Christian

"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15
VOLUME 86
CHRISTMAS 1986
We have just completed our 16th
Christmas season at Mejirodai. Each one
is different, of course, though there is much
sameness in the message, spirit and Joy of
the celebration of the first coming of the
Lord Jesus to this earth. We always find
many things that make us happy and keep
me saying, "This must be Christmas."
1. One thing is the good attendance at
church. On Sunday December 21 we had
48 adults and 15 children in our worship.
This should be compared with our average
for the year of 27 adults and 3 children, and
not with the attendance at many churches
in the United States.
2. Another thing is the good spirit of our
church members and some neighbors and
other visitors in the various meetings. We
always have lunch together and then a
musical program and gift exchange in the
afternoon following the Christmas Wor
ship, and every year most of those present
participate in this. Notable this year was
the first appearance of our local church
"band" of several Jr. and Sr. High School
students playing guitars, cello,
synthesizers, etc. They spent most of the
cold rainy afternoon of December 18
practicing here. Also Lois sang a Japanese
song accompanied by a "koto" (a classical
Japanese stringed instrument) played by
one of her English Class ladies.
3. Each year we hope to make some new
contacts and have some first-time visitors
at church during this season. At the
Christmas Party of Lois' Friday AM
neighborhood housewives English Con
versation Class on December 12, Mrs.
Konno, who is not a Christian and has
only been in church twiceat the Christ
mas Eve Candle Services in '84 and '85
but was in charge of the committee plan
ning this particular party, made a little
speech urging all of them to attend the
church on Christmas Eve in order to get
the real meaning and atmosphere of the
event. "It is very nice," she said. Respond
ing to this unexpected "evangelism" from
one of their own, 2 of those ladies came to
church for the first time in their lives and
brought 3 children with them. Also, some
others of the class who had been in church
before, but not regularly, came. So,
although we had only about half of our
regular members present, we were thrilled
to have many visitors, filling the small
chapel with 49 adults and 6 children. As I
JANUARY 1987
SIMS' NEWS
looked down on all those candle-lit faces
singing earnestly the long rolls of "Gloria
in excelsis Deo," I ventured to think that
our Father in Heaven was also pleased to
see and hear that.
4. Although the whole Orient is always
busy at this time of the year finishing up
projects, settling debts, house-cleaning,
partying, buying and delivering gifts, etc.,
in preparation for the beginning of a new
year, we almost always have an old friend
come to visit us after being reminded ofour
existence from the yearly family
newsletter. This year it was Nobu Ibaraki,
a former member at the Nakano church
whom we had not seen face to face for 23
yearsshe remembered. 1986 had been a
hard year for this working lady who lives
by herself in the old family home near
Nakano Station. She had a breast
removed in the fall and was still going for
weekly chemotherapy treatments for
cancer, and needed comfort, friendship
and revival of a long-faded faith. We spent
a mutually profitable afternoon together,
and she wrote a nice letter to us after
getting back home from her trip out here to
see us.
5. This time the totally new and
different experience was a trip to the U.S.
Marine base, "Camp Fuji." Some months
ago we received the name and address of a
Major Knorr, who is stationed there, from
the Christian Military Fellowship. We
wrote him, giving our telephone number
and information about how to get to our
house, and one day in the fall he came
to our house for a visit as he was on the way
to Yokota Air Base on business. He said
their detachment was too small to have a
Chaplain, and asked if I could possibly go
to the base and conduct a service for them
NUMBER 1
during the Christmas season. So we
arranged to go up and have a worship
service from 2:00 to 3:00 PM on Christmas
Eve, giving us time to get back here for the
planned Candle Service. It was a
beautiful, clear day, and the sunshine re
flecting from the glistening white cap of
Mt. Fuji was almost blinding, so Lois and I
enjoyed the 2 hours of driving each way a
lot and were happy to be of some small en
couragement to our service men through
Lois' special solo, my message and our
singing and talking together on that after
noon.
6. It has become a strong tradition here
to have our Sunday School Christmas Pro
gram on Christmas Day in the evening.
The Japanese elementary schools all begin
their winter vacation at noon that day, so
nobody is away on a trip yet, there is no
school tomorrow and everybody is in the
mood. This year we had the theme: "We
have seen His Star in the East, and have
come to worship Him." Our primary de
partment play featured 3 third grade girl
"wise men" (best attendance) who worked
very hard and memorized their rather long
parts well ahead of time. On that occasion
we give the yearly attendance awards and
there is always intense interest and com
petition to get the 3 top prizes, which
include "medals" like in the Olympics. We
had 49 children, 13 mothers and fathers, 3
older sisters and 6 teachers here for that.
Part of the audience at Mejirodai Sunday School
Chrietmas Program Decem^r 25.
Outside the chapel at U.S. Marine Camp Fuji on Primary Class play. The 5 wise men come before
Christmas Eve. Herod.
7. Another solid tradition is a phone call
after the Sunday School program to all of
our children in the United States (Christ
mas morning there). This is always the cli
max and finale.
8. I neglected to mention the many
Christmas cards and letters from friends.
This is certainly one of the delights of the
season. We usually read them aloud, and
save them. Several of our J apanese friends
gave me chocolate, which they know I like,
but they always took the trouble to add a
word ofcaution about eating too much ofit.
One man, who used to come here to church
but now attends and is employed else
where, stopped by on Christmas day with
some beef a friend of his had gotten from
the PXat his special request. He wanted us
to eat well in this high yen year. And we
did. "Harold Sims
FIFTH-SUNDAY
RALLY
On Sunday afternoon, November 30, 52
people from about 10 different congrega
tions in the greater Tokyo area gathered at
the Sakurayama church. The program
this time consisted of a 5 minute testimony
or talk by one member from each church,
and there was much variety and interest in
the various short messages. Mrs. Morita
was the representative of Mejirodai, and
she told about how she got the funds for
making the once-in-a-lifetime trip to the
Holy Land. Her daughter had taken a
cheap insurance policy to help a young life
insurance salesman 25 years before. The
daughter gave it up after some months, but
the mother took it over rather than waste
what was already paid, and it wasn't much
each month. But now it is going to mature
just in time to make this trip possible.
From Mejirodai we took our 3 oldest
members and one young man. Just as we
were getting ready to leave the phone rang,
and our son Robert was calling from Cin
cinnati to inform us of the birth of his baby
daughter (our 9th grandchild), November
29. The ladies here had all been praying for
a girl, and were very happy as we got into
the car for the trip to town, and of course,
we were too.
The small congregation there had
planned well, and for the evening meal
they served everyone out of 2 large pots of
"oden"one of the favorite stews here in
Japan for cold weather. Not only is it
served hot, but you eat it with very hot
mustard on the side. , ,
"Harold Sims
YURI KARA
BAPTIZED
The Hara family lives near a station on
the Keio Railroad line about 20 minutes in
toward downtown from Mejirodai. We
have known them for over 30 years, and
they have been Christians a little longer
than that. Both husband and wife work,
and they were very infrequent in attend-
ance-usually 2 or 3 times a year. So we
were somewhat surprised to find them
attending almost every Sunday when we
returned from the U.S. last fall. Their
daughter is now in the first year of college,
and when not busy with something at
school she was usually with them. One
morning as they were leaving church the
father told me that it was really the
daughter who was urging them to come to
church, because she was genuinely inter
ested. After some weeks she said she would
like to be baptized at Christmas, which
was very fine with us. We made all prepa
rations, but that morning the father and
mother called with apologies that she had
a bad cold and fever and would not be able
to come that day. But the next Sunday she
came and was baptized into Christ. Her
decision has revitalized the whole family's
faith and devotion and joy and we are
rejoicing with them.
"Harold Sims
HOLY LAND
TRIP PLANNED
Some members of the Minato Church
have been planning for years to make a
trip to the Holy Land. Finally this year the
oldest member askedthe men to hurry with
planning so she would be able to go before
she died. So after considering that with the
present high value of the yen, and the off
season discounts available in the winter,
this might be the best time to go, the church
made some plans and contacted a travel
agency. Everyone was surprised when 38
people from several different churches in
the Tokyo area signed up to go. Harold and
Jonathan Sims are going, and 4 ladies
from the Mejirodai church are also on the
list. A report of the trip will be in the next
Tokyo Christian. We will be away for only
the week of Frebruary 12-19.
"Harold Sims
MINATO CHURCH
MEETING
Every year the men of Minato Church go
to some inn together to spend one night in
fellowship, study, prayer and talk.
Through this they have grown in Christ
and in bonds oflove for one another and for
their families and the church family. I
have been invited to join them several
times over the past years, and enjoyed the
experience every time. This year was the
20th year, so they invited wives and people
from other churches to join them for
Sunday afternoon and evening, October
mvm
nn
Harold and Lois Sims and Stephen lijima in a
Japanese hotel.
26, and part of Monday. The place was a
nice Japanese hot-spring hotel near the
resort town of Hakone, about 2 hours from
Tokyo. It was owned by the private
schools' association of Japan, and one
man from the Minato Church who belongs
to that was able to get the use of it at a
reasonable price for us. Lois and I joined
over 30 other folks for a wonderful few
hours of teaching, talking, lolling in real
hot-springs and eating.
"Harold Sims
COMBINED
SERVICE
For the past 3 years the Minato Church
has invited sister churches to come there
for a final worship and fellowship as the
year closes. This year the service was from
4:00 to 6:00 PM on Sunday, December 28,
with a church full of people. Messages
were brough by Yukio Itagaki, Minister of
Nakano Church and Harold Sims. A
special musical number was given by a
double quartet from Minato, singing a
song with words written by Stepehn lijima
and music by the church organist there. I
believe this was the first public
performance ofthat particular song. There
is a group of at least 3 to 5 songs now in
existence written by this same
combination. -Harold Sims
m I!'"'
Mixed quartet singing new song written by Minato
minister and organist.
ECONOMY
MARRIAGE
On November 24 Harold Sims performed
the ceremony and Lois played the organ
for a beautiful wedding in Mejirodai
Church. The meeting of the bride and
(L to R) Bride to be, Mrs. Kakizawa, Mr. K., and Lois
Sims in living room at Mejirodai.
groom and all things connected with the
ceremony were arranged by Mr. and Mrs.
Kakizawa. She is a long-time member
here, and he attends quite often but is not a
Christian yet. The Kakizawas and the
young couple and their families didn't
want one of the expensive weddings that
Japan has now become famous for, so we
met with them and made all arrangements
for a nice meaningful ceremony and re
ception and everyone was very happy with
the results. We are in hopes that the couple
will begin attending here, although they
will be living some distance away.
"Harold Sims
PATTONS' NEWS
CAMP COUNSELLORS'
MEETING
Each year following the completion of
the camp season a meeting of the counsel
lors of Shinshu Bible Camp is called. This
is for the purpose of reviewing the
activities of the past season, the making of
a schedule for proposed activities of the
following camp season, and the discussion
of the counsellors' suggestions for
improvements for the camp.
"The 1986 Counsellors' meeting was held
at the home of Harold and Lois Sims in
Hachioji on November 29th. The following
counsellors were present: Harold and Lois
Sims, Jonathan Sims, Satoru Taninari,
Leone Cole, Paul Pratt, Masahisa lijima,
Teruhiko Kanamura and Betty and
Andrew Patton. Three of the counsellors
were absent due to other commitments.
The discussions were interrupted at noon
so that we could have lunch together at a
local restaurant and were resumed upon
our return to the home of the Simses.
After the opening prayer in the morning
session, a general discussion took place
after the reading of a list of the special proj
ects completed during the past year at the
camp. The following items of new equip
ment were added during the year: a new
hot water heater, a Casio electric keyboard
(which can be used either as an organ or a
piano), and two metal slat Venetian blinds
to solve the sun problem in the assembly
hall and in the dining room. The water
heater was replaced in the spring but the
new one broke down after 43 days of use.
Another one was installed at the maker's
and plumber's expense. A too powerful
pump was given as the reason for the
breakdown but the same pump had been
used with the first boiler for 6 years with no
problems! We now hope we have that
problem solved, but are not sure how long
the new boiler will last. While the new
boiler was being ordered and installed the
camp had to bear the expense of baths for
the campers at a local hot spring.
The following projects were completed
during the summer: wood on the large
veranda at the camp building, at the
pavilion and the seats at the vespers' area
were creosoted; a large portion of the camp
boundary line was cleared of brush; large
pieces of the hillside surrounding the camp
building were cleared of brush and stumps
and that area was seeded with grass; the
outside steps to both entrances to the camp
building were repaired, and a lot of the
remainder of the camp grounds was
mowed with a weed and bush cutter.
As for finances, excepting the camp
property tax paid to the local town govern
ment (this is paid by our "Zaidan"), and for
the funds from the Patton Mission which
pays part of Mr. Taninari's salary and
subsidizes special projects, our camp books
balanced registering only slightly in the
black. The fact that Philip and Stephen
Patton, who were visiting their parents,
worked for about 3 months without remun
eration from the camp helped to make that
possible.
The dates set for our camps for the 1987
season are as follows:
SPRING CAMP, March 25-28, Mr.
Taninari, Dean; GOLDEN WEEK,
May 3-5, Preachers of the Kanto area
are in charge; WORK CAMP, July 13-
24, Andrew Patton, Dean; JR./SR.
HIGH, UNIVERSITY/SINGLES
(Juku (jamp), July 29-Aug.l, Mr. Sims,
Mr. Itagaki, Deans; SENIOR CITI
ZENS' CAMP, Sept. 14-16, Mr. lijima,
Dean.
The Golden Week Camp is to be a
combined family camp and camp for the
unmarried person with programs designed
for both. So is the Seinen-Shukudai Camp
when youth from Jr. High to University
ages are invited. During the rest of the
camp season the camp facilities will be
rented to other church groups. Even
during these rental camps the kitchen and
camp facilities will be operated and main
tained by our camp staff.
We rejoice over the accomplishments
and victories ofthe 1986 camp year and are
anticipating a fruitful and successful camp
season in 1987. . ,
"Andrew Patton
Present at camp meeting: Lois Sims, Mr. Taninari,
Leone Cole, Harold Sims, Betty Patton. Paul Pratt,
Stephen lijima, Mr. Kanamura and Andrew Patton.
were in December 1986. The teaching staff
was secured, menu made, decorations
purchased, crafts cut from wood, invita
tions made to give out to the neighbors
inviting them to the services on the 25th,
27th and 28th to be with the campers,
cookies baked and loom made Christmas
trees of yarn to be presented to each house
hold in the area on the 21st preceding camp
and the promise of at least 10 campers plus
workers and faculty.
As the deadline for registrations drew to
a close on the 18th, the camp was still
scheduled. Then came the cancellations
one by one and two by two. Due to this, on
December 20th late in the evening we
cancelled the camp and all were notified by
Sunday morning of the fact. This was a
huge disappointment.
In spite of this, after church service here
at the camp house on the 21st, Mr.
Taninari and Betty readied the
invitations, cookies, and gifts for the 20
homes that were visited that afternoon.
The people were all invited to the 3 pro
grams as was scheduled, EXCEPTit would
be at the camp house, the home of the
Pattons.
Having prepared the camp house for
guests by moving out extra furniture and
cleaning well, we opened our doors for 28
on the night of the 25th. Some were the
young people that we had as pre-schoolers
in our Saturday Bible class. Now they are
3rd graders. Some who were 3rd graders
are now 6th graders and etc. Two grand
mothers who have never missed one of the
Christmas programs were in attendance
also.
After carols were sung, the video tape of
the Nativity was shone followed by Mr.
Taninari's message. We continue to pray
for these who have heard but yet have not
received the Lord as their Saviour. Again
it was a great time for evangelism. We
were grateful that we could spend more
time with each one this Christmas nightas
we didn't have the responsibility of the
campers' program too.
All had been invited for the night of the
27th too, as we had scheduled to show at
the camp the new Moody-Science film,
"Journey of Life." Ten were present for the
showing at the camp house.
Worship hour for the regular camp had
been set for 10:00 a.m. on the 28th. The in
vitations to the area people also made note
of this. Consequently, we had 13 for
CANCELLED, but. . .
Perhaps we had never been more and ---M
better prepared for the annual Christmas Present at the camp house Christmas program
Camp at Shinshu Bible Camp than we December 25th.
worship service that a.m. How blessed we
all were to fellowship together with the
morning message brought by Mr.
Taninari.
At the last meeting of the year, we
encouraged all to be present January 4 for
the first meeting of the new year. Five had
promised that they could be present. But
the schools scheduled a lecture meeting in
another city for that very day. Only 2 of
the 5 were able to come. However, we had9
in attendance. Andrew preached on Luke
15. This has been a new start again for us.
We pray that we can pursue it with good
results. After January 8 the schools will be
back to their regular scheduled programs
and we will just have to work around them
and take advantage of every opportunity
available to teach and lead these young
ones in the paths of righteousness.
-Betty Patton
NEWS ITEMS
We wrote about our sons being here for
the summer to help in the camp work. They
are now living in Edmond, Oklahoma.
Since returning, Philip had an emergency
gall bladder operation Thanksgiving
night. More than 15 stones were removed.
He had had some pain while here in Japan,
but postponed the operation until he re
turned to America. The insurance that
Betty had taken out on the boys during the
summer covered the cost of medical at
tention here in Japan and will cover the
$6,600 medical bill in the U.S. Since the
boys yet have found no work, they have
had no insurance since leaving the Navy.
So we're thankful for traveler's insurance
that's available in times like these.
The Pattons were able to go to Tokyo on
Friday, November 28th, to have a turkey
Thanksgiving dinner with the other
missionaries. The meeting was held at
Julius and Virginia Fleenors' home. That
Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Buttray (retired). For
warding Agent: Mrs. Lois Hessler, PO Box 287,
Meadville. PA 16335.
Mr. and Mrs. AndrewPatton, 571-1 Innaihara,
Mochizuki Shi, Kitasaku Gun, Nagano Ken,
Japan 384-22. Forwarding Agent: Mr. and Mrs.
G. Wade Fletcher,321 N. Hannah St.,RushviIle,
IN 46173-1739.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims, 3-33-7 Mejirodai,
Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 193 Japan. Forwarding
Agent: First Church of Christ, 315 E. Orange
Ave., Eustis, FL 32726-4194.
Two year subscription
Subscription and Flaming Torch
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$1.00
Tokyo Christian
(No. 776-320)
Published four times a year in January, April,
July, and November for the missionaries of the
Church of Christ, Cunningham Mission, Tokyo,
Japan by Mission Services, 7525 Hodges Ferry
Road, Knoxville, TN 37920-9731. Second Class
postage paid at Knoxville, TN 37901-2427.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
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Box 2427, Knoxville, TN 37901-2427.
night they spent in Tokyo with Leone Cole.
The next morning the 3 of them boarded
the train and went to the Harold Sims'
home for the annual Shinshu Bible camp
meeting. The Pattons remained at the
Sims' home and attended worship services
at the Mejirodai church. At 3:00 p.m. we
were in attendance at Sakurayama church
in Tokyo for the 5th Sunday Rally of all of
the churches. We remained overnight with
Mrs. Cole and helped with some repair
work at the house (our former home).
We want to thank all of you who
remembered us in special ways during the
holiday seasonmagazine subscriptions,
cards, letters, gifts, monetary gifts and
prayers. Our fireplace mantel and small
window were lavishly decorated with
cards. Those who came to the programs
admired them so much, too.
January 1 the Pattons were invited to a
traditional Japanese meal, sitting on the
fioor at the Taninaris' home. It was an
occasion to be remembered.
Mr. Fukushima and his bride-to-be
stopped by on the second of January to say
hello. Mr. Fukushima helped many
summers here at the camp during work
weeks.
During the Japanese holidays several
people visited the camp. Junko, Mrs.
Taninari's sister, came up from Tokyo
after her kindergarten duties were fin
ished and remained with us until January.
6 th.
We thank her for her help with the work
and also with shoveling snow a couple of
times.
Mr. Taninari and Andrew paid their
"hello" greeting to all the farmers of the
local area at the traditional meeting at
10:00 a.m. on January first. They
remained at the meeting just for a short
time as the remainder of the program
mainly consisted of drinking and pouring
drinks for each other.
We're glad to have Bill and Betty Turner
back in the Tokyo area to work as of
January first. TTiey have been faithful
workers and backers of the Shinshu Bible
camp since its very beginningeven the
ground breaking service.
A Japanese-English word processor has
been purchased by the camp. It will great
ly help us with the advertising of the camp
as the size of Japanese Characters and
different kinds of writing and designs it
can do are many. We were able to purchase
it at one third the original cost. Mr.
Taninari and Betty will be designing the
1987 camp schedule brochure to be sent out
within the month of January.
On January 7, 1987, Andrew celebrated
his 39th year in Japan, arriving 6 weeks
after the Harold Sims family who arrived
in November 1947. May God give us a few
more years of service here in Japan.
-Betty Patton
c
Befoie you move, please send the mailing label below, along with a copy ot your new address to
MISSION SERVICES ASSOCIATION. PO Bo* 2427. Knoxville. TN 37901-2427
Form 3579 Requested, PO Box 2427, Knoxville, Tennessee 37901-2427.
Christian
"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15
VOLUME 86
PATTONS' NEWS
The group of young people from Mejirodai Church
who attended the camp. In the background is the
soft-ball field and beyond that the mountains,
SPRING CAMP
Although temperatures betrayed the
name of"Spring Camp" this year18 to 25
degrees in the morningsit was the first
time since we Fattens came to the camp
that there wasn't a patch of snow some
where on the campgrounds during Spring
Camp. The low temperatures prevented us
from turning on the water supply until the
morning ofMarch 25, the first day ofcamp.
The plumber had been summoned to come
and check the operation of the water boiler
that day. He announced it o.k. but fixed 3
other leaks in the other areas.
We were enthused before camp began as
22 campers had signed up before the
deadline date. Of these, six were "first-
timers" at Shinshu Bible Camp and
received the promised discount offered by
the Fattens. Some of these had been wait
ing impatiently to graduate into Jr. Hi and
be eligible to come to the camps. Two girls
from our local area came to camp for 1 day
only. Also a young boy from Mrs.
Christiansen's English class signed up for
1 day but remained until the end of camp.
So a total of 25 campers were in
attendance.
Dean, Mr. Taninari, chose Isaiah 40:8 as
the theme for the 3 day camp. He was as
sisted by Bill and Betty Turner, Harold
Sims and Andrew. Also, 2 college students
helped with some of the other responsi
bilities of the camp program. Junko
Fukayama, who is a sister of Mrs. Taninari
and a Christian kindergarten teacher,
once again offered her services in the
kitchen along with Betty Fatton.
APRIL 1987
The 3 High School students who rode their bicycles
from Hachioji City to the Camp and back (173
kilometers each way).
There were several "firsts" at the camp
for different ones. Three boys from Harold
Sims' church decided to ride bicycles to
camp and back home, a distance of 173 KM
each way. They endured 13 hours of cy
cling against March's strongest winds to
arrive at camp 2 hours before dinner. The
return trip to Tokyo only took 10 hours and
was full of pleasant memories. Another
young man from Sims' church had cycled
to camp several times before, but he pre
ferred coming by train this year with a
special friend!
Another first was the nailing together of
12 "pre-fab" bird houses that Andrew had
cut out for an afternoon's project. Due to
the cold weather, the work was completed
in the basement of the camp house. The
next day the campers went into the wooded
areas and put the houses up for the new
winged dwellers that are steadily arriving
on the scene with spring. Ferhaps some
birds will still prefer "do-it-yourself nests.
During camp, Betty experienced baking
applesauce muffins and homemade
biscuits for the group. The biscuits were for
turkey a la king. It was also a first for the
campers. All 80 biscuits and 80 muffins
were consumed without hesitation.
A contest between the teams put together
2 five hundred piece jigsaws in a very short
time. Next time we hope to get 2 one
thousand piece puzzles put together in
record time.
Mr. and Mrs. Taninari and their 2 boys. He is the
camp manager.
NUMBER 2
The Friday evening hike was the high
light for some ofthe campers. Mr. Taninari
led the campers to a higher and more open
space to view the starry heavens, constel
lations, planets, etc.all of God's creation
for us. The studies of the heavenly bodies is
taught in great detail in the schools, but no
mention of God the Creator accompanies
the teachings. The campers were delighted
to see so many heavenly bodies that they
could name standing in one small spot on
the earth. Ferhaps night hikes enlivened
with references to scriptural events
brought to mind by the scenery will be
come a part of the camp program in the
future.
Bill and Betty Turner's 2.5th wedding anniversary
at Shinshu Bible Camp.
We're always happy to celebrate special
occasions at camp time. Usually it is a
birthday or spiritual birthday of one of the
campers. This time we all celebrated Bill
and Betty Turner's 25th wedding anniver
sary on the first evening of camp. Betty
Fatton made angel food cakes, straw
berries and cream and punch for the
occasion. A picture drawn by Mr. Taninari
was signed by all that were present during
camp and presented to the Turners. Bill
and Betty were present at the camp
ground-breaking ceremony in 1979 and
have continued to be staunch supporters of
the camp along with their 3 grown children
who have worked in the ensuing summers.
This year we are looking forward to Steve
Turner's coming to help out in the camp
work. Tim and his wife will be coming to
Japan as missionaries in a year or two.
We thank Stanley and Mabel Buttray for
sending boxes containing Jell-0, cake
mixes. Calumet baking powder and soda,
Fam and goodie-goodies for camp. The
campers enjoyed the lollipops especially.
Also, the Parman Hills church women sent
a camp box ofcake mixes and Jell-O. These
small things all make camp work lighter
and menus better at camp.
We are looking forward to the Golden
Week camp program. Due to a misunder-
standing of the dean for the camp, adver
tising is being put out a little late. The
theme for the camp is "AChristian Home,"
especially adapted for those of
marriageable age. Also, the "Christian
Home" will be dealt with for the families
attending.
The group at Spring Camp. The snow-capped Japan
Alps can be seen in the background.
Please continue to pray for the camp
work and the leaders. We're trying hard to
interest more people to come to camp and to
get more to see the true spiritual value of a
Christian camp program. The Mejirodai
church has benefitted greatly from the
camp program here at Shinshu Bible
Camp. The campers, along with Harold
and Lois Sims, make an all out effort to be
present at 2 or 3 of the yearly scheduled
programs. We feel camp is a necessity for
spiritual growth among our churches as it
brings the Word of God to the hearts of the
campers.
INNAICHURCH
SERVICES
Until warmer weather, perhaps May
10th, the Sunday worship services will
continue to be held at the camp house
before moving to the main room at the
camp building. We are still rejoicing that
Miss Yumi has continued to attend the
services since December. Because ofthat, 2
more of her friends attend from time to
time and came to the Spring Camp. We
pray that she will be able to influence more
friends to come to hear the message of
Christ.
On April 4 there were eleven present at
worship services, including 2 teachers
from a Christian kindergarten near Tokyo
and 3 high school girls from the local area.
On March 22 seven from Niigata
prefecture were here at worship service
with us, making a total of 13. Mr. and Mrs.
Bill Belew (formerly of the Yokosuka work)
now evangelizing on the west coast of
Japan, brought 3 from their church work to
visit us for 3 days. We're praying for others
from the local area to be with us each
Lord's day to learn of His plan for their
lives. Patience and fervent prayer can
bring this about. Will you pray?
BRIEFS FROM
SHINSHU
Shuichi Taninari celebrated his 2nd
birthday after the worship services on
February 22 with those present. Also, his
mother gave him a party the next day, his
real birth date. His father's birthday was
also celebrated after the church service on
March 8. Again, we enjoyed refreshments.
On March 6, missionaries in the area
along with a group of Japanese people,
were invited to Mr. David Hoshino's hot
springs hotel in Karuizawa. The group
welcomed Jeana Yaeger and Dick Rutan,
the two pilots of the Voyager around the
world non-stop-non-refueled plane. We
were amazed to hear of the 6 years of pre
paratory work that preceded the actual
flight that almost ended in disaster on
several occasions. Mr. Rutan said the
amount of fuel remaining in the plane's
tank upon landing wasn't enough to back a
car out of the driveway! All those present
received autographed hats and patches to
commemorate the occasion. Earlier in the
day, the pilots visited the Karuizawa
Christian grade school for missionary
children and thrilled their hearts with the
story of the flight.
Betty's home church. Church of Christ,
Piqua, Ohio, celebrated its 100th
anniversary in January with a small pro
gram. On May 3 the church will have a
homecoming celebration for former
members and preachers. Betty and her
father became members of the church
during a tent revival meeting led by Mr.
and Mrs. Charles Reign Scoville (composer
of "Christ is King" song) in the early
1930's. Betty's mother became a Christian
at the age of 12 in a small town church in
Mercer county that on occasions, was
visited by some of the circuit rider
preachers of the Restoration Movement.
The Piqua church has supported Betty
faithfully since 1949 when she began
mission work on the Yakima Indian Res
ervation, Toppenish, Washington. May
the Lord continue to bless this
congregation and continue to raise up
leaders from the congregation for the King
dom of God.
We're happy that films are being
checked out of the Shinshu Film Library
for use in evangelism. Sixty people viewed
one film in a 3 day children's evangelistic
program at the Isehard church. One film is
being shown on April 19 at the
Sakurayama church. We are thankful for
these films and again thank those who
have made them possible.
The Pattons will be spending a week
away from the camp work in April. They
will be in Osaka for the 50th anniversary of
the Osaka Bible Seminary on April 20,21.
Andrew will be bringing the message for
the occasion. April 22, Betty will be at the
U.S. Embassy and Japanese Immigration
offices getting a new passport. She doesn't
think she'll need the 10 year passport that
they now issue, but On April 23 they will
travel to the Sims' home for the annual
Zaidan business meeting. Friday they plan
to visit the Christian Academy school and
meet old acquaintances, attend Thrift Ship
and get food items for the camp from the
P.T.A. food store before returning home
that day.
Andrew Patton
SIMS' NEWS
MAJOR NICHOLAS
PASSES
When we first came to Japan there was a
career Army Officer who was an active
supporter of our work in every way while
doing his job with the U.S. Army of Occu
pation. He taught an English Bible Class
before the evening service at our Setagaya
church every Sunday, and often had us
missionaries to dinner at his quarters and
gave financial support and words of en
couragement. After he returned to the U.S.
he kept in touch by letters, and when he re
tired he gave many years of service to the
work in Hawaii, in cooperation with the
Still family.
For some years now he had been living in
his old home town of Hodgenville, Ken
tucky, but he still continued to write to us
every Christmas and to support an or
phanage in Tokyo founded by his group of
Christian military men in the immediate
post-war period. He passed away on Jan
uary 6 this year at the age of 89. His wife
preceded him in death a year or so ago.
He was a life-long cigar smoker, but
when one of our Japanese Christian young
men who translated for him expressed
shock at seeing him light up outside of the
church one Sunday night, he quit smoking
with that one. I have always admired him
for that strong will-power and the attitude
he expressed. He didn't think it was wrong
to smoke,but if it would cause that young
man to stumble he would quit now. So this
is my final solute to a good soldier.
SHINGO TSUDO TO
U.S. AS EXCHANGE
STUDENT
Three years ago, during the spring camp,
I baptized a young man from Mejirodai in
the cold waters of the river. He has been
very faithful in attending church, and in
March finished the 11th grade. During
this school year he took a government ex
amination and qualified to become a gov
ernment sponsored exchange student in an
American high school for some months.
He will be going to Santa Rosa, California
late in April for home-stay to get used to
American culture and schooling in conver
sational English. Then he will be attend
ing some high school in the U.S. as a
regular student for the next school year, it
will be a very good experience for him in
every way. We are hoping he will have a
chance to visit some of our churches in the
U.S. during these months.
GROUP FROM WHITE
OAK CHURCH VISITS
A group of 15 people, mainly from the
White Oak Christian (jhurch in Cincin-
nati, Ohio, made a trip to China and Japan
during February. The main purpose was to
visit a friend of most of them who is tempo
rarily teaching English in China. But they
also wanted to see Hong Kong and spend a
little time in Japan.
Harold was away in Israel when they
arrived in Tokyo the night of Feb. 15, but
Lois got in touch with them by phone, and
the next day she and some ladies from her
English Class here went down to the Tokyo
Hotel to meet them and escort them all the
way out here to Mejirodai in Western
Tokyo on the electric trains.
Meanwhile, a group from our church had
worked hard and prepared a sukiyaki
dinner for them in our church all-purpose
room. They had a short, but memorable ex
perience enjoyed by both sides.
PROMOTION
SUNDAY
Since all Japanese school years end in
March and begin in April, we have pro
motion Sunday in our Bible Schools on the
last Sunday of March. This year we had a
good class of 7 who graduated from the 6th
grade. They have mostly been coming
since pre-school days, and we are doing all
we can to keep them coming. We gave each
one a parallel English-Japanese New
Testament, and Lois Sims has started a
new class on Sunday mornings using this
as the text. We are also encouraging them
to stay for the worship service.
FIFTH SUNDAY
RALLY
On March 29 a record crowd of 96 people
gathered at the Nakano church for our
Rally. This time there was a special pro
gram announced: A missionary of the
Alliance Church is a former actor, and
dramatizes various Bible characters. He
did Abrahamthe part about offering up
Isaac. It was very dramatic and moving,
and all present got a lot of inspiration from
that as well as the singing and fellowship.
PAINTING
On March 30, 31, when all students were
on vacation, we had 5 high school boys
from our church come to help paint the
porch roof and fence around the property.
Both of these were badly rusted, and we
spent much of the first day scraping that
off and preparing for the paint. One of the
boy's mother made the remark that they
were not able to give much in the offering,
and they don't help when we have meals at
the church, so this was a way for them to
serve. I enjoyed working with them. Jon
athan also came and helped.
DAVE SMITH
FAMILY TO COME
On May 30, David and Sylvia Smith and
their 3 children will arrive in Japan from
West Des Moines, Iowa. They have been
planning this trip for a long time, and for
this year before the oldest daughter be
comes 12 and takes adult fare.
We are planning various programs for
PREACHERS
MEETINGS
Almost every month we have a get-
together of our Japanese preachers and
missionaries on a Sunday afternoon. Al
ways there are some who cannot come
because of various other church activities,
but we have found that since most of them
work to supplement their income from the
churches, this is the most convenient day,
and they feel the need of the fellowship.
This past Sunday we had one such
meeting, with Japanese preachers and
missionaries present. Each one tells any
news of his church or family that he feels
like sharing with the groupboth good
and bad, and since preachers are pro
fessional talkers, we all feel we receive
something important from this informal,
unstructered visiting time. At this meeting
5 baptisms were reported, including the
daughter of one of the men. Everyone
knows that Japan is a field of slow and
small results, but this shows us that we are
not working in an impossible situation,
and that the Lord is indeed giving the
growth in a quiet and steady way just like
in a field anywhere. Also, one preacher was
telling what a problem they are having
with both parents of his wife very sick and
aged and needing constant care. They live
them to take part in, and are looking for
ward to having our children and grand
children with us for the summer. We hope it
will be the experience of a lifetime for all.
with the preacher, although one is in the
hospital now. The preacher said that in
spite of not having adequate time to pre
pare sermons, the attendance seemed to be
keeping up, and he is one who reported 2
baptisms. An older preacher commented
that the people coming to church were
watching their life-style and their loving
care for the aged parents and that they
would get as much encouragement for their
Christian lives from seeing this practical
demonstration of love as they would from
his looking up the words in a concordance
and giving some deep discourse on "love"
from books. See what I mean by getting
something out of the conversation?
The Tokyo area missionaries at a recent prayer
meeting- 1- to R. Jonathan Sims and Leone Cole,
Paul and Kathleen Pratt, Rill and Betty Turner.
Harold and Lois Sims, Julius and Virf{inia Fleenor.
LASTING IMPRESSIONS OF
OUR TRIP TO ISRAEL
by Harold Sims
1. Deciding to Go
When I came back from a 10 week trip to
the United States last September, I noticed
on the bulletin board at Mejirodai Church
an announcement from Minato Church
about a Holy Land Tour being planned for
February, and a printed brochure giving
the details about price, schedule, etc. My
first reaction was that I would not go on
another trip at this time. I had turned down
a number of invitations and advertise
ments for travel to that part of the world in
past years also.
But I announced it to our church people,
and one day I noticed that one of our
members was carefully reading the printed
material. When I asked if she was plan
ning to go, she said, "If the 'sensei'
(teacher) goes, I will." Then at one of the
monthly preachers' meetings I found out
that a large number of people from Minato
and Nakano churches, including the
preachers, and some preachers and folks
from other parts of Japan had already
signed up. They told me that with the value
of the yen being so high these days, and
since the trip was planned in the off-season
when discount fares for planes and hotels
would be in effect, the price quoted for the
trip was the cheapest ever.
So I began to think more positively about
going. A good part of the joy of any trip is
gained from the travel companions, and I
knew it would be a lot of fun to go with this
group of Japanese Christians because of
previous experience during the U.S. Tour
in 1985. But the cost in dollars was still a
big item to consider.
On my birthday the deadline was
approaching and I was sitting in the study
thinking about the pros and cons of
signing up for the trip. Lois came into the
room with a familiar smile on her face that
I have called since early in our marriage,
"a grin like the cat that ate the canary."
She handed me her bank-book, and said,
"Use as much of this as you need, and go to
the Holy Land. Happy Birthday!" Im
mediately the decision was sealed, and I
was sure it would be a blessing, because it
was undergirded by prayer, confident it
was in accord with God's will, and true,
self-sacrificing love. Soon, 4 ladies from
the Mejirodai Church decided to go.
2. The Group
A total of 40 people made the trip and it
was the first time for all but 2 of us to see
the land where Jesus walked. There were
10 preachers, including Harold and Jon-
athan Sims, but only 1 preacher's wife I
went. Therewere 5 other couples. Three of I
these men were elders of our Japanese I
churches, and the other 2 were non- I
Christian husbands of faithful women, I
One of these men is nowattending his local I
church everyLord's Dayand participating '
more and more. There were 2 other men, an
elder and deacon, whose wives stayed in
Japan. The rest were women. Over half of
them were widows, and there were a few
single, working ladies and a few wives
whose husbands could not go because of
their work. Most of the group had been
Christians for 20 or 30 years, and were i
really looking forward to the spiritual
benefits of the trip. The Minato church had
kindly printed a small booklet of various '
songs that we used on various occasions t
during the trip. A man from the Japanese
travel agency accompanied us all the way
and made the necessary announcements of
when and where to meet next, etc. We
didn't have to check-in, carry suitcases,
etc., ourselves. The Japanese like group
living, and no one was late, got lost or
caused any trouble to others.
3. The Trip Over
We took off from Toyko in a cold rain at 4. The Tour Inside Israel
9:30 PM on Thursday, Feb. 12, via Day 1
Scandinavian Air, After a 6'/; hour flight We were rushed through security check fattening,
we stopped at Anchorage for refueling, and customs without the usual thorough
Then we flew over the pole for more than 8 baggage inspection, because with dark- Day 2
hours, arriving in Copenhagen at 5:40 AM ness the Sabbath would begin, and every- I began the day by taking pictures of the
in dense fog. There was a wait of several one wanted to be off work and at home as city and the Sea from our 8th floor hotel
balcony. Then we went down to the shore
We gathered in the hotel dining room for for a few minutes to pick up a little sand
"Japanese Christian Church TourGroupat Domeof the Rock in Jerusalem. February 1987."
hours in the airport there, during which we soon as possible,
had a time of devotions in a corner of the
lounge and then roamed through the tax- dinner at 7:30 PM, I noticed that there was and some shells for souveniers,
free shops, etc. Weleft for Israel on another no butter on the bread plate or the table. Breakfast every morning in Israel was
SAS plane in a light snow for another and thought there had been an oversight, sei-ved buffiT style. At this time there was
flight of5 or 6 hours to Tel Aviv. All ofeast- But before I asked the waitress for it, I an abundance of cheese, yogurt and milk
ern Europe and Turkey was covered by happened to think of that rather obscure products on the table, in addition to
clouds, but as we neared our destination Scripture in Exodus 23:19 and several various fresh fruits and juices, salads,
and flew in over the Mediterranean the other places forbidding boiling a kid in its breads, fish and hot and cold drinks. Of
skies cleared and we were able to see snow- mother's milk, I then asked the waitress if course there was no beef or pork,
capped Mt. Hermon, seaside and Mt. this was the reason there was no butter,
Carmel as we approached. We landed at She answered "yes," and said I should ask
Lod Airport at 5:10 local time Feb. 1334 for margarine, notbutter.if I wanted some.
hours after we took off from Tokyo. It's a She also added that there would be no milk To be continued in the next issue of Tokyo
long way.
beef was on the menu. The bread tasted
good enough plain, and was, ofcourse, less
for coffee with that meal, because veal and Christian.
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0. Wade Fletcher,321 N. Hannah St.,Ru8hville,
IN 46173-1739.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims, 3-33-7 Mejirodai.
Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 193 Japan. Forwarding
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S I MS. N E WS L E TTE R May 198 7
Dear Friends,
In Japan the school year and fiscal year ends on March 31;- so every
student who plans to enter High School or College has to go through what they
call "examination hell", and every company employee has to do his part toward
closing the accounts in the black and taking inventory. This is when all
companies promote, transfer, retire and hire. So spring is a time for many
changes in people's lives, and there is not all that much leisure for looking
at the cherry blossoms. For instance, in our own little congregation here
Shingo Tsuda left for 1 year of life in the United States as a High School
Exchange Student, Mr. and Mrs. Toyama went to Germany for his Sabbatical from
Mciji University and he will be lecturing in modern Japanese philosophy, Mrs.
Muraki moved down to her retirement home in Yugawara along the Pacific Coast,
Mr. Saito returned from 4 months of work on Osaka where he installed a
coroputer~control system in a private railroad for his Toshiba Electric Co,
and Prof. Ito returned to presiding at worship services after about 10 weeks
off helping a Ph.D. candidate from his class with his dissertation and grading
hundreds of entrance examinations for his University. We are thankful that
there were no great changes in our lives, but ve have been through a series of
YEARLY MEETINGS
1. On March 29 we had our annual Sunday School Promotion Day, with 6 girls
and 1 boy who started in the pre-school class and have been very regular in
attendance graduating from the sixth grade. Each of them was given a parallel
English-Japanese New Testament and an exhortation to start coming to church
services now. The next Sunday they were in our living-room at 9:30 A.M. for
the new Eng. Bible Class Lois started for Middle-High Students, and some of
them have been in worship every Sunday in April. Since these were entering
Middle School level they were qualified to go to the Camp March 25-28. Four
girls who had been waiting for this chance were among the 12 who went from
Mejirodai Church. Also 3 boys who all passed the entrance exams for the High
Schools they had hoped to get in celebrated by riding their bicycles 173
kilometers up to the camp in one 14 hour windy day. The road back was more
downhill, and they came home in 10 hours. The next 2 days after getting
home they helped Jonathan and me painithe iron fence around the church lot
and the porch roof.
. 2. On April 23 we had the annual meeting of the Yotsuya Mission Zaidan,
which is a part of our work and responsibility. This board of trustees
administers the remainder of the property which was purchased years ago by the
Cunninghams. As a non-profit corporation we are required to report all
actions and finances to the Japanese government every year. Since the sale
of one piece of land in Tokyo over 10 years ago we have maintained a loan
fund to help Japanese Churches and Church of Christ Missionaries to buy land
and build churches and homes. Some early loans are already paid off, and
we have new requests every year. This fund has been a help to many people
and we are thankful to have a part in this.
3. The congregation at Mejirodai has a yearly meeting also. Since we
incorporated 5 or 6 years ago we are required to have an official meeting for
reporting finances and adopting a budget within 30 days of Mar. 31 each year.
2o
Many hours every April are spent in preparing reports, financial records,
zeroxing and sending out information connected with this. We have 46 on the
membership roll now, and the church business is being .understood and done
better every year.
4 . Easter is also becoming a yearly event here. I don't prefer that word,
but the 20 Protestant Churches in our city of 400,000 cooperate in a city-wide
afternoon "Easter Gathering" to bring the attention of the general public to
the gospel of Christ. This year was the 12th, but it was the first time we
were able to use the city auditorium. About 900 people attended. I had a minor
part on the programmaking the offering explanation and appeal. Also 15 of
our Sunday School students took part in the 80 voice chorus that opened the
program. Some of the young people went forward at the invitation, and we will
be following up on those. Only a few women were at the sunrise prayer meeting
in the local park, which was Scriptural, but we had 49 adults and 13 children
at the morning worship for the best attendance since Christmas. A good number
of these brought their lunch and ate together in Sims Hall before going down
to the center of town for the afternoon meeting. Even the weather contributed
to making it a memorable, happy day.
ANNIVERSARIES
l.On Sunday afternoon April 12 Mrs. Leone Cole had open house in Higashi-
Nakano celebrating 50 years to the day since they arrived in Japan to begin
their missionary work. (He died of cancer about 10 years ago.) All 4 of her
children came from the United States to join her for the occasion, and Lois
and I were happy to join a laf^e gfbiip of Jap^ese and Americans there.
2. April 20,21 Lois and I went with Andrew and Betty Patton on the fast
train to Osaka to join in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the start
of the Seminary there. It was good to meet and hear the talk of old-timers
there. Actually the school was closed from 1939-1948 because of militarism
and World War 2.
3.We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary on March 21 by going out for
dinner and attending a string quartet concert in downtown Tokyo. We knew 2
of the Christian professionals who played. The music was Hayden's "Seven Words
on the Cross" with the related Scripture being read in Japanese before each
musical section, making it an evening of more devotion that entertainment.
Lois' Ladies English Class had a photographer come to the house and take our
picture as th.eir special gift, and then took us to a popular noodle shop for
lunch. During the day flowers were delivered from our children in the U.S.
and friends in Japan.
YEN-DOLLAR EXCHANGE RATES
Certainly all of you are aware of the decline in the value of the U.S.
dollar in relation to Japanese yen andother major currencies. During 1985
the dollar averaged 234 yen through all the fluctuations. In 1986 the figure
was 167. This means there has been a drastic drop in income for all mission
aries. The only consolation is that we paid less income tax. But we never
thought we would see one dollar fall as low as the present 138 yen.
If there were some hope that through this the United States would make a
great economic recovery or be able to reduce the enormous national deficit,
we would be happier about enduring the financial pinch; but that doesn't seem
3
to be the direction in which the econonay is moving.
Naturally we are all concerned about these matters, and when missionaries
gather these days the conversation usually gets around to this subject. But
we would like to assure you 1. that we do not spend all of our time reading
the financial pages of the paper and worrying about economics and 2. we are
not about to starve to death and making a crisis appeal for funds. We are
thankful to say that we receive some yen income from the Hejirodai Church,
and also from part-time English teaching in our home and at a High School in
our neighborhood. The dollar value of this has actually increased, and it is
really a help in these days. As long as our health permits and the present
situation continues we feel it is right for us to use these opportunities to
pull part of the weight ourselves and not put an additional burden on you.
But we do sincerely request your continuing the financial support you have
been doing and especially that you pray for us and the work of Christ here.
And I do not think it would be presumptuous for us to pray about the relations
between our 2 countries, which are not going smoothly and happily now. May
our nation's leaders not make decisions on the basis of anger, greed, pride
or other unworthy motives, and may peace and well-being prevail over all.
I might add that in our relationships withihe local peopleboth non-Christian
and Christian we feel there is no enmity toward us and we feel comfortable
and happy to continue our life here as we have been doing these many years.
DAVE SMITH FAMILY VISIT
On May 30 we are looking forward to the arrival of David and Sylvia (our
second daughter) Smith and Rachel (11) Joshua (9) and Suzanne (7)at our house
to spend the summer. Dave has been ministering at Christ's Church in West Dcs
Moines, Iowa for almost 5 years now. Back in 1970 he and Sylvia gave us the
surprise of a lifetime by dropping in unexpectedly just before Christmas.
They were married at Nakano Church Jan. 15, 1971 and spent. 6 months in Japan
at that Lime. Sylvia has been saving all of her money received from baby
sitting and other jobs for about 5 years in order to make this trip for the
children to see her "roots." Dave is going to be doing, some preaching and
teaching with Harold translating almost every week at churches, camps etc.
and of course we plan to spend some time sightseeing, going to conventions,
and getting to know the grand-children and helping them to know Japan and its
people as well as us .and our work. Should be a good, busy summer.
Yours in Christ's Service,
HAROLD AND LOIS SIMS
SIMS TOKYO MISSION
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"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15
VOLUME 86
SIMS' NEWS
(Continued from April 1987 Issue)
The streets of Tel Aviv were not crowded
or noisy on the Sabbath morning, and the
few people walking were going at a lei
surely pace. All stores were closed, and
even private homes and apartments were
shuttered with sliding louvered panels
which gave shade, privacy and protection.
Most men were wearing saucer-sized skull
caps. A little boy and his mother were
waiting in the hotel lobhy that morning,
and 1 asked her if he was wearing the cap
because they were going to the synagogue
for worship. She answered that he
"always" wears iteven to bedand so
does his father.
We spent most of the 4 days, Sat.-Tues.,
in the same bus, and with the same driver.
We had a very young Japanese man as our
guide, who was very knowledgeable in
Hebrew language, history, geography and
the Bible, including the New Testament.
At the start of our bus trip, we drove
through the Joppa section ofTel Aviv, but
were disappointed that we didn't stop at
the traditional site of the house of Simon
the Tanner. The reason given was lack of
time, but I suspect there might have been
some concern for our safety, because the
area is like a slum, with many half-
destroyed, windowless buildings and
many Arabs standing around. Soon we
were going north along the coast, enjoying
the trees and flowers of the Plain of
Sharon. We stopped and enjoyed a good
walk around old Caesarea. At the old
harbor we enjoyed the feeling that we were
walking in Paul's footsteps, because this is
where he went out and returned from most
of his missionary journeys. From there we
drove up to the top of Mt. Carmel on a nice
highway, and enjoyed the view of the
curving coastline and the modern city of
Haifa. That mountain top area is now a
first-class residential area.
We had lunch in a large seaside
resturant in Acco. As we were waiting for
the second course, a table of Jewish people
began to sing a lively song. They were soon
joined by most of the people in the large
room. All were clapping their hands and
enjoying their life, music and the beautiful
weather. It occurred to me that since this
was the Sabbath the waiters must be
Arabs, so I asked the young man who was
serving our table (about college age) if he
spoke English. He said he did, and went on
to say that he was "A Palestinian," and
that he was practicing Japanese "Karate"
July 1987 Number 3
LASTING IMPRESSIONS OF
OUR TRIP TO ISRAEL
by Harold Sims
every day. Then looking me in the eye with
great conviction he said slowly and
quietly, "We will win." A whiff of under
lying tension on a peaceful Sabbath after
noon.
We spent some time in the dark
underground chambers and tunnels of one
of the large church-fortresses built during
the Crusades about 1000 years ago. In one
room there were some modern benches,
and as we sat down for a few minutes of
rest our group broke into singing a hymn
which reverberated through the ancient
walls as an expression of our faith in the
eternal Christ. After that we strolled along
the ancient water-front with thousands of
local people and tourists taking in the
Mediterranean air.
From this point our bus turned inland
and began climbing into the hills of
Galilee. The hills were speckled with out
cropping of white rocks everywhere, but
the grass was fresh and green from recent
rains, and there were flocks of sheep
grazing here and there.
Suddenly we came to Nazaretha
rather large city. We parked and walked up
to the large church that dominates the
center of the town, but since it was shortly
after 4 PM they wouldn't let us enter. There
was noisy traffic and all kinds of shops
along the streets, and people both in the
streets and on the roofs of the houses. I
tried, but could not bring my emotions to
any feeling that Jesus used to live there or
to see any evidence of the effect of His life
on this town. It was a rather lonely, dis
couraged feeling that Jesus Himself must
have had when he said, "A prophet is not
without honor save in his own country."
Some minutes later we went through the
town of Cana, and took pictures of the red-
roofed church from the bus window. Then
we hurried on down through the hills to a
Kibbutz at Tiberias beside the Sea of
Galilee. We ate "Peter Fish" for supper, but
didn't find any coins. After dark a few of us
walked down to view the calm lake under
the full moon. Doubtless there had been no
change here from the conditions when
Jesus walked beside and even upon this
water. What a joy and blessing to be here
and see and feel this place and anticipate
the Lord's Day tomorrow!
Day 3
I got up at 6 AM to get a picture ofthe sun
rising across the lake. Then I phoned
Mejirodai. It was 1:40 PM, and they had al
ready finished the worship service in
Japan.
In the morning we went up to the top of a
green hill where the "Church of the Beati
tudes" is. There was a worship service in
progress, so we couldn't go inside, but we
went around behind the building and had a
profoundly moving worship service,
reading of the beatitudes, prayer and
Communion while sitting on the grass and
looking at the lake like the 5000 and many
others who heard Jesus' words gladly. The
singing was so inspirational we just
continued it on the bus for a while.
Capernaum was nearby, and it was a
great joy to stand in the famous synagogue
there and see the nearby ruins of Peter's
house.
There we got on a boat for the trip back to
Tiberiastaking many pictures of such
scenes as 2 fishermen in a small boat
casting nets, the distant village of
Magdala nestling between the hills, the
birds following the boat and grabbing bits
of bread out of the air.
We got back on the bus for a rather long
drive down to Jericho. This was through
the "West Bank" area, and aside from the
Israel border fences and patrols we saw
only a few poor villages along the way. Of
course the Jordan Valley was visible on the
left part of the time, and the hills of
Samaria on the right. We saw the famous
ruins of old Jericho only briefly, and then
ate lunch at an Arab Restaurant called
"Temptation" on a prominent corner in the
city. It was summer-like heat, and we
sensed that Jericho was an oasis.
Another long drive took us down along
the Dead Sea to the area of Sodom. I was
disappointed not to see any pillars of salt,
but we did get to our hotel in time to change
and take a brief dip in the briny water. It
was mid-summer weather on Feb. 15! The
water in the restaurant didn't taste good,
so we bought mineral water at the bar and
enjoyed that.
Day 4
We went back along the Dead Sea as far
as Masada, the mountain-top fortress that
held out a long time against the Romans in
the 70 AD war. This is now a major tourist
stop, and we rode the modern rope-way to
the top and spent some time seeing the
ruins there, and taking many pictures.
To be continued in the next issue of Tokyo
Christian.
THE SMITH FAMILY
GOES TO TOKYO
Smiths arrive in Japan.
Our second daughter, Sylvia, and her
fiancee, Dave Smith, gave us the surprise
of a lifetime by appearing at our door at
midnight December 19, 1970. They were
married in the Nakano Church on January
15, 1971, and stayed for 6 months helping
in the work of the church in Isehara while
the Paul Pratts took a furlough trip. They
then returned to the U.S. to finish their col
lege education. Dave has ministered to four
different churches. They now have three
childrenRachel (11), Joshua (9), and
Suzanne (7). Sylvia has been saving all of
the money she received from babysitting
and other part-time jobs so the could make
this trip. There are 2 purposes: 1. So that
the children will have a clear, long-lasting
impression of their mother's "roots" and, 2.
so they will get to know their grandparents
and their work. The reason for this year
was because the oldest would take adult
fare if it were delayed any longer. The high
cost of the yen against the dollar makes the
cost of everything in Japan very
expensive. However, they are not the type
that lets such difficulties stand in the way
of carrying out well-laid plans. There were
also a lot of other preparations to be made,
both for leaving their ministry at Christ's
Church in West Des Moines, Iowa for 3
months and for the children adapting to
another country, but after 16'/^ years they
arrived at Narita Airport early in the
morning. May 30, 1987.
Needless to say, we had some lively, in
teresting and enjoyable times since they
arrived.
House Painting and Yard Work
A day or two after they settled in, Dave
wanted to know where the nearest
hardware store was. He said he was going
to paint the outside stucco wall of the
church and housenot touched since we
moved here 17 years ago, and badly in need
of it. He wanted to see if Japanese had
"Paint Pads" like the ones he had been
using in the U.S. In fact, it was quite re
markable that he could ask for anything he
wanted in our local do-it-yourself store in
English and the Japanese man in that
section shook his head positively and in
variably showed him what he wanted in
paint, varnish, tools, etc. The English
words for things like paint colors, sand
paper, etc., are much more commonly used
here than the original Japanese.
The outside painting is pretty well along
now, except for the trim, and Dave also has
varnished our pulpit. This summer has
been one of the driest rainy seasons in his
tory, and our water supply is now severely
restricted. Some of the church people are
jokingly accusing Dave of praying too
hard for good painting weather.
He has also spent some time trimming
our shrubbery, and Sylvia has dug up most
of the courtyard between our house and the
new part of the church building and re-
seeded it. It is now up like a thin beard and
seems to have a good start. The church
people are really appreciative of this work
being done voluntarily during "vacation."
Activities for the Children
The children have been to several in
teresting places in the Hachioji Area
Tama Zoo, Tama Tech (where they have
various things to ride), Takao Mountain,
and Summer-land (where they have a
wave-making machine and sliding board
in the large pool.) The most surprising
thing to us is how much they like to watch
TV programs in Japanese language. There
is a 20 minute serial that runs for 4 weeks 5
nights a week (20 episodes). The children
cannot go to bed without seeing "Etsuko"
and getting Grandpa to explain the talking
parts they don't understand. They can fol
low the gist of the story by the movements
on the screen.
One of our members suggested that the
children might enjoy a day at the local ele
mentary school. She laid the groundwork
for us to go to the school one afternoon for
an interview with the principal. When we
appeared at the school gate, a large crowd
of children gathered around us and fol
lowed us into the building. We talked with
the principal, his assistant and teachers
from the second, fourth and sixth grade
classes. The principal was hesitant be
cause of the language problems but the
teachers wee interested in the children
from the U.S. and the educational possibil
ities for the children here and anxious to
have them come. They asked each child to
write their names in large letters on a sheet
of paper. When school was out that after
noon we had a number of students from the
sixth grade class in front of the house
wanting to see Rachel. Soon 3 of them were
in the house showing them how to fold
paper things, and they had agreed to come
here and walk to school with them. By Fri
day, some of the housewives were telling
Lois that the school their children went to
were feeling neglected because they
weren't going there. At Sunday School I
warned our noisy, excited 6th graders that
if they didn't behave the children would
only be allowed to visit one day, so they
went down the street busily exhorting each
other to be sure all the kids were quiet and
on their best behavior. The day worked out
to be a big time for all, and they have since
been back two other days. Our Sunday
School attendance the following Sunday
increased by 10. The fourth grade teacher
gave Josh a bug that is his treasure and joy
as well as a picture of the school and class
with the names of all the students signed
on the back, etc.
Meeting People
We had the monthly missionary prayer
meeting here on June 5, and on Pentecost
evening we had 4 couples come for a cook-
out and evening of fellowship. At least one
of each couple is Christian, and at least one
speaks pretty good English. It was a good
time of fellowship for all of us. There have
been several opportunities to meet friends
from school days and from various
contacts through the years. Rachel has
met with a number of my English classes,
and all helped me grade 160 workbooks
and mid-term test papers from the local
High School where I teach.
Travel
June 29-July 7 they went to the Osaka
region. Dave spoke in chapel at Osaka
Bible Seminary and then in Okayama Pre
fecture. They also visited some people and
did some sight-seeing. From July 22 we will
make a trip by car to Hiroshima for the
yearly missionary and Japanese conven
tions, and then we will go from there to the
young people's camp.
In August there will be Vacation Bible
School and other things to keep us busy
and happy until they must return to Iowa.
EVANGELISTIC
MEETINGS
On June 21, Harold Sims preached for
the opening night of a 3 day meeting at the
Machida Church, where Bill and Betty
Turner are now working. They had pre
pared a program of songs for Father's Day
and had made a major effort to get the
fathers out. Everyone was very happy to
see about 10 fathers in the audience-
many of them in church for the first time
for a total of 33 children and 32 adults.
That night we met the Rostvit Twins,
After their program, the children were
taken downstairs to see a video about
Noah's Ark while I preached to the adults.
It was a great opportunity to sow some
seed.
The following night Dave preached and I
translated. We had a good meeting and
some young girls signed decision cards
that they wanted to become Christians.
Our meeting at Mejirodai was planned
on rather short notice, because we learned
of the availability of the Rostvits and
Dave. It is not usual to have special meet
ings at this time of year because of the
rainy season, but it didn't rain during any
of the meetings. We are thankful we went
ahead with plans for the meeting, and felt
God rewarded the efforts beyond our ex
pectations in answer to prayer and faith.
We planned 3 meetings. The first on Fri
day morning for housewives. We were
happy to have 37 and some were from Lois'
regular Friday morning English Conver
sation Class. Also, there were some new
people who came after reading the
handbills we had passed out. We had
printed 3,000 handbills and distributed
them to all the houses and apartment
buildings in the area. On Saturday night
we had over 52 people present, but failed to
get an accurate count. Again there were
several people in church for the first time. I
am sure there were at least 3 first-timers in
each service, which was quite unusual,
even in Japan. On Sunday evening wehad
38 adults and 13 children. The large num
ber of children who specially want to
hear the Rostvits sing kept their promise to
sit still during the sermon very well. At
that service a lady who attends here some
times got her husband inside a church
building for the first time in his life, and
she was radiantly happy.
So we are very thankful to have had the 3
visiting evangelists from America to help
us. We hope we can be used of the Lord in
following up on the contacts made during
these meetings. I am sure that the oppor
tunity to hear music and messages in
English was a drawing card, and we em
phasized that in the handbill. We use all
means that all might hear and some may
be saved.
oOth Anniversary nf Osaka Bible .Seminary.
ANNIVERSARIES
On April 20,21 Lois and Harold Sims and
Andrew and Betty Patton went down to
celebrate the special anniversary ofOsaka
Bible Seminary. Andrew was the speaker
for the service. Exactly 50 years ago on
April 12, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Cole arrived
in Japan to begin their missionary work,
and on the 21st of that same month the
first class was held with Harold Cole
teaching, one student and one interpreter.
Harold Cole died about 10 years ago, but
Mrs. Cole and all 4 of her children were
present for this occasion at which a plaque
was put up on thewallofthemain building
commemorating that opening day.
Also Grace Madden Braley, whose
parents established the work in Osaka and
were living on that .spot at that time, came
from Maryland for the occasion. It was a
very happy and memorable day for all, but
especially for the old timers.
After just a short time in operation the
school was closed during the war years,
and it was re((pened in 1950. For most of its
life it has been a small school, but over the
years many have gone out from there to
serve in the work of the churches in Japan.
FIFTH SUNDAY
RALLY
I have mentioned in previous issues
about various Rallies in Tokyo. We asked
to have the one for May 31 because it would
be a good opportunity to welcome Dave
and Sylvia Smith to Japan. Dave was the
special speaker for the afternoon. We
expected about 70 people so the ladies
decided we would be able to serve them a
meal for a nominal cost and all prepara
tions began to fall into place.
But then the calls began to come in from
the various churches with figures for
expected attendance, and when the
number reached around ICQ we began to
get a little panicky. The church has only 70
chairs, so we borrowed 30 from the High
School. But the most we could get in our
small auditorium was 78. The rest of the
people had to stand by the open windows or
sit in the classroom in Sims Hall and try to
hear over a speaker that was not working
properly.
We had a record-breaking attendance of
132 people, counting children. It was a
beautiful spring evening, and impressive
to see how quickly and amply all were fed
and the people enjoying fellowship and
eating all over the place. Thirteen congre
gations were represented. Many of the
people present remembered Sylvia as a
little girl or maintaining a store at camp
from years past. It was truly a memorable
day for all of us. Dave preached on "The
Pearl of Great Price" and many were truly
thankful to feel they had found it.
Dave Smith preaching; Harold Sims translating.
PATTONS' NEWS
ANNIVERSARIES
Andrew Patton bringing the 5()th anniversary
message at UH.S.
Anniversaries are important in Japan
the first year after death, the family has a
memorial service at a Buddhist temple and
on other specified years. The 88th birth
day is a very special occasion in Japan.
But 50th year anniversaries are not
special. However, this year the 50th anni
versary of the existence of Osaka Bible
Seminary was given prominence. The late
Harold Cole, founder of O.B.S., and the
M.B. Maddens were honored. Mrs. Leone
Cole and her 4 children were present at the
ceremony when she unveiled a plaque in
memory of the occasion. The Maddens'
daughter, Grace Braley, made the trip from
the U.S. and Andrew gave the message for
the morning program April 21, the same
date on which the school was started 50
years ago. We made the trip with the
Simses to Osaka. There we met again
many of our co-workers and Japanese
Christian brothers and sisters.
Mr. Fumio Sato, preacher of the Kamio-
chiai church, and Mr. Oda, professor at
OBC, were 2 of the first graduates. (Mr.
Taninari, our co-worker, Mr. Suzuki of the
Arakawa church, Mr. Hiroaki Sato,
preacher-son of Mr. F. Sato and preacher at
Sakurayama church where we have
ministered, are all graduates of O.B.S.)
Mrs. Leone Cole celebrated her 50 years
in Japan at the same time. She was given
recognition of this fact at Pacific Bible
Seminary in May.
Mr. and Mrs. Martin Clark celebrated
their 50th wedding anniversary on June 20
with the presence of their two daughters
from the U.S. and Paul and family who are
missionaries in Japan. Mr. and Mrs.
George Beckman, teachers at OBS, gave
the party for the occasion. Mr. Clark is the
president of OBS.
We thank the Lord for OBS as it is the
only Bible College we have in Japan. May
the doors remain open in spite of the few
who train there. It is Japan's hope for
future evangelism.
(Mr. Taninari recently was elected as a
counselor of OBS.)
CAMP
With temperatures in the 30's, Mr.
Stephen lijima, with the help of 2 elders,
Mr. Kanamaura and Mr. Oka, led the ses
sions at Golden Week Camp, May 3-5.
Studies for a Christian life and Christian
home were the focus of the camp program.
Before the campers left for home they had
all agreed that next year the Golden Week
Camp would continue with the same
theme. The witness of the Christian home
is very weak in Japan as still 99% of the
Japanese people are without Christ.
Golden Week Camp
A DRY RAINY
SEASON
Living in the mountainous regions of
Japan has its advantages and disadvan
tages. The great advantage at this time of
the yearly rainy season is that water in our
area isn't rationed. On the plains water
reserves are only a small percent of normal
amounts. Water in some areas is being de
livered to households for drinking pur
poses. A couple of good typhoons can elim
inate the emergency as rainfall is still
sporatic. At the Sims' home the water in
which corn is boiled is cooled to put on the
flowers! We're not thankful for God's bless
ings until our "well" runs dry.
PREPARATORY
WORK
Warmer weather presented itself after
Golden Week Camp, the outside clean up
and repair work was resumed. More
ground and hillsides were cleared of
stumps and roots and readied for grass
planting. Other grass on hillsides was
mowed by pushing and pulling a power
mower. Now that we were able to purchase
a "weed eather," everything is cut with
ease and at a faster pace. The beauty ofthe
camp grounds increases each year.
Steve Turner, "back home" from Atlanta
Christian College, gave us a hand for 10
days in June. Also, the two teenaged sons
of Warren Christiansen helped. Betty
raked the two tennis courts of needles and
Shuichi Taninari helpinK with Spring camp work.
helped Andrew prepare it for rolling. Loads
of "hay" were raked off the hillsides after
cutting two times.
Volleyball court, baseball area with a
Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Buttray (retired). For
warding Agent: Mrs, Lois Messier, PO Box 287,
Meadville, PA 163(15.
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Patton, 571-1 Innaihara,
Mochizuki Shi, Kitasaku Gun, Nagano Ken,
Japan 384-22- Forwarding Agent: Mr. and Mrs.
0. Wade Fletcher,321 N. Hannah St.,Rushville,
IN 46173-1739.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims, 3-33-7 Mejirodai,
Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 193 Japan. Forwarding
Agent: First Church of Christ, 315 E. Orange
Ave., Eustis, FL 32726-4194.
Tuio year subscription S.50
Subscription and Flaming Torch SI.00
Tokyo Christian
(^No. 776-320)
Published four times a year in January, April,
July, and November for the missionaries of the
Church of Christ, Cunningham Mission. Tokyo,
Japan by Mission Services, 7525 Hodges Ferry
Road, Knoxville, TN 37920-9731. Second Class
postage paid at Knoxville, TN 37901-2427.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
Tokyo Christian, c/o MISSION SERVICES. PO
Box 2427, Knoxville, TN 37901-2427.
newly seeded grass area, vesper-BBQ
areas, are all ready to serve the campers'
needs.
This week Mr. Taninari and Betty are
working inside. The room with the hot-
water heater cannot have anything burn
able in it so 2 other areas had to be made
into storage places. The kitchen and
dining room areas will be cleaned before
Work Week. During Work Week all win
dows and rooms will be cleaned. The out
side areas will be touched up and readied
for camp on July 20-22. Work Week ends on
July 24.
We're looking forward to the "Juku"
Camp. We'll be missing 2 young Christian
men from the group as they went to the
U.S. to study. Mr. Yokomizo, preacher at
Yokosuka church, will be dean that week.
Special teachers to help with the summer
assignments will be on hand as well as
Bible teachers and leaders. Pray that God
will give the increase as His Word is
taught. Visitor-helpers will be Dave and
Sylvia (Sims) Smith from Iowa and their
children.
Camp will be of great spiritual value as
we hear of many first time campers plan
ning to come. Some will be traveling from
Awaji Island by ferry to Honshu and trans
ported to the camp by Martin Clark. Some
campers have never attended church but
have come in contact with the Gospel
through the missionaries' English classes.
GUESTS
We are happy to have Leone Cole and her
four children come for a brief visit. Her son,
David, and family will be returning to
Japan in January to continue their
mission work.
Also, Mr. and Mrs. Christian and family
from Jonesboro, Georgia, visited us.
Mr. Yamaguchi, who attended the
church we were associated with in the
1950's, visited us in June. Although he
never became a Christian, he was full of
questions about God's word. Perhaps he's
giving thought to the fact that over one-
half of his life is gone and he may not have
many more years ahead of him. He lives
near Mr. Akada's church and we encour
aged him to attend. Pray for him and his
family.
Mr. Schone, head of International Cam
ping in Asia, brought a retired couple to
view our camp. The couple will be directing
camp work in Africa for 2 years. What a
wonderful way to spend your later years.
Mr. and Mrs. Takahashi and 2 children
enjoyed a BBQ with the Pattons and the
Taninaris. Mr. and Mrs. Takashi are
Christians and attend the church led by
Warren Christiansen.
INNAICHURCH
Four former Bible Class students are at
tending the worship services and we are
very grateful for their interest in His Word.
Some Sundays Mr. Taninari must travel
to Tokyo for the 5th Sunday Rallies and
preachers' meetings. He represents the
camp and church work at Shinshu Bible
Camp. He traveled to Tokyo on May 10 to
be at the baptism of one of the campers.
Andrew and Mr. Taninari take turns
preaching each week.
THANKFUL
To each of you who have prayed for our
forwarding agents' and our granddaugh
ter's health, we thank you. Each one has
had good progress in their respecitve ill
nesses but prayer is still needed.
Also, we have seen a very small increase
in the dollar-yen exchange rate as of July.
Our sons, Philip and Steve, shopped for
camp items in the U.S. One is a food pro
cessor. Betty already has canned quarts of
pickles using the slicer attachment and she
has made 19 pints of gooseberry jam. A
new mixer in the camp kitchen will also
help out with cake mixing. All this makes
the kitchen work a little more pleasant.
PRAYER
Please continue to pray fervently for the
work in Japan. Many of our co-laborers are
having to teach English to keep their chil
dren in school and pay the bills. However,
each one is striving to carry on his full
schedule of church work and give God's
work priority over all. It's been difficult for
some but is being done, giving God the
glory at all times.
Belore you move please seno the mailing label below, along wiin a copy o' you' new addiess lo
MISSION SEnviCES ASSOCIATION PO Boi 2427 Knoxville. TN 3790)-?427
Form 3579 Requested, PO Box 2427, Knoxville, Tennessee 37901-2427.
Christian
"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15
VOLUME 86
PATTONS'
NEWS
FROM SHINSHU
BIBLE CAMP
Shinshu Bible Camp was host to 15
camp groups in 1987. The ages and types of
camps were varied. A group of elementary
school children, 34 in all, came by bus from
Osaka with their Christian teacher oftheir
English training school. University music
students from a noted school of music in
the Tokyo area came with their teacher
and Bible leader. Three families visited for
a few days. Some of their children studied
late in the quietness of the evenings and
did their summer homework under the
parents' supervision. Church family
camps were well attended. The first
"Silver" camp (over 50 years of age) was
held. Mr. Kishimoto brought a Bible study
group from his college. All in all it was a
good and busy camp year for Mr. Taninari
and us. However, we saw a decline in the
number of large camps compared to last
year. We do foresee some of the smaller
camps attending now growing into larger
ones. Some former camp groups outgrew
our facilities after the 3-4 year period they
attended here.
Silver Campers prefer sitting on the floor while
studying
BAPTISMS
Several campers returned to their home
churches to be baptized this year. We
thank the Lord for these added to His
church. A family camp from the Tanashi
church in Tokyo arrived early at the camp
on August 21. Soon they left for the
Chikuma River to baptize one of their
campers. Upon their return to camp they
celebrated the occasion with the "birth
day" cake Betty had made for the new
November 1987
birth in Christ. The young lady said she'd
never forget August 21, 1987 at Shinshu
Bible Camp!
CAMPS
During regular Work Week, camp was
held for students of a Bible class from
Ibaraki College. Mr. Kishimoto, a student
at the college and former helper in our
camp work, brought the group to the camp
for the first time.
The camp was ready for full operations
on July 25 with Steve Turner and Ricky
Domen coming to help us. Thirty-four
school children enjoyed their stay after
arriving by a large bus from the Osaka
area. They were early to rise and early to
bed!
Mr. Kensei Yokomizo, Yokosuka church
minister, was dean of the "Homework"
Bible Camp July 29-August 1. Among the
campers were 5 young ladies from the
island of Awaji who were escorted by Exie
Fultz, missionary. They traveled by ferry
to the main island and made the trip from
there by train to camp. We were glad to
have them at camp and enjoyed their stay
one more day after camp.
We also were delighted to have Sylvia
Sims Smith and her husband, Dave, and
their 3 children with us during the camp.
Josh was most interested in the bugs. Susie
was the "camp queen." Rachel enjoyed her
stay at one of the J apanese homes near the
camp. Her hostess usually comes to camp,
but had school activities just at camp time.
Dave and Sylvia left a VHS video tape for
us of the camp grounds that they made
during the camp. We appreciate it very
much and hope we can share it with some
of you.
Besides school homework time, hiking,
recreation, camp fire activities, the
evenings were devoted to the Word of God.
We are thankful to the camp leaders for a
well-rounded program for the young
people. Special teachers were used to help
with school work. Mr. Yokomizo was the
math teacher along with a lady from the
Yokosuka area who coached the subject of
English along with Mr. Sims. Mr. Taninari
and Dave Smith were 2 of the evening
speakers. Everyone is looking forward to
Spring Camp, March 28-31, 1988, to be to
gether again (the end of the Japanese
school year).
(At the Aug. 30 Fifth Sunday Rally ofthe
Tokyo churches, young people from this
camp were seen fellowshipping together.
May this group grow strong in the Lord
and His Word!)
In Japan, September 15 is a national hol
Number 4
iday for the aged, 65 and older. However,
local city offices acknowledge the age of70
as being old and give a gift and approxi
mately $35 in honor of the occasion. Also
"silver" (given the Japanese pronouncia-
tion of the English word) is used when
referring to the special seats for the aged
on the trains and etc. (Silver Seat). Few
Japanese have silver hair as most hurry to
darken it if they have white areas.
Last year Betty suggested a Senior Citi
zen Camp at the annual camp meeting. But
of course, "Silver Camp" is a more fitting
name here in Japan. Next year we will be
sure that it is understood that anyone over
50 is welcomed too lest we have only a 70-90
group attending! The ages this year ranged
from 50-70.
Harold Sims was dean of the camp and
Mr. Fukuda from the Zushi church brought
four messages concerning faith. Mr.
lijima, minister of the Minato church, and
Mr. Sims led the discussion periods. A two
hour hike was enjoyed by most of the
group, followed by an introduction to the
American game of croquet on the volley
ball court. Rice fields, mountains, the
volcano, flowers and trees, Korean carrot
(ginseng), furnished materials for a wide
discussion during the hike. One day haiku
(Japanese 17 syllable poem) was written
with brush on squares by each one. These
will be hung next year in the camp building
for all to read.
Mr. lijima was driven to the camp by a
young family, as his car was in the garage.
They brought grapes from their relative's
vineyard to add to the sukiyaki meal that
had been prepared for the first evening.
Pumpkin pie, cake and ice cream, baked
potatoes from the farm next door and
locally grown apples were specialties
along with the spiritual food from God's
Word.
We were happy to hear "We'll be back
next year" by those who attended the first
camp of this kind.
Shukudai-Bible Campers
NEWS BITS
During the camp season we were happy
to renew our fellowship with members of
the Yokosuka church, the Yokomizo family
and Jonathan Sims. Miss Ichinose, a Sun
day school teacher from the church, visited
us and the Taninaris late in September.
The Hiroaki Sato family of the
Sakurayama church visited us early in
October.
We are looking forward to having Penny
Boggs with us during the 1988 camp
season again. Penny contributes to the
music programs, teaching programs and
helps in the kitchen. Penny has been on
furlough and we've missed her.
Andrew celebrated his 70th birthday
October 4. The local city office presented
him with a tea cup to commemorate the
occasion. He's now one of the 16 aged
persons in the Innaihara area. After next
year he can qualify to play the recently in
vented game of "gate ball" for the aged.
Gate ball is similar to croquet except only3
wickets are used and 2 teams of 6 each.
Having reached the age of 70 in Japan, all
medical expenses except for $2.50 per
doctor visit is paid for, including medicine.
But who wants to be sick here?
CAMP SCHEDULE
FOR 1988
During Silver Camp (Sept. 13-15) most of
the camp advisory committee for Shinshu
Bible Camp were present. Betty had pre
pared an 11 month camp report for that
time and during "free time" the group met
and discussed the report. Mr. Kanamura,
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims, Mrs. Betty
Turner, Mr. lijima, Mr. Taninari and the 2
Pattons were present. It was decided at this
meeting to hold the annual camp meeting
for 1988 during the Silver Camp again.
The following schedule was set up for
1988:

Spring Camp March 28-31
(Jr.-Sr.-University), Mr. Taninari, Dean
Golden Week May 1-3
(Adult Camp), Mr. lijima, Dean
Work Week July 11-21
Mr. Patton, Dean
Shukudai-Bible Camp August 24-27
(Students), Mr. Itagaki, Dean
Silver Camp Sept. 15-17
(50 and over)
Annual Camp Meeting Sept. 15-17

This leaves the last ofJuly and the firsts
weeks of August free (prime camp time) for
the rental camps. The Shukudai camp for
students will be one month later in 1988
due to the annual gathering of the Japan
Churches of Christ held in Tokyo area this
year, August 3-5. This late date for the
students will be of great benefit to all those
who procrastinate in doing their summer
homework!
SIMS' NEWS
VIVIAN LEMMON
GOES TO BE WITH
THE LORD
Placing the ashes of Vivian Lemmon in the soil of
Japan.
Miss Vivian Lemmon first came to
Japan as a missionary in January 1930,
and worked for 5 years in the Tokyo area.
With her good friends, Grace Farnhamand
Ruth Schoonover, she first worked with the
Cunninghams, and then in establishing
the Mabashi Mission. In 1935 she left the
mission field and returned to California to
assist her widowed father in the final years
of his ministry.
Grace Farnham returned to the Mabashi
work after being interned and then return
ing to the U.S. on a prisoner exchange
during World War II. Ruth Schoonover
started a new work in the post-war years at
Tanabe City in Wakayama Prefecture
(several hours by train south of Osaka)
where one of her converts was living at the
time. He became the first preacher of the
church, and a kindergarten was estab
lished in the community. After only 6
months of activity, Ruth died, and Vivian
returned to Japan in 1952 to continue the
new work begun by Ruth.
The church has grown and matured
slowly but steadily, and it was a beautiful
thing for us to see how the local Japanese
Christians took such loving care of Vivian
as her hearing and other faculties grad
ually weakened. For the past year or so of
her life she was mostly bedfast, but a fine
Japanese Christian couple ministered to
all of her needs daily.
On August 26 she passed from this life,
having given a total of40 of her 85 years of
life in fruitful service to Christ in Japan.
She was cremated in Japanese fashion,
and after a large memorial service at
tended by the mayor and many citizens of
the City of Tanabe as well as by a good
number of fellow missionaries and most
members of the church, her ashes were
placed in the small underground chamber
of the tomb belonging to the church, beside
those of Ruth Schoonover.
The church, under the leadership of Mr.
and Mrs. Morikawa and Mr. and Mrs.
Ueyama and many faithful believers, will
go on into the 21st century remembering
and giving thanks for the labors of love of
these two single ladies.
VIDEO AVAILABLE
The Smith family made a video
tape (about 35 minutes) of our life
and work in Tokyo while with us
this summer. It can be obtained for
use in missionary meetings, etc., by
writing or phoning Mr. Robert
Sims, 3601 Fyffe Ave, Cincinnati,
Ohio 45211, phone (513) 662-3227.
MINATO CHURCH
NEWS
The Minato Church has a summer camp
every year for 3 days and 2 nights, at
tended by most of the members of every
age. This year on the way back the
preacher's car was totaled in an accident
caused by someone pulling out into the
road, but there were no serious injuries.
Every fall this church has an overnight
men's meeting. This is the 21st year.
Harold Sims and Bro. Hara from Mejirodai
attended.
UMEDA MINISTER
AND WIFE IN
AUTOMOBILE
ACCIDENTS
Bro. Takamura was rear-ended by an oil
tank lorry at an intersection in Tokyo last
Christmas and his car was knocked about
150 yards down the street. Fortunately, as
he was waiting at a red light, he didn't hit
any other car. He recovered from the
whiplash rather quickly, but his wife was
in another car that was hit from the rear
more lightly last July and has been in the
hospital with serious whiplash for many
weeks. We ask your prayers for them.
CONVENTIONS
As most of your readers know, we report
on conventions every year at this time. The
once-a-year gathering of our missionaries
and Japanese brethren is an important
and eagerly anticipated event for most of
us, although because of furloughs,
distance and costs, etc., not everyone is
able to attend every time. Because of our
lack of denominational organization and
supervision, the independence of the mis
sionaries and the local churches and our
valued freedom in Christ, these gatherings
are the means by which we maintain our
fellowship, strengthen the bonds of unity
and encourage and edify each other by ex
change of information about what is being
done and needs to be. Since the need for
this is widely acknowledged, the conven
tions have been maintained and have be
come a strong tradition among us now.
Usually the missionary convention is
planned by the people in the same area
where the Japanese convention is held,
and occupies 2 days just before or after the
Japanese one, in order to save travel ex
penses for the majority of missionaries
who attend both.
The Minato Church of Christ group singing a new
hymn with words written by Stephen lijima and
music by the church organist, Mr. Kawaguchi.
This year the 2 conventions were in Hir
oshima prefecture, and it was the first time
for either one to be in this area of Japan.
The Lee Jones family, who are at present
our only missionaries there, planned the
gathering for the missionaries at a nice but
modestly priced hotel located on a beauti
ful golf course some miles outside of the
city. This year, for various reasons (in
cluding the low value of the dollar) many of
our younger missionaries could not come,
so the preponderance of white hair was
noticeable, and remarks were made about
the large percentage of our missionaries
who are now around 70 years of age. But we
had a good time of fellowship, and the
music led by the Rostvit Twins was excep
tionally good.
The Japanese Convention was hosted by
the small Tomo Church of Christ, which
was founded and is ministered to by Mr.
and Mrs. Kishi. Mr. Kishi is a professor of
accounting in the University there, and
also dean of the faculty at present, and
they are loved and respected by all of our
Christians here. The church building is on
their property, and was built by them at
great sacrifice.
The meetings were held and all stayed in
a large new hotel in the center of the city.
The morning devotions were held in the
famous and beautiful "Peace Park" where
the first atomic bomb used in warfare was
dropped at8:15a.m. the morning of August
6,1945. It was my responsibility to give one
of the devotional messages there on
Sunday, July 26.
The audience at the 38th convention in Hiroshima.
On Sunday afternoon the Kishis
chartered a street-car, which left from right
in front of the hotel, and took those who
signed up for the trip down to Miyashima,
which is a famous island off the coast in
the inland sea. It has a large old shrine.
beautiful scenery and tame deer walking
around everywhere, and is called one of the
3 great sights of Japan.
A total of 325 people attended this
convention, and the program was very
well-planned and inspirational for every
one.
Some weeks before the convention
several preachers in the Tokyo area began
asking me if the Mejirodai Church would
agree to host the next convention in 1988.
There seemed to be no other area willing to
take the responsibility, and they felt our
church should undertake it. I was hesitant,
but brought it up at our deacon's meeting.
They were much more reluctant than I, be
cause few of our folks have attended a con
vention and finding a suitable place in
Tokyo at a reasonable price is very diffi
cult. But they felt some obligation to give a
positive answer to the requests from the
leaders of our sister churches in Tokyo and
to be a part of the brotherhood. So they
made a decision to accept the responsibili
ty of hosting the next (39th) convention on
condition that we could find a suitable
place before we left for the convention (in
about 2 weeks.) The following Saturday a
committee went with me to the place offirst
choice. It is called "Nihon Seinen Kan"
Japan Youth Hall, and is located in Shin-
juku ward very near the stadium built for
the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964. We met
r- |,3By
Harold Sims inviting the convention to Tokyo for
1988.
with the director there, and told him of our
plans and needs, and we were able to re
serve space for 300 people and a meeting
hall seating 400 for the dates ofAugust 3-5,
1988. We were very happy to feel that God
was leading and opening the way for us, so
the next Sunday at a quickly called congre
gational meeting the folks agreed. The
man who was selected to be the committee
chairman said, "At first I felt I just
couldn't possibly find time to do it, but now
I feel like I am going ahead, follow me."
At the convention, on the last day, I in
vited the people to Tokyo for next summer,
and many gave us words of encourage
ment and assurances of their prayers for us
as we prepared and their plans to attend.
After coming home I have been happy and
even amazed at how our whole congrega
tion is cooperating in the project and work
ing very happily. We have organized into
several committees that are functioning
well and bringing in decisions on time, and
although it is going to be a busy year for all
of us we are "Serving the Lord with glad-
f.9
Grandpas' Quartet (L to R) Lee Jones. Mark
Maxey, Harold Sims. Martin Clark.
ness," which we have chosen as the theme
for the 39th convention.
SIMS PERSONAL
NEWS NOTES
1. In the last issue we told about the first
half of the 89-day visit of our daughter,
Sylvia, and her husband, Dave, and their3
children from West Des Moines, Iowa.
They and our son, Jonathan (total of 8
people) went with us in our Toyota light
van on a 2100 kilometer trip down to Hiro
shima for the missionary and Japanese
Conventions and to help in the young
people's camp July 22-Aug. 1. Sometimes it
seemed like ours was the only non-air-
conditioned car on the road, but we en
dured the heat and crowded conditions and
had a lot of fun all along the way, including
overnight stops at Osaka Bible Seminary
and a country hotel near Audrey West's
place.
After the camp the Smiths helped in our
VBS at Mejirodai, and we made other side
trips to Mt. Fuji and Nikko. Dave painted
the outside ofour house and the church and
did some other repair jobs also. They re
turned to the U.S. on August 26 with many
memories and pictures.
2. Our son, Daniel, works in the design
section of Chrysler Motor Co. They have
some joint projects with Mitsubishi Motors
in Japan, and since Daniel speaks
Japanese he usually gets a trip over here
when there is any discussion going on
related to matters of design. On the night
of July 15 he walked in unannounced and
surprised us all. He was again in Japan for
a couple of weeks in late August and visited
his old home and church over Labor Day
Weekend, and for about 10 days in October.
It is a great pleasure for us to see him so
often.
3. My birthday is Sept. 27 every year, and
in recent years it seems that something
special happens almost every time. This
year it was on Sunday, and it was my
privilege to baptize a 7th grade girl (the
daughter of one of our members) who was
also born on the same date exactly half a
century later than I. Later that night, Bro.
Ishii's (minister at Kotesashi Church) wife
told him that he had better take her to the
hospital because their third baby was
getting ready to come. He went to get the
car and when he got back to the front door
she was lying on the floor giving birth to a
baby girl. They called the ambulance, and
all was taken care of without harm.
After the morning worship service, 9/27,
the church people at Mejirodai arranged a
little party to celebrate the birthday of
Makiko Tsuda and her baptism, the birth
day of Harold Sims and the birthday of
Mrs. Okada (our oldest member86). At
the same time we welcomed Miss Penny
Boggs of Chester, West Virginia, who had
just returned from a furlough in the U.S. to
begin her second term of missionary ser
vice. She will be living with us until she
Bnds a suitable priced and located apart
ment to live in somewhere in this part of
western Tokyo, and she will be helping in
the work with children and young people at
Mejirodai church.
Impressions of Israel
by Harold Sims
Continued from July 1987
Day 5
In the morning we went to the top of the
Mt. of Olives for the classic view of the
Dome of the Rock, Old Temple Area, Wall,
etc. Then we went down to one of the tra
ditional sites of the Garden ofGethsemane
and saw some very old olive trees and the
modern Church there.
We spent quite a bit of time at the
Wailing Wall, and then took a 2 hour
walking tour through the Temple Area,
Via Dolorosa and that part of the city-
the route that all tourists take.
After lunch we saw David's Tomb and a
nearby place said to be the location of the
Upper Room. The high point of the trip
emotionally for me came as someone
started singing "Break Thou the Bread of
Life." Our 40 voices reverberated through
the old stone arches in wonderful harmony
and volume that I will never forget.
Day 6
Up at 3 AM for a snack. On the bus at
4 AM for the trip down to Tel Aviv. Very
strict security check at the airport, includ
ing going through everyone's suitcase
piece by piece. We took off at 6:55 and had
approximately the same kind of trip back.
Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Buttray (retired). For
warding Agent: Mrs. Lois Messier, PO Box 287,
Meadville, PA 16335.
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Patton, 57I-I Innaihara,
Mochizuki Shi, Kitasaku Gun, Nagano Ken,
Japan 384-22. Forwarding Agent: Mr. and Mrs.
G. Wade Fletcher,321 N. Hannah St.,Rushville,
IN 46173-1739.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims, 3-33-7 Mejirodai,
Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 193 Japan. Forwarding
Agent: First Church of Christ, 315 E. Orange
Ave., Eustis, FL 32726-4194.
Two year subscription
Subscription and Flaming Torch
. $.50
$1.00
Tokyo Christian
^No. 776-320)
Published four times a year in January, April,
July, and November for the missionaries of the
Church of Christ, Cunningham Mission, Tokyo,
Japan by Mission Services, 7525 Hodges Ferry
Road, Knoxville, TN 37920-9731. Second Class
postage paid at Knoxville, TN 37901-2427.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
Tokyo Christian, c/o MISSION SERVICES, PO
Box 2427, Knoxville, TN 37901-2427.
We returned safely to Narita airport near
Tokyo just after dark on Thursday, Feb. 19,
and got home about 9 PM. What a week!
5. Over-all impressions.
The Good Ones
A. There is surely no other place on
earth that so clearly shows the influence of
faith and religion upon the daily life of a
people. As I walked through the Old City
and looked at people's faces and move
ments I felt strongly that these are a
"people of The Book," who really believed
in One God, the Creator, Keeper, Lawgiver
and Judge. By the wailing wall on a Tues
day morning dozens of men were com
pletely absorbed in reading their Hebrew
Bibles, reciting Psalms and other passages
together and praying. Up in the area where
Solomon's and Herod's Temples once
stood, long lines of Moslems were taking
off their shoes to enter the large Mosque.
Down in the narrow streets, groups oftour
ists from all over the world were walking
the Via Dolorosa and threading their way
through the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
To the 3 great monotheistic religions ofthe
world, this city of Jerusalem is connected
with the most basic of holy events in
history and is a real spiritual home.
B. I was thankful to feel with the 5
senses the reality of history and the Bible
record. While I had doubts that most of the
"spots" they showed us were really the
very places where Jesus was born, was cru
cified, ate the Supper, etc., I did enjoy the
experience of being in the area where so
much that is important to me happened in
the past, and to absorb the atmosphere.
C. It was a pleasure to meet Mr. George
Awwad, who ministers to a congregation
of 120 believers meeting in several homes
in Jerusalem and a rented hall in the
nearby Arab city of Ramallah. He is the
son of an Arab Christian who lived and
worked for years as caretaker of an
Armenian Catholic Convent building, and
was led into our doctrinal position and
fellowship by the late Leland Tyrrell and
others who visited the area with tour
groups regularly. He studied the Bible
Correspondence Course from Winston-
Salem Bible College. He told me, "Many of
our people know me as a man who tells the
truth and can be trusted, and they also
know I preach the Bible straight." This is
"the kind of evangelist needed in every time
and place, and especially in this difRcult
place where God has called him to serve.
The Bad Ones
A. Along with admiration for the tough
ness and perseverance ofthe Jewish people
through their history, I also felt the other
side of the cointhe legalistic, "keeping
the form and tradition" attitude that Jesus
tried to point out in His controversies with
the Pharisees 2000 years ago.
B. The persistent Arab salesmen who
stood in front of us dangling cheap picture
postcards and souvenirs and preventing us
from hearing our guide and enjoying the
views of places sacred in our memories
made me sympathetic to the young prophet
cleansing the Temple.
C. It is good to see some large, old
churches manifesting the historical con
nection between this land and Jesus, but I
believe all of our group shared a deep dis
appointment in the testimony to the gospel
of Christ that is given to the people of our
time by the Churches in that land. The
buildings have an aura of tradition and
superstition which the Japanese compared
to Buddhism in their country. They are full
of candles, incense burners and pictures,
but empty of songs of praise, preaching of
the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit.
How long has it been since a soul came to
believe in the Resurrection of Jesus in the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher?
D. A number of momentary meetings of
eyes, incidental comments and conver
sations with local people made me aware of
underlying tensions there. Any street
could see a bombing or explode into
fighting between the Jews and Arabs at
any time. The thought crossed my mind,
"This city could very easily crucify Jesus."
Yes, but so could any other city in the
world.
None of my disappointments were the
responsibility of the World Travel Service,
the guide or those involved in planning the
trip. I am so glad I was able to go. May all
of our pilgrimages be "Singing I go along
my way" as this one was. My prayer is that
if tourists come to Japan in 2187 and
beyond, they will find Christians filled
with the Holy Spirit and faith and still
growing and bearing fruit in Christ.
Belote you inove. please send ihe mailing label below, along with a copy ot your new address to
MISSION SERVICES ASSOCIATION. P O Box 2427. Knoxville. TN 37901-2427
Form 3579 Requested, PO Box 2427, Knoxville, Tennessee 37901-2427.
CHRISTMAS LETTER 1987
Dear Friends,
The reality of IT'S A SMALL WORLD became clearer to us through several
experiences this year.
A. In February Jonathan and Harold went on a one week tour of Israel with
38 of our Japanese Christians. We left Tokyo on Thursday at 9:30 PM. stopped
at Anchorage early In the morning, spent the night crossing over the North
Pole, landed at Copenhagen on a snowy, foggy morning, and arrived In Tel Aviv
on Friday evening just before the Sabbath began. They had just finished the
worship services here when I telephoned home from a kibbutz at Tiberias on the
Sea of Galilee at sunrise on Feb. 15. The land of the Bible Is smaller than we
had Imagined, which enabled us to see and enjoy many different places In a few
days.
Meanwhile back home on Feb. 16 Lois guided a group of 24 people from
White Oak Christian Church In Cincinnati out here on the electric trains from
a hotel In downtown Tokyo while the ladles of Mejirodai Church and her Friday
AM English Class prepared a suklyaki dinner for them to enjoy while seeing our
place of work here.
B. On May 30 Dave and Sylvia Smith and Rachel (11) Joshua (9) and Suzanne
(7) arrived at Narlta Airport to spend the summer with us. The next day we had
a Fifth-Sunday Rally here, which was a welcome meeting for them, and the
attendance of 132 was record-breaking. The children quickly adjusted to the
differences between the cultures, but never would eat some of the foods
Grandpa liked. Through the mediation of one of our members who was active In
PTA before her three chllren graduated, and the cooperation of 3 good willing
teachers, they pioneered In elementary International relations by going to the
second, forth and sixth grade classes at our local school for about 10 days
before summer vacation began In Japan. It was a good educational experience
for the children on both sides, who proved able to communicate across the
language barrier enough to have lots of fun. Four girls were In our living
room teaching Rachel paper folding after the first day. Every kid In the
neighborhood called out "Josh!" wherever he went. Suzl taught both students
and mothers In her class to sing and dance the "Hokey-Pokey" which she had
recently learned In Des Molnes. They had plenty of show and tell things to
take back to school In Iowa, but they had to leave the beloved beetles and
turtles In Japan In care of Grandma. Dave was pleased and suprlsed to find
that anything he asked for In English at the "Do It Yourself" store was
quickly shown to him by a man who nodded his head but never spoke a word of
English to him.
C. On Friday night July 17 Daniel walked In. He had already been In
Okazaki, Japan for a week, working both as a representative of the Design
Section of Chrysler Motor Co. and as a translator for conferences between
Chry. and Mitsubishi Motors of Japan. He spent the week-end with us, and then
climbed Mt. Fuji with some men from the Japanese Company before returning to
the U.S. At the end of August he was back on related business and spent Labor
Day week-end here, and again In October he spent 2 weeks at work and 2 days at
our home. Sunday July 19 was one of Lois' "Martha Days." We had 8 family
around the breakfast table (Like the good old days). Then with Danny here we
had a larger than usual young people's group for lunch. At supper most of the
Tokyo area Japanese preachers were here for their monthly meeting so she fed a
total of 38 meals that day.
D. The Rostvit Twins, who are well-known In the U.S. and have sung In
about 70 different countries, were In Japan and did the special music for our
3-day evangelistic meeting June 26-28 at which Dave preached and Harold
Interpreted. They were also In our Missionary Convention In July. Everyone
enjoyed their music, pictures and especially the wel1-pronounced Japanese
language they had practiced and used.
E. Looklng In the other dfrectlon: out of our congregation of 45 members
Dr. Ito spent 3 weeks abroad In conferences on astronomy and physics, Mrs.
Miyashlge went on a 2 week trip to the U.S., Mrs. Tsuda spent a week In Korea,
Mr. and Mrs. Kume spent a month In England, France and Spain, Taeko Kasal went
to Ball Indonesia for 10 days, Yonako Nakagawa was In San Francisco for 2
weeks, the Toyamas are on a Sabbatical year In Cologne, Germany where he Is
teaching Philosophy and Modern Japanese Ideas. Also Shingo Tsuda Is a High
School Student living In Cincinnati, Ohio with the Collins family of
Clovernook Christian Church, and Akifumi HI rota Is In a preparatory English
Course at Arizona State Univ. and living with an older brother In Phoenix. See
what I mean about the great big world seeming small at times!
It has not been like the wandering In the Wilderness of Sinai, nor like
the reign of David or Solomon; but Lois and Harold have now spent 40 YEARS as
missionaries In Tokyo. We are thankful to God for giving us our calling, our
family, our supporting churches, our physical health and the continuing desire
In our hearts to serve this long In this job. On Sunday morning July 26 I was
In the Peace Park of Hiroshima just a few yards from where the Atomic Bomb hit
on Aug. 6, 1945 and speaking to some people at a prayer meeting which was part
of our 38th Convention Program. The modern city surrounding us, awakening to
another day's activity was a demonstration of the blessings of a generation of
peace and freedom, imperfect as both are in a sinful world. We are happy to be
a part of this generation.
This year brought its share of UNEXPECTED THINGS, but we are thankful
that most of them have brought joy to life and strength to faith.
1. Mr. and Mrs. Imada left the Nakano Church to join one of the
Shintoistic new religions about 20 years ago. They wrote a letter asking us
not to send them any letters or waste efforts to get them back. One day some
weeks ago Bro. Itagaki at Nakano received a phone call from her, saying that
her husband was still zealous for that faith, but had backslidden morally and
often got drunk and mistreated her. She had finally told their children
(daughter now 21 and son in college) about their former Christian profession,
and both of them said they thought she should go back to church and they would
be glad to go with her_^thou_gh theyjiad never been to one._
2. In June I was urged by our Japanese preachers in Tokyo to talk with
the leaders of Mejirodai church about hosting the 1988 Convention. Their
response was that it was too big a responsibility for us, very few in our
congregation had attended one, there was not enought time to consider it. But
they also felt it would be wrong not to seriously consider the request of
sister churches. They decided to go ahead on condition that a suitable place
could be found by the time Simses left for Hiroshima 3 weeks away. There are
many hotels in Tokyo too high-priced to consider, but few in our range.
However, within a week we had reserved the "Japan Youth Hall" for the only
dates open Aug. 3-5, 1988. The place is near the stadium used for the Olympics
23 years ago, and ideally located and reasonably priced. All of us felt God's
leading, and it was my privilege to issue an invitation to the 325 folks at
this year's Hiroshima Convention to come to Tokyo for the 39th All-Japan
Convention next time. Since then we have organized into committees, and
progress is now being steadily made in planning the program etc. It is most
gratifying to see the way our entire congregation is praying and working
together on this project. We have chosen as a theme: "Serving the Lord With
Gladness" (Psa. 100:2), and are trying to practice this daily in our
preparatory work during the coming months.
3. My birthday is Sept. 27, and this year it fell on Sunday. That day it
wasmy^^r'T~VTTge^tobapt-i ze13yss-roJ dMs-kTkc Tsuda who -wss- bom--ontbc same
day exactly half a century after me. Two days before this Penny Boggs returned
from furlough in the U.S. She plans to work with the youth here and also have
some classes in other places near. Sept. our oldest member became 86. So the
people prepared 2 cakes and 4 cards with messages of encouragement and made
appropriate speeches for a very nice birthday and welcome party in Sims Hall
after morning worship service.
Sylvia and Daniel were mentioned above. Tom Schmidt has changed jobs, but
he and Hope and the 4 growing girls are still in Kendallville, Ind. Hope is
hoping to come to Japan next spring for the first visit since graduation from
High School 21 years ago. Robert and Helen are busy with their 2 little ones
in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the year Bob was promoted at Milacron and is now
in International Marketing, with possibilities of traveling abroad. Jonathan
is still working with the Church in Yokosuka, and we see him about once a
month through the year.
May God richly bless all of you as we come to the season of great joy to
all.
HAROLD AND LOIS SIMS