Christian

Volume 93
"Goye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15
January 1994
Number 1
SIMS' NEWS
Jonathan and Verla Sims Arrive for
His Third and Her First Term As Missionaries
i
V '
Jonathan. Loia and Verla in front of our house at Mejirodai.
On Nov. 5 our son, Jonathan, and his newwife, Verla,
arrived at Narita airport to begin the "together" part of
their missionary work. Nov. 7 we had our annual com
memoration of the start ofthe Mejirodai church (23 years
ago) and, as always, we remember those who have al
readygoneto heavenfromourmidst. With 2 added tothis
group during 1993, there are now 10 whose pictures are
displayed.
This year the day was also a welcome for the new
missionaiy, Verla, andJonathanreturningafter 16 months
in the U.S. After theworship service, most of the 42 adults
stayed for a reception, which Lois had prepared. She
fixed sliced turkey and ham sandwiches, jello with fruit
in it and carrot cake, which was near to duplicatingwhat
was served at the wedding reception at North Grande
ChurchinAmes, Iowalast August 14. Some short speeches
were made by both Jon and Verla and some of the folks
here. At the evening Gospel Hour the young people were
to ask questions of Verla in English. We were pleased at
how well some of them did.
On a cold and rainy Monday, Nov. 8,1 tookthemdown
to Joel Home in Yokohama. Mr. and Mrs. Oka were
waiting there to greet themwith a bunch of flowers. They
were having trouble getting the gas heater to work, so,
within a few minutes, Jon was trying to get that working.
Theyfinally hadto call the gas companyservice man, who
came quickly and solved the problem.
The narrow streets and closely crowded houses in
that downtown section really made culture shockreal for
Verla, but she seems to be coping well with many new
ways, things, customs, etc. Their baggage, sent fromIowa
over 2 months before, arrived within a few days, and they
are settled into their newplace ofwork. They quickly got
the necessary alien registration, health insurance regis
tration and other such requirements done, including a
driver's license although they don't have a car at present.
The small group of Christians at the Joel Home had a
welcome dinner for themon Sunday, Nov. 14, at a Chinese
Restaurant in the large Sagami Railroad Terminal Build
ing. Verla especially likes Chinese food. During the
meal, Verla suddenly realized it was exactly 3 months
since their wedding day.
Our Tokyo area missionaries always have a get-to
gether and, if possible, eat turkey for Thanksgiving each
year. This year the meeting was at our place, and we had
a welcome meeting for them with some gifts from differ
ent friends as well as the traditional meal on Nov. 19.
We are sorry to report that in late November Verla
had a miscarriage. They were both very happy about the
pregnancy and the Japanese hospital and doctor and
other things compounded the shock and sadness. But
the God of all comfort was with them and she is back to
normal health and activity now.
We don't see them often, but keep in touch by phone.
We really enjoyed 3 days of being together during the
holidays after Christmas. Please remember themin your
prayers.
Christmas 1993
We have no connection with the department store
business, but, somewhat like them, our Christmas prepa
rations always begin well before Thanksgiving with the
writing, printing, addressing and sending out of our
family news and greeting letter to over 400 addresses in
the U.S. and over 200 in Japan. That is a big job and is
going to be more expensive the next time because of a
rather sharp increase in Japanese postage rates begin
ning this year. But, one of the real compensations is
getting all those greetings in return. Then, every Christ
mas ends with thanksgiving to God for the manyjoys we
have experienced during the best time of the year. Each
year there is something unexpected and unusual that
happens during the season and remains in our memo
ries. This year there are 3 special things that we want to
tell about: 1. The Children's Christmas Party, 2. The
Cantata, and 3. The Returnees.
1. Our Sunday School attendance has been in a
steadydecline for the past 7 or 8 years and manyof us are
concerned about it. We have been averaging only about
5 children each Sunday all Fall, and even those were not
regular enough to plan and rehearse a program. So, we
gathered some pine cones at camp for them to paint and
make into decorations to take to their homes after the
church services on Dec. 19. They worked on the pine
;inbed all day with a light
fever and intestinal flu.
so he had to walkup from
the station with heavy
suitcase in cold rain. We
hadn't had a visit from
him in 16 months, so it
was wonderful to have
him here with us the 2
weekends of Dec. 12 and
I C i "^3 people like himand he is
alwaysvrtllingtohelpand
give a good humored
word of cheer. So, Bob
was quickly drafted into
||||[|||||||||[|||||^^ playing SantaGlaus. He
didn't knowhowclosewe
MM were to getting to the bot-
tomofthebarrelontreats
' until he gave the last one
from the big bag to the
'' lastchild. SincebothMr.
^ Sims and Mr. Kishimoto
were standingthere, and
f> , the children didn't know
^^ Bob, some of them really
became believers in
left, front. Santa (we have an old red
suit with beard and all)
and asked if he had come from Finland, etc.
OnJan. 9, one little 4thg^ade girl who came to church
for the first time that day appeared at SundaySchool and
promised to come regularly. Ah, Christmas is a good
time! Such experiences are a good wayto get over the flu,
by the way.
2. A missionary in Nagano Prefecture sent us an
advertisement for a 3-part Cantata she had written to be
performed bysmall untrained choirs intypical Japanese
churches. It was in 3 parts: Soprano, Alto and Men's
voices (they are few in Japanese churches, generally).
Some ofthe music was arrangedfromfamiliar Christmas
hymns such as "We Three Kings." We ordered 12 books
and started talking about it, but couldn't get much inter
est or cooperation at first. Finally, in November, a few
interested people began practicing around the piano
after the morningworship services. Some thought it was
too difficult, but, after a little practice, most thought they
could do it and began taking books to practice at home.
It ended up that 12 people (4 for each part) sang this
Cantata - "Beautiful Star" - as the main event of our
Church Christmas party on the afternoon of Dec. 19 and
thenagain at the Candle Service on Christmas Eve night.
It was muchappreciated andenjoyed byall who sangand
Christmas attendance at Mejirodai. Robert Sims is at left, front.
cones after lessons for several weeks.
Then, Bro. Kishimoto planned a Christmas Party for
the children for Saturday afternoon, Dec. 11, at 3 PM.
Small invitations were printed and sent to some ad
dresses we had and distributed in the neighborhood,
invitingall to come, (^eJapanese are nowin the process
of moving to a 5-dayschool week, so the second Saturday
is sort of an experimental holiday this year.) The basic
problem is that there are very few elementary aged chil
dren in our neighborhood now. The largest class in the
local elementary school is 6th grade, and the number
declines until the first grade, which is the smallest.
Bro. Kishimoto asked the young people's group to
prepare a simple playabout "The Otherwise Man," which
they performed very effectively. Also, we had one of our
members, who is a gifted ventriloquist, to come with his
doll, Ken. Both children and mothers enjoyed their
conversation and even singing in their own way. The
young people also decorated the church, including out
side lights and a small tree with flashing lights, on
Sunday, Dec. 5, in time for this event.
My job was preparing the treats. I bought bright red
paper bags and Lois and I prepared 30 of themwith some
of her home-made cookies and other candies and small
wooden toys that could also double as tree ornaments.
We thought that would surely be enough in view of the
average attendance. WE did have a fewspares that didn't
have the full contents of the first 30.
At just before 3 they began coming in. Some of our
regulars brought their friends. One lady, who sends her
2 children only 3 or 4 times a year, was having a reunion
of her high school class members at her home, so they
brought about 6 children- 4 ofthemin churchfor the first
time. (Convenient to have the free baby-sitting on the
same day!) So we ended up having 31 children, 11
mothers and 9 young people present for a wonderful
party.
Our son, Robert, from Kentucky, hadarrived inJapan
on a business trip just the night before. I had been sick
The Cantata in progress.
listened and had a real message. This was a first experi
ence for our church.
3. On Jan. 31, 1992, Mrs. Hara suffered a serious
stroke, leaving her left side paralyzed. They had to
operate on her brain to stop the bleeding. After 1 year in
the emergency hospital and then in a rehabilitation
hospital, and after the family made some changes in the
house so she could live the rest of her days in a wheel
chair at home, she was finally able to go back home at
Christmas 1992. This Christmas she came to church for
the first time since she was stricken almost 2 years ago.
Our church is not equipped with ramps, but young men
carried her up the stairs from the street in her chair. She
shed many tears of joy at being there, but was able to
participate to some extent in the singing and worship, as
she didn't lose the power of speech. But to me, the most
beautiful thing was to see the surprise and joy on the
faces of our members as they saw her and greeted her
with such expressions as. This is real Christmas." It
made the day for all of us.
Mrs. Morita was hospitalized in November for ulcers.
She had several, but the doctor said it would be too
debilitating on her mid-70s body to operate to the extent
needed to take all of that part of her stomach. So, he said
theywould go with just medicine and nourishment intra
venously for a month. She made a surprising recovery.
Mrs. Morita was also back. Looking good!
Mrs. Aoyama spilled boiling water from a tea kettle
on her left leg some months ago. Since her legs are bad
anyway, she doesn't get out very often. But on Christmas
she was sitting back there by the stove smiling happily.
We had 51 adults and a good number of children at
boththe Christmas worship andthe Christmas Eve Candle
Service. Both audiences included people we hadn't seen
for a long time, so we were very happy.
We have already mentioned that our son, Robert, was
there. During the afternoon of Dec. 19, after finishing
their service at Joel Home, Jonathan and Verla came up
to visit Bob and us. It was the first time to have 2 of our
childrenwithus at Christmas since theyleft home roughly
20 years ago. I don't need to expand on how much we
enjoyed the short time together. We also called all of our
children on Christmas day as usual.
Eighteen of our members went to visit Mrs. Okada in
the hospital on Dec. 15th. She was waiting for us and we
enjoyed a good time together. It was her fifth year in that
hospital. She is 92 years old now, and remembers the
names of all who go to see her and is interested in all
things about themand the church. She was bomjust one
month before the Cunninghams came to Japan in 1901.
Mrs. Cunninghamdied on Christmas Day40years ago, by
the way.
i
*
In Keiyo Hospital December 25th. Mrs. Okada is in the center.
Young XDOthers' group. Maaumi Kishlmoto 1bat the left.
Mrs. Kishimoto made friends with a number ofyoung
mothers inourneighborhoodwhohadtheir first children
in the same 3-month period in 1992 at the local clinic.
They now meet once or twice a month at the church to
visit with each other and let the children play together.
Some of them came to our Chapel Concert. We hope this
will result in some becoming Christians. They had a
Christmas meetingon Dec. 14 andLois and I were invited
and took a pumpkin pie, which was a treat for them all.
Chapel Concert
For some years now we have had a fall concert here
at Mejirodai as onewayto make newcontacts. Eachtime
we have haddifferent performers andprograms, but most
have been professionals and all have been Christians
who give short testimonies between songs. Planning
begins months ahead, when contacts are made with
artists who might be able to come.
This yearwe hada well-known men's trio come to sing
a program of spirituals - many of them in English. They
had produced a number of records, and also do a concert
tour throughout Japan every year. We printed 10,000
handbills and many oftheyoungpeople helped to distrib
ute them all over the area in different places than we had
worked through before. Of course, many of our members
also invited friends and relatives personally.
That day was rainy and cold, so we worried a little
about the effect ofthat on attendance. At 5 minutes before
starting time, there were very few people besides our
church folks here. But then they started coming in. Our
small chapel building was packed with 65 adults and 7
children, who all seemed to enjoy the entire program.
The thing that pleased us the most was that over 20 of
those present were here for the very first time, or after a
long absence. After all, that was the main purpose of the
whole event. The singers were very happy about the
number of tapes sold after the service.
Chapel Concert. L. to R: Mr. Suzuki. Mr. Kosaka and Mr. Iwabuchi.
News Notes
Baptlem of Naoki Akada. H. Sims preaching in Onta Church.
Also a group of freshmen classmates of his at the school
who were already Christians came to encourage him and
the Chaplain of the school also attended. I was impressed
with the attitude of the school in positive encouragement
of those students who decide to become Christians while
students there. More of the many "Christian Schools" in
Japan ought to do this.
Nakano Church Christmas
For over 30 years Lois has gone twice a month to
conduct a ladles Bible class at the Nakano church. The
group has become smaller in recent years because of the
deaths of most of the original group, but they are still
keeping on and some new ladies are coming these days.
Theyhad theirChristmasmeetingonDec. 16. At that time
the preacher said they were expecting 80 or more people
for their special Christmas worship and program on Dec.
19. He sends out his greetings early, including an invita
tion. They all are asked to pay a fee, which includes a
meal, a small present and, of course, some gospel mes
sage for all - including those who don't attend regularly.
The same would be true of most churches in Japan - the
best attendance of the year is Christmas. Well, using the
opportunities for contacts and evangelism is certainly
better than secularizing it or leaving it to the world.
Seed-Sowing Meeting at Osaka
Bible Seminary, Nov. 2 & 3
Three of ourTokyo preachers, plus thewife and small
son of one, two young men from Mejlrodai and Machida
churches, the mother of ShlngoTsuda (who is nowa first-
year student at the Seminary and wanted to make her
first visit to the school and her son and take his winter
clothes and some other things to him) and I drove the 515
kilometers (300+ miles) one way trip to Osaka in 2 cars
from here leaving Tuesday morning, Nov. 2. The 7 or 8
hour drive down the expressway with yellow and red
foliage on both sides through the mountains, a beautiful
blue sky, and the constant conversation made it an
enjoyable trip.
The attendance totaled 137 people, the congrega
tional singingwas enthusiastic, and the special music by
students, faculty and others was verygood. The program,
including 3 good messages, was very well planned and
inspirational for all who could come.
Following the end of the program we had a regular
meeting of the 11-member Councillor board, of which I
have been a member for some years. The following day
some of the folks came back in my car and the others
stayed on for various personal business before returning
to Tokyo. The school is small, but the situation looks
promising in many ways.
Year of the Dog
At 1 PM on Jan. 1, we had our usual new year day
worship service. Over half of all Japanese people go to
Shrines or Temples on the first 3 days of the NewYear to
prayfor prosperity and the protection of the gods. Espe
ciallyin these economic recession days, more than usual
went, the papers say. We tiy to encourage our members
to come to the quiet churchto commit themselves to God.
We had about 30 people here.
Baptism at Onta Church
The onlyson of Mr. and Mrs. Akada, who have minis
tered at the small Onta Church of Christ for about 25
years, is now a student in a Christian College - in fact it
was established about 90 years ago by Disciples of Christ
missionaries. He expressed the desire to be baptized, so
on ReformationSunday, October 31,1went to that church
and baptized him into Christ after his confession of faith
and then preached to the good group assembled. The
members were deeply happy at this, as were his family.
Thankagiving meal and fellowship.
Mr. and Mre. Stanley Buttr^ (retired), K.D. 2, Box ISO, Meadville. PA
16335.
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Patton (retired). #6 Tanglewood. Carl Junction,
MO 64834.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims. 3-33-7 Mejirodai, Hachioji-shi, Tol^ 193
Japan. ForwardingAgent: FiratChuroliofCtiriBt.SlSE.OiangeAvenue,
Eustis, FL 33726-4164.
Two year donation^$.50
Donation A Flaming Torch$1.00
Tokyo Christian (U8PS 776-320)
Published lour times ayear in January, April, July, and November for
the missionaries of the Church of Christ, Cunningham Mission. Tokyo,
Japan by Mission Services Association. 7525 Hodges Ferry Road. Kn-
oxviUe.TN 37920-9731. POSTMASTER: Send address changea toTokyo
Christian, c/o MISSION SERVICES ASSOCIATION, PO Box 2427, Kn-
oxvllle.TN 37601-2427.
Before you move, please send the mailing label with a copy of your new address to
MISSION SERVICES ASSOCIATION, PO Box 2427. Knoxville, TN 37901-2427.
Form3679 Requested, POBox2427, Knoxville, TN 37901-2427.
Tokyo
Christian
'Go ye into aUthe worid and preach the gospel to every creature' Mark 16:15
April 1994
Number 2
Volume 93
SIMS' NEWS
Zushi Church Dedicates Building
In the Zushi section of Machida City ml ""
(one of the 26 cities making up the west-
em half of Tokyo Metropolitan Area) for K
36years there has been a Christian Nurs-
ery School in which worship services
have been held every Lord's Day. After
the foimding preacher died some years
ago (his daughters still teach in the
school) Bro. Hideo Fukuda was asked to
become their preacher, and has been
serving in this part-time capacity while
continuing to support himself by teach-
ing English, publishinga monthly Bible-
study magazine, and a number of Bible-
study books. The membership has al
ways been small, but they are fmthful.
The same couldbesaidofmanyJapanese
churches.
Over a year ago the city offered to
help the Nursery School to relocate and
build a larger facility with larger play T
area, etc. So the church buildingwas left
there in a quite run-dovmcondition andwithout funds
fromthe school to keep it up. Meanwhile Bro. P\ikuda
was nearing retirement age. So he decided to vacate
his previous printing room and office and classroom,
andto quitthe major part ofhis Englishteachingwork
and concentrate on his writing and preaching at the
church. He made a sizeable contribution of his own
funds, andthe churchpeople were encouragedbythis
to give sacrificially, and they enlarged the previous
building to twice its size and renovated the whole
inside and out. Mr. Fukuda was able to move his off
set press and other equipment, his books, etc., to the
office part of the newplace and everyone is happythat
theycannowconcentrate onthe chiirchbusiness only
in the new building.
Since Bro. Fukuda has nowbecome free of his ties
to daily English classes, and has settled into the new
place andtype ofwork, andsince he has become 65, he
has decided to fulfill a life-long desire to make a brief
visit to the U.S. during the latter half of May and visit
2 life-longfriends whomhe has onlyknown previously
by letter and a few phone calls. Mrs. Reba Bledsoe, of
Phoenix, Arizona, started supporting him monthly as
a student of Tokyo Bible Seminaiy way back in the

1950s and continued corresponding with him, pray

ing for and encouraging him and sending occasional
financial gifts to him through various hospitaliza-
tions, struggles and changes. She is now in her
eighties, and he wants to visit her. The other close
friend is a Japanese Christian ladywho lives in Hilo,
Hawaii and has written music for a number of the
poems he has written and published in his magazine
over the years.
Fifth Sunday Rally
On Jan. 30 another Fifth SundayRally was held at
Mejirodai church, with 70 people horn 11 different
churches or preachingplaces attending. The speaker
was Prof. Nakano from Osaka Bible Seminary, whose
field is Church History. We ordered sandwiches and
had Japanese tangerines, home-made cookies and
green tea to go with the light meal. People enjoyed
visitingwith each otheras theyate invarious rooms of
the church building and the Sims' home.
Among the special guests were our son Daniel,
whowas inJapanonhis companybusiness at thetime,
andMrs. Hiroko ChesterfromNorwich, England. She
is a former member of Nakano church who began
working for an English Trading Company in Tokyo
and married an Englishmanwho met her there. They
now have 2 daughters in high school and operate a
dogfood production and sale business there. Shewas
inJapanto visit her aging and ailingmother who now
lives with another daughter.
Spring Youth Camp in Shinshu
At 9:10 a.m., Monday, March 28,1 left here with our
light vanloadedwith 3 g^tars, an overheadprojector,
some speakers andamplifiers (without whichmodem
young people cannot make music or even live), a
number of suitcases and 5 of our Jr. and Sr. High
Schoolers for the annual trip up to camp. It had been
quite cold during the previous week, but that day was
simny. We stopped at a small noodle shop on the way
that was reasonably priced and puts out 4 kinds of
countiy-style pickles to go with your bowl of noodles
at no extra charge (yeal) to enjoylimch, and arrived at
camp about 2:30 p.m. We had a total of 37 at the camp
this time - 13 of whom came from Mejirodai. There
were 7 churches represented, and a good mix of ages
from 12 to 19 or 20.
There were several things about the camp this
time that left a good Impression on me, and I will
concentrate onthose severed points this time because
we have often written about the spring vacation
weather, etc.
1. The theme was "Genesis Park," which had
some power to attract because of a recent movie,
"Jurassic Park," which some of themhad seen. All the
messages, classes, Bible dramas, etc., weretakenfrom
that first andbasic bookinthe Bible. For example, the
morning devotions went briefly through the life of
Joseph. This ideawas suggestedbysome ofthe young
preachers. The preacher for the evenings was Bro.
Evening service at camp (song service).
Kishimoto from Mejirodai, and other preachers had
the morning classes. Tim Turner was the director.
2. All of the planning was done by the yoimg
people and young preachers in a couple of churches
in our area during the winter, and it was very com
pletely done. Programs were printed and songs were
put on overheadprojector sheets. Most of theveteran,
college-aged people were assigned a definite job, and
they cooperated and did their parts well.
3. There were college students in every room
who had attended camps for 5 to 10 years. This camp
also had lees noise and running through halls, etc.,
late at night than any I have experienced so far.
4. Testimonieswere givenbyfellowyoung people
every evening that were listened to carefullybecause
they were near the same age.
5. The music was led by 6 of our Mejirodai young
people. Singo Tsuda, who hadjust completed his first
year at Osaka Bible Seminary, ledthe music and Otani
Tomoo (another college student and presently head
ingour young people's group) operatedthe overhead.
Three high schoolers played guitars and one girl
played the keyboard. I didn't knowshe coiild play at
all until that time.
6. My main part was driving the car up there and
back, and part of that included being part of the
caravan that took them over to an ice-skating rink 45
minutes' drive on the afternoon of the second dayand
again to a nearby hot-spring bath on the afternoon of
the third day. They all enjoyed these extra things,
which, of course, cost a little extra money. But, the
present generation seems to have an ample supply of
that kind of paper.
7. They had a different way of deciding the seat
ing during each meal in order to keep them from
always sitting together as the same group like they
tend to do. I have forgotten all of them, but they were
interesting and accomplished the purpose of helping
us get to know each other (e.g., birthday months,
blood types, sweater color, etc.)
8. Sometimeswe have trouble getting
enough kitchen help and getting happi-
ness and cooperation in that area, but this
time Mr. Taninari, who lives there all year,
was able to get young people from the
neighborhood who used to come to Sim-
day School when the Pattons still lived
p., there to help as a part-time job. Oneyoimg
lady from Machida church went for that
purpose. So, things worked out very well
and we had good healthful meals on time.
Tuesday morning we had snow flur-
ries, but it got steadilywarmer and for the
drive back home on Thursday, March 31,
wehadadelightfulspringaftemoon. Again
we stopped at the noodle place. The stu-
dents were tired and slept some of the way,
but they played various word games and
laughed much of the way home - another
indication that it was a good camp.
Above; Listening
to the message.
Eight: Mejirodai
youth leaders.
Standing, 1. to r.i
Tsuda Shingo, OBS
student; Kishimoto
Daiki, preacher; and
MinamiTomoo, high
school student.
Seated. 1. to r.:
Akioka Yohei,
employed first year
at Fuji Electric Co.
and Otani Tomoo,
University Sopho-
We are very thankful for the few churches who
continue to send some financial support for the camp
and remember us in prayer. The Japanese churches
are beginning to support the camp financially a little
more eachyear, but it still takes a lot of moneyto keep
it going and make necessary repairs.
Gifts from "Angels"?
On Sunday afternoon, March 27, a takyubin (UPS
inthe U.S.) truckstoppedinfront ofthe churchandthe
driver lugged a heavy cardboard box up the steps. It
was from a bookstore unknown to me and correctly
addressed to me. But, I didn't remember ordering
anything. Mr. Kishimoto helped me open it and we
were amazed to find 30 new Bibles in the newest
Japanese translation. The translationis a cooperative
workofProtestants and Catholics, andthe first suchin
theworld. It has a good reputation amongscholars for
the smooth flow of the Japanese language. We have
been reading from that translation of the Old Tester
ment at our prayer meetings for some months. Our
people say the O.T. is much easier to understand in
this translation.
Half of the Bibles enclosed were
the small size and halfwere medium,
but in either case, they are more ex
pensive than the ordinary Bible Soci
etytranslationthat was completed in
1954. The total retail cost of the 30
was somethingaround$800.00! There
was an unsigned note saying, "Please
use these." We do not knowwho gave
this most generous gift, but plan to
begin using these Bibles in our wor
ship services some months fromnow.
The next Saturday afternoon,
when2 of ourladles cameto cleanthe
church in preparation for Sunday
services, theyfound abaginthe closet
where we keep the cleaning tools,
toilet paper, etc. When they opened
it, they found 30 cloth book-covera
that someone had sewn for use with
thenewBibles! The generous "Anony
mous" again.
f| I News Notes
^9 Some people have asked us
wM about the BillyGraham[Mission 94]
I H which was held inTokyo Dome last
January 13-16. Lois and I attended
^ thefirstnightCourfirsttimetoseethe
inside of the place). Our church had
signed up as one of the 1,120 cooper
ating churches andwe used all of the
5 free "tickets" for the first 2 nights
and 10 for the weekend sessions, which were more
crowded. All of the services were broadcast at over 50
other locations inJapan bysatellite. The son of a good
fiiiend of o\u in California was one of the cameramen
for this and talked to us twice during his limited free
time.
The figures for attendance released bythe organi
zation gave in round numbers 15,000 the first night,
20,000 the second night, 43,000 the third night, and
40,000 for Sunday afternoon, plus a total for the 4
sessions of over 20,000 viewers by satellite. Over
12,000 signed decision cards, and it was noted that
more adult men made decisions than in the previous
2 crusades. It was good to see Billy Graham still
vigorously preaching at 75 years of age. The organiza
tion and publicity were first-class, as usual.
Paul Pratt returned to Japan for a little over 2
weeks in February to look at 3 different areas where
theymight locate andtryto get a newworkstarted. He
was ableto come on a frequent flyer bonus ticket inthe
off season.
When he and Kathleen left in March 1993, he was
having persistent headaches and she was down in the
back, so it was good to see him obviously well and
enthusiastic andhopeful about continuingevangelis
tic efforts here for a few more years. The months in
America seem to have refreshed him. We enjoyed
good, but brieffellowshipwithhimat oneofomr Tokyo
area missionary prayer meetings on February 28 at
the home of the David Coles.
Mr. andMrs. Nishiyamawho ministerwiththe
Sannobara Church in Isehaora, where the Paul Pratts
usedtobe, becameparents ofa sononMarch15. Their
first child was a girl.
The Sayama Church of Christ completed a
relocation and moved into a new church building at
anotherlocationinthesamecilyduringMarch. There
was a lot of trouble at the previous location about
ownership and title mid access for cars to the houses
and lots behind the church, so the city gave them
enough money for the move in return for their vacat
ingthe present location emd makinga settlement and
new development possible.
Two students graduated from Osaka Bible
SeminaryonMarch 25, and one newstudent beganin
April, with one other prospect for September - a
married man who must find housing for his family
and work to pay his way. There are now a total of 5
students, all men.
At theyearlymeetingoftheJapanEvangelical
MissionaryAssociation in February, a new"Mission"
was admitted as a member. It has 94 missionaries,
makingit the third largest Mission currentlyworking
in Japan. All of these missionaries are Koreans,
supported by the churches of Korea - a new sign of
howthe work is changing.
Coming Events
Manila Missionary Gathering
On April 16, Harold and Lois will leave Narita
Airport viaPakistanAir Lines for Manilato attendthe
first get-together of our Christian church missionar
ies in Asia. We and one other missionarywill be the
only ones representing Japan as far as we know, but
we are looking forward to meeting some of our co-
workers in some ofthese nations. We have never had
an opportunily to meet any of them except a fewwho
have stopped byto visit briefly inJapan on the wayto
or from the U.S. and some at missionary conventions
and rallies during furloughs in the U.S., so look for
ward to comparing e3q>eriences, problems, etc. Ma
nila is a good choice because of the central location
andthe cheap prices. We appreciate the initiatives and
workthe Philippinemissionaries have doneinprepara
tion. Our last visit was a i-daystop onthewayto Japan
way back in 1947, so we knowit is completely different
now. We plan to give a brief report in the next issue.
Pentecost Evangelistic Meeting
Inthe Christian Standard ofFebruary6, the retire
ment of Mr. and Mrs. Ray L. Jones, long-time minister
at HuberHeights, Ohio churchwas armoimced. About
that time we received a letter from him (a friend from
student days at CBS many years ago) saying they
wouldbe comingtoJapaninMayto visit their sonand
his wife who are working for a business concern here
in Tokyo on a 2-year contract, and, having a longtime
interest in mission fields and work, he would like to
see ourworkandiftherewas anywaytheymight be of
helpintheworkof Christ here, theywouldbe happyto
have that experience also.
So, after consultingwiththe local church here, we
have asked himto come for a short evangelistic meet
ing May 20-22 (Friday-Simday - Pentecost). I will
translate his messages into Japanese, which will be a
first-time experience for him.
Summer Conventions in Japan
This year our 45thAnnual Convention ofthe Japa
nese Christians will be hosted bythe Minato Chmch,
locatedinYokohama. It will be at Amagi Sansowhich
is a well-known Baptist Camp and Conference Ground
about 70 or 80 miles south of Tokyo in the moimtains
ofShizuokaPrefecture. It has a capacilyof350 people,
with a large Chapel and dining hall famous for large
and delicious food. The 20th Convention backin 1969
was held at the same place, with the same church
hosting, and the same chairman. (Mr. Kobayashi is
now 77 years old, and they recently celebrated their
40th wedding anniversary.) The dates are July 23-25
(Saturday-Monday). The weekend makes it easier for
laymento attend, andinthe summer, the camp sched
ule is quite full.
The missionaries will stay on i floor at the same
place and have their Convention Monday evening
through Wednesday morning, July 25-27. The mes
sages will be brought by the "sons of the pioneers" - 4
of our second-generation missionaries.
We would appreciate your prayers for God's bless
ing upon all of these events.
Mr. and Mrs. Stanl^ Buttiay (rettrmQ, RD. 2. Box 180, MoadviUo, PA
16335.
Mr. andMrs. AndrewFatten (retired), #6 Tanglewood, CartJunction, MO
84834.
Mr. and Mis. Harold Sims, 3-33-7 Mejirodai, Haohlojl-ahi, Tobyo 103
Japan. Forwardlnec Agent: Firet Church of Christ, 315 B. Orange Avenue,
Eustis, FL 327204194.
Two year donation$.50
Donation A FlamingTorch$1.00
Tokyo Christian (D8P8 778-3E0)
Publiehedfour times ayearinJanuary, April, J uly, andNovember for the
mlseionaiies of the Church of Christ, CunninghamMission, Tbhyo, Japan
by Mission Services Association, 7525 Hodges Ferry Road, Knozvllle, TN
379204731. Second Class postage paid at Knozvllle, TN 37001-2427.
POSTMAHTEK; Send address changes to Tokyo Christian, c/o MISSION
SERVICES ASSOCIATION, PO Boz 2427, KnozviUe, TN 37001-2427.
Before you move, please send the mailing label with a copy of your new address to
MISSION SERVICES ASSOCIATION, PO Boz 2427, Knozville, TN 37901-2427.
Form3579Requested, POBoz2427, KnozviUe, TN 37901-2427.
1313
Christian
'Go ye into aU the world and preach the gospel to every creature' Mark 16:15
Volume 93 July 1994 Number 3
=^=SIMS' NEWS ===
Our Asia Missionaries Gather in Manila
Our co-workers in the Philippines got the ideafor
a gathering of the missionaries representing our
churches inthe various countries ofAsia duringtheir
annual meeting a couple of years ago. They sent out
the invitations and information, arranged for a suit
able place, planned the program and worked hard to
make this first attempt at such a fellowship a real
joyful and educational experience for all who were
able to attend.
The Philippines was an ideal place for such a
meeting, because it is rather central inthe East Asian
world, and the cost of hotels and meals there is
cheaper than most other places in the present eco
nomic situation. Naturally, the largest number of
people were from the host country, but missionaries
from India, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan,
and a number of people from the United States also
attended. Even within the Philippines, different lan
guages are used in the different islands and areas, so
reports sound like they work in an entirely different
culture. There were a total of 91 people registered.
The meetingswere all heldat the Danarra Hotel in
Manila, and the dates were Mon., Apr. 18 through Fri.,
Apr. 22. This is the hot season in Manila, when the
Bible Seminazy and other schools are having their
vacations, so more local people were able to come.
These dates also immediatelyfol
lowed the Philippine national
yearly convention, which was
held in Baguio for several days,
ending Sun., Apr. 17, with anat- ^gjK^m
tendance of over 2,000. Those P^|ll
missionariesfromoutlyingareas |||^^ j'T*i 1
of the coimtry could just remain BF''
in the Manila area for both meet- B
ings and save travel expenses.
Lois and I were interested in ,
theideafromthestart, andbegan f
making plans to attend. Our g ^
travel agent suggested we might
go by Pakistan Airlines, which .
was $200 cheaper for the round kl I
trip than all of the other lines
with which we were more famil- r".,Jp 1
iar. Theyonlyflybetweenthetwo ^
cities on Tuesday and Saturday,
but 1was true to my upbringing I
and quickly decided to take the cheapest way. This
eliminatedoiir chance to attendpart ofthe Philippine
Convention, but it worked out all right in every other
way.
After arriving after dark on Saturday evening,
Apr. 16, we enjoyed staying that night with Jeannie
McElroy Hoffman who clearly remembered visiting
our home in Nakano many years before when they
stopped by on their way home for a furlough in the
U.S. The next morning she took us to the well-known
Cnizada St. Church for the Englishlanguage worship
service at 9 a.m. The senior minister and some
members were away at the Convention, but they still
had an attendance of 100 or more people at that
service, whichwe fully understoodand enjoyed. They
were quite shockedwhenI toldthemthat we hadbeen
to that church one time before - during October 1947
when on the way to Japan, and when we got there I
could remember the location at the end of a narrow
street off of one of the main streets of the city', even
though the building had been rebuilt in the interven-
ingyears. It is a large churchwith a full program, and
young people were taking registrations for camp in
the entrance hall. We were told that the total number
of our churches in that country is now about 1000.
That night we arrived at the hotel and were just
i'n
f-^orei PAVAA':
ABesslonoftheManU&MiBstonaiyMeeting. Loi88ims,Bett7TurDeraDd
tbe Rostvlt Twins. Third row from front &re Mr. and Mrs. MoKinney, who
planned the program.
Mib. Hale pitting the piano in MBS ChapeL
getting settled into our room when a bus arrived at
the front full of people who had been at Baguio
Convention.
The program consisted of 8 main sessions: the 5
evenings (Mon. -Fri.) andthe 3 mornings (Tues., Wed.
andFri.). Duringeveiyone ofthese therewas a report
giving information about the situation in one of the
missionfields represented. Eachdaytherewas some
thing dMerent and special planned for the after-
On Tuesday afternoon, most of us from other
countries got into some local missionaries' cars and
went out to visit Manila Bible Seminaiy. On the
spacious campus, we visited with veteran Mrs. Hale,
who is now91 years ofage, andsangaroundone ofthe
pianos as she played. Her eyes are too bad to read
music, and her fingers are bent with arthritis, but she
knows all of the hymns in the book anyway, and
enjoys playingwhen there is anyone to sing along. It
was good to see various rooms named for the Resto
rationMovement FHoneera, andthe substantial build
ings and good-sized chapel and classrooms.
Tha Btatua of Oaneral Douglas MaoArthur sayicg. *1shall return,* on
Corridor Island.
OnWednesdayafternoontheyhadseparate meet
ings for the men and ladies, and we also had time to
swim in the pool. Thursday we went to downtown
Manila rather early and took a boat out to the island
of Corregidor (90-minute ride one way) at the en
trance to Manila Bay. Lois and I probably enjoyed
this more than any others, because we remembered
that place from newspaper a half century ago. We
spent much of the day there on a guided tour. The
government has the place well-kept, and even recre
ates the smoke, noise and total atmosphere of the
hospital in the tunnel there when under attack.
Then on Friday afternoon we were part of a small
group who went to the American Cemeteiy and saw
the tombstone of Leslie Wolfe which is there along
with thousands of soldiers who gave their lives for
their countiy.
I should mention that most of the speakers were
from churches and Bible colleges in the U.S. who
have long supported the work in the Philippines and
hadbeentothe Conventionandholdingother special
meetings in various places. The Rostvlt Twins led
some ofthe singing, andwe enjoyedthose parts ofthe
program also.
We had to be at the airport before daylight on
Saturday morning, April 23, to get our flight back to
Japan. It was a good trip for us in eveiy way. It was
also decided to ask the missionaries in Taiwan to
planforanothersuchmeetingin 1996. Others attend
ing from Japan were Mrs. Betty Turner (formerly a
missionaxy there) and Bill Belew from Niigata (who
visited when in the U.S. Navy).
Pentecost Evangelistic Meeting
Earlier this year we were surprised to receive a
letter from Ray L. Jones, who had recently "retired"
(become part-time, visitation minister) in the church
at Huber Heights, Ohio. I remembered bim fromway
backin the immediate post WorldWar II days at CBS,
when I was in graduate school and he was in the
reg^ular college. He was one of the 3 young men with
the same name who were in the school at that time
and went out to do their various ministries for Christ
indifferent places. He saidthat, while theyhadnever
directly supported our work financially, they had
followed the news about us as theysupported others
in other fields. Now their son and his wife were
working in Tokyo with two different American com
panies on a 2-year contract, and had invited them to
come over and visit in May when the weather was
good and when they would have some time off from
work on several Japanese holidays that run close
together. Theywere eagerlylookingforward to their
first trip to this part oftheworld, but wouldlike to see
some of the workbeingdone bythe missionaries and
to do anything that might be possible to be of some
help. He also wrote to two others in Tokyo, and all
three of us arranged different times and ways for
them to visit us and see some of the work. Later his
son called from their apartment to confirmthe plans
and complete the details.
Soon after they arrived in Japan, the son and his
wife took Mr. and Mrs. Jones with them on a trip to
Beijing, China, where tiiey saw the great wall and
many other unforgettable things, llien on Sunday,
May 8, they were at the Machida Church, where he
preached and Tim Turner translated for him. An
other day they visited Mrs. Leone Cole in her home
and theAmerican Christian College nest door where
he spoke in chapel.
Here at Mejirodai we rather hastily planned a 3-
day evangelistic meeting for May 20-22 (Friday-Sun
day) and printed some handbills to advertise it. He
preached three sermons on discipleship: "What is a
Disciple?"; "The Cost ofDiscipleship,"and"TheBless
ings of Discipleship." I translated for him. Some of
our people could not come because of work or other
reasons, but we had 19 on Friday night, 13 on Satur
day night, and 24 on Sunday night.
Because the messages were a series, and he an
nounced each night the title for the next, we had 8 or
9 people who attended all three nights and really
enjoyed both the content and hearing both English
andJapanese. Infact, one middle-agedmanfromour
neighborhood who had only come to church a few
times previously for special programs, appeared on
Sunday night. He has been here to church every
Sunday morning since then. So prayers were an
swered and God was at work.
We enjoyed visiting and catching up on each
others' lives in our living-roomand around the table,
andwere surprisedat howmuchwe have incommon.
They also have 5 children - 2 girls and 3 boys, and
theiryoungest is also namedDan. Wewere delighted
that he was able to join us for the Saturday evening
service.
After the morningworship on Pentecost Sunday,
we had our traditional barbecue in the church yard,
with about 30 people present. The weatherwas ideal,
and it gave a good opportunityfor our people andthe
Joneses to get personally acquainted. Many of our
folks can carry on a simple conversation in English.
It was the first time in several years we had used
traditional charcoal for the barbecue, andit is a lot of
work for me to clean up the grill, etc., afterward, but
it proved to be immensely popular.
NaritarSan Baptized
About April a young man suddenly appeared at
churchoneLord's Daymorning, andsaidhe hadbeen
attending the Christian Students' Association meet
ings at the Chuo University in our city, where he is a
Sophomore. Asponsorofthegroup(ayoungpreacher
of some denomination) had suggested he attend the
services here, which is located much nearer to his
home than the church he had been attending some
times. The sponsor had known our Japanese minis
ter, Bro. Kishimoto, when they both belonged to the
same Association as college students. Since then he
hasbeenquiteregularinattendance, except at exami
nation times. And, for the past two months, he has
been coming to the church about one afternoon a
weekwhenhe has available time to studythe Bible in
more detail with the preacher. The preacher discov
ered he had some problems, both spiritual and per
sonal, and asked me to pray for him. He was afraid
that he felt that beingbaptizedwould be somekind of
magic ormedicinethatwouldinstantlysolveall ofhis
problems. But he eventually asked to be baptized.
So, onSunday, July3, hewas baptizedat Mejirodai
church. The sponsor ofthe Christian groupwho sent
him here, and three members of the group came to
wihiess file baptism and give him encouragement.
We have several people in our young peoples' group
about his age, andhopetheywill beofhelpto himmid
that he will be able to go to our camp and young
peoples' retreat in Aug^ust.
Fifth Sunday Rally in Isehara
Afterourworship services at Mejirodai onMay29,
12 people ate quick lunches and left in three cars for
the 90-minute trip down to Isehara inthe next prefec
ture to attend the 5th Simday Rally in the church
there. Bro. Nishiyama and the ladies there had pre
pared a good program and a variety of home-made
sandwiches, salads and desserts for an eveningmeal
that eveiyone enjoyed while visiting.
The speaker was Mr. Iguma, one of the elders of
the Minato church. He gave a vezy practical and
editying talk on the general subject of "Ministries"
with various real-life illustrations of how their local
church is coping with the semi-retirement of Bro.
StephenIfiima, the onlypreacherinthe 45-year life of
that church. For various health reasons, he has only
been preaching two Sundays of each month for the
past couple of years.
Mr. Iguma, who is a full-time teacher in a high
school, has been serving as an elder for some years
and has taken over most of the week-to-week func
tions of "pastor" - calling on the sick, gathering the
news and announcements and editing and printing
theweeklybulletin andkeepingintouchwith people
and events. Another, who works at management
level in a company, takes care of tiie musical part of
the churchwork, and a banker takes care offinancial
matters. They are all doing this as their service to
Christ, or "Ministry," and finding joy and spiritual
growth in dping it. This year they are carrying the
heavyload of work in preparation to host the aimual
convention in July. It was an encouragement to all
who were there.
Mr. Fukuda was there and we enjoyed hearing
about his recent triptoArizonaandHawaii tovisit old
friends, and his impressions of his first trip to the
United States. The weather was ideal, so we had a
nice ride home, with happy conversation in the back
seats about the people and events of the day.
News Notes
Jonathan Sims got his Master of Divinity Degree
from Cinciimati Christian Seminary in absentia on
May 14. It was sent to himbymail later. He also was
askedtoteachanEnglishBibleClass attheYokohama
YMCA every Saturday morning. A missionary from
Australia who had been teaching it had to return to
his home. There are about five adults in the class -
most non-Christians, but interestedinknowingwhat
the Bible teaches and full of difficult questions. He
also has several English classes intheir homes now.
He and Verla came to Mejirodai for the weekend of
June 26, and he was the giiest preacher here that
morning.
Karis Pratt, daughterofMarkandLynn, arrivedin
JapanonJime 10 to helpTimandLisaTurner intheir
work for one year as a sort of missionary internship.
She is living in an efficiency apartment near their
place in Machida,
A1 Hammond and his wife, Bev, are inJapan for a
little over 2 weeks dmdng their srunmer vacation
fromSanJose Bible College activities, visitingplaces
where he formerly worked and other places where
friends are.
Timand LisaTurner had a babyboyonJuly 1. He
was named "Spencer William" for his two grandfa
thers who bothmanagedtobe present inJapanonthe
great day. At our missionary prayer meeting at their
house June 17, the ladies had a shower for her.
Bob Syner and his wife, Masumi (nee Naka) are in
Japan for about 75 days this summer vacation, living
at and helping in the work of the camp. They were
married December 28,1993 inthe Palmyra Church of
Christ in Ohio. They had a modem-style Japanese
reception at a nice restaurant in her former home
town of Tokorozawa on the afternoon of June 25, so
her family, friends from her former working place
(YMCA), and the churches andcamp couldjoininthe
celebration. A videotape of the Ohio wedding was
played, various congratulation speeches were given,
some sang special songs, and all had a happy time
getting to know each other. "Modem style" means
therewere no gifts, but eachone paida fee whichtook
care ofthe costs ofthe food, place, etc. We are hoping
missionary work in Japan on a long-term basis is in
their future.
Summer Events to Pray For
The 45thAll-Japan Christian Convention. July23-
25, at Amagi Sanso, a Southem Baptist Conference
g^und in the middle of mountainous Izu Peninsula,
about 80 miles south ofTokyo. Expected attendance:
300+.
The Missionary Convention. July 25-27, at the
same place. Expected attendance: about 30. (There
are not as many missionaries as there used to be.)
The Middle, High School and College young
peoples' camp, August i-5, at ourShinshuBible Camp
in Nagano Prefectime, about 120 miles west of Tokyo
in the mountains. The 1998Winter Olympics will be
held in the same prefectiure, but a long distance from
our campground.
A retreat for Christian yoimg people who are in
college or working for training in Discipleship and
Christian living. August 14-16 in the Isehara church
building.
VacationBible School. August 22-24, inMejirodai
Church.
Mr. and Mn. Stanl^ Buttray (ratirBd), RD. 2, Box 180, Meadville, PA
16335.
Mr. andMrs. AndrewPatton (ratlted), #6 Tana^ewood, CailJanotton. MO
64834.
Mr. and Mia. Harold Sims, 3^7 Mejirodai, Haohloji-ehi, Tbbyo 103
Japan. ForwardingAgenb FirstChurohofdul^315E. OrangeAvenue,
EuBtiB.FL 32726-4104.
One year donation82.00
Tokyo Christian (CSPS 776-320)
Publishedfburtimea ayearinJanuary,i^ril, July, andNovemberforthe
miasioiurlea of the Church of Christ, Cunningham Mission, Tokyo, Japan
by Mission Services Association, 7525 Hodges Ferry Road, Knozville, 114
370260731. Second Class postage paid at KnoxvUle, TN 37001-2427.
POSTMASTER Send address changes to Tokyo Christian, iVo MISSION
SERVICES ASSOCIATION, PO Box 2427, KnoxvUle, TN 37001-2427.
Before you move, please send the mailing label with a copyof your newaddress to
hnSSION SERVICES ASSOCIATION, PO Box 2427, KnoxvUle, TN 37001-2427.
Form3579Requested, POBox2427, KnoxvUle, TN 37801-2427.
Tokyo Christian
Volume 93
"Co ye into oQ the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15
November 1994
= SIMS' NEWS =
45th All Japan Convention
Number 4
This time it was held on the weekend of July 23-25
(Sat. - Mon.) because 1) it was convenient for many
workingpeopleto attend, and2) it was the onlytimewhen
the entire facility would be available, and we had a
capacity crowd of over 300 attending. The place was
Amagi Sanso, a well-knownSouthernBaptist Conference
&Campground in the middle of mountainous Izu penin
sula, about 60 or more miles south of Tokyo that is often
booked 2 years ahead.
Exactly 25 years ago the 20th Convention was held at
this place. The same Minato Church of Christ served as
host, planning the program, publicity and making all of
the arrangements. Theyhadselected a capable banker to
be the chairman, but when his companytransferred bim
to Princeton, NJ, Mr. Kobayashi (77) who had been the
chairman 25 years ago, veiy ably served again.
The entire congregation worked hard and together.
Eveiyone who attended enjoyed the good fellowship and
spiritual and physical food in their own way. The large
number of younger families with small children present
was noticeable, and special short trips and other activi
ties were planned for the younger set. The large rtiTiing
roomwas packed at eachmeal with over 30 tables seating
10 people at each one. (Under one plate at each table was
a small green plastic tag meaning that the person at that
place was responsible for cleaning off the table after that
meal.) During each meal all the people attending from
one geographical area of Japan were introduced, which
made it imnecessaiyto take time forthat duringthe main
sessions.
Prof. Oda, from Osaka Bible Seminary, brought the 2
^meBsagei^
into separate
rooms for Harold Sima preaching at Japanese
classes" by the 24, i994.
various profes
sors of Osaka Bible Seminary on the subjects they teach
at the school.
Our Mejirodai church had the largest number attend
ing (28) since we hosted the 1988 Convention. We char
tered a small bus for that purpose. Lois and I went in our
car, taking the 3 members of the Hara family. Mrs. Hara
uses a wheelchair. The facility there is equipped for
disabled people, so she really enjoyed that first real
"outing" except for recent monthly trips to church since
her stroke almost 3 years ago.
Harold Sima preaching at Japanese
Convention, July 24,1994.
Mejirodai Church Group at 45th Convention.
Of course there was some reflection on
changes and growth that have taken place
duringthe 25 years since we last met there,
and there are varioiis kinds of problems
that arise in church life and work in any
time and place. But this year^gatheringof
our people has contributed greatly to our
present degree of unity, sense of identity
and spiritual growth.
The convention next yearwill be held in
Nagoya, centrally located in Japan. The
place will be the Hilton Hotel downtown,
which will cost almost twice as much for
each one as this year's and may force some-
whatofacutinattendance. Thehostchurch
will be West Side Church of Christ where
Makoto Yuse is the minister. His son works
at this hotel and was able to arrange a
discoimt for our convention if we use the
time August 18-20, which is a slack season
when manyJapanese go tovisit their ances
tral homes andgraves andfewtourists come
to Japan. Dining Hall at Amagi Sanso
1994 Missionary Convention
TheJapanese Conventionat Amagi Sanso endedwith
the noon meal on Monday, July 15. The Missionary
Convention began with registration that afternoon and
the evening meal and continued until Wednesday noon.
For some years nowwe have had the missionaiy conven
tion at a different time and place from the Japanese one
because the Japanese have tended to go to hotels in
lucent years - often too expensive for the missionaries
with families to attend. The Japanese also prefer week
ends when people can easily get off from work, but the
missionaries often have commitments at their local
churches on the weekends and can take off week days
more easily. Also, more and more missionaries are
takingsummer furloughs. But this year we felt that, with
the cheaper prices at the Baptist Conference Ground and
the savings realized by making only one convention trip
during the year, it would be wise to go backto the earlier
customof havingthe missionaries stayat the same place
for their meeting immediately following the Japanese
one. So, some months ago, I went out on a limb and
reserved space for 30 people with the Baptist place.
Earlier this year I wrote all of ourJapan missionaries
giving information about the planto have our meeting at
the same place right after the Japanese Convention, but
got a very small response. A second mailing brought a
few more commitments, and several definite explana
tions of why they could not attend at the planned time. I
worried some, but to make the stoiy short, we had a total
of 29 people present, including 3 children.
The 5 messages during the 2 days were all given by
the sons of our missionaries. David Colewas on furlough
in the U.S. at the time, but Walter Maxey spoke on
"Current Trends," Jonathan Sims on "Finances," Stephen
Fleenor on "Housing," Paul Clark on "Relations with
Japanese Co-workers," and Tim Turner on "Evangelistic
Methods." Each one has some practical e^erience in
these practical concerns of all missionaries, and all had
prepared very well. In January each year missionaries
meet at this Amagi Sanso for study and fellowship, and
always they have lively discussions after each address.
So we followed that format for the first time, andhadsome
veiy valuable and lively discussion periods, spiced with
some good humor.
There was a surprising number of young people at
this meeting Trent Maxey, Mark Christianson, Karis
Pratt, and Jeanette Christianson were all back from col
lege studies in the U.S. for the summer. So, we
I( quicklyarrangedto have all ofthemtake part inthe
programwithtestimonies, special music, etc., which
contributed a great deal to the fellowship and was
almost totally unplanned and spontaneous. We
evengot a special price on use ofthegymnasiumfor
some volleyball, which was appreciated greatly by
most of those under 40.
We had a hard time deciding on plans for next
year. Certainly no one felt like staying over at the
Hilton Hotel in Nagoya. So we decided to ask
Warren and Eileen Christiansonto make the plans
for a missionary convention next August after the
Japanese one is over at our Shinshu Bible Camp,
which is near their home and church in Nagano
Prefecture, August20-22. It was the first missionaiy
convention for Jonathan's wife, Verla, and another
missionary coiyyENTioN
CH\LfRCHES OF CHRIST
single lady who came to help the Lee Joneses in their
Hiroshimawork some months ago. A good time was had
by all, and we went back home to August tasks encour
aged.
had an operation to install a heart pacemaker (ultrar
modem U.S. made) in September, and was not expected
to be able to attend, so eveiyone was thankful to see him
there and looking so well and joking alongwith the rest.
Youth Camp in Shinshu, August 1-4 Vacation Bible School, August 22-24
The week following the conventions we went to the
regular summer camp, taking 7 of our yoimgpeople from
Mejirodai. This was fewer than the number in some
formeryears, but some ofthe older ones are nowworking,
and the Simday School is much smaller. I had lost my
voice on Sunday, July 31, but had no speaking part onthe
program and was content to just drive the group up there
and back, read and smUe and listen.
There was a total of 48 campem from a total of 11
different places, including some from the Osaka area.
There were also several Japanese preachers who also
served on the staff. Among these were 19 non-Christians
- some at camp for the first time. The main speaker was
Bro. Matsushita, who preaches at our church in Akashi,
which is south of Kobe and the home church of our camp
manager, Bro. Taninari. I was interested inthe things he
told about himself and his youth, as I had not known him
well previously. He had good soUd messages about
important things in life that were listened to by the
students. A survey was taken after the camp, and 7
answered theywanted to become Christian inthe future;
29 indicatedtheywould studythe Bible more; and20 said
theywould go to church in addition to giving opinions on
the food, music, worship, classes, and the trip we made to
a resort lake on the second day.
This summer Bill and Betty Turner were back in
Japan for about 10 weeks. They lived most of that time at
the camp, helpinginvarious ways in the work. Also, Bob
and Masumi Snyder lived at the camp for about 8 weeks.
He helped in varioim wa^ with upkeep and improve
ments on the grounds and she helped in the kitchen. He
is a student at Cincinnati Bible College, and this was his
second trip to Japan. In both trips he has worked at the
camp. We hope they will come here to do that on a long-
term basis in the future, but for now he still has two or
more years of study ahead of him at the Seminaiy. This
summer with these helpers, the kitchen and other work
at the camp went smoothly. We are thankful for the help
given, includingthe veteran camperswho servedas team
leaders, musicians, roomsupervisors, etc., makingfor an
active, happy time.
Senior Citizens' Camp, October 9-11
The last camp of eveiy season is for the older people.
This year was the 8th time for us. We had a total
attendance of 17, although some had to get backto Tokyo
for work and left before the end of the program. I guess
the average agewas aroimd 60. Inadditionto the planned
program, we all enjoyed sitting aroimd at night drinking
tea or coffee, eating cookies and talking and laughing
about various things.
This year Harold Sims gave 3 messages on an over
view of the book of Joshua, including maps of the con
quest, division of land, etc. Also, Mr. Kobayashi, an elder
of the Minato church, gave us 2 "rakugo" stories - a
Japanese art form of humorous stoiy-telling about old
times, with lessons about human life and foibles, etc. He
is very talented at that, and although I couldn't follow all
of the jokes, puns, etc., the others really enjoyed it.
Stephen lijima (73), the preacher at Minato church.
This year we had only 7 children enroll for our VBS,
but we had a good time with them, and they seemed to
enjoy very much the stories about Elijah. Lois got out
some flannelgraph
backgrounds and fig- is, i
ures and those who
told the stories
seemed to enjoy us- * " n
ing that method. It ^
got to be difficult to ^
frommessingaround J
making cra^ combi- ^^2*
nations when they
should have been do- ||k
ing other activities. W.
Severalyoungpeople -
helped, getting expe-
rience. Mrs. Fukuda telling about Elijah.
Evangelistic Meeting in Yokosuka
The second weekend in Ju^ a special evangelistic
meeting was held at Yokosuka Church. Some of our
young guitar-playing people from Mejirodai went down
to help with music and give testimonies. I am told they
had an attendance of 20, which is twice the usual at that
church, and included 7 new people who had previously
attendedonlythe Englishclasses taught bythe preacher,
Bro. Kensei Yokomizo.
Youth Retreat in Isehara,
August 14-16
About 25 young people from 4 or 5 churches gathered
during this mid-summer holiday time for messages and
Bible studies on spiritual growth. The speaker was a
young man who works with the nation-wide Christian
College StudentsAssociation, to which a number ofthose
attending belong or belonged when in college. The boys
slept in the church and the girls in the parsonage next
door. Theyprepared their own meals, which made it very
lowincost. Plans were made bythe local church preacher,
Bro. Nishiyama.
Minato Church Annual "Heads of
Households" Meeting,
September 25, 26
For twentyyears or more the Minato church has bad
an overnight fellowship and mutual encouragement
meetingfor the men of the church eveiyfall. Some years
ago they began inviting the wives also. This year was the
first time that the minister, Bro. Stephen lijima, was
unable to attend, so theycalledand speciallyurged me to
attendthis time. I had been 3 or 4 times before, but not for
several years. The meetingwas heldat a YMCAfacility at
the foot of Mt. Fuji, and the total attendance was 10 men
and 7 women. It got off to a good start with the news that
Bro. lijima had just been released from the hospital after
his pacemaker operation. He called and talked to most
of the people from his home that night after supper. We
had a good time talking together of many things, includ
ing the successful convention in July.
Sayama Church Dedicates Building,
October 22
There have been some problems connectedwith title
and property lines of land under the former church
building, so the city took a hand in helping find a new
location and financing the construction of a new build
ingfor the churchinthe same city. The newbuildingwas
completed some weeks before and dedicated on October
22. Many newpeople fromthat area have started coming
to the services already. Stephen Fleenor is the mission
ary there.
Mikawashima Church 70th
Anniversary
Back in the fall of 1924, Mr. W.D. Cunningham and
some zealous Koreanyoungmenstarteda Koreanchurch
intheMikawashima district ofTokyowheremanypeople
who had come from Korea to get jobs were living. This
was just 1 year after the great earthquake, and there was
a lot of discrimination and even persecution against
Korean people inthose difficult economic times. Ina few
years, Mr. Cunningham helped them to buy a piece of
land and erect a church building and establish a kinder
garten in it to help make the work self-supporting. Duj>
ing the war the building was destroyed and, for a time,
services were not held. Soon after the war, services
beganin the home of one ofthe former members whowas
also a kindergarten teacher. Harold and Lois Sims did
their first work in this home, and lived next door to this
Lee family ina small apartment they built for us for about
30 months (1948-1950). Duringthis time a simple church
building was constructed, and Harold preached with a
Korean interpreter in the morning service and a Japa
nese interpreter at night.
In the 1060s, the church affiliated with a Korean
Church, and they changed the name to Korean Jesus
Evangelical Church and became interdenominational.
But at these anniversary times, they always ask us to
come and give greetings, andgratefullyacknowledge the
beginnings of the church and the post-war restart. They
built a newbuildingin 1970, which is well over twice the
size of the one we built in 1948. The church seems to be
growing.
There was a weekend evangelistic meeting with a
visiting preacher from Korea, but we were able to attend
just the special annivereaiy ceremony on Sunday aftei>
noon, October 16. We only recognized a few of the older
members who can remember 40 years back, but it was a
real mutual joyto see those old friends again - especially
2 boys I baptized serving as elders now. There was a very
good crowd of well over 200 people present for the occa^
sion, including a number of preachers from the area
representing different groups. Both the present minister
and the younger assistant have visited in our home, and
theyare friendly to us ajid zealous for Christ's churchand
its work.
Harold Sims Celebrates 70th
Birthday
In Japanese language this birthday is called "kohki,"
2 Chinese ideographs which would literally translate as
"old& rare." This comes fromway backwhen the average
life span was about 50 and this milestone was seldom
reached. The word is now becoming obsolete, because
the Japanese average age at death is 79 for men and 84 for
women. But anyway, it is an occasionfor celebration and
reflection. My celebrationwas spread out over a periodof
about 3 wee!^, if you count from the first to last card
received. People always remember that I like grapes and
they are right in season at that time of year and always
enjoyed. Jon and Verla came up from Yokohama with
some interesting little presents a few days ahead of time,
andstayedfor anovernight visit. Mrs. Okadahadher 93rd
birthday in the hospital the day before mine, so we went
tovisit her andwere amazed that she could read the hand
written greetings that many of the church people had
written on 2 cards without glasses or assistance. The
church had a carry-in lunch on Sunday, September 25,
and each one of the 35 or so present, including small
children, made a small speech of congratulations. Of
course, there was a cake. A group of ladies took us to a
Japanese restaurant for lunch on the day - the 27th. I
certainly have much to be thankful for.
Mr. and Mra. Stanley Buttray (retired}, R.D. 2, Box 180, Meadville, PA
1633S.
Mr. and Mm. AndrewPatton (retired), *6 Tanglewood, Carl Junction, MO
64834.
Mr. and Mm. Harold Sima, 3-3^7 Mejirodai, Haohioji-shi, Tokyo 193
Japan. Forwarding A^nt: FimtChurohofCkriBt.319E. Orange Avenue,
Euetis.FL 3272^4104.
One year donation$2.00
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