nielsen paul marcia 1957 japan

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


2/7

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


3/7

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


4/7

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


5/7


6/7

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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nielsen paul marcia 1957 japan

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