maxey mark pauline 1987 japan

8/9/2019 Maxey Mark Pauline 1987 Japan

1/8

A Report by Mark

and Pauline

Maxey

/LTNKLerreft /

To th e F rien ds

of

the Kyushu Chris t ian Mission

Kanoya, Kagoshima 893 Japan-Box 417 , N .Vernon IN 47265

E r

GRANDAUGHTERS:

ERIN

AXTON (Japa

MEREDITH

MAXEY C inc inna t i Oh i

PREACHING AT OSAKA BIBLE SEMINAR

M e r e d

JANUARY

1987

LINKLETTER

280

Chris t ian

f r iends.

Let 's begin th e New Year by int roducing our two new grandaughters.

is Mered it h Ann Maxey .

daughter

of Gregory and wife Beverly. We had

good visit with her by way of a two hour •^deo of her first birthday par

(November)

an d

Christinas

sent by her

daddy. Erin Noriko Axton , daugh

r

of Faith a nd h u sb an d , Paul,

wiU

be one

year

old In

March.

She has

to

se e us twice and

we

want

to go

se e

her a couple of

months

from

now.

Our

last

letter

ended

with Pauline

in the

hospital. They

kept

her twenty

an d gave her every kind of test t he y h ad , including a probe

inserted

her heart through a vein-extremely

painful . They

said he r heart was in

condition but bouts of extreme tiredness and irregular

heart

beat

per

She

is taking medicine

and

trying to

ge t

a

period

of r es t e ve ry

day.

her in y ou r p ra ye rs .

People

were very

kind to

her (and

to

me)

while

sh e was gone.

Her room,

a red by t h ree o ther pat ien ts , was full of flowers and visitors. Other patients

around her bed. They seemed to draw strength and comfort from her.

th e day sh e checked

out,

on e

of

her

roommates

said,

with

genuine

sadness,

going to be different with Pauline San not being

her e, i sn 't

it?

Things were different when sh e go t back home, too. For on e

t hi ng , t he

go t organized and

th e

meals go t a whole lot better. She

has resumed

her

ork - spealdng

fo r

a j oint meeting of the women of th e Kanoya church

and

th e

chu rch and

at the

January meeting of the

Kanoya church

women. Twice a

sh e

ha s

a ladies'English Bible

class

In

the Chris tian Csnter . She has writ

n an

a rt ic le for

t he Februa ry issue of Horizons

magazine.

It will appear oppo

ite my

regular

column

there.

One Man s bpinion.

That

will be

kinda neat. We

our

45th wedding

anniversary, December

29 ,

quietly,at

home.

Pauline

chili

in

memory of our

meal at Stone's Chili

Parlor, Warsaw

Ave,

Price Hill

ncinnat i, Ohio, soon after we were married. I ca n t ruly say that life fo r me

g an whe n

I

married her .

For

many

years,

Pauline was th e only English speaking, foreign woman

in

r

town

and on this peninsula. Now that has changed .

Sophie

Shang a nd Anna

teach English

at a new college at the

end

of town. Mie Tamura from Hawa

i is employed by

Kanoya City

to teach in

it s

s choo ls . Sha ron Rus se ll from Toron

Canada

is

here

as a

Rotary Exchange

student. A1 and

Rhonda

Juve,

having

two

years

of language school up north,

ar e

now in

their

second

year

working

with

th e Sueyoshi church, a

good

one hou r d ri ve

northeast

of Kanoya.

parents,

Leo an d Bette Juve

of

Lincoln,

Nebraska j oined them and new

daughter, Sarah Beth, fo r three months

this

fall. All of these were in our

fo r super

special days

of thankfu lness , fellowship

and

good food at Thanks

and Christmas. Anna and Sophia

surprised

us with a Christmas

tree

sent

Oregon. How

good i t

smelled . How

pretty

it looked when se t up decorated

t the

Christ ian

Center ,

and

later at Kanoya church. Lat e Ch ri stma s

eve,

our

room was again wall to wall

with

young people,

refreshing

themselves

after

. i

preached

and had a communion service at

th e

leper colony

church

morning

and

visited

in

the wards

there. At

one

o clock, all of us went

o the Osumi

Gakkusha (orphanage) where

we

ha d another

Christmas

service an d

a red g if ts w ith them for th e 36th time -

in

person or b y p ro xy .

We

took

some

of o ur

Chris tmas

money

a nd b ou gh t

a

new TV , replacing our

job o f ancien t o f days.

This

on e ha s a button yo u ca n

press

an d h ear

th e

track i n E ng li sh when

th e

words Bi-L ingual

appear

on

th e

screen. Every

Saturday night

at

6,

I

watch

Little

House

on

th e

Prairie.

Now,

fo r

th e

time I hea rd t he se

people

speaking

English

just

like

they do up in Mankato

nd

S le epy Eye ,

Minnesota - terri tory where I

used to

live

an d

which is the set-

VISITORS FOR PAULINE

AT THE

HOSPI

8 FOR CHRISTMAS + AL

JUVE,

PI

33rd

CONV

KAGOSHIMA

CHURCHES-KOICHI

HOMORI

HOST

MINISTER

28th ENGLISH

BIBLE

CLASS

CAMP

NOV.

8


2/8

ting for

th e

series.Incidentally, this is th e

only program

on th e state-owned

radio and

television

network

which

allows any pre sent at ion o f th e Christian faith. If this

element

of the

program were eliminated,

nothing of im

por tance would be lef t

As

for mysel f,

I

have

never

c au gh t u p

since

get ti ng back

home. Wal te r

and

Mary returned

to the

US

just

a week

after

we came.

They are

making

their

home in Murphysboro, Illinois, where

he r parents

live- This

semester,

Walter is on c ampus at

Cincinnati Bible Col lege teaching mission-related

courses.

Before he le ft,

he

arranged

for

a

year of services fo r Sunday

morning at Yosh ino

and Sunday

afternoon,

for his preaching point

at Kokubu. The church conducts the meeings themselves bu t Pauline and I go t he re every fourth

Sunday

for

preaching and fel lowship. It is a joy to be with these Christ ians. I am also preaching regularly at

Kushira

church, Kei Sei Kai church (leper colony)

and

Osumi

Gakkusha

and fill in and

visit

other

places

as time al

lows. English Bible

class

on Friday night have been a special jcy.We aregoing through

th e

book of Romans,very

slowly, using the Easy-to-Read New Testament. It is written in 4th grade level English so it goes well. There

is time for coffee and visiting after class. Sophia and Anna have been special people in making the Friday night

c lasses both wel l-at tended

and

successful. I also want to

thank

A1 and Rhonda

Juve

for coming to the

Christian

Center regular ly and teach ing while we were gone. Saturday

afternoon

is given over to Engli sh Bible classes

fo r four

different

age groups.

It seems like

there

has

not

been

a time in

the last four

months when I

did

not have to be

preparing

a

speech or writing

a

paper

or

both.

I have

spoken

to

th e

Rotary Club

to

which I

belong;

to a women's club

ctdied Soroptimist on the subject, Modern Day Trends Among American Women; to our preacher s meeting on

The

Changing Scene in th e U.S. ,

and

I

gave

two

talks covering

the questions, Who amI? , Why am I here?

and Where am I going? for

ou r

28th week-end Engli sh Bible Class camp, Nov. 8-9. Each camper

received

a

printed

copy of all

th e

material

covered

in

these

presentations.

Juve

was camp manager. The

first

week-end

in November, I was in Osaka for their fall convention (called Tane Maki Kai) and gave the opening address on

th e

subject,

The church of

Christ

as

revealed

in th e New

Testament.

As I only

had

time to give

the highlights

of

the

material

prepared,

I am

sharing this

material in my

preaching

in

the churches.

I

s tayed over

one

day

after the

convention to take part in

the

twice-annual Councilor's meeting of Osaka Bible Seminary.

Part

of

our

time was spent discussing their upcoming 50th anniversary , 1 also gave the opening message on the theme. On

to Maturity at the 33rd convention of Kagoshima churches. It was an excellent convention, well-prepared,well-

attended

and

hosted by

the

Kagoshima

church and its

minister, Koichi Homori. These conventions

are

always

a reminder that something good and enduring has happened - and is continuing to happen - here in this far

away c orn er o f J ap an .

Last

May, Mark

Taylor, edi to r o f The

Lookout,

asked

me if I

wouldn t wri te

a

s er ie s o f five articles

under the ti tl e, The Lesson and Life . This weekly feature attempts to

make

a present day application to the

scripture lesson. I said, Yes. I had to live up to

my

agreement by getting them into his hands by the

mid

dle of November. I made it - just. The first article appeared January 18. If they haven't caught your attention

yet, dig up the back issues. I spent a lot of hours on them. For the past 28 years Hayama Seminar which

meets in an isolated place near Tokyo the first

Mon. Tue8rWed.

after

New

Years has attracted missionary men of

every persuaaon for lectures, critiques and discussion. Paul Pratt asked me months ago to prepare a paper on

Teaching English as a Bridge to the Gospel. I have no ideahow many hours the writing and re-writing took

as it grew to 31

pages.

In spite of a

terrible

throat infect ion, I made

the

very long journey . The presentat ion

was very well received which made

the

supreme effort worth-while. Time and space is ud . A closing thought:

US officials are talking

the

dollar Mown (making it cheaper in r elati on to th e yen). Talk is cheap

for

them,

costly for

us.

Fbr the sake of Japan missions, why not be praying the dollar

i ^ ?

IN HIS SERVICE

WIVES: from

l e f t

- Mrs. Homori, l imure, MINISTERS-MISSIONARIES: from left:Yoshii,Tan

Maxey, Ikeda, Tanijiri

Yoshii j i r i

Ikeda, Daikusono, Homori,

Juve,

Maxe

Publication o f

C HR IS TIA N M IS SIO N

B o x

4 1 7

V e r n o n I n d i a n a

47265

d re ss R etu rn Requested

E D I T O R

H O R I Z O N S

BOX 7

KNDXVILLE TN

3 7 9 0 1

Non-^oHt

OrpniutioA

U S

POSTAGE

PAID

tourtviUt,Kcnlwcky

Permii No. 537


3/8

^ y

Report by Mark and Pauline Maxey

LiN Lerre t^

w

IKEDA TEACHES THE

25TH TRAINING

COURSE

LADIES

MEETING KANOYA CHURCH PAULINE SPEA


4/8

Pres. Clark and the other councillors. The annual budget is presented at the March meeting.

Approving

it

is easy. Having the

money

to pay for it is something else. The U.S. Secretary of the Treasury has succeeded

. in talking down

the

value of the dollar in relation to

the

yen 48 in the last 18 months. One-fourth of

the

sem-

inary

budget

is given from the Japanese side. Three-fourths is from the missionary side,, who must

exchange

their dollars, now worth 48 less, into yen for the support of the seminary. TMs is our only preacher train-

ing

school

in

Japan.

It

must continue.

If

any

person

or

group reading this

letter is

led

to

send

an

oiffering

to this school either on a one time basis, or , better sti ll , on a continuing basis , would you address your

letter

to OSAKA

BIBLE SEMINARY

BOX

696 SAN JOSE CA 95106.

The Seminary celebrated its 50th anniversary April 20 and

2L

It

was

a

very

special occasion. Former

graduates

were

there

with their stories of how

it

was

(o r

wasn t) in the good old

days.

Martin Clark was

remembered for the

36

years he has led the school. Grace Madden Braley, the only surviving member of the M

B. Madden family, recalled the days when

he r

parents began mission work on the spot where the Seminary now

stands. Leone Cole recalled how he r husband and

herself

began the Seminary in 1936. She unveiled a plaque

in

the

Seminary

building

in memory

both

of

him

and

of

his

founding

the

school.

The four

Cole

children

were

there also for this special event, all coming from the U.S.

Our mission has always been a supporter of this school both financially and in the sending of students.

These

s tudents a re

now serving churches all over Japan both

as

leaders and members. Four

of the

preachers

in our

a rea and

two of their wives are graduates of Osaka Bible Seminary. We are glad for the presence o f thi s

school and wish

it

well for another

50

years

-

and more.

Following

th e

March

councilor s meeting at

OBS,

Pauline

and

I

went

to

Tsukuba City,

north

of

Tokyo,

to

spend a few days with Pauline and Faith (Axton) and to be present for grandaughter Erin s first birthday.

Besides

us she

had three Japanese boys

and

a g^l from Afghanistan as gues ts . I t was a fun time for everyone,

It took a day to get back home and back to our duties

again.

We

thank

Makoto

Motoyoshi

fo r some discount

coupons to help on the air fare.

A special

March

visitor was Stuart Kawasaki now serving as a two year missionary north of Tokyo.His

father became a Christian here in Kanoya many years ago. I was a guest in his parents home in California just

a

short time

before h is f at he r d ied qui te

suddenly.

Now we had a chance to have his son

in

our home

for

a

a few days. He said, I am here as a Christian and as a missionary because of you. A word like that is the

reward that comes to those preach

th e

Good News

of

forgiveness and

new

Ufe in Christ. I

was able

to s pe nd a

day with

Stuart

in his mother s home

town

of

Hayato.

We were abl e to fi nd h is l iv ing

relatives,

dear friends

of his mother from her childhood days and the family grave. It was a very moving time.

Some

of these friends

came

to

see him

at th e

home

of

a

Buddhist pries te ss ( she

inherited

th e

temple

and

its responsibilities from her

husband) where we were visiting over th e

noon

hours. She served

each

of us the biggest box lunch I

have

ever seen in my Ufe. I ate l /16th of

i t

and was more than fuU.

After al l these years I have never come

to

terms with

it , but

the school

year , employment year and

finan-

cial year ends in March and th e new year

begins

in April.

There

is two or three weeks of

transition

in betweai

to allow for

the

necessary changes to take place. We used this time to make a couple of trips for medical rea

sons. By car to Kumamoto, a

five

hour

trip

that took n in e b ec au se of bumper to bumper

traffic

We

visited

th e eye doc to r who

operated

on my eye two years ago. He found my eyes

in

good

shape and no

cataract in

my

right ey e where I h ad b een

assured

there was one by another doctor. Good news indeed.

On

Pauline s side,

however, th e news was no t so good: incipient cataracts in both eyes. Come

see

me next

year. Dr.

Ide ta said.

A fur ther t rip took us to th e Taiwan

Adventist

Hospital where

Pauline

and I had check -ups and I had ex

tens ive den tal

work

done.

Dr.

Merlin

Ekvall

th ere h as ta ke n

special

care

of

me

through

t he yea rs .

He will

work

on me two hours or more at one sitting. Very few Japanese den ti st s a re willing to

do

that. We s ta yed i n a hos

tel. Big

rooms,

h ard b ed s

and

reasonable

price.

Missionaries

Rick

and

May Merrill

and

2 daughters came to

spend an evening with us.Verney and Belva Unruh,our missionary neighbors in Japan 35 years ago,flew up from

Haulien.

They took us out to a Mongolian

barbecue.

Lots

to talk

about. On

the

week ened, we

took

a

three hour

train trip to Lo-Tung, staying with Ted and Bev Sidles in

their

Home of God s Love orphanage. Seeing Steve

and

Carolyn Taylor

and other

missionaries

there; enjoying

a 13 course Taiwanese feast prepared

and

served to

th e

children and

us by

townspeople and preaching on Sunday. Back

in

Japan on

the

10th day.

We

enjoyed

the

super

hospitality and fellowship

of~B^

^d~ Nobukuo^Hirotaka in Fukuoka (northeriTKyushu). ThwTit was back

home on April 8

re ady to

plunge into

th e

work again. . . . In closing, we are sorry to report th e

deat h o f

Mrs.

Gladys Auerawald,formerly

of

North

Vernon,

Indiana and of Johnson C ity, T enn

in

her l at te r y ea rs . She

served

as our first forwarding secretary for 15 years. She was a great Christian woman in every respect . IN CHyRIST.

Pub l ica t ion o f

CHRISTIAN MISSION

Box 417

Vernon , I nd iana 47265

Return Requested

ED ITOR

HORIZONS

BOX 2427

KNOXVILLE TN 379

644

z

Non-Profit

Organizatio

U. S POSTAGE

PAID

Louisville,

Kentucky

Permi t No. 53 7


5/8

A Report

by Mark

and Pauline Maxey

/uNKLerre t^ /

To

th e

fr iends of the. Kyushu Chr is ti an Mission

Kagoshima 893 Japan - Box 417, N.

Vernon

IN 47265

SEPTEMBER 1987

LINKLETTER

282

Greetings

trom

southern Japan. (Our temperatures are like

uthern Georgia.) It has been an unusual summer of sudden rains and

and exceedingly hot days. Two

typhoons

have gone by - one on

ch side giving us

some

blow but no show. May it ever be thus.

The cycle of

Ufe

- bir th , marriage and death still rules. We have

new births to report m our spiritual and physical family but we have

special

times with grandaughter,

Erin Axton

now

months

old,and

Sarah Juve, just a month younger

daughter

of feUow missionaries

and

Rhonda, who live an hour away.

There are no deaths to report. But the wedding of

Sophia

Shane

d Fumiatsu

Ikeda

was

truly an international one.

Sophia

is

Chinese American

English in

our

local college

th e

past

three

years. i Ximiatsu is

panese, from

northern

Kyushu. They met in my English Bible Class.

phia s family came from Chicago. Her aged

bu t

lively Grandmother from

aiwan. Bro. Yoshii and I jointly conducted the service in English and

At

their

wedding

reception they

showed videos of

their

lives

cluding their baptisms, conducted by myself. It was an

imp>ortant

state

ent of the ir Chr isti an faith to all. Sophia s middle name is Hope. Her

brought the let te rs

for FAITH, HOPE

and

LOVE

and

mounted them

the front of the church. A nice touch and a remaining witness.

Our Christ ian camp, now in i ts n in th y ea r, continues to serve

well, and

other

Christian groups also. This helps make it self-sus

ining fin€uicially. This year we had new lights and ceiling fans put in

e larger rooms and

wall

fans in the smaller ones. Also a sliding screen

oor for the main entrance. At last, we can keep the blood-drawing in

c ts out . Nearby

Mt,

Sakurajima

continues to

belch

ou t

black sand.

It

shes down the slopes onto our parking lot when it rains. Already it

s filled in a foot.

Some

day we will have to dig ourselves out .

EBC (English Bible Classes) camp was held in May with 20

mpers. Al Juve gave two talks and he and Sophia and I conducted

e discussion groups. Picnic lunch and games on a nearby moutain

s a

happy

closing event.

Thousands

of azaleas

were

in full bloom.

Our church camp occupied the week of August 3. It was divi

d into two sections. Koichi Homori was dean of

Jr .

Camp and Al Juve

Sr. Week.

Naganori Tanijiri was camp manager. All of us had duties.

was to be chapel speaker for four mornings.

Guests

c on ti nu e t o

find

their

way

to

the end

of

th e

l ine

where

l ive. Actually I may

say

that

on

March 15 i t was th e end of the local

l ine

t ha t s er ve d ou r

t own .

I t c lo sed down

fo r

l ack o f cu s tome r s .

our way in May were Bob

a nd Har ri et

Knight from California where

w or ks

with a

Korean church*

He was a GI

in Kanoya immediate ly

af ter

war. He ha d

returned

once

before

but now he brought

hi s

wife to

see the city and the people he knew way

back

then.

70th BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR MARK MAXEY(L

to

r ,

Mrs .Yoshii, Rhonda Juve, Noriko Yoshii, Al

Juve,

Hideo

Yoshi i ,

Fai th Axton, Shel ley Max

ey, Paul

Axton,

Paul ine

Mark

Maxey,

Mary

Walter Maxey, Trent Maxey w ith E rin Axton.

/Z / ?

WEDDING OF SOPHIA

SHAEG

FUMIATSU

IKE

CAMPERS

FOR

SENIOR WEEK AUGUST

6,7,8

ENGLISH BIBLE

CLASS-

S FOR

SAVIO

70

CANDLE

CAKE-w/ERIN

AXTON

NORIKO YOS


6/8

In June, we had Dr. Chris T emplar, faculty

member at

Johnson Bible College, near

Knoxville,

TN. She was on

her

way fo r

a

summer of teaching in China . She spent

three

days with

us, one day of which was used t o c onduct

a

seminar for our monthly preacher s

meeting

on

th e

use

of

th e computer

in

th e church and

the church office. Her presentation was well-received

and

much

appreciatied.

Martin and

Evelyn Clark

spent a few

days with

us th e la st of May, celebrating their

50th wedding anniversary. Our

families

began

missionary work

in Japan the

same

ye ar and

we have

been working together (but not geographically) ever since. We

spent

some time talking

about

Osaka

Bible Seminary,

saw some local

scenery

and

enjoyed

a

s te ak d inner a s guests of

A1

and Rhonda Juve.

In

July we bade a sad farewell to Rotary exchange student, Sharon Russell

as

she re

turned to Canada.

She

had become

like

a

daughter

to

us

during

her year

here. In August it

was

Jay

Smith an d Ben Jozwick from Phoenix AZ, here to take 5

retired

Navy planes to the USA.

With

wings

folded, they were slowly

pulled down

to

th e

sea, 5 miles

away

- during the midnight hours.

They

will

be

rehabilitated fo r use

in

fighting

forest

fires.

I

spent

some t ime

as

interpreter

fo r

them

a s th e

de t a i l s

w er e w o rk ed o u t

We have

enjoyed

our yard

this year.

The

grass

h as been thick

and g re en .

Just th e

r ight

place for a 4th

of

July picnic held on

the 5th .

A1 Juve

was

in charge

of

fireworks

at

nig ht to

wind

up

the

celebration.

At Rotary

club

I

gave

a talk

on

the 200th year of the

Constitution and

some of

i ts background. In our backyard

we

had

a

nice

harve st o f g rape s

from

our s ingle v ine, planted

36

years ago. Also some

very

tasty berr ies which kept coming

on

fo r several weeks.

Berries

ar e no t

supposed

to do

well in th es e

parts

bat my

friend,

Tom

Blakemore

in

Tokyo

has p roved

otherwise

an d

s h a r e d s o m e o f

h is

s t o c k w i t h m e

Age

a nd weathe r h as taken

i ts toll

on

our

buildings.

After 30 years we had

to put

a

new ro of on the

Christian

C en te r. The west end of

our

metal

house was deteriorating- badly. So

the m«tal~wtth panels

of

aluminum. II cost an arm-anxiâ-leg.

At

the

same

time

al l

wir ing leading into

the house was iq^ldoed- electric

meters relocated. Hopefully,

our major repair

i t e ms a re in b a c k o f u s fo r some

t im e

Our

community

is

changing.

We

built

our

house

in

a

wide

open

prair ie.

This

year

th e

land

across the road

and to the

r ight

has

been

filled

with

six-story apartment bui ld ings .

The

girl s

high school in the

front and to

the left

of us has

extended

i ts p ro pe rt y and earthen

wall across

in

front

of

us. A

new

i nt er se ct ing road l eads t o

our

Christian Center. The bus stop has been

moved to the front of o ur house. While

it

is s topped t he re a

par t

of

our driveway is b lo ck ed . The

crosswalk h as b een relocated so half of it l eads i nt o our driveway.

So now

we

are

greatly concerned

about

t ra ff ic safety

fo r

th e

many students who cross this main highway everyday. In the b ack o f us

the Faith-Love

Kindergarten

operated by the Kanoya

church

is

replacing an old

wooden building with

one of ferro-concrete so thâre using the lot in back

of

our house fo r the next six months.

The annua l convent ions of

the

missionaries and

the

c hu rc he s a re very special events

of

every

July.

This y ea r

they

were held in Hiroshima, 750 kilometers away. Pauline and I went by

car and

took

a book

display from

the

Chri st ian Cent er .

Lee

and Sandra Jones hosted an

excellent

missionary convention. I gave the

closing

message on The

Missionary

and the Folks at

Home.

The

Japanese

convent ion

was held in a downtown hotel nex t to the Peace Park (where

the

atom

bomb was

dropped.) Etsuzo and Lydia

Kishi

and the Tomo church host ed a superb

convention. (Lydia

hails

from

Kanoya).

I

sang

a

song

with

the Grandfather s

Quartet for

the

morning service.I . ialso

sang

on e

verse each o f th ree

hymns at

th e

informal

evening

meeting which

was

well

received.

August came to a grand

climax

with

t he r et ur n

of

par t

of

our

clan to

Kanoya. Pau l,

F aith a nd E rin came fo r

two

weeks

from

Tsukuba,

no rth o f

Tokyo.Walter

and

Mary

with

Shelley

and

Trent returned from the US August

14. Pau li ne had

been remembered

on

her

birthday, Augus t 2nd

with many f lowers

and cards a nd phone calls from

her

children. My

big

day

came

on August 17 7

days late)

when

the family,

with

Paul and

Faith

in

charge,put on a

par ty

worthy of my becoming

70 .

Thisâ-a specia l rday- in-Japanr I t

was

also special day-for me

because

I never expected-to live that

long or to have such a

wonderful

celebration of i t Two cakes, on e

forming

t he l ett er 7 and th e

other the letter

0 ,

covered with 70 burning candles made a wonderful sight. I was able to blow out

68 of them

before running

out of air . Becoming 70 was

not

painful, i t was

joyful.

I f ee l l ik e I am

entering

a new era of l if e w ith Pau lin e at my side

and

al l

of

you

r ea de rs o f

t hi s l et te r reaching

out

to us

with love

and

prayers

ro the

other side

of the world. Blessings to you all.

IN^^SÊg^CE,

Publ i ca t ion o f

CHRISTIAN MISSION

B o x 417

r th Ve rnon ,

Indiana

47265

Return

Requested

editor

H O R I Z O N S

BOX 7

KNOXVILLE

3 7 9 1

6

Non-Profi t Organizat io

U. S P O S T A G E

PA ID

Louisville,

Kentucky

Permi t

N o

53 7


7/8

A Report

by

Mark

and Pauline Maxey

/ u N K L e r r e ^

To t h e

f r iends

of t h e Kyushu

Christ ian Mission

Kanoya,

Kagoshima

893 Japan -

Box

417, N. Vernon IN 47265

DECEMBER 1987

LINKLETTER

#283

Dear

Chris tian

f r iends .

Greetings again from Japan. This is a Sept . resume' in as few words

as

possible. Having

safely passed

my

70th birthday,

Pauline

and

I made a 24

day

t r i p to the USA

a t

ou r own expense,

both

to see

a ll

our f am il y members

and

to

remember

my 50th year

in

th e

ministry.

Leaving

Japan on

September

4, we

went f i r s t

to Alberta, Canada

fo r

three days with Kiyo to and Pau la Yanagimoto,

ou r

oldest

daughter,

and three

sons-Tem,

Taka and Tamon.

F ine looking boys they are.

Their

high sc ho ol d ays

w i l l

soon

be o v e r .

Thence to Colorado

Springs,

O for a

fine

v i s i t with Helen

and

Tibbs,

th e older

brother of

th e clan,

including a

trip to th e top of

Pikes Peak on the

cog train. Houston , Texas was th e next stop to see Nathan and Hope Reader. Hope

i s our younges t . She is a graduate student

a t

th e University of Houston, and

also

teaching graduate students, all from

minorities

or from overseas.

We were

in Jopl in ,

Missouri

for th e

week-end

of Sep tember 13 . Oldest

s i s t e r Isabel Dittemore l iv es the re . Also grandaughter, Megumi,

enrolled

a t

Ozark Christian College

plus

two nieces, 3

grandnieces

and four grandnephews.

Needless to say

we

had a mighty fine time together. Isabel

treated me

to a T-

bone steak. That may be nothing great to you

but

such can

not

be bought in

our

town. For one thing, th ey t ake all th e bones

ou t

of

th e meat. For ano ther , t he

price

is

so outrageous you wouldn't believe me i f I told you. On Sunday morning

I preached for two services

a t the the Col lege Heights

Christian church. Randy

Garris, Minister. I used Psalm

and

th e t e x t Teach Us to Number-Our Days.

1 preached to more people that Sunday morning

than

I will

preach

to in Japan in

a whole year .

On to Cleveland

and Akron ,

Ohio to see

th ree

of

Paul ine ' s

brothers:

Boyd and wif e, Edi th ; Roy and wife, Margaret;and oldest

brother,

Allen. The

v i s i t s

were

short bu t good. A lso

we go t

to

meet

Robert

and Rheba

Pethtel of

Dublin, Ohio. She is now publishing a genealogy of t he Pet ht el family. I t is an

unusual

name.

She found

i t

had

at least

21

different spellings

in the records

she examined.

When

I was

introducing

Pauline

before

we

were

married,

I never

found anyone who

could

ge t i t th e f i r s t time I said

i t

- or th e second or

third

t ime e i t h e r .

North Vernon,

Indiana

was

ou r next stop

on September 16.

Pauline

and

I began our married

l i fe

there and our

f i r s t

daughter was born there.. After

leaving North Vernon for mi li ta ry and

missionary

service,

i t

has remained as

our working address. Forwarding secretary, Rozanna Hartwell, welcomed us and

we had a wonderful gathering and response

at

the church

that

night. Special

thanks go t o m in is te rs Charles Carter

and Brian

Jenkins.

We spent

two days with Bever ly and Greg Maxey, second son in Cincin

nati , Ohio and

got

acquainted with and rny hair combed by grandaughter, Meredith.

On

Friday,

we visited Makoto Yoshii,

Toshiaki

Chida and Sachiko Ono, graduate

students

at

Cincinnati Christian Seminary. That night, Kathryn and Bryan Maxey

drove

down

from northern Ohi o; L oi s and. Victor

Maxey

of Cincinnati

and

t h e i r

son,Tom and family

gatherered a t

Greg

and Bev's

home in Amelia

fo r

a lo t of

good

food,

good

visit ing

and the

three

brothers singing all the songs they ever

knew - and

t h a t s

a

l o t of songs. G reat

Sunday,

Sept.

20 , found

us

a t th e Madelia Church of

Chris t

in southeast

Minn., where I f i r s t began

preaching

50 years

ago.

The church

is

new but the

original

pulpit that I used is s t i l l

there.A

few

of

th e people from that time

s t i l l

remain. We appreciated being

able

to speak there and enjoying

the

won

derful

noon meal

served

by

th e church ladies .

Thanks

t o m ini st er ,

Scott McFar-

lane and to Mr. Mrs.Gordon Dorothy who took care of us so well.

Monday night we visited th e Truman Church of

Christ

which

is

16 miles

south, I preached

there

about twoyears.

We

stayed with Willis and Pauline HamnHDnd

visited

family

and

friends during the

day, and enjoyed a chance to speak and to

renew acquaintance

with

many I had baptized and married in th e past. Minister

B il l H al ls te d and

wife

made us

welcome

as

di d

th e

church a t

the fine socia l

hour

t h a t

fo l lowed.

Heading

southwest

to Worthington, Minnesota the next

day,

we spent a

few minutes at t he lovely

graveyard of

Horicon Church of Christ, located in the

countryside.

I wanted

to

se e

again th e

graves of

Carrie

Wolfe; daughter,

Cather-

in and

grandson,

Jirrmie

Allison

and

ref lect

again

on

the

fact

that

great

people

often come from un like ly p laces , especially

those

who s er ve t he Lord.

n

^ ^ brm^ you

i^ood tidings

LUKE 2 - K J .

ND CHRISTM S

JOY

FjipM U^ OTH

F I F T Y

YEARS AGO I PREACHED MY

F I R S T

SERMON FROM

T HI S P U LP IT

YES

THERE

IS A

SLEEPY

EYE

IN

MN


8/8

Alvin and Mary Giese, nv youngest sister drove up to meet us . We

enjoyed the

hospitality

of Jackie and Bob

Jannereth,

the

minister at

Worthlng-

ton; a time of fellowship and sharing at the church that night;and.avi it to

our

l i fe long fr iend ,

Ivan Bullock. We were

saddened

to learn

of

th e

recent

death of

Mamie, hi s

wife of over 60

years.

Mary

and Alvin

went

with

us 50

miles

north

to

Walnut Grove,

child

hood home of Laura Wilder an d now

of

TV fame: L i t t le House on th e Pra i r i e .

40,000 visitors a

year come

to

this

l i t t le town of 400, half of them Japanese.

This shows th e immense popularity

of

this show seen on Japanese TV each Sat.

We spent

th e

next

two

days i n Rochest er , guests of Prof.

John

Cachia-

ra s

and wife. Dot; speaking

in

chapel at Minnesota Bible

College

and visiting

two class and renewing our ties with Dick Lash, our friend

s ince h is

missionary

days

in Korea.

We

flew

to

Salt

Lake City, on

th e 25th

to

see Col leen

and Guy

Pethtel,

Pauline's

f ou rth b ro ther .

We

had a good time as their guests at Ponderosa and

also

In

last

minute shopping

for

food

items

to

take

back

to

Japan. On

to

San

Franclso

on

Saturday,two hours ta lk

with Bob Pritchard

a t th e

airpor t ,

and

then

t en l ong, m is er ab le

hours

in a too small

seat

In th e smoking section

of

th e plane.

What a

rel ief to

escape into

fresh

a ir and le g room. Overnight at Martin and

Evelyn Clarks; good visi ts with th e two Kagoshima

students,

Motonobu

Ikeda

and

Naomi

Omura at Osaka Bible Seminary; then Paul Clark drove us to the airport. A

fl ight to Kagoshima, supper and visi t with Walter and Mary and home by 9 p.m.

Some changes have taken place In ou r

small

foreign community: Anna

Kasten

has

returned

to the

USA.

Jim

Scott of Eugene,

Oregon

ha s r ep la ced h er

as Eng li sh teacher at the

local col lege .

Julia Pananen from North Pole, Alaska

(not the north pole but a

town

by that

name

is our new Rotary exchange student

and a joy to have In our home, in

class

and in

the church l i fe . , Jeff

and Leigh

Angela Holbrook,

my grandniece,

visited In November.

Jeff

1s a Marine

pilot

ser-

ing 6 months In Okinawa,

We

ar e enjoying time with Makoto Yoshli,

home

fo r a

coupleofjooDths,

Mr.s.

Kubo,

faithful

member

of.Tarumizu church diod

while wo

w^xe-^lTThe

US

After

14

years

and

approximately

150

articles,

my

column.

One

/Man s Opinion, will

come

to an end with the

December

issue of Horizons

maga

zine. Actually, I had a couple of more things I wanted to say but i t is time^^

for others to

be heard,

[ —

^ — I

became

district representative of the Governor of

Rotary

for

seven clubs

with

the assurance that i t was a window

dressing jo b requiring

l i t t le

In th e way

of

time.

Mistake.

The

honorary jo b

has required lots

of

work,

lots of meetings t o a tt en d,

attendance

at committee meetings

and th e

distr ict convention and preparation fo r and

participating

in a panel discus

sion a t

the convention. And th e y ea r

i sn t half

over yet.

I went alone to the

annual

Tane

Maki

convent ion o f Osaka

Bible

Sem

inary,

November

1,2,3.

I

gave

a

lecture

on The Church

of

Christ :

I t s

Evan

gelism and took part

in

the follow-up panel discuss ion the next day. I gave

i t my best In preparation and presentation bu t a divine disatlsfactlon remains

Three hour s was spent

a t

th e

college

board

meeting

on Wednesday discussing th e

college organization

and

t he funct ions of

all

college personnel.

Then i t was

th e

long tr ip

back home by plane and

car.

Well,

th e times do

change.

Two

ac tive. vo lcanoes are blowing the i r

tops in Japan just now: one

at

the north and one just 20mi

le s

from

us .

Grey dust

covers everytning. tconomical ly , the

dollar

continues

to

sink and ou r

govern

ment would have i t so . I wonder what

history wil l

have

to

s ay about a country

which consistently debases i ts currency by ta lk,ta lk, talk; which allows i ts

land

and

industries

to be

bought

at 50i on th e dollar; which has removed all

references

to

religion

from

I ts

textbooks; which

t r ies to

teach

morality

under

the psuedonym of

i ts

being

value;free

(which really means valueless ), and

allows students to graduate who can barely read and write and hardly spell .

Let us both

sing

and

pray, God bless

America and

then

le t us join

hands to make i t worthy of His

blessing.

God

bless

both your Christmas and

your

New

Year.

IN HIS SERVICE,

P u bli ca ti on o f

CHRISTIAN MISSION

Box 417

Ver no n, I nd ia na 47265

r es s R e tu rn Reques ted

ED ITOR

HORIZONS

BOX 2 4 2 7

KNOXVILLE T l̂ 37901

A GRANDSmSHTKR TO CDMB KY

HAI

TWO BROTHERS TO LOOK UP TO

[0 BE PROUD

AND

FIVE

POINTS TO MY

LECTURE

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maxey mark pauline 1987 japan

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