Burney Donald Norma 1978 Japan

GREETINGS

npiff Friends,**And on earth peace..but the peace

that comes from God does not bring a stopto activity. Rather, it frees us fromtheguilt &practice of sin so we can be busyat God*! %K}rk. Vfe vish for you the Joythat comes from being busy wrklng for theLord.

Our scattered family will spendChristnaa with four of us in Japan and 3in the United States. Ihoae in Ansricawill probably not be able to be togetherat Christmas time as they \^e last year.We are happy for our children and theirlives this past year. Vfe hope those ofyou vto know than will rejoice with us,

PAUL (soon 24) was baptized IntoChrist In Items, Georgia In March 1977. Heis contlnmlng his Electrical Engineeringcourse at Georgia Tech In Atlanta duringthe winter and sumBr"^quarters and working for the Georgia Power Ccnijany In RomevGeorgia during the spring and fall in aa work-study program. His address is:

Paul BumeyGeorgia Tech, Box 33630Atlanta, Ga. 30332

9ARAH (soon 22) will graduate fromPepperdine University, Malibu, Californiawith a bible major, on Decenher 17, 1977.Vfe are very sorry that none of us can bethere to see her graduate. During thisyear she also bot^t a car, found an apt.with two other glxls frcra the school, andat the time of her last letter, was stilllooking for a Job. Her address is:

Sarah Bumey4126 Yankee DriveAgoura, CA. 91301

JOE (soon 20) also acquired a car during the year, but his big chige was transferring to Igkstyn IlllnolB University inCharleaten, Illinois beginning trtth hisSophamore year. He is tnajoriik in Special Education,with tha aim of helping thechild with physical or anoticml problanaHe Bpcttit the stmner in Ransey, 111. living with the Hoc Pope family and wmrkingin a nursing home. His address is:

THE BURNETS iSltSSu

Charleston, 111. 61920

TCK (17)is a Junior In High SchoolIn Christian Acatdgpy. an English speak-ing High School in Tokyo. He is a boardIng student & gets home only on vacations. During the sutimer the Aktitii (othis Jr. High CofKert Band practiced untold hours, and won ti 4-State ContestIn the t^-School Division, (ffost are H.S. students now-from 10 different H.8.)Tarn plays a aaxodtione 6t ii3 overjoyedl iTh^ played in the National Contest InNovBiber, which they didn't win, but it

experience of a lifetime, Tom baddress is the same as ours (found atthe end of this letter).

RACHEL (8) was baptized on July 171977 in the big river a mile ot so trthe east of us. She says she wants to b^a missionary (like the Afsastle Paul)he^she grows Vfe reminded her that shehas already decided on (& discarded atshe decides m a new one) being: (1) rlunber (wo)man, (2) a carpenter(3)civi3engineer (so she can build bridges) (4)fiteacher,and a Spanish teacher. She saytthis is the last change she is going tcta^ke. She continues to study ner English, Japanese and Spanish. She presents the Bible lessen at Girl Scoutmeeting each week. Another accomplish-neit of 1977 was to "alnost" learnswim. She is growing fast, bothlnmlru?and body. She studies at hcme Inateacof going to a school

Don has written the notes for thitletter, stt)d part of the text,^le Nor-ma put it together & typed it. At theend of the notes, he varote, "Hie *oldfolks' Just get older." I guess it-true; for the 'old folks' are both 45years old this year, and have been IxJapan for 22% years. This year, 1977,marked 20 years In Kochi Prefectureit;Shlkoku. It has been a Icng time, atuyet a short time.

"Glory to God in the highest."In Christ,

Don and Norma Bumey2-1-6 Asshi machiToaa-Yamada cho, Kard gun,Kochi ken, JAPAN 782

(Over)

if.\N. 1 9 V/-"-

BtfeiHDMrs GF m HJBHEnr

Me^ 29 Dan

Aug. 30 ton Bypiu/

Oct. 24 Rachel Bufcn^

Dec. 29 ^btm HmxBf

Let *8 , , . .and send dum each a note ohce in a ^diile to encoUtage diemv

(HgNAND NORWA BURNEV^ND NEWS FROM JAPAN.. .FEBRUARY 1978GOD'S ANSWER: A fefw days ago we wrote a short letter to several dntorches re

questing prayer for Doi's health. The problem v^lch had led to his being sidelined for most of 1976 seemed to be recurring, and the surgeryreconinBn(ted at that time appeared to be yesterday's option and today'snecessity. We made the tripabout 7 hours by carto the hospitalvdiere he had had the 1976 operation to be exantLned by the same doctor.After the examination the doctor declared it to be already healing andsaid enphatically that surgery is not needed now. SO PLANS THAT WEREBEING SHELVED ARE BEmi BROUGHT OUT AGAIN, and worked at with a newsense of urgency and with profomd gratitude to our Heavenly Father vihoprovides abundantly for us. Pr^ for us always. GOD ANSWSIS.

SHMMURA-KUN (Young Mr. Shimcmira) is a Junior Hi^ School student v^o studiesEnglish with me (Don) at the Gomen Church twice a week. The other ni^tquestions after class took so long that he missed his bus, so I took himhome. As soon as we got into the car, he opened the conversation with,"I have been studying the Bible a lot lately. It sure has a lot in it.I am learning a lot. I especially like Matth/ 5 and 'Love your nei^boras yourself , and I Corintnians 13:13 where it says, 'Now abideth faith,hope and lov^ and the greatest of these is love.' I have written themdown in the book of acMce that the graduating class leaves for the guidance of those they leave behind in Junior HL^ School. I think theseBible teachings are really great. V^en I grew I want to be a roan withfaithlike you and Mr. Saito (preacher at Gomen)." l^en I got home, Ijust parked on a cloud and floated into the house. It didn't matter thatny sijpper had gotten cold because I made the trip. "Be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Forasnaich as ye know^at your Idbor is not in vain in the Lord." The seed is taking root.(It WILL bear fruit!)

ENTRANCE EXAM SEASON has arrived. To us, this means that any 6th. grader (aboutto enter Junior Hi^ School) .anyone graduating from Junior Higi (about toenter Ri^ School), and anyone graduating frm Hi^ School (about to entercollege) will have dropped out of Sunday School, Church services, and anyclasses frcan 6 mcmtha to 3 irmths ago, in order to study for entrance examinations. There are almost never any of these three ages in chtjrch orSunday School. Furthermore, to the Japanese, this is an entirely normal,natural thingas it should be. Getting a good job after college gradua-ticm is the goal of all, so that Hi^ School courses are tai#it with thegoal of passing college entrance exantnaticms. It is said that a JuniorRL^ Schcxjl student who does not come home from school, eat his supper,andthen study until mLckii^t will not enter a "good" enou^ Hi^ Schcml toget him into a gcx)d college. Stuping cmly until 10 p.m. will cause himto have to go to a ConiiErcial Hi^ Schcxjl. From the time they are in themiddle of Grade schcml, children will tell you that the thing they liketo (k) nost is ??,. .to sleep!! A Junior Hi^ boy told Norma cnce thatthe only other time he liked during the d^ was the nocn lunch period, because his parents weren't there to tell him to hurry up so he cx)uld stucfy.A little first grade boy told Rachel that he wasn't going to gp to heaven;he was gping to stay here and make money. In fact, ^en he grew up, hewas going to get married to mmey. In our newspaper last wedc was a picture of a Hi|^ School senior standing before a 'tree" of wooden prayerboards in the main hall of a Shinto Shrine in Tokoyo. This particularShrine is dedicsteci to the god of Learning and, the newspaper said, "wasfilled with votive pictures of horses, a good lucic charm in J^an, offered by students and their parents who pray for success in their forthcomingentrance exanrinaticms WecJnesday at the start of the so-called 'entranceexam' season."

(OVER)

"Shrine officials", it contintjed, "Are delifted with the brisk bijsiness.:(They sell the pr^er boards and pictures of horses, besides receivingofferingp). They said tnore than 2,000 persons will visit the shrine every

until the end of February to pray to the god for success." I am convinced that if we could offer success in passing entrance exandnations thestudents would code to church in droves. (And leave in droves as soon asthey had passed the exams) The ayara^ (atheistic) student sees no connection between himself and God the Creator'and Father, Christ the Savior,or faith in Christ as a way of everyday life. Sewing the Seed of tlieGospel goes on, thou^. Vhen that student finally does realize his needfor Christ, Aether earlv or late, we pray that he will knew vhere to findHim. To this end we work.

WE HAD THE AMUZING SITUATION ARISE recently when someone read our Decenber 1975newsletter and thou^t it was a Decenber 1977 one. The only small doiibthe had was that tlie price listed for coffee in Japan wasn't as hi^ as hethouAt it should bel With prices revised upward to match the higher costsand the much Icwer yen rate (Y2A0 to $1 ncjw), it is indeed just as true inDecenber 1977. It nad been written entirely concerning our need for morefunds. The situation has not changpd. The last few months we have had^asituation whereby we have had to pay a part of the preachers' salaries fromour own salary because funds have not come even to pay salaries, let aloneother expenses. In October we used about %of our salary this w^; inNovenber 3/7 or $300; in Decenber we had to give the preachers 3/4 of oursalary or they would not have had enough to live on; in January we gotonly half of our salary and the other half went for salaries. Apart ofthis situation is caused by the change in the yen rate, which has plungedto Y240 to the $1. Vhat woud-d have been $1 in January 1977 is new only 83C.Wh have lost about 20% of the value of our dollars.

WE WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU TO HELPl The Decenber 1975 newsletter gave 4 possiblereasons for our financial condition after being in Japan for 20 yeart (22now). I will only give the main sentences and not elaborate, but theywere these: , tt i_

1. Long service creates heavier responsibiliticvs. Vfe havesalaries to pay.

2. Inflation. Japanese prices are among the hi^est in theworld.

_3. Japan is not as hramatic a field as some.

4. We haven't specialized in raising money. We need aniinnediate increase in money and long-term comnitnEntby churches to preaching the Gospel in Japan. We arepraying to the Lord for help.

Church of Christ at TreatyR. 5, Wabash, IN. 46992

Mlasloa SorvlfWB Afloala-kioalo* 177'SMpfptODf XcidilUA

BURNEY'Dear Harold and all.

Non-Profit Organ.Permit //127

Wabash, IN. 46992

^ this to you before Monday. I am sending youpictures for the Wabash Church, and will send some to Glenn Brown for Treatv.Per-haps since your summer VBG is coming up, the children and teachers will be interested in pictures of our spring VBS. Or your Wednesday night young people.

, , really good VBS from March 27 to 31. We had asked a-young lady, a graduate of Osaka Bible Seminary," tQ-COme"from KyiTshh^to help us". Mr.

90 ! Gomen) and Norma were the other two teachers. We had from 20 to9 kids every day with about half of them having perfect attendance,. There isn'ttoo much to say about the school itself. Perhaps the pictures tell the story bet-Ihl J""" "light tell the children that many of the children atthe end of TOS said that they wouldn't be able to continue to come to Sunday Schoolr. things their parents had planned for them on SundaylikethTil h&ttei: grades in school; or special trips withlltti activities. One little boy was especially interested inhanrtLS^pr Hn^ . something special for Sunday.Per-p there are children in the church who would pray for the children of Japan.

iiR .Y mother, Ethel Burney, from Portland, Oregon has been withTokvo and n Easter. She came by herself (at 84 years old) as far ason tliere. She went up the mountain with us for Sunrise Servicevni.n enjoyed her stay. She usually lives with Don's nextive for III ^ walking. She Is really act-trhJl T D intends to stay "for a little while" after Tom gets out oftpndf^ T I' Easter. Then she intends to go back to the U.S. before it gets so hot here.

. . , . ^ About two weeks ago, however, she suddenly began seeing doublethft controJrrr discovered that one of the nervesthat controls the left eye is numb. The reason isn't so easy to find out. The'orairL smi h?^" f pressure in thei causing double vision. She spent a week In bed Just to be on thevifLn is'stil l^d M short walks, hersion is still double and bothers her walking and reading. So knowing the lord

ago, I think. feeling much better, and is stronger than a short time

Tech to thP transfered from GeorgiaLu,'AthL^!1::r:Jf30602'^ '^^ -stav for intends to return to Japan sometime during the summer andM^rk Pratf ^ the home of thek Pratt family while they are on furlough from October 1978. After they returnto Japan, she will have decided what to do in the future. It doesn'reeert^a^heLeir"fu^ouufdor''i^

FINANCIAL REPORTMARCH, 1978

Rate: $1 Y 217

1. Hattorl (Noichl)

2. Help to Gomen

3. Burney Salary

4. Mlchlko Salary

5. Mlchlko Churches

6. Children's Educ.

7. Printing

8. Teaching Material

9. VBS, Camps

10. Transportation

11. Postage

12. Promotional

13. Office

14. Housing

15. Medical

16. Utilities

17. Tax, Soc. Sec.

Y 130.000

Y 40,000

Y 151,900

Y 31.465

Y 56,945

Y 160^868

Y

Y 8>515

Y28,580

Y 41,000

iiiTO

Y 3,890

Y

Y 14,000

Y 7,821

Y 41,818

1,000

$ 599.08

$ 184.33

$ 700.00

$ 145.00

$ 262.42

$ 741.33

$

$ 39.24

$ 131.71

$ 188.94

$ 8.62

$ 17.93

$

$ 64.52

$ 36.04

$ 192.71

$ ^.61

18. V.A. Loan Interest Y 37,719 $ 173.82

TOTAL EXPENSES

Balance

Deposits:

(1) March 14, 1978

(2) Fr. Macedonia

>w(3)^ . Saleni

Total Available

BALANCE

MISCELLANEOUS^ MATTERS:

Y 390,600

Y 10.850

Y 5,425

Y 406,875

Y

(1) Noichl Kindergarten

20,000

(2) To Mr. Salto for Yamada Church

9,000

$ 599.08

$ 783.41, ^

$ 1483.%!

$ 1628.41

$ 1890.83

$

$

NOTES:

1. Mr. Hattorl receives, the same salary as al

ways In yen; however,the present exchangerate raises Its dollarvalue. In March 1977it only took $465.95to exchange for hissalary (then, as now,Y 130,000).

2. As reported before,Gomen asked that theamount given them bereduced from Y50,000to Y40,000.

3. In March 1977, $700could be exchanged forY195,300.

6. This Included the rejg-ular payment plus enrollment expenses fornext year at ChristianAcademy. It also Included Tom's trainfare home and back forEaster vacation.

9. Spring VBS, held March27-31 was very success*ful. We had one outside teacher, plus Mr.Salto and Noi;ma. Largest attendance was 29lowest 20.

14. Rent Is up Y 1,000this year.

15. Don had many shots andtrips to the Dr. for aboll on his hand.

$ 1800.00 16. Our electric bill camedown from $94.88 In

$ 50.00 Oct. 1977 to $62.50this month, we assume

$ 25.00 because we shut off :oufTfeezef. ~

$ 1875.00

$(2) Macedonia Church from

Loogootee, 111. sends$25.00 a month. Thisrepresents 2 months.

(3) Salem Church, Peru, INsends $25 a month thruNorma's mother.

92.17 (1) Noichl Kindergartenhas asked us to stopthe Y20,000 per monthaid, since they have a

41.47 larger enrollment thisyear. This Is the lasttime.

(2) Mr. Salto, preacher at Gomen, has been helping us with the Sunday afternoon Sunday School at Yamada, and has been teaching the Thursday evening Bible Study.Healso teaches VBS, etc. here. We are helping the church give him this much.

THIS NEW FORM 1.ISTS EXPENSES IN THE OPa}KR OF IMPORTANCE AND PAYMENT. THE THIRDCOLUMN IS FOR aiOT:ATm JOTEIiSH, Al^ WILL SHOW HOW FAR THE MONTH'S INCOME WILLREACH. OTHER "expenses""'ARE "siWWi:^ SO YOU MAY KEEP IN TOUCH WITH OUR SITUATION,BUT NO DEFICIT WILL SHOW.

V , k -

Tpsa-Yamada ahlJune 3, 1978

Dear Ones In Christ,

This will have to be a fast note.

Don's mother will be returning to the States on June 19. She has been anxious to get home before now, but is waiting for Tom to get out of school andthen plans to spend a week here before she goes. She is much better. Readsanything she wants to, and can write in a straight line now, too. Don willtake her to Osaka and from the airport there she will be in the care of theWheel-chair Service which airlines operate for the elderly traveler. (No extra charge, but they take care of baggage, etc. and see that she makes the connections all the way back to Portland. A really good deal.)

Rachel didn't develop nephritis (a kidney disease often accompanying thestreptococcic infection she had.) The doctor was afraid she would, since shehad had the infection so long. (The first doctor didn't diagnose it correctly,so it went untreated for a long time.) She lost about 5 lbs., which she couldnot afford, being as thin as a bean-pole anyway. But we praise the Lord thatshe seems to have recovered completely!

We have camp plans underway. We even were confident that we had a camp sititoo. However, last week we were informed that we could be there in the daytimebut couldn't stay at night. Fine camp site! So we have to search again (likelast year). Last year we appreciated the prayers of the churches that we wouldfind a suitable place for our camps. It looks like we again need prayers onthis matter. We have 3 or possible 4 camps planned: Kindergarten and theirmothers; Children's; Adults; and possibly an English Bible Camp. (Last yearour English camp fell through at the last minute. We have to test the interestin having one before deciding whether to go ahead.) Of course, we have to finda place,too.

Sarah plans to come to Japan in September. She hasn't spelled out her planas yet, so that is about all we can say as of now.

We told Mission Services (near Kokomo) that we would be in the States for asummer furlough in June, July and Aug. of 1979. Tom will graduate in June of1979, and we would then spend the summer visiting the churches and getting himsettled in college. However, there are a lot of things to think about. The fulough fund, for one. We used money from it when Joe graduated, when I (Norma)went to my father's funeral, and when Don took his emergency leave. Therefore,there is probably not enough in it to handle three round-trip tickets and oneone-way one. Don says It will cost about $3,181.00. Another problem is transportation while there, and also the fact that we won't be earning our usual a-mount here, right at the time when we need money there. Lets say that a furlouis only tentative until we can make better plans.

In Christ,

Don and Norma Burney

U.S.Address:% Harold R. JonesR. R. 1LaFontaine, IN. 46940

July 19, 1978

Japan Address:Tosa-Yamada-cho, Kami-gunKochi-ken, ShlkokuJAPAN 782

Dear Christian Friends,

This is the season of summer greetings in Japana custom simlliar to Christmascards, but done twice a year, in January and in July. We wish you God's blessingand protection during the summer season.

Summer has certainly arrived here, complete with the high humidity which "makespeople feel unpleasant" as one fellow observed the other day. He may be right, atthat, but he meant "uncomfortable". We also have a continual screech to endure fromthe locusts ("seven-year-locusts" in America; every-year-locusts here; not thegrasshopper kind, though).

We have two special items to discuss with you this month, and many other moreregular items. One is that, if we can have the round-trip tickets in. hand, and besure of the financing of the work we leave here in Japan during the summer, we areplanning a 3-month furlough in June, July and August of 1979. (Next year). Tom willgraduate from High School in Tokoyo in June, so this next year will be the opportunetime for our furlough. Sarah will, by that time, be back in Japan and working forthe Lord.

The other news involves films we ordered during the winter months from CathedralFilms. They are used films of the Life of Christ and the Life of Paul, available ata very low price (only to overseas missionaries.) They are 30 minute, 16 mm. movies,at from #19 to $27 apiece (Regular used film price for color films is $90 to $200.)We tried to get as full a set as we could, thinking this was a chance that surelyour Lord set before ua. We ordered $1,018. worth of films. We borrowed $400 fromour "furlough fund" at that time, which the churches who supervise our work havesaid we need not repay, but just apply it to the films. This leaves $618.00. Wealso had to buy a used 16 mm. projector for $606. Could you or your Sunday Schoolclass, or your missionary study group or others, make a special offering by whichyour church could help us buy these tools to show Christ to the people of our area?Please mark it "for films".

We are happy that the amount we borrowed from the furlough fund ($400) can apply to the purchase of the used films. We have shown several of them to the family(so we can see what is in them), and also to one of the Japanese preachers and toEnglish Bible Classes. We are more or less evaluating them right now to plan theiruse. (About half of them arrived in the middle of June, The other half la still onthe U.S. West Coast.)

What we really want to do is to put Japanese with the pictures and turn down theEnglish sound track. This will take a lot of work. We have a Christmas one in theprocess. The English script has been written off (by ear) and it has been translated into Japanese. But the problems only begin there. It will take many more hoursof work.

Summer vacation Bible School will be July 25-29. It starts the next day afterkids get out for summer vacation. Then children's camp will be Aug. 1 and 2, withthe children staying overnight one night. The adult camp will be Aug. 2,3, and 4,staying overnight 2 nights. We thought we had a good place for camp this year, butit fell through the first of April, and we weren't able to find any other place. Wefinally settled on the Nolchi church building and kindergarten building. It isn'tvery interesting (especially for the Noichi people) to go there for camp, but thisyear we couldn't help it.

Don and Mr. Saito, the Gomen preacher, are working on a correspondence coursefor Warren Chrlatlanson and the rest of the Tokoyo area missionaries. They had tocorrect it some besides being the typist and proofreader (Mr. Salto) and printer(Don) they are supposed to be, Mr. Salto works for the Noichi church kindergarteneach afternoon to supplement his income, so he is tired by evening. He is also typing the correspondence course in the mornings.

The amount of yen (Japanese money) we can get for a dollar has been gettingsmaller each month for a year and a half or so All missionaries in Japan, because they depend on dollars from America, are having a hard time. We heard recently that one young couple say they may have to return home. Let me show youwhat is happening. Our salary is supposed to be $700 set at this amount when$1 equaled 300 yen. In Dec., 1976 we got only a little under that by the timeour money was changed into yen.=^$680.60. In June 1977 we got the equivalent of$630.67. In December 1977 it was $555.47, Last month, June 1978, the yen wegot came to only $502.12. This month, July 1978, however, with the exchangerate hovering around Y200, we have only $466.67 compared to the $700 when therate was YBOO. We still exchange S700 each month for yen but for it get$466.67 in yen value now. And not only our salary, but all our mission fundshave the same problem. They only go 2/3 as far as a year and a half ago. We,and all other Japan missionaries, are needing an increase in salary and workingfunds.

Don's mother arrived home in America safely, and is as lively as ever. TheDr.'s check-up says she is fine, but they haven't found the reason for the double vision, which still persists.

This article appeared In the newspaper recently: "KOBE--A stone commemorating the completion of the Shlnkanscn's (fast train) 16-kilometer Rokko Tunnelhas become highly "venerated" by women hoping for an easy delivery, much tothe surprise of officials at the Japanese National Railway. The granite stone,about 40 centimeters tall and 20 centimeters in width, was picked up when thetunnel was pierced In 1970." It was enclosed in plastic and put on display Inthe concourse when the station was opened in the fall of 1972.....People beganoffering coins, which according to a count made in March 1977, totaled 11,400yen...A number of women, proudly clutching their babies, have been observedthanking the stone. The "believers", it was stated, are mostly pregnant womenin their 203 and 30s. Visitors are increasing and so are the offerings which,according to a check for the past two months, totaled 75,982 yen. (about $380)"

There is a saying in Japanese that applies here. It says that "even a minnow's head can become, a god," meaning that there is no limit to the outlandishthings people (Japanese) will take for their gods. As you notice, the money Isgiven to the stone before the baby is born; then after the birth, the "god" isthanked, and there is never any more connection between that woman and the "god".That is a fairly accurate picture of the Japanese attitude toward religiontobe used when needed only, then abandoned. By my guess (!) 95% of these womenare High School graduates, and perhaps as much as 40% are also college graduates,80 there is no lack of education.

Another recent article in the same newspaper says, "A Shlntoist rite washeld Saturday to drive an evil spirit from a high-rise public apartment complex in Tokoyo plagued by a series of suicides. (32 since 1972)". This showsthe other side of the religious scenefear and belief in evil spirits andthe necessity of appeasing them.

Please urge your people to pray for us and the Christians of Japan.

In Christ,

Don and Norma Burney

Church of Christ at Treaty Non-Profit OrganizationR. 5, Wabash, IN. 46992 Permit #127

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Wabash, Indiana 46992

July, 1978

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Gomen had an evangelistic meeting the middle of October* Noichi is tohave one the first of December. There were no decisions at Gomen, althoughwe had hoped and are hoping that one lady will soon become a Christian. Shehas begun to show a lot of interest in knowing of Christ, but has not asyet obeyed Him. Mrs. Inada. Please pray for her.

Another young lady, Miss Okamura, continues to attend all meetings atYamada. Recently she said she didn*t feel she really needed Christ; however, she continues to attend and help with the work (writes signs, etc.)*We have more of a basis now for teaching and for prayer, since she talkedfrankly with us (not a very Japanese thing to do) Please pray with us onher behalf.

Rachel was 9 yesterday. She is growing tall. She still studies athome, of course.

The yen rate has gone down to Y181 per $1.00. We got some packagesfrom the Beaverton Church the other day. In them were newspapers withsales advertisements (used for packing). We were only able to compare afew things with products here, but ours (the ones we could compare) costabout twice as much. For example coffee and tea. (We can't compare products very well because we mostly eat fresh products here, whereas inAmerica they are usually canned, instant or frozen. Therefore the questionwould be: How many apples of what kind should we compare to a can of applesauce? The cheapest apples last week, however, were 27 cents apiece. Largeeating apples were about $1.40 apiece.

A young lady from the Noichi congregation, a graduate of a nursing HighSchool, is now working for us in order to earn money for going to Osaka BibleSeminary in March. (After going to Osaka, she will undoubtedly get a part-time nursing job, but can't in the short time left until March) She is 20years old and a former neighbor of ours in Noichi. Miss Iwagami. We haveagreed to pay her Y 60,000 a month for working 8 hours a day.

I must close. Thank you very much for all the work you do for the Lord'ssake in the Japan work.

notes: The yen rate did come down to 200, as we mentioned, but as you probablyknow, it didn't stop there, as was predicted. It has been as low as180, but is now a little above that. (Using Y300 as a base, the $700we got then is now worth $469 in July and $429 in August)The Gomen Church, because the yen conversion rate is so bad, wereafraid it would be a hardship on us to pay the usual Y40,000. Theyasked us to reduce it to Y20,000 from now on.

Michiko sent us a long tape recording, but we couldn't understand it,so we had to ask her to make a better recording. It seems she plansto be in Lincoln Christian Seminary for another couple years, but wecouldn't make out the rest.

CAJ, the school Tom goes to, is In bad financial trouble because ofthe yen conversion rate and the number of missionaries going home.Last year the Y100,000 we paid a month was $375, This yeat it is$498 - for the same Yl00,000. This year will be our last.Joe*8 address is:

Joe Burney306 Thomas HallEastern.Illinois UniversityCharlston, 111. 61920

JAN n O !97SFORWARDING AGENT:

Harold JonesR. 1, Box 199Lafontaine, IN. 46940

MISSIONARY ADDRESS: -

Donald G. Burney2-1-6 AsahimachiTosa-Yamada-cho, Kami-gunKochi-Ken, Shikoku, Japan

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