davis howard kathryn 1962 japan

8/12/2019 Davis Howard Kathryn 1962 Japan

1/5

CENTRAL JARAN MISSION

TH T THE L ND Or THE RISING SUN MIGHT OME TO KNOW THE RISEN SONN GOY J P N FIRST ISSUE 1962

THE FUTURE OF NAGASHiMAThe t i ny I s l a n d o f Naga-shima Long Is land) reached adegree o f fame both in Japanand a b r o a d d u r i n g Typhoon

V e r a . A t t h a t t ime th e o c e a nm o v e d in to cover the t o w na n d t h e w h o l e island T h eNa ga s h ima Churc h was s w e p taway leaving only the foundat ion to mark the place where

N A G A S H I H A D E C E M B E R 959

the gospel had been preached.I n t h e w e e k s a n d m o n t h s ofc l e a n u p and r e c o n s t r u c t i o nthat f o l lo w e d t h e islandappeared in the news o f t e n .Now, Nagashima has a g a i nappeared in the newspaper andt e l e v i s i o n news .

O ne o f th e Christians firstcame to us with the s to r y . TheI s l a n d o f Nagashima i s to be

turned i n to an a i r p o r t and arecreationcenter S i n c e t h el and i s below sea l e v e l itw i l l first b e filled w i t h r o c kand d i r t cover ing the farmsa n d t h e t o w n itself T h e to w no f Nagashima wi l l cease to be

T he i s l a n d is o n e m i l e w i d eand e i g h t mile s long so th ef i l l i n g w i l l be a t remendousjob . The p ro j e c t i s expec tedto be f i n i s h ed in te n y e a r s .

NAGASHIMA JANUARY 962

The c on tin ue d p re ac hin g inNagash ima w i l l depend uponwhere the f i l l i ng begins theexodus o f th e p e o p l e andchurch attendance

T he c h u r c h d o o r s will r emain open as long as t he re a reth o se to h e a r th e g ospe l when t h e y c l o s e a b r i g h tc h a p t e r in th e C e n t r a l Japanw o r k will b e finished


2/5

CEN TRA LM it t i a az r i i t :

Stcriljriai;

JAPAN M I S S I O NHoward Kathryn DavisBo x 1 9 Chikus aNogoya JapanRogers Opie Stevens4 2 9 S . W . 51 Str e e tOklohoma City 9, Okia.

NOTICEThough we h a v e no t a l w a y sb e e n succe s s fu l , we h a v e t r i e d

to k e e p our News l e t t e r o n amo n t h l y bas i s . Ho we v e r th ep o s t a g e ra te in J a p a n recen t lyin c re a s e d , in r ega rd to th eN e w s l e t t e r by 50 , and we f e e lit is no lon r wis to pulish a n ew s - s h e e t e a ch mon t h .Pr ices and cos ts in J a p a n seemto be skyrocke t ing on everyh a n d - - an d o u r b u d g e t j u s twil l no l o n g e r s t a n d more t hanthe absolute essentials ofl i v i n g an d ma in t a i n i ng th ework . T o offset th e i n c r e a s e dp o s t a g e ra te the Central J a p a nMiss ion A'eifS wi l l b e p r i n t e dand ma i l e d o u t e v e r y s i x . w e e k sb eg in n in g with th i s f i r s tissue of 1 9 6 2 .

MISSIONARY ILLUSTRATIONST h e b o o k o f M I S S IONA RYILLUSTRATIONS i s beg inn ing

t o take s h a p e a n d we b el i eve it wil l be f in i shed bye a r l y summer i n j ^5ie _for u sein Camps a n d V . B . S .The p u r p o s e o f th e b o o k i sto s u p p l y sho r t i l l u s t r a t i o ns t o r i e s fo r se rmons , miss iona ry me e t i n g s and y o u t h g r o u p s .

The s e stories h a v e b e e ns u b m i t t e d by more th a n f i f tymi s s i o n a r.i e s y o u k n o w andsupport

On J a n u a r y 13 Kenny c e l ebra ted h is s ix th b i r t h d a y . Wehad j u s t a f ami l y par ty s inceKenny i s n ot in school y e t andt h e r e f o r e doesn t have littleAmerican f r iends . The J apanes ec h i l d r e n do no t have b i r t h d a yparties a t their h o m e s b u tt h e r e i s a b irthd ay p arty a tth e end o f e a c h mon t h at t h eJ a p a n e s e kindergar ten Kennya t t ends . He v/as de l ighted wi t hh i s family party though and i twas made espec ia l ly happy byt h e cards h e received f romsome of you an d the w o n d e r f u lbi rt hda y box from th e H elpingP a r t n e r s L a di e s Group o f theH i g h l a n d P a r k Chr i s t i an C h u r c hTulsa , Oklahoma - - a s Kennyp r o u d l y say s , y v e r y ownl i v i n g l i n k c h u r c h .Many o f you ha ve inqui redab o u t Kenny s heal th s i n c e h ist on s i l 1 e c t o m y . We a re v e r yhappy to t e l l you t ha t Kennyh a s i m p r o v e d s o much t h a t heh a s had per fec t a t tendance ink inde rga r t en s i n c e th e firsto f Dec embe r .I r e n e and Edna a re near ingt h e end of t h e first s em e s t e ro f school so I r e n e especial lyi s qu i t e b u s y with semes t e rr epo r t s a n d exams .

We wou l d like to t h a n k e a c hof you fo r y o u r p r aye r s , an dl e t t e r s o f e n c o u r a g e me n t whichare so impo r t an t to us a s wel a b o r fo r Ch r i s t he r e i n theCen t r a l Japan a r e a .


3/5

WHY ENGLISH BIBLE CLASSES ?Almost every m issionary in Japan teaches an English Biblec l a s s , and many t imes , as inour case , more than one suchcrlass. Perhaps thoughts have

occured to you, l i k e : Are wesending miss ionar ies to Japanto teach Eng lish ? What i staught in an Engl ish Bib lec l a s s ? What a re the r e s u l t s ?I f you have had such thoughtsthen you will be interested inthe following excerpts from anar t ic le that appeared recentlyin a l eading Japanese newspaper.A Japanese s t aden t came toa m iss ionary s home j u s t tolearn Engl ish to pass the Univ e r s i t y e n t r a n c e exam, bu tplease , no Chri s t i an i ty ... Ipromised Dad I d not ge t involved in r e l i g i on .Iti th a knowing smi l e themissionary said, Our English

t e x t book is th e w o r ld s b e s tse l l e r and most famous book,the B i b l e , and it w i l l c o s tyou only 7 yen 20


4/5

gram a t the orphanage La te ra f t e r film s t r i p each orphanr e c e ived candy and cook i e sprovided by th e Ruth Ci r c l eArcad i a I n d i a n a .

1962 i s th e yea r o f thTiger in Japan and along withit many o f the anc i en t supe rstitions some o f which stillhave in f luence espec ia l ly int h e r u r a l c ommun i t i e s .The yea r o f th e T ige r i scons i de r ed as be ing an extremely unlucky year for g i r l sto be b o r n . In o ld e n t im e s g i r l born unde r the s ign o fthe T ige r had sma l l chance o fmarr iage . They were though tto be heads t rong obs t i n a t ean d e v e n deserters of theirhu s b an ds

Howeve r t h e Yea r o f t h eTiger i s considered lucky for male ch i l d fo r they wi l lsu re ly become ac t ive and agg r e s s i v e menlie supe r s t i t i on went sof a r i n o ld e n t im e s t h a t th ehead o f toy t i g e r was he ldover the t i ny boy dur ing h isf i r s t bath to p ro t e c t it fromsickness and evil


5/5

TbSXffiBTIAN MISSION VOL. VI, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1962 P ag e 6

Central J a p a n MissionTh e Davlses arrived in Osal^, Japan on Jan.5, 1951 and In June 1951 moved io Nagoya to ope n t h e new w or k. T h e five months in Osaka, w o rking with the Osaka Christian Mission, servedas a training period in preparation for openinga newfield of service for C^ist. InApril 1952Bob a nd H az el Chambers joined th e Nagoya work.

TheiDavises a nd C h a m b e r s l a b o r e d i n the C e n t ra lJapan area under the name Nago3ra Christian Mi ssion until th e n am e w as changed in 1958. In 1959th e Chambers resigned the Nag03^ work an d ret ur n ed t o the U n i t e d StatesH O W T H E B IB LE H E L P SSince t h e B ib le is necessarily th e center ofChrist s work, it can be read il y s een how th e Bibl e helps in mission work. However, to be mores pe ci fi c, E ngl is h B ib le classes with Japanesetranslation are one method to use the Bible tobring people to Christ. These classes appeal toa certain group who s first interest perhaps isEnglish study but using the Bible as a text,tiieWord ha s an opportunityto work in their lives.These many ofwhom couldnot otherwise be r ^ -c he d, s oo n develop a desire fo r further study an dfellowship. This means c om in g i nt o t h e regularaccept Chri s t .T he B ib le is, of course, th e only rule of faithan d practice; so dailyreading an d study is stress e d i n a ll th e s e r v i c e s . T h e B i b l e t hus continuesto teach throi^hth e weekandnot just onthe Lord sD a y .T he Biblehelps in th e mission work, not just

as a help, but as the center and source of whatwe preach and teach and is a constant referenceguide to eternal life.G O A L SFuture plans and goals for the Central JapanMission are primarily to follow a plan fo r putting the churches ona self sustaining and independent l^sis. First, before this can be accomplished, we must help them overcome presentbuildingand landindebtedness most of the fundsa re already in hand .N E E D SThe outstandii^ specific need of the CentralJapan Mission at the present is an increase ofliving link to bring our living expense allovrtinceupto 300 per month. This lack causes a drainon the regular funds sent to carry on the work -and t hu s creates most of o ur o th er needs. Thelivinglintohddition of 100 per month would bringoursalary to300 per mor^ and take care ofalou r general needs.

C E NT R AL J AP A N MISSION

Box lO^Ulhil^sau^-Nago3ra, Jap anForwarding agent;Rogers an d Ople Stevens

42 9 S W 5 s tOklahoma City, Oklahoma

davis howard kathryn 1962 japan

Documents