Sims Harold Lois 1985 Japan

Tokyo Christian"Go ye into ail the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15

Volume 84 January 1985 Number 1

PATTONS' NEWS

SATURDAY BIBLE

SCHOOL

Shinshu Bible School Christmas program.(Andrew has his cold mask on.)

The Saturday Bible school groupthat meets at the camp building eachweek presented a Christmas play onDecember 22. The students hadrehearsed well beforehand on Sundayafternoons for the occasion. Printedpersonal invitations were given out tothe homes in the neighborhood. Onemother and a grandmother joined the27 children for the program.

Mrs. Taninari directed the bell choirs

in Christmas songs. A gift ofhomemade cookies and card thermometer with scripture verse was given toeach child. The famous "Martin, theCobbler" story was presented by filmand tape. The Japanese governmenthas awarded the author of the storyrecognition and it is quite popular herein Japan.

The program was a first in the campbuilding and in the community. Wepray that it will be a yearly event withmore and more becoming a part of itand hearing God's message ofsalvation.

—Betty Patton

JANUARY AT CAMPThe Pattons and the Taninaris are

already preparing publicity to be sentto the churches about the camp andcamp schedules for 1985. The copierthat we leased in June of 1984 hasassisted us greatly and will be mosthelpful at this time. Mr. Taninari isusing our Japanese typewriter to printthe original copy. We are very gratefulfor his help at this time with the adver

tising and promotion ofthe camp work.He will be going to the churches andpresenting a program on the camp.

The continued program forevangelizing among the communitywill be a first in the yearly plans too.Again Mr. Patton and Mr. Taninariattended a local community meeting atthe first of the year. Each one gave apersonal "hello" to the others. Mr.Taninari was asked to give a smallspeech at the meeting. We are glad towitness for the Lord on these

occasions. Two of the community mencame to the Christmas candlelightservice on December 25th for which wewere very glad. May God's messagecontinue to reach their ears through us.

—Betty Patton

ANNUAL CAMPMEETING

Members of the Shinshu Bible Camp advisoryboard that met Nov. 23.

The second annual meeting of theShinshu Bible camp leaders andadvisors was held at the Harold Sims'home in Tokyo on November 23(Japanese thanksgiving day and alegal holiday in Japan). Ten of thethirteen members were present. Mr.Paul Pratt was conducting an anniversary meeting at his church andcould not attend. Andrew Patton andMrs. Leone Cole were in the States on

that date and were absent.A month by month report of work

and camps was given by Betty Patton.Comments were made and discussedabout the 1984 camp season. It wasnoticed that the regular camps had anincrease in attendance partially due tothe Missionary Annual meeting heldat the camp. A total of 402 campersand 28 teaching faculty made up the

camp season attendance (not countingthe December 1984 Christmas camp).The Ohio Singers III highlighted 2 ofthe camps. Also the summer studycamp was a first for the camp and willbe repeated in 1985 also. This time theemphasis on language will not beEnglish, but Japanese as the high-schoolers wrestle with it.

After lunch at a nearby restaurant,the meeting continued and the 1985camp schedule and financial reportand budget were completed. Sixregular camps are scheduled for 1985.The English-Music and Study campwill be combined August 5-9. It wassuggested that the camp try topurchase a larger freezer-refrigeratorfor the camp kitchen. But upon investigation the prices were found to be toohigh and the size too great to get intothe building. Also added electricallines would be needed. The plan toenclose the large viewing platform onthe second floor of the building wasdiscussed. Hopefully the governmentof the area will give us permission to doso in the future. But due to strictearthquake laws for building codes,this might remain a dream.

We ask that you pray with us and forthe work in Japan that Shinshu BibleCamp will continue to be a tool ofevangelism for all the churches withinthe 350 mile radius-Tokyo-Osaka-Niigata cities. Also that it will be awitness among the neighborhood herein Innai.

—Betty Patton

BIBLE CAMP NEWS

The Sakurayama church groupweathered the chilly breezes of winterand gathered at the Shinshu Biblecamp for their retreat on November 3-4.Their group was small and the timethey could spare was short but allseemed to enjoy the time of fellowshiptogether. A breakfast of hotcakes andsausages was served at the Pattonhome for them by the fireplace whichadded to the warmth of the meeting.

Preparations for the Christmascamp were made early in the Fall andbefore Andrew's departure to theStates. But upon his return he was

suffering from jet lag and a sinus coldand had to turn most of the responsibilities over to Mr. Taninari, except forthe 2 classes Andrew taught in themornings.

To add variety to the program thisyear, a bell choir was formed withBetty Turner, Penny Hoggs and Mr.and Mrs. Taninari. They played for thecampers each night of the Christmascamp.

Since the camp began on December25, the main feature that evening was aChristmas candlelight service. Againthe neighbors and the Saturday Bibleschool children were invited to join inalso.

In the afternoons the campers madecrafts from supplies that Betty Turnerhad had on hand from former D VBS inAmerica. The finished products werebeautiful and were carefully packed totake back home and hang in theirrooms.

Betty Turner also gave the camp afirst. TTie story ofthe "other wise man"was told with puppets with the help ofKensei Yokomizo manning the slideprojector for the story's backgroundand a camper from the Turners' workhelping maneuver the puppets withBetty. Some of the background slideswere taken by Bill Turner on his trip tothe Holy Land. The puppets and stagehad been brought to Japan severalyears ago by Milton Jones but onlyrecently have been put to use. Thepuppets and stage have the campTortheir new home and we pray that wewill be able to make good use ofthem inrelating the Word of God to others.

Another new feature to most of thecampers was a Bible Bowl on the lastmorning of the camp session. Questions were prepared in English byAndrew while he was in the States,sent to Betty at the camp to be typed up,and were later translated by Paul Prattand a few university students whowere here at the camp. Two hours eachday were given to each team to studyand prepare for the final quiz on the28th, just before returning home. Most

of the team members were notChristians. However, they studied thefirst 2 chapters of Acts very well andwere very competitive during the quiz.We hope we can continue to create aninterest in this type of Bible study infuture camps.

Nineteen campers, 4 teachers and 3kitchen helpers made up the camp thisyear. Wewere glad to have 3 couples ascampers this year ~ all were over 60and grandparents, but all entered intothe activities with the youngergeneration.

—Andrew Patton

BRIEF TRIP TOU.S.A.

As executor of my father's will I havefelt for some time the necessity of myreturning to the States to take care ofsome legal and family matters relatedto the division of the real estate left byhim. Therefore, a 35 day trip wasplanned and I reached Atlanta onNovember 15. (The expenses for thistrip were not taken from Missionfunds.)

While I was in the States a great dealof progress was made toward adivision of the estate, but muchremains to be done yet. I have placedthe responsibility for the remainingwork to be done in the hands of one ofmy brothers, so that there should be nonecessity of another trip by me to takecare of those affairs.

After finishing as much of thatbusiness as possible, I travelled on toMissouri to visit with daughter Sharonand family. While there I saw our twobrand new grandsons. Chris andSharon's pew son, then 3 months old, isnamed Adam Christopher Scheurich. Ibabysat him some while Sharonworked during the pre-Christmas rush.Our oldest son, Noel, wife Jamie, and 4week old son who live near OklahomaCity visited us at the Scheurich's homein Carl Junction, MO over a weekendand there I saw my namesake, James

SIMS' NEWS

Andrew Patton, for the first time. As amatter of fact, on that trip I was able tosee all 4 of our grandchildren - Sandyand Adam Scheurich, Zachary andJames Andrew Patton (Noel's sons),all four of our children, and all 8 of mybrothers and sisters. Our sailor son,Stephen, spent a week with me inNorth (Carolina and Georgia beforereturning to Charleston where he isstationed. Our other sailor son, Philip,spent one day with me in Joplin beforemy departure for Japan that evening.So I feel blessed in having been able tomeet all my closest relatives, at leastonce, while I was in the States.

While in Joplin, I was interviewedover radio station WOBC for an hour,spoke to a missions class at OzarkBible College and served as guestspeaker at the Christmas program atFir Road Christian Church of whichChris and Sharon are members. Also Ivisited the Iron Gates Church whosupport our work regularly.

I also was able to meet Bill Owensseveral times in Joplin. He is a studentat OBC, is interested in becoming amissionary to Japan, and is planningon spending the summer of this yearwith us in Japan as an intern. Bill wasconverted while in the Navy inYokosuka and we learned to deeplylove and respect him when we wereministering in Yokosuka. Bill needssome financial help on his coming tripto Japan and if you can assist him inthat-way-please^send your offering to:..Bill Owens, Ozark Bible College, 1111N. Main St., Joplin, MO 64801.

My return flight was delayed due tofog and snow at the Seattle airport. Iarrived back in Tokyo at midnightDecember 21 and arrived at ShinshuBible Camp the next morning at 8:30a.m., just a few hours before theSaturday Bible class had theirChristmas program.

My trip to the States was anenjoyable one but needless to say I'mglad to be "home" and at my workagain.

—Andrew Patton

MIKAWASHIMA CHURCH CELEBRATES 60 YEARS

Last October 10, the MikawashimaChurch, where we lived and workedduring our first years in Japan, celebrated the 60th anniversary. Theactual dates could not be located in anyrecords we have, but it is certain thatthe beginning was a tent meeting inthat community by a group of zealousyoung Korean Christians during thefall of 1924. There have always been alot of Koreans living in that area ofTokyo. Some of them had contact withMr. W.D. Cunningham throughEnglish Bible Classes, and asked for

his financial assistance, which hegave. Later on, one ofthese young menbecame the leader of a number ofchurches which Mr. Cunninghamestablished in Korea before World WarII.

During the war the whole area,including the church building, wasbombed out. Not long after the warended a man came and built a factoryon the land formerly owned by theYotsuya Mission, but a few of theformer members began gathering onSunday afternoons in the home of Mr.

and Mrs. Lee (Japanese name: Ueda)who had a rubber shoe and boot factoryin back of their small house and weremaking a good living in those difficultdays. Mrs. Cunningham and Mr.Owen Still asked me to work with thisgroup, which we enjoyed for a numberof years.

The man who had taken over theMission land bought us another lot inexchange, and during 1949 a smallbuilding was erected there. I preachedthrough an interpreter in Koreanlanguage in the morning and in

Japanese language in the evening.Later on several different Koreanpreachers have served the church.

Because of full-time preachingcommitments here at Mejirodai andthe distance we have not been able toattend a worship service there for over15 years, although we have gone a fewtimes for weddings, visits or businesson weekdays. And we have kept intouch with some of the people throughletters once or twice a year, etc. Whenwe received the invitation to the 60thAnniversary we were happy to noticethat it would be on a Japanese holidaywhen we had no classes, etc., and also aweekday, so we happily made plans toattend.

Of course during the passage ofyears there have been several changesof ministers and membership andthere were many new and young facesin the standing-room only crowd. Butwe were happy to see many familiarfaces and be honored with front seats,mentioned in the history of the churchand a part on the program. One of thehighlights of the day was theordination of 2 new elders of the con

gregation, and it was a special joy tome to realize that they were bothbaptized by me as school boys about 34

Inside of Mikawashima church just afterordination of the 2 new eiders.

years ago.

About 20 years ago this church incorporated and becarhe financiallyindependent of the Yotsuya Mission.They have not only paid the preacher,but built and paid for a very nicebuilding which is one of the fewchurches with a stained glass windowin Japan. For the 60th anniversarythey completely renovated the olderparsonage and added a couple ofclassrooms. There was an article aboutthis church in the November issue ofthe Japanese language Billy GrahamOrg. paper, "Decision". Personally, Iregret to say they have decided tobecome somewhat "interdenominational" in practice about communionand membership, but I do rejoice in thefaithfulness of some and what hasbeen done in the name of Christ in thatlower middleclass Korean neighborhood of our city.

—Harold Sims

EVANGELISTMEETING

AT MEJIRODAI

This year our evangelistic meetingwas held October 12-14. The preacherwas Bro. Satoru Taninari, the popularmanager of our Shinshu Bible Camp.Many ofour young people have becomeacquainted with him at camp, and thisyear the emphasis was placed onyoung folks. The most encouragingthing about the meeting was seeing theway our relatively small group ofyoung people worked distributing 5000handbills throughout the neighborhood and bringing their friends to theservices. On Friday night we had 23present, in spite of cold rain. Saturdaynight there were 31, and then onSunday night we had 50, which wasour best attendance ever at an evan

gelistic meeting. Nine people attendedall 3 nights, and during the meeting 6other people were in church for the firsttime. We enjoyed having theTaninaris(married last April) as guests in ourhome during this time.

CHRISTMAS

AT MEJIRODAI

"Christmas" is one of the big eventsof the year for us. Maybe we place toomuch emphasis upon it, but we enjoy it,and we feel we have helped many of ourneighbors to catch some of its meaningand spirit and thus prepared theground for the further facts of thegospel.

Preparations begin in October whenLois buys things for our children andgrandchildren living in the U.S. andpacks "care packages from Japan."During November we always send outa letter of family news and greetingsand also begin practicing for theSunday School program. EveryDecember day is full, as we have manyspecial parties for Home Bible Studygroups, English Classes, etc., and alsohave to prepare for these as well as theSunday School program and churchprograms, including carefullycounting through attendance recordsfor the prizes to those who came mosttimes. Lots of leafing throughcatalogues from Christian Book storesand purchasing.

This year all of the special churchactivities were crowded into 3wonderful days. On Sunday Dec. 23rdwe had our special worship service,followed by Kentucky Fried Chickenbox lunches, followed by a programparticipated in and enjoyed by bothchildren and adults - various musical

numbers and some short talks, tryingto have as many families and agegroups as possible participating,followed by a gift exchange. This yearwe drew names in advance, since

The Mark Pratt family and aome oftheir churchpeople in a live monger scene which they didduring the Christmas season in an empty lotadjoining their church and home. It faces one ofthe main streets of the city, and attracted a lot ofattention. There were spot-lights, and music andwords were broadcast over a loud-speaker system.The program lasted about 20 minutes. Animalswere made of cardboard, except for the sheepwhich were their children.

everyone had to sign up in order toorder the lunches, and added a newsparkle to it by having each one whoreceived a gift then stand and call outthe name of the one he had drawn andthen personally present the gift. Weurged them also to write a personalcard of good wishes inside the gift. Wehad a new record attendance of 65adults and 25 children for the 5 hour

time of worship and fellowship. Manyof them don't have Christmas in theirhomes, so for them, this was it.

The next evening at 7 PM we had 44people for our Christmas Eve Candle

Mejirodai beginners with hand bells atChristmas Program Dec. 25.

Candle Service at Mejirodai.

Service, which is becoming a tradition.On Christmas Day all of the neigh

borhood schools got out for the wintervacation at noon. An hour beforestarting time at 2:30 PM some of thechildren were here, and we had about70 people, including all regular SundaySchool students and teachers and 14mothers for the 2 hour program. Eachdepartment had a different thing, andit was in general well performed andenjoyed. Prizes were given to allchildren (40) who had attended morethan half of the Sundays during theyear, and special prizes, includingmedals in Olympic style, were given tothe top 3. It was a thrilling time for thekids.

After all had gone home and thingshad been straightened up from theSunday School program we called ourchildren in the United States ~ it wasthe morning of December 25th there --and enjoyed short visits with them.Then we said as we always do, "It wasthe best Christmas we have had yet."

The following day we drove up to theShinshu Camp where 5 of our youngpeople were attending the Christmas

camp. I had only a minor part on theprogram, so it was sort of relaxing forus. It snowed on the final day, so I hadto put on chains to start the trip home,but we made it back to Tokyo OK.

RALLY AT MINATO

On the last Sunday of 1984 a largenumber of people from our areachurches gathered at Minato Churchfor a Fifth-Sunday Rally. The programincluded a "Last Supper" CommunionService, and a father whose son hadpassed away some months ago after a17-year battle with multiple sclerosis,gave a very moving message about hisand his son's emotions, experiencesand lessons learned about faith andlife and God during this time. Theytook care of him in their home, and theyoung man knew of his approachingdeath from the start, but determined tolive each day to the fullest and leftsome very good poems, etc. Also amovie about the same subject has beenmade and was shown before themessage to introduce it to the people.

SYNOPSIS OF CHRISTMAS SERMONPreached by Harold Sims at Mejirodai on Dec. 23,1984.

Introduction: It is good to ask ourselves occasionally why we do customarythings. Many Japanese don't know the meanings of some holidays.

I. If we celebrate Christmas just for any of the following 3 reasons then weshould examine ourselves and our reasons and perhaps not celebrate.

A. Just to follow tradition.

We need not throw out good and meaningful traditions, but it would be legitimate to question whether such traditions as the tree, Santa comingdown the chimney, etc., are of any meaning for today.

B. Just to enjoy a festival.All Japanese enjoy festivals, and there are many throughout the year. Thefeeling of relaxation, togetherness and fun is good, but the drinking andworldly pleasures associated with them should not be mixed in with"Christmas spirit". The original meaning of "matsuri" (festival) inJapanese has definite religious associations. The Chinese ideograph iscomposed of an altar at the bottom and meat and a hand on top. But weakhumans tend to treat that aspect of a festival lightly.

C. On the other hand I don't believe Christians should withdraw into a ghettomentality and make "Christmas" for insiders, Christians, only. Japanesesociety is spiritually empty often, qnd is open to learning how to have ameaningful Christmas.

II.Then why do we celebrate Christmas?A. It is an act of God.B. It is God humbling Himself and becoming a man. It is the Divine breaking

through into man's world and history.C. Jesus, bom in Bethlehem that day, is the Savior, Christ, Lord. These

things being facts can always be celebrated, even in the darkest times, because the truth does not change.

III. Then how should we celebrate?We may take some clues from the text. (Luke 2:6-20)1. With singing, worship (v. 13, 20)

We should plan, sponsor, and participate in all kinds ofmusical programs.Already the "Messiah" and Beethoven's "9th Symphony" are beingplayed in many places all over Japan during December. Let us have moreCantatas etc. to the glory of God.

2. With offerings ~ like the WisemenAlready in Japan there are campaigns by newspapers, TV stations, etc. tohelp the starving in Ethiopia, etc. Christians should take the lead in thistype of thing, and in teaching the children the unselfish spirit of givingand thankful spirit in receiving.

3. With efforts for peace on earth (v. 14b)We should renew prayers and efforts for this great goal yearly.

4. In spreading the gospel message (v. 17)The population of the world is increasing and many have never heard.This is a good time to tell the gospel facts in drama and other ways.

Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Buttray(retired) Forwarding Agent; Mrs.Lois Hessler, PO Box 287, Meadville,PA 16335.

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Patton, 571-1Innaihara, Mochizuki Shi, KitasakuGun, Nagano Ken, Japan 384-22.Forwarding Agent: Mr. and Mrs. G.Wade Fletcher, Rt. 6, Box 15,Rushville, IN 46173.

Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims, 3-33-7Mejirodai, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 193Japan. Forwarding Agent: FirstChurch of Christ, Orange at CenterSt., Eustis, FL 32726.

Two year subscription $.50Subscription and

Flaming Torch $1.00

Tokyo Christian(No. 776-370}

Published four times a year inJanuary, April, July, and Novemberfor the missionaries of the Church ofChrist. Cunningham Mission,Tokyo, Japan by Mission Services,752.5 Hodges Ferry Road. Knoxville,TN 37920. Second Class postage paidat Knoxville, TN .37901. POSTMASTER: Send address changes toTokyo Christian, c/o MISSIONSERVICfJS, PO Box 2427, Knoxville,TN 37901.

•o

o OS d

A

p= ua OE <0O <A

£V <0C Ula u

oo:i>CO

4)«(liO)4)CeV

>Xoc

u:

t>C4TPN

XO

0a,

tT4>

«)4)ScrV

01

lOCO

gh

ob

Christian"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15

Volume 84 Number 2 April, 1985

SIMS' NEWS"EVENTFUL EASTER" AT MEJIRODAI

We will never forget the just finished1985 Easter season.

1. On April 1, we drove out to NaritaAirport to meet and welcome our daughter-in-law for a 3-week visit. Background: Seeother news notes in this issue.

2. On April 2 I drove a pickup truck todowntown Tokyo to pick up 5 large woodencrates and then helped to unload them inour Hachioji Daimaru Department store inlate afternoon. Background: These 40large pictures of various places in the BibleLands were made several years ago by oneof the most famous photographers inJapan. This is the 10th year thedepartment store has cooperated with theHachioji churches to hold a communitywide Easter service on the roof of the store,and this time they gave us space for a one-week exhibition of these pictures. I have alicense for driving middle-sized trucks andbuses, so was asked to do this part of thework.

3. On April 4 our church took its turn ofguarding, hosting and explaining theexhibition to visitors all afternoon. Loisand Jeanne took some time to wanderthrough the store •• one of the best sightseeing experiences.

4. On April 5 we had a missionaryprayer meeting, with meditations on the 7words uttered by Jesus on the Cross andgood talk. There were reports that 4baptisms were to be held on Sunday indifferent places, and 3 other young peoplehad expressed very definite interest andnear decisions as a result of the recentspring camp.

5. On April 6 Lois and I attended thewedding of Nakagawa's oldest son.Background: This young man's motherand sister are members. His father wasdiscovered to have cancer last August andwas given only 3 months to live. The sonquit his job with another company andcame to take over his father's small ironworking business. In October he and a nicegirl had their engagement ceremony atchurch, with Mr. Nakagawa attending.Soon after that he re-entered the hospital. Ihave been visiting him every week as hebattled his disease •• sometimes seeminglymaking progress, but lately growingweaker and thinner.

6. A few days before the wedding, Mrs.Nakagawa asked us to take our polaroidcamera to the wedding so they would havesome instant pictures of it to take to"Papa" who was waiting in his hospitalbed. They got to the hospital Sat. nightabout 10 PM, and he looked at all thepictures, holding them close to his eyes. Bymidnight he was gone, and within minuteshis eyes were donated to the "eye bank" as

he had wished.7. On Resurrection Sunday morning we

had our traditional 6 AM sunrise prayermeeting with 8 people present. Several ofthem gave thanks that Mr. Nakagawa hadlived until the wedding, as the wholechurch had made that a matter of prayerfor several weeks. When we got home fromthat we received the message by phonethat Mr. Nakagawa was dead. Ourworship service later that morning took onmuch added depth and meaning as werelated the great and precious promises ofGod's word about eternal life to the present

situation.

8. On Resurrection Sunday afternoonwe were among a group of several hundredwho stood under umbrellas in a cold rainfor the roof top service.

9. On Sunday evening a High Schoolgirl was baptized here. She was unable tocome in the morning, but wanted to bebaptized on Easter.

10. The young couple had to cancel theirhoneymoon to help with preparations forthe funeral, but everyone has been deeplyimpressed by God's timing.

— Harold Sims

MEJIRODAI CHURCH BUILDS ANNEX

In 1970, when we built the new churchbuilding and our dwelling in Mejirodaifrom the proceeds of the sale of part of theNakano lot and the house we had lived infor 16 years, there were only funds enoughfor a 1-room (18x24 ft.) chapel that seats 50,and the entrance hall. As the SundaySchool grew larger, we needed moreclassroom space. In 1973 we put up a low-cost prefabricated 18x12 ft. building in ouryard. Through the years since it has beenwell-used, but the floor and roof haddeteriorated badly during the past 2 yearsand all were agreed that the time had cometo build something more substantial andmake room for more growth.

The prefabricated classroom used 1973-1984.

Early in 1984 we began talking to anarchitect in the area whose wife is a closefriend of one of our members. He wasinterested in our project, and after manytalks and drawings came up with a plan fora 2 story rebuilding of the front part of thechurch which would give addedauditorium space when needed andanother 2 classrooms and office upstairs.

This plan and the estimated cost waspresented to the people here at a specialcongregational meeting on Sept. 9, 1984;but the majority of the members thoughtthe cost was too high and the money wewould need to borrow would mean monthly payments above our ability to pay.

However they did make a key decisionabout the upward limit of cost we shouldcontemplate for the project. This smallgroup of only 2 Christian couples, 16housewives, 5 widows, 2 working girls, 2College, 3 High School and 4 Jr. HighSchool students committed themselves to"up to 40,000 dollars". This was veryencouraging to me.

During the fall the architect drew upanother and cheaper plan for a 1 storyextension connecting to our entrance halland using just a little more yard space thanthe pre-fab. The cost of this, plus someexpensive replacement of a crackedconcrete wall in front of the church whichhad been condemned by the city, would beabout 30,000 dollars. This wasunanimously approved on ThanksgivingSunday, and a good offering was received.

Later, after hearing about this and someconsultation, the church in Eustis, Floridasent 10,000 dollars from our Sims TokyoMission funds as an interest-free loan. Allof the church people were very happy andencouraged by this. With our previoussavings, and special offerings and thisloan we will be able to complete the project.

At groundbreaking Jan. 20, 1985.

At 10 AM on Jan. 20 (between SundaySchool and Church) we had a simpleground breaking ceremony. (The groundwas frozen and literally had to be broken.)The bad winter weather delayedconstruction some, but we are planning adedication on Pentecost Sunday.

The new annex is 52 square meters in

Raising the frame Feb. 13, 1985. Building takes shape March 15, 1985.

size. It will have a small kitchen and a fellowship hall. The Japanese Christianschurch office and 2 classrooms that can be are insistent on naming it Sims Hall,opened together for an allpurpose — Harold Sims

GROUP OF JAPANESE CHRISTIANS TO VISITTHE UNITED STATES THIS SUMMER

Plans are in the final stages for a group July 5; To Washington, D.C. Tour. Visitof between 20 and 30 of our Japanese with Minato member. Stay in Hotel,brethren to make a brief visit to our July 6: To Williamsburg, Virginia Tour,country. The group will be mostly mature Stay overnight in homes of members ofpeople who have been Christians for 20 or Northside Church of Christ, Newport30 years, including 2 or 3 preachers, News, VA.several elders and their wives and some July 7: Morning Worship and lunch atothers. Harold and Lois Sims have been Northside Church. Evening Service andinvolved in the planning for this for over a supper at Western Hills Church ofyear, and will go along with them. The Christ, Cincinnati, Ohio. Stay at dormi-idea originated with Mr. Kobayashi, who tory of Cincinnati Bible Seminary,is a "retired" but still very active July 8: Tour of Cincinnati area •• Stan-businessman and an elder in the Minato dard Publishing Co., Mt. HealthyChurch of Christ. Two families of that Christian Home. Fellowship withchurch are now living in New York City Clovernook Christian Church,and Washington, D.C. on 3 year business July 9: Fly to Los Angeles. Attend open-assignments representing their companies ing session ofNorth American Christianin Japan, and Mr. Kobayashi and some Convention, Anaheim, CAother folks sort of promised to go and visit July 10: Return flight to Tokyo,them while there. Then he also wanted to We hope that as many of our readers assee personally some of the American possible will take any opportunity youChristians and their church life. The have to visit briefly with this group. Theirpurposeofthetripisstatedinthefollowing English language ability is limited, soway in the printed brochure prepared by speak slowly and in simple, shortthe travel agency and distributed among sentences. The impressions fixed in theour churches here in Tokyo and in some minds of this group of leaders will haveother parts of Japan. "In 1883 the first of effects on the work of Christ and Hisour missionaries set foot in Japan. Since church in Japan for years to come. We askthen many missionaries have been sent to that you join us in prayer for the success ofJapan and dedicated themselves to this adventure in cross-culturalpreaching the gospel ofChrist. Now on the communication and Christian fellowship,occasion of the Churches of Christ — Harold Simsentering the second century ofevangelism,some of us Japanese Christians want tomake a friendship visit to the Americanchurches, the mother body, and expressour thanks. We plan to stay in the homes ofChristians, attend part of the NorthAmerican Christian Convention, and dosome sightseeing. Please join us in this."

The travel plan, in brief, is as follows:June 29: Leave Tokyo 8:10 PM and arrive

in San Francisco 9:55 AM. Stay inhomes of members of First ChristianChurch, Napa, CA

June 30: Morning worship and lunch atFirst Christian Church, Napa, CA. Evening worship and stay in homes ofmembers of Central Christian Church,San Jose, CA.

July 1: Tour Silicon Valley, San Franciscoarea. Stay in Hotel.

July 2: To Niagara Falls by plane. Stay inHotel there.

July 3: To Toronto by bus and New YorkCity by plane. Stay in Hotel.

July 4: Tour of New York City. Visit withMinato member. Stay in Hotel.

DAN AND JEANNESIMS VISIT

One early morning in mid-March wewere surprised and overjoyed to receive aninternational phone call from our youngestson, Daniel, saying he would be arriving inJapan on March 20. He is now employed inthe design division of Chrysler Corp. Theyare connected with the MitsubishiAutomobile Company here in Japan, andsince Daniel still retains quite a bit of hisJapanese language ability he was chosenas one member of a team being sent toJapan for several weeks on businessbetween the 2 companies. We have notseen much ofhim, since he is very busy andstaying in the city of Okazaki where theMitsubishi plant is located. But he washere for the weekend ofMarch 24, and callsus about every other day to talk a while onthe phone. The Mejirodai church membersand our neighbors were more than thrilled

to have him suddenly appear after 5 yearsand nine months absence for college studyand employment in the U.S.

Danny is here at company expense, butthey scraped together some money andwere able to get a discount ticket forJeanne to come to Japan for her first visit.After getting her passport and visa, shearrived in Japan on Apr. 1, and we areenjoying having her stay with us for a fewdays until Daniel finishes his companyresponsibilities. Then they will take a fewdays of vacation and spend a little timevisiting around Tokyo during cherryblossom time. This is the fulfillment ofDaniel's lifelong dream. — Harold Sims

WHEN IN ROMANSFor over 10 years Harold Sims has been

giving lessons or sermons on "The Life andLetters of Paul" every first and thirdSunday at Mejirodai. It is a once in alifetime project which he enjoys verymuch. We began studying the great epistleto the Romans on Sept. 20, 1981 andfinished on March 17, 1985. The date webegan was given to me by one of the ladieswho takes notes every week. One of themost appreciative and eager listeners whonever missed one of the Romans studiesbrought me a custard pie as a special gift tocelebrate the conclusion of Romans. Nowwe move to the final chapters of Acts andthen to the prison epistles - I can't die orretire yet, because there are still manygreat passages to go through.

— Harold Sims

KUME-KUBOTAWEDDING

We have mentioned the name of KubotaSaki in these pages previously. She is well-known and popular throughout Japan as asong writer, especially among youngworking people. Her hit song titled"Gentile" was one of the top-ten in Japanfor a period of time. Four years ago shechanced to come by our Mejirodai Churchon Sunday evening when we were having asinging group called "KentuckySonShine" performing here. She had beenlooking for a Baptist church located in thisarea of the city, but continued to come here.At the end of our fall evangelistic meetingin 1981 she was baptized into Christ, andhas been an active member of our churchsince. She is also active in a small club of

Kubota Saki in Japanese wedding kimono

people in the world of arts and showbusiness who are Christians. Every firstSunday of the month she plays the organfor our worship service, and she attendsevery Sunday when she is not asked to givea concert some place.

One day she brought a friend to churchto attend a wedding of one of our churchgirls who was her friend. It was the firsttime this young man had been inside of achurch or heard a word from the Bible. He

was introduced as the leader of the smallband that accompanied her when she didrecords, concerts and various publicappearances.

Things took their normal course. (1)They fell in love. (2) He took an interest inher Christian faith. He was baptized herelast October 21, and that same month theyannounced their engagement.

He is the second son of a very well-knownactor in Japan, so news of their

engagement was carried in most weekymagazines geared to young readers.

It was my privilege to perform theirwedding on March 16, and it was alsointeresting to see the dress and hair-dos ofsome of the people who attended thereception. Because of his job they have tolive closer to the center of Tokyo, but planto attend church here at least once amonth, and as often as possible.

— Harold Sims

PATTONS' NEWSGROWING OLD

We were just certain that our secondhanded car purchased in 1976justcouldn'tbe so old that we could not renew ourinsurance on it for a two year periodinstead of a one year renewal and put itthrough inspection. But the insurancecompany informed us differently just a fewdays before time ran out on us. Putting thecar through inspection each year after the10th year meant twice the cost of maintaining it - in other words about $600 to get ito.k.'d each year instead of $600 for twoyears. So soon we were out looking for another vehicle. Fortunately, we found a newNissan Bluebird with only 328 kilometerson it. It had been returned to the agencybecause the driver found no time to drive itand enjoy it. It is a small station wagonand suits our needs very well with frontwheel drive that helps us get through thesnow. But we really feel that our Toyopetwould have given us another 10 years ofservice easily had it not been for laws oftheland and we would not have had a guiltyfeeling of throwing away something goodand useful. — Andrew Patton

FILM LIBRARYSTARTED

In March Betty and I launched out on anew venture. There are some 16 mm filmsstored at Shinshu Bible camp and they arenot being well used due to lack ofmanagement and advertisement. Recently a new Japanese film for children thruJr. High has been made and is being leasedin Japan. The advertisement for thisfilm gave us the idea of performing anew service for our churches, missionaries,and preachers in Japan.

We proposed starting a film library atShinshu Bible Camp. We sent out publicityto our missionaries in Japan (and to thoseon furlough) including a questionnaire onwhether the respondents wished a filmlibrary and inquiring as to whether theywould share in the cost of the first film. Wewere encouraged by the 20 replies we havereceived, most of which are favorable toboth propositions. Some of the repliesincluded the permission for us to list theirpersonally owned films with the camplibrary's increasing the present listgreatly. Mr. Don Burney, on the island ofShikoku, will be sending about 30Cathedral films to the camp library. TheJulius Fleenor family and Mrs. Leone Coleare listing their films with the camp'swhich will give a great variety for all touse.

In purchasing the first film the idea isthat all those who share in the expense of

the film will use that film free of chargeindefinitely. Those who do not participatein the plan may use the film and give amonetary gift to the library. All receiptswill be used to buy new films, service thefilms on hand and etc. A rapid deliveryservice, similar to UPS in U.S.A., isavailable to all 4 main islands ofJapan. Atpresent we will be sending out films to 3 ofthese 4 islands. The highest cost fordelivery service is about $4.50 one way.The cost to rent the film from theaudiovisual company is $24 per showingplus the delivery fees. So this service thatwe want to render to our churches will be agreat money-saver in the long run and helpto get God's message out to the people.

There are a lot of responsibilities andwork involved in this project, but we arewilling to shoulder these in order to makefilms available for the use of our churchesin Japan. We believe this is a worthyproject and we encourage our brethrenboth in Japan and America to participatein it.

We have also investigated the price andconditions for the use of video tapesrecorded in Japanese. As yet the priceseems a bit prohibitive for us and therestrictions for their use after beingpurchased are too strict we fear to beincluded in the film library. However,some missionaries have purchased theGenesis and Luke series, a total of33 tapes.

We, the Fattens have only purchased 4tapes of the series for our personal use herein the camp, Bible School and for hometeaching work. These were purchased withmemorial gifts given in memory ofDorothy Schmale, Clovernook Church atCincinnati, Ohio and Betty's aunt, Mrs.Ruth Warner of the Eaton, Ohio church.Our set of tapes cover the first 11 chaptersof Genesis only.

We know that audio-visuals do not takethe place of preaching and teaching, butthey are great helps. — Andrew Patton

SHINSHU BIBLECAMP NEWS

Finally trees are budding and flowersare beginning to bloom. Warmer weather iswelcome after a cold winter. We had 6snows in 2 weeks in March and we are a bittired of shoveling snow at Shinshu BibleCamp. The summer camping season andour busiest time of the year is not too farahead and perhaps at that time we will belonging for cooler weather!

We especially tried to keep the road intothe campground clear of snow duringFebruary due to the expected birth of theTaninaris' (our fellow workers at the camp)

first baby. Their son put in his appearanceon February 23 and they named himShuichi (which means the Lord is first).Soon after his mother, Kaoruko, andShuichi came home from the hospital herparents arrived from Okinawa to visitthem. Mr. Fukuyama spent about a weekwith the Taninaris but Kaoruko's mother

stayed until April 3.

Shuichi Ttininari born to Mr. & Mrs. Taninari,our co-workers at camp.

Our first camp of this year lasted onlyone day (March 20-21) but that was a bitearlier than in previous years. Snow wasstill on the ground and it was cold. We hadno cold water in the bath as we had failedto find one water valve to open as it wasburied beneath a few feet of snow in theback of the building. Other than thatthings went well.

Twelve persons attended the first camp.One was a teacher in the Japaneselanguage school for missionaries atKaruizawa where the Juves attendlanguage school. All the responsibilities ofthe camp work fell on our shoulders as Mr.Taninari was in Taiwan at the campconvention. But before evening on the 21stthe camp was cleaned and ready for thenext camp on the 26th.

Our second camp was the annual SpringStudents' camp March 26-29. We had 18full time campers and 2 visitors duringthat camp. The staffwho served this campwere: Mr. Taninari (Dean), Harold Sims(speaker), David Cole (speaker), LeoneCole (teacher and cook), Andrew Patton(teacher of O.T. and cook's helper) andBetty Patton (chief cook). Mr. Kishimotoand Mr. Imoto from Tanabe church andMr. Ito (another university student) helpedMr. Taninari with other phases of thecamp work. One girl camper made aconfession of faith as a result of the camp.

Betty and I tried a new plan to helpincrease the attendance of the SpringCamp. We offered a scholarship to onestudent in each church represented at the

camp. It resulted in our assisting 2campers with full scholarships and 10other campers with partial scholarships.It was a well planned camp and we praythat there will be more fruits as a result ofthe teaching received by the campers. Oneboy celebrated his first spiritual birthdayas he was baptized at camp last yearduring Spring Camp.

A rental camp is scheduled for April 28-29 as workers receive Monday, April 29, asa holiday due to the Emperor's birthday.

May 4-6 is another 3 days of holidaysand the annual Family Camp is plannedfor those days with Mr. Itagaki, minister ofthe Nakano Church, as dean. We arelooking for a full camp that week as manyfrom the Tokyo churches will be coming.

July 15-20 is the annual work week camphere. The interval between May campsand it will be used to prepare thecampground and building for the busycamp season. We are looking forward to asuccessful and fruitful summer at thecamp. — Andrew Patton

INNAI CHURCHSCHOOL

Attendance at the Innai Church Schoolhas decreased recently due to variousreasons. The public school year ended inMarch and the older children graduatedfrom primary school at that time. Springvacation time gave the opportunity for thechildren to participate in activities withtheir families which compete with theChurch School.

As ofApril 2 school was in session againand we hope that our Bible school studentswill return to the classes here at camp.

Some students have graduated intoJunior high school and from May will beunable to attend our Bible School onSaturdays. Therefore, we have planned aJunior High Bible Class to be held onSunday mornings from 9:30 - 10:45. Worship services will follow from 11:00. Publicity materials are being prepared andwill be distributed to invite others to thenew class. Flexibility is a requisite forhaving a Bible class here.

In the future an overnight stay at thecamp is being planned for fourth graderson up. Also a graduation ceremony isplanned for one student entering the 7thgrade and for 3 kindergarten studentsentering the first grade.

At present Mr. Taninari is teaching preschoolers until his wife is back teachingregularly. Betty filled in 2 weeks for Mr.Taninari while he was away on business.Andrew is teaching all elementarystudents at present. The Sunday morningclass for Jr.-Sr. High students will beshared by Mr. Taninari and Andrew.

We ask that you pray fervently for thiswork among these young people here inJapan. One of our co-workers in a nearbycity has 2 high school girls studying theBible regularly but without their parents'consent. One other girl had to drop theclass as she told her parents she wasstudying the Bible. Hopefully the parentsas well as the young people will presentthemselves to be taught the perfect way ofChrist. We pray that doors will open for themessage to be taught and enter the heartsof the lost. — Andrew Patton

GUESTSRecently we have had several guests at

Shinshu Bible Camp and in the camphouse. More visitors plan to visit us soon orduring the summer.

Mr. and Mrs. Hiroaki Sato, who ministerto the Sakurayama church in Tokyo, their2 daughters and nephew spent one night atthe camp during Spring Camp. FollowingSpring Camp Mark and Lynn Pratt, their 3children, Lynn's folks from Kentucky, Mr.and Mrs. Lusby were guests overnight.

On April 2 Mr. and Mrs. G.B. Gordon ofCalifornia were escorted to the camp byJulius and Virginia Fleenor. A Japanesemeal cooked at the camp table was enjoyedby them and Mr. Taninari, Mrs.Fukuyama (mother-in-law of Mr. Taninari)from Okinawa and her daughter who is aschool teacher on the outskirts of Tokyo.

In the past issues of the TokyoChristian we have informed you that BillOwens of Kokomo, Indiana and now aministerial student at Ozark Bible College,will be doing his internship in Japan thissummer. Our home at Shinshu BibleCamp will be his headquarters during thattime and from here he will be visiting othermissionaries and their work in Japan. Heplans to be in Japan for about 3 months.As Bill was in the Navy and stationed atYokosuka in the past, Japan is notunfamiliar to him but mission work in thiscountry is. Bill has a view of possiblybecoming a missionary to Japan.

Velma Held of Davenport, Iowa, is a ladywho is well-known to a number of peopleinvolved in missionary work. Severalyears ago she was stationed in Japan as aschool teacher for the U.S. Armed Forces.She is now teaching in her native state ofIowa. Recently she informed us by letterthat she wished to revisit Japan thissummer. She said, however, that she didnot wish to return to this country as a guestof missionaries, but desired to performsomething helpful to missionaries whilehere. We will gladly use her services andare sure other missionaries to Japan canuse them, too.

Tim Turner, son ofBill and BettyTurner,also wishes to spend another summer inJapan this year in mission activities. Atpresent he is a ministerial studentattending Atlanta Christian College. Hewill help in the work of Shinshu BibleCamp again this year during work week inmid-July. His girlfriend will also accompany him to Japan and will be a guestof Tim's parents during the summer. Sheand Betty Turner also plan to help at thecamp during work week.

All of our guests are welcomed and weappreciate the assistance to our work.

On April 3 a missionary from Australiawas given a tour of our campgrounds byMr. Schone who is the head of International Camping-Asia. Mr. Taninari and the 2men were present together in Taiwan forthe Asian International Camping Conference March 14-22 this year. Mr. Schonelives nearby and has been instrumental inintroducing Christian camping to Japan.He is always anxious for his guests to comeand see our camp as it is a beauty spot herein the mountains and a place dedicated tothe Lord and His teachings.

— Andrew Patton

Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Buttray(retired) Forwarding Agent: Mrs.Lois Hessler, PO Box 287, Meadville,PA 16335.

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Patton, 571-1Innaihara, Mochizuki Shi, KitasakuGun, Nagano Ken, Japan 384-22.Forwarding Agent: Mr. and Mrs. 0.Wade Fletcher, Rt. 6, Box 15,Rushville, IN 46173.


Two year subscription $.50Subscription and

Flaming Torch $1.00

Tokyo Christian(No. 776-370)

Published four times a year inJanuary, April, July, and Novemberfor the missionaries of the Church ofChrist. Cunningham Mission,Tokyo, Japan by Mission Services,7525 Hodges Ferry Road. Knoxville,TN 37920.* Second Class postage paidat Knoxville, TN 37901. POSTMASTER: Send address changes toTokyo Christian, c/o MISSIONSERVICES, PO Box 2427, Knoxville.TN 37901.

%*-o JS

8 o

o O

-e o

1 oE w

su

e "E M

o<3it-CO

V0)(fl(D0)CC«

H

>

0c

I>w

N

MO

CQ

Ocu

•o0)

3aV

at>laCO

Su

Ob

Christian"Go ye into ail the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15

Volume 84 July 1985 Number 3

PATTONS' NEWS

SHINSHU BIBLE CAMP

By the end of May the Shinshu BibleCamp had ministered to five differentcamp groups already. Among them wereour Spring Camp and our "Golden Week"Camp (May 4-6). The other three weregroups to which we rented the campfacilities.

We were happy to hear that one of theyoung ladies who attended our SpringCamp has decided to be baptized. She isfrom Usuda where David Cole ministers.Her parents have given their permissionfor her to be baptized, which will take placeas soon as she is taught further.

Our "Golden Week" Camp (FamilyCamp) this year was one of the best of itskind we have had. There is a cluster ofholidays every year in the week from April29 to May 5 and for that reason workershave dubbed it "Golden Week." Takingadvantage of this time of leisure, we invite

the people to camp and feed themspiritually. Mr. Itagaki, minister of theNakano church, was dean of the camp andwas assisted by Mr. lijima, minister of theMinato church, and Harold Sims, ministerof the Mejirodai church. Nine of thechurches of Christ were represented duringthe camp.

On May 27, 28 Mr. Fumio Sato, ministerof the Kamiochiai church in Tokyo, usedthe Shinshu Camp facilities for a camp forthe Oriental Historical Study group ofwhich he is a member. Mr. Sato had earlierconducted them on a trip to the Holy Landand at this camp they exchanged picturesand other mementoes from that trip alongwith the Biblical information in God'sWord.

The summer schedule for Shinshu BibleCamp follows. On July 15-20 a Work Campwill be held, during which time work is

donated to the camp. Food and lodging arefree. On August 3-4 the church at Nagoya,Mr. Yuse, minister, will use the campfacilities. On August 5-9 a combinationHomework, Music, and English camp willbe held. On September 10-12 a Universityand Youth Camp will beheld. Alltheothercamps (5) scheduled during the summerwill be rental camps.

The following jobs should be finishedbefore the summer camp season begins. (1)The interior of the camp building will needto be thoroughly cleaned. (2) The paint jobnow in progress (outside) will need to befinished. (3) The tennis court will needfurther leveling and then must be lined. (4)The Softball diamond, volleyball court,and vespers area will need to be mowed, thevolleyball net hung, and vespers seatsrepaired. (5) The underbrush among thetrees will need to be cut. (6) Ground shouldbe prepared and grass seed sown in oneplace. (7) A drainage ditch should becleaned out and widened. (8) Furthercleaning of underbrush needs to be done.

A tiller to prepare the dirt tennis courtsand for other odd jobs has been purchasedfor the camp. Before the rainy seasoncame, the courts were worked over by thetiller, all the stones and rocks removed,and the court rolled once. Since then wehave been unable to work on the courts dueto the wetness.

A missionary has sent enough money toprovide a scholarship for a needy camperwho could not afford to attend campotherwise. This scholarship will beprovided for one such camper in our youthcamp in August. All youth who attendcamp in the Spring will be given a discounton their camp expenses if they attendanother camp in the summer or Christmas

Mr. F. Sato (far left) leading a Bible study atcamp in relation to a tour of Bible lands.

On April 24 a general meeting of thetrustees of our "Zaidan" was held at thehome ofHarold and Lois Sims. The Zaidanis our property-holding corporation whichis recognized by the Japanese government.These annual trustees' meetings, followedby detailed reports of proceedings, records,etc., are required by the government. Thetrustees are: Harold and Lois Sims,Andrew and Betty Patton, Mark Pratt andJonathan Sims.

The formation of the Shinshu FilmLibrary at Shinshu Bible Camp iscompleted and the films are being loanedto our churches and missionaries. Recently, a gift of $113 has been received inMemory of Brother W. Chapman. Thismoney has been set aside to help buyfilmsfor Shinshu Film Library.

On June 30 a 5th Sunday Rally was heldat the Sakurayama Church, Tokyo for allof our Tokyo area churches. Even thoughheavy rain due to a typhoon was falling 50people attended the program.

A1 and Rhonda Juve, who are preparingfor missionary work in Kyushu, graduatedfrom Japanese language school atKaruizawa on June 28 after two years ofintensive language study. We are happy to

MISCELLANY

Wmy.-y- ••'HII.Sl

Fifth Sunday Rally at Sakurayama Church June 30. (Members of the host church giving amusic special.)

see another Church of Christ missionary baked cake and cookies. Then they askedcouple join in the work of those mission- us to join them in partaking of the refresh-aries already here. ments they had prepared.

In June our church school students on a The parents of A1 Juve and his brotherday off from school came to the camp and visited the Juves in Japan in May. To get

AI and Rhonda Juve - Graduation Day atJapanese Language School.

acquainted with Al's relatives we took all 5of them to the lava beds at the foot of Mt.Asama for an outing. On another day wetook them out to a restaurant and thengave them a tour of our campgrounds andan overnight stay.

I

On May 19 a meeting at the YokosukaChurch, giving formal recognition ofKensei Yokomizo as the minister of thechurch, was held. Between 45 and 50people attended the meeting. At that timethe Pattons rejoiced to see several of theirformer Sunday School students. Kenseigraduated from Osaka Bible Seminary inMarch.

In June Virginia Fleenor with some ofher children, grandchildren, and guests,visited the Shinshu Bible Camp to observethe work being done.

On July 10 Al and Rhonda Juve will visita few days with the Pattons and will helpwith the camp work during their stay.

The All-Japan Missionary Conventionthis year will be held in Tanabe,Wakayama Prefecture on July 22-24. TheJapanese convention will immediatelyfollow the missionary convention, beingheld on July 24-26 in the same town. BillOwens and Velma Held will attend themissionary convention and Mr. Taninariwith his family will attend the Japanese

Mr. and Mrs, Taninari teaching cooking in camp kitchen with Bible Class students, June 3.

BILL OWENS IN JAPAN

Formerly we made mention of BillOwens' intentions to spend this summer inJapan as an intern. He is in his junior yearat Ozark Bible College and is interested inbeing a missionary. The purpose of hisvisit to Japan is to observe the work beingdone and to help him decide on his futurework for Christ. He already has someacquaintance with Japan, having beenstationed at Yokosuka, Japan, beingbaptized at the Yokosuka church andattending the English services andJapanese services when in port.

Bill arrived at Shinshu Bible Camp onMay 24 and since then he and Andrewhave been hard at work on thecampgrounds. The heavy rains of theyear's severe rainy season have hinderedthe work some but it is still beingaccomplished.

Bill Owens working on top wooden deck atShinshu Camp building.

Since Bill arrived he and Andrew haveworked on the following projects at camp.First we viewed and checked the conditionof all of the films in the film library andcatalogued them. Next we rewired ourpuppet stage and installed new lights in it.Later a small plot of ground was clearedand grass seed sown there. We scraped therust and old paint offthe 3 metal stairwaysto the camp building and are in the processof painting them (with rustoleum andpaint) and the beams under the building.We built a new backdrop for the balldiamond. Part of the plowing and levelingof the tennis court has been done. Anothersink and work table in the camp kitchenhave been raised to make them morecomfortable for the dishwashers andworkers. The fluorescent lights and theircovers in the camp building have beencleaned. A walkway is being built out ofconcrete slabs. We hope to accomplishmuch more during work week when otherswill be added to our work crew.

During June Bill helped to hand outhandbills twice announcing Bible studieson Saturdays and Sundays for schoolstudents. While visiting Al and RhondaJuve, Bill visited a day of classes at theJapanese language school to form an ideaof some of the things involved in learningthe Japanese language. At this writingBill is a guest of the Paul Pratts in Iseharaand is observing missionary work andmethods used by Paul and son Mark Prattin reaching the Japanese for Christ. Wehope that he can also visit other missionaries and their work for Christ while he isin Japan.

We thank each one who prayed for hiscoming and helped him to reach here withyour monetary gifts. He has helped torelieve us of much heavy work and hasafforded us a time offellowship in the Lord.

-Andrew Patton

convention. The Pattons will remain at thecamp to prepare for the camp season andminister to a camp July 23-25, a UniversityBible Club Camp.

Miss Velma Held, an Iowa public schoolteacher and formerly a teacher for theArmed Forces in Japan, will return toJapan for a visit from July 14-August 16.While here she will assist missionaries,attend the missionary convention, andhelp at Shinshu Bible Camp.

Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Buttray(retired) Forwarding Agent; Mrs.Lois Hessler, PO box 287, Meadville,PA 16335.

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Patton, 571-1Innaihara, Mochizuki Shi, KitasakuGun, Nagano Ken, Japan 384-22.Forwarding Agent: Mr. and Mrs. G.Wade Fletcher, Rt. 6, Box 15, Rush-ville, IN 46173.


Two year subscription,,,$.50Subscription and

Flaming Torch ,,, $1.00

Tokyo Christian(No. 776-370)

Published four times a year inJanuary, April, July, and Novemberfor the missionaries of the Church ofChrist, Cunningham Mission,Tokyo, Japan by Mission Services,7525 Hodges Ferry Road, Knoxville,TN 37920. Second Class postage paidat Knoxville. TN 37901. POSTMASTER: Send address changes toTokyo Christian, c/o MISSIONSERVICES, PO Box 2427, Knoxville,TN 37901-2427.

* s o

w5 252.S CO

Tokyo Christian"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15

Volume 84

SIMS' NEWSYEARLY

CONVENTIONSThis year our conventions were held in

Shirahama (White Seashore), a popularand scenic beach-resort area in WakayamaPrefecture across the bay from TanabeCity. One of our strongest churches wasestablished there shortly after World WarII by two zealous young men who hadbecome Christians while studying atcolleges in Tokyo, gone to the battlefieldsin China and returned to their homessafely. Veteran missionary RuthSchoonover died there while helping themget the church and kindergarten started,and Vivian Lemmon who is now 82, hard-of-hearing and crippled with arthritis andbeing lovingly cared for by the JapaneseChristians, has lived and worked in thearea for over 30 years since her friend Ruthwas called home to glory.

The missionary convention was heldJuly 22-24. It was mostly planned byVivian but led by David Hinson, who hadjust recently returned from a year offurlough in the U.S. We met in a nicemodestly priced hotel on top of a hill,operated by a large Japanese companymainly for their employees' use. Therewere 45 (counting children) missionariespresent, and 8 guests from various places

in the U.S. who were in Japan on visitscoinciding with this fellowship gathering.

November 1985 Number 4

planning the evening recreation.One girl was baptized during the camp.

She is from the town of Usuda in Naganowhere M/M David Cole are starting a newwork, and the first fruit there. She almostdecided at the spring camp, so wanted to bebaptized at the summer camp so herfriends could rejoice with her, which theydid.

Mention should also be made of the hardwork of M/M Andrew Patton, Mrs. LeoneCole and Mr. Taninari in the kitchenwithout which the camp couldn't havebeen a success.

" Harold Sims

Several sermons preached by Bro. DarrellBoston of Kansas were much appreciated.Most of the missionary messages werebrought by our second-generation, ofwhom there are quite a number among us.

The afternoon ofJuly 24 about half of usmoved to another hotel in the same area forthe Japanese Convention. There were atotal of 258 at this one, and again much ofthe leadership and preaching was done byyounger men. It was an encouraging timeof discussion, fellowship and teaching. Onthe middle day most of us enjoyed a guidedbus tour to an old pirates' cove, rode aglass-bottomed boat and saw most placesof beauty in the area.

By going both ways by plane we wereable to be at Mejirodai both Sundays, July21 and 28. TAMURA TOMOE

BAPTIZED

In Machida City, just south of Hachiojiand also part of Tokyo, there is a schoolcalled "Obirin" = "Beautiful Cherry-treeForest." The rather unusual name is takenfrom Oberlin College in Ohio, where thefounder of the school spent some of hiscollege years long ago. This large privateschool has classes from kindergartenthrough college on its rather large campus.A number of Japanese Christians serve onthe faculty, and M/M Paul Pratt and MarkPratt have taught English Bible there forseveral years. Many students from ourarea attend that school. It is noted forhaving a strong H.S. baseball team.

Every year all first year High Schoolstudents there receive an assignment toattend a church one Sunday during thesummer vacation and write a report aboutit. The area churches all receive a letterfrom the school explaining the purpose ofthis and requesting cooperation. Sureenough, on Sept. 1, the day before classesresumed, we had 3 High School girlsvisiting here for their first Christianworship experience.

Two years ago Tamura-san enteredMejirodai church for the first time underthe constraint of this assignment. Shebegan to attend sometimes after that. Shewas very quiet, but came occasionally tosome of our young people's gatherings. Inthe summer of 1984 she attended aChristian camp with school friends andbegan to take a more active interest inBible and church.

She went to that camp again thissummer, and on Sept. 1 said she would liketo be baptized into Christ on the 22nd,which was the day before her 18thbirthday. Later she talked with her

STUDY CAMP

August 5-9 at Shinshu we held thesecond camp in which we help the studentswith their school summer assignments inMathematics, English and Japanese (thisfor Jr. High students only) during themornings, have teams playing softball,volleyball, ping-pong, tennis and otherrecreation during the afternoons and thenenjoy singspirations, Bible messages andindoor recreation such as Bible Dramasduring the evenings. This year we took ahike to the top of a steep mountain duringone afternoon, and less than a week later aJapan Air Lines 747 with over 500 peopleon board crashed into the top of one of themountains that could be easily seen fromthere.

Mark Pratt and I made plans for thisyear's camp, and knew the names of someof the people planning to come, but we werevery surprised to find many more therethan we had expected when we got there.There were four 7th graders, four 8thgraders, seven 9th graders, eight 10thgraders, three 11th graders and two 12thgraders. Also there were 10 Universitystudents and 5 adults as well as 6 studentsfrom San Jose Bible College who wereseeing Japan for 3 weeks this summer asprospective missionaries. The Japaneseyoung people came from 7 differentJapanese churches.

Wehad 10 faculty members, includingAlHammond who used to be a missionary inJapan and was leading the student groupfrom the U.S. and Velma Held who used toteach in U.S. Dependents' Schools and wasrevisiting Japan after 20 years. She helpedin the kitchen a great deal and also with

parents, and all of us were very happy thather father, mother and sister and 4 of herclassmates from school were here towitness this important step in her life.

•• Harold Sims

1945-1985

In the spring of 1945, as I was a Senior inAtlanta Christian College thinking andpraying about what I should do with mylife, I finally decided to accept Mrs.Cunningham's invitation to go to Japan asa missionary. The war was not over then,so I made application to enter theCincinnati Bible Seminary as a graduatestudent for September. I moved fromAtlanta into the old dormitory at CBSabout the first week of August. In the lateafternoon of Aug. 15 I had finished my"scholarship work" for the day and wasoutside getting ready to go up the street forsupper when all the train and factorywhistles opened up to celebrate the end ofWorld War II. I stood there looking overthe city and river and thinking some longthoughts about what might lie ahead ofme.

This year there has been much commentabout this 40 year passage of time on bothsides of the Pacific. I don't think I haveanything new or of great significance tosay that has not already been said, butsince this period exactly corresponds to myadult life I have done my share ofreminiscing. Certainly the obvious thingsare true. 1. It has been a long time. Then Iwas single. Now I am called Grandpa by 7people. 2. It has been a time of greatchanges and progress. Then there wereonly propeller driven airplanes, radios andtypewriters. Now there are jumbo jets andspace shuttles, color televisions and videosand word processors. 3. It has been a timeof peace for Japan, and a generation ofpeace is a blessing to any people in anytime. From defeat in war, near starvationand total poverty and ashes and rubblethis relatively small and resource poornation is now the second in the world ingross national product and has the highestlife-expectancy of any nation on earth. 4.The most basic and important things don'tchange. Christ and His gospel and wordare the same. People, and the problemsand joys of relationships between them,are the same whether you live in Americaor Japan. The reverse side of this point isthat in this generation we have not seenthe turning to Christ by the Japanesepeople that we so deeply hoped and prayedfor. "Spiritually" things don't seem tohave changed and progressed at all,compared to "materially." In fact we cansee increasingly signs that some of theleaders in society would like to see more ofa return to "old ways."

Some of my relatives and friends havesensed this, and said to me quite franklythat they felt I had "wasted my life" goingover there and beating my head against astone wall. I know the discouragementsbetter than those who say and think that,but I do not believe my decision to go was a

mistake or that it has been a waste of time.There have been many rewards. There arefew regrets. Perhaps the greatest lesson Ihave learned is that God alone is able toconvert the Japanese, and that He can andis doing it in His time and way.

- Harold Sims

FIFTH SUNDAY

RALLY AT

MEJIRODAI

Sept. 29 from 3:30 •7:30 PM 80 adults and5 or 6 children packed into our small chapelbuilding for a good time of fellowship. Inspite of a cold rain they came from 10 ofourchurches scattered over the greatmetropolitan area. Some traveled over 2hours one way, changing trains severaltimes, to get here.

Each person paid a little over 3 dollarsfor supper. Mostof the money received waspaid to a caterer who brought in 80 roundplastic bowls of steamed rice and roastchicken. We supplemented this with hotgreen tea, rice crackers and delicious darkblue grapes. Our ladies did a good job ofserving and cleaning up afterwards, usingour new kitchen and facilities dedicatedlast May very well.

The program was a report on the tour ofthe U.S. by 20 of our folks early last July.Five of those who went made 20 minutespeeches about various aspects of the tour,and all included some humorous incidentsso that those who didn't go could enjoy andbenefit from the trip. Also one hour of8mmmovies was shown from among thosetaken by Mr. Kanamura who took picturesevery day. This was interspersed withenthusiastic singing of some great hymns.During supper everyone enjoyed a shorttime of visiting with each other also.

We just wish those of you who had apartin hosting this tour group last summercould have been here to hear their wonderful descriptions of places and people andtheir good impressions of our country andits people and churches. It was truly ajoyful and inspirational day for us.

- Harold Sims

YOKOSUKA

PREACHER TO

MARRY

Kensei Yokomizu, who graduated fromOsaka Bible Seminary in March of thisyear and has been preaching at theYokosuka Church since May, is going toget married soon. According to theJapanese custom, the young couple had aformal engagement-promising ceremonyat the church on July 20, with relativesfrom both families and some churchfriends present. Bro. Itagaki, of Nakanochurch, performed the ceremony. The

S e B B e «

f f , * *

Jonathan Sims and Kensei Yokomizu in front ofYokosuka Church May 19.

wedding will be held in Osaka (the bride'shome town) on Nov. 23.

The bride-to-be is Yoshie Hirokata, anactive member ofone of our churches in the

Osaka area and a niece ofDr. Sato, an elderof our Sayama church in the Tokyo area.She is working as a computer programmerat present. We all wish the young coupleGod's richest blessings as they serve theLord together.

JONATHAN SIMS

RETURNS

On October 4 Jonathan Sims returnedfrom a 4 month furlough in the UnitedStates where he visited his supportingchurches, his brothers, sisters, uncles andaunts, etc., and attended the NationalMissionary Convention in Orlando,Florida. He will enter his second term ofmissionary work living and serving at theYokosuka church.

The Yokosuka church buiiding.

CHURCHES IN THE

NEWS

The "Christian Newspaper," a weekly inJapanese which has very wide circulationamong the Christian community in Japan,on Sept. 1 carried prominently the story ofhow the Ono Church of Christ, near Kobe,had sent one million yen (over 4000dollars) to the Huntington Beach church in

California when the latter was in afinancial pinch. H.B. had sent support toOno for a building project some years ago.This type of "reverse support" makesnews, but may become more common astimes change.

DEDICATION OF

NEW CLASSROOM

ADDITION AT

MEJIRODAI

Mejirodai Church at present.

On Pentecost Sunday (May 26) the newaddition to the church building atMejirodai was dedicated. In the morningduring the Sunday School hour we had achildren's level explanation, prayer andviewing of the new facilities, and gaveeach of the children a new pencil with "InMemory of the enlargement of MejirodaiChurch of Christ" inscribed on it. Theywere all thrilled, and the 4-6 grade class,which is using the largest of the new roomshas increased in attendance and interestsince that day, so that we often run out ofmaterials.

The regular dedication ceremony was 3-5PM for the convenience of people fromsister congregations, although many whowould have liked to come could not becauseof local church special events for that day.We had a total attendance of 62: 31

members of Mejirodai, II non-Christianadults who are friends of ours and attendchurch sometimes, 2 men from theconstruction company, and 18 visitorsfrom our other congregations in the area.Besides the adults listed above there were18 children here, and they should be

Part of the audience at Mejirodai dedication. (L. toH.) Paul Pratt, Bill Turner, Mark Pratt, Mr. andMrs. Kume, Mr. Kumagai. in charge ofconstruction.

mentioned, because it is our prayer thatthey will use the new facility perhaps morethan we do.

The program was essentially the sameas the one used at the dedication of theoriginal building on Nov. 15, 1970 •- samehymns, responsive reading, samepreachers gave the sermon and dedicationprayer, benediction, etc. This wasmeaningful for all of our members, as only1 was present in 1970. The preacher whogave the sermon said that he had looked uphis old sermon notes and was somewhatsurpised to find he had said, "The time tosay congratulations will be after 15 yearshave passed and the church is wellestablished." He was most happy to befulfilling his own prophecy that day.

After the worship and dedicationceremony we had a one hour specialmusical program by our church members.The Ladies' Chorus sang a special numberduring the service, which ofcourse was notin the program in 1970.

Harold and Lois Sims at the point where the newpart of Mejirodai church connects to the old on May26.

Ladies' Chorus

Mrs. Fumiko Yagi, who has been a memberhere since she was in Jr. High School la-bout 10 years ago) and is a gifted andtrained soprano, sang "The Lord's Prayer." Mr. and Mrs. Kume, whose marriagewas in March and mentioned in the Aprilissue of the Tokyo Christian, sang an original song written by themselves and another songfrom the hymnal. They are bothprominent in the popular music work ofJapan, and unashamedly Christians.Then 6 children from 2 families played aviolin ensemble number which was verymuch appreciated -- especially by the otherchildren present. These all enjoyed

Violin Ensemble

making their musical contribution to thecelebration of the church's advance.

All the other members contributedhappily according to their several gifts.Taeko Kasai, a student at Tama ArtCollege, drew a sketch of the whole building which was used on the program cover.

SMiifaiiiBig

Sketch of the current Mejirodai church building.

Taira Nishizawa, a University student,helped move furniture. A good number ofthe ladies made cakes to serve at thereception, and helped with setting up andcleaning up. One lady wrote the ThankYou statement for the ConstructionCompany.

It was a happy and victorious day for all.During the morning worship service a

seventh grade girl, daughter of one of ourmembers, was baptized into Christ.

Stephen lijima giving congratulations in newclassroom May 26.

LADIES' MEETINGOn June 11 our new facilities at

Mejirodai were used for a luncheonmeeting of 30 ladies from Nakano churchand our local church groups. The themewas PRAYER. Our ladies enjoyed usingthe new kitchen as well as the fellowshipand the lessons from God's Word.

• - V-. I'a

The Japanese tour group. This includes 12 people who were included in most of our tour, but because they were non-Christians they did not visit the churches anddo the home stay part. During those times they did other things.

JAPANESE CHRISTIAN GROUP

TOURS THE UNITED STATES

<Thv (iiUinviufi in a report on the U.S. lour ofseveral Japanese Christians this past summer. Thematerial was too late to he ineliided in theJuly issueof the Tokyo Christian and therefore is featured inthis issue.)

In the nearly 200 years of "Missions"since William Carey, there have beenmillions of words written by missionariesreporting about people and places withstrange sounding names. And in recentyears we hear more and more about manyand various contacts between people inleadership positions in sending and

receiving churches. Relatives, servicemen, preachers, professors, missionarycommittee members, construction crewsand others have visited the mission fieldsin which they have invested personnel andfunds. Dedicated young people have comefrom other lands for study in Christiancolleges in the U.S. All of this hasdeepened and supplemented the faith,fellowship and understanding of manyChristians and contributed to the growthof the body of Christ worldwide.

June 29-July 10, 1985 a "group with adifference" made a visit to the United

States. They came on their own initiativeand at their own expense. They were notselling, promoting or asking for anythingbut fellowship in Christ. They were notjean-clad young people listening to jazz onwalk-mans, eating hamburgers, lookingfor adventure and the nearestyouth hostel.Most of them were not even good atspeaking English. These were JapaneseChristians who have believed in andserved the Lord Jesus Christ for ageneration paying a "thank you" call onthe Christians, churches and nation whohad sent, supported and prayed for the

missionaries who had worked with andamong them for 100 years. They wanted tosee with their own eyes the "mother body,""the womb," "the spiritual roots" fromwhich these missionaries had come, and togain insights, visions and encouragementas they assume the burdens of this secondcentury of the work of our churches inJapan.

It would be well for all of us to remarkthat at this point in the world's political,economic and religious history a group ofJapanese people is willing and able to dothis. This is a result of God's providenceand grace. Thank Him and take courage.Also I ought to add at this point that themembers of the Minato Church of Christgave 2000 dollars (almost half of the cost)to enable both Harold and Lois Sims toaccompany them on the trip.

From various conversations withmembers of the group during the returntrip across the ocean, I can say withconfidence that all of the Japanese peoplefelt the trip was more than worthwhile. Iam sure the effects will be long-lasting asthey tell others what they saw and touchother lives with the love and other fruits ofthe Spirit perceived and received duringthose days. The high points inanticipation, nervousness and languagebarriers as well as in memories, joys andfellowship came when we experienced"home stays" with members of 3 churches.But the whole trip, although fullyscheduled and tiring, was a lot offun as theconversation and humor in buses andplanes went on ceaselessly. They did notbecome Americanized at all, and theirreactions to all situations and people wasvery Japanese, Christian and open-honest.

Insofar as I could observe, the visits werealso a blessing to those who opened theirhomes to the Japanese. Several told methey had just the right ones. Manyaddresses were exchanged and invitationsto visit Japan were given. The children allenjoyed the attempts to communicate. Onelady wrote: "How neat they appear! Howwell they listen! How intelligent they are!How we could have talked if we had beenable to understand each other's language!"A man told me, "These people have statusin their society, and will be touching otherlives for Christ in Japan.

The members of the group were:

IIJIMA Masahisa "Stephen" (64)Preacher at Minato Church of Christ for36 years. Editor of Monthly Magazine"Bokka" "Pastoral Song" for about 30years. Author ofa number ofBible-studybooks.

ITAGAKI Yukio "Peter" (55) Preacher atNakano Church of Christ for 24 years.The church gave him the trip for the 25thanniversary of his ministry there.

KAMATA Namio (55) Preacher atOkinawa Church of Christ for over 20

years. Studied a few years at Pepper-dine University.

KAWAHARA Takaki (53) Preacher atAkasi Church of Christ (near Kobe) forover 20 years. Graduate of Osaka BibleSeminary and on board of Councillorsthere.

MR. and MRS. KOBAYASHI Kozo andTori (68) Elder of Minato Church. Recently retired as accountant of a BrassFoundry. Active in Gideons International. Originator of the idea ofthis trip.

MR. and MRS. KANAMURA Teruhikoand Yoshiko (67) Elder of KamiochiaiChurch in Tokyo. Long-time employee ofAmerican Military Forces in Japan. Sonis Japan Air Lines pilot.

OKAMURA Matsuzo (73) Elder ofHayashina Church in Okayama Prefecture who also preaches. Awarded thisyear with a medal from the Emperor for42 years of civil service for the Japanesegovernment.

NAKAZATO Fumi (62) Member ofMejirodai Church in Hachioji for 9 years.Widow. Oil paint artist.

SHIMOMURO Kesako (62) Member ofNakano Church for over 30 years. Worksat New Otani Hotel in Tokyo. Widow.

IGUMA Kimiko (53) Member of MinatoChurch for about 30 years. Licensedpharmacist. Specialist in Moxa. Motherof 2 daughters. Her husband is a HighSchool teacher and an elder of MinatoChurch and was chairman of last year'sall-Japan convention.

FUKUDA Kazue (50) Member of MinatoChurch for over 20 years. Mother of 2grown children. Widow.

SHIBATA Sadako (71) Member of MinatoChurch, and before that of MabashiChurch. Operated a beauty parlor mostof her adult life. Widow. Her husbanddied several years ago of musculardystrophy. He was an elder at Minatoand an active Gideon. Her son is anorganist and active in the church work.

AOKI Toshiko (59) Member of MinatoChurch for over 20 years. In her youngerdays she was a singer and dancer.

HOMMA Kazuko (46) Member of MinatoChurch for over 20 years. Widow. Herhusband was an elder of the church andemployed at Hitachi Corp. He died ofstomach cancer. 3 daughters.

ISHIKAWA Atsuko (41) Friend of Mrs.Homma and sings in same chorus group.

HAROLD and LOIS SIMS (60) Missionaries in Tokyo area for 38 years.

For all of the women and 3 of the menthis was the first time to go outside of theJapanese islands, the trip of a lifetime.

A Brief Journal of the Trip:

June 29: All met at the "Silver Bell"outside of the East-side entrance of TokyoStation to board the airport bus. A goodnumber of friends and relatives were thereto see us off. We took off on Japan AirLines flight 2 at 6:18 PM, sitting in a groupnear the rear end of a very full 747 JumboJet, and landed about 9 hours later (11:02AM June 29 San Francisco time).

Already on the bus to the airport andduring the flight a spirit of anticipation,camaraderie and humor was developing,and it continued throughout the trip.

After a slow-moving but trouble-freecustoms' clearance, we boarded a waitingbus for a noon feast at a ChineseRestaurant in town, and then were drivenout to First Christian Church in Napa by 4PM. There a group of smiling hostsawaited us with the names of the J apaneseguests printed on their hosts. After takinga picture, making introductions and aprayer of thanks for the safe trip all wereoff to an adventure in "home stay" andinter-cultural communication. After amonth of cloudiness, humidity and drizzlethe Japanese really appreciated thewonderfully blue sky, and one of the ladiesgot out of the car and started dancingaround the lawn singing, "Blue skiessmiling at me," which broke the ice and gother visit started off well.

June 30: Everyone attended SundaySchool and Worship services, sitting withtheir host families. After the services agood number of the church peopleentertained us with a traditional pot-lucklunch. Arrangements were made for someJapanese to sit at each table, for as manyfellowship opportunities as possible, andthere were speeches from both sidestranslated by Harold Sims as well as aspecial musical number by the Japanesegroup. The meeting closed by a circle ofprayer.

A chartered bus came to the church totake us and our baggage to San Jose for thespecial evening service at CentralChristian Church. The program was amusical called "Look Up America" by theyoung people of the church there. TheJapanese were impressed by the Christianpatriotism, so different from theexperiences and feelings of the Christianminority in the political and religioussituation of present-day Japan, as well asthe zeal and abilities ofthe young people inthe church there. They also enjoyedreunions with many old friends who hadvisited Japan in past years and hadvarious connections with the work in

Japan. After the 6-7 PM program, somefolks in the church had barbecuedhamburgers for our supper. Again we wereintroduced to the various people who weregoing to have us as guests for the night. Asthe folks were picking up their suitcasesand separating, one of them remarked,"Now we know the feeling ofpuppies in thepet shop who say to each other, 'Arf, Arf,look what a house I am getting taken to.'"

July 1: At 9 AM we met in the churchparking lot, with smiling hosts all sayingthey had just the right ones. We boardedthe bus and took an interesting ride upSilicon Valley and through several parts ofSan Francisco. The bus driver was a well-educated black man who knew the areavery well and served as a good-humoredguide while I translated. The tour wasmutually enjoyable.

We ate lunch in a Korean Restaurantand then toured Golden Gate Park, TwinPeaks, Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito andMuir Woods during the afternoon and ate atremendous crab dinner at Fisherman'sWharf. In the morning we enjoyed seeingsome beautiful horses in the Relds and inthe afternoon we saw 6 deer in the woods.In Japanese language the word for fool iswritten "Horse Deer," meaning one whocan't tell the difference. I leave it to you toimagine some of the humorous remarks onthe bus after seeing these sights. Severaleven walked sideways from the Restaurantto the bus after the dinner. Lots of fun.

July 2: Early morning departure forChicago. Rather quick change to plane forBuffalo, NY. After we boarded we had towait about an hour while they fixed sometrouble in the hydraulic system. Then aftertaxiing out to the end of the runway, wehad to wait again until the worst of athunderstorm passed over the area. Justas we took off, rusty water began to pourdown from seams in the ceiling onto thepeople in our section. The stewardesscalled for everyone to remain seated, butall tried to help by passing aroundnewspapers, pillows, etc., to stop the flow.One lady put up her folding umbrella,which most Japanese carry at all times,much to the delight of the Americanpassengers who began taking flashpictures "for American Airlines to use intheir publicity." Finally when thestewardess put one or two red, white andblue blankets up as temporary awnings theJapanese began humming the Star-Spangled Banner.

Stan and Mabel Buttray and some oftheir friends from Meadville, Pennsylvania had driven up to spend a brief timewith our group at Niagara Falls. We ate adelicious buffet supper in a hoteloverlooking the Falls from the Canadianside, and spent the night on the Americanside, after watching the colored lights onthe falls.

July 3; We rode the "Maid of the Mist"and took many pictures and visited aJapanese run souvenir shop during themorning and ate lunch in Minolta Tower.Then we went by bus to Toronto, enjoyingthe drive along Lake Ontario, and wentby plane to New York City. While waitingon the mechanics to fix a brake on theplane, the Japanese pulled out variouskinds of rice-cakes, etc., to eat and wrotepicture postcards. One trouble we had wasfinding a place to buy stamps and howmuch it cost to mail a postcard by air toJapan.

Upon arrival in New York we went to thebasement of the Mitsukoshi Store and hada typically Japanese dinner of raw fishand all the trimmings ~ the most expensivemeal we ate on the tour.

One lock on my suitcase was brokenbeyond repair, and since the next day wasa holiday we thought it might beimpossible to buy another one, but while onthe tour I found a small store open with 50%off on luggage and bought another one.

We stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotelfor 2 nights. It was the nicest hotel I hadever stayed in, considered from severalpoints of view, but we and all others usedthat first night for washing clothes. One ofthe Japanese preachers was reported tohave put all of his in the bathtub anddanced around on them for agitatingaction.

July 4: Bus tour ofthe city, which coveredmost of the highlights, including theEmpire State Building. In the eveningLois and I especially enjoyed a visit withthe Mitsui family who used to live inMejirodai. He is working for OlympusCamera Co. in New York now, so theparents brought our former English classand Sunday School students, who havenow become very Americanized HighSchoolers, down to the hotel to visit for a-while and then took us to see the fireworkson the East River viewed from the U.N.plaza.

July 5: We took the shuttle flight toWashington, D.C. and went directly intoan all-afternoon quick tour of the mallarea. Before arriving, I had told them whata beautiful city it was, and when we gotthere the whole city was knee-deep ingarbage from a 500,000 "Beach Boy"concert the night before. It was a greatdisappointment, and few pictures weretaken.

That night we stayed at the Hilton Hotel,where President Reagan was shot, and Mr.Kojima, who works for a Japanese bank inthe city, and his family came to eat dinnerwith us in the dining room. The next daysome of the ladies whose husbands areactive in the Gideons' organization inJapan reported they found a Bible in theroom and had a little prayer meeting there.

July 6: We rode a small bus down toWilliamsburg, VA, arriving in time to eatin the cafeteria there and walk through therestored town all afternoon. In the lateafternoon we arrived at Northside Churchof Christ in Newport News where membersof the church were waiting to take us outfor another "home stay."

July 7: We attended various SundaySchool classes and the worship service atNorthside, and they prepared a lunch forus at the church. Right after that we leftby bus for Norfolk airport, and Cincinnati,Ohio. There awaiting us were 4 of ourchildren, 3 Japanese students in theSeminary graduate school, and otherswith a sign in Japanese language. Ofcourse, everyone wanted to get a flashpicture of the sign, and passers-by thoughtsome celebrity had arrived and gatheredaround to see. We got our baggage intoBob's "freight van" and all of us into 2rented vans and headed to Western Hillschurch for the night service, after which weate sandwiches, etc., in the churchbasement. The group stayed in rooms inthe dormitories at C.B.S. Sunday andMonday nights, and enjoyed very muchthe night view of the city and river.

July 8: After breakfast in the schoolcafeteria we used the vans to see WoodlandAcres Camp, Mt. Healthy Christian Home,Standard Publishing, Tri-County Mall,Music Palace and then were hosted by 2classes and the Missions group atClovernook Christian Church for supperand the evening program. It was very well-planned, including Japanese foodprepared by one person attending. SomeJapanese were sitting at every table, forincreased fellowship, and there wereseveral short speeches and musicalnumbers that made it an enjoyableevening for all.

July 9: We left Cincinnati on an earlyplane for Chicago and a quick change toanother plane for Los Angeles. During theafternoon we had a quick tour of LosAngeles, and arrived at the AnaheimHilton Hotel just in time for supper and theopening session of the North AmericanChristian Convention, which was animpressive experience in every way. Thefire alarm went off in the hotel at 12:30 AM,but it was a false alarm.

July 10: We left at 9:30 AM by bus for theairport, and at IPM on JAL flight 61 forTokyo. When we arrived in Tokyo it wasThursday early in the evening.

PATTONS'NEWS

CAMPS

Seventeen camps, 4 family groups, 380campers, plus some daily guests used theShinshu Camp facilities from March 20 toOctober 1. This was an increase of 50campers and 7 less camps than in 1984.(Some camps were combined to makelarger camp groups). The groupsrepresented the Junior-Senior High Schoolstudents, University students, churchBible study groups, an historical studygroup of Bible Lands, and Christian musicstudies.

To prepare the way for the summerseason the Work Week crew July 15-20 didtheir part. Betty Turner and Lisa Spencer(student at ACC) washed all the screens inthe building and cleaned the stainless steelkitchen and cupboards. Barbara and EricJones washed windows with Mr. and Mrs.Taninari. Milton Jones, Andrew and TimTurner creosoted all the vesper area'swooden seats and landscaped the area.Tim and Andrew put in new poles at thevolleyball court. Mr. Takematsu cut weedson the hillsides. Bill Owens continued topaint verandas and rust-proof other partsof the camp building. Betty Patten hadalready cleaned the dining room chairs,some windows, game cupboard andpantry.

Many other improvements arecontinuing on through the Fall. Onehillside has been cleared and grass seedsown. The pool for the sanitation systemrun-off water was a danger area andAndrew has now remedied that andlandscaped the area for green grass.

The "Homework" camp August 5-10 wasthe highlight of the season with 60campers. One baptism took place duringthe camp. We are thankful for thistestimony to others who were present andthank God for the salvation that came to

cxt^SSK

Summer workers: (L. to R.) Bill Owens (Ozark Christian College), Velma Held (Davenport, lA), Andrew,Mr. Taninari, Betty, Mrs. Leone Cole.

this new creature in Christ. Mr. A1Hammond, San Jose Bible College,brought 6 others with him to Japan for avisit and came to the camp for the week.They entered into the camp activities andcontributed greatly to the music anddrama times.

The University camp was slated too latein the Fall this year. Only 1 camperregistered for the camp. However, guestsfrom nearby missionary work attendedalso and the camp went as scheduled.

On October 19 the annual camp advisorycommittee will meet again at the HaroldSims' home in Tokyo. The 1986 campprogram will be made and suggestionssubmitted for a better camp year next year.Most of the missionary camp leaders willbe in the U.S. for the NACC and theNational Missionary Convention inIndianapolis next year. So we are prayingthat the Japanese ministers and leaderswill rise to the need and take moreinitiative to make the camp a tool ofevangelism for the furthering of God'skingdom here on earth.

Christmas Camp will be December 25-28with Andrew as Dean. Again the neighborhood will be invited to the Christmas

night Candlelight service.Please continue to pray for Japan and

the harvest ofsouls. We ask prayers for thecommunity in which we live and work.Pray that their hearts might soften so thatthey will give a hearing to the Word ofGod.

-Andrew Patton

HELPERS

"1 came to work." And she did indeed.Velma Held, Davenport, Iowa, returned toJapan after a 20 some years' absence. Sheformerly had a teaching position with theU.S. Armed Forces' schools in Japan. Shewas able to visit all her friends at theannual missionary convention in Julybefore coming to Shinshu camp to work.While here at camp she met again Mr.Yuse, minister of the Nagoya church (ahigh school boy back when Velma taughtin Nagoya). Velma washed all the dishesused in camps while here (two camps hadover 60 at each meal for a total of 8 days).Banana bread was her specialty and allenjoyed it. One loaf was saved back for theOsaka Moriguchi church to eat onSeptember 21-23. We thank her for herdays spent here with us. She left a presentfor Betty - a spic and span kitchen at thePattons" home to come home to after thecamp season! Thanks for everything,Velma.

Bill Owens' departure on August 6 cametoo soon, we thought. But Bill was anxiousto get back after working and painting allsummer and finishing it all just hoursbefore he left for Narita airport. We prayBill's trip to Japan has furthered his desirefor missionary work. He's now at OzarkChristian College and busy with studiesand the missionary group there. We thankthose who made it possible for his comingand helping this past summer, also forthose who are helping him financially getback into school after a summer without

•Homework"' campers

Our thanks also to Leone Cole again forher days spent at the camp this summer.We'll miss her next summer as she'll take ashort furlough to the U.S.A.

After Bill's departure, Mr. Taninari hadonly "rojin" (senior citizens) to help withall the camp work, Velma, Betty andAndrew Patton and Mrs. Leone Cole.

Nevertheless, all jobs were accomplishedwell as we all are experienced in campwork, as well as in the teaching andleadership part of the work.

- Andrew Patton

SIMS TOKYO MISSIONForwarding agent:1st Church of Christ315 E. Orange AvenueEustis, PL 32726-4194 ^

/QfZ Non-Profit Orgn.U.S.Postage Paid

PERMIT No. 57Eustis, FL 32726

\ /Make checks payable to "SimsTokyo Mission." Clearly markpersonal checks for the Sims"Personal." Annual financialreport available by requestfrom Forwarding Agent. Address Correction Requested

1985 REPORT

Dear friends,We always begin these letters with the

above simple words because you who prayfor us daily and give of your "living*regularly aixi sacrificially to keep ushere are in the fullest, deepest sense**dear friends." There are some peoplestill active mecnbers of those churchesthat pledged tp support us on a living-link bîs 40 years ago. There are many

have gone to be with the Lord theyloved and served. And we are glad thereare also some young people, who were notbom . tdien we went to Japan and don'tknow us so well, who are "rope-holders"because they are ccciscious of theirduties in world evaneglization. Weappreciate all of you, ard our prayer isthat through our infrequent newslettersyou may be able to share sane of our joyand feel you are fellow-workers with usIiere.— Also we-pray—that God will-richlybless all of you with growth and fruit-fulness tri your life and testimony during this year \dierever you are.

1985 was a year ' full of Joy andblessing, and so much happened that theonly way I can think of to tell about itis to Just mention a few of theoutstanding days that remain vivid inour memories.APRIL 7, RESURRECTION SUNDAY:

A small group of ei^t gathered in thesmall local park for a sunrise prayermeeting at 6 AM. Shortly after we gothone Mrs. Nakagawa called and said herhusband bad died Just "before midni^tand Jiist after seeing polaroid picturesof his son*s wedding taken by Lois forthat purpose the previous afternoon. Itwas the climactic end of a much longerthan expected 8 month battle withstomach cancer for him. There was agood attendance of 40 adults in worshipthat lODming, and the announcement aboutMr. Nakagawa at the beginning of thesermon made the thaie dramaticallycurrent and powerful. After a li^tlunch, we attended the 10th city-wideEaster Gathering on the roof of a largedepartment stx>re, which was somewhatsubdued by a cold rain. In the eveninga hi^scbool girl was baptized into

Christ. After that we went to call onthe Nakagawa family and discuss fur^ralarrangements. Finally about 9 EM wewent to a restaurant for supper.MAY 26, PENIECOSr SUNDAY:

This was the day we dedicated the newannex to. the church building here.Ground had been broken on a cold Januarymorning, and contruction had been goingalong ^1 winter. During the^ Bibleschool hour we had a simple dedicationceranony for the children, and they werevery excited to see the new classroomsthey would be using. During the morningworship hour the dau^ter of a memberwas baptized. In the afternoon we badthe dedication ceremony, using the samehymns, preachers, order of service etc.as we had at the original dedication ofthe church bulding Nov. 15, 1970. Webad 18 visitors from various sistercongregations in the Tokyo area, for a-total- of 62 adults plus 18 children.After the ceremony, our members gave amusical program that was an expressionof our Joy. Everyone help^ In someway, and it was a great day in the shorthistory of the church here.JUNE 29-JULY 11. JAPANESE TDUR GROUP TOTHE UNITED STATES:

I have already told about this indet:all in the Christian Standard andTokyo Christian, so will not repeat thatnow. X hope all who read this also getthe Tokyo Christian. If not, let usknow.JULY 22-26, MISSIONARY & JAPANESECHRISTIAN CCK^VEWnONS:

Lois and I enjoyed a relaxing andhappy time of fellowship with our co-workers in the beautiful mountain andseashore setting in Wakayama Prefecture.Fourty-five missionaries (countingchildren) and eight -visitors frcmvarious places in the U.S. were presentfor the missionary part, and 258 at theJapanese Convention in another Japanesehotel in the same resort city.JULY 27-31, JEMA CONFERENCE:

The Japan Evangelical MissionaryAssociation has for many years sponsoreda conference for the benefit ofmissionaries at the famous and cool

mcsuntain resort and villa city ofKaruizawa, about 100 miles from Tokyo.We had r»t teen able to atteiKi for someyears, - but this year made a specialeffort to hear Dr. Hesslegrave from theU.S. We stayed in one of the Christiancamps in the area, and enjoyed a fewdays of recreation and vacation veryuochSEFEEMBER 22. TAMURA-SAN BAPHZED:

A hi^ school senior lives in ournei^borhood and has been attending forabout 2 years was baptized. She invitedher non-Christian parents and someschool friends to witness the event, andit was the first time for any of thm tobe in church. The parents sent aspecial letter of appreciation and anoffering to the ciiurch at Christmastime.SEPTEMBER 29, FIFTH SUNDAY RALLY:

Beginning at 3 EM, we had over 80people present to h^ four talks andsee an hour of ftun movies about the tourof the United States mentioned above*It was a lot of fm to hear differentreactions and relive the events throughpictures. Our ladies served boxlunches, making good use of our newrooms.

OCTOBER 18-20, EVANGELISnC MEEHNG:We enjoyed having Stephen lijima stay

in our home for these three days. Hepreached five times to an average of 28people, which is very good forsuch meetings. We had distriteted 5000haiKibills in the coonunity nd had several people cane to this church for thefirst time.mmm 22, chrisimas sonday:

We had the-test attendance of theyear—68 adults and 17 children. Therewas a good worship service, turkey andpai^]kin pie dinner for ^1, and anenjoyable prpgran aikl gift exchange inthe aftemocxi. More details are in theJanuary Tokyo Christian.DANIEL AND JEANNE VISIT JAPAN:

When Daniel left here in June 1979after graduating from hi^ school., hepromised to come back. He is nowex5>loyed in the design division ofCteysler Motors, and they are connectedin business with Mitsubishi Motors ofJapan. Because of his language abilityand his woiic in design, he was assigcâs a member of a team to come to Japanin Iferch-April last year. We only sawhim on two wedc-ends because he was busyin the plant down, râr Nagoya.. But hebrought his wife over to see Japan and

-we—had—a—good time—with—her—during-April. \i®ien he walked into church onMarch 24 it was a happy surprise to allan: folks here. He came again in July,and we saw him briefly.TOO WEEPINGS:

We were involved in two nice, bigChristian weddings. The first was onMarch 16, yib&ci K3x)ta Saki, the popularsong-writer, married Rtane Daisaku, aieof the top synthesizer players in Japanand the leader of the band thatacconq)anied all her public appearances.

Both of than were baptized here inMejiro^, tet the wedding was held in alarge hall downtxwn and was reported onTV and in magazines nationwide. Theynow live seme distance away in Tolô,but always attend here at least oneSunday a month and are active in a groupof Christian artists and show businesspeople in Tokyo.

The second was the marriage of theycung minister at Yokosuka who justgraduated from Seminary in March. Hemarried a girl he met diring his time inOsaka, so the marriage was down there,aixi Lois and I went down for that. Thepeople in the two Osaka churches vherethe couple had served did a wonderfuljob of preparation for the ceremony, asimple, beautiful and gpod testimony tothe non-Christian families of ' bothsides.SIMIARY:

The total nuanter of members attfejirodai is new 40. Only a few areinactive. The yearly average formorning worhsip atterklance was 27.PLANS FDR 1986:

We plan to take another short furlou^during the months of July and August.(We don't count the personally niidedtrip to Daniel's wedding and lastsuomer's tour with the Japanese group asa furlou^, so it has been four yearssince our last one.) During the other10 months we plan to keep on here as wehave been doing.

Forty years ago .this month Iofficially became a missionary recruitwith the Cunningha® Mission, and beganto take ^t opportunities came to speakin various churches about the work Iplanr^ to do in Japan when the doorsopened. The world was entering thepost-war period and I was a post-graduate student. Needless to say, therehave been many changes in me and nyworld and I would not atrtempt to list ordesrite them, except to say that thegreatest was marriage to Lois in 1947.But I believe that the variouscircuDQStances and promptings thatbrou^t me to this life-work were partof C3od's providential woikings, and Hehas certainly been with us constantlythrou^ the years. The mistakes alongthe way aixi the smallness of the harvestis either, ray responsibility or that ofhearers who didn t hear, but the manygood gifts are all from the Father withvhon there is no variableness or shadowof turni^^^^Lookig ye^trs, Ipraise to God. Looking back at tte goodTyear of 1985, we feel we woild like tokeep ori doing these same thi^ for somemore years, the Lord willing andtarrying.

In Christ's s€337ice.

Harold Sims

Sims Harold Lois 1985 Japan

Documents