Sims Harold Lois 1965 Japan

7/27/2019 Sims Harold Lois 1965 Japan

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Chr i s t i anGo ye into all the world and pr eac h the gospel to every creature Mark 16: 15

63

PATTON TRAVELSWe are often asked how we areying our furlough in the United

A missionary cannot answerin a short simple statement. Being

y from the work and the Christianshave become so much a part of hislife is very unplesant. If he has to

away from his family for severalat a t ime l ike I have to be now,

i s a l so hard to bear His l i fe i sendangered on the highways

h is t ra ve ls . The rigors of th eare no t at al l pleasant. Bu t in

of these things, he truststhe Lordhe i s rewarded w ith c om fo rt an d

All of these things notwiththe missionary on fu rlo ugh

more blessings than hardships. Theof being useful even in a

way in stirring up God*s churcha greater effort in world evanis no small reward. The unbound-

love of the b re th ren he visits andsincere interest they express in thek he is trying to do in other areasthe world are sources of great joy.

t he re is always the dream that hee n l i s t s om e d e di ca te d s e r v a n t o fLord to join him in the work he

l f h as s e t h is hand to i s indeedinspiration. We constantly live with

thoughts and aspirations.Since we made the last report in the

Christian, we have been busyof the time in travels. We partookhe joys of two inspiring missionary

in Octobe r one a t SecondDanville, III., and the other at Several churches, including

Bethany church, Sumner, 111., whichto support us, welcomed us onway to Ferris and on our way back

Then I was privi leged to particin t he homecoming program of

church at Harlan, Ind., where 1e se rv ed a s th e mi ni s t e r On th eSunday I was with the bre thren at

Ohio. Most of th e res t of Octoberspent in a revival meeting at theont R idge chu rch wher e Bro. Don

January 1965 Number 4

A TOKYO CHRISTIANYOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN

MRS. LEE OF MIKAWASHIMAThe first Sunday I was in Japan

November 1947 , Mr. Still t oo k me overto the factory district in the northernpart of the city for a worship serviceat the home of one of th e prewar membersof the M ikawashim a church Korean)who was anxious to ge t the churchstarted again. There I met Mrs. Lee andher husband. She had been a kindergarten teacher in the church before thewar, and Mr. Lee had been employedas a driver. They were then gettingstarted in a new business of makingrubber boots and shoesThey very much wanted a missionaryto work with the church, so that quicklybecame my bailiwick. At the time welived in two rented rooms in Setagaya,10 mil es o r so across town. Every Sunday morning 1 got in the old jeep thatwe used for t ransportat ion and droveacross the city to the Lee house. Iunderstood almost nothing of what wassaid to me; but t her e was an interpreterwho conveyed my previously writtensermons and some of my conversationt o them.

One afternoon they finally go tthrough to me that they wanted us tomove to that neighborhood and wouldbui ld an apartment for us. Thank youvery much, I said. I soon found thatthi s agreement involved our buying thecement and glass for the building withAmerican money, since those mater ia lswere unavailable to Japanese. Then Ihad to obtain the building permit, sinceth is w as eas i e r fo r m er i cans

I was somewhat surprised to se e thebuilding going up before any plans hadbe e n t a l ked about The Or i en t a l s arenot always slow. As it was nea ringcompletion, I was able to inspect itone day and discovered there were noclosets. Through sign language I mademy wishes known, and, obliginglyenough, the nex t week t he re wer e twol it tl e c lo sets sticking out like boarded-up balconies from the second story wall.

Mrs. Lee and Lois Simsin Korean dress

We moved into tha t jerry-built, fourrooms-in-a-row a pa rt me nt soon afterHope was born and lived there for two-and-a-half years until we moved intothe mission house at Nakano, whe re westill make our home. We had the secondfloor. The Lees had used the permit tobuild downstairs an office and sa lesroom for t he ir factory , a Japanese bathfor us all, and an additional workroom.The bath was heated by steam whichwo ul d be opened directly from the factory tank into the large tub of water.There w ou ld b e a t e rr i f ic roar fo r aboutfive minutes , and then the water wouldbe anywhere between lukewarm andscalding hot. This also served as thewashroom fo r our tw o famil ies

The Lees were genuinely happy tohave us next d oo r a nd w er e true f r iendsThey helped us to make friends, obtain

Continued on page 4


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V ol. 6 3Tokyo Christian

January 1965 No. 4Published four times a year in January,April, July and December for themiss ionar ies of the Church of Chri s tCunningham Miss io n, Tokyo, Japanby Mission Services, 509 W. Jefferson,Joliet, Illinois. Second class postagepaid a t J o li et , Illinois.

MISSION S T F FMr. and Mrs. Stanley But tray , 5752-Chome, Kamiochiai, Shinjuku-ku,Tokyo, Japan, Forwarding Agent: Mrs.Homer Anderson, Route 1, Meadvil le ,

Pa 16335.Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Patton (nowon furlough). Forwarding Agent: Mr. orMrs. Ray Armstrong, Route 3, Box 310,Piqua, Ohio 45356.Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims, 1*52rai Machi , Nagano ku, Tokyo, Japan.Forward ing Agent : First Church ofChrist, Orange at Cente r S t. , Eustis,Fla 32726.Two-year subscription .5 0ubscription and Flaming Torch 1.00

CHANGE OF PRINTERSFor the past several years the Tokyohas been printed and mailedBro. H. L. Hamilton of Kimberlinights, Tenn. We are very grateful toHamilton fo r h is wonderful serv icesthis capacity. Unfortunately, because

missionaries who contribute to theper have been busy in our missionrk, he has not had the cooperationus in sending copy for the paperhe should have had. We are sorry

this and we are th an kfu l to Bro.milton for his patience and spirit ofwhich he has shown in gettingpaper out.Beginning with this issue of Tokyohowever, the office wheres newsletter will be printed andwhich i t will b e maile d has beenged to: Mission Services, Box 968,111 60434. Correspondence coning the paper shou ld be sent toa d d re ssThe Tokyo Christ ian wil l continue

be issued four times a year and weto continue to mail them in JanApril, July and November. Wewho cooperate in publishthe Tokyo Christian would appresuggestions from our readers as tothe paper can be improved and beto render a better se rv ice for the

o f m is sio ns Mi ss i on S e r v i c e sbe notified immediately of anyo f add re ss so that the Lord'sney may no t be needlessly spent onfor returned mail.

Fa tt en T r avel s(continued from page 1)Ake ministers, and in another at Piqua,Ohio at Betty's home church.

After I had spent a few days athome, on November 13 our whole familystarted on the long trip to visit FirstChurch, Clearwater, Fla., a very liberalsuppor ter of our work. Var ious f riendsand churches along the way in Floridawere visited and the hospitality andfellowship were enjoyed immensely.Afterwe had spent a few days in Tampawith Betty's aunt and her husband ,Betty and the children returned home byplane and I continued my journeysthrough Florida and to Atlanta where Ispent severa l days vis it ing the churchesa nd frie nd s th er e From thence I mademy way back to Ohio.

Most o f the month of De c e mbe r w asspent at home, except for visiting twochurches on the week ends One oft h e s e w as th e Sco t t sv i l l e ch urch inIndiana, ano ther of our supportingchurches l so b e c a u s e o f b a d w e a th e rand a desire to spend a few more dayswith th e family, I visited only the churchat Lima, Ohio and the Missions Round-Up in Garrett, Ind. in January.

Thus ended four more months ofour furlough. Only si x more monthsremain until we wil l have to begin ourjourney toward the West Coast andfinally to Japan. We t hank everyonewhom w e have v is i ted fo r th e wonder fu lhospitality.

Andrew Pat ton

John Muto, one of our preachers,col labora ted in edi ting and publishinga book last year. It is called One Day,One Life and there is a devotionalthought for each day of the year. Thethoughts are selections from the writingsof Kanzo Uchimura, and there areappropriate Scr iptures to accompanyeach one. It is selling very well, as isthe Japanese-Greek dictionary publishedby Akira Oda of our Osaka Bible Semin a r y

Miss Frances Travis of Eugene,Ore. and Mrs. Davis of Mt. Vernon, 111stopped by to see us for one day inNovember during a round-the-world tour.

TIDINGSFROM SAKURAYAMA

The le t te rs we have rece iverecently from Bro. Pratt and the memberof the Sakurayama church indicate thathe church i s in e xc ell en t condi t ionand is making fine progress in theLord's work. Here are a few excerptfrom those le t te rs

T he f i r s t i tem o f n e w s concernon e o f th e m e m b e r s o f th e c hu rc h whowishes to enter Bible college. *. .Miss Hirano wants to fulf i l l a des i rof helping women prisoners, so she isplanning to enroll at O.B.S. (OsakaBible Seminary) this spring. She gopermission from her fadier and hasalready quit her teaching for the purpose of studying toward the entranceexam. We pray diat God will blessMiss Hirano and guide her in the wayshe should go. She is already a collegegraduate and an English teacher.

Brother Pra t t wri te s fur ther concerning the church as follows: Our groupis wanting to accomplish somethingWe had a big sodan (conference) todayplanned an evangelistic meeting forearly in February.We're going to restorethe training class which was all budropped when we began working onChristmas planning. We*re goinj to tryprinting a newspaper, too. Well, t he oneI must write to you especially about isthe baptistery. We want to have sufficient money on hand by the time youreturn, ready to build it . We want to setfor ourselves a goal and work towardthat amount. The Sakurayama churchbuilding has no baptistery and also itneeds some repair work done on it . Thechurch h as r ai se d around 200 for thapurpose and wishes to raise the remainder before we return to Tokyo. We arevery grateful for the good work BroPratt is doing in our absence and forthe fine cooperation he is getting fromthe church

ndrew Pa t t onREPRESENTATIVE

IN CINCINNATI AREAMy brother, Ralph Sims, minister o

the Montgomery Road Church of ChristCincinnati, Ohio 43236, has beenauthorized by t he board of that congregation to take offone Sunday night eachmonth to speak on behalf of our workin churches within a 150-mile radius .He h a s s l ides and o ther in fo rmat ionabout our work. If you would be interested in having him come to speak,please write to him at th e above address.


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Part of Crowd al Nakano Christinas Program

TANEMAKI KAINovember 1-4, 1964 the Osaka BiblSeminary sponsored a preaching con

ven t ion known a s Tanemak i ka i oSeed-Sowing Meeting. Two Japanesepreachers and three missionaries fromTokyo attended and served in variouparts of the program including aspontaneous Tokyo Quartet. alespecially enjoyed this trip because igave us our first opportunity to ridethe new train down and back. Now thiis a ride that makes you feel you aregetting somewhere. With speeds up to200 KPH, we cove red the 300 milewith ea s e in four hours

The meeting was marked by theusual good fellowship remarkably goocongregational singing and goodattend nce

The Mark Maxey family returned toTokyo with us for a three-day visit inour home. We let ourselves be pulleby the Maxey magnetic energy intogoing to see the famous fish markeone dawn, and also to see th e roosoutstanding Olympic roads and buildingwhich have improved the city in anamazing way.

CHRISTMAS MEETINGSMinato

The Minato church has been meetingits new building just a year, so th e

decided to have a specialmeeting Christmas week.to cover the town of

yoshi was a rr anged, and they bought


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A TOKYO CHRISTIANyou should have knowncontinued from page 1we needed, and showered usmany kindnesses. Although thethey charged was very small, they

care of all uti lity bills. iey weret an tly sol ic itous of our health,

and welfare; and when it becameious that Sylvia was on the way,decided to add another room and

to the house. Unfortuy the decision was made duringwinter, and the place was mightywith one wall out; but we weremed by th eir love and care.

uring these days I was studyingand practicing it on themy day. They could probably fill ak with our various foibles; but Iconveniently forgotten most ofepisodes. The Lees had a house-of children one gir l and 5 boys

life around there was very lively.tha t there were 20 or 30 work

and t ru ck s o f al l sizes constantlyng and going. During busy seasonsoften worked late into th e night

many is th e time we went to sleepby th e rumble of the large rubber-machines. Mr. Lee was a large,

hard-work ing man , of north Korea, bu t very anti-Mrs. Lee really ran things.

was up every morning at daybreak,sharp voice echoing from room toa s s he b u st le d a round from k i t cheniving room, to yard trying to get

going and keep everybody. Her total concern was for others;

sh e never cared how sh e looked,the house w as c l e a n e d o r w h a t

i t w a s We were i nc luded in h e rof love and care, an d were someembarrassed by the nice things

would buy for Hope and do for us.ever we had anything to be moved,a lways arranged for Mr. Lee and

truck to do the job.For a year a ft er we moved there,had worship services in our livingfor Koreans in th e morning and

Japanese in the evening. Some ofdidn tlike this; butalthough

Lee was unashamed of being ashe was unprejudiced and

-minded toward the Japanesewhom they lived.The following year the church bui ldwas erected. When th e Korean condidn t come through with the

half of th e money for theMrs. Lee donated th e remainThe same thing happened severals la ter when th e parsonage was

built. She was not only a free-heartedgiver, but a hard worker for the church.She established a kindergarten andmanaged it for several years in order tohelp some of th e poor families in th eneighborhood. She was also doctrinallysolid. We often had difficulty obtaininga suitable preacher for the church. Sometimes I served as preacher, and someof the time Mrs. Lee s older brother,th e e ld er , s er ved. From time to timevar ious membe rs wou ld r ec ommend oneor another of th e Presbyterian preachers;but she stood like a rock for gettingonly preachers who believed and pr acticed immersion. She was always understanding of us and stood up for us.

Gradual ly the Japanese bus inessmen began to take over the rubberbusiness, and the ir factory fell on hardt imes Mr. L ee a ls o w a s led into dr inking and some gambling by bad friends .This w as a real burden to Mrs. L ee andcontributed to her d ea th ; bu t sh e wasloyal to her husband and spent everyeffort to cover up, settle problems andprotect the family name and reputation.

Educating the children was a greatstruggle, through which she persisted.It was not only a f inancia l dra in , butthe Japanese do not easily accept theKoreans into their sch oo ls, so she hadto keep the boys, some of whom wereinclined to take after their father, atthei r s tud iesAbout 10 years ago, she had thef i r s t of a ser ies o f h ea rt a tt ac ks Following her husband s death about f iveyears ago, th e business went from badto worse . Then the o ldes t son becameinvolved in a business deal that floppedat tremenduous loss. Most of the property had to be sold to pay off the creditors. Her daughter s husband ran of fand lef t her with two s m al l c h il dr enThere were constant battles, failures,discouragements. ButMrs. Lee remainedalways smiling, proud and completelyh o n e s t

I would v is it h er s ev e ra l t imes eachyear, and she was always happy toRETURN POST GE GU R NTEED

B O X 9 6 6 JOLIET I LL IN O I S 6 4 34

pour out her troubles to me. But themain ta lk was not of her tr ials andtroubles. Rather she talked of God, sin,righteousness and judgement in mostelementary and kernel and personalterms. She felt that God was punishingher because she had failed to bring herchildren up in the fatih. The greatsorrow of her life was that none of th echildren but the girl took an activepart in the church.

Because of poor circulation causedby the weak heart and old age, sheslowly lost he r mind in the last months.The chi ld ren rathe r made light of her;but I never failed to profit by a visitwith her. In her m in d s w eak en edcondition the real person shone through.Her talk always displayed purity ofmotive, f irst concern with the kingdomof God and great faith.

She spent her final months dreamingof returning to Korea. When I went toKorea in 1958, I had the privilege ofvisit ing her home place. She was bornin a beautiful peach orchard outside th ecity of Taijon in South Korea. I mether two sisters and older brother, Ialways fel t I knew her better after seeing the place where she was born andher devout Presbyterian family.On November 18, sh e passed to thereward reserved fo r ood and faithfulservants

Harold Sims

Cast of Nakano Christmas Play


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lom iks Simi. in cn ~ :The new year began with a special , worship service i n KamiochiaiChurch, According t o the o ld o r i e n t a l 12 animal-year c y c l e t h i s i sthe year o f th e Serpent , so I p r e p a r e d . a sermon on The Serpent fromGenesis 3, attempting to remove forebodings of e v i l days ahead fo r

those a f r a i d o f snakes, and eihortiiag a l l hot t o concede even onehour t o t h e o l d a d v e r s ^ y b u t be v i g i l a n t and s p i r i t u a l l y armed.J u s t 5 minutes before the s e r v i c e was t o begin t h e o i l h e a t e r exploded, because of a clogged chimney, and covered everything with o i l ys o o t . How about t h a t f o r a beginning o f t h e s e r p e n t s year?B u t let s l o o k b a c k b r i e f l y t o t h e end o f l a s t y e a r .Both of our daughters sing in the 50 voice High School Choir a tthe Christian Academy, so Lois got the bright idea of asking thep.hnIt* tn sing in our church sometime before Christmas. All of the

s t u d e n t s had t o r e c e i v e s c h o o l a n d p a r e n t s p e r m i s s i o n and a r r a n g etransportation, but since we got our request in early and promisedto serve cookies and cocoa they agreed to come. Kamiochiai was chosen as th e place, because of i t s good locat ion, and the nearby Nakanoand Sakurayama churches cooperated by dismissing the Sunday evenings e r v i c e s on December 6 . We f e l t all t h e work i n p r e p a r a t i o n wasworthwhile when a standing room only crowd of I05 people came. Andt h e f i n e Christmas music which ;)ust f i l l e d t h e smal l audi tor ium wasa del ightful way to prepare our souls for the season.One o f t h e men who a t t e n d e d works f o r TV Channel 12 i n Tokyo,and the next day the Academy received a c a l l for the choir to appearin a special Christmas program to be broadcast a t 11 AM Sundaymorning December 20. Of course, that was during church time, butbecause of the special circumstances we took the TV s e t over tochurch and watched the program Jus t before I preached the sermon.For the school Christmas.program t h i s High School choir combinedwith about 50 of the parents and teachers (Lois included) to singt h e more f a m i l i a r p a r t s o f Handel ' s Messiah . This f i n e program wassung to a packed gymnasium a t the Academy on December 11, and thenwas repeated on December 18 a t the Hachioji City Auditorium on thewestern edge of Tokyo.

ONE WEEKThe Nakano Church Christmas program (as well as a l l others) wason the evening of December 20. . The h ighlight o f ours t h i s time wasa 30 minute Christmas play in English language which was performedby eight of our University and High School young people. They hadworked very hard with me on inemorization, pronunciat ion, scenery, .costumes, and sound effects every Sunday afternoon for eight vreeks,and it was very successful and impressive. The f u l l program ran four hours from 5 9 PM,-including worship, r i c e - b a l l supper,special music, carol singing, g i f t exchange, e t c . and was attendedby 93 peoplethree times the regular Sunday morning attendance.On Monday night December 21, preached for the special evangelistic meeting, at Minato church in Yokohama There were about ^0present, and among these, twelve were present in a church for thef i r s t time. I t was encouraging to see the good progres-s that congregation is making Just one year after they started using the newb u i l d i n g . .Tuesday night, December 22, we presented the English languageplay again at an English school where I teach. Wednesday December23, at noon Lois had about twenty people for turkey dinner and her-dadies-Bible OTass- p a r t y . - They a l l contr ibuted toward expensegladly, because such food is a rare treat for them. As we werehaving devotions during the afternoon a telephone call informed usthat the l i t t l e 5-year-old son of one of our fine Christian couples


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times the regular attendance, and'we hope some of the visitors willb e g i n coming r e gu la r ly . The three teachers had p r e p a r e d a goodprogram including Mr. Sims as Santa as usual) and t h e i r hard workand o c c a s i o n a l discouragements during th e year seemed w e l l r e p a i deven af te r cleaning up. th e ppprcor;^, pandy. wrappers and^ other s tuf ft h a t n i g h t . ,Th e funeraT o f th e l i t t l e boy mentioned ea r l i e r w a s t h p day a f te rCh ri s t mas . While t wasaad t wae rea l ly a bless ing to me to w itness the strong faith and^straightforward Christian testimony givenby t h i s fine young couple. The scene remains afe one of the vividmemories of 1964. Th eir small house is located in the shadow of anold Shinto S hrine, w ith i t s gg:pve o f ancient t a l l t r e e s . Of course,th e house could n o t c o nta in th e crowd , so th e y l i f t ed p u t . th e fo u rsl i di ng glass doors t h a t made up :the south pi de o f th e living room,an d that became a kind of ..stage containing th e l i t t l e c a s k e t , thefamily and the preachers. There was no smell, of incense, no largewreaths or paper, flowersy oo candles or o th er customary Buddhisttrappings. Under the chil l gray sky a Iprge crOwd of neighbors, kindergarten class-mates, -Christian brethren, officials from theMinistry of Agriculture and P6resi;ry . where the father works) coveredthe small yard, .the narrow street and the n ei gh bo r s y ar ds . A coupleo f hymns were sung, a strong gospsl message on t he r es ur r ec ti on waspreached by Steohen lijima, comforting words of a ss ur an ce o f God'slove an d s a l v a t i o n were spoken by an o l d e r p r e a c h e r , an d then th eyoung father gave a simple speech expressing his personal convicti onof meeting his boy again in a heavenly home.and his pledge to liveby faith in Christ. I thin^ this occasion was the most moving andpowerful evangelistic experience I had in 196i^.

f Y our s . in H is s e r v i c eHAROLD S I M S

P.-S. For those l i vi ng within about 10 0 mioes. o f Cincinnati , Ohio.= brother Ralph has. been authorized by the church where he ministersto t a k e off one Sunday evening a month to p e r s o n a l l y r e p r e s e n t o u rwork to in teres ted ;churohes i n th e a r e a , . Anyone who would l ike tohave him come, please contact-him directly, a t Montgomery Road Churchof Christ, 6838 Montgomery Road, Cincinnati, Ohio ^5236.

a t if - .We a r e p l e a s e d w i t h th e good 196^ b alan ce in the g e n e r a l fund andp ra i s e the Lo rd fo r h is g o o d n e s s a n d the g en ero sity o f C h r i s t i anf r i ends . H a ro l d w i l l b e ab le to plan fo r the e x p a n d i n g f u t i l e workwith assurance. However, l e tus^ge t the whole pic ture : 1) At onet ime during th e y e a r we were actual ly in th e re d fo r mission working-f unds; 2 ) Th e Sims l ive in th e most m odest c i r c u m s t a n c e s , doingw i t h o u t many th ings we cons ider n e c e s s a r y to hea l th and h a p p i n e s s .

Because o f r is ing p r ic e s i n Japan, an d th e fac t t h a t Tokyo s c o s t o fl i v i n g i s on e an d a h a l f times g r e a t e r than t h a t o f New York City,t h e i r l i vi ng l ink salary fo r a family o f seven) has n ot been adequate fo r their physical, emotional, and spi r i tua l w el l- be in g e ss ent i a l to working ef fec t ive ly fo r C hr is t .We wil l be i n c r e a s i n g the i r l iv ing l ink checks th is y e a r , bel ieving t h a t you w i l l help us meet this need w ithout s a c r i f i c i n g theworking funds. The Su s t i s church has increased the i r budget allowance f o r Harold and h is family, and we p ray many o f you wi l l do th esame, o r g i v e more a s th e Lord p r o s p e r s you.May the grace of our loving and always faithful Heavenly Fatherbe with you. Thank you for sharing the prayer and financial supporto f preaching Ch r i s t in Tokyo. S i n c e r e l y ,- - J o h n ^ r a i o e , A r t h u r -Backer^ .-JJ14isJiaynes____^_,E l d e r s , Fi r s t Church o f C h r i s t , E u s t i s , F l o r i d aS I M S TOKYO M I S S I O N rst Ch u r c h o f C h r i s t

N o n p r o f it Organ iza t ion U. S . P os t a ge


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FROM THE SIMS IN JAPAN NEWSLETTER AUciUST I965D e a r F r i e n d s

We have j u s t r e t u r n e d from two e: oo


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A d u l t sM i d d l e s c h o o lHigh SchoolC o l l e g eC h i l d r e n

( 20 Christians 21 Non-Christians{( 6(

all96

^11 11 51 2

13873

Two missionary families (Sims and P r a t tJ a p a n e s e p r e a c h e r sJapanese preacher s wives and childrenC o o k s

Seven of the people who.attended th e camp had been baptizedthere in past years and at least 6 others told me thay had beeninfluenced by attendance a t e a rlie r camps toward their decisionsto become Christians. So the Motosu camp had by Ood s graceblessing been a good instrument of evangelism and secured a placefor i t se l f deeo in the hearts of many of th e Japanese Christians.He are thankful for the increasing (jooperation and support i thas received and what has been accopralished there. I t has beenmy privilege and honorable hard work (as the Japanese say) tobe manager for the past ^ summers Looking back on i t I considerthis as one of the major contributions I have oeen able to maketo th e work o f th e kingdom he r e d u ri n g th i s term^ Because this will be our last summer in Japan for a timevje stored uo in our memories th e soul-refreshing lake and mountainscenery the view of the full-moon beside Mt. Fuji th e orange-ball sunrise through the early morning mist th e sounds of thewind through the trees and t a l l grass the nightingales andother birds calling th e feel of an invigorating swim in the colblue lak e w ate r the tas te of pickled onions etc.

So many oeople commented that the Lord s Day up therewas a oarticuiariy full and wonderful one. We began with privatedevotions at 6 M had Bible Study for 3 age groups and preaching~and~ocmtuunion and~aIso a swim before noon. -A .large group_tookleisurely hike up the mountain in back of the camp during^theafternoon, walking through a tunnel of all virgin forest treesuntil we broke out into t he mag ni fi ce nt view from th e top. Wehad one of the finest hours of singing everybody s choice hymnsI have ever experienced just before the evening worship service.That was AuRUst 15 . No better way of coranemorating the twentiethanniversary of the way between the U S and Japan could have beenc o n c e i v e d .

F o r w a r d i n g A g e n t

Y o u r s in H is s e r v i c e

HAROLD a n d LOIS SII4S

Non prof it Organiza t ionU.S . P o s t a g e


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Chr i s t i anGo ye into al l the toorld and preach the gospel to every creature Mark 16:15

64

W PREACHERAT KAMIOCHIAI

Mr . and Mrs S ato c am e from a t en andministry on the Island ofto t he c hu rc h he r e a t Kamioch ia ifirst Sunday in June to be the preacher.We expect Mr. Sato, a man of 50 and of

experience, to be an asset to thein th e Tokyo a re a. Since therebeen an acute shortage of preachersin th e Tokyo area for so many years,coming of Mr. Sato should prove to be ablessing.However, this will leave th e Chris tianst he I sl and without a preacher. So I as kto pray that God will lead someoneto go to the Island of Tsushima, thatgreat harvest of souls will be broughtth e kingdom through th e seed that has

bee n sown.Also, please pray with us that Godgreatly strengthen and further establishyoung Christians here at KamiochiaiMr. and Mrs. Sato. Pray for us thatwill lead us in the establishing of

church Stanley Buttray

The new preacher, r Sato, and hisfe with Mr. Buttray In front of thechurch

A BUDDHIST PRIESTSOLICITS FUNDS

One d ay e arl y in March while most offamily were sick in bed with th e flu1 was washi ng th e d inne r dishes, ourrang. I was surprised to findd ing i n the entrance way a Buddhiste st i n ceremonial robes, with hi s handsContinued on page 3

November 1965 Number 3

motosu ChRistian Camp -1965

Some of th e MiddleA t ot al o f 11 4 differen t people at tendedour canq this summer during the two-week

period from August 9-21. This is th e ninthsuccess iv e summer in which we haverented th e camp ground on th e s ho re s ofb eau ti fu l d ee p blue Lake Motosu in th efo othills o f Mt. Fuji owned by th e non-Instrument c hu rc he s o f C hri st . We alwayshave ou r camp in August after thei r programsar e comple ted. Through th es e y ea rs theMotosu camp has built a secure place fori t se l f In th e hea r ts and in teres t s o f anincreasing number of the Japanese.We are very thankfu l for the cooperationand support received. Eight Japanesepreachers helped on the faculty, and youngpeople from seven of the churches werepresent. A rather off-hand investigationthis summer revealed tha t seven of th epeople who attended had been baptized atthe camp in past years, and at least sixothers told me they had been influencedtoward their decis ions t o b ecome Chris tiansby a tt endance a t ea rl ie r camps.Of the total attending this year 47 (notcount ing small children) were non-Chr istians. That time and place apart from th ecity s many distractions gave us a wonderful opportunity for evangelism. There weretwo confessions of faith around th e camp-fire on the closingnight a high school boyand g ir l. The girl from Nakano) was baptized in the lake the next morning, but theboy chose to wai t u nt il returning to hishome church on Sunday. We feel the re willbe other results coming later on. Fo rinstance, at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, August 22,our doorbell rang. When 1 answered It , therestood one of th e ninth-grade gi rl s who hadbeen invited to camp by a f ir end and hadher first contact with Christianity there.She lived just about a mile from our church,and s ai d t ha t dur ing camp she dec ided shewould begin going to church. She had beenwalking around looking for our church since10:30 that morning in a downpour of rain.

School Week CampersWe loaned her an umbrella fo r getting home,so she ha d to come back the next Sundayto return it . We hope she continues.

1 will justwri te down a few one-sentencememories of the camp in an a tt empt t oreflect a little of the enjoyment we had ina minimum of space. We enjoyed Seeing the full moon r ise majesticallyto the left of Mt. Fuji and cast it s gleam

on the s t i l l l ak e wa te r Bible d ramas by th e lak e in twilight calling th e four fisherman, etc. Asking for green beans at a countrygrocery store, and joining the lady inpicking t hem in the patch across the road.Seeing and feeling the early morningmist and the su n r is in g like a b ig , r ip eo r a n g e Two of our young people suddenly introuble in deep water, being rescued by aU.S. sai lor friend visiting us there.Teaching choruses in English.Playing the accordion.

Continued on page 3

Hiking around Lake Motosu. Fujiyamain Background.


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Tokyo Christian64 November 1965 No. 3Published four times a year in

April, July and November fore miss iona r ie s of th e Church of

Cunningham Mis si on , Tokyo ,by Mission Services, 509 W.Joliet, Illinois. Second

postage paid at Jol iet , Illinois.Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Buttray, 575

Kamiochiai, Shinjuku-ku,Japan. Forwarding Agent: Mrs.Anderson, 622 Cuilum Street,

Pa. 16335.Mr, and Mrs. Andrew Patton, 27akurayama Machi, Nakano ku, TokyoForwarding Agentt Mr. and Mrs.. Wade Fletcher, 621 E. 10th St.,

Indiana.Mr. and Mrs, Harold Sims, 1-52a l Machi , Nakano ku , Tokyo, Japan.

Agent: First Church ofOrange at Cente r S t. , Eustis,

32726.subscription .50ubscription and Flaming Torch 1.00

SUMMER CAMPMabel, Dav id and I helped in the firstcanp of the season at Karuizawa.as a camp for the Saint Pauls Rikyover sit y Eng li sh -Spe ak ing Soc ie ty . Ita four-day camp, beginning July 2.Of the 26 students that attended, halfgirls. Two of the young men ha dth e camp last year. However, noneha d yet become a Christian. Their

in coming to camp was twofoldtoEnglish and t he B ib le .They received what they came for Thisevidenced by the following quotationsfrom their own personal test imoniesthe last night of the camp, andjust before t hey l ef t on the last day.Miss Nakayama said: *'It was a greatfor me to t ake part in t hi s Chr iscamp during these summer holidays.u ld c om e to a firm bel ief in God and Iup my mind to be baptized. . .Mr. Osato said: I thank you very muchthe chance to spend a few days in this

learning about Chris tianity. First ofI wish to sa y that as I studied aboutin t hi s p lace . I felt th e touchs Spirit and heard God s voice. Whenwere s ingi ng the hyms, I felt I was

with God . From today I would likebelieve in th e love of God. Next year I

l i ke to come he re and l e a rn abou tas a Chris tian. I am expecting to seeagain.Miss Hasagal said: I wish to thank yout he invi ta ti on to come to this camp. I

enjoyed this camp very much andmany t hi ngs each day. From theseI could truly believe in God. My

rt was purified, and a new jo y andose ent ered my life. I now feel that Ib el ie ve in God . P l e a s e t each me moreChristianity an d God, because theseor four day wer e no t enough to underand comprehend i t completely. Nowvery happy to return home with Goda pur e hea rt . Thank you.

Mr. Kawai said: I am very h appy topart in t hi s Ch ri st ia n camp at Kar-

ONE OF THE TOKYO CHRISTIANS YOU SHOULD KNOW

The Kumakura FamilyMrs. Sueko Kumakura was born seventhof e ight children in a farming family in thevillage of Bingo in Hiroshima prefecture.That section of the country is famous forit s fine straw which is used for making th eJapanese tatami floor mats. She attended

grade school there, and says she stillremembers clearly how she enjoyed thescenery from the second-story window ofthe school building during her high schooldays. The picture was of farmers busilyflooding and dra in ing the largest salt bedsin Japan beside t he beaut iful Inland Sea,dot ted with hundreds o f small i s l ands andthousands of fishing boats.She graduated from high school duringthe war, and went to the city of Hiroshimato study chemistry at the Indust rial Spec ia lJunior College. This se ems l ik e a man ssubject, but at that time al l th e men ha dgone to the war and women were expectedto take their places.During her first year in the school, onthe morning of August 6, just as she wasready to l ea ve th e rooming house in Sendamach i ( ab o ut four ki lometers from the cen te rof the blast) th e atomic bomb exploded. Ofco urs e tha t changed eve ry th ing. She received nopersonal injury, but shared deeplyin th e horror an d confusion and sufferingthat r e su l ted .After things settled down a little sh ecame to Tokyo to live with her sister andwork in an office. In due time she met Mr.Kumakura and their marriage was arranged.

Mr. Kumakura l ived in an apartmentjust across the street from our house inNakano, and had visited the servicesseveral times during special evangel ist icmeetings. So he suggested that they mighthave a Christian marriage ceremony. Shedressed op one day and came to our house(this was shortly after we began servicesin ou r home an d before th e Nakano churchbuilding was erected) to ask about havingthe wedding here. can t remember theoccasion, but sh e says we told h er t ha t wedidn t have any church bu il ding , so therewere no s u it ab l e f a ci li ti e s. (I th in k th atwa s just an excuse we didn t want tobecause my fatherisa member of the modernBuddhist society ca ll ed Rissho Kosei Kai.He is very sincere in hi s belief and doesn twant me to be l ieve in God. But I wan t toopen my heart before God. Therefore I havea great problem. This camp has been goodfo r me and i ts memory will be In my heartal l my life. I want to come h er e a ga in n ex tsummer an d study harder as I want to understand many things about Christianity. I

marry them because both were non-Christians.) Anyway they went to the localShinto shrine and were married on Fridayth e 13th, Dec. 1951.After they had been married a whilehe r husband suggested tha t she go to churchand sh e did occasionally unt il the chi ld renstarted coming along. The f irs t chi ld (a gir l)was born on April 7, 1954. Then about twoyears later she was very shocked anddisappointed to lose twin boys who wereborn prematurely because of uremic poisoning. The Kikuchis, who were ministeringat Nakano at th e time, comforted he r agreat deal, and sh e began going to churchmore regularly after that time. Also heroldest c hi ld was in t he s ame k inde rg ar te nclass with th e Kikuchi s oldest boy, sothey became close friends.

Bu t she w as very hesi tant to become aChristian. Her grandmother had spent muchtime with he r during her formative years,and had brought her up in the Buddhistfaith. She could no t get t ha t early ingrainedrespect for he r grandmother s religion andworship of th e ancestors ou t of he r mind.Yet she was more and more impressed byth e example sh e could see of th e Christianhome. S lowly sh e came to see t ha t Chr ist ians still have due respect for t hei r ancestors though they don t worship th e dead.And finally on August 5, 1962 sh e wasbaptized.

Her two little gir ls ( the second one wasborn in 1959) have been among th e mostfaithful childrenatSunday School in Nakanochurch for s ev er al y ea rs . T he oldest one,now in the fifth grade, is studying pianoand may some day become the churchorgani st . The youngest is a restless andlively kindergartner. The husband whooriginally suggested she go to church never omesThis past August Mrs. Kumakura had avery serious operation for Basedow sDisease (something wrong with the thymusgland). She was hospit al ized for 20 daysbefore the operation, but felt very good.During that time sh e wrote us that she hadh er b es t c ha nc e so fa r in her Ch r is t ia n l i feto read and enjoy th e Bible. She startedfrom t he f irs t p age of Genesis and read upto I Samue l . Then she h ad r em emb er edthat I said once that Samuel would be verye xc itin g rea din g for anyone. She wasanxious to conti nue reading on through,bu t it was time fo r t he ope ra ti on . O f cou rs ea fter the opera tion sh e couldn t read for awh i l e .

She sa id the Doctor remarked howrel axed she was at the time of the operationand also about her quick recovery. He saidshe was th e first of his many patients tolaugh after t ha t ope ra ti on . She acknowledged that sh e was g lad sh e was a Christ ian at th a t tim e and cou ld t rus t a l l toGod s h an ds . A lso s he is mos t t h an k fu l fo rthe prayers and concern of many friends inthe church. _ Harold Sims

Miss Koizumi sa id : I wa s i n te re s te din Christianity, but have not been able tobelieve in God perfectly as Christians do.I hoped to believe in God through this camp,but now it is th e fourth day, and still 1can t believe. I envy Christians. I feelChrist ians ar e very happy because theybelieve in God and have something wonderfu l in their minds. I r eg re t that I could nothave been born in a Christ ian family. If I


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what i t cos t s to educa te a ch i ld Ine si de s choo ls ; bu t it certainly is no tWe still ar e in n ee d o f liv in gl in kfor ou r four children at S600 a yearto help defray t he se ris in g school

Anyone who ca n help in thisproject should con tact us about i t.

These little annoying things which wement ioned, however, were as nothingto the encouraging things weat t he S akur ay ama chu rc h on th e firstwe were there. As an example, theng man 1 baptized just before leavingfurlough had grown into a fine young

an d he presided at the morningservice. Then a lady who was aof ano ther member of the church w as

iz ed , ha vi ng been le d to church byfriend. It was f it ti ng that brother Paulwhohasled In th e work atSakurayama

ou r absence should baptize her. We wereto se e these and other s ig ns o fr es s a t t he chu rch.Th e church at Sakurayama gave us a

meeting on September 19. Memberso ther c hu rc he s also were present. Wehappy to se e th e faces of the faithfulChrist ians with whom we were

working before our furlough, as well as thenew o ne s th a t ha ve been adde d to t he i rnumber dur ing our absence.On September 23 the Camp EchoMeeting was held at the Sakurayama Church.The purpose of this meeting was to helpto perpetuate th e interest in our summercamp pro gram amo ng th e youth from all ofthe churches who participated in the campthis y ear. The program was interesting an dthe attendance was fairly good.Besides my responsibility of preachingin Japanese at the Sunday morning worsh ipservice at Sakurayama, I have resumed mySunday evening Bible class and am responsible fo r conducting th e mid-week service.In t e r e s t and a t tendance a t th e Biblfe c l a s sare increas ing . Genera lly non-believers whoa re int ere st ed in English attend th e class,bu t i t is a good opportunity to preach th egospel to them. In the mid-week servicewe spend about half of the time in astudy of the prophecy of Hosea with aperiod of prayer following.Our plans for the future are alwayssubject to t he a pp rova l and guidance of th eLord. But we hope to emphasize th efollowing areas of work. We hope to continue

our m inistry to th e Sakurayama Church,s trengthening the Christians and winningothers to the Lord. We plan to teach aboutone da y a week at th e YMCA in order togai n con ta ct with a large number of youngpeople for Christ. Beginning in October, Iwill serve as chaplain fo r th e studentstaking the morning courses, bringing thechapel messages every Monday morning .On Monday afternoons I will conduct aBible study class and on Monday eveningsI will teach thtee classes in English.

As we have time and opportunity weplan to start o th er chu rche s and convertsinners in other areas of Tokyo throughth e cooperation of th e members of th eSakurayama church.

Again, we want to thank ou r brethren inAmerica for making our year s stay inAmerica so enjoyable. We ar e no t launchingou t again on a five-year term of service forChris t among th e Japanese. Your continuedprayers , support, and Interest ar e greatessentials to the progress of that work. Andrew Patton

EXCERPTS FROM SOME LETTERS THAT ENCOURAGE USAfter dicussing your letter in a youththe group decided to try to collectS50for you to use in purchasing a slide

For the project , the group madeposter showing just the out line ofprojector. The entire area inside thislin e was filled with gummed tape, and

th e young people had o ff er ingthat they wanted to contribute toprojec t they s tu ck it directly to thesurface on the poster.

We a re deli gh ted to le t you knowwhen the ent ir e p ro jec to r area wasa final count showed that the groupsucceeded in reaching i ts goal. Afor S50 h as been sen t to the church

Eustis, Florida, anddesignated as fundsthe purchase of a projector.Our youth group has done real well inmissionary program and we plan to

it . The project to collect they for the projector has been it s biggestand we were al l thrilled with

succe s s .Junior High Youth GroupWhite Oak Chr i s t i an ChurchCincinnati , OhioMy dear Harold was called home early

Sunday morning. My heart is too fullwrite v ery much , bu t I do want to le tknow. As yo u know he was a il in g e ve nwe were in Japan far better;I do miss him and 1 feel so lonely.The funeral serv ice w as a wonderfu l

to Haro ld . T he church w as c rowde d. The tr ib ut es paid by th e various

made me ver) proud to have beenwife . They spoke of missions conductedhim, his song leading in conference

and of his various minis tr ies .chose th e hymns and t he Scr ip tu refo r th e service a few weeks before

died . . . Right up to th e n ight beforepassing h e p ray ed for yo u al l as wellfo r a l l the o th e r d ea r fo lks w e w ereto have fellowship with in Japan.

Nel l RobbinsBrighton, VictoriaAus t r a l i a

We are mosthappy to inform you at thistime tha t you were chosen as our livinglinkat our last Mission s Committee meeting.The el de rs had recommended that you beaccepted upon recommendation by thecommittee. At the regular board meet ing inJuly i t was voted unanimously that wesupport yo u by regularchecks in th e amount

of SIOO. The church has been looking forward to th e t im e w hen we would have alivinglink program and knowing yourbackground and the love you have for theLord and His people we are glad to be ableto share with you in preaching the Gospel.

F i r s t Chris t i an ChurchNapa, California

H a r o l d S i m s

Stanley Buttray singing with some of the young people of the Kamiochiai church.These are the future leaders of the church. Pray for themRETURN POSTAGE GUARANTEED ^BOX 9 6 6 J O L t E T I L LI N O IS 6 0 43 4 _

^ ,

OEC 1 96E


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A

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Kif^ fT 3

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H AR OL D S IM S F AM IL Y

i - 52 Arai MachiNakano-ku TokyoC HR IS T M A S 96 5

Dear Friends,We salute you with a word in season: IMMANUEL God with us. Certainly Chr is t has been

with us, according to His exceeding great and precious promises, during this nineteen hundredand s ix ty fifth year of our Lord : and tiierefore it has been a good year in many ways for us.We hope that you share with us both this trust in Christ and this view of the passing year. Andit is our sincere prayer that God may be with every one of you at this season and throughoutthe coming year.

IN THE WORK OF MINISTERING THE WORD, highliglits have been:1. The visit of tlie Lewis Fosters from Cincinnati to Japan.2. The beginning of a new Sunday evening Bible Class for Middle School students and a Young

People s Group here at Nakano.2. Preparat ions for incorporating the Nakano church, and repairs on the parsonage.4. Managing the Young People s Camp at Lake Motosu in August.5. Enjoying cjuite a number of good visits in the homes of Japanese friendsboth Christians and

non-Christians.There seems to be some growth in fa ith, under

standing and unity among our small group of Christians in the Tokyo area, and we thank God andtake courage.

IN THE FAMILY, we are happy to report thatthere ha s been no s ickness or other trouble, an d wehave been helped very much by an increase in ourliving-link support. The children are growing normally both in knowledge, stature, and we pray infaith and love toward Chris t .

Hope (17) is a High Schoo l Sen io rMature, helpful at home, unpretentious.

Sylvia (15) is a stamp and souvenier col lectorSmar t, t al ka ti ve a nd amb it io us .

Tonnie (13) growing taller, is a model builderQuiet , ser ious and industr ious .

Bobby (10) is a tree climber and l)icycle riderCluttering his room, pint-sized, rambunctious.

Danny (4) speaks Japanese and EnglishImitator of all, vivacious, precocious.


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IN JAPAN we had a very cool and short summer meaning generally poor crops this year.T he re has been some political agitation over the Japan-Korea peace treaty rising prices and abusiness recession and the r ap id rise to influence of one of the new B ud dh is t societies but all inall we have had peace and prosperity. Amid the steadily rising levels of income education andmodernization there continues a massive indifference to the word of God. The Japanese are anice people of great ability living in a favored land. Onl y their souls are lost. This causes usmuch sadness and concern and this is ou r reason for being here.

NEXT YEAR prontises to be a very important one for us. Just after Hope s graduation inthe spring we are planning to leave for our third furlough in the U. S. after 6 years on the field.We will arrive in San Franc isco via the President Wilson on June 20 the Lord willing. FromSeptember we plan to l ocate in Cincinnati Oh io where Hope will be enrolling as a freshman inthe Cincinnati Bible Seminary and I will teach a class or two in the Missions department. Ofcourse we hope to be of service to Christ and His church during this time and will be acceptingrequests to speak as time and distance permit. We hope to see all of you at some time duringthese months in the homeland. Please pray that we may run with patience the race set beforeu

Yours in His service.

Mu.4/

Sims Harold Lois 1965 Japan

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Transcript of Sims Harold Lois 1965 Japan