C A J Report JONATHAN SIMS CHRIST S AMBASSADOR T O JAPAN And the things yo u have heard me sa y in th e presence o f many witnesses entrusted to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others II Timothy 2:2 VOLUME 6 FIRST QU RT R 1986 NUMBER A NE W SISTER I N CHRIST On December 8 , 1985 I ha d t h e opportunity to immerse into Christ a coll ege girl who h ad been attending regularly a t Yokosuka since April. Previously s he h a d studied Bible on h er own a n d a t college a n d h ad many questions about Christ an d H i s Church. Sh e came with a desire t o know more, so we started a class about basics o f Christianity t o supplement sermon messages a nd t o answer her questions. S he r e sponded to the Gospel an d i s growing i n h e r new life i n Christ. Th e Lord brings fruit t o His workers. T h e wonderful thing about Miss Tanemura is that neither h e Japanese preacher n o r I knew h e r a s a contact o r that s he lives i n Yokosuka being at home on t h e weekends a nd a t th e university during t h e week.) Pray that t h e Lord will lead more people t o respond t o t h e Gospel a n d that we will b e aware o f those who a r e ready. CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES t i s already March, which seems very late t o talk about Christmas activities b u t a s we do n o t know t h e exact date o f Christ s birth i t is ap propriate that we continue t o remember H i s life and work throughout the year. Th e program a t Yokosuka was well prepar ed and presented, b u t t h e attendance was less than expected. F o r t h e S un d ay School children a n d a l l others wh o would come a late afternoon time w a s s e t f o r Bible drama, singing, games an d refreshments, with a gift exchange. After th e children ha d gone, an evening meal in t h e carry-in style wa s shared by those who come t o t h e Sunday Worship Service. After receiving a projection ist s license from a Christian Audio- Visual Center i n Tokyo f o r a 6mm p r o jector borrowing dad s projector, an d renting a true-life film about a Japa nese Christian for Evangelistic p u r poses we showed t h e film at Yokosuka o n t h e 24th. That w a s followed with a candle-light Christmas Ev e song service. We h a d hoped that there would have been more in attendance, b u t no ne w people came. Japanese schools continue until t h e 26th or even 28th o f December with also many preparations f o r year en d a c tivities customary f o r Japanese. Bible Drama Refreshment Time TH E NE W SCHEDULE Sharing responsibilities with t h e Japanese fellow preacher here in Yokosu
CAJ ReportJ O N A T H A N S I M S C H R IS T S A M B A SS A D O R T O J A P A N
And the things yo u have heard me sa y in th e presence o fmany witnesses entrusted to reliable
men who will also be qualified to teach others II Timothy 2:2
VOLUME 6 FIRST QU RT R 1986 NUMBER
A NE W S I S T E R I N C H R I S T
On December 8 , 1985 I ha d th e o pp o rt un it y t o immerse i n t o C h r i s t a c o l l
eg e g i r l who had been a t t e n d i n g r e g u l a r l y a t Yokosuka s in ce A p ri l . P r e v i o u s l y sh e
had s tu di ed B ib le on h e r own and a t c o l l e g e and had many q u e s t i o n s a b o u t C h r i s t an d
H is Church. She came w i t h a d e s i r e t o know m o r e , so we s t a r t e d a c l a s s a b o u t b a s i c s
o f C h r i s t i a n i t y to supplement sermon messages and to answer h e r q u e s t i o n s . She r e
sponded to th e Gospel an d i s growing i n h er new l i f e in C h r i s t . Th e Lord b r i n g s
f r u i t t o H is w o r k e r s . T he w o n d e r f u l t h i n g a b o u t Miss Tanemura i s t h a t n e i t h e r th eJapanese pr e a c he r n or I knew h e r a s a c o n t a c t o r t h a t she l i v e s i n Yokosuka being
a t home on th e weekends and a t th e u n i v e r s i t y during th e week.) P r ay t h a t th e Lord
w i l l l e a d more p eo p le to respond to th e Gospel and t h a t we w i l l be aware o f t h o se
who a r e r ead y .
C H R I S T M A S A C T I V I T I E S
t i s a l r e a d y Mar ch, w h i c h
seems v e r y l a t e t o t a l k a b o u t C h r i s t m a s
a c t i v i t i e s b u t a s we d o n o t know t h e
exact date of C h r i s t s b i r t h i t i s ap
p r o p r i a t e t h a t we c o n t i n u e t o rememberHis l i f e and work throughout th e y ear.
The program a t Yokosuka was well prepar
ed and p r e s e n t e d , b ut th e a t t e n d a n c e
was l e s s th an e xp ec te d. F o r th e Sun
d ay S c h o o l c h i l d r e n and a l l o t h e r s who
w o u l d c o m e a late a f t e r n o o n t i m e w a s
s e t f o r B ible drama, si ngi ng, games an d
refreshments, with a g i f t exchange.
A ft er th e c h i l d r e n had gone, an evening
meal in th e c a r r y - i n s t y l e wa s shared
by t hose who come to th e Sunday Worship
S e r v i c e .
A f te r r ec ei vi ng a p r o j e c t i o n
ist s l i c e n s e f r om a C h r i s t i a n A u d i o -
V i s u a l C enter i n Tokyo f o r a 6mm pro
j e c t o r borrowing d ad s p ro je cto r, an d
rent i ng a t r u e - l i f e film about a Ja p a
nese C h ri st ia n f or E vangel i st i c pur
p o s e s we showed t h e f i l m a t Y o k o s u k a
o n t h e 2 4 t h . T h a t w a s f o l l o w e d w i t h a
c a n d l e - l i g h t Christmas Ev e song s e r v i c e .
We had hoped t h a t t h e r e would h av e b ee n
more i n a t t e n d a n c e , b u t no ne w p eo p le
c a m e . J a p a n e s e s c h o o l s c o n t i n u e u n t i lt h e 2 6 t h o r e v e n 2 8 t h o f D e c e m b e r w i t h
a l s o many preparat i ons fo r year en d ac
t i v i t i e s customary f o r Ja p a n e se .
B i b l e D r a m a
R e f r e s h m e n t T i m e
TH E NE W S C H E D U L E
S h a r i n g r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s w i t h t h e J a p a n e s e f e l l o w p r e a c h e r h e r e i n Yokosu
ka , we a r e involved in v a r i o u s programs t h i s y e a r . Namely, we a r e conducting Sunday
an d PM Worship s e r v i c e s Sunday S c h o o l , a Thursday B ib le s t u d y and S a t u r d a y p r a y
e r meeting. A number o f h o u r s have been s p en t i n p u t t i n g t r a c t s i n mailboxes in th e
community announcing o u r v a r i o u s Church a c t i v i t i e s . I t e a c h an E n g l i s h c l a s s to a
couple using the English B ible as par t of the course mater ia l s Pray tha t through
in te rac t ion with those around us seeds can be sown which w i l l lead to more f r u i t
NEW FORWARDING AGENTS
I have grea t ly appreciated the work of Jesse and Ella Inge in the i r volun
te er in g to be my forwarding agents a t the s t a r t of my se rv ice in Japan and cont inuing
through most of 1985 However they made the decis ion tha t was necessary to give
up t h i s work because of other pressing obl iga t ions but are continuing with other
works of love Renee Sisson and Glor ia Asbel l have assumed r e s p o n s ib i l i t y as myforwarding agents and are grea t ly apprecia ted fo r the i r ef fo r t The Lord has many
bless ings in s to re for a l l of us who endeavor to achieve the task se t before u s
AN UNEXPECTED V I S I T
Last week a Japanese policeman came knocking a t my door. At f i r s t I sus
pected tha t some problem or other had come up in the community but he immediately ex
plained tha t h is v i s i t was customary in the effor t s of the Japanese pol ice department
to engender good re la t ions with loca l c i t izens He jus t wanted to check up on the
r es ident s in the community to know of people who had moved in or out and the general
condit ion of the community. He stayed for some time and asked questions about my
work as a missionary and Church a t tendance
I l is tened to h is opinions about a number of things and t r ied to express a
l i t t l e about the Bible and Chris t iani ty He was pol i te but didn t express too muchof an in teres t in Jesus Chris t saying tha t one re l ig ion i s about as good as any
other At l e a s t he i s also concerned about th e de cl in ing mor al it y even i f fo r a
dif fe ren t re as on t ha n I would express . Young people in Japan he sa id are only con
cerned about themselves and the i r possessions and not abou t need s of others laws or
t r ad i t ions In any case I hope a few seeds were sown through the conversa t ion
THANK YOU
Thank you for your many prayers and your support. The dollar is weak a-
g ain st the yen which makes my salary go less than what i t did before. Even so theLord is watching out for me providing health and spi r i tua l sustenance and those
things I need to do His Will. Pray that there wil l be continuing opportunities to
r e l a t e the Gospel message and tha t Japanese wil l response.
CAJ ReportJ O NA T HA N S I MS C HR IS T S A MB AS SA D OR T O JAPAN
And the thingsyou have heard me say in the presence ofmany witnesses entrusted to reliablemenwho will also be qualified to teach others // Timothy :
SECOND QUARTER 1 9 8 6 NUMBER 2
S P E C I A L V I S I T O R S
P e o p l e i n t h e g r e a t e r Tokyo a r e a g e n e r a l l y c o n s i d e r Y okos uka t o be somewhat o u t
of th e way so d o n t v i s i t on an y r egul ar b a s i s . However when t her e is some spec
i a l o c c a s i o n we ha ve v i s i t o r s . One o f o u r s i s t e r c o n g r e g a t i o n s made a s p e c i a l
o c c a s i o n to come to Yokosuka na me l y to ha ve a B ib le s tu d y a b o u t deacons and
f el lo w sh ip w it h some of th e members h e r e . They planned to begin about suppe r time
with B ib le s tu dy an d f e l l o w s h i p a f te r w a r d s . A f te r s ta y in g th e n i g h t th e meet i n g
the cospelisitors a n d s e v e r a l m e m b e r s
E A S T E R
Much p r e p a r a t i o n was made f o r E a s t e r programs f o r c h i l d r e n and a d u l t s . We ai m
ed t o r e a c h q u i t e a fe w more c h i l d r e n to b u i l d up o u r Sunday s c h o o l a t t e nda nc e so
p u t s p e c i a l e f f o r t i n t o making a Sunday a f t e r n o o n program f o r ever yone t h a t would
be b o t h a n o pp or tu ni t y t o s h ar e S c r i p t u r e me s s a ge s a nd an o p po rtu ni ty fo r r e c r e a t
i on B e s i d e s a number o f p o s t e r s p u t up i n t h e ne ighborhood th e J ap an es e p re ac h
e r and I handed o u t a b o u t n i n e hundre d p u b l i c i t y s h e e t s t o c h i l d r e n a t n e a r b y e l ementar y s c h o o l s . As a f e l l o w s h i p m e e t i n g o f o u r c o n g r e g a t i o n s i n th e g r e a t e r
Tokyo a r e a wa s scheduled fo r th e a f t e r noon of th e f i f t h Sunday of March we sche
duled our Yokosuka E a st e r programs fo r th e 23rd. We f e l t c o n f i d e n t t h a t it would
be one o f th e b e s t a t t e n d e d progra ms we h a v e c on du ct ed s o f a r .
ll of the preparation for the | y i •— ——i I Iprograms did not take into consid- / 1 ^ I •eration the weather. did plan i i ^ 1for a few changes in case of rain I |H I
b u t d i d n t have any i de a t h a t a
storm would come along. Along \with a windy cold front came ice i KjMsleet and snow Power went out i fjAftn o t o n l y i n o u r n e i g h b o r h o o d b u t
a r e a s Tokyo l o s t e l e c t r i -
c i t y c a u s i n g t r a f f i c an d a
number of spite mjkthe s t o r m a n u m b e r hildren
c a m e . . . t h o s e wh o r eg u la rl y a tt en d
Sunday s c h o o l and a fe w f r i e n d s .
We w er e h a m p e re d b e c a u s e o u r o i l
stove doesn t work without elect- Husical chairsr i c i t y an d we c o u l d n t u se the orga n o r f i l m s t r i p p r o j e c t o r . R e ga r dl e s s we made
some a d j u s t m e n t s i n o u r program and a l l e njoye d th e a c t i v i t i e s . The c h i l d r e n
a pp re ci at ed t hee x t r a
r e f r e s h m e n t s be c a use weha d a n t i c i p a t e d more coming and had
pre pa re d f o r more c h i l d r e n tha n were a llowe d to come. I t w i l l be a f a c t o r i n up
coming e v e n t s t o c on si d er t h e w e a t h e r .
I t is a general tradition for many Japanese to use t he several national holidaysa t the s t a r t of May to take a t r ip into the country to v i s i t re la t ives A mass
of people load into trains, buses and cars to travel ou t of the city and a few days
la te r cram i nt o veh ic le s for the return t r ip All major roads become conjested formile on end and t rains are loaded beyond recommended standards. Some people have
decided to avoid t ravel and avoid the stress involved as they already are burdenedwith s t ress in work related excessives . They wi l l s i t a t home and watch on t e le
vision that a major expressway i s so crowded that t ra f f ic for sixty miles is at astandstill
Dad, mom and 1 went to camp together , a day or so before the rush to the mount
ains The t r i p went smoothly and l e i sure ly and 1 had a chance to v i s i t with dad
and mom as well as enjoy the scenery along the route. Near the western edge of
Tokyo there a re se ve ra l mountains covered with forests o f cedar, but because of the
l a te r than usual snow the vast majo rity o f t rees had spl in tered under the load of
snow, mixed wit h f re ez in g temperatures. It was a p i t i f u l s ight to see the ef fec t s
o f t h e late w i n t e r s t o r m
The attendance a t camp th i s year was very low. I t would seem l ike a camp awayfrom ci ty l i f e would be well appreciated, especia l ly with a s ch edule a llowing for
plenty of rest and recreation between times for Bible study. But even though only
a few were in attendance, it was wonderful fel lowship and while there was ra in in
the Tokyo area in which was detected moderate levels of radiat ion as a consequence
of t he n uc le ar plant disas ter in Russia, the skies were clear to par t ly cloudy
where we were a t camp. The camp program centered on the record about Joseph in
Genesis with the theme of The God-planned Life. 1 was the speaker a t two of the
four Bible study per iods . The programs wen t smoothly and was worthwhile.
1 intended to take my camera to camp, but have been having some problems with
the mirror mechanism locking up. 1 took the Pentax to the shop, but was to ld th at
the replacement par t s 1 would need fo r th e camera were take n o ut of s tock e igh teenyears ago. 1 have had good use of the camera s ince 1 bought it a t a used camera
dealer about twelve years ago, while a t Bible col lege in Cincinnat i . 1 wil l t ry to
ge t some more use out of it wh ile lo ok in g fo r another qua l i ty used camera.
GENERAL NEWS
Japan has seen a number of v is i to r s o f in flu en ce and r oy a lt y r e ce n tl y There
was plenty of news coverage of the Tokyo Summit, but the Royal couple (Prince Char
l e s and Lady Dian a) h av e received much more a t t en t ion it seems than the Summit. 1
th ink it may be tha t the couple did not prove to be as confront ing on economic
mat te r s An Immediate e f f ec t of th e Summit was th e weakening of th e do l la r to be
able to buy only 160 yen for one dollar (L as t y ea r 1 could get 200 yen.) The
do l la r s ince has rebounded a little but economic s t a b i l i t y i s no t our primary goalas Chris t ians although it may be a tremendous help .
The Lord i s b le ss in g t he work with s tab i l i ty in Church attendance, w ith seven
fo r a Sunday M Service and about four fo r a Sunday livening Service. Sunday school
has not changed since l a s t year with e igh t c hi ld re n . Thank you for your continuing
prayers and suppor t which the Lord i s using to uphold me in the task of reaching
the Japaneses w ith the Gospel of our Lord and S av io r J es us Chr i s t
CAJ ReportJONATHAN SIMS CHRIST 'S AMBASSADOR TO JAPAN
And the things you have heard me say in thepresence ofmany witnesses entrusted to reliable
men who willalso be qualified to teach others // Timothy 2:2
THIRD QUARTER 1986 NUMBER 3
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
Vacation for Japanese public school begins about t he twent ie th of July, aboutone week a f t e r a normal ra iny season i s over and hot humid summer weather makes
study diff icul t . Actual ly , vacat ion as we understand the term is not quite applicable as Japanese chi ld ren a re assigned projects and homework while tutoringclasses cont inue with breaks only for religious festivals, when families vis i t relatives. As our Church schedule seemed ful l in August with conventions, camps andspecial events, we decided to conduct V.B.S. on three consecutive Sundays in Julyrather than our usual August VBS Our plan was to continue Sunday school as always in the mornings with a more informal schedule of study and handwork in the
afternoon. On Monday July 21 , we planned a picnic lunch and plenty of gcimes foroutdoor recreation. In spite of a ll the preparat ion however the attendance wasless than anticipated, with rain continuing until our picnic day to make studentsrather rest less. But th e chil dr en enjoyed VBS and the picnic, for which The Lordprovided good weather .
S S 2ND 3RD GR DE CLASS PRESCHOOL CLASS
CONVENTIONS
The annual convent ion of our fel low missionar ies in Japan and of our Japanese
brothers and s i s t e r s in Christ were both h eld in Osaka. I was able to save expens
es by traveling to and from Osaka with Paul Prat t who is also working in Kanagawa
prefecture One way t o l l costs about 50.00 fo r the SOOmile t r i p while one way t r a
in fare costs about 8 0.0 0, so a group together in one car i s more economical than
t r a in t r ave l although the l a t t e r i s fas te r and maybe more comfortable.
AN EVENING OF PRAISE
After returning from a week of convent ion and a ga in a no th er week of camp,
work was yet to be done fo r our spec ia l evangel is t ic meeting. In order to develop
an in te re st in the community fo r the meeting, we thought it appropr ia te to have a
prel iminary meeting to get people used to the idea of coming to Church. We i nv i t
ed a young Chris t ian couple who have an i n t e r e s t in writ ing Chris t ian music which
young people would hear and be sparked up to l ea rn about Our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Chr is t Mr Kume (coo meh) i s a professional keyboard player and h is wife sang
for severa l years as a s inger even writ ing a number of songs which made the char ts
in popular music. Both are members of the congregat ion where da d minis te r s in
Rather than having a concer t as such, we planned a p rogram which fea tured Mrs.
ume as our special guest- to sing three numbers and give a br ie f testimony, but
also in the program were special numbers by members of our cong reg ation here inYokosuka and songs for everyone to sing. Those who tu rn ed out for the evening of
praise came not primari ly by response to handbil ls or posters, but through acquai
ntance with th e sin ger of persona l i nv i t a t i on . Thir ty seven were in a t tendance
for the program Truly Our Lord i s to be praised for the response, severa l being
in a Church bui lding fo r the f i r s t time. Pray t ha t there wi l l be those who come
to Church regu la r ly as a r e su l t .
THE EVANGELISTIC MEETING
On September 5 6 and 7 our planned evange l i s t i c mee tin g to ok p lace wi th our
gues t speaker being a professor a t our Bible col lege in Osaka. The messages were
designed for Japanese who have very l i t t l e knowledge of the Gospel, yet were ap
precia ted by a l l in at tendance. An average of four teen came fo r each of th e th reesess ions . As with the evening of pra i se refreshment t ime was provided for fu r
ther d i s c u s s i o n on an i n f o rm a l b sis
TWO NEW S ISTERS IN CHRIST
The Lord has blessed the work in Yokosuka through leading two ladies to re
spond to the Gospel. Both have been attending for some t ime and also requested a
c lass to learn more about Scripture and Chr is t i an i ty . Both are young wives with
chi ldren and having d i f f i cu l t i e s a t work and home. Pray t ha t these two s i s t e r s
wi l l grow in Chr i s t and God wi l l reso lve the var ious d i f f i c u l t i e s in t he i r l i ve s .
One decided a f t e r the evening of praise and I was honored to immerse her into
Chris t on August 31, while the other responded during the evangel is t ic meeting,
and I was honored to immerse her in to C hris t on September 7, between our guest
speaker s message and The Lord s Supper. Pray that Satan wil l not cause something
to happen which wil l counter God s blessing. I t i s the Lord s Will tha t a congre
gat ion be es tabl ished in th i s community which wi l l be able to s tand through s t ren
gth provided by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Chri^^R
Pray t ha t there wi l l be more response to the Gospel among the Japanese peopld.
Pray t ha t miss ionar ies and fel low workers among the Japanese wi l l be sus ta ined
while plowing the hard so i l so t ha t the time wi l l be soon when a grea te r harvest
i s gleaned. Pray t ha t many addi t iona l workers wi l l be sent to work here in Japan,
while there i s still time. Pray t ha t missionar ies wi l l not be overly dis t ressed
by the weakening of the dol la r . God s storehouse i s not affec ted by the exchange
r a t e . Rather , va s t resources a re a va ila ble if we would only pray meaningfully .
Thank you for cont inu ing p rayer and suppor t which i s very much apprecia ted .
CAJ ReportJONATHAN SIMS CHRIST S AMBASSADOR TO JAPAN
And the thingsyou have heardme say in the presence ofmany witnesses entrusted to reliablemen who willalso be qualified to teach others. II Timothy2:2
VOLUME 6 FOURTH QU RTER / ^ yQ NUM ER 4
BLESSINGS AGAIN
On October 3rd, The Lord blessed the Japanese preacher and his wife with a son.
M KOTO raah koh toe) means ei ther sincer i ty, true-hearted, loyal or fai thful depend
ing on the context, but is a good name^for one we pray will become a second genera
t ion Christ ian. With a Christian family in the congrega tion he re , we pray tha t
there will be more outreach and we pray that there will be many more Christ ianfamilies in Japan, where all too often a Christian spouse is led away from Christ sChurch by tremendous pressure from parents, re la t ives and neighbors. Such pressure
also hinders people from responding to the Gospel. Reaching a family at a timeseems to be the best solut ion, but in modern Japan where eve ry f am il y member is
loaded down with a heavy schedule and familie s a re finding only a few minutes a weekwhen the entire family is in one place a t the same time, the task of reaching af am ily w ith the Gospel seems insurmountable. Pray that channel s can be opened forreaching families as families with the message of salvat ion through our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ . I think that a few minutes of qual i ty time of radio or
television for proper representation of true Christ iani ty is a worthwhile prayer
request. Japanese media is also controlled by humanists who despise our Lord andmisrepresent those who bear the name Christian .
Japanese customs are interesting, to say the least and are puzzling to us
foreigners . While the mother and child were s t i l l in the hospital several of usfrom the congregation here decided to vis i t to see MA CHAN maw chawn) CHAN is aterra of endearment, used to re fe r to c hil dr en . I planned to go along, but theJapanese preacher said no , and something to the effect that if a male other thanthe chiId s_father is also seen by the child, it will get confused. I decide^notto argue. Upon release from the hospital, the mother and child were taken toKensei s parents house to be cared for for a number of weeks. Usually they aretaken to he r parents home, but as Yoshie s fa th er liv es in Osaka (quite a way fromTokyo) and her mother had passed away a few years ago, i t was decided that Kensei s
parents home, which is only a few minutes walk from here, would be best. After sixweeks of pampering (using a Japanese brand name of diaper* I presume) Ha chan wasreluctant ly allowed to be brought to Church, where instant ly he received more at tent ion than he was ready for at the time. After ano ther few weeks Kensei, Yoshie and
Makoto a re in t h e i r own home, but st with v i s i t o r s in excess o f t ime l im i t sTruly (or in Japanese makoto ni(nee) ) The Lord provides wonderful blessings ofmany kinds ;
j
THE DECLINING DOLL R . j, I
For several years now the exchange Irate between the U.S. dollar and the yen hasbeen allowed to fluctuate in hopes thai: prices of Japanese made goods will increase
to give American companies a better chance for competition. However, plans thought
worthwhile do not always produce the desired effects There s t i l l seems to be too
much intervention by governmental agencies. When well-meaning leaders plan to f i le
l eg is la t ion to change things, they face drawers ful l of bureaucrats, unwill ing togive up pol i t ica l interest groups. Anyway, t he dec reas ing value of the dol lar has
h it missionaries f i r s t but f inal ly is having some impact on the economy. Fo r thesame amount of precious dollar support, banks give fewer yen after deducting newlyimplemented handling fees. The prices of p roducts s t i l l remain the same, whichmeans that a 1,000 yen product which would cost an equivalent of S5.00 in 1985 costs
at present an equivalent of S6.25, provided inf la t ion has not raised the originalyen price with a weaker dollar missionaries face a sudden burden o f in cre as ed costsfor ordinary l iv ing expenses, not to mention funds for dis t r ibu t ion of t rac ts and
o th er ma te ri al s r e la ted to Church work, ^
I wish to thank a l l who a re con ti nu in g to support the work of evangelism in
Japan. I am g ra te fu l to those who a re in cr ea si ng f inancia l support in response to
the economic s i tua t ion caused by a weak dol la r but a ls o appr ec ia te the sac r i f i c ia l
support of those who can not i nc re as e g iv ing due to r ise of unemployment of Churchmembers, but s t i l l are as equally concerned tha t J ap an es e h ea r the Gospel message
and are praying tha t Japanese wil l break from humanism and various r e l ig ious t r ad i
t io n s to accep t Jesus Chr i s t as Lord of a l l
The ave rage J ap an es e consumer is not made aware of a decrease in price of imports
which should be expected by the value changes of yen and dol la r . Governmental
agencies control pricing^ which means that bureaucrats benef i t while consumers have
wool pulled over the i r eyes with help of the media. Oil an d u t i l i t y prices are
dropping s l igh t ly / with the consequence of a complete shut down of a l l coal mining
f irms and recent ly severa l major s t ee l mills have been shut down. When American
industry i s seeing t rouble there is a delayed negat ive af fec t on Japanese industry.
THANKSGIVING
There is no celebration in Japan similar to what Christians participate in at Thanksgiving when people think about all The Lord has blessed mankind with throughHis Son. There is something similar to what is called Labor Day in the U.S./except that ironically only a few people get the day off from work Japanese notonly work strenuously .for six long full days/ but get very few vacation days plusa few national holidays for traditional religious festivals. The concept of givingthanks to The Creator is not known in Japan/ nor is the idea of giving with noexoectations of some repayment in one way or another expressed either. There is acustom of a disciple giving at the middle and at the end of the year a token gift
of appreciation to his teacher for the lessons and the art or techniques in something such as calligraphy/ flower arranging or other traditional skill/ but thepractice has become an empty habit/ without the significant gratefulness originally expressed by the gift. In Japan a gift primarily indicates a repayment of somefavor or expectation of some service to be performed. Christianity is a definitecontrast in which even though unmerited or undeserved/ God freely gave His Grace tomankind through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
s the Japanese continued their normal work schedules/ our missionaries in theTokyo area and neighboring prefectures gathered on November 2eth calling off normalcommitments to classes taught on Friday) to give Thanks and have time for eating andfellowship. Our number is small/ but the depth of family-like fellowship in Christcannot be surpassed. If only the unity of heart among Christians based upon theWord of God rather than man-made creeds could be understood by the Japanese andimplemented/ there would be a dynamic impact on a stale/ lifeless/ bound society.Even with inadequate dollars and overloaded workers there is plenty to be thankfulfor. God s resources are not affected by fluctuating exchange rates and He provides
-blessings of- -sternal -value—in-ci2ntiiast_ta_roans quest for^ nr^qf rt materiallyf i n a n c i a l s t a b i l i t y .
There are volcanoes here which are spouting after some time of inactivity.One not far from here even made the headlines/ but other than a few minor tremors/all goes on as normal here in Yokosuka. It may take a shaking up to get some peopleaware that our stay on this planet is only temporary. Pray that every opportunityfor reaching out with the gospel can be utilized to the fullest. Thank you all foryour continuing prayers and support and may you all have a wonderful season ofcommemorating the bir th of our Lord.
