sims harold lois 1959 japan

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JAN2^1S5b

Jan . 3 1959

Dear Fr i ends

Well, f i rs t of a ll w© have done a lot of traveling this past year.Ha rold was away from home for about 10 out of the 52 weeks in various evangelistic and teaching endeavors. Six weeks this fall were spent in Korea,teaching 2 subjects in the Seoul Bible Seminary, and visiting 9 of the 70churches scattered through the country and a l l of our missionaries over there.I t was a very interesting experience, and a report will appear in the TokyoChristian v/hich we hope you all receive and read. Two weeks were spent inNagcya with ob Chambers—one in an effort to open a new work in the nearbycity of Moriyama and the other with the Mukojima congregation. One week inthe summer he served as vesper spealcer for the Osaka area young people s camp.And a brief meeting was held in a small country church where one of ourformer Seminary students is ministering.

Then the whole family made some trips together. During the f irs t weekin April we all enjoyed a long ride by third-class sleeper down to Kagoshima •for^the yearly convontion, and of course the fellowship with other missionary-families, the stay in the Japanese hotel and the ride back. In July Lois andher Ladies Bible Class cooperated with the Mabashi church ladies in an unusualand much-talked-about camp for that age group held in the mountain resort ofKaruizawa about lOO miles from Tokyo. The family went up for that and stayedfor an extra week of vacation. Then in August we all v;ent to Lake Motosu forour Tokyo area Young People s Gamp which v;as very successful and pleasant inevery way. Finally, Lois went to Kobe in December for a week of recordingmusic with Isabel Dittemore and her co-workers for use in their radio program.

The traveling was not for the purpose of getting awcy from o ur troublesand worries, although we did have a spate of them in mid-year v;hen the Pastor sAssociation a group na^ reduced to 4 cooperating with Eloise Cunningham triedto block our choice for new minister at lokosuka and take over themselves.

Since the former preacher had le t the congregation die there was no one elseto make the decision, so we had to . There were numerous other problems, but the Lord del ivereth out of a l l .

It has been a year of real progress on several fronts. Trio work begunat the first of the year in Shinagawa among the Koreans living in south Tolcyohas gone forward. There have been 12 baptisms and attendance averages about20-25. man leading in that work v aG ordained on July 20 and is growingin f ai th a fter backsliding for a number of years. The Yokosuka church has anunfortunate history that must be lived dovm so things are moving along veryslowly, but we trust more solidly. The young man down there is in his first-ministry, so often gets discouraged, but he is not lejzy; and \iheii he begancleaning up the yard and painting the building immediately after moving the

people in the neighborhood began to remark about the improvements. Since heis the only son his widowed mother lives with him and lately when they had totake in his mother s sister s son who vms orphaned by her death from T.B. theyhave had^some financial struggles. But thoy are going ahead. The Nakano andMikawashima churches, v;ith v/hich v/e have long been intimately associated, areabout the same—rocking along rather p ea ce fu ll y with an average attendance ofabout 20 and 50 respectively, fair offerings and about 2 baptisms each duringthe year. Harold assisted both of these churches in their evangelistic meetiiigslas t spring and during the summer helped out at Abiko,



The decision to close th e Tokyo Seminary las t March after 10 year s ofoperation brought a bi g change in our work, but not as much comment as we hadexpected* I am convinced i t v/as a good and right move* It has freed me formore traveling and general evangelistic work, and I think i t has helped th ework by removing a bone of contention* We ar e not against seminaries as suchjbu t fe l t that ours had served i ts purpose for th e present and our effortsshould be given to st rengthening the faith of Christians, establishing the

present churches and preaching the gospel to a ll v/ho have ears to hear*

Fo r Lois th is has been one of th e b u s i e s t years in th e work, as the

c hi ld re n a re rapidly growing and turning loose from he r apron strings. Shehas studied Japanese, taught he r two regular Bible Classes fo r ladies andHigh School girls, and since fall has also taught sewing in the Home Ec* Dept.a t the Christian Acadeny (missionary children s school) one af ternoon a weekand has sung in th e trio of the radio-program. In the meantins she had anappendicitis operation and a lo t of dental work .don©-.

Jonnie ..entered-the f i rs t grade-in September,.-and Sylvia is- in th e third

and Hope in the fifth. They mingle with 2C other American children daily,fight and laugh and play in regular fashion, and are not so out. of theor di na r y as some might imagine.

The c en te nn ia l o f Protestant missionary activity in Japan f a l l s in 1959»and there are several conventions and other special a c t i v i t i e c planned tocommemorate this Of course everyone is hoping and pro,Yiiig for a nev; spurt ofevangelism and enlarged vision by our Japanese brethren daring this yea.c*.For us the year holds mary happy expectations, bece.uoo .. e ore planni. .g oursecond f ur lo ug h b eg in ri ng n ex t summer.

Lois dreams something almost every night- ana we c:.Yen navs a gocd laughto begin the day as she tells them, but then she t\:;rns practical. I sleepsoundly at night and dream in the dayti.me; a liabib acquired wnen I vfas asmall boy in a awi ng in Newport News watching ships go ovx to soa. Whon we

came back to Japan for our second term I was well-stookod with visions and.plans for rapidly grcr^ing churches, a better Semdnaryj jueliohing ventures oocThe past years have resounded with crashing and crumrling aiaams, andthere have been long moments of discouragement. But through -inose eoqierieijceswe have gained some needed lessons about our ins-ufficie-ncies, c-apsn s peopleand God s ways. The vision is no t lost. We shall s t i l l rejoice to sec-largo crov;ds and going and growing churches, but our vision Icj the presenthas changed. Rather than expecting and striving for stastioal suGcess, nicechurch buildings and other outward signs of long-established, .ieep-rooteaand majority accepted Christianity just like we havein America we mustfirst take more primitive steps and emphasize the fundamental ihn-ps here.The first thing is to get individuals thoroughly converted c.nd o.mmittolChrist th e Lord, then in t h ei r fellowship with those other of ro.r.nan ./of like precious faith they will form into cells bound together ymeeting in homes, edifying one another and leavening the ccnriL-nity.pastors, buildings etc. will come, but now this simple yet very d-lfficult ^way seems most scriptural and practical for this country where Christianityi s s u c h a s m a l l minor i ty

V e thank each of you for your support, and most of a ll fo r your prayerson our behalf, and request that you continue to proy and work faithfully anadiligently where you are for the night cometh^

Y o u r s in H i m ,

HAROLD AImD.LOIS S l^



dec 2 n 1959

Harrole KoFarland (lo)Box 968

Joliet, [llinois

Tokyo Chr i s t i an'Go ye into al l th e world and preach th e gospel to every creature Mark 16:15

59 Kimherlin Heights, Tennessee Wiriter 1959, No. 2

fons Return To Tokyo Suzuki Son Yokosuka Sunday Meef-ings

Fukuda San who formerly helped me withth e church at Yokosuka, has recently starteda Sunday evening meeting near h is h ome. So

far, th e av er ag e a tt en da nc e has been about

four per sons . He continues to a tt end a nd help

in the Minato Church on Sunday mornings,

along with his wife. I suppose to make ends

meet ( fi nanc ia ll y) , t hey bo th work. He works

for the Kyodan (united churches of Japan)

Audio Visua l Aid section and h is wife

terches kndergar ten.

—Stanley But t ray

Only a few we ek s ago we were enjoy ing

fellowship and friendship of brethren

friends back hom e. So it is yet a bit

t o re ali ze t ha t we a re now on the

side of th e world again and have

out on a no th er t erm o f m is si on ar y

i n Japan . I t is good to be back, though,

to be aclivel.v engaged in the good work

m

e Pat tons .soon after landing at Yokohama

We left Piqua, Ohio on July 30 for Color-

Califoria, and Japan. A year previouslyhad made an appointment with the Color-Christian Service Camp, Sedalia, Colo.,

a week with them on our way toWe were entertained during the

preceding camp by ou r friends, Mr.Mrs. Talmage Pace of Longmont , Colorand Mr. and Mrs. Everett Keifer and thets ide Church of Denver. After enjoying

wonder fu l fellowship with these fri ends,refreshed and encouraged by them we

off for camp.

Upon our arrival at camp we discoveredMr. and Mrs. Glen Taylor, our friendsWashington who help to support us in the

k, were in c.mp to see us. They were takingcc-tion and had dropped by Denver to see

folks and us on their way to Montana.

y were able to spent only a few minutesus by how enjoyable that time was

on page 2

Suzu ki S an is a t yp ic al e leven year ol d

Japanese boy. Small, but with plenty of energy

fnd has a pleasant disposition. He is well

l ik ed by h is f ri en ds and seems to have leader

ship qualities. These qua li ti es were qui te ap-.parent as we watched him in his eagerness to

l ea rn a bo ut God an d Jesus Chr st . H e wrs al

ways encouraging someone to come to Sunday

Scnoo i c la ss and trying to keeo them well be

haved after bringing them . H e learned th e

Bible stories quickly and when que sti on s wer e

asked th e following Sunday he could always

answer. He was one of two that h ad p er fe ct

at ten dan ce r eco rd s fo r t he f ir st q ua rt er .

One Sunday during th e second quarter

he told Miss Yamashita how he had gon e h ome

one day and found his father doing somethingat the God Shelp (a special shelf in one ofthe rooms , or sometimes found hidden awayin a special pkce in the wall, on which are

placed several objects related to ancestor worship, Buddhism and Shintoism.) Without hesitation he spoke to his father and sad, throwthose things out, for they are not Gods Ibelieve in the true God . His father was sosurprised at his son's sudden outburst of unbelief that for the moment he was stunned

to silence. But quickly replied in the stern

voice of a Japanese father, You don't knowwhat you are talking about. A few weeks

after this incident Suzuk i S an f ai le d to at tend

th e Sunday Schoo l class. So when he came

th e following Sunday we ask ed him why hewas absent th e week before? A nd h e rep lied

that hi s father told him no t to come But

Suzuki San has cont in ued to come faithfully

since, and has indicated just recently his desire to be b aptised .

Please pray for Suzuki San that God willlead him and bring him into an obedient

faith, and for his parents that God will alsomelt their hearts. Pray also fo r all of theother children f or t he re ar e a number of eleven year old girls who are as deeply interested

—Stanley Buttray

Sims Furlough Report on



CHRISTIAN

THE TOKYO CHRISTIAN

blished quarterly by the Missionaries ofChurch of Christ Cunningham Mission.

Japan, for the information and inspiraof every Christian whose heart is open to

call of Christ, and who is willing to helphe supreme task of carrying out the Greatmission of Christ: Matthew 28:19, 20.

as second class matter in th e Knox-e,Tenn., Post office under the act of March79.

Subscription

cription and Flaming Torch'

MISSION STAFF

50 cents

$1.00

r. and Mrs. Stanley Buttray, 575 2-Chome,ochiai, Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo, Japan. Fo ring agent: Mrs. Homer Anderson, R. D. 1

Pa.

and Mrs. Andrew Patton, 27 Sakura-Nakano Ku Tokyo Japan. Forwarding

nt: Mr. or Mrs. Ray Armstrong, Rt. 3,310, Piqua, Ohio.

Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims (Furloughfor the winter: 790 15th Ave., South,

Petersburg, Fla.) Forward ing agent : A.Sims, Alexandria, Kentucky.

kages for Japan should be sent direct bycel post to one of the missionaries whose

ar e shown above. Consult your local

office concerning mailing rules and limitns o f size an d weights.

f you change your address please notifyL. Hamilton, Kimberlin Heights, Tennessee,both your old and your new addreiss.

ou make an offering of $1.00 or more you

entitled to r eceive thi s paper if you souest. Churches or groups making an offerof $10.00 or more may request a bundle

10 copies fo r distribution.

(Continued from 1)

The camp was located in a cool scenicr esor t a re a ideal fo r camping pur

There we enjoyed th e fellowship of

fine faculty, many of whom we had no t

t previously, and the l arge s tud ent body.r teen such camps were visited during th e

two summers and as we look back onnow we rejoice that we were able to meet

work w ith such a large number o f you th

that time and we do hope that we may

influenced them fo r good in even some

way. We thank God that He has made

opportunit ies possible.

T he la st week-end in Colorado wa s spent

enjoying th e wonderful hospitality of Mr.Mrs. Jack Schlieker of Denver. On Sunday

we spoke to th e young Church of that

to which they minis te r and rejoiced withat th e p rogre ss t hey were making. On

morning we loaded our bags and o uron the train again an d took off for

Next day we again found our-

at th e Home of Peace in Oakland,

where we stayed until our sailing

and where ou r final shipping and packing

done. On our l as t t ri p to J ap an t he buses

in Oakland were on strike and our only meansof transportation was by taxi which, of course,wasvery expensive.This time the truck driverswere on strike during our stay in Oakland andpickets were placed at points leading to SanFrancisco. This resulted in pu r having to send

our freight on another ship a week later. Itworked out alright in the end, though, for itcost us no more and the freight arr ived inYokohama in plenty of time for us to get itthrough customs soon after our arrival inJapan.

The voyage to.Japan aboard the PresidentWilson was an enjoyable one except fo r afew minor a ilment s we had enroute. W e were

pleasantly surprised to find that Mr. and Mrs.Edgar Nichols and their two sons were aboardthe same ship returning to their mission work

in Hawaii. The Nichols and we got permission

to have a worsh ip s er vi ce aboard s hip on th e

first Sunday at sea and-we worked together

in conducting th e service. A fairly large groupgathe red for worship and to hear Brother

Nichols' sermon on John 3:16. We had made

arrangements with th e steward for the bread

and grape juice for the Lord's Supper and weled the group in the observance o f th at ordin

nce

As is customary with ships taking th e

same route to Japan, th e Wilson docked fo r aday in Honolulu, giving us another opportunity

to visit our missionaries in Hawai. The Burn-

s ides , Sti ll s, Lt. Col. Nicholas, Louie Sosebe,

and Jes sica F loyd me t us when th e s hip dock

ed. We spent a very pleasant day in fellowship

with the Stills and in the evening we spoke

a t th e midweek se rv i ce at the Pear l HarborChu rc h wher e th e Sosebes min is te r. An hour

later we were aga in aboard ship an d begining

the l as t l eg of our journey to Japan. A Baptist

minister of Japanese descent f rom Hawaii and

I shared in th e responsibility of leading th e

worship on t he Lord' s Day. He spoke to th e

Japanese audience and I to those who gather

ed for the service conducted in Eng li sh . On

the morning of September 4 we stood in analmost endless line fo r quarantine, customs,

and immigration officials' stamp of approval

fo r entering their country and finally we were

permitted to se t foot on firm ground again.The missionaries from Tokyo an d Japanese

f riends were there to g reet us as we debarked.

How pleasant it was to see them again

Since ou r arrival in Tokyo we have ha d

to spend a great dea l of our time until now

in getting our house arranged and ready to

live in fo r the next five years. However, I

have consented to teach a Bible class at Tokyo

YMCA eve ry Tuesday nigh t. Every Sunday

we have t r ied t o v is it a d if fe ren t o ne of our

Churches to learn how th ey ar e faring and,

as we have opportunity, to ad d a word ofencouragement. In a general way we ca n re

joice over th e progress some of th e Churches

have made during the past year. Many new

faces are seen among th e membersh ip of some

of them while some of th e faces we had be

come accustomed to seeing are conspicuouslyabsent. We are par ti cu la rly d is tr es sed over

th e dismissal of services a t tw o of the

Churches each on different Sundays an d fo r

di f feren t reasons. At th e one th e minis te r was

il l at th e o th er a neighborhood event co n

f li ct ed w it h th e Church services What ever

Page 2

th e reason it shows a lack of faith in anddevotion to our God. This points up the fact

that a lo t of vigilance, and prayer, and exhortation is needed from us if they are to berevived and se t again on the road of faith.Your prayers for these brethren will be a

great help.

About th e middle of November we planto start a Bible class f or a du lt s on Sundaji

evenings, a morning worship service, and aSunday School for children in the buildingformerly used by the seminary. As time andopportunity permit and as the Lord leads U£

we will start Churches or spend a great dea]o f tim e with th e weaker Churche s which need

to b e r ev iv ed .

We re joi ce that God in Hi s providenc<has a llowed us another opportunity to worl

toward th e salvation of t he J apanes e people

It is evident that much- pat ience and long

suffering as well as much f ai th and zeal arcn ee de d in an evangelistic endeavor i n J ap ai

at th e present time. We p ray f or th e couragi

and faith and wisdom necessary to he lp caiT3

th e work forward fo r t he n ex t five years. Majou r God give a great increase

—^Andrew Pattoi

New Publicat ion

Because of the many corrections made

th e s e co nd e d it io n o f The Church of Christ '

by Samuel Saunders which f inal ly came of

th e press in June is a real improvement ove

the first edition. A lthough no change wa

m ade in style or outward appearance, yet b:increasing the number of lines per page, thitotal number of -pages was dec reased f rom 13ito 98. Thus it was possible to place th e book oith e marke t a t a lower retail price.

The publication of On Th e Rock ha

been postponed many months. Primarily, because of th e lack of a full t ime t ranslator . Bu

even if a satisfactory f ul l t ime person coul

be found for translation work, finances woul

no t permit. Therefore I have had to depen

on men who work at other jobs, to ge t th ivery important work of translating done atheir convenience. Even now th e person mah

ing the second correction said, That it woul

be good to have it checked again . No onwants th e responsibility of giving th e finsO.K. for printing. Ths is a typical trait othe Japanese people. It looks now as if thtranslation will not be ready fo r printing b<

f or e December 1st. If so , we cannot hope tsee i t come from the press before th e middlof January.

Alexander Campbell 's book, The Chriitian System has been translated for almoja year. Because of the above reason, anothers, the correcting and etc. has not beedone. But Muto San, one of our Tokyo BiblSeminary graduates hcs decided to undertakthis work. So, I have some hopes that it wi

be published sometime in 1960. There is alsthe possibility that he may consider in thnear future to work full time in the transla

ing and correcting of New Testament book:Please pr,-y that God will richly bless thiwork to th e saving of many souls.

—Stanley Buttray



r Furlough Home

No d ou bt m an y of yo u heard by no w that

a re making o u r h o m e i n F lo ri da t hi s fu r

year. There are s ev er al r ea so ns fo r

W e a rri v ed s t a te si d e in la te June w i t h

specific lo ca tio n d e cid ed , trusting God to

us. As we traveled we made enquries

rental opportunities, but nothing suit

seemed to open up ; an d we arrived in St .

r sb urg , F lor id a in mid-August just 2

b e f o r e t i m e f o r sc ho ol t o s tar t w it h n o

to call h om e y et . Of c ou rs e L oi s mother

f a the r w h o had re t ired and m o v e d there

desi rous tha t w e l o c a t e nea r them i f

no w began to really look around in

bu t when we mentioned 4 children

of t he l an d lo r ds turned us d o wn f la tl y. So

ig decision wa s m ad e. Sin ce th e down-

wa s sniall, he m on th ly p ay me nt s

be c he ap er th an rent an d we wouldou r equity after all, it seemed to be

wisest us e of money to buy a place.

T h e h o u s e w e a r e settled in a t 79 0 1 5 t h

S. in St . Petersburg, is a 2 s to ry h ou se

30 years old; with 2 porches, 2 baths,

sized rooms and a g ar ag e. A lo ng

th e house c am e a ll k itc h e n a n d d in in g

furniture, 2 beds an d a washing-machine,

e ha d to bu y just a minimum of furniture.

location is v e ry c on ve n ie nt to shopping,

and b u s e s .

t took m uch t ime, thought, quietly

prayers, an d a fe w tears before th e

bu t finally we went down to th e

office to make a small i n it ia l d ep os i t

s ign t he c ont rac t. As we were sitt ing ther e

heard f ir e -t ru c k s p as s, an d then after a

th e phone rang an d we w er e v er y a st on

to hear th at lig ht nin g and ha d struck

house just about th e time we w e re s ig ni ng

Im m edi at el y t he thought ra n through ou r

t h a t this m i g h t b e an o m e n o r some

from God that He di d no t want us to

th is place. We went down to th e h ou se

found it full of fir em en a nd th e smell ofwith a hole in the roof an d th e second-

r c ei li ng s damaged by water. We were

th a t insurance would c o m pl e te l y c o v er

loss, bu t we had to decide all over again.r Of 3 ptysslblF^xplanations of th e lightning

1) a warning from God 2) an attemptthe Devil to interfere (3) a naturi.1 phenochose number 3 and went ahead.

least we ca n re port t hat th e insurance

pu t th e house into better shapeit w as b ef or e. Th e whole upstairs wa s

inted. And nothing since then has happento make us wish we had not taken th e

God s Protection on d

Extend Even to

We ar e inclined to think so after ou r ex

iences with the Chevrolet 1954 Stationagon thus far. On June 22 we left Glendale,lif, with a luggage rack on top full of largeitcases, and the inside full of small bags,

basket and people . She ra n like a topthe way home and then around over th entry visiting relatives and living-link chur

ches—averaging over 100 miles p er da y fo r

t he f ir st 90 days.

T h e re a l ro ad te s t cam e w h e n H a ro ld

returned to Cincinnati in early September

to take th e tru nks and foot-lockers which

weighed over 1100 p o un ds w he n shipped from

Calif, by Rai lway Express) down to Florida.

When the car wa s al l loaded up th e backbumper was less than 6 inches from th e

ground, and the tires looked half-flat. Nobody who saw it t ho ug ht t he 1000 mile trip

would be made without trouble, bu t it was.

12frh National Misssos^a^y onven t i on

One of t he h ig hl ig ht s o f this y ear at

home wa s t h e w o nd e rf u l c on ve nt io n in Spring

field, 111 in late September. We were edifiedby the good messages, the close fellowship,the la rge attendance, the inspirational singing, and the whole spirit of the meeting.Many of us will be back on our fields by next

year, but we hope the meeting in Norfolk,Nebraska will be as helpful to those whohappen to be on furlough at that time as thiso n e w a s t o u s.

Flor ida S t a t e C o n y e n t i o nS in ce we ar e living in F lo rid a for ou r

furlough I took the opportunity of attendingt he c onve nt ion of ou r people in L ak e B ut le r,

and I am very glad I did. Great and goodchanges have come in the churches down heresince I was a High School boy in Eustis. Allof t he c hu rc he s ar e gro wing an d there are

new ones being established on every hand.There is a spirit of optimism and victory inthe air, and there is sacrificial effort beingmade on ail fronts. It is a real challenge andencouragement to me to be here during themonths in the homeland, and my prayer isthat I may be imbued with this zeal andvision as we r etur n to Japan.

— H a r o l d Sims

Army ChapsI ClosesThe Army Map Service chapel was offi

cially closed with the last service being heldon Sunday morning July 26th. This was due

to th e reduction of personell on th e Base an d

is a procedure followed by al l Armed Forces

units. However, results from th e contacts

made t he re during th e eleven months ofpreaching s til l c o ntinu e . On T ue sd ay S ep te m

be r 8th, just five weeks after th e Chapel

closed N ak ay am a S an wa s immersed. He is

on e of th e young u n iv e rs i ty s t ud e n ts wh o attend th e week ly bible classes as well as Sun

d ay m o rn i ng services. W he n s um me r vacation

began h e h ad a lr ea dy b e e n d e ep l y i n te r es t ed

fo r a number o f m o nt hs . So , on arriving home

he frankly told hi s fa th er t ha t he had been

s tu dy in g t he Bible a nd asked if it would be

alright if he became a Christian. Naturally

th er e w er e some doubts in N ak ay am a San s

mind on wh e th e r hi s father would give him

permission. Fo r he was th e eldest son, andaccording to custom he should follow in thefootsteps of his father. Also, his father s re

ligion wa s Buddhism.

But in spile of these two controlling powerful factors of Japanese family life, th e fa

ther said, yes Ou r God does hear an d answerou r prayers. Bu t there must first be the sowing of the Gospel. As Jesus in John 8:31 said: If you are faithful to what I have saidyou are truly my disciples. If this is an areain which we are lacking? God help us

When a young Japanese person become.'a Christian, it often means facing th e greatest

crises of his life through opposition and everpersecution from the family. However, sucian experience being quite rare among us whare Americans, we may find it difficult t(u nd er st an d. B ut t he re is One who does, an

that P e r s o n is J e s u s .

Pray that God the Father will watch ovein d care for these ones who have become

children of the King. Fo r living in this Satarcontrolled land, their obstacles will be man)fold more than ours. T here fore, pl ea se re me ni

ber the following just now in prayer: Nakayama San, Wal^nabe San, Kanamura San, ancMorita San who had much to do with the coversion of Nakayama San. Pray that they wilcontinue to grow in Spirit jnd Truth and become strong faithful defenders of Christ aneHi s crucified.

—Stanley B u t t ra y

Mr. and Mrs. Titus Seiichi Kikuchi with Torn (5 years old) and Ryuko

(3 mo. old little girl) minister to the Nakano Church of Christ in Tokyo.



e c las s o f a Sunday School held in th e

at Kamiochiai, Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo.

Church Observes

AnnBvsriarySaturday n ight and Su nda y November

8 th e Nishiogikubo Church of Christ,

Oba ministe r, observed their tenth an-

s ar y. On Saturday evening a film on

Wesley was shown to th e audience and

ew P atto n serv ed as g uest speaker. On

morning Shin Hanyu, minister of th e

Chui ch, spoke on th e subject, The

th e Body of Christ.

he Nishiogikubo Church's ro ots re ach

to a little o ve r te n y ears ag o when Owen

started a Bible study class in t he home

young couple in that community. Later

P at t o n was asked to lead th e group,

those won to the Lord during the

few months was a young man named

Ikeda, who a little later became the

and finally th e minister of th e

The meet ing place was changed twice

a s ui ta bl e p la ce was found fo r th e

ngs on Sunday. After mov ing t o a rented

th e young Chu rch grew rapidly and a

ng was built to house it in th e fall of

round 1951 th e g rea t exodu s f rom th e

in Japan began and many of th e

of t h e C h ur ch l os t ho ld o f t h e L o r d

slipped back i nto t he ways of th e world.

e faces seen at th e tenth anniversary

ing were a lmos t comple te ly different from

who showed such promise of faithfulness

e arl y years of th e Church. It was en-ng , t hough , to see th e old crowd , a

n u m b e r o f s ou ls w h o h a d b o r n e th e r e

of Chris t and still r ema in e d f ai th fu l

e rejo ice that souls have been saved

th e te n y ears of th e history of this

We are s addened, however , at th e

t h at t h e Church has lost some ofgina l evangel is ti c fe rv or a nd s pi ri tu al

We pray that they will allow them-

to b e used of God in a greater way in

ext te n years in th e doing of His will

in the past.

— A n d r e w P a t t o n

i W

:'Am^

f orme r gar age of Mr. an d Mrs. Stanley But-

Hew Bible School

Through the sac ri fi cing of my ca r garage

it was possible to start a Bible School last

April. It has continued now for more than

s ix mon th s. I t begun with an average atten

dance of thir ty-eight children, and this average

wa s maintained fo r th e first three months,

However, the av erag e fo r these past four

months has dropped to t hi rt y. The room com

fortably s ea ts about thirty-two children. So,in o r d e r to r e a c h t h e m a x i m u m n u m b e r of

children, I decided to have two class per iods

of fif ty minutes each , beginning at two P.M.

on Sunday afternoon. Since I was s t il l preach

ing Sunday mornings at Army Map Service,

it wa s necessary to h av e t he c la ss es in the af

ternoon. But thus far, it seems afternoon

c lasses have proven to be just as good a time

as mornings.

With on e or two exceptions th e age level

is from si x to eleven. Or as the J ap an es e

would say, Ichi ne n se i kara go nen se i ni

made . For t eaching purposes we tr y to di

vide this age level i nt o two c las ses . The twoexceptions ar e four year old children who

have a ttended from the beginning. One of

these has been brought by her mother and

the o th er by her older s is te r. And of course

t he mo ther ha s le arn ed mor e th an th e daugh

t e r .

I have no t done th e teaching myself but

have had the yo ung la dy who was organist

at th e Army Chape l to do al l th e teaching. I

have helped with th e singing and the audio

visua l a ids . The interest h as h el d up very well

a n d t h e c h i l d r e n h a v e n o w l e a r n e d m u ch a bo ut

God an d Jesus His Son, hav ing gone through

a si x m o n t h c o u r s e of th e l i f e of C h r i s t .

Recen tly w i th te n of t he ch il dr en we visit

ed a n a t u r a l zoo a b o u t a n h o u r s t r a i n r i d e

from h ere . B eca use of th e crowds of people

we did not immediat ely f ind a suitable place

to eat, rnd all the e hil dr en w er e q uit e hun

gry. After singing a c ho ru s t he t ea cher asked

a ques tion . Having just s ee n among o th er an i

mals some asses, sh e asked t he chi ld ren, Who

rode on an ass? And th e youngest (four years

o ld ) a nswe re d, Jesus Christ This little girl

n a m e d M its uk o C ha n w i t h h e r o ld er s is te r

h a s b ee n t h e most f a i t h f u l in a t t e n d a n c e .

And can alm ost without missing, name th e

books of th e New T e s t a m e n t a n d r e c ite a

few verses of scripture.

Without a doubt opening the hearts and

m i n d s of t he s e l it tl e c h i l d r e n to God and his

love is certainly one of th e greatest works,

and m ost f r u i t f u l t h a t c a n be d o n e h e r e in

t hi s unenl ig ht en ed l and of Japan. Pray for

t he se l it tl e ones. Pray th at the harvest will

be a hundred-fold .

—Stanley Buttray

Andrew Patton and S tanl ey Buttray ta k

ing down a quonset hut which was given toMr. Harold Sims. Three days of hard work

finished th e job.



fl 2 7 12Si ilarrole McFarland

Box 963

J ol ie t, r uin o la

110}

Tokyo Chr i s t i an'Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature Mark 16:15

58 Kimberlin Heights , Tennessee, Winter, 1959 Numfeer 3

YEAR OLD CHEVVY SOLD

In 1950 the Mission bought a 1946 2 doorChevrolet from a service -man who

going home. The speedometer then re42,000 miles. Since then this ca r

give n very fa ith fu l service to th e cause

ugh 8 years in journeys of t and rough,with a minimum of care and repair. It

itself first to Buttrays until they lef tfurlough in 1955 an d following that to the

family. Of co urs e it was familiar toof our fr iend s and many gas-station attend

, pol icemen etc. Among some of them ita reputation as the great unwashed.

Back in 1956 the speedometer s topped at

and it blithely passed 2 inspections

being noticed. The actual mileage

passed 120,000. For the past year

of the more dire prophets among our

f ri ends have been p red ic ti ng that it

someday just give up th e g ho st in th e

of an intersection and become a pile

iron. So in dread o f an a pp ro ac hi ng

repair bill and th e 100 road ta x fo r

we finally parted with th e ol d thing

Dec. The highest bidder only gave 87.

has seen her best days, but s he served

DON'T MISS MY TRIP TO KOREA

TARTS IN T HIS IS SU E O N B AC K P AG E

Sueyo sh i c hu rc h i n Kagoshima prefecture

Harold p re ac he d o n Sunday morning11, 1959 during 2 weeks Qf teaching in

leadership training institute in Kanoya.

th e congregation that morning are includ

Mark Maxey and his daughters Paula and

Patton Sailing Date Set

Left to right: Sha ron Lee , P hi li p, an d Noel Patton

On January 26lh th e Fattens made re

servations fc r an Economy Tourist Class

cabin on th e SS Pres ident Wilson sailing from

Sa n Franci sco f or Japan on August 21 , 1959.

' ihe ship is scheduled to arrive at Yokohama

on September 4th. This s ho uld allow them

time to e nro ll th ei r daughter , Sharon Lee,

i n th e Fail terra of K in de rg ar te n. Sh e will

be five years old on July 30.

The total cost fo r the ship tickets will

be 948.86. This is th e s ame amoun t it cost

them for them for their t ic ke ts t o San Fran

cisco on their way home and it means that

Pii ii ip , who vvill be a year old on July 8, will

tr av el f re e s in ce he will n ot r eq ui re a n e xtra

bod. They made a down payment of 250 inorder to make the reservations. Since they

had only received 105 in offerings designat

ed fc r t ra ve l pur po se s it was nec es sa ry f or

them to borrow 145 from their genera l fund

in order to complete th e payment. The remaining 698.86 and th e 145 borrowed from

t he gener al fund must be on hand by July.

Bes ides thi s a t le as t 1050 will be needed for

t he ir t ra ve l to San Franci sco, fo r th e buying

of equipment needed for the next term ofservice, and for freight ex pe ns es to Japan.

Your help in this matter is urgently needed.

Negotiations a re a lr eady under way wi th

th e U.S. and Japanese governments concern ing

the securing of a passport and a visa for theirtravel to Japan . Bar ring complications, both

of these should be on hand within three

mcnths. It will be only about six months until

the time when they will have to begin theirt ra ve ls t ow a rd California. Before that t ime a

number of preparations must be tak^n careof . ~

One major i tem of these preparations isthe rai sing of the remainder of the pledgedsupport necessary for their next five-yearterm of Missionary activi ty. Pledges amounting to 2541 a year have been made by Chur

ch es and individuals. P led ges amounting to

4.59 a year toward their salary and 3000a year to finance their work ar e badly needednow. If fo ur c hu rc he s would pledge 72 amonth each a ll of th e pledges they need would

be on hand. Or if eight Churches would

i^'edge 36 a month th e same would b e true.

If sixty six individuals would pledge a dollara week, 52 a year, practically the same am

ount would be raised. If you have no t made

you r p ledge toward their support please doso without delay. The time is sho rt . S end al l

communica tions fo r them to ; Andrew Patton

C/o Ra y ArmstrongR. 3, Box 31 0

Piqua, Ohio

—And r ew Pa t ton



Christian

THE TOKYO CHRIST IAN

Pub li shed qua rt er ly by the Missionaries of

e Church of Christ Cunningham Mission.

Japan , for the information and inspira

o f e ve ry Chr is ti an who se heart is o pe n to

e call of Christ, and who is willing to helpt he s up reme t as k of carrying out th e Great

of Chr is t; Mat th ew 28:19, 20.

Ente red as second class mat te r in th e Knox-

Tenn., Postoffice und er th e a ct o f Mar ch

1879.

Subscription 50 cents

scr ip tion and Flaming Torch $1.00

MISSION STAFF

Mr . and Mrs. Stanley Buttray, 575 2-Chome,

Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo, Japan.

agent: Mrs. Homer Anderson,

D. 1 Meadville, Pa,

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Patton, Fu rlo ug h

same as — Forwarding agent: Mr . or

Ray A rmst ro ng , Rt. 3 Box 310, Piqua,

Mr. an d Mrs. Harold Sims, 450 Aral Machi,

Tokyo, Japan. Forwarding agent:

E. Sims, Alexandr ia , Kentucky.

Packages f or Japan should be sent direct by

post to on e of th e missionaries whose

are shown above . Consu lt your local

concerning mail ing rules a nd l im it a

of size an d weight.

If yo u change your a dd re ss p le as e n ot if y

L. Hamilton, Kimber l in Heights, Tennessee,

both your old and your new add re ss .

you make an o ffe ri ng of $1.00 or more you

e ent it le d to receive this paper if you so

uest . Churches or groups making an offer

g of $10.00 or more may request a bundle

10 copies for distribution.

Th e Sims fami ly in front of t he bui ld ing

an evangelistic meeting was held ink oji ma , N ag oy a C ity Dec. 5 7. Lanterns

e advertising th e service, and also lighting

e entrance way.

SWER TO AN INQUIRY

Several weeks ago we received a let ter

a brother con ta in ing accusa tions against

based on f al se a ll eg a ti on s which he had

heard made concerning us . I n o rd erclear up similar misunderstandings which

may have concerning our actions

Japan, we quote th e letter an d ou r a nw erit. Our p ur po se in this, h owever, is not

de fend our se lv es but to prevent misunder-

s tand ings concern ing th e Lord's

which iwe are engaged.

Dea r Pa t :

Is it t rue that some missionaries broke

into Mrs. Cunningham's house and helpedthemselves to what they wanted? If so we

better keep them at home and put them tow ork in the workhouse.

You r s

O ur a ns we r to him follows.

De a r Bro t he r

We shall overlook th e bitte rn ess in your

letter fo r perhaps we would have s imi lar senti

ments towa rd you if s omeone i n whom we had

confidence represented your character to us

as no doubt, someone has d on e c on cer nin gus to you. If we hav e done things worthy of

s uc h pun is hmen t we shall no t endeavor toescape from being put to work in th e work

house. In ou r democratic socie ty , however,

even a criminal h as th e righ t to speak in his

own defense Therefore, if we are cr iminals

as we ar e accused of b ein g, w e be g leave to

m ake ou r defense .

You asked if i t w as t r ue th at s ome m is

sionaries broke into Mrs. Cunningham's house

a nd h el pe d t hems el ve s to wha t they wanted.

No doubt, you go t your i n fo rma tion f rom acircular sent ou t by Miss E lo is e Cunn ingham

in which s h e a tt ac k e d our characters and m is

represented th e facts and us to Ih e brethreni n America . I am surprised that you so easily

t ak e suc h f ab ri ca ti on s as gospel truth from

an Episcopalian woman who nev er d ar kens anyof our Churches in Japan except fo r business

pu rpo se s agains t your ow n brethren who are

Chr is ti an m is si on ar ie s, a nd that without so

much as asking them if these things ar e true

The s ta tem en t t ha t we mi ss io n ar ie s b r ok e in

to Mrs. Cunningham's personal property and

helped our se lves to he r goods is an untruth.

In th e f irst place, th e house wa s not Mrs.

Cunni ngham' s p er sona l p rope rl y. If it was,

why di d not Miss Cunningham call th e police

and have us jailed an d brought to j us ti ce ?

As a ma t t e r of fact th e house whe r e Mrs .

Cunningham lived whil e s he dwelt in Tokyo

was no t he r personal property but, like th e

homes of th e rest of th e missionaries working

w ith her, was built for missionary use from

free-will offerings of Christian people. Mrs.

Cu nn in gh am e ndo rs ed this fact personally

before her death when sh e by her own deci

sion, and that of th e other missionar ies af

f il ia ted with the Church of Christ Cunningham Mission of which sh e was direc tor , p laced

th e house where sh e lived, together with th eother missionai-y houses. Church buildings, an d

other properties owned by th e Mission, in

th e Ij i Zaidan, th e property-holding corpora

t ion of th e Mission. At the same time i t was

her own r ec ommend at io n a nd i nf lu en ce tha t

caused th e mi ss io n ar ie s a f fi li at ed with th e

C hurc h of Chris t Cunningham Mission to be

made trustees of th e Zaidan corporation. Fur

thermore, Mrs. Cunningham never made anypersonal claims that th e house wher e she lived

was he r own persona l property . It is evidentthen, I believe, that the h ou se i n q ue sti on is

Mission property an d no t Mrs. Cunningham's

personal possession.

Page 2

As to breaking into the house we plead

guilty. But here ar e facts on that score.

Since th e d ea th of Mrs. Cunningham we have

used th e house as a dwelling f or o ther missionaries . (Compare, by the way Miss Cunning

ham's proposed use of th e house as a Shrine

to the memory of he r paren ts and as a socialhall with th e purpo se f or which it is being

it is being used.) When one of the missionarieswhom we had permitted to live in the house

moved to another i sl and to do missionary work

there wa s a shor t in terval between the t ime

when he left and the l im e w he n another mis

s ionary came to Tokyo and lived in th e house.

During t ha t int erva l Miss Cunningham evid

ently t hought tha t thi s afforded a good opport

unity to take possession of house. So she moveda J ap an es e p re ache r and hi s wi fe , who were

favorable to her, into the house. Because

t hese peopl e needed a place to live and rather

than cause t rouble a t th e t ime w e allow ed

them to remain in th e house. In fact they still

dwell in th e back of th e house . W hen the

next missionary arrived to occupy th e house

we found t he J ap an es e fami ly g on e an d th e

doo rs p ad l ocked. There remained nothing fo rus to do bu t to b re ak th e lock and al low th e

missionary to enter tlie hou se . Now , is that

th e hovsebreak ing concern ing which we are

condemned? If so we p le ad gui lt y bu t insist

th at the re was no crime involved and no

b re ak ing i nt o th e personal property of Mrs.

Cunningham. Rather , i t wa s th e en tr ance in to

a Mission house which had been illegally enter

ed by Miss Cunningham. So th e gui lt o f b re ak

i ng in to a house belong ing to another falls on

Miss Cun ni ng ham' s h ea d a nd not on ours.

To t he a ll eg a ti on that we helped ourselves

to what we w anted in th e house we pleadno t gui lt y. O n the contrary, when, after Mrs.

Cunni ngham' s d ea th , we dec id ed to move an

other missionary into th e house we asked

Miss Cunningham to move her mother's pos

sess ions f rom th e house . She re fused to do t h i s

an d said t ha t we cou ld cas t her mothe r ' s

t hi ng s i nt o th e street if we wished but that

s he would not consent to their being moved.

Therefore, we moved Mrs. Cunningham's po s

sessions into rooms which th e missionary

s ho ul d h av e been permitted to use and her

property has been stored in the hou se s in ce

t ha t t ime. Th is has caused the miss iona r i e s

to occupy only those rooms not occupied by

th e J ap a ne se p re ac her a nd Mrs. Cunningham's

furni ture So th is to o fa l ls back on the head

of Miss Cunni ng ham and not on us.

You p ic ke d out these al legations f rom the

many other which Miss Cunningham made

against us in her paper , indicat ing that you

considered them to be th e strongest arrows

sh e had in her qu iver. W e too are willing

that th ese be considered fair samples of her

wri tings aga inst us. Let th e facts speak fo r

themselves. We have no desire to tr y to per

suade you to take o ur p ar t but s imply r eques t(hat th e plan facts and the t ruth of th e mat ter

be given a f ai r h ear ing .

Your choice no t to support us is your

ow n personal affair and none of our own.

We would fight fo r your right to make such

a choice. As a matter of fact, if folks have

no confidence in us we would rather they di dno t support us . On th e other han d, we insist

that facts and truth, no t hearsay and false

accusations, be allowed to speak when th e

characters of C hristian m issionaries are at

t a cked .



3

We would l ike to commend you fo r y ou rin bringing your questions concern

our cha ra ct er d ir ec tl y t o us rather than

them behind our back.

We extend to you our kindest personal

rd s an d b es t wishes.

Sincerely your,

(s igned) Andrew Patton

MISSIONARY ACTIVITIES

A statement regarding the closing of

Bib le Seminary signed by th e faculty

that school appeared in th e Spring 1958

of Tokyo Chr is ti an . S ince that t ime we

met several brethren during our furlough

who have expressed interest in the

of the Seminary, W e can no t remem-

that any one of these brethren expressedas to th e wisdom of closing th e school

rather t he ir i nt er es t i n t ha t e v en t s eemed

lie in the reasons for the closure of theTho se r ea sons h ave a lr ea dy been pub-

d in this paper. However since that statedealt almost wholly with our reasons

the c losure of th e school and not with th e

of work in which th e missionaries pro-

to be engaged in subsequent to that datethink that a few words of clarification in

to th e work which we intend to do

be in order here. Of c ou rse , w e ca n

y speak fo r ourselves an d no t fo r th e mis-

working with us, yet perhaps thewhich they have of their work

no t be greatly devergent from the

of ours stated here.

believe that one phase of any work

i ch we propose to do fo r our Lord i n J ap an

be evangel is ti c i n nature. Every mission

should be a winner of souls. I t seems to

that evangel ism i s no t th e p rima ry t as k

missionaries in th eir own persons but th e

of th e native Chr is tians to per

that work. Yet a t th e sam e tim e they

win every soul they can without allowing

evangelistic efforts to defeat th is p rim

work of training and encouraging th e na

Christians to tell th e ol d story o f Je su sKi.g .lnve-Whpn-wn.J ir-5±-WPnt trv .Lipan we

re strongly convinced that the best meansboth of t he se end s l ay in th e use of a Bible

and Tokyo Bible Seminary was estaband was u se d w ith those ends in view

a period of te n years . Our exper iences dur

those years forced upon us th e conclusion

t he use of Tokyo Bib le Seminary had no t

a very successful venture in evangelism

in t he t ra in ing of th e Japanese Church

der t he prevailing circumstances and condi

in Tok yo. S o instead of u si ng s uc h an

as a m ed iu m o f evangelism when

return to Japan we will work on con

tha t ou r efforts will be rewarded

local Church level and we are strongly

that our efforts will be rewarded

more abundantly. Of course, we shall estab

h new Churches, help conduct e vangelc mee tings fo r th e winning of th e lost,

h Eng li sh Bibl e classes with th e same

in mind, tr y to win individua ls as wet hem per son to person, and use any

means of introducing th e lost to Christ

i ch t ime and c ircums tances permit .

Christian education, however, is our prim

ary object as missionaries. If we allow our

selves to be side-tracked from that supreme

object we shall be wea k whe re we o ugh t to

be s t ronges t an d o ur w ork will endure only as

long as we are p re se nt t o d ir ec t i t. Therefore,we do not in tend to accept th e office of preach

er , elder, deacon, or other leader in a local

Church in Japan except in cases of absolute

necessity as a stop-gap measure. R ath er , w e

shal l t ra in e ld e rs a n d deacons in th e Word of

th e Lord a nd i n ho w they should conduct them

selves in th eir respective offices. We shall

t ra in Bible teachers fo r adults an d for chi ld

ren. W e s h al l s tr iv e to teach th e Christ ian in

th e pew to accept hi s responsibility toward his

God, th e Church an d hi s fellowman. As we

conc ei ve i t, t hi s i s our p rima ry t as k and if we

fail to emphasize this we ha d better stay at

h o m e

^ niir work in .Tapan should be advisory in

natur e. The ordinary person in Japan ha s beenlittle affected in an y direct way by th e opera

tion of Christianity on th e society in which

he fin ds himself. S o t he J ap an es e Christian

usually does no t know how to conduct himself

as a Christian at home, at school, in hi s society,

or in the Church. Therefore, we who have a

part of th e New Tes tament Church at work

in our home land and who have been care

fully trained in the Bible ought to be in aposition where we can render these young

Chr is t ians valuab le assistance. Ou r adv is e and

guidance will be gladly and free ly ext ended

to those Japanese Christians who need and

desi re o u r s e rv ice s

Again, ou r work as missionaries in Japanwill be exemplary and inspirat ional in nature.

In this field th e impact of th e influence of our

whole family must be felt by tho se whom we

ar e able to contaict. Our children's part in this

will be to impress their Japanese friends byword and deed with th e beauty of th e Lord

an d th e desirableness of h i s sa lva tion. We ad

ults must do l ikewise in th e world in which we

will move. Our actions must convince those

who behold them tha t Christ is real a nd p re ci

ous to us and that our practice is harmonious

with ou r profession. Ou r interest in th e lost

and constant e ff or t t o w in them and to estab-

lish our b re th ren in th e f ai th sh ou ld be such

as to inspire t he Japanese Christian to go

and do l ikewise. We shouldset

suchan

example in self-control and selflessness and at

th e same time r ad ia te such Christian jo y that

it will cause b ot h s ai nt an d sinner to take

notice. In short, we believe that th e forceful

enactment of Christianity by a servan t of God

in the m ids t a pagan people will often domore to turn them to God than a thousand

spoken arguments against their religions ortheir sinful lives or fo r th e truthfulness of

Christianity.

Ou r work in Japan should also be benevol

ent i n n at ur e. Numerous people in J ap an are

without the bare necessities of life. We should

help those people whom we can and who are

qualified to receive such help so long as ourhelp will not stifle their own initiative causeus to lose sight of our main objective of ministering to their spiritual needs. We intend toteach the Japanese Christians to oare for their

poor and unfortunate as their means permit.Again, this should be mostly done through

Tokyo Christian

th e local Church. Along s imil ar l ines wil l be

th e problem of financing Church building pro

jects in a coun try whe re th e poor are as num

erous as in Japan and where most Church

members are no t bread winners of thei r fam

ilies. We believe that the Japanese Churchshould finance it s own building as nearly aspossible. But to encoiurage th e Church an d

help them to raise th e necessary funds we

propose to make outright gifts to them fo r

that purpose if there is need for such gifts.

We in tend t o u se mu ch d is cr et io n a nd restra int

in such us e of th e Lord' s money. As circum

stances demand it and if our funds permit,

ou r help will be extended to th e orphan, th e

widow, and th e aged. Benevolence to th e un

fortunate and Christianity go hand in hand.

In summary our work in Japan will be

evangelistic, educational, advisory, exemplary

and inspirational, and benevolent in character

with the main emphasis being j)laced on the

educational phase at the level of the localChurch. And our aim in al l these things will

be to make the Japanese Church a glorious

Church without spot or wrinkle or any such

thing and ready for he r Lord's return. Canany more rewarding work be given to anyman? We invite your participation in thatwork with us.

— n d r e w Pa t ton

THE PATTON CHILDREN

The member s o f ou r f amily who have per

haps enjoyed ou r furlough most a re the th reechildren, especially Sharon Lee and Noel.They have traveled many hundreds of miles,made many friends, as well as made themselves genuine nuisances while dad and mother were trying to put on programs in the Churches. But in spite of their spells of childishmischievousness they have done remarkablywell in their t ravels .

Sharon Lee is now four years and fivemonths and Noel is two years and one monthold. Both of them were bom in Japan andoften talk of returning to the place of theii

birth. Because of a positive patch test whichwe had taken on Noel after we returned toATnprir>a wp wpro fpflrfiil that he had contra t-

ed tuberculosis. He had a chest X-ray in July

and it showed no signs of active tuberculosis.Then in January the whole family was givencomplete physical examinations and everything was well with Noel as well as the res t olthe family except for a borderline anemic condition in Betty and the three children. We arcthankful that all of us enjoy good health.

Perhaps the healthiest looking Patton isli ttle Philip. He is seven months old, weighs24 pounds, has four teeth, and is as jolly aslark. He is scheduled to make his first trij

to Japan in August when he will be slightljover a year old.

None of th e children have any living-linl

support pledged as yet. They too will have i

part to play in causing the light of the Loreto shine in darkened Japan and they will neee

support. Your pledges toward their suppor

would be g re at ly appreciated.

Andrew and Bet ty Patton



Christian

MY TRIP TO KOREA

— Haro ld Sims —

On th e morning o f S ep t. 24, while I was

ying and thinking about what plans I

m ake for th e month of October, aof invitation to teach 6 weeks in

Bible Seminary in Seoul, Korea arrived

Bro. Harold Taylor. The school there

th e intensive plan of s tudy, so one cou rse

complet ed each 6 week term. Because of

ta nt u rg in g f rom our m an y friends among

Koreans l iving in Tokyo t hr ough our y ea rs

c on ta ct a nd cooperation with the Mikawa-

church, acquain tance wi th th e mission

on th e field, and a natural curiosity I

long felt a desire to see t he l an d and the

th er e. H er eto fo re d utie s at th e Tokyo

Seminary had prohibited my taking

o ff for a visit to ou r neighboring country,

now there wa s no compelling re ason to

Here was an opportunity to serve asas a chance to enlarge my sympathies

understanding of th e Korean p eopl e and

che s and to gain new vision a nd e nc ou r

fo r th e w ork here. So in a shor t

we (Lois was c onsulte d, of course)a t th e decision to go. I t would be

longest separat ion in ou r 11 years of c lose-family life, and bef or e i t ended we both

f el t t he l ength of the Scriptural 40 days.

A meeting of p re ac he rs a nd s tu de nts in

n, Korea where Harold spoke.

Preparations of passport, visas, arrangingstitutes for Bible classes, putting in a supply

fuel oil, shopping for Christmas presentshome-folk, etc. took many days out of the2 weeks. On th e morning of Oct. 20 one

th e young men from Mikawashima church

ve me out to the airport in return for myor of taking some gifts to his wife s familySeoul, an d I boarded th e crowded North

t Airl ines p lane for Seoul. In less than 3s we landed at war-famed Kimpo airport.

So this is Korea It is a lo t like I had

gined — the empty, ru sty quonset huts,jeeps and a few old American cars, and

ever-present soldiers indicating a post-warpreprosperity state of affairs. On the long

in to Seoul w e watched the farmers a t

harvest, and seeing the men carrying

loads on their backs by A frames andwomen (most of them in th e native dress)

things on their heads, with theious poverty on every hand gave me ainct first Impression, Now I have real ly

in t he O ri en t. After we cro ss ed the

Page 4

••

L: to R. Lonnie Migs, Lois Sims, Isabel

D it temor e, L yd ia Shi geno bu in the stu dio o f

th e hr is t ian Rad i o Mission in Osaka

SINGING ON THE RADIO

by Loi s S im s

Las t N ov em be r a nd D ec em be r I had the

pleasure o f s inging with I sabel Di tt emore and

Lydia Shigenobu on th e Chr is tia n r ad io p ro

g ram B eh old The Man , produced by Mrs.

DiLtcinorc of Kyushu Ch ri st ian Mission.

When th e young woman who regularly

sang with them ha d to lea ve her work. Isabelasked me i f I would be able to fill in the

new Han river bridge i nt o Seoul this impression was enhanced by t he s tr eet s and markets

full of cabbage an d people, the small tile-

r oo fed house s stack ed up on th e hills, and th e

obvious squalor of many l iv ing in caves orfilthy lean-to huts. Of course th e center of

town is not much different from any other

city in th e world.

(Note: This interesting account will be

continued in th e next issue.)

VISITS TO HOSPITALS

by Loi s S im s

U su al ly s omeon e sends us a check for

$5.00 or so fo r Christmas t reats fo r the Sun

day Schoo l children, bu t this year a new idea

for u si ng these funds occurred to me. Several

of our Christian f riends a re in hospitals, Iremembered, and it would be nice to visit

them, taking some food and gifts and bringinga little cheer into their lonely days. I was

thinking especially of th e little 6 year old

Suzuki boy, who is In a suburban ch ild ren 's

T. B. hospital with 65 o ther l it tl e ones, and

his father who is in another hospital 3 stationsback toward town and never expects to returnhome

At our regular Ladies Bible Study meet

ing th e nex t F riday I brought up the idea,

and they were enthusiastic in cooperating.

trio for the December programs. After muchplanning we finally arranged to ge t togetherth e week of Nov. 2-8. Isabel, Lyd ia and Don-nie Mings (accompanist) came to ou r home,and we spent a full week prac ticing and recording the music for t he December programs

at a s tudio he re in Tokyo. Most of the music

was new to me, so we had to practice morning,

noon and evening some days.

ihen in December Bobby and I spent 4days in Kobe at th e ho me of Isabel an d her

daughter Janet practicing and recording themusic fo r January programs.

I am glad that I could help in this way

and pray that the Lord will use these programsto reach many peopl e for Christ.

Tuesday Dec. 23 they were here early in th(morning with armloads of tangerines. Japaneserice crackers and candy, and color-books anccrayons which they h ad purchased f rom theii

their own funds. Mabel Buttray heard abouithe pro ject and baked a lot of cookies as hei

contribution. I also baked cookies and prepared some other things — including someold children's puzzles and Chr is tmas cards anc

a number of copies of Life of Christ Vizual

iz ed . V ol. III .

A jolly time was spent in dividing tthings and wrapping them. Then when wwere ready to start a miserable cold rain beganso we had to borrow Stan Buttray's car, an(that made the trip much easier and more fuifor the ladies who seldom are privileged hr ide in n ew er c ars

At the children's hospital the nursewould not let individuals receive gifts,

cause of the effect on the other children, sthey divided everything evenly among theiall later. We had a brief visit with the littl

Suzuki boy and his 4 room-mates in their urheated room. Although the walls were covejed with crayon drawings the building wa

clean and the s taff seemed very capable ank ind

We visited 2 other regular T. B. hospitalsand were able to bring joy to many sick folksbut we received the greatest blessing ouise lves



. • • March 4j 1959

Dear Fr i ends

Since our la st le tt er Harold has t raveled from one end of Japan to the

other, and Lois and th e chil dre n have been keeping the home f i res burning. Now

v;e are si t t ing around on this beau ti ful ea r ly -spr ing a ft er noon enjoy ing Loi s

birthday by quietly preparing cake and ice-cream before uhe chi ldren re turn -

from school and contemplating the pleasant fac t tha t exactly p months from

th is afternoon we will be sa i l ing out of Yokohama for the U< S» and our sec ondfurlough, th e Lord will ing. Looking back over these pas t 5 years we are madeconscious of the swif t passage of time and oppor tuni ty . Of course the few

remaining weeks may be the bus i e s t of a l l bu t wi l l no doubt seem slow to

the children who zealously count the remaining days on t he k itc he n calenderevery morning before going to school .

But f i r s t le t us t e l l briefly about Harold s t ravels. On the night ofJan. 5 he arrived a t the hospitable homo of the Mark Maxey family in extreme

southern Japan—traveling via the new express t r a in tha t covers the 1000 miles

in only 22 hours instead of the usual 52. There he assisted in a iC~dayl ocal l eade rship training inst i tute which was conducted in the newly-es t/atllshoc

Chris t ian Center in Kanoya, and also preached in two of the churc.h:3j in tho

prefectiure and spoke to the Rotary club. Eigint persons received cer t i f ica tes

fo r completing the course of study for tho 2 weokfy, and t o t a l of 20 difforcent

people attended some,so we f e l t i t v;as fa i r ly sucoe-sti le .Dio weather -v/as fa r

from the expected balmy southern. There v/ere se^ -erai very cold days, ai;d oneof th e largest snov/s in years fe l l around tho orange trees «

After a l i t t l e over 2 woeks a t liorr.o ho lof t Toicyo agaiu on Fob-, o headed

in the opposite direct ion for 2 weeks of p re aching on the noruhorn island ofHokkaido. After crossing the s t r a i t s on the ovc>r--;iigh ., ferr^/ he was in a

winter wonderland v/hen the sun began cas t ing purple and pink shadows on -the

snow-laden mountains in the cold de.wn of Feb. He never g jt t i red of locking

a t the ever-present snow, including many large -wii beautifu IH/ (jxecutod figuresa t the snow-fest ival and the people on skis and packages on sleds» Althoughthe tempuratures approached zero every night t}iere was some thawing a t mid-day

quite often, and the people said was tho vmrn .e.ot Pc.bimiary in a long t ime.

Since the people are used to i t and there were oig co al stoveb, ihe weather

did not deter the pepple from coming to the meetings.

Uie f i r s t week, from Feb . 6-15.t v/as spent v.-ith the Wesley Walicers and

the Moiwashita church in the capi tal city of Sapporo. Tne ba.ckbono of thischurch is a l ively group of young marr5.ed people, and they are experiencing aperiod of growth tha t v;ae a rea l joy and encouragement to par t ic ipa te in Ihe

lowest attendance a t t he n ight ly meetings vras.5S adul ts , and the highest 71®

For anywhere in Japan this would be considered vevy good, but tha best th ing

about the meeting was the many responses to tho invi t -a t ion. During the week

of evangel is t ic meetings 12 v;ere bapt ized , and 5 Others made mhs confess ion bu t

delj^ed baptism fo r parents permiss ion or other causes. (A let ter from Walkersgives the good news tha t these 5 ^ additional people were bapt?.zed thoSunday after th e meeting closed.) Two mon and their wives were baptized

toge ther and other homes were imi tod i n C li ris t as a r e s u l t o f dec i s ions fo r

Chris t So there was much rejoicing and we thank God fo r His bless ings and

for the gospel and i t s power.



From there he continued on to co ld er Obihiro for another weeks meeting.In the summer of 1957 we had preached in a tent in that ci t y , and a t that timet her e ha d been no conver t s . Now t her e arc 6 members, an d th e 4 tha t l ive inthe c i t y now are very faithf-ul and grov/ing in Christ- They have a nice l i t t l e

chapel b u i l t in a good location on the south side of town, and also have

regular meetings in 2 nearby tov;ns • Wo had an average attendance of over 20,and some of these seemed to be good prospects, but there were no responses to

th e invitation. I>aring th e week in Obihiro the hospitality of the EarnestFr.ber home was enjcyed again*

After th e long 2-d»iy journey homo i t was good to be reunited with thefamily on Feb 24. 35-nce then v:o have been busy catching up on some of theaccumu.l.aued business, and settling down. No more trips ar e planned exceptto the yearly convention v/hich is to be held in Nagoya the f i r s t week in April.

Ihe pastor cf t-ne 3Corean church at M.ikav7ashima di st ri c t in Tokyo resignedl as t Sunday effective th e end of this month. I t was o:q)ected, bu t one of ourmost di f f i c ul t and pressing problems is finding e. replacement for him. There

are also other loose ends t-o catch up in connection v;ith the work of some ofthe churches before we leave. Wo earnestly request your prayers that God may

guide us and give wisdom and that we may follow- Also pray for th e JapaneseGhristiat^s, many of them tempted and discouraged»

Time f lies, bu t th e Simses er e going by ship—it s cheaper. After somedisappoij'atments a t finding most sailings fully Ducked for th e summer as earlyas January we fin.n.lly nsvc confirmed rosor/aticns on a Japanese p as se ng er s hipcn tn e South ^ ^e ric an ru n. 'liiis is the u.ScIC. Lino Brazil Maru . We are very

•appy with this arrangement, becauso tciAri;? - class on this ship is th e mostconvanierrtj comfor'oablo ©.nd trie chej-'.pesu-'c-ntcns-po.rtation we could fin d . Also

the Paul Nielsen family, missionaries in Sendai, will be among our travelingcompanions on this voyage, We r.re to s s . i l f ro m f ok oh si ca on June 4 an d arr ive

An Los Angeles about Juno 16 or 17

From there on our plans are s t i l l In d e fin ite a t the present time. We

don'i- know exactly where we will be making our home for th e year in the States.Ecwaver you ecu: contact us through ?2y father a t ?rO» Box 75 Alexandria, Ky.Thus far everything has worked out fine, and we ar e trusting th e Lord todi rec t our p a t h s .

Our l i t t le black book for speaking dates is almost completely an openbook nov;, so i f there are any p a r t i c u l a r dotes on -which yo u would l ike to have

us vis i t you please lo t u - know of your desires as soon as possible. We w i l ldo o u r st to s e r v o

Yours An Chr is t

iiAROLi AND LO I S Sn*IS

F.S. Mission Ssrvioss, Box 968 J ol i et , 111- has a study packet prepared aboutour work in Tokyo, Wc hovfin'+ i+. y e t , but hope yo u w i l l be able to use i t



Harrola KcFarland

Box 968

Jo l id t , I l l ino i s

(10)

Tokyo Chr i s t i an o ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature Mark 16:15

58 Kimberlin Heights, Tennessee , Spr ing, 1959 Numbe r 4

urloughThe Har ol d Sims f amily re turned to Jap

in ear ly Sept ember 1954 fo r their second

of service in Tokyo. Now having com

another 5 years of work we ar e prepar

for our second f ur lo ug h b eg in nin g th is

Th e childien especially have been

forward to th e trip and are writing

number of remaining days on th e kitchen

Tians Pacific passenger accomodations are

crowded at this time, but we were able

tourist-class cabins on a Japanese ship

th e OSK L ine ca l led BRAZIL M ARL

promises to be satisfac to ry in e ve ry

i nc ludi ng t he very r ea sonabl e price. Th e

Nielsen f am il y f rom Senda i Japan will be

our traveling companions. We w ill s ai l

Yokohoma on J une 4 and a re due to

ve in Lo s Angeles about June 16. At th e

momen t we don t know where w e w ill

for the schoo l year, bu t ou r temporary

will be P. 0. Box 75, Alexandria,

All in all it seems to us a good time forThere are always some situa tions

the sma ll churches in Tokyo that cause ushesitate to walk off and leave thsm . B ut

o ft en th e only thing and th e bes t t hing

can do about these problems is to pray,

them up to t he Head of the Church,

we will continue to do e ve n mor e earn

while separated from them. Our purpose

no t to boast that we have earn

a furlough by ou r accomplishments. We

no large spending program in mind, and

not going out to raise a definite amount

ha s blessed-us-wiih..goo.d

so we are th an kfu l we d on 't need

medical care and physical recupera

. We do feel t he ne ed of spiritual refreshand look for God to grant this through

an d fe llow sh ip with friends an d

in the common faith. After approx

one year at home we expect to return

Japan with renewed zeal an d vision fo r

work to which God h as c al le d us .

—H ar ol d a nd L ois S im s

On March 26 th e litt'e 5 year old son

r. an d Mrs. Titus Kilkuchi (ministers ofNakano Church of Christ) became very

with purpu ra ( leak ing blood vessels) and

h . sp i ia l izad. Th is is a v er y s er io us di s

an d o fte n fatal. It is t ho ug ht t he cause

too much use of anti-biotic drugs during a

soige of tonsilitis and cold. In a ns we r

he recovered much more quickly than

c ted and returned to his home April 14.

Morning worship service in chapel at Army Map Service , Tokyo , Japan

ANOTHER ONE WON

In the f i rs t five months s ince I s tar ted

preaching fo r the Arm y Map Servi ce Chapel

at Cam p Oji here in Tokyo there h av e b een

four baptisms. Dale M ar sh th e assistant chap

lain wa s the f ir st w h ic h I wrote about in the

last Tokyo Christian. Si nce t he n Jack Anth

on y a young man from near Los Angelos who

also had been coming to th e se rvic es frm n

t he r eopen ing of th e ch ap el in September was

baptized. He had b een v ery fa ithful in his attendance and de te rmined to l ea rn all that he

could, even to attending th e English Bible

c la ss f or th e Japanese on Tuesday evening. So

ii wa.s a re al jo y to have him in fo rm me on e

day th at he wanted to be baptized.

Th^n ^herc was Merita San. a Japaneseuniversity student who aKo had boon coming

from the beginning. Not only di d he attend

th e Tuesday nig ht Bib le c la ss bu t also mostof th e Thursday night class and t he Sunday

murning services bringing hi s f r iend Nakayama

San with h im . The turning point in his life

seemed to be e vi de nt i n a r emark he m ade to

me after service one Sunday morning . He said:

Now I comp'ctely understand th e meaning of

Christianity. It was just two weeks later he

came desi ri ng to be bapt ized . Since then, on e

night as I was taking him an d h is f ri end home

after t he Tue sday n ight class, hi s fr'end Naka-'

yama Sa n said: I find it a little d if fi cu lt t o

u nd ers ta nd t he Bible . But Mori ta San who

h ad b eco me a Christian jus t a fe w weeks be

fore said: I did no t find i t so, i t wa s very

easy. A week later he mad e th is remark to

me, Nakayama San is studying th e Bible very

diligently, and I hope be becomes a Christian

soon. So does (jod So do I. P le as e p ra y fo r

him. Also, p leas e p ray for a Kanamura San who

has been coming to every service for the lasttwo months. He is a good man and deeply interested in th e Bible. Pray t ha t he will yield

to God a nd H is G osp el soon.

The last young man to be baptized was DonWareham whose home is in Massachusetts. Don

had formerly been sprinkled but after hearingthe Gospel for five months and studying forhimself what th e Bible t ea ch es c once rn ing

salvation, he was convinced that immersion wasnecessary. So he was baptized according to theScriptures , and has been rejoicing ever since.After th e Thursday night Bible class a fewweeks ago he told me that had read the bookof Acts through in th e past days in order to

r ea ss ur e h im se lf that baptism was necessary

to salvation. Th e reason was, on Tuesday night

of th e s ame week as th e Bible c la ss was coming

in a p1qs.e...a.ypung man who s a MissionaryBaptist came in and sat down When 1 askedif anyone had a question, he said that he did.

He said, he didn't think baptism was necessary to salvation and (hat faith alone was sufficient. This resu lted in a lengthy discussion

which ended in a promise to read all scrip

tures pertaining to salvation. This gives yousome idea of what I am trying to do .

If th e Lord tarries, I am sure there will be

others that will yield to the Whole Truth.

P le ase p ray that God will guide and use me

to thi s end, that al l might be built up into the

fu ln ess of God.

By th e time you receive this information,

Jack will b e d is ch ar ged and at home, an d Don

will be on his way. They need ou r prayers

as they face their families, denominational

frien ds an d th e possibility of no New Testament Chu rch n ea rb y.

—Stanley Buttray



Christian

T H E TOKYO CHRISTIAN

ished quarterly by th e Missionaries ofChurch of Christ Cunningham Mission.

Japan , for the information and inspiraof every Christian whose heart is open to

call of Christ, and who is willing to help

th e supreme task of carrying out t he Gre atof Chr is t: Ma tt hew 28:19, 20.

a s s ec on d c la ss m a t t e r in th e Knox-

Tenn., Postoffice under the ac t of March

1879.


r ip ton and Flaming Torch — 1.00M I S S I O N S T A F F

and Mrs. Stanley Buttray, 575 2-Chome,

mioch ia i, Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo , Japan. For

agent: Mrs. Homer Anderson, R. D. 1,a dv il le , P a.

. and Mrs. Andrew Patton, Furlough

ress same as — Forwarding agent: Mr. or

Ray Armstrong , Rt. 3 Box 310, Piqua,

and Mrs. Harold Sims, (On fur lo ugh

d re ss s am e as : Forwarding agent: A. E.

Alexandria, Kentucky.

fo r Japan should be se nt d irec t by

post to one of the missionaries whose

are shown above. Consult your local

concerning mail ing rules and limita

of size an d weight.

you change your addr es s pl eas e not if y

L. Hamilton, Kimberlin Heights, Tennessee,

bo th your old and your new address.

you mak e an offering of 1.00 or more you

e nt it le d to receive this paper if you souest. Churches or groups making an offer

of 10.00 or more may request a bundle

10 copies fo r d i st ribu t ion .

Harold Sims preaching in Moiwashita

Sapporo City, Hokkaido, Japan

EVANGELISTIC MEETINGS

HOKKAIDO

In August 1957 our who le f amily made a

i n te r es ti ng t ri p to th e northern islandHokaido where I p re ac he d f or a week of

meetings in a tent e re ct ed n ex t

to missionary Ea rnes t Fabe r s home. We

a very good t ime, th e marvelous scen

Page 2

x X

I

Snow sculpture of Japanese warriors fighting on a bridge erected in a park in

downtown Sapporo.

er y was unforgetable, an d th e mee ti ng s were

fairly successful. However someone suggested

thai mid-winter might be a bet ter t ime fo r

church activities, because in th e long days of

th e s ho r t s ummer everyone is so b us y. I t was

thought there would be more le is ur e f or th e

average person on cold winter nights. So that

is why I fo un d mys el f on an express train

headed north out of Tokyo Friday afternoon

F e b 6.

In unseasonably warm Tokyo I felt quite

conspicuous in my over-shoes until I reached

t h e s t at io n w h e r e t h e r e w e r e o t h e r nor th -bound

passengers. After 12 hours o f c hoo ing and

whistling along th e seacoast and th ro ug h the

sma l l f a r m s of n o r t h e a s t Honsu w e a r r i v e d

at the tip of the m ain islan d at m id nig ht and

immediately boarded th e ferry f or t he 4V^ hour

crossing to Hokkaido. As dawn broke we were

on th e train climbing up into the hills north

of Hakodate (the seapor t of Hokkaido) and

it was truly a winter wonderland. At first th e

whole sof t su rface of th e snow wa s tinted pur

pl e and pink and then i t became g l is ten ing

white. It must have been about 2 feet d eep

with higher d rif ts i n some places, and to sa y

the very least I didn t ge t tired of looking at

th e str aw roofs cover ed w it h snow, th e sle ds

instead of carts in th e railroad stations, th eblack running streams between th e hign uaiiis,s

of snow, th e weighted bu t u nb en di ng t re es

e t c

Snow wa s f al li ng l ight ly when Wesley

Walker met me in front of Sapporo station,

and we were soo n going through th e busy

streets of th e island s capital city. It seemed

a l i tt le strange to me to see everybody wearing

boots, th e streets all paved with ice an d al l

vehicles c ha in ed (e xc ep t th e s le ds wh ich

were used for many common tasks l ike garbage

collection). It was th e week-end of t h e annual

Snow Festival, so the city was unusually

full of people. Needless to say, I discovered

that snow sculpturing is another one of th e

handworks and fine arts at which th e Japanesear e adept. They had b ui lt such things as a2 s to ry hous e wi th e le ct ri c li gh ts in th e icywindows, a replica of thei r South Pole ex

ploration ship, and rows of smal le r e nt ri es .

(The accompanying picture shows on e of th e

prize-winners—a Japanese bridge on which 2warriors in ancient armor a r e f igh ti ng ) .

T he W al k e r s w or k i s o n t h e s o u t h e n d

of th e city in a section called Moiwash ita.

When we arrived on Sa tu rday a ft ernoon th e

p la ce w as full of women c le an in g i n p re pa ra

tion for th e evangelistic mee ti ng . T he Walk

er s live in a 2 room apa rtment i n the back of the chu rch, and are k ep t warm by a large

brick Pechka, a Russian-type chimney-stove.

T he chu rc h a ud it or ium is f loo red w it h Japan

es e mats (the only l ik e t hi s I have seen) so ^

I slept there in Japanese style, except that

I had an electric blanket that kept me very

comfortable in spite of freezing temperatures

inside of the room in the mornings. ,

Eve ryone t alk s a bout th e weather, so Iwas so on discovering that in spite of th e 2feet o f s now on th e g ro un d and t he icicles hang

in g from th e eves this was t he wa rmest wint er

in m ny years there. There w s som meltingalmos t every day, but everything was always

frozen s t if f befo re darkness fell. We had sever

al bi g snows, bu t th e weather di d not seem to

interfere with the attendance at th e church.

Th e Moiwashita church is bu il t a round alively group of young married people, and is atpresent enjoying a period of growth that was

a joy and encouragement to witness and parti ci pa te in. For the pas t several years the

Walkers have operated a nursery school for

the children of working mothers and o ther s inth e neighborhood, and some have been reach

ed through this contact. O th ers have been

invited by their friends, since there are manyapartments in the area occupied by youngcouples about the same age. It was rare and

great to see a large representation of this age-group in a Japanese church, because the aver

age church has more older people and students

t han peopl e in th e prime of life.

Another intes ting thing about this church

is that it is located very near a large Japanese

Self-defense Force base, and most of th e members are either soldiers or work on the basein some capacity. There is a strong pacifistsentiment in much of Japanese Christianity,and most churches want nothing to do with



3

Army. Bu t these people also need th e

lowest at te nd an ce d ur in g t he mee tin g

52 adults an d about 10 children, an d th e

s t was 71 adults. For anywhere i n J ap an

would be c on si de re d v er y c ommend ab le

But th e best t hi ng abo ut t he meet

was th e response. Twelve people were

d ur in g t he m ee ti ng a nd 3 others made

confession on the final n ight and were

l at er . ( Th y have a nice hea ted bapt is

by the way) Seve ra l homes were united

i st as a result of th e meet ing , and 2 men

their wives were b ap tize d toge th er . So

a re v er y thankful to God fo r Hi s blessings

th e meetin g and fo r th e gospel an d it s

After the 8 da y meeting in Sapporo ended

Feb. 15 I took th e night t rain down to

r o in th e cold plains of central Hokkaido

I h ad a ss is te d t he F ab er s i n a meeting

years previously. — — —

Since I had bee n in Obihiro 6 had been

i zed and a small an d nice-looking chapel

i ng had been cons tr uc t ed on a well-locat

lo t ac ro ss a part from on e of the main

of th e t own. On Monday night when awas show n w e ha d 80 i n a tt endance , but

r es t of th e week there wa s an a ve ra ge o f

20. Ther e wer e no responses to th e in

io n, b ut q uit e a lo t of new people came

e s er vi ce s. The Mennoni te c hu rc h, whi ch

in that sec tion , came in a body on e

an d it was in te res t ing to see them pu t

coverings on their heads before the

began, as thei r custom is .

A fte r th e S un da y evening Feb. 22 I start

e long journey home. With th e help of a

t al ka ti ve conductor on th e train who

everyone w ith his incessant descrip

of th e scenery an d details about sched

etc. given in heavy s lurr ing northeas tern

accent o ve r th e loud-speakers in th e

we arrived safely in Tokyo on Tuesday.

s snowing here fo r the f ir st t im e since

1. It wouldn t take long to guess that

r yone g rea ted me with t al k abo ut th e wea

I h ad b ro ug ht back.

—Haro l d Sims

THE PRINTED PAGE

The printed page o fte n has more lastin g in

f lu en ce t ha n t he mes sa ge which is heard. Also,

I believe a greater percentage of t he p eople

can. be reached by this method. E ven t ho ug h

it is a method l it tl e used by Jesus, yet I am

sure it is on e which mee ts His ap pro val. Idare say, that th e Gospel enters more homes by

t hi s met ho d than any other , except, p^Jssibiy

radio

Real iz ing this oppo r tun it y and challenge,

I am e nd ea vo ri ng to translate an d publish

ma te ri al t h at has come down to us from th e

early Restoration Movement leaders. This litera

ture and al l o th er t ha t endeavors to enlighten

an d bring people to pure New Testament Chris

tianity is of th e greatest importance.

Y.M.C.A. Bible class taught on Monday evening by Mrs. Buttray

Tokyo Christian

Christmas Day a t t he Buttrays.

Th e three young men in th e

for eg round f rom left to right

are, Jack Anthony, Do n Ware-

ham, Dale M ar sh . Young men

from Camp Oji who h av e b ee n

baptized.

Two thousand copies of New Testament

Christianity No. 1 f inally came from th e press

December 20 1958. Thus fa r 325 copies have

been sen t t o m is si on ar ie s an d book stores.

Thi s i nc lu de s Okin awa an d Korea as well as

here in J ap an .

Already we have had a few reports from

t h o s e who have r ead t h i s book of s erm on s

translated from New Testament Christianity,

by Z. T. Sweeney which have been encouraging.

For example:, th e young preacher who has

taken over the work on Tanegash ima I sl and ,

recently r ea d t he book an d made t hi s comment ,

T h e r ea di ng of this book ha s reassured my

fa ith in th e Church of Chris t of th e

New Tes tamen t From Okinawa word comes

t ha t a ft er reading only half o f the book they

w er e g re at ly im pre sse d. P ra y th at God will

wonderfully bless this book to every person

that reads it . It is surely to have it s influence

upon the poor misled of denominationaIi.sm.

A reprint o f S amue l S au nd er s book, T he

Church of Christ is a t t he p ri nt er s just now

an d should come of f th e p re ss a bo ut th e firstof May. Also, On the Rock by D. R. Dungan

is being translated and should be ready f or t he

printers about th e first of May. Accordingly

I am hoping this book will be published by th e

first of August.

I am sea rching for an attractive and ap

p ro pi at e c ov er p ic tu re f or this book, O n th e

Rock wh ic h s impl e means—Bui ld ing our

faith and hope only in Jesu s Christ and His

Word as found in th e New Te st ament . So I

am asking you who read this to help me bysending in a sketch, drawing or paint ing. The

sketch chosen will be p rinted in the next issue

of the Tokyo Chris tian.

A thousand d ol la rs w ill b e n ee de d for th e

publishing of th e next two books by th e firstof July. This is definitely a worthy causeand the more gifts t ha t a re received, t he great

er vol ume o f oooks will be published.

—Stanley Buttray



Christian

ANNUAL ALL JAPAN

because Nagoya is conveniently locat

in central Japan the re was very good at

at o ur re gu la r fi rst week in April

this year. The Christ ians most ly

g people) in that area a lt hough sma ll

umbe r did a very good jo b of planning

program an d making al l of t he a rr ange

s , even des igni ng a m o dem a rt poster

adver t i sement . T h e r e were m or e th an 14 0

present fo r th e 3 days of th e Japanese

and there was a spirit o f u ni ty mani

that sent everyone away rejoicing .

Following this we ha d 2y2 days of fellow

for th e missionaries which wa s a real

feast fo r all. This year we reached

w high in attendance with a to ta l ( inc lud

th e children) of 89. Almost a ll of ou r

in Japan were p re sent , and there

s eve ra l gue st s from other nations. Mr .

Mrs. Alex Bills cam e over from Korea,

Mr . an d Mrs. Don Byers f rom Tha il and and

Ralph Harter from India stopped by on

way home fo r furlough, we would like

c ommend t h a t othe r missionaries arrange

in Japan at this season of the year

d er to b e with us .^

On March 31 Mr. Nam res igned as pastor

e Mikawashima Church of Christ in Tokyo.

is a congregation of Koreans in Japan)

the present t ime a successor has not b een

MY TRIP TO KOREA

— H a r o l d S i m s —

(Continued from last issue)

Through th e k indnes s o f Nor thwe st Air

letting one of their employees go with

I arrived at Taylor s house earlier than

had expected me. The old Mission house

th e Seminary bui ld ing are in a good

about half-way up one of th e hills near

West Gate of th e city and just a few

te s d riv e fr om the center of town. Out

of the brick-walled yard t he re a re found

r ich and poor—a cross-section of Korean

Many refugees from the North

moved n ea r th e old c ity wall in o rd er

their houses against it and use th eernment owned l and without charge, and

uninhibited quarrel ing provided no end

excitement an d diversion.I enjoyed very much the hospitality ofTaylor s house during my stay in Korea.

a very busy place, because i t is the center

an d relief c lothes for severa l orphan

th e guest-house fo r al l of our missionaries

ea, service-men and many Koreans, th e

and problem-consultation se r

c e n t e r f o r m or e t h a n 70 c hu rc he s s ca t

d throughou t th e country, th e Mission

an d th e home of th e Seminary president.

t he f ir st s ev er al d ay s I was rather con

because of th e many coming and going,

af t er 6 weeks I became used to it.

The re a re problems in housekeeping in

that would never occur to anyone in

places. Water is a precious commodity

is hau le d dai ly f rom an Army supply

e a cro ss t own in a Mission-owned tank

and s tored throughout th e house in very

earthenware pots after the Jew s m an

ne r of purifying. Electricity is cut o ff a bout

one-half of every even ing because of th e power

shor tage. Amer ican- type groceries are obtain

e d b y c alling a man who named h is e st ab li sh

men t T he A P an d giving h im you r list. He

s e n d s a n a ss is ta n t a ro u nd to back doors a n d

(n o matter what color you c al l them) markets

to obt ai n and del iver your goods to th e door

along with a bill fo r several thousand hwan.

He has no s tock , pays no t ax and doesn t need

much advertising.

I t would take to o lo ng t o recount a ll of the

impressive things I saw and th e experiences

during those 6 weeks in Korea, bu t I would

l ike to list a few of th e mos t memorab le .

1. Mrs. Im s Orphanage in Taejon

Our closest f ri ends among th e Koreans

in Tokyo (the Lees) had urged me to visit

this pla ce b y a ll means , because there I would

se e their o riginal home as well as her sisters

an d in-laws, her mother s g r ac e e tc . So when

I heard one of th e interpreters would be going

down there from Seoul to arrange hi s wedding

I a sked h im to take me alon g on th e 4-hour

train trip. From the station we boarded a

badly shaking bu t determined bus a nd bough t

t ic ke ts ( pi ec es o f ol d blue oil-cloth used thou

sand s of tim es o ver) f or th e o ut sk ir ts of th e

town. We got off at a small cross-road an d

started walking alon g b etw een th e rolling

hills. Soon we passed a p re tt y, whi te count ry

church an d turned into a path over th e hill.

We arr iv ed at th e orphanage in a few minutes

a n d a ll 99 c h i l d r e n as well as th e var ious a d u l t

workers came ou t to meet us The well-kept

buildings ar e beautifully situated in the mid

dle of a peach orchard , with plenty of fresh

ai r and sunshine and a magni fi cen t v iew of

paddy f ie lds below, hills surrounding a nd towering mountains in th e background.

The folks went al l ou t in hospitality to

me. It was my f irst opportunity to sleep on

the famous Kore an warm floors. They cook

over low wood-bu rn ing s tove s on th e outside

of one side o f t h e r o o m a n d l e t t h e smoke

go t hr ou gh sma ll openings un der the stone

Hoor and ou t th e ch imney o n th e o th er side.

Just th e comfortable thing for that cold

c l i m a t e

Before supper I ha d a good visit with th e

family, an d on e younger sister of Mrs. Le e

who used to live in Tokyo a nd te ach in th e

Mikawashima kindergarden showed me some

old pictures of th e wor k more than 20 years

ago that were very interesting. I wa s showedaround the p la ce a nd notic ed that t hey wer e

using sawdust an d rice hulls as fuel in the

l ar ge o pen kitchen. Wood is scarce and ex

pensive. After supper th ey h ad even ing wor

ship an d I was asked to give a mes sage to

th e children. I spoke in J ap an es e an d on e of

th e o ld er h elp ers who used to live in Japan

then in terp re ted into Korean. After I finished

they pu t on a program fo r me. I was particu

l ar ly impre ssed by th e Engli sh l anguage abi l

it y of one tall, skinny boy who gave a speech

an d sang Oh, Danny Boy, th e Peeps (sic) ar e

cal l ing A f t e r w a r d h e t a l k e d s om e w it h m e i n

order to practice his English conversation, and

I was amazed to hear h im quo te whole pag es

fro m h is text-book a n d l i t e r a t u r e h e h a d re a d

The superintendent told me he wa s th e to p

boy in hi s class in every s ub je ct a nd studied

by candle-light (there was no electricity inrural areas) until after mid-night every night.

Page 4

The hopeful energy of that young boy conquer

in g his c ircumstances typif ies to me th e best

in t he Korean people.

2. Pr e a c h e r s fami l ies in K o r e a

The preacher at Mikawashima sent gifts

by me for hi s family, and asked me to take

thema

Biblean d

preachth e

gospelto

them,

for they are al l Confucianists. I located th e

middle-class home a t th e en d of a narrow alley

o ff o ne o f th e main s t r e e t s o f Seoul . Of course

t hey wer e g la d t o see m e an d hear news of th e

their so n who ha d been gone more th an 13

years. I was ushered into an upsta ir s room fill

e d w it h th e dusty, tangy smell of Chinese herb

m e di ci ne s w h ic h w e re s to r ed i n s co re s o f m a r k

ed b ag s h an gin g f rom th e ceiling. Thi s i s th e

father s business. My heart went out in sym

pathy to this polite, stalwart Kor ea n f am il y a s

they t old c almly of how 2 of their sons were

carried north by th e Communists (one a

minor g ov er nmen t official an d th e other a

Univ; student) , and that while they want to

se e their so n in Ja pan t he y t hi nk conditions

in K ore a a r e sti l l to o u ns et tl ed f o r h im to

r et ur n. T hey promised to read th e Bible.

I n P us an I s ea rc h ed f o r th e wife a n d chi l

dren of Mr. Rhee who preaches in Shinagawa

an d ha s been separ at ed from his family fo r

7 years. I found her employed as a Bible

Woman in on e of the Presbyterian churches

there, and met the 2 nice daughters living

with her. Need le ss to say they were delighted

ceased to pray fo r h im eve ry day. As a return

gift to him th ey gave me his ol d Bib le which

to hear news of their father. They have never

was g iven to him by his mother more than 30years ago. Later I met hi s older so n and

daughter who live in Seoul, and was very im

pressed by this fine family an d th e human

tragedies caused by politics. It really helpedme to know th e people here by visiting in

their homes in Korea and seeing their back

ground.

3. Chinese R e st ur an t i n I n c h o n

One day I accompanied Mr. Taylor on abusiness trip to 2 of the orphanages he over

sees in order to see th e children, their ra b

bits and pigs, and the port city of Inchon

whe re MacAuthu r made th e famous landing

that won th e f i rs t phase of th e war. A statue

of the famous general is p rominent on one of

the hills overlooking the rather drab city ofbrick warehouses. We had lunch in a Chinese

r es tu rant , a nd noticed th e sign on a small

neighboring establishment. The present name

was Taipeh R. but the previous Peiping namehad been v ery poorly painted over, and the

change wi^h the political tides was very

thought-provoking,

4. The Depa rtment S to re s

Shopping in Korea is different from anyother place I have ever been. The store seem

ed to be just a series of small private shopsunder one roof. For instance, men s wear

section wa s a line of counters — each one

having shirts, t ies, cuf f- links, g loves etc . If

you went by one place without buying t he nex t

would try to stop you, and if you offered alower price they woul d come down. It was

a joy to watch the old oriental hand H. Taylorjew them down. Also you could find unexpect

ed things in th e counters such as Americanpens, electric-razors etc. that had been boughtfrom the PX by one me hod or another.

(To be continued next issue.)



Tokyo h r is t ian

o ye into a ll the world and preach t he gospel to every creature Mark 16:15

Kimberlin Hgts. Tennessee Fa U 1959 Number 1

w

University student s class mentioned inarticle below at a farewell dinner which they

gave fo r Mr . an d Mrs. Sims.

ME REWARDS OF WORK WITH

STUDENTS

Sims

During our first year in Japan most oftime was spent in teaching English—many

es using a Scripture passage as the basicassignment, of_course..But I gradually

e to the conviction that our purpose inan was not to teach English but preachgospel in Japanese. So from that time

glish Bible Classes were limited to 1 or 2week, and the main effort was given to

Japanese language, and of coursere and more time was consumed with

inary teaching and church work.

However there ar e some compensat ions

values in English teaching that cannot

over-looked, and I have come to appreciatemore in the past few years. One of the

jor elements in Tokyos population is Unstudents f rom all over the country.

are 78 government accredi ted Univeres in the city—more than 3 of the totalall Japan. And the notoriously stiff entrance

i na tio ns e limina te a ll b ut the cream ofcrop, since often only 1 in 20 or more

liCc.nts is admi tted in the big six. Onethe chief con tact s wjth thi s g roup of b: ight,re l eade rs of Japan is t hrough Engli sh

Of course we missionaries ar e sometimes

troubled in various ways by their scientificdoubt s and di ffi cu lt ques tions . And the per-rentage of those who are converted and become true Christians is appallingly small. Butthough we cannot be satisfied with it, we canat least rejoice a little that th ey have somehearing of the Word and understanding andrespec t for Christ and His followers.

Fo r example, a young man came to ou rhome one afternoon about 2 years ago and

asked if I would carry on conver sa ti on in

English for 1 hour every Thursday afternoon.He would cal l ever y t ime be for e coming andask it if were convenient , and he would leave

on time. Since it required no prepara t ion and

he was th e so n of a prominent newspaperman

in ou r neighborhood, I consented to his request. He was fai thful to his promise, and aftera few t imes he asked if he m ight bring hi s

f ri end s w it h him. Soon we had a class going.

Many times when I was discouraged orworr ie d a bo ut somethng the visit of these

well-mannered, intelligent boys brightened my

whole day. Their conversation broaoened andstimulated my own knowledge ind thinking

as well as giving me a high resipect fo r Japan

ese people and their ways.

I wish I could sa y that t hey became Chr istians, bu t no t yet. True to Japanese tradition

they gave us a farewell present and a special

dinner party, and some of the last faces wesaw at the pier were these young fellows

w av in g t o us .

The a t t e n s

Back in Japan

(Printers note — this material was writ

te n fo r an earlier publication date as you wil l

se e when yo u read it. The Pa tt on s ar e already

i n J ap an and h ar d at work.)

August 21, 1 959 m arks the tim e when we

and our three children will ^ave goodbye to

our homeland an d turn our faces again toward

th e E astern World. Our objective will be

another five-year term of service as Christ ian

missionaries in Tokyo, Japan. Having had th e

experience of part ing f rom home and friends

and loved ones before, we know how difficult

it is. When one passes under the Golden Gate

Bridge with the star-spangled banner still vi

b ran t in h is ears while at the same time he

t ak es o ne last f on d l ook at hi s be loved Amer -

i cal , his heart, and perhaps his eyes, is full.

But in spite of ou r fondness for home and

friends, we are anxious to ge t back to work

in Tokyo. Our hearts and heads are full of

plans and de si re s f or the lost and for the

Christian in Tokyo which we would like to

help fulfill. The harvest is s ti ll p lenteous and

th e laborers ar e very, very few. I t is fo r thisreason that we return to Japan and to any

work which the Lord may have fo r us there.

Continued on page 2



Christian

T H E TOKYO CHRISTI N

Published quarter ly by the Missionaries ofe Churc h of Christ Cunningham Mission.

Japan, for th e information and inspira

of every Christian whose heart is open t oe call of Christ, and who is willing to helpt he sup reme task of carrying out t he Great

of Christ: Matthew 28:1 9, 20.

Entered as second class matter in the Knox-

Tenn., Post office under the act of March

1879.


bscription and Flaming Torch ^1.00

MISSION S T F F

Mr. an d Mrs. Stanley Buttray, 575 2-Chome,Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo, Japan. For

agent: Mrs. Homer Anderson, R. D. 1,Pa.

Mr . and Mrs. Andrew Pat ton, 27 Sakura-

ma, Nakano^Ku, Tokyo, Japan. ForwardingMr. or Mrs. Ray Armst rong , R t. 3,

x 310, Piqua, Ohio.

Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims (Furloughd re ss f or th e w in te r: 790 15th Ave., South,

Petersburg, Fla .) Forward ing agent: A.Sims, Alexandria, Kentucky.

Packages for Japan should be sent direct bypost to one of the missionaries whose

ar e shown above. Consult your local

office concerning mailing rules an d limitof size and weights.

If you change you r address please notify

L. Hamil ton, Kimber l in Heights, Tennessee,

bot h you r old and your new address .

you make an offering of 1.00 o r m ore yo u

e ent it le d to receive this paper if you soChurches or groups making a n of fe r

g of 10.00 or more may request a bundle10 copies fo r distribution.

HOME RENTED FOR ONE YEAR

One of t he p roblems connected with our

was that of what to do about ouran d furniture in Tokyo. Several prosrenters among the missionaries we

were contacted, but all of t hem wan ted

place fo r a longer period of time than onea r. Nobody wants to move of ten. So we

that God would guide us to a solu

fo r this problem.

Finally we were b rought into contact wth

Education Depar tment of Tokyo Univerwho needed a furnished house fo r just

e y ea r f or a pro fessor f rom S tan fo rd Un ive rwho would be coming to Japan for teachan d research sponsored by the Ford

undation. Not only were they pleased to ge thouse, bu t they were willing to pay a very

price fo r it in advance. So we havehouse taken care of and hope that the

fessor and his family have a ve.ry enjoye stay in Japan and will not be overly

by our pe t bums and traveling sales

PATTONS Con t inued from 1

At the end of ou r very pleasan t fur lough

w e w ou ld l ike to extend a f inal word of thanks

to al l th e good f ol k who have entertained us

so royally in their homes and in th e churches.

We know t ha t t he re is a h os t o f s in ce re so uls

who r emembe r u s constantly before ou r God

in ,prayer. The earnest prayer of a righteous

man s till avails much. For th es e a nd a mul t i

tude of other ble ssings a nd to ke ns of fellow

ship in the gospe l of Christ we bow ou r knees

to ou r heavenly Father and extend our hands

to ou r b r ethe rn who have joined with us inthe work .

We hope to leave Ohio by train on July

30 f or Col or ad o where we will spend on e

week in cam p. Then we will proceed to San

Fran cisco to fin ish th e sailing preparations.

Equipment will have to be p ur ch as ed a nd

packed and gotten to th e dock on time. We

shall be as busy then as at an y time during

our furlough. If our friends wou ld lik e tocommun ica te wi th us w hile w e are in Cali

fornia, our add ress will be : Andrew an d Betty

Patton, c/o Home of Peace of Oakland, 4700Daisy St., Oakland 19, Calif.

We had to borrow money from our ge n

eral fund in order to finish paying fo r our

ship tickets and we wil l have to do the s ame

fo r our t rain t ic ke ts to California. This will

make us very short on funds for our work

after we reach Tokyo but we had to do i t

that wa y in order to meet th e dead li n e o f July

6 which the mer ican Pres iden t Lines set

fo r th e final payment on th e tickets. We hope

t o s el l o ur car before we leave Ohio and that

money shoul d help a great deal in meeting

th e travel expenses. We have est imated thatit will cost us 2,000.00 for ou r ship and train

tickets, f or i tems of equipment needed during

our next five-year term, and for packing and

transporting our baggage to Japan. To date

we have received 710.75 toward th e tr av el

fund. That leaves 1289.25 ye t to be raised.Will you please prayerfully consider this and

send us an offering to help bear the expenseof our travel back to our work?

ndrew Pat ton

Mailing List

R e v i s e d

Beginning with this issue of the TokoyoChristian many of you who have been receiving 10 copies will be recieving only one. Thereason is that we have attempted a long-overdue revision of the mailing list.

We are not just seeking to economize, forprinting and mailing a few extra copies makesvery little difference in the cost of the pub li

cation. But we do have a suspicion that manyof these copies are not being read and used

effectively, and perhaps we are just puttingburdens on some of you by sending as manycopies for you to d is tr ibu te .

If you are disappointed at th e reduction incopies, or if you can use 10 or more copies

PLEASE send a post-card to ou r p ri nte r at

Kimberlin Heights, Tenn. and so inform us .

We wil l be happy to send as many as you can

use and to know you are interested.

Page 2

Was ed a Uni ver sit y campu s, where Harold Sims taught an Eng li sh Conversat ion class

fo r a t ime.

A JAPANESE YOUTH TO HIS LOVING

CHRISTIAN HOME

(This poem was handed to me a few day s

befor e l eaving Japan . Wri tt en in Engl is h byon e of our Christian friends, I think it expresses wel l th e emotions in hi s heart and isworth publication. It is worth more than that

to us. H . S.)

Thou blessed country America

T ho u w as t b or n o f P ur it an s,

God has led you all th e while;

So t hou p rospe red ever abundantly.

Thou, America b ro ug ht to u s m any blessings.

Yet th e g reat es t thing that we ought togive you million thinks is

To th y blessed feet.

For th y beautiful feet brought here th egood tidings —

Remission o r forgiveness of our sins so

deep.

Bec au se o f your service, even across th e

oce n

You came to Japa n in order to proclaim

t he Lo rd 's g ra ce a nd Love.

W e w ere ab le to be l iberated f rom th e

chains of sons of Satan

I praise the name of th e Lord almighty

By His will thou wast sent and served.

May God giv e you m uch b le ss ings to th ethousands of generations

B ec ause of y ou r sons who love th e L ordan d keep H is commandments

Oh, Ame ri ca , how I wish that I could

see Thee I L ov e Y ou All



3 Tokyo Christian

they sho we d us real hospitality d ur in g t he 4days we stayed in southern C al iforni a. Wespent th e nights in th e A1 H am mo nd h om e inGlendale and th e days in purchasing a used

ea r and g et ti ng i ns ur an ce d ri ve r s l ic en se

etc. for th e trip east. Also we were able tomake brief visits to Disneyland an d otherpoints of interest to th e family.

W e b el ie ve God wa s leading and giving

us good speed in getting all of this businessdone an d we save d quite a lo t of money byd ri vi ng e ast instead of g oi ng by train o r plane

with al l of th e b ag ga ge e tc . Also we were

able to see G rand Canyon an d some otherscenery on th e way an d to visit in three

chu rche s

It is good in every way to be back in ou r

h o m e c o u n t r y .

O ur a dd re ss fo r th e prese nt is P. Bo x

75 Alexandria Ky.

O u r I tn e ra r y is :

July 12-18 Camp Northward Falmouth

- V• ^ July 19 First Christian Church Turtle

Part of the group of Japanese Christians and missionaries on the deck before we sailed jy]y 20 25 Mahoning Valley Christian_ _ _ _ _ Service Camp Rushville Ind.

^ S rnumjm SmmM Church of Christ Marklc Ind.

i in t s r B i n n y n o w ou fvuifviAugust 4 5 6 Virginia Evangelising Fel-

I m m m M M lowship RallyI v MiK y H August 9 5 Smoky Mountain Christian\ M w m • S Vf • M m M m m M ^ S Service Camp Knoxville Tenn.• m m w August 6 St. Petersburg Florida

Family Now

t K e n t u c k y H o m ein to t ha t beautiful ha r bor an d a genuine plea

s u r e to o v er he a r t he c o m m e n t s th e J a p a n e s e

w er e m ak in g about ev er y th ing . We spent most

of th e day in downtown S an F ra nc is co s ee in g

s ig ht s s uc h as Woolworth s a real American

d ru g s to re an d cafeteria etc. which were delightful an d familiar to us an d new to th echildren

Then we w e n t on to Lo s Angeles w h e r e

we disembarked. W e w ere m et by th e minis

t e r of t h e C r en sh aw C h ri s ti a n C h u r c h an d

A u g u s t 23 Eustis Florida

August 30 Twenty-fourth St . Church

N e w p o r t News Va .Sept. 27-3DNational Missionary Convention

Springfield 111.

W e will be happy to hear from all w ho

w ou ld l ik e to have us visit an d your preference

of a time if you have one so wc can m ake

definite arrangements to visit as many of yo u

as possible accomodate y ou r d es ire s a nd p la ns

a n d se r v e C h r ist a n d H is c h u r c h to the bes t

of ou r ability.

A f t e r p r o gr e s si n g s t e ad i ly e a s t wa r d almost

around the globe at th e rate of approx300 miles each day for 25 days after

Yokohama on June 4 we arrived at

A. E. Sims home in Alexandria Ky . about

P .M . o n J u n e 29 . T h e r e we ha d a w o n d e r

reunion with ou r loved ones a nd t ha nk ed

fo r His l ea di ng a nd m an y b le ss in gs on th ej ou r ne y .

Th e 2 weeks on th e b oa t w er e r el ax in g

e nj oya bl e an d also interesting. W e were

a Japanese s hip cr owde d w it h more thanemigrants to Brazil and had many op

t un iti es to witness for Christ. I asked forTgg io n-to ~h ol d C hristi an servi ce s on the—

S unday out. and after th e officers ha d

v er ed f ro m th e i ni ti al s ho ck at hearinga request t he y gave very fine c oo pe ra ti on .were allowed th e use of th e third-class

ng salon as a place for the meetings andw er e m ad e o ve r th e s h ip s l ou d

system. Ixtis an d I prepared song-t s f or th e singing an d I outlined a simple

sage about the man who pulled down hisan d built g re at er. W e d id n t know what

expect. When we went to the assignede on Sunday morning we found it filled

p eo pl e p la yi ng ga me s and v is it ing . After

t ac ke d t he song-sheets on th e wall an d a nthat we would begin th e worship se r

most of th e p eo pl e r em a in ed in theirs and bega n to listen atten tiv ely. O ther s

in an d we ha d m ore th an 100 in attend

e and a very rewarding meeting in bvery. Many of them h ea rd a gospel m es sa ge f orf ir s t t i m e .

The ship made an unscheduled stop inF ra nc is co on Ju n e 16 an d it wa s a real

l l to go u nd er th e Golden Gate Bridge and The Brazil Maru pulling away from the pier in Yokohama June 4.



kyo Christian

PPY SENDING MEETINGS

The usual word fo r farewell meetings *Japanese consists of 2 ideogrtphs mean

sending-separation and has an aura ofality about it that didn t exactly seem fi t

in our case, because we definitely planreturning to Japan a fte r on e ye ar of fu rth e Lord willing. So th e preacher at

ano took th e first half of welcome meet

and made up th e new express ion hap-meeting. The Japanese appreciate

fin e n uan ce s in th e powerful art of

ds, although the English translation soundse t he y ar e glad to se e you go.Anyway we had a f inal meeting with each

th e groups with wh ich w e ha ve h ad close

long connections. Al l were a lit tl e d if

in details, but conducted in the polite,

and pleasant Oriental manner. Alys tea and rice crackers were served, l it tleeeches of gratitude and esteem were givend a gift as a token of our feeling . Then

h ind iv id ual w is he d u s a safe journey, atime with ou r loved ones, cautioned

to t ak e ca re of our h ea lth a nd begged us

t to forget to write. We had this type ofeting with th e Ar^wa Abiko, Mikawash-

Shinagawa and Nakano churches. Haroldvisited 2 other churche s and 2 preaching

nts which he seldom visits in order to give

last mes sag e b efo re leav in g. Then th eHarold s University student s

Class, Lois ladies Bible study group an d

fo rm er Semina ry s tuden ts arranged af or their formal farewells. Some of th e

students whom we ha d ta ug ht i n

us to a Chinese Re st ur an t f or a r ea l

t a s their gesture of appreciation.

Then came sai ling day. Again representa

s f rom al l of these groups as well as otherr sona l f ri ends wer e at th e pier when we

after finishing customs and immigra«procedures. They all received passes to go

bo ard and see our rooms as well as th e

Being a rather la rg e a nd nice one and

owned they were al l happy about

A t 3:30 the order came fo r al l but

to d is embark . S ince there were

to 1000 passengers there was a crowd

3 or 4 times that number to see us off.

e by one we spotted ou r friends in th ethrong below and waved fo r 30 minutes

the ship pulled away. The warmth ofe farewells will long remain in ou r hearts

d draw us back to serve among these peo

. There are some faces in great crowdcity that have grown famil ia r and beloved

d that shine as lights in th e world. It isthis humble flock that God has called us,may He in His love and power watchand lead us all. Harold Sims

GRANDMOTHER OF SEVENParaphrased by Mrs. Rex Van Allen

ish there were fingerprints on our window-

And scratches on every chair;rteen little shoes over the floor.And playthings everywhere.

th seven little heads all faSt asleep.And everything as still as a mouse.

ir rosy cheeks on pillows of whiteWould make up for a littered up house.they were here asleep in our beds

To me that would really be Heaven.wants a house that is neat as a pin?

Not I, I m the grandmother of seven.

MEETINGS IN NAGOYA

The f ir st f ul l week in May I spent in th e

Howard Davis home in Nagoya and preached

fo r 6 nights. The f ir st mee ti ng was in th e

East s id e church next door to the Davis house.

The second was in a l i tt le chapel building onan Island in th e middle of a vdde r iver about

20 miles from th e city. I t was very interest ing

to me to have th e contact with th e farming an d

fishing village and it s people, because we

have worked a lmos t entirely in th e cities.

The wea th er was very rainy an d cool al l

week, bu t attendance held up very well.

There were 3 confessions o f fai th All o f

them were High Schoo l boys who had been

attending Bible Classes an d other church

activities fo r a l ong t ime, and there was much

rejoicing.

Koreai i VisitThis Repor t I s Continued f rom Prev ious

I ss ue s o f the TOKYO CHRISTIAN

By Harold Sims

5. The Church at Buldong

One of th e Seminary seniors invited me

to preach at his church on a Sunday night. Itwas in a small village about 20 miles from

Seoul. We went by truck, because Mr. Taylor

warned that his car wouldn t take it , so I wasa little prepared for the road, bu t not enough.We turned of f of th e highway to a rutted road

just wide enough for one car between themuddy fields. Occasionally we crossed irriga

tion ditches — f ir st r id ing high, then downthrough th e wat er and up over th e other side

— that really tested the steel fiame of the

vehicle. The r oad just came to an end in th e

midst of a village of small mud-walled and

t ha tch- roofed houses t oo l ow for me to stand

in . We walked up to th e chu rch whe re s ome

30 young people were already singing in th edim lamp-light. They al l sat o n the cold floor

s inging warmly.

Most of our churches in Korea are buil t

by the members , so everything is not exactlysq ua re a nd plumb. The floors are l ai d w it h

poor grade z inch lumber w ith no tongueand groove. Snce al l pieces are the same

length a straight seam runs across th e floor

about eve ry 6 feet, an d i t looks like a fence

laid down in sections. But the faithful ol d

women in every p lace come early and pray

fo r a l ong t ime bef or e th e services wi th their

knees and forehea rds touch ing th e floor. Al l

of th e people appear zealous. I deeply wish

there were small congregations in the villagesthroughout Japan sim il ar to t ho se I saw inKorea, where hymns o f p ra is e and faith ar e

sung, the Word is preached and prayer iswont to be made .

6. Yung Nak Church

I had no appointment to speak on Sundaynight Nov. 16, so accompanied by one of the

students I decided to attend th e largest church

in Korea. It was built entirely by Koreanfunds, and t he main membership is composedof r ef ugee s f rom North Korea. Of course it

was Presbyterian — they r ul e t he roost over

th er e. The l ar ge building was well-built of

stone, wi th a high ceiling and well-proportion

Page 4

ed auditorium. There was a Hammond organ,

flanked by 2 young people s choirs. Al l of th e

women sa t on the right an d th e men on th e

left, and we ha d to go down to th e front, be

cause there were no other empty seats —well over 2000 were in th e audience on tha t

ordinary Sunday evening. And when theystood and sang Far an d Nea r th e Fields are

Teeming my spine just t ingled a long with

th e rafters. Only a missionary from Japan

whe re we ave ra ge 3 or 5 fo r th e Sunday PM

s er vi ce s c oul d r ec ei ve th e full benef i t of see

in g such an audience — an d th e MEN, of all

ages an d stations in l i fe l is tening at tentively

to th e Word. It was worth th e trip.

The ea rly Presbyterian missionaries laid

a solid foundation there, a nd sh ould be com

mended f or t he ir work. They no t only made

Calvinists out of th e whole country they in

culcated much d ee p piety a nd zeal. For th e

first week I was there I was awakened by th e

r ingi ng o f c hu rc h bel ls al l ove r town a t 4 AM

calling th e people to th e daily p raye r mee t

ings that are known around the world. The

skyline is dominat ed by chu rc hes , whi ch are

usually large located on th e tops of hills stand

in g i n sha rp watch-man-like sever ity over th e

sm al l h ou se s a ro un d t hem .

7. Dedication of a New Orphanage Building.

It was a cold rainy afternoon, but there

was a large g roup o f Ameri can se rv ic e men

an d Economic Cordinator civilian personal al

ready on hand looking very uncomfortable

in th e c ol d mud . These people — some full

Colonels and many lesser grade officers — hadcontributed to th e building of a nice cement

block bui ld in g c al le d Hou se of Hope l oc at ed

n ea r t he dependant housing area. One of th e

men had discovered 30 orphans living in a tent

on one o f th e h ills s om e months before and

initiated a drive in the Chapel to build ahome fo r them. The construction was super

vised by a very capable and proud negro sar-

gent. It helped my patr io t ism to se e t he p ur e

jo y on their faces as they brought the 30

shivering children in to their new home, ha d

a simple dedication ceremony and gave each

on e a knit ted sweater an d c ap . May our na tion

be a people always t ak ing del ight in helping

th e l es s f o rt u na t e

8. T h e N o rth K or ea n Doctor .

One o f t he d inne r guests at Taylors house

was a doctor a nd hi s wife who ha d sponsored

an English Bible Class by Bro. Taylor every

morn ing f rom 7-8 AM in their hospital fo r a

year or more. H e could sp eak Ja pa ne se, and

so we had a very interesting conversation

about politics. He was bom, educa ted and

worked as a doctor in th e capitol city o f Nor th

Korea u nti l th e Amer icans re tr ea te d a fte r

once conquering that city. Then he fled south

with many others his was the m^^ nmitantanti-Communist I have ever met, klso afine, Christian, in te ll ig en t man a nd a real

Korean patr io t . One of th e f in es t buildingsi n c en tr al Seoul, incidentally, is called th e

Ant i -Communis t Center .

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT TIME

sims harold lois 1959 japan

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