Huh? Huge bucks? And the dollar is weak right now. Well, it's bed time here in Japan, so I'll just lie down and dream about getting rich through peddling the Word of God--NOT!Tom Bryant said:
Oyasumi nasai! (Sleep well.) :sleeping_2:
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Missionary Stories of Souls Saved
- Thread starter John of Japan
- Start date
Oyasumi nasai! (Sleep well.) :sleeping_2:
I told this story of Togo San on the BB back in 2006, but maybe someone missed it so I'll repeat it on this thread.
Togo San (Mr. Togo) was a mess when he came to our church in Yokohama for the first time at the age of about 30. He lived in the neighborhood, and having seen the church often he decided to check us out. His hair was long, he wore a military drab jacket and had a generally unkempt look about him. However, he loved America and Americans, since he had been to America in a Boy Scout exchange program years ago, so he promised to keep coming. Needless to say, we began praying immediately and often for his salvation.
When I visited Togo San in his parents’ home where he still lived, he was deeply moved, since no one had ever visited him before. His room was a complete mess, filled with military models, books and other items, since he was enamored with war. He didn’t seem to mind the mess, unlike most Japanese, and we had a good visit together. More importantly than his room, his life was a complete mess and he knew it. He was addicted to amphetamines sold to him by an unscrupulous pharmacist, and was never able to kick the habit.
He listened carefully to the Gospel, but was not ready to trust Christ yet. He felt unworthy, and had not yet learned that no one is worthy of salvation. We simply kept praying and loving him, and he became faithful to church.
Togo San was very intelligent, in spite of his difficulties, so he began reading his way through our church library. One day he borrowed the Japanese translation of Satan Is Alive and Well on Planet Earth, by Hal Lindsey. When he came to our men’s prayer breakfast at church the next Sunday he was breathless with joy and excitement. He had read Hal Lindsey's book until 3:00 that very morning, and had finally realized that Christ had died even for him! From then on his faith in the Lord Jesus for salvation never wavered.
Togo San truly wanted to become a preacher, and believed God had called him, but he still had a problem. When he was saved he was still an addict, and the Japanese system does not encourage recovery, considering them to be handicapped by their addiction. The government even pays a generous stipend to all who are stigmatized with the “mentally ill” or “addict” labels. Thus, to be healed of such afflictions means the loss of a major source of income, so there is little incentive for such people to get well in this society. For years after his salvation Togo San fought these enemies, longing to preach the Gospel.
God eventually called us north to the island of Hokkaido, but Togo San was still my friend. He would call me up and we would talk for a half hour on this, that and the other thing, everything from the military to computers. A very talented artist, he would draw cartoon pictures of me and send them up. I still have one, and I keep it on my bulletin board, even though it makes me look like a Catholic priest!
One day I got a very sad phone call from Togo San's girl friend. She had found him "sleeping" in his "futon" bed, with his gentle soul flown to heaven. Megumi San (not her real name) had met Togo San at the mental hospital where they both were being treated, and became one of the few joys in his life. She was broken hearted at his death, and I talked to her for a long time that day. During the conversation she told me that she had heard about Jesus from Togo San many times, and he had wanted her to believe in his Savior.
It was then so easy to lead Megumi San to Christ over the phone, and Togo San had his wish: after his death, his preaching brought forth fruit for Jesus Christ! To the world, he was a failure and a loser, but to God he was a precious saint. I wonder, have you witnessed for Jesus as well as Togo San did? “He being dead yet speaketh” (Heb. 11:4).
Togo San
He Being Dead Yet Speaketh
Togo San (Mr. Togo) was a mess when he came to our church in Yokohama for the first time at the age of about 30. He lived in the neighborhood, and having seen the church often he decided to check us out. His hair was long, he wore a military drab jacket and had a generally unkempt look about him. However, he loved America and Americans, since he had been to America in a Boy Scout exchange program years ago, so he promised to keep coming. Needless to say, we began praying immediately and often for his salvation.
When I visited Togo San in his parents’ home where he still lived, he was deeply moved, since no one had ever visited him before. His room was a complete mess, filled with military models, books and other items, since he was enamored with war. He didn’t seem to mind the mess, unlike most Japanese, and we had a good visit together. More importantly than his room, his life was a complete mess and he knew it. He was addicted to amphetamines sold to him by an unscrupulous pharmacist, and was never able to kick the habit.
He listened carefully to the Gospel, but was not ready to trust Christ yet. He felt unworthy, and had not yet learned that no one is worthy of salvation. We simply kept praying and loving him, and he became faithful to church.
Togo San was very intelligent, in spite of his difficulties, so he began reading his way through our church library. One day he borrowed the Japanese translation of Satan Is Alive and Well on Planet Earth, by Hal Lindsey. When he came to our men’s prayer breakfast at church the next Sunday he was breathless with joy and excitement. He had read Hal Lindsey's book until 3:00 that very morning, and had finally realized that Christ had died even for him! From then on his faith in the Lord Jesus for salvation never wavered.
Togo San truly wanted to become a preacher, and believed God had called him, but he still had a problem. When he was saved he was still an addict, and the Japanese system does not encourage recovery, considering them to be handicapped by their addiction. The government even pays a generous stipend to all who are stigmatized with the “mentally ill” or “addict” labels. Thus, to be healed of such afflictions means the loss of a major source of income, so there is little incentive for such people to get well in this society. For years after his salvation Togo San fought these enemies, longing to preach the Gospel.
God eventually called us north to the island of Hokkaido, but Togo San was still my friend. He would call me up and we would talk for a half hour on this, that and the other thing, everything from the military to computers. A very talented artist, he would draw cartoon pictures of me and send them up. I still have one, and I keep it on my bulletin board, even though it makes me look like a Catholic priest!
One day I got a very sad phone call from Togo San's girl friend. She had found him "sleeping" in his "futon" bed, with his gentle soul flown to heaven. Megumi San (not her real name) had met Togo San at the mental hospital where they both were being treated, and became one of the few joys in his life. She was broken hearted at his death, and I talked to her for a long time that day. During the conversation she told me that she had heard about Jesus from Togo San many times, and he had wanted her to believe in his Savior.
It was then so easy to lead Megumi San to Christ over the phone, and Togo San had his wish: after his death, his preaching brought forth fruit for Jesus Christ! To the world, he was a failure and a loser, but to God he was a precious saint. I wonder, have you witnessed for Jesus as well as Togo San did? “He being dead yet speaketh” (Heb. 11:4).
Kiyoko Matsutani
Professor Kiyoko Matsutani (not her real name) settled in her chair, then turned on her cassette recorder. She looked at the aged Ainu lady lying in her sickbed and said, “Please, Grandma, tell me what you think of Brother Bear?” The Ainu woman, the last of her tribe and thus the last speaker of her Kurafuto dialect of the Ainu language, began to speak about the bear, and Professor Matsutani eagerly took notes.
The Ainu are the original inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago, and are a dying breed. Their origin is a mystery, but history tells us that they were gradually killed off and driven off the southern islands, ending up on the northern islands of Hokkaido and Sakhalin, where they led a meager existence in the cold and snow. Nowadays there are said to be only a couple of hundred pure Ainu left. In the late 19th and early 20th century a missionary named John Batchelor did a great work among them, translating the New Testament into their language and winning many of them to Christ.
Mrs. Matsutani is a graduate of Tokyo University, the most prestigious school in Japan. At the time of this story she was a professor at Yokohama National University, and is now professor emeritus. A well-known scholar in her field, she is the author of the article on the Ainu language in Encyclopedia Japonica. This dying old Ainu lady was the last living speaker of her dialect, and indeed one of a mere handful of Ainu speakers left in the world. Mrs. Matsutani called it her life’s work was to research their language, which is unique and very different from Japanese.
Mrs. Matsutani began coming to our church because of her son Katsuyuki and his fiance Natsuko. These young people had been saved at an independent Baptist church in Spain pastored by a missionary. Now they were glad to find a church of like faith and practice in Yokohama. Later it was a privilege to marry this fine young couple. Katsuyuki invited his mother to come to church, too, and she gladly did.
That December we were forced to buy a new telephone with an answering machine to preserve our peace of mind from a young lady who was calling at all hours. However, the very first message we received was from Mrs. Matsutani, who had just attended our church for the first time. When we returned home from the church building where we had been teaching a children’s English class, we called her and invited her over for counseling. After unburdening her heart about her sins and sorrows for an hour, including the heartbreak of a divorce (still a great shame in the Japan of those days), she very sweetly trusted Christ as Savior!
As we prepared for our next furlough, we were stumped about something. We were very sad that we had been able to find no one to be interim pastor while we were gone, yet this furlough was very necessary since we had been six years on the field (the maximum allowed by our board at that time), and very much needed the furlough. Of necessity I decided to video tape sermons in America and send them back.
A further problem developed when the church people decided they did not want the burden of the rent for the office room we met in for church. Mrs. Matsutani then volunteered her home for the church to meet in. Problem solved! What a blessing it was to see the growth in Jesus Christ of this wonderful college professor and scholar of the Ainu language!
I believe I will have more stories from our Yokohama days, but in the meantime here is Habazaki San, who was saved up here in Hokkaido. I posted most of this on the BB in 2006, but he's still my evangelism buddy, so here you are.
I love Downs Syndrome people. There is something special that God does through them. In our church here in Japan, we have Ai (meaning "love"), a special girl of 31 years old who attends with her parents. This girl truly loves Jesus, and has a language talent. I guarantee that she speaks more English than you speak Japanese! At our testimony time, Ai is always the first one to testify, and it's always about something God is doing for her. One Sunday it was about falling down the stairs. Now according to Ai, her arm broke (she used the English word "boink!") but that part was just from her imagination. Her Dad is so patient with her, but her Mom got a little embarrassed about it. Ai always finishes her testimony with "Thank God."
One of our other special believers here in Japan is Habazaki San, who also has a slight mental handicap. In the eyes of Japanese society, he is a nothing, a nobody. I suspect that he has a mild form of Down's Syndrome because of certain symptoms. Every week he goes on dendo (evangelism) with me. I rarely get to witness when I am out with him since I am always worried that he will get lost. He seems to have little directional sense, and I have to give him careful instructions.
It is less true now, but as my friend was growing up here in Japan anyone with any kind of handicap was kept hidden away and pretty much ignored. But praise God, this saint functions well in society, and probably does more for the Lord than many people! A bachelor in his 50's, he was saved and baptized several years ago, and seemed to have a speech defect. I found out I could understand him, though, and he became our usher and my evangelism partner. Then one day he showed up at church with his false teeth in and, miracle of miracles, his speech deficit disappeared! But he doesn't like the teeth and rarely wears them!!
This guy is my friend, and one of our most faithful church people. He is a bachelor about my age, pretty much ignored by his family and neighbors. But he trusted Christ as Savior after getting one of my tracts. He wrote me a post card with just four Chinese characters meaning literally, "I want to enter your teaching," then readily trusted Christ as Savior when I visited him. One of the highlights of my whole ministry in Japan was when I baptized him and Ueno San on the same day. Wow, two men at once! It doesn't get any better for a missionary to Japan.
He did graduate from a junior college, but his job is delivering newspapers. Now in Japan that is a job for adults, and he is proud to be a full employee of the company (as opposed to a part timer). However, it is still towards the bottom of respected jobs in this society. Habazaki San doesn't care, though. He is a happy camper as long as he can do his job, watch some baseball and come to church!
Anyway, before we get out tracts together every Wednesday I enjoye his prayer for God to use us and touch people's hearts with the Gospel. Then I enjoyed his attitude of obedience, respect and good humor. He always does exactly what I ask with no complaints or disagreements, and does it with a smile. We didn't find anyone to witness last Wednesday, but maybe this Wednesday someone who got one of those tracts will be saved like he was!
GOD'S SPECIAL PEOPLE
I love Downs Syndrome people. There is something special that God does through them. In our church here in Japan, we have Ai (meaning "love"), a special girl of 31 years old who attends with her parents. This girl truly loves Jesus, and has a language talent. I guarantee that she speaks more English than you speak Japanese! At our testimony time, Ai is always the first one to testify, and it's always about something God is doing for her. One Sunday it was about falling down the stairs. Now according to Ai, her arm broke (she used the English word "boink!") but that part was just from her imagination. Her Dad is so patient with her, but her Mom got a little embarrassed about it. Ai always finishes her testimony with "Thank God."
One of our other special believers here in Japan is Habazaki San, who also has a slight mental handicap. In the eyes of Japanese society, he is a nothing, a nobody. I suspect that he has a mild form of Down's Syndrome because of certain symptoms. Every week he goes on dendo (evangelism) with me. I rarely get to witness when I am out with him since I am always worried that he will get lost. He seems to have little directional sense, and I have to give him careful instructions.
It is less true now, but as my friend was growing up here in Japan anyone with any kind of handicap was kept hidden away and pretty much ignored. But praise God, this saint functions well in society, and probably does more for the Lord than many people! A bachelor in his 50's, he was saved and baptized several years ago, and seemed to have a speech defect. I found out I could understand him, though, and he became our usher and my evangelism partner. Then one day he showed up at church with his false teeth in and, miracle of miracles, his speech deficit disappeared! But he doesn't like the teeth and rarely wears them!!
This guy is my friend, and one of our most faithful church people. He is a bachelor about my age, pretty much ignored by his family and neighbors. But he trusted Christ as Savior after getting one of my tracts. He wrote me a post card with just four Chinese characters meaning literally, "I want to enter your teaching," then readily trusted Christ as Savior when I visited him. One of the highlights of my whole ministry in Japan was when I baptized him and Ueno San on the same day. Wow, two men at once! It doesn't get any better for a missionary to Japan.
He did graduate from a junior college, but his job is delivering newspapers. Now in Japan that is a job for adults, and he is proud to be a full employee of the company (as opposed to a part timer). However, it is still towards the bottom of respected jobs in this society. Habazaki San doesn't care, though. He is a happy camper as long as he can do his job, watch some baseball and come to church!
Anyway, before we get out tracts together every Wednesday I enjoye his prayer for God to use us and touch people's hearts with the Gospel. Then I enjoyed his attitude of obedience, respect and good humor. He always does exactly what I ask with no complaints or disagreements, and does it with a smile. We didn't find anyone to witness last Wednesday, but maybe this Wednesday someone who got one of those tracts will be saved like he was!
Here is a link to a story I posted in 1996 about a woman who got saved during a difficult Christmas time for us in Japan: http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=35958
This isn't strictly a "Missionary Story of Soul(s) Saved" like most of the previous ones are, but I thought it interesting to pass on in this thread, especially as it pertains to a Japanese person.
In the April 5/12, 2008, issue of World magazine, in its "Human Race" section on page 13, it tells of the death of a man named Jacob DeShazer. I'm quoting the article here:
DIED: Jacob DeShazer, a Doolittle bombardier, former American POW in Japan, and missionary, died March 15 at the age of 95.
While participating in Doolittle's famed April 18, 1942, raid on Japan, DeShazer was captured after his plane ran out of fuel.
During his 40 months of imprisonment, he was tortured, beaten, and starved but found solace in the Bible: "I discovered that God had given me new spiritual eyes and that when I looked at the enemy officers and guards who had starved and beaten my companions and me so cruelly, I found my bitter hatred for them changed to loving pity."
After his release in 1945, DeShazer obtained a degree in biblical literature and then returned to Japan as a missionary.
One of his tracts resulted in the conversion of Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese naval flier who led the attack on Pearl Harbor.
[CREDIT: (c) 2008 God's World Publications. / worldmag.com ]
In the April 5/12, 2008, issue of World magazine, in its "Human Race" section on page 13, it tells of the death of a man named Jacob DeShazer. I'm quoting the article here:
DIED: Jacob DeShazer, a Doolittle bombardier, former American POW in Japan, and missionary, died March 15 at the age of 95.
While participating in Doolittle's famed April 18, 1942, raid on Japan, DeShazer was captured after his plane ran out of fuel.
During his 40 months of imprisonment, he was tortured, beaten, and starved but found solace in the Bible: "I discovered that God had given me new spiritual eyes and that when I looked at the enemy officers and guards who had starved and beaten my companions and me so cruelly, I found my bitter hatred for them changed to loving pity."
After his release in 1945, DeShazer obtained a degree in biblical literature and then returned to Japan as a missionary.
One of his tracts resulted in the conversion of Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese naval flier who led the attack on Pearl Harbor.
[CREDIT: (c) 2008 God's World Publications. / worldmag.com ]
Hmm, thanks, that's interesting. I don't remember giving an interview but I often answer various questionairres from pastors and college students and missionary candidates, so maybe this was from that. I hope people were blessed! :type:abcgrad94 said:
Thanks, friend, this story fits the thread just fine! :wavey:ktn4eg said:
Losing All and Finding Christ
Saito Tomo (not his real name) went to a Catholic kindergarten as a little boy and learned a little about the true God and His son, Jesus Christ. He kept that knowledge in his heart for the rest of his life. But it wasn’t enough to capture his heart for the Lord.
His father was the president of a small construction company, and an extremely strict man who seldom showed any kind of love. Instead, his father loaded him down with the burden of being the third generation president of the company. (Lineage is so important in Asia.) And so Tomo rebelled.
He was not a great student in high school, and already was getting into trouble. After high school things just got worse, and he went wild, loving fast cars and fast people. God warned him to repent when he was 20 by a car accident, and as his car was rolling down the hill over and over, he cried out to God to help him. God delivered him from death that day, but Tomo once again forgot his Creator.
Drugs were his next adventure. He used drugs and he sold them. This bought him only trouble and several trips to the Japanese penitentiary. He finally quit this spiral of self destruction, found a woman he fell in love with, though he wouldn’t marry her, and became that company president that his father wanted him to be. Now he discovered the good life! He had a big house, fancy cars in the company’s name to avoid taxes, all the money he wanted. But he still had no peace in his heart.
Things began to go down hill for Tomo. The woman he loved left him, accusing him of crimes so that he got in trouble with the police again. But the worst was yet to come. He had not yet reached the end of himself, but God was still waiting for him.
He finally married, and once again seemed happy. He still had money, a big house and fancy cars—but no peace. So he tried more excitement and had an affair. His world was about to crash down around him, but he didn’t have a clue about that.
In the space of a few months, his wife found out about his affair and divorced him, the hepatitis C that he had contracted when young reared its ugly head, and he shut down his business because of his disease and moved to a tiny two room apartment. When he had thus lost everything—home, wife, health and business—he finally thought of eternity. Remembering the God he had heard about in kindergarten, he thought, “I have nothing left to cling to. Maybe I can cling to God.”
Buying himself a Bible he began to devour its words, and discovered how wonderful Jesus Christ is! Every day he would read at least five pages of Scripture. He loved especially the book of Acts, telling how the news of the Savior spread throughout the world of the day, and underlined almost every single verse. And in the process, he is not sure when, he decided to depend on Christ as his personal Savior.
He began searching for the church which taught the Bible most clearly and faithfully. He tried the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but soon found out that they did not teach the Bible. The Catholic Church and the liberal church offered him nothing from the Bible. The Mormons were likewise a disappointment, especially when seven of them crowded into his apartment and tried to brainwash and pressure him into being baptized. “Get out or I’ll call the police,” he said in his company president voice, and they subsided in shock and filed out.
It was shortly after that when my coworker and I were doing street evangelism on the Kaimono Koen, the “Shopping Park” outdoor mall in the middle of town. My coworker found Mr. Saito sitting on a bench and began witnessing to him, but had difficulty with Mr. Saito’s Hokkaido dialect and called me over for help. What a blessing we all three had as we discussed the precious Word of God! Saito San was delighted and convinced when my coworker gave him a New Testament.
Mr. Saito faces pain constantly as his disease is treated with chemotherapy, but he has true joy in his heart. When I study the Bible with him, he is so delighted to discover new truths in its pages that I sometimes become ashamed of my own sometimes half-hearted Bible study. He still has rough times, and some days the disease gets him down so badly he can’t study the Bible or go to church. But he clings to Jesus—and what more does a man need!
The Salvation of Mrs. Takada and Little Grace
Our first contact with Mrs. Takada (not her real name) was at a very difficult time for her. It seems that she had nothing from trouble from her husband, who had just confessed an affair with another woman to her. Mrs. Takada’s friend went to our church and gave us her name, so we visited her. We found a woman who was completely ready to cling to Jesus for salvation, since her whole world had been rocked. There in her home it was easy to lead her to a saving faith in Christ. She immediately started coming faithfully to church, and I baptized her.
Then one day a phone call came. “Pastor, he says he’s going to leave me,” said Mrs. Takada. “Please come.” Well of course I immediately drove over and knocked on the door of their tiny apartment. She let me in right away. I looked around and saw no one but the kids, so I said, “Where is your husband?”
“He’s in bed,” she said.
“Right!” I thought. “It’s afternoon, he doesn’t work at night, and he’s in bed.” So I opened the door of their tatami (grass mat) bedroom, and said, “Come on out!” There he was, sandwiched in between two futon (Japanese mattresses for sleeping on the floor). He sheepishly came out, fully dressed, and joined me at the kitchen table.
There he shared with me that he felt so guilty about his affair that he believed he didn’t deserve to stay with his family. I then shared with him that he should not leave his family, because they needed him very much and wanted him to stay. So he listened to the voice of God in his heart, and decided to stay.
I further shared with Mr. Takada that God loves him and wants to forgive his sins through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. He further shared with me that he was an atheist, and could not believe in God. When we parted he was still lost, but the family was together. How ironic it was, I thought, that he felt such great guilt for his sin, but admitted no place it could be forgiven.
We did have one more crisis with the Takada family before they were solid again. Mrs. Takada called me one day, once again with that desperate sound in her voice. “I am pregnant, but my husband wants me to abort the baby. What should I do?”
There are virtually no voices against abortion in Japan, which is less than one per cent Christian, even including all of the cults. This so-called civilized country is said to have a per capita abortion rate of twice the United States. In every town is a normal women’s clinic, but with the extra line, “Legal procedures performed,” meaning abortion. My wife has been to a Buddhist temple in the city of Kamakura where there are hundreds of little jizo (child Buddha) statues, each representing many aborted babies. The mothers come to the temple to pray to the souls of their slain babies, and weep over them. Yet they do not stop the holocaust.
That day, though, there was a voice for the unborn. I shared with Mrs. Takada that the unborn baby was already a human being and a precious gift from God. I then shared how she could tactfully tell her husband that she wanted to keep this precious life that was in her. She did so, and he, having no moral standing, was forced to agree to keep the baby. And she was born, and they named her Megumi, meaning “Grace.” And she was the sweetest baby we have ever known!
Tomiro the Train Driver
Tomiro had a great life. He grew up in Asahikawa, Japan, which is on the cold and snowy island of Hokkaido. Hokkaido was the frontier of Japan in those days, settled in the late 19th century by condemned criminals sent there for their punishment, and lower rank samurai soldiers. Asahikawa, meaning “Morning Sun River,” is a beautiful city with mountains on all sides and rivers and streams running everywhere.
Hokkaido was the frontier, so Tomiro never saw a car until he was in his teens, but that was okay with him. His interest lay in trains, anyway. When he was old enough he applied for training as a driver of steam locomotives, and he was happy then. He spent his days driving his beloved trains, and his nights at the bars and nightclubs, playing his electric guitar with the rest of his semi-professional band. There was only one thing missing in his life, and that was someone to love.
The next adventure in Tomiro’s life came when he was transferred to Tokyo, the capital of Japan and one of the biggest cities in the world. The good thing from Tomiro’s point of view was that there were plenty of trains in Tokyo. However, there was something else waiting for him in Tokyo, and that was a lovely lady who would steal his heart. Their wedding was beautiful.
For many years Tomiro drove trains in the Kanto Plain, including Yokohama. Unknown to him, a missionary living in Yokohama named John Himes rode his train every week down into Tokyo to teach in a Bible school. Strangely, we never met in those years, though we must have seen each other often. God had plans, though, for us to meet back in Tomiro’s home town of Asahikawa way up on the northern island of Hokkaido!
In 1997 God called us to Hokkaido, to Asahikawa, the Japanese city with the records for the most snow and the coldest temperatures in all of Japan. In thirteen years we had not gotten to know our train driver, but that would change after several years.
One day down in Tokyo Tomiro and their only daughter heard terrible news. His precious wife had cancer. This was a fast acting cancer, and before the little family knew it, in March of 2001 she died. He was shocked, deeply saddened and also somewhat guilty. She had been a professing Christian, even though her church was not evangelical, but he had never paid much attention to her faith. Furthermore, she had wanted to be baptized, but never had been, perhaps due to his indifference.
He was further saddened when her church refused a spot to bury her ashes in their church grave because she had not been sprinkled. He was able to find an evangelical church in Tokyo that would perform a Christian ceremony for him, but then he brokenheartedly wondered what in the world he could do with her ashes? He didn’t want to put her in a Buddhist grave and dishonor her wishes.
Sadly, he retired from the train company and the job he had loved, which he no longer enjoyed, and moved back home to Asahikawa, where his parents and siblings were. He took with him her ashes, and had a special little shroud made for the urn with a cross on it. He was doing the best he could with what he had, but knew it was not good enough.
One day we heard our door bell ring, and when I went to the door it was our used car salesman, who had just sold us a van. “How is the van doing?” he asked, and I said, “Just fine. We’re enjoying it!” And we walked out to the car to take a look.
After a quick kick of the tires he said, “Actually, I didn’t come about the car. I’m wondering if you can help my big brother.”
“Sure I can,” I said, and we set up an appointment. On Friday his older brother Tomiro, whose train I had unknowingly ridden in Yokohama, came to our house and shared his sad story about the wife he had lost to cancer, and that he had no place to bury her in a Christian tomb. A Buddhist tomb with all the idolatry involved was certainly no option for his beloved Christian wife.
As it happened, we had recently bought with our sister church a joint grave, and we would have a place for his wife’s ashes. However, I gently explained to him that a place to bury his wife was the least of his problems. Would he like to see his wife again? If he himself did not believe in Jesus Christ, he never would see her again. I carefully took him through the Scriptures, explaining the faith we believed his wife to have had. Then when I explained the Bible doctrine of Heaven (and compare it to the Buddhism he knew), and that his wife, if she truly believed in Jesus Christ to forgive her sins, was at rest in Heaven, he was greatly moved and listened carefully. Finally he promised that he would be in church on Sunday.
As it happened, we were about to have an Evangelist Jim Norton come for special meetings. Dr. Norton preached a wonderful message on salvation, and at the invitation Tomiro boldly came forward to claim Christ as Savior! With that his life’s journey without Christ was ended, and he set his train on a new set of tracks!
We were finally able to help him bury his wife with a Christian graveside service, and he was very grateful. We had to be careful at this time to avoid any worship of the dead such as bowing to the grave, offering flowers, etc. I was able, in my short message, to give the Gospel to many of Tomiro=s lost relatives. Our friend continues to grow in grace, was baptized not long after that, and now walks with Jesus Christ day by day, hoping to see his wife in glory someday.
Tomiro’s Father
Unomatsu says he is 95 years old. His son, one of our faithful believers, says Dad is getting a little senile, and that he is only 92. He worked as a carpenter all his working life, saw many sad things and endured much during World War II, but raised a happy, close-knit family. He has lived a long, full life, but was lacking one thing—a knowledge of Heaven.
When he was 90, Unomatsu went into the hospital with lung problems. My wife and I visited him, and he was so glad to see us. He knew that his son had become a Christian, and had gotten to know us a little at the grave side service I held for his son’s wife, at a memorial dinner for her a year later, and also when we visited their home.
The next week, Unomatsu was still in the hospital, and knowing he could die at any time I became burdened for his soul. On a Saturday morning before going to the church to prepare for Sunday, I drove to the hospital. There I learned that visiting hours were not for awhile. I’m ashamed to say that my faith was weak. I called my wife and said I thought I’d go ahead and work at the church. After all, I could visit him some other time, and I didn’t expect a 90-year-old man to get saved anyway! But Patty said I should just wait until visiting hours and go ahead and visit him since I was already there. I’m so glad I listened to her!
Unomatsu was very open to the Gospel, and listened carefully to the plan of salvation. I didn’t even have to teach him to pray! He prayed his own prayer in his heart for quite a few minutes. When he was done with his prayer, I could see the tears in his eyes, and knew that he had done business with God!
God mercifully let him recover, and he and his wife are now in an old folks’ home. Tomiro says they both tell him they have believed in Christ as Savior. I had witnessed to Unomatsu’s wife before, as had Tomiro, so we trust she is truly saved. When Patty and I visit them in the old folks’ home they are always so glad to see us. The Mrs. always tries to get up and get us some ocha green tea, even though she can’t anymore. But that’s okay—she soon forgets we were even there!
Someday soon I’ll preach funerals for one or both of this lovely old couple. Their son and I have already discussed it. May God use their sweet testimony to touch the hearts of the rest of the family!
Bob Alkire
New Member
John, your stories warm my heart and are of such a great blessing seeing how God will use man to get His Word out to the lost. You are becoming as much a blessing reading your post here as reading your grandfather's work over the past 60 years or so. What I see is God will use any of us if we will just follow.
Thanks, Bob
Thanks, Bob
That's high praise, Bob. It's an encouragement and I thank you. And God can use any of us if we will just follow him, as you know!Bob Alkire said:
Please pray for Mr. Iino, who we are working with to win to the Lord. He is our kerosene water boiler and heater repair man. His wife has made a profession of faith in the past, but he has not, and he just recently learned he has a brain tumor and needs surgery.
Bob Alkire
New Member
John of Japan said:
I will pray for him.
Once a month instead of Wednesday night service we make up about 50 or so sandwiches and go downtown to an area that has many homeless, Last night I delivered the message, nothing Fancy just God still loves you and the plan of salvation. after a young man named CJ asked Christ into his life, it was really great. it is not the first time I have led someone to Christ but every time is just as exciting as the first.
Praise the Lord, Servent! What a wonderful milestone in both CJ's life and yours! :jesus:Servent said:
I've had a terrible cold all week, though I did travel three hours by train on Tuesday to the city of Tomakomai on our island to preach in a Christian life seminar. In the morning I preached on how God gives power for the Christian life, and Mr. I., who takes my Bible institute courses by video, said he was really helped. We had a great lunch of Japanese onigiri rice balls and real Mexican takosu, believe it or not! (The Japanese word tako means octopus, so they transliterate the plural, tacos!)
Between services I entertained them with some Chinese self defense, as per the pastor's request, and another man did some fun magic.
In the afternoon service I preached on soul-winning, and about half the crowd committed themselves to pray for the Lord to use them to win someone to Christ this year. Right in the middle of the message we had an earthquake of about 4 on the Richter, and the building shook quite a bit. I paused and waited for it to finish, as did everyone--maybe a little more calmly than I did!
By the end of the Q&A after the second message, my voice was shot, and I haven't gotten it back yet. The three hour train trip home was enjoyable, though--I like to read--and then my sweet wife picked me up at the station and served us a late supper, after which I died on the couch.
But for this thread, the interesting thing is how my good friend Pastor K. got saved. About 20 years ago, a JW elder in the Kansai region began actually studying the Bible instead of going along with the JW system's interpretations. He had to do this secretly, or he would have been in big trouble. One of the young men in the church began studying with him, and the two eventually realized that the JW interpretations were wrong, wrong, wrong!
The young man had grown up in the JWs, so this was all very traumatic for him. But he was determined to find the truth, whatever it cost. Eventually, the two men and a group of about 30 came out of the JW's. A number of these got saved, including K. San, the young man, who then attended the Kansai Bible institute of one brand of IFB churches and missionaries.
After being an assistant pastor and teaching in his alma mater down south, two years ago Pastor K. moved up to our island of Hokkaido and started a church. It is a privilege to cooperate with this good man in our own Bible institute, camp, our pastors' fellowship, etc.
Between services I entertained them with some Chinese self defense, as per the pastor's request, and another man did some fun magic.
In the afternoon service I preached on soul-winning, and about half the crowd committed themselves to pray for the Lord to use them to win someone to Christ this year. Right in the middle of the message we had an earthquake of about 4 on the Richter, and the building shook quite a bit. I paused and waited for it to finish, as did everyone--maybe a little more calmly than I did!
By the end of the Q&A after the second message, my voice was shot, and I haven't gotten it back yet. The three hour train trip home was enjoyable, though--I like to read--and then my sweet wife picked me up at the station and served us a late supper, after which I died on the couch.
But for this thread, the interesting thing is how my good friend Pastor K. got saved. About 20 years ago, a JW elder in the Kansai region began actually studying the Bible instead of going along with the JW system's interpretations. He had to do this secretly, or he would have been in big trouble. One of the young men in the church began studying with him, and the two eventually realized that the JW interpretations were wrong, wrong, wrong!
The young man had grown up in the JWs, so this was all very traumatic for him. But he was determined to find the truth, whatever it cost. Eventually, the two men and a group of about 30 came out of the JW's. A number of these got saved, including K. San, the young man, who then attended the Kansai Bible institute of one brand of IFB churches and missionaries.
After being an assistant pastor and teaching in his alma mater down south, two years ago Pastor K. moved up to our island of Hokkaido and started a church. It is a privilege to cooperate with this good man in our own Bible institute, camp, our pastors' fellowship, etc.
I'm going to add just one more story here. We've seen others saved down through our 27 years in Japan, of course, but these have been the most interesting salvation stories.
When God called me to be a missionary, my first leading was to Japan. However, my parents were surrendered to go to Tibet under the China Inland Mission after WW2, but were not able to because of the Communist takeover and my mother's health. So I have always had a soft place in my heart for China (though of course Tibet doesn't want to be part of China), and after my call to be a missionary I prayed for four years about going to Hong Kong. God didn't forget, though, and still sent us to Japan!
I said all of that to say that my love for China has never died, as witness the early post on this thread about witnessing to the Chinese in Japanese language school. So I was delighted to be invited in 2002 by the Hong Kong Gospel Martial Arts Ministry to do a martial arts ministry trip! Too many things happened on that trip to share it all, but I will share about the contest/evangelistic meeting in which two young Chinese were saved, thus fulfilling my dream of seeing fruit for Christ in China. Oh and by the way, my wonderful wife Patty saved up her money from teaching English and paid for this trip!
Before I tell you about that, though, let me share about the salvation of my friend David Chiang, who appears in this narrative. David was heavily involved in a Taoist cult, learning how to contact evil spirits and do psychic activity. Taoism was originally a philosophy, but an idolatrous religion developed from it which believes we can have occult powers. Christ found David in this cult, and he was gloriously saved from a life of communion with demons!
Now, here is part of the report on the trip which was appeared in the Gospel Martial Arts Union Journal:
Monday, May 20. This was the big day everyone had been planning for. Jeff met us before noon to help prepare for their first annual “contest.” They wouldn’t let me carry stuff, so mainly I hung around with Patty and my Judo friend David. When we met, David immediately wanted to try his hand at Sumo with me, so we had a hilarious time. Then we changed into judo uniforms and set up the mats, only to be rightfully rebuked by Grace for playing around with newaza (mat techniques) rather than getting ready.
The show started at 2:00, and there followed competitions strictly for young people in: push ups, sit ups, running around chairs, jump kicks and board breaking. Sandwiched in between were demonstrations of: judo and jujutsu, karate, Wing Chun, Hung Kuen, Sil Lum, Competition Wu Shu, Tae Kwon Do and Tai Chi Chuan. Somewhere in there I finally got to show some kung fu, doing a couple of Fukien dragon forms for the crowd.
Finally came what Grace called the “main dish,” the preaching of the Word of God. Jeff translated as I preached about the red dragon, Satan (Rev. 12:3), who seeks to destroy the lives of every young person there. Praise the Lord for two teen-aged martial artists, young men, who trusted Jesus as Savior!
When God called me to be a missionary, my first leading was to Japan. However, my parents were surrendered to go to Tibet under the China Inland Mission after WW2, but were not able to because of the Communist takeover and my mother's health. So I have always had a soft place in my heart for China (though of course Tibet doesn't want to be part of China), and after my call to be a missionary I prayed for four years about going to Hong Kong. God didn't forget, though, and still sent us to Japan!
I said all of that to say that my love for China has never died, as witness the early post on this thread about witnessing to the Chinese in Japanese language school. So I was delighted to be invited in 2002 by the Hong Kong Gospel Martial Arts Ministry to do a martial arts ministry trip! Too many things happened on that trip to share it all, but I will share about the contest/evangelistic meeting in which two young Chinese were saved, thus fulfilling my dream of seeing fruit for Christ in China. Oh and by the way, my wonderful wife Patty saved up her money from teaching English and paid for this trip!
Before I tell you about that, though, let me share about the salvation of my friend David Chiang, who appears in this narrative. David was heavily involved in a Taoist cult, learning how to contact evil spirits and do psychic activity. Taoism was originally a philosophy, but an idolatrous religion developed from it which believes we can have occult powers. Christ found David in this cult, and he was gloriously saved from a life of communion with demons!
Now, here is part of the report on the trip which was appeared in the Gospel Martial Arts Union Journal:
Monday, May 20. This was the big day everyone had been planning for. Jeff met us before noon to help prepare for their first annual “contest.” They wouldn’t let me carry stuff, so mainly I hung around with Patty and my Judo friend David. When we met, David immediately wanted to try his hand at Sumo with me, so we had a hilarious time. Then we changed into judo uniforms and set up the mats, only to be rightfully rebuked by Grace for playing around with newaza (mat techniques) rather than getting ready.
The show started at 2:00, and there followed competitions strictly for young people in: push ups, sit ups, running around chairs, jump kicks and board breaking. Sandwiched in between were demonstrations of: judo and jujutsu, karate, Wing Chun, Hung Kuen, Sil Lum, Competition Wu Shu, Tae Kwon Do and Tai Chi Chuan. Somewhere in there I finally got to show some kung fu, doing a couple of Fukien dragon forms for the crowd.
Finally came what Grace called the “main dish,” the preaching of the Word of God. Jeff translated as I preached about the red dragon, Satan (Rev. 12:3), who seeks to destroy the lives of every young person there. Praise the Lord for two teen-aged martial artists, young men, who trusted Jesus as Savior!
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