for
these meetings.
They
drink
tea
and ask
questions
from which Mr.
Takafuj i l eads them in what God s Word says about their question
Mirch
i s
a month of exams here
as
th e Japanese school year ends
then. I t i s always ha rd
to get
students
to
come
to
Bible classe
this
month because
they are
craming for
thei r
exams. Koganezawa
san
aaye
he
will
not
le t
his
exams
interfere
with
coming
to
worship
services.
He
ha
also determined to road
at . least
1 chapter
each
day from both Old and New
Testament
He
has
been
reading several chapters
from
each every day. I t i s
from this
reading
that he gets
many questions to ask at
the Wednesday
night
fellowship
meetings.
They told us in Seminary
t h a t
when a
minister
had
been
in a
place
long
enough for
people
to
s t a r t
bringing
t h e i r
problems
t o him, he oould
then
begin to
f e e l
he was
being accep ted by
the people .
We t r u s t
t h i s
i s t r u e
but we a l s o f e e l our
in
adequacy i n helping to
solve
the problems.
We
told you befor
about Takehashi san, the
young man
in
Furul^wa who
was reading
h i s Bible a t hone and h is f a t h e r demnded
t h a t
ho
stop and
also refused to
permit
him
to
come to Bible
class
any more.
When
lie was
reading
his
Bible
a few
evenings l a t e r
h is fath e
took i t av/ay and tore
up.
Takehashi
san was proud
of his
Bible f o r
he
had
j u s t bought
l a s t Christmas. When
he kept
coming to Bible class , h is
father
refused to give him money
for
the 20 minute bus ride to
ge t
to
c l a s s .
One
night
he
rode
the family byciclo in so h i s f a t h e r refused t o l e t him use
any
more. This
a l l
sounds
like teen
age
actions
(we
are learn
ing what they are too) but Takehashi san i s 22 years
old.
His father has become so
host i le
tha t
he
refuses to speak to his
son
except
to
command about what
work
to
do
on
the
farm. Last week he borrowed bus fare from a
friend
to get to class.
We
question
the
adviseability of
going so
far
against
his father s vzill.
Living in a
small community
as
he
does, tho entire
comr,unity could rise up against Christ ianity
saying
i t
i s our
f a ul t th at
Takehashi san has gone
a ga in st h is
f a t h e r s
demands. In
Japan, the f a t h e r s wishes as head of the house, are jus t
not
disobeyed. Takehashi
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r v . - v T ^
k
;if v q/' TOHOKU RURAL EVANGELISM in northern
Honshu
Japan
AUG
5 1957
July 1957
We thank
God
fo r you always
tha t
th ru your prayers and support in
money
the woikof
TOHOKU RURAL EVANGELISM i s progressing.
We
are
happy
to report tha t Hiss Ogata,
a
University Literature student, has been
insmersed into (^r is t . She has been attending services
since
las t
December. Little
by
l i t t l e
we
have
seen
her
fai th
grow.
Our 7
year
old
Martha
was
baptized
a t
the
same t ime. She has a lways enjoyed her daily Bible s tor ies
and
Flanno-graph
studies .
Her becoming a
Christ ian so
young has seemed to
impress
the
folk
in
the
church.
P leas e p ray
for these new baboo in Christ . Two young men
are
a lso s er iously
considering
making the i r decisions
for
Chr is t . Pi^ay for
Saito
san, a University
Comimercial student and
for
Takeda
san,
a High School Sophomore, tha t they may
decide
soon
Koganezawa son, our f i r s t
convert,
has gone
to
Tokyo
to take
a
job. Wo
are happy
to
see
him
get
a good job
but
miss his leadership
in
the work here. We know our
loss
i
gain for
the Minato
church folk
whore
Brother Stephen lijima preaches. Some time ag
wo
told
about
Takahashi san,
a young man
in the
Purukawa Bible
class ,
who was
having
t rouble
a t
home
and
was
refused
permission
by
h is
fa ther
to
at tend
the
Bible
class .
Talcahashi
san has also gone to
Tokyo
to work. We have not heard
from him
since
ho
l e f t but pray
he
is continuing his Christian studies.
So we
are f ee li ng
one
of
the
great
hindrances to rural work.
I t
is u sually th e
good leaders who
leave thei r
home
to go to the cl t i es l
We had a piizzling experience up a t Furukawa th is las t month. One of
the
young men
announced af ter c la ss t he re
would
be
a discusion
meeting af ter
we
left We
wondered
what t could be about
and fe l t
t ha t a f t e r almost
a year
of meeting with
them we wor
s t i l l considered outsiders*
One
of
them
had
talked
to
Takafuji son
about o rgan iz ing
the group into a
sort
of club. He
explained before
we
l e f t
that
off icial organizatio
among
Christiana is
not
necessary
and
that
the
purpose
of
the
class
is for Bible
study
and
Chris tian fellowship.
He
assured
them
we v/ould welcome
help
in
increasing
this fellowship. The
following
vreek we were happy
to
learn
the
class had decided
to
take
weekly offerings. The
f irst
offering of 400 yen (about $1.06) was designated a
gif t to Mr. Takafuji and me.
We told
them we would
apply
i t on the rent for their
meeting place.
Last
week was the f i r s t time we had
been
up there
in
the
Jeep
since
we started puting a new body on i t and we had a better chance to vis i t with them
again inseqd of hur rying away
after class to catch
that
las t
bus back
to
Sendai The
asked some good questions about v;hat makes a church and how they should use the
offerings they take
each week.
Their offerings
average
about
^0 cents and
the rent
costs
about
87 cents
each week.
Thus
this group too,
i s
gradually
learning
to
take
t he i r r espons ib i l i t i e s .
Most army families will be moved out of the Sendai area by
the
middle of July. The
Camp
Sendai
Bible
class
has been
discontinued
because
the
building where
we
met
is
closed. Most of the
gir ls
are also
leaving to
go work in
areas
where there are s t i l
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J0ti6
July 11
1957
Dea r B ro t h e r J fec
Here is a news
item
I hope you can find room for in ORIZONS Sorry y
have had
to cu t
down aga in
TWO
BAPTISMS
IN S OT AI
After
7-.months of study Mas Ogata a
University Literature student
has
confessed
her f a i th
in
Chr is t and
been
bapt ized
I t
has been a
jo
to
see
her
fai th
grow
l i t t l e
by
l i t t l e
Our 7
year
old
Martha was
baptized a t
the same
time
She has
been talking about i t for
some
t im
believe her becoming a Christian so young has impressed the folk in
the
church here
Please
pray
for these
new babes in
Christ
Two
young men are also considering making their
decisions
for Christ Pl
pray
for
Mr
Saito
a
University
Commercial
student
and
for
Mr Take
a High
School
Sophomore
Sincerely yours
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I n fo rma ti on f o r 1957 YEARBOOK
OF
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS
of CHRISTIAN CHURCHES
and
CHURCHES of CHRIST
1. Lis t a ll persons in picture (left to
right
in order)
giving
date
and place
of birth (include
year),
L o u i s e -
cA^ /p .
- n^s-
oA^e -
oA^By,
- o
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