Burney Donald Norma 1957 Japan

-vupi-i

T'hrffil m I. \>-c-o \i2^January 1957

Dear Friends of ours Everywhere,-

We hope you have had a happy season ofremembrance of the birth of our saviour, andwe wish you a profitable year ahead in theLord.

We did finally arrive in Jobe-.-but moreabout that laterand have been busy gettingsettled, studying language, and working withthe. Kobe, church. We have found working withthe church.especially pleasurable, and Don ishappy to be preaching some again, although atfirst through an interpreter. Classes are also held in our home on Wednesday and Saturday evenings

Christmas here in Japan this year wasJust a little different from any we have experienced before. First of all, we have been inJapan long enough now to understand a littleof Vy?hat was going on around us, of the

iOiiiliii

M.u!liiSil

preparations being made by^ and the worship, ofthe smair group of Christians in Kobe Wehave learned to read the syllables of Japaneseso that, even .though" we did not entirely understand what we were singing, w6 could sing theChristmas hymns. alOng with pur brethren. Thisyear inb- could more truly -worship our Lord together on-the day of. His birthi

Several Sundays before Christmas, afterthe morning service, everyone gathered aroundthe big charcoal-burning-fire-pot to practicethe Christmas hymns.. (This may be somethingyou have never thought about These Japconese-Christians have not, as you have, heard andlearned. hymns, from the time they werechildren. The Japanese congregations oftenhave a special- ^practice time^ for learning newfeymns

/^V\yffiW ii&

m W41

\

ifpM/ N

V

LA

R

1 TDLO SABU CHAN aboutGOD TOOflY, DAO, 6UT HEDIDN'T SAY MUCH, I OOnYKNOW WHAT HE THINKS

TKIWKING SO WARDVOU OlON'T EVEN

ME COMINGSK

JT MAY BE ALONG TIME BEFODE |VOU KNOW, SON. VOU 010 WELLVOU OUST KEEP ON TRYING

S

^LAO you cm^^WALONG SftBlhCHW, 50

2mf

(2BURNLV PETTY

BllLWOHTCTETlCSrGETTING HOME SEE

VouTWic-HT BILL.'67118 ,

COME ON BILLIlL SHOW YOU rTHE NEIGHBORHOOOON THE WAT OME

VOUTH LEttOn 4

i

CAMP ZAMAUiARMY

THIS VS VWERt mBUiiLV VfORSMCSm A WINTO

SHRINE

MOTHtn.THlS IS BILLflAY I W TO HISHOUSE FDR . tAWHILE ^

WE DONfrWEAR SHOESIN THE HOUSEin JAPAN*-

010 WE DOSOMETHING

^VJRONGJ

NO, OF courseNOT. I'LL TAKEMINE OFF, TOO.

Bur INSTEAD 0?"THE TRUE GOOTHEY WORSHIPTHINGS UK RXESWATERBILLS /INO '

_ TWES... THISOauST be THE

RACE DAD lOLD/ne ABOUT

OAANOMOTHER COPIESHERE A lOT, BUT IUSUALLY COME ONLYON SPECIAL DAYS-UKE BOYS DAY and

NEW YEARS

MAY MEECHEKO-CHAN COME.^TOO?YES.

MAY BOTH

1 WANT TO TEU.VOU ABOUT GOOWHO /made THe

WORLO

Ki-a-

-r

\r.

Tms' w CHmcjt

[O TO TEU. Mt

rpvn-o fiilP^FROM TOKYOone subject better forgottenexcept perhaps to warn us whet we eveftSnJ"11 mS^. Tlie.-g0 mpii. we fiopea l;o make beoame.average, and with the stops we madetumerintrth"^ which we hoped to reach Lbeturned ii^to three. The roads were verv narrow

roughness 'of the road nay be .Illustrated by thfmn wefSadefwftW^?^ ,?:.,a ,-ainall trucj which we mettrvlnlT^^i^ (-vegetables). He wastrjcing to sleep, .haTing crawled undei- thefu^hi-q fi A in place. How peacesul his sleep was we don't know, but as the

tkvelini fLresee^davil^bt hA+ severe bum>s we couldsee daylight between the man and the veget N-tMn^u-^A thrown against thf, strap!JMothing was eTer so welcome as Kob^J _' _ ^ _

HAPfiWteNEW

YEAR ''m

The fire-^pot does net really '^ive offnuch heat, but the Japanese people love itbecause- it (and the tea-pot) is one of theirmain sources of heat during the. "winterer Personally, we would rather warm our feet* but

would be awkward, undignified,-alittle dangerous and highly unorthodox, we toowarm our hands, though with somewhat less enthusiasm than the Japanese^

We preseixted quite a picture stcmdingaround the huge fire-pot., wearing oui^ wrapsbecause the meeting hall is not heated at allwarming our hands by the glow of the Charcoal!and singing the praises of the Lord born tooffer us all salvation.

iaunday the evening servicewas held in our home. The church decided ona candle-light service, with alternatingScripture-reading and Christmas carol singing..^ It was simple, but very nice. On thisevening also, Don preached his first sermonfS reading it to the assembled group[Reading a sermon is not the best, of course,but it is a start in the direction of somedaybeing able to preach in Japanese..,) Throughthis service and the social time that followedwe thought how in previous years we had worshipped the King with those nov; some halfaworld away, but how essentially the same theworship was, and essentially alike the worshippersbecause their Kin.g. . and our King. .and your King. . is Jesus Christ the Lord whois always and forever the Same.

Pray for us regularly.

Your ministers in Japan,

BUT

WE CAN

'^ LGADS YCUR

]f !/fly ;i}i'j uMiiyg fff rlBIBLE STUDYCLASS PARTYYOUTH GROUPSPECiAU; DAY

, A ,,i Fo' rr r n r it

P" nno i I'y 11 jW IA1jj..Lx ij|\|UjuhLDon has been sending'' us colored slides with atape reGordin:p program. The later givingraany sounds one hears in Jtzpan. The chants ofa Shinto Priest, noises of a busy street, thehowl of the Devil worshipers, and r.any othersounds and beautiful pictures to EI'JTLHTAIi'T

SOCIALMISS'RY MEETING^STUDY GROUPFELLCMSHIP

yur friends.

ijj ---z. ru:.vdRS4^^IDE FOR HTSTRTJCTIOiTS

CLIP SAIW >SUIT) TO

THE TRIP TO JAPM.

CHUHCK OF CHRIST S/USSION

596 v:. nth Peru, Ind.series no.

> ILIFE DOVH THE -SIDE STREETS OF TOIQ'O. 2

how we learned toLANGUAGE STUDY, write and speak . . 3

Japanese

PLEASE RESERVE FOR US SLIDE SERIES NO..

iND SEND:

to

SHIiCOiCUCHURCH OF CHRIST

MISSIONS

596 Y. nth St.Peru, Ind.

a

naiTie

address.

non-profit orgbulk-rate

U S postagePAID

Peru, Ind,nernit No. 235

HOW.^D liC fmMPBQX968

uiLmnB

-A

7/One

/ / '"'L/i^:.:

; / >. , V

Dear Christian Friends ^'This month"WG are happyrro^tell you

that two of our young people from the Kobechurch have accepted Christ as their SaviorJThey are Akira Kojima, a highschool Junior,and ^oichi Kajikawa, who according tothe American school system, is a Freshman.Both of these boys were originally contactedand taught by Mrs. Fultz (who started theKobe work), and have been attending theSunday worship sorvicos. Kojima-san(Mr, Kcjima) is a member of the vfednesdaynight English Bible Class which Don teaches,and Kajikawa-san is a member of the Saturdaynight English Bible Class which Hormateaches.

About four years ago a ChristianService Camp was started among thechurches of the Osaka-Kobe area. Thisyear it had progressed to the placewhere the planning was entirely in the

hands of the Japanese churches. Japaneseyoung people love camp as much ap- dotheir American counterparts, and thegroup had a wonderful fellowship together.(Fellowship with other Christians is notas plentiful in Japan as it is in America.)ICojima-san and Kajikawa-san were baptizedin the nearby river on the lost day ofcamp. They have given their lives toChrist early, but this means.they willhave many, many more temptations. Pleaseprqy for them.

OUR FDTAL PL/ITS HAVE BEEN MADE!We are very happy to think, the Lordwilling, that we will soon be in our own(rented) home, preaching and teaching ina place where Christ is not yet knowiii,

We^'fd^led by ship fa lg~hour trip) 'from Kobe to Kochi (pronounced Ko*-chee)

JApAt

i V /

'7;-' if 7 , I''A r/ s K *C ; ^7 ' 7 I "* ' / I !

Province recently, and found a backwardcountry area in comparison with the restof Japan, but with around 800,000 (4/5of a million) populations^ It is a placewhich needs Christ badlyl

Since we have received recent wordfrom Mrs. Fultz that her plans now areto return to Japan by Octiber 5, we hope,if funds are available, to be able tomove to Eochi by the middle or end of September. Fe have rented a house near thetown of Gomen (Go-men*It sounds likea basketball yell, but it means "I*m sorry"in Japanese.) The house has to be fixedup a little before we move, especially asuitable kitchen installed. It may beinteresting to you to know that accordingto renting custom? in Japan we mus t, makethe improvements on the house ourselvesand when wo move away we are expectedto take them with usJ

y-

In adding together all the estimatedexpenses of moving to Shikoku, wefind that it is going- to cost aroQndt^BOO, including repair of the houseand unpaid tax on the car. For thelast several months our monthly r_c-ceiots have barely covered our"'llv-ing and language expenses, so we have

I no reserve to use for moving. Fo needI your help if we are going to bo able tol^move to this new endeavor for the Lord

If you can help us now, it will soo usthrou^^thtf $ime o;r,.^ajor change in ourlife f^r'Jipa and aid our beginnings ^Ph..Shi^j3ku Please pray for us.

^ _^Your iministors in Japan,

cuoTc.-;^cuKt::r;:s or nDtioncl habits

urtj vory po'v.crrul, 7.c crc vvoiicloririr ifthe anas lorrncci in Jai-on will be -no hnrCto bronk ns the nxricnn-lcarno:" oncsWill wo take our shoes off before entering your house, or forgot and boiv whenwe should shako hands? (Many newly-rcttim-ed missionaries from Japan do the latter,wc arc tolG) On the other hand, we findthat Norma, at least, has forgotten anAmerican "custom" because of a Japaneseonco She recently was shocked to discoverthat she can no longer whistleS Aftertwo years of no practice because the"I'iTilstling-glrls-Gnd-crowing-hens" ruleis still in force here and nice-women donot whistle, she has lost whatever abilityshe ever ha4--V"hich -wasn't much, but itwas some accomplishment even to bo able towhistle badly!

SEHCOKXJ f non profit or^CHURCH OF CHRIST msSlOU j bulk rate

596 west 11th St. [US Postagepcru, Indiana j PAID

\ permit no. 235! Peru, Ind.

SEP 21957HOV.'ARD mwMaMTiB0X968jOLlET ILLINOIS