sims harold lois 1970 japan

8/12/2019 Sims Harold Lois 1970 Japan

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Chr i s t i anGo ye into all-the world and preach the gospel to every creature Mark 16:15

Volume 69 January 1970 Number 1

Relocation Report IIIn t he p rev ious issue of th e TokyoChristian I explained the b ack gr ou nd ,

reasons and plans for selling part of thelo t at Nakano, r ebui ld ing the churchbuilding there, and relocating our livingand worki ng place. We are now giving thes econd p rogres s r epor t, and are thankfu lthat by th e gra cious p ro te ct ion of ourFather In Heaven good progress is beingmade and t he busine ss is being done in aChristian spirit of honesty, humility, unity,hopefulness and trust. Our prayer is thatthis whole project may contribute to th egrowth an d strength of th e faith of eachone concerned as well as to th e good ofChrist s Kingdom as a whole, and thus farwe believe this is happening.

1. On October 17 th e con t r ac t fo r th esale of th e land was signed and the firstpayment received. This was approximatelyone-third of th e total sale price.

Around th e las t of Octo b er a numberof the church people helped to clean th ehouse where the Sims family lived for 16yea rs , a nd then to move al l of t he I tagakifamily belongings a nd s om e of t he c hu rc hfurniture into the house. The last Sundayin October the Nakano church began meetings in it s temporary location, th e formerSims house The f ir st s er vi ce s of th echurch had begun In the same room 19yea rs before.

3. On October 31 th e contract fo r th enew church building was signed. The

architect, builder and some of the membersgathered for a short meeting, where prayerswere offered for God s blessing upo n thework and workmen. The old building hadbeen wrecked and removed and t hey s toodby th e former baptistery, which was alltha t r emained

4. By December 31 the new buildingwas ent ir el y under roof and the f ir st c oa tof stucco was on and allowed to dry overth e holidays. The carpent er s and othershave done a very good job in every way,and we have no comp la in ts abou t thei rwork or at t i tudeSee the pictures accompanying thestory.)

1 spent a great deal of time during themonths of November and December lookingfor a suitable piece of land that we couldafford to buy . F inding the place aboutwhich we could truly feel this is it ha sproved much more di ff icul t than we anticipated. We had hoped very much to haveth e place s ele cte d a t le as t by the end ofthe year and to announce it at t hi s t ime,bu t we are sorry to say that nothing defin ite h as been decided ye t and we ar e sti l llooking.

However, th e looking around h as b eeninteresting an d educational. And we dowant to state that we believe that God,through his mysterious and powerfulprovidential workings, has been guidingus . I am thankful now that we did not ge t

either one of the p la ce s t ha t we actuallyentered negotiat ions to buy. In both caseswe were q uite disappointed at th e timewhen things di d not work out as we hadhoped, but l at er fel t re lieved and that Godhad a hand in keeping us from getting thatbecause He had somethi ng better in mindfor us. The o nly th in g we know to do iskeep on considering al l possibi li ties andopportunities with open-minded and willingfaith, because we don t have much confidence in ou r o wn w isd om in th e f ace ofth e confusing number of propositions thatco m e to u s We b e l i ev e w e wil l know withassurance wh en th e place God is leadingus to comes along.

More an d more we have cen te r ed ourattention recently on th e area of Hachioji,which is at the western edge of Tokyo.According to our information it has thesmal les t number of m is sio na rie s a ndchurches in ratio to population of any placein Tokyo. It is a growing a re a, a nd thereis a Christian family there who ar e helpingus to look for a place an d anxious for usto ome

We are indeed thankful that manyfriends both in the U.S. and in Japan arepraying for us in this matter so many ofyou mentioned this in your Christmas cards.Please keep on praying. Our confidenceis in Go d who is ab le to do a bove w hat w ea s k or th ink

Harold Sims

Prayer and a brief dedication ceremony mark the beginning ofconstructi on on the new Nakano Church building October 31, 969 The former building had been wrecked and cleared away afew days previously. Left to right: Yukio Itagaki, minister backto camera), the cont ractor , the a rchi tec t, Harol d S ims and severalmembers of the church who live in the neighborhood and camefo r the occas ion

In the final stages of framework for the new building. Thechurch rooms are downstairs, and the parsonage is upstairs.


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Tokyo ChristianVol. 69 January 1970 No. 1Published four times a year inJanuary, April, July and November fort he m is si on ar ie s of the Church ofChrist Cunningham Mission, Tokyo,Japan by Mission Services, 509 W.Jeherson, Joliet, Illinois. Secondclass postage paid at Joliet, Illinois.Mr. an d Mrs. Stanley Buttray, 2-26-4Kamioch ia i, Shinjuku-ku , Tokyo 161Japan. Forwarding Agent: Mrs. HomerAnderson, 622 Cullum Street, Mead-ville. Pa. 16335.Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Patton, 3-7-8Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164Japan. Forwarding Agent: Mr. an d Mrs.G. Wade Fletcher, R.R. 2, Rushville,Ind. 46173.Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims, House^2001, Sayama-shi, Saitama-ken 350-13Japan. Forwarding Agent: First Churchof Christ, Orange at Center St., Eustis,F l a 32726.Two-year subscription .50Subscription and Flaming Torch 1.00

Bro. Kim ong HokSeveral weeks ago when we visited th eMikawashima Church one Sunday we weresurprised to learn that our good friend KimBong Hak, a de ac on and leader in thatchurch, had just returned from a trip toKorea. He had gone over there for the opening of the second bank he has es tabl ishedon Chejudo Island, which is his nativeprovince.So Mr. Kim is now a bank president

He has cer ta in ly come a long way sincewe first met him in a service in the livin groom of our apartment there in Mikawashimamore than 20 years ago. At that time hewas starting a small plastics factory inthe Minami-Senju district of Tokyo , nea rwhe re we lived. I have visited his factorythe re , which was a rusty corrugated sheetmetal bui ld ing full of machines, suppliesand products.He still has the plastics factory,although it is now housed in a modern,efficient plant in the city of Kawaguchi onthe ou tski rts of Tokyo. Also they willcontinue t o l ive in their nice home inC h i b a P r e f e ct u r eMr. Kim made a l i t tle ta lk after church,and thanked th e members for their prayers.He told how he called together the 70employees of hi s new bank early in themorning of the opening day for prayer. Hesaid that although th e majority of themwere no t Christians he wanted them toknow that everything he had achieved hadbeen by God s grace and blessing and thathe would not think of starting a new business without committing it to God. He alsoadded that the Presbyterian church in hi shome town, which he attended as a childhad split. Both churches were very anxiousfor him to join, but he had told both ofthem that until they could achieve Christian unity he would not go to either one.It is almost an exception for a youngChristian man to maintain his faithin the Japanese business world, so we areencouraged by the example of a few menl ike Bro. Kim.

News rom The PattensChristmas and New Y e a r s a c t i v i t i e s

ar e over now and a bit of r e s t from th e rushis welcome . But th e rest is coming in away we had not considered in our plans.Andrew is laid up for a few days with lobarpneumonia . He should be back at workagain in a few days. Sever al weeks agoPhilip had an acute case of bronchit is andlost several days of schooling because ofit . He and the rest of th e family are now ingood health at the beginning of the year.

The m is si on ar ie s of th e Tokyo areaagain observed Thanksgiving with a bigham and tu rk ey dinner and an aft ernoonprogram at the Pattons ' . Several friends inth e armed forces also joined th e festivities.A total of 47 people attended the meeting .Each family represen ted part ic ipa ted inthe program with a Scripture reading, asong, a mentioning of something he isthankful for by each chi ld , and a prayer bya representative of the f ami ly .

T h e P ra tt s a t I se ha ra s e rv e d a s h o s t sfo r th e Christmas f e s t i v i t i e s fo r th e missionaries. Again, many friends were presentincluding military personnel and theirr e l a t i v e s a n d Mr. and Mrs. Kenne th S t ewar tof Pacific Chris tian College . While theladies were preparing the meal, th e menenjoyed a carol sing in th e living room.After dinner a game of touch footbal l wasenjoyed by the fathers and sons present.

The last few weeks of th e old yearwere f il led with activities at the SakurayamaChurch. A three-day evangelistic meetingw a s h e l d a t t h e e n d of N ovem ber w i t hB ro th er C ho o f th e Mikawashima Churchserving as evangelist. Attendance at th emeeting was fairly good and several newc o n t a c t s were made w ith th e l o s t

Patton FurloughIn l e s s t h a n s i x months from n ow t h ePattons plan to depart from Japan for ayear's fur lough. We are trying to takeadvantage of a chartered flight. Since finalarrangements for the f ligh t have not beencompleted by the travel company, we donot ye t know the exact time, the exact

f are or whether we will actually be allowedto join th e flight or not.A furlough in June, however is definitely in our plans whether we are able tojoin the char tered f ligh t or not. We ar e inneed of your help in making this possible.As of the end of November only 251.30designated for our furlough had beenreceived. About, 2,750 in addit ion to thiswill be needed for our trip back home.If each of you reading t hi s a rt ic le would

s e n d a d ol la r o r more e a c h to our forwarding agent for th is purpose, the need wouldbe filled. Please le t our forwarding agenthear from you about this. The add re ss is :Mr. and Mrs. G. Wade Fletcher, Route 2,Rushville, Indiana 46173.

Andrew P a t t o n

Our annual sukiyaki supper in commemoration ofChristmas was onSunday evening,December 21 . Attendance w a s 25 . A briefmessage and carol sing was enjoyed by all.A Christmas candlelight service washeld at th e Sakurayama Church on Christmas Eve. Brother Morimoto, a Japanese

missionary to Thailand, del ivered the message. A special offering amounting to 55w as r ec ei ve d a t t h a t t ime fo r h is work. Amissionary from Japan to a fo re ign coun tryis a very unusual person in Japan. So agreat deal of interest was shown by theaud ien ce and a lively time of questionsand answers concerning Thailand followedthe service. A group of over 40 attendedt h e s e r v i c e

Another meeting is being planned forJanuary 15 at the Sakurayama Church. Thisday is a national holiday honoring youthwho become twenty years of age duringthis year. Brother Shimada, a professor ofOsaka Bible Seminary, has been invitedto speak and show a film on the Seminary.

T h e Arakawa Church a l s o had a nevangelistic meeting in November. Attendance was rather disappointing bu t somegood was done. The children 's Christmasprogram of t ha t chu rch was excellent andregular attendance at t he Sunday schoolha s increased considerably as a result.We w ish each of you a jo you s an dprosperous New Year. Since 1970 is theyear of our furlough we hope to se e youface to face shortly.

Andrew P a t t o n

The Twenty-third PsalmJapanese Version

The Lord is my Pace-setter, I shalln ot ru sh .He mokes me stop for quiet intervois;He provides me with images of stillness, which restore my serenity.He leads me in ways of efficiencythrough calmness of mind, and Hisguidance is peace.Even though I hove a great many thingsto accomplish each day, I will notfret, for His presence is here.His timelessness. His all-importance,will keep me in balance.He prepares refreshment and renewalin the midst of my activity byanointing my mind with his oil oftronquility; my cup of joyous energyoverflows.Surely harmony and effectiveness shallbe the fruit of my hours, and I shal lwalk in the pace of the Lord, anddwell in His house fo r ever.- Toki Miyasbina


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C ( RE DY TO B E SL IN I I

Japan today is similar to China justbefore> th e Communist l ibe ra t ion . InProverbs 24 : 10-12 God says we have aresponsibility to deliver them that aredrawn unto death, and those t ha t a re readyto be s la in . So le t us consider our re la t ionto the present situation in Japan. We haveseveral quest ions to ask, and we may findsome answers

I . IS A COMMUNIST TAKEOVERIMMINENT IN JAPAN? 1 . C ond it io ns are sim ilar to China

before th e communis t r ev ol ut io n: T h er ewere communist cells i n every organ iza t ion ,schools, hospitals, churches, publishingh ouses. The editor of a l eadi ng chu rchmagazine is now a communist official inPeking. Students converted in a revivalconfessed to being sent into our two highschools to cause t roub le . Condi ti on s inJapan bear the same marks of subversion.Work wa s slowed up , Christian workerswere threatened, workers who had actedstrangely l ate r rev ea led thems elve s ascommunist agents. Tod ay in Japan, booksthat mention communism a re boyco tt ed ,interpreters, translators, ed i t o r s ge ts ick or c anno t f in is h work begun. InChina t he communi st s d id not threaten us,bu t threatened or punished ou r friends.There seems to be a shadow governmentin Japan doing the s ame thing .2. A Japanese Christian professorthought some months ago th at foreignerswere too disturbed about communism, butnow he says the political atmosphere ischanging rapidly.3. So some who pray things throughare selling Japan mission property.4 . The U.S. Embassy has completedevacuation plans for all Americans.5 . Finally, the communists announceit for 1970; and u sua ll y t hey run onschedu le .II . IS A COMMUNIST REVOLUTIONINEVITABLE IN JAPAN?1 . Humanly speaking, it seems to beunavoidable. Communis t students outnumber Japanese police. Many th ink the reis no hope.

2 . Yet c ond it io n s s eemed even morehopeless in Indonesia in early 1963, andin Braz i l before tha t . But bo th w erechanged by prayer. Christian women organized prayer bands in Brazil, and thes i tua tion changed . Many prayed for Indones i a a nd I nd on es ia n c omm un ists f ai le d.So we b elieve the Japan picture is no tunchangeable, bu t depends upon our activefa i th . III. HOWEVER, JAPAN IS SURE TOBE PUNISHED, UNLESS THE JAPANESEP EO PL E R EP EN T.1 . I have taught from th e prophetstwelve years, and I have learned onething: Idolatry by person, family, or nationis sure to be pun ished t er ri bly. Read mybooks CHRIST IN JEREMIAH andCHRIST IN EZEKIEL or bet te r y et , r eadthose prophets themselves, and see whatcaused the Jews Babylonian Captivity.2. Let us consider China again: Threethings hindered th e Christian enterprisefor a hundred years: idolatry, undue familyloyalty fostered by ancestor worship, andproperty. We prayed for many yea rs aboutthese things, and a smal l percentage ofthe Chinese people were pulled ou t of thefire.* Or. John Sung before he died said

Tokyo Prayer Breakfast Talk by Gillian E. SchubertGod told him there would be a great revivalin China, bu t the foreigners would leavefirst. Now al l have gone, so we expectthe revival . But how? God used the communists (much as we d is li ke the ir methods)l ike He used N eb uc ha dn ez za r to c ure t heJews of idolatry. The idols ar e gone,i nc ludi ng t he homosexua l Lama Buddh ismof Tibet (which I saw in th e Lama Templein Peking.) The old family system is destroyed in China. There is no private property. What they have is a religious vacuum,awaiting th e Gospel, and God is preparingHi s messengers.

3 . Now will God dismiss t he c ommun is ts a s He d i sm i s se d Ne bu ch ad ne zz arafter He had used him? It l ooks l ike it , an dhistory inclines us to expect this^ probablysoon. In my own limited contacts, I knowsi x whom God ha s called lately to mainlandChina: one from New Zea land asked WorldEvangelism Crusade to send him, but theytried to ge t him to g o anywhere else ,without success; f in all y t he y p ray ed , andafter two hours of p ra yer th e committeewas unanimous to send him to T aiw an tostudy Chinese, where I met him. Then theNew Zealand commi tt ee go t a letter fromEngland saying they also had a man whoinsisted God wanted him to go to mainlandChina, and what are you doing with yourfanatic? Reply: Taiwan. Two others inHong Kong applied for entry permits ; whenone prayed, God told him his friends wouldget h is permit from Peking, but to tell himnot to us e it as the way would open otherwise. When he told hi s friend, th e otherman said he had the permit, but God hadtold him th e same thing. In Taiwan I knowtwo Chinese, one doctor 61 years old, anda pastor of a good church, who are calledto the mainland. No doubt there ar e manyo t h e r s .

4 . This is enough to ind icate God spurpose, and that th e communists end isnear in China. Yet China has beenpunishedfor 58 years (1911 to 1969) at least, forit s idolatry, family ancestor worship , andlove of property above God .5 . Will Japan be cleansed in this way

or otherwise? Could there be a soc i a l revolution through the student movement, ratherthan a political revolution?

I V . WHAT CAN WE DO? WHATSHOULD WE DO?

1 . We need to seek and obta in God sperfect love by the baptism of the HolySpirit , so that we can rise personally abovea ll th e t ri al s and vic i ss i t udes of wha teve rdoes come to pass. I found in communistChina that only those truly sanctified andso ld out to God were able to t ake wha tth e communis t s dished out . I c an w i tn e ssthat one i s a ble finally to live withou t feardur ing the re d terror through a sense ofthe risen, living Christ being w ith one, byth e Holy Spirit. You feel His presence.

2 . If Japanese a tt it udes do remainlike those of th e Jews in Jeremiah s time,we can sa y Amen like Jeremiah did whenGod told him He would punish them. Itcould be t ha t t he re is no other way for Godto ri d Japan of idolatry, undue familyloyalty, and love of property instead ofGod, except to break J ap an a s He did th eJews, and as He is now breaking theChinese clay to make it again another

vessel, as seems good to the potter.Jeremiah 17:4. If so , we too , l ike Jeremiah,can say, So be it , O Lord. (Hebrew:Amen.) J eremiah 11:5. However, we neednot g iv e p lace to the devil. Ephesians4:27. Rather, let us pray fervent ly andeffectually, as they did in Brazil and forIndonesia. So le t us lay hold for Japan.3 . We should redeem th e time,because the days are evil. Ephesians3:16. We do no t need to be fools; we canbe wise, nderstanding what the will ofthe Lord is. Ephesians 3:17. Le t us stopour bickering and backbiting, love asbrethren and help each other.

4 . Our work can be f il le d w it h moreof the convicting and converting power ofthe Holy Spirit. Many send their reports tous , and we pray for them and t hose theymention. They have English classes, teachEnglish teachers, university students,middle schoolers, and pray for theirlanguage teachers, still unsaved. Somereport some results, but with the graveclothes of i do la tr y and heathen customsremaining. Some even confe ss none converted yet. This could be like DavidBrainerd s five f rui t less years before theIndian rev iva l .

3 . On the other hand we have somewho r ep or t clean-cut results . One reportbefore us here t e l l s of nine new Chr i s t i anhomes established by their young peoplethis term, four others going to Bible schoollast month, and one man who struggled foryears, who finally yielded to God completely and wa s sanctified wholly. Hele t go and le t God. We need more of this.

V . TH E T IME DEMANDS THAT WEWORK FOR IMMEDIATE RESULTS.

I n China I had no converts my firsts even yea rs . They told me it couldn t bedone in China like in my revivals inAmerica. Then Dr. George Ridout cameand held meetings. I t hought , He doesn tknow it can t be done. But when he gavethe invitation, they came in s tr eams to th efront, fell down, wept, confessed theirsins and go t up with shining faces. I hadhim come to th e i n te ri o r t o s e e i f i t wouldwork there, an d God worked in the sameway. He told me, Wil l, the devil is holdingyou back. I went out on my district, triedit , and altars were filled with seekers.Then we began to pray a lo ne a nd togetherfor a revival. Two of us prayed 30 daysone year, an hour every morning, then 30mornings ano th er y ea r, and God sent Dr .John Sung, the Holy Spirit fell (no tonguesexcept Chinese) communist students wereconverted, all my pre ache rs were bornagain, e ven o ne who hadn t known if therewas a God. Last I heard, he is st i l l functioning, over 80 years old, in a self-support ing church in the interior of China.Our only failure was that we asked for to olittle. A sk, that your joy may be full.John 16:24. John 14:13, 13; 13:7, 16; 16:23tell us to as k largely, as k anything, andyour fruit will remain.

CONCLUSION: We can have it eitherway, Victory or Defeat. It depends on ourfervour and faithfulness in prayer.God will surely win. Le t Him choose Hisown method . However, it is heaven or hellfor millions ready to be slain, dependingon how aggressively we work.


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Tokyo ChristianRally

A fellowship and preaching meetingfor our Christians in th e greater Tokyoarea called The Tokyo Christian Rallywa s held November 1-3. We couldn t thinkof an equivalent In Japanese language forwhat we mean by the American word rallyso we just used that word a popularJapanese custom. The plan originated inthe preachers meeting of December 1968when we were considering plans for thenew year, and everyone had a part in it .

About 75 people attended t he ope ni ngbanquet on Sat urday n ight November 1 atthe Welfare Center Hall in Meguro Wardand enjoyed a good, stylish meal and ahumorous speech by Bro. Kobayashi of th eMinato Church. This special dress-upoccasion gave an opportunity for severalof th e Christian wives to get their husbandsout to a Christian meeting for the firsttime, and both they and we were verygratified by this first contact.

On Sunday night November 2 there wasa j o in t evangelistic meeting at th eKamiochia i Church (which is most centrallylocated an d easy to find) and Stephenl ij ima preached.

Monday November 3 a s a nationalhol iday Culture Day in Japan. hadplanned a family picnic with races andgames for children in t he aft ernoon , bu t itrained and only a few children from th eneighborhood of the church came. Thatevening we had th e concluding specialmeeting of the se r i e s , again at theKamiochiai Church. Our special speakerwas a novelist and literary critic well-known in Japan Sako Junichiro. He isan active Christian, and spoke on th egeneral theme of Christianity and culture,and more particularly on the question ofwhether a literary man could be a Christian.After a very interesting talk includingsome personal experiences his conclusionwas Behold the Man, meaning that hewas both a literary man and Christian andglad of both.

The a tt endance at both evening meetings was over 60 which means that thelittle church was we l l- fi l led . We wer e v er yencouraged, and just about everyone nowknows the meaning of rally.

Addr ess ChangeTh e address of th e forwarding agentfor th e Pat to n family has been changed t o

th e following:Mr . and M rs. G . Wade Fle tcherRou t e 2Rushville, Indiana 46173

Bits o f NewsStephen l ij ima, minister of the Minato

church, and hi s wife Rhoda, went toOkinawa for twoweeks of special meetingsin a number of diffe rent churches therefrom November 4-1 8. T wo former s tudent sof Tokyo B ib le Sem inary, Namio Kamataand Sei ken Nashiro, ar e now leaders in th ework of Chr is t s Church there an d made a llt he a rr angemen ts .

This was just a few days before th eSato-Nixon conferences in Washington, andth e o ff ic ia l a nn oun ceme nt chat Okinawawill be returned to Japanese governmentcontrol without nuclear weapons by 1972.This trip had no connection with politics,bu t after his return Bro. lijima made as l ide i llus t ra ted report on hi s trip to theDecember preachers meeting and had somein te re st ing obse rva ti ons on th e effects ofthe long American occupation and thed i f f e r ences in cus toms and id eas be tweenth e people on Okinawa and those on th emainland.

From Okinawa the lijimas flew on toTaiwan for a four-day visit with IsabelDit temore an d other Chr is t ian s there.Among our brethren there now is one of theyoung couples from the Minato Church inTokyo. He i s r ep re se nt in g hi s company,Yanmar Diesel , on a project near th ecapital ci ty .

Yukio Itagaki, th e minister of Nakanochurch, barely escaped death on a highwayin Chiba P re fe ctur e during November. Hi sfan belt had go tt en loose , so he stoppedon the edge of the road and was out inf ront of the car with his head under th ehood trying to find and fix the trouble.Suddenly he heard the screech of tiresbehind him and moved quickly away towardthe middle of the road just a split secondbefore a speed ing car slammed into thefront end of hi s ca r an d went on up andsmashed the fen ce o f th e h ou se th er e. T heyoung drive r was obviously driving recklessly, but he at least paid for al l thedamages caused.

BOX 3 6 6 . J OU I E T . I L LI N O IS 6 0 43 4

On November 12 and 13, Bro DavidMansell, preacher of t he Chu rc h of Christin Wollongong, N.S.W. Australia, stoppedin Tokyo on his way home from a brieftrip to t he Uni ted States dur ing which hegave lectures at San Jose Bible Collegeand held evangelistic meetings in Oklahomaand Indiana. He sp oke to a group of over20 people at th e Kamiochiai Church onWednesday evening, and they had manyquestions about life an d Christian work inh is nat iv e l and. Thursday the missionarieshad lunch together at th e Sims house toge t acqua in ted wi th him.

We visited the Isehara church on Sunday,December 14 for the last day of their fallevangelistic meeting, a nd wer e very happyto learn that two of th e gir ls from theKeisen Horicu l tu ra l Col lege had made th econfession of faith th e prev ious eveningand were to be bap ti zed t ha t a ft ernoon .Misses Ind o and Kuribara were v er y faithfu l in attendance at th e worship servicesduring th e year we lived there, and wentto c amp w ith us last summer so we hadbeen hoping they would come to this import an t d e c i s i o n s oon .

Five of the missionar ies and two ofth e Japanese preachers from Tokyo attendedthe three-day Seed-sowing Meeting sponsored by th e Osaka Bib le Sem in aryNovember 21-23.

Jonathan Sims sings baritone in the 77-voice Christian Academy High School Choir.In a dd itio n to the special Chri stmas concert at th e school t hey appea red in fourdifferent churches and army chapels andonce on t h e rad io .

Danny Sims gave h is fi rs t pub lic v iol inperformance at the Nakano Christmasprogram on Sunday night December 21.


5/23

SiiTiS ]}[lijSl[II[R fEB 2aWO

D.ear f r i ends , .. I have delayed wri t i ng t h i s news l e t t e r un t i l we had de f i n i t enews ahout our new plaee fo r e va ng el ism , b ec au se I know a lo t o f

you-have been pray ing fo r and wi th us abou t t h i s and you a re anxi ous , to know -the r e su l t s , . The sea r ch has consumed a l a rge po r t i ono f our . t ime and thought fo r t he .pas t t h ree months, but it wouldhard ly be r i g h t to j u s t r epo r t t h i s necessa ry pa r t wi thout shar ingwi t h you th e joy o f th e f i n d .

.We are very happy and thankful to announce tha t today (Jan,23, 1970), we made a |280.00 f i r s t payment, giving us the option tobuy a piece of proper ty which we f ee l deeply to be the r igh t one ,th e one t h a t b e s t fits our needs and p lans and th e answer to ourpraye rs . While the s to ry of how we came to t h i s dec is ion i s not asdramatic and e.xc itln g a s some of the t a l es of m iraculous voices,^v is ions , and coincidences t ha t we have heard from others we do be^-l ieve (iod lias def ini te ly led us in a. divinely powerful and yet gent l e way; and we give to Him a l l the glory and the f i r s t thanks .

When we first s t a r t ed looki: ig a t l and j.n and around Tokyo alittle over a year ago, we l i s ted severa l qua l i f i ca t ions or oon-d l t i on sat the reques t o f r e a l est-ai:e agents and f r i ends . Wewanted to loca te (1) in a newly developing a.rea (2) where therewere no othe r Churches of Chr i s t and comparat ively few of any othe rname. (3) We preferred a place near enough to one of the manye lec t r io rai lway s t a t i ons , so t ha t people coming by publ ic t ranspo r t a t i o n , cou ld wa l k f rom th e s t a t i o n to th e ,c hu rc h in 10 minu t e sor l e s s , (ij-) We wanted a corner l o t . (5) For the chi ldren s sake , it must be within one hoiu commuting t ime from the Chr i s t i anAcademy. (6 ) I f poss ible , we would l ike to have a t leas t one Japanese Chr i s t i an family l iv ing in th e a rea to help us ge t s t a r t ed .

We did nob - fee l bound o r l im i te d by these hopes-and-were-wil-lIng to l ook .a t any place and hear any of fe r , but we did th ink theywere reasonab le des i r e s arid we t u r n ed dov^n s ev e r a l p ropos i t i ons bo--cause they were too fa r shc.-rt of these qual i f i ca t ions . Also thenearer the sLat lon the higher the price - f i r s t rule in rea^êstabe in Japan, so our budget^^.el-im-ifiaTe d -whple areas f romcjîTrrTderation

/ ^ ÔCATION^We^bplieve the ^lace f i ts a l l the conditions.Hachiojl ( onouncedKi.HAH-chee-OH-gee) City is In the extreme west-_e_rn jpar-b- dl Tokyo. Tokyo is shaped l ike a roughly cut piece of pie.The crust i s to the East along tt;.e bay, and we will be l iving nearth e poin tbetween neighbor ing Iânagawa and Sal tama prefec tuiês . -Hach io j l u sed to be th e cen t e r o f the t e x t i l e and dyeing Indus t r i e sbut i s now an In te gra l p ar t of Tokyo, with g re at v ar ie ty of indust ry .and populat ion . At the previous census I t had over 200,00 popula t ion , and it Is projec ted to have before the end of th i sdecade-. I t i s also a shopping, . commercial, and t ranspor t a t ion cent e r fo r th e surrounding mountainous a r e a .

Within th is c i ty , we are going into an area cal led Mejirodal(pronounoed: Meh-gee-row-DIE), which means resting place fo r thewhite-eyed b i rd , a spec ies na t ive to Japan. Jus t a few years agoth i s was sparsely populated, wooded farm land , but the Kolo Rai lroad bQught up a l a rge t r a c t , put an extens ion o f t h e i r ra i l roadthrough the middle of it and i s now in the proc ess of f in j .sh in gth e grad ing fo r a major new housing development t h a t wi l l i nc ludemore than 2,500 i nd iv idu al bu il di ng l o t s . Before anybody moves inth e Ra i l r oad Company i n s t a l l s c i t y gas and wate r , sewer , paved, andlighte.d s t ree t s , shopping center , parks , e tc . I t wi l l be a f i r s t -c l a s s , modern, r e s iden t i a l az-ea. . .

The n e a r e s t Church o f .Ch r i s t i s a lmos t - lQ__mi les away.-- As f o ro t h e r churches , a re ce nt, s urv ey o f Japan made by miss i ona r i e s on anassignment fo r the Japan Harvest magazine showed t ha t t he re were


6/23

:SIMS NEWSLETTER Page 2 January, 19?

f ew er c hu ro he s i n r a t i o t o t h e p o p ul a ti o n i n H a o h i o j i t h a n any o t he r p a r t o f Tokyo, We know o f only one o t h e r miss ion ary f am il y l i ving i n t h e oi tyMissionary B a p t i s t s a n d we w i l l be q u i t e a d i st a n c e from them, I t a l k e d w i t h t h e m i n is te r o f t h e l o c a l UnitedChurch in Japan, who has preached in t h a t p i t y f o r 30 years , and hes a i d it h a s a lw ay s b e e n a n o t o r i o u s l y d i f f i c u l t p l a c e f o r e v a n g elism (the \briginal name of the oity seems to have meant EightGreat Temples ), But he was happy we were .considering i t and recommended s e v e r a l good l o c a t i o n s f o r a new ohurch --MeJ irodai be ingone of theii.

The l o t we a r e buying i s about 7 minutes from t h e Keio Meji -r o d a i S t a t i o n . Prom t h e r e it t a k e s o nl y a b o ut 5 minutes t o r e a c hthe Takao Stat ion, where connections are made with the governmentowned C e n t r a l Line t h a t w i l l t a k e you i n t o the. c e n t e r o f Tokyo bye x p r e s s i n one h o u r . The c h i l d r e n w i l l r i d e t h a t l i n e a b o u t h a l fway t o town and t h e n t a k e a bus t h e r e s t o f t h e way t o s c h o o l .

There i s a C h r i s t i a n family, members of Minato church, alreadyl i v i n g i n one o f t h e new houses i n t h i s developm.ent. He i s a t a xaccountant , handling the books of a number of smal l bus inesses , andt h e y have been very h e l p f u l i n making c o n t a c t s connected w i t h t h i sb u s i n e s s .

S I Z E AND PRICEThe measurement o f l a n d i n Japan i s by square meter o r t s u b o .The s ize of the l o t i s 729.68 square meters, or about 7,920 squaref e e t . I t i s n o t q u i t e s q u a r e . The s t r e e t along t h e s i d e i s s l a n ted outward, making t h e back s i d e wider . But it would be something

l i k e an 80 x 90 ft l o t i n t h e U.S. Now each o f you can comparet h i s w i t h y o u r home o r c h u r c h lotI am a f r a i d to mention the p r i c e , because it w i l l shock thosewho a r e n o t f a m i l i a r w i t h l a n d p r i c e s i n Tokyo.over^6.00 per square foot or a total of Just~~^r W9 OOOi^^-lieve it or not this is next to the cheapest pribe^q^^^^tend have looked a t in t h a t g en er al area and much l e s s than some otherl o t s nearby. This is l e s s than i the price per square foot t h a t we

g o t f o r t h e s a l e o f t h e Nakano l a n d .The l a n d i s being purchased i n t h e name o f t h e Nakano Churchof C h r i s t and w i l l be held t h a t way u n t i l the new church grows in

t o s e l f - s u p p o r t . I t w i l l n o t be my p e r s o n a l p o s s e s s i o n .THE PROCESS OP FINDING THE LAND

I d o , n o t have t i m e o r s p a c e t o t ll t h e whole s t o r y o f o u rs e a r c h f o r l a n d . e looked a t some a r e a s i n t h e c i t y and some l o t sl a s t Spring, but we could not t a l k business because we d i d n t haveany money u n t i l t h e Nakano l a n d was s o l d . When we f i n a l l y g o t t h ef i r s t payment on the.Nakano property i n October, I went to the r e a le s t a t e a g e n t who had showed me some p l a c e s i n a massive new d e v e lopment, n e a r t h e Tama . R i v e r , I n t h e s i x - m o n t h i n t e r v a l some had .been sold, of course, and the prices had gone up 20^ to 30^ on mosto f t hem. . _

Meanwhile, we had found an a r e a t h a t seemed j u s t about i d e a lin every waya good r e s i d e n t i a l d i s t r i c t , with no church, andd e s t i n e d t o b e t h e e n t r a n c e i n t o Tama New Town. S e v e r a l C h r i s t i a n sl i v e d near . I had picked out one p r o p e r t y on a h i l l with a commanding view o f t h e R iv e r , b u t when. the money became a v a i l a b l e t h i swas a l r e a d y s o l d . However,. through a chance look a t newspaperl i s t i n g s , we found a n o t h e r p ro p er ty n ea r the c e n t e r o f t h i s develo p m e n t a p e r f e c t l o c a ti o n f o r a .cPiurch. We made o u r o f f e r a n dwere a l l s e t to buy t h i s , but somehow even strangely, the d e t a i l sju st d id n t work out. At that time we were pretty disappointed,b u t we f e l t God was saying no f o r some reason.

Some days l a t e r one of the members of the Nakano church sugg e s t e d t h a t we have a look a t the Mejirodai a r e a i n H a c h i o j i . One


7/23

SIMS NEWSLETTER Page 3 January , 19?0

It We had thought som6 about Haohloj l a t d i f f e r e n t t imes becausewe passed through there every week-end l a s t summer as we t raveledbetween I s eha ra and Sayamai t was th e ha l f -way po in t . But my. .f ir st r ea c ti on was t ha t it was too fa r out . However, we had Jus thad our hopes se t back and were wil l ing to fol low any l ead . So ina few days I went out to the r e al e sta te company whose name and add re s s had been given me to have a look around.

The f i r s t place I looked a t had a view o f the mountains t h a twas tremendous and I was immediately hooked on t h a t town. But were fused th a t p a rt i cu la r l o t because it was mostly fill d i r t packedin .against a high concrete wall and Lois especial ly was afra id theTâll might col lapse in an earthquake. I went over there a t le a s t20 times and looked a t perhaps forty different places a i l over thecity:. Final ly , we found out tha t one of the Minato. church familiesl i v ed t h e r e . We contac ted them and wereHLntroduced~t^b~anbthLer~reares ta te agent who showed us four di f fe ren t p laces . A fte r a few dayswe said we would buy one of those. The agent went to ge t the ownerwhi le we wai ted expec tan tly . A fte r a while they came back, and wewere to ld th e owner had so ld it to someone e l s e two days prev iously . Our second choice a l so had a l ready been so ld . So again wewer e d i s appo i n t e d .

Two days la te r through a friend f the Mineos (the accountant we learned of a choice piece of h i l l - top land still owned bythe ra i l road company, but uiadeveloped. The view was magnificent.The piece was too large for us to buy, and the company would onlys e l l it a l l in one piece; but we thought we could f ind someone togo in with us and get hal f each. There were severa l prospects fo rth i s and much t a lk and hope about th i s during December,. but nothingworked ou t . F ina l l y one o f th e to p o f f i c i a l s o f th e r a i lway company suggested ra ther off-handedly (but we think God had a hand ini t that we might be interested in this place. were but hadbeen to ld t ha t a l l l o t s ip t h a t sec t ion had a l ready been so l d . Thecompany had reserved this one; and even when we got to the officeto sign the_papers , somebody e l se was t a lk ing on the phone t ry ingto buy th e same p l ace .; ** SPIRITUAL BY PRODUCTS **

This whole experience has taught us many th ings and I wi l l notattempt to l i s t them a l l but we do want to ment |p ^W0f'>îe havelearned, at least in a l i t t le greater measureTRUST God>j ] êknows what He is doing and He i s working when itI am happy now t h a t we did no t ge t some of the o ther places whichwe t hought we wanted and were d is a ppo in te d abou t.

In o ur p ray in g fo r God s wi l l to be done and t ha t we might beIn th e p lace where God would have us, He has put the thought in toou r minds r epea t ed ly t h a t th e main th ing i s fo r us to be s p i r i t -^ ually act ive and doing His w ill r ig ht here in Sayama or wherever^ He puts usHe wil l take care of the deta i l s . This is an answer,and a f a r more important one, th an agr ee in g to my personal wisht h a t we ge t proper ty loca ted before Chris tmas,

And I must mentionCthe increasing Joy[)ê have had as Christmas and New Year greet ingôame from^Âmarlba and Japan le t t ing usknow how many friends were praj^ng^^^^^^ us and assuring us that theyknew God would lead us to the bes t place . This has been a grea tencouragement . Thi s i s r e a l power and r e a l Chr i s t i a n i t y .

To those who prayed with us we say, Thank you , and now youthank God fo r answered prayer . Also, we earnes t ly request yourcontinued prayer because t h i s Is only the beginning. Now we have. to plan and bui ld and then s t a r t evangelizing over there . Theworld i s small and crowded and i t i s hard to find a place in itbut God i s big and powerful and kind and His kingdom i s forever .Yours in His se rv ice

HAROLD AND LOIS SIMS


8/23

S I M S TOKYO M I S S I O NANNUAL F I N A N C I A L R E P O R T1 9 6 9 . ^

R E C E I P T S , L I V I N G L I N KA l a b a m aR i v e r v i e w ; Fr i en d sh i p C h u r c h

Youth R al l yC A L I F O R N I AN a p a ; F i r s t Chr i s t i an Chur chM a r t i n e z ; Mr. M rs. John Shafe rF L O R I D AB l o u n t s t o w n ; M a r g a r e t R. G a r r e t tE u s t i s ; F i r s t Chur ch o f Chr i s tJacksonvi l le ; Englewood Chris t ian Chur chS t. P et er sb u rg ; C e nt ra l Chr i s t i an Chur chG E O R G I AAtlan ta ; L, F . StillA u s t e l l ; A u s te ll C h ris tia n C h u r c h , CYHILLINOISChicago; Fi r s t C h r i s t i a n Marguerite McClelland)P oto ma c; C hu rch o f Chr i s tI N D I A N AColumbus; F i r s t Chr i s t i an Chur chC olum bus; Gar den City Chui^ch of Chr i s tEngl i sh ; Ken n eth W. EadeHammond; S o u t h S i d e Chrln t ian Ch u rchMarkle; M ark le C hurch o f C b rx a t 5^0-00Spr lngvi l l e ; Chris t ian C h ir c hI OWAB l o o m f i e l d ; Sti les . Chr i s t ian Church, V SK NS S ..Hor ton ;Miss Ellen LawrenceWichi ta ; Virg in i a G . T e m p l e t o nKENTUCICYA l e x a n d r i a ; Chur ch o f C h r i s titeiiport^ -Chris t ian U h ur ch .y- U by W o rk e rs - ,M I S S O U R IKing C i t y ; I n la n d C i t y Church, L o y a l WomenU n i o n v i l l e ; S t r i n g t o w n ChurchNEBRASKAWymore; Chur ch o f C hr is tO H I OAkron; s e n t er ro r and r e f u n d e dCincinnat i ; S y l v i a Sims

Clove rnook C h r i s t i a n C h u r c h 720 .00M ade i r a Church o f C hr i s t. Mo nt go me ry R d . C h u r c h o f C hr is tW e s te r n ills C h u r c h o f hristWeslwood-Cheviot Church o f Chris t P rim ary D pt..White Oa k Chr i s t i an Ch u rchCol um bus; M rs. M.M. Scarberry B e n e f i e l d C h r i s t i a n C hurchH a m e r s v i l l e ; Mrs. E , R e i s i n g e rMonter ey; Chris t ian ChurchR ichm ond; New S o m e r s e t Chur ch Sunday S c h o o lCKIAHpMA

-U nion Churj3ii^ T r u e Com pani on^PENNSYLVANIAC o n f l u e n c e ; Chr i s t i an Chur chC h a t h a m ; J a n e E . E r r e t tFayet te Ci ty ; . F i r s t Chr i s t i an C h u r c hFi r s t Chr i s t i an Yc^ung A d u l t C la ssM o n r o e v i l l e ; Chr i s t i an Ch u rch 4 0 0 . 0 0New S a l e m ; F i r s t Chr i s t i an C h u r c hPi t t sbu rgh ; Mr, Mrs. T . G . Krol lS h e n a n g o ; Chr i s t i an Chur chTur t l e C r e e k ; F i r s t Chr i s t i an C h u r c hT E N N E S S E EJ o h n s o n C i t y ; F i r s t Chr i s t i an C h u r c hP o w e l l ; Chr i s t i an Chur ch a t C l a x t o nT E X A SBars tow; C h r i s t i a n C h u r c h

2 3 0 , 0 0

1 , 0 4 0 , 0 0600 .00

G E N E R A L

\ 10.001 1 0 . 0 0

5 . 0 01 0 . 0 0

5 7 5 . 0 0

1 0 0 05 .00

25 .002 0 . 0 0

2 0 0 . 0 09 0 .0 02 0 . 0 062.3950 .0032.5 +1 8 . 0 01 8 . 0 0

130 .50- 35 001 7 . 0 0k 5 . o o50 .001 0 . 0 01 0 . 0 0

125.004 3 5 . 0 02 0 . 0 01 0 . 0 0

300 .00 5 .001 8 0 .0 0

1 0 . 0 01 1 5 . 0 0

30 .00

1 6 5 . 0 060.00 2 5 .0 0

2 2 1 0 02 2 . 6 48 0 .0 01 5 . 0 03 8 5 . 0 04 9 . 5 0

1 , 0 8 2 . 5 01 2 0 . 0 0

1 5 . 0 0


9/23

Tokyo C h r i s t i a n'60 ye into al l the world and preach the gospel to every creature Mark 16:15

Volume 6 9 pr l 1970

Nakano Church DedicatesNew Building

I I i

Nakano church building from the southshowing both floors.On Sunday March 15 at 2 p.m. anaudience of 70 to 80 people, representingmost of our churches in Tokyo, gathered

at Nakano to dedicate th e new building tothe glory and service of Christ. Al l of th elocal congregations who could possiblymake it w er e t he re t o w el come t he v i s i t o r sand hear th e admiring comments on th ewell-appointed and glistening whitebuilding.The new building ha s a total floorspace of about 2,600 s quare f ee t. Thedownstairs has an auditorium, the backone-third which can be divided off byaccordion doors to include a separateclassroom, study-office, and Japanese-style room (with straw mat floor that isjust right for prayer meetings, smallclasses or conferences and tea drinkingfellowship and conversation), toilet, baptistery and entrance hall. The upstairsis th e minister's h om e, b ut there is onelarge carpeted room that is designed forus e for committee meetings and other suchgeneral purposes as well as a living room.Th e total cost, i nc luding f ur ni sh ings anda new smal l e l ec tr ic organ, was $40,000.Those who have been reading myRelocation Report i n p re vi ou s issues willknow that r ebui ld ing thi s chur ch becamenecessary when we decided to sell th eback par t of t he l and by dividing the prope rt y w ith a straight line thus cutting offa sizeable part of th e old church bu ild ing .This plan made it easier to sell th e landan d brought a much be tt e r p ri ce.First we negotiated th e sale of th el and, and received th e first payment . Thenwe paid t he c on tr ac to r and work began.While the o ld c h u r c h w as to rn dow n andth e new one was going up, th e Itagakifamily lived nex t doo r in th e former Simshouse on th e back of th e lot, and all(church services and classes were held

New Nakano church building. Frontfrom no r thwe s t c ome r.t he re . The last one-half of the money forthe land could not be received, of course,until we had complete ly vacated the landand former Sims house and prepared it forth e new o w n e r to t a k e o v e r We w er e o bl igated by contract to do this by March 31 .

The t ar ge t d at e for completion of th enew b u i l d i n g was February 28. Butbecause of a n unusually dry winter inTokyo that was perfect for the construct ion indus try, and because we hajl a goodcontractor, all of the work wa s finishedby February 20. This is the first instanceI have heard of in Japan where a buildingw as fi ni sh ed a he ad of t i m e When we b u i l tth e fi rs t N ak an o c hu rc h we s e t th e d a t efo r d e d i c a t i o n one month after th e date th econtractor promised to be done, and themen were varnishing and finishing work atmidnight of th e day before th e dedicationceremony. So we are very thankful thateverything went so smoothly in this case .

T h e d e di ca ti on s er vi ce a l s o d o u b l e da s a commemora t i on of th e c h u r c h sbecoming a l egal ly recognized religiouscorporation owning it s own property. Eachof the missionaries of the Cunninghamwas given a note of thanks and a cloisonnevase as a token of appreciation from th el oca l congrega tion for th e Mission's giftof the property to th e local church.The minister also made a point ofinviting the immedia te neighbors of th echurch to the dedication, although none oft h e m a r e C h r i s t i a n s M o s t of them c a m eand participated in a Chris t ian service forth e f i r s t t i m eI neg lect ed to mention above that thearchitect and contractor were also recognized and given a note of thanks and agift in appreciation of their good work fort h e c hu rc h Haro ld S i m s

Number 2

EVANGELISMBY FORCE

Recently a young working man who isattending an English class I am teachinghas expressed great interest in Christianity. He ha s been avidly reading the BibleI gave him and memorizing many choiceportions of it . We general ly spend over anhour twice a week in th e English conversation class talking about Christianity. Hecarries t he B ib le whe re ve r he goes and itis beginning to have a tremendous influe n c e o n h is l if e

A n o t h e r m a n w ho w o r k s in th e s a m et rading company as this man has noti cedhi s Bible carrying and church going traits.So one evening this man o ffer ed t heEnglish student a ride in hi s ca r to th echurch for the English class. On th e wayth e English s tudent exp re ssed surprisethat th e oth er man knew he was s tu dy in gEnglish at the church. The man answeredt h a t h e h a d s e e n t h e B ib le h e c a r r i e s a n dhad heard he was s tudying Engl ish at th echurch. The Eng lis h student then becameaware that he was no t taking him in th ed i r e c t i o n of th e c h u r c h When a s k e d wherehe was t ak ing him the man answered thathe w a s a m em ber of th e Soka G ak ka i a ndthat he was now beginning efforts to save him. He said th e English studentwas being polluted by Christianity, thathe was in deep water, and that he was nowusin g h is ca r to pull him out.

The car f inal ly s topped in front of abarber shop in Shinjuku and then theEnglish student was to ld to ge t out of thecar. In th e shop were four or five otherm e m b e r s o f th e S ok a G ak ka i w h o w e r efriends of the ca r owner. They tried toforce the student into the shop where theycould give him a grilling for hours to ridh im o f a ll C h ri st ia n i n f l u e n c e A f t e r th eEngl ish s tudent had begged them to allowh im t o a t t e n d h i s c l a s s t h e n a n d h a dpromised them to meet them later for atalk, they finally agreed to le t him go .

The Soka Gakkai is a very militantnew religion in Japan with millions ofmembers in Japan and several thousandnew converts in Americ a. T he y h av e be enstrongly criticized in Japan for theirstrong-armed recruiting methods, becauseof which we t hought t he ir militancy hadb een t on ed down. Evidently it has not, asevidenced by t h is inc iden t. They considera ll o ther re li gi ons, especially Christianity,

(Continued on page 2


10/23


11/23

a

Lois Sims standing on the lo t which isbeing purchased for the new location ofSims work. This is looking west, and thelo t runs back to th e comer from where shestands. This is a new development, sothere are no houses ye t built in the immediate neighborhood.Relocat ion

Report Prog res s cont inues . Th e report of th e

completion of the new church building atNakano, Including a cement b lo ck f en cealong th e new property line, is given elsewhere in t h i s i s sueTh e other big news is that we havefound the place where we ar e going tolocate and begin a new church. The storyof our long and somet imes discouragingsearch would be too long to tell here, bu twe bel ieve tha t in the providence of Godwe have been led to t he ri gh t place and itgives us a great sense of satisfactionand happiness.The prope rty we have taken option tobuy is located in the city of Hachioji(pronounced: HAH-chee-OH-gee) which isin the extreme western part of Tokyometropolis, between the neighboringKanagawa and Sai tama prefectures. It isabout half way between Isehara, where welived last year, and Sayama, where we ar eliving now. It is an hour 's t ra in r id e fromdowntown Tokyo, but a rapidly growingarea projected to have a population ofabout 500 ,000 by the end of t hi s decade.It serves as a shopp ing, commerc ia l andt ranspor ta tion center for the surroundingarea

Within this city we a re g oin g into anarea called Mejirodai (pronounced: Meh-gee-row-die), which means resting placefor the white-eyed bird a species nativeto Japan. Just a few years ago this wa ssparsely populated, wooded farm land. Butthe Keio Railroad Co. bought up a largetract, put an ext en si on of their railwayline t hr ou gh t he m idd le of it, and is nowin th e process of developing a major newhou si ng a re a of more t ha n 2 ,5 00 lots. Weare buying one of these lots directly fromt he c ompany .

The ne a r e s t chur ch of hr i s t is a lmos t10 miles away. As for other churches, ar ec en t s ur ve y of Japan made by missionaries on an assignment for th e JapanHarvest magaz ine , showed that there werefewer churches in ratio to the population

in Hachi oji t han any other part of Tokyo.We know of only one other missionaryfamily living in the city MissionaryBaptists and we will be quite a distance

from them.The size of the lo t is 729.68 squaremeters, or about 7,920 square feet. It isnot square , because the street on th e westside is slanted outward, mak ing t he backside wider . I am afraid to mention th epr ic e, be ca use it will shock those notfamiliar.with land prices in Tokyo. But thetotal cost will be right at 19,000. Believeit or not, this is next to the cheapestprice for an y land we looked at in th atgeneral area, an d much less th an someo th er l ot s n ea rby .The land is being purchased In th ename of the Nakano Church of Christ, andwill be held that way unt il t he new churchgrows to maturity. It is no t my personalpossession.The railway company ha s asked us todef er mos t of the payment unt il a ft er the irfiscal year and tax report is finished atthe end of March. We expect to f in ish paying for the land and registering it aboutthe end of April , a nd hope to begin construction of the house early in May. Rightnow we are t ry ing to decide on a floor planfo r th e house and a contrac tor to bu i ld itWe as k your continued prayers for usthat God may guide us in a ll d e ci si on sgreat and small so that His will may beworked out, and that He may deliver usfrom ev i l and de c e i t f u l men w ho w ou ldtak e ad van ta ge of our ignorance. Moren ex t tim e

Harold S ims

enthAnniversaryThe Sakurayama Church celebrated it s tt en th anniversary on March 8, 1970. It was

mostly a private a ff ai r, w it h invitationsbeing sent only to the attendants andmember s of th e l o ca l c hu rc h t he reBrother Toshihiko Shimada, professorat th e Osaka Bib le Seminary, deliveredth e sermon at th e morning worship hourand addressed th e audience that gatheredfor t he ann iver sa ry service in the after-

PATTON FURLOUGHOur furlough depar tu re dat e ha s been

se t on June 16, 1970. We will join th e Pan-Am chartered missionary flight departingfo r San Franc i sco on th at da te It has no tyet b ee n dec id ed how we will t rave l acrossthe States due to t he fact that we are trying to borrow a car in California to beused during our furlough. If the plan tobor row the ca r does not work out, we willperhaps take advantage of the FamilyF ligh t P lan for t he f li gh t to Ohio.

Funds for our flight home are veryslowly accumulating, but the greater par tof this travel fund is yet to be raised. Inaddition income tax, social security tax,and 800 due on th e children's schooltuition are to be paid very shortly. Wouldyou kindly send a special offer ing for ourfurlough travel to our forwarding agentnow

A deposit of 84.50 ha s been made onou r fl ig ht tickets. The remainder is to bepaid by April 1, 1970. We have faith thatthe necessary funds will be on hand whenthey ar e needed. Your help would beappreciated.

Andrew Pa t ton

mwwwwMowcwTo celebrate her tenth birthday theSakurayama Church bought herself a newYamaha Electone organ. At the anniversary celebration announcemen t was madethat Brother Hiroaki Sato would beginministering both to the Sakurayama andthe Arakawa Churches in April. At thisservice the Pattons announced that theyintended to do evangelism in other areas

of Tokyo upon thei r return from furloughin August, 1971.So at this time the Sakurayama Churchnot only g lan ced b ack at th e distancealready traveled bu t also took on th e newresponsibilities involved in working inevangelism with a new and young Japaneseminister. We pray that this new phase oftheir history will be marked with greatgrowth and spiritual prosperity.Andrew Pat ton

iff

Part of the audience at the tenth anniversary celebration of theSakurayama Church.


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N e w s F r o mT he P a t t e n s

This year t h e r e have been foiffbaptisms so far at the SakurayamaChurch two c ol le ge g ir ls on e highs c ho o l g ir l an d a young ma n w ho is graduating from high s ch o o l this spring.A no th er h ig h sc ho ol stu den t has d ecide dto be baptized on h i s b i rt h da y on March 21.There ar e other s e e k e rs wh o ar e hungering for God s salvation. Some of them ar eunder conviction and we expect them torec eiv e C hrist so on if s om e s tu mb li ng -block is no t placed in their way.

We h a v e t r i ed fo r s om e t ime no w toprepare both the Sakurayama and theArak awa C h u r c h e s so chat t h e r e will be noconfusion in arranging their worships er vic es s o that Mr . Sato can min is te r toboth churches from t he b eg in ni ng of April.An a gr ee m en t b et w ee n th e two churchesha s be en wo rk ed ou t and we e x p e c t nodifficulties in implementing it . BrotherSato will move to t he S a ku ra ya m a parsonag e in th e first week of April.

We ar e happy to r e p o r t th at th eS a k ur a ya m a C h u rc h is in fair condition atthis time when th e l e ad e rs h ip r es p on s ib ility is being transferred from us toBrother S at o. A tt en da nc e is fairly gooda nd t he re ar e no major problems to impedep r o g r e s s . We have bestowed much laboron this church bu t we a re t ry in g to pushthem from th e nest an d cause them to flyunder their ow n power. Some financialh el p w il l h av e to be continued particularlyin th e form of help on th e minister ssalary. Bu t we hope th e church ca n shortlytake th at r es p on s ib il it y a ls o . Of coursew e d o not k n o w w h a t th e future h o ld s bu tou r p l a n s c a ll fo r ou r evangelizing inother areas of Tokyo after August 1971.

Pla n s for the s pr in g a nd early summerlook quite interesting. Th e JuliusFleenorsh av e p la nn ed a youth camp for missionarychildren for early April at Karuizawa.Noel an d Sharon plan to attend this campan d Andrew w il l d ri ve up at th e en d of th ecamp to fu rn i sh t ran s p o rt a ti o n for some ofthe you th back to Tokyo. The 21st All-Japan C on ve nt io n w il l c on ve ne at Nagoyaon May 2-5. Then d ur in g t he first few daysof June four brethren from America will bein Tokyo for a leadership conference withth e m iss io n a r ie s an d le a d e rs of th echurches in Japan. So some very interestin g a c tiv itie s which we hope will mean agreat deal to ou r missionary efforts inJapan ar e in store for us .

We are grateful to you friends for yourprayers for us and your financial support. y the love of God the g race of our LordJesus and the fellowship of th e HolySpirit be with yo u a ll .

A n d r e w Ra t i on

Kenneth and Regina Stewart former president of Pacific ChristianCollege visit ing in the home of th e Stanley Buttray family in Tokyo overt he C hr is tm as holidays. Three of Mabel s English Bible s tu de nt s a repictured and the Buttrays son David.

t /y

Carl and Grace F ish and their two chi ldren with Stanley and MabelButtray on the right. The Fish family arrived in Tokyo on January 16on thei r way to Singapore and then Indonesia to do missionary work.Both families home church is Meadville Pa .

B O X 3 6 8 JOLI T I L L I N O I S 6 4 3 4


13/23

Tokyo C h r i s t i a nGo ye into al l the world and preach the gospel to every creature S\ark 16:15

Volum 69 July 1970 Number 3

Patton Furlough Begins

Sharon Noel Philip Andrew Betty and Stephen RationAll who have experienced leaving homefor several mon th s and returning again ar e

f amil ia r w it h th e routine. Three piles ar emade for things, especially articles ofclothing, one to go one to be stored andon e to be given or thrown away. Also tobe taken care of ar e taxes, bi l ls , inoculations, travel arrangements, funds, andth e in nume ra ble o th er things involved intravel. The house must be painted an dcleaned for the next occupants. Churchaffairs must be s e t in order fo r smoothoperation during our absence.All of these things had been attendedto by June 18 the day of our departure forf ur lo ug h. We rejoiced that we were ableto say our good-byes and leave the houseat 2:00 p.m. to catch our chartered planeleaving Tokyo International Airport at6:00 p.m. Due to the crowded conditionsat the Airport, however one person hadto be th e keeper of th e bag gage wh ile th er e s t a te lunch. After lunch first a t wo h ou rdelay and then others of var ious lengthswere announced for our depar tu re . But wewere finally airborne just after midnight.Slightly over eight hours later welanded at San Francisco Airpo rt . A ft ercompleting the formalities for reenteringour homeland we tra nsfe rre d to a no th erbuilding to catch a shuttle flight toOntario,California to visit Betty s a un t an d cousinsin Fontana. Betty s aunt presented ou rt i c k e t s to Ontario an d had written us thatthe y w ere to be picked up at San FranciscoA irpo rt . We settled down to wait and rest

until departure time. About 45 minutesbefor e flight time we called at the ticketd e s k fo r t h e t i c k e t s and t h e r e were n o n e

Various c a l l s were made withoutsuccess. Finally at flight time they l ook edat our faces and evidently d ec id ed t ha twe could be trusted to pay our f ar es . Theyallowed us to board the plane withouttickets concluding that pr oblem c ou ld beworked out before we r eached On ta ir o.It could and we were allowed to debarkw i th o ut i n c i de n tNow at this writing we ar e enjoyinga few days rest with Betty s very hospitable relatives in sunny southern California.OnJune 23 wewill start driving for DaytonOhio and a reunion with another aunt ofBetty s and the Bill Miller family withwhom we had such a rich fellowship inTokyo. The next day after our arrival inDayton we plan to drive on to Rushsyl-vania Ohio our final destination and ourhome for a year. The Rushsylvania Churchhas helped support us for the past 23 yearsand we an ti ci pa te a very joyous year withthem. Mrs. Louise Williams ha s kindlyloaned us her furni shed home in Rushsylvania for the year for which we are verygrateful.We wish to thank al l of ou r friendswho have helped with our travel home.Everything is taken care of except SI 250for a ca r to be u sed dur ing our furlough.We have borrowed this and hope to repayit soon. We would appreciate any help youcan give on that. also owe about S

on t h e c h i l d r e n s s c h o o l t u i t i o n w h ic hmust be paid before records ca n be sentto th e S t a t e sIn July we will begin our itinerarysouth t hr ou gh N or th Carol ina, Virginia,Georgia, and Florida. The whole familywill make that t ou r. T he c hi ld re n w il l e n t e rschool after that and 1 will be travelingalone most of the tim e except for shortertrips on the w ee ke nd s. Those who wish avisi t from us will please c on ta ct u s atou r Ohio address: P.O. Box, Rushsylvania,Oh io 43347 .Many things which ordinary Americanstake for granted are new to us. The ease,speed, and convenience of travel; thef abulous super highways; the simplicityof homes and lawns; the variety, richness,and c ompa ra ti ve cheapness of A me ri ca nfoods; and the unbelievable costs of laborare some of the things at which we stillm a r v e lBut the things we really enjoy are thefact that ou r children and we can go tochurch with fe llow Amer icans, that we canunders tand a sermon or Bible c l a s s l e s s o nin our own language, that we ca n meetthose who have had a part in our work forChris t . We meet new friends in Christ an dwe r ecei ve great encou ragement whenChristian affection is s h o w e r e d on usbecause we ar e servants of God. We ar elooking forward to a great year spent infellowship with you our f el lo w servantsof th e L o r dMayGodsurprise you with the abundantblessings He affords you.

A n d r e w P a t t o n

Farewell for Fattens at SakurayamaPatton s Change

O f A d d r e s sAft er J une 25 our address will be th e

following: P.O. Box, Rushsylvania, Ohio43347. The telephone number there is513/468-2454. Our forwarding address willr emain u nch an ged: G. Wade Fletcher,Route 2 Rushville, Indiana 46173.

A n d r e w P a t t o n


14/23

Tokyo ChristianVol. 69 July 1970 No. 3Published four times a year inJanuary, April, July and November forth e missionaries of th e Church ofChrist Cunningham Mission , Tokyo ,Japan by Mission Services, 509 W.Jefferson, Joliet, Illinois. Secondclass postage paid at Joliet, Illinois.Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Buttray, 2-26-4Kamtoch ia i, Shinjuku-ku , Tokyo 161Japan. Forwarding Agent: Mrs. HomerAnderson, 622 Cullum Street, Mead-ville. Pa . 16335.Mr. an d Mrs. Andrew Patton, 3-7-8Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164Japan. Forwarding Agent: Mr. and Mrs.G. Wade Fletcher, R.R. 2, Rushville,Ind. 46173 .Mr. and Mrs. Har ol d S im s, Housef)2001, Sayama-shi, Saitama-ken 350-13Japan. Forwarding Agent: First Churchof Christ, Orange at CenterS t . , Eus t is ,Fla 32726Two-year subscription .5 0Subscription and Flaming Torch Sl.OO

Mr. Hullray anil four of the Meji Gakuin{University) students that he ha s beenteaching for three months. These studentsbelongto a group named Genri Kenkyukaiwhich means study of pr inc ip les Mr.Buttray accepted this opportunity to leachthifli English Bible with some reservation.He had heard they were the same groupthat worshiped a living Korean man asJ e s u s th e Saviour. He was thankful to findout they are not related to the Koreangroup, bu t soon discovered most of them(22) w e n t to a Uni on Ghu rc h n ea r t he American Embassy that know as little aboutUhrist's teaching as the name impli es . So rButtray has had some very interestingand challenging weekly Tuesday nightsess ions . Bu t God is Good, and HE isworking in their midst. P ray for them, andMr. Buttray.

My father, A. E. Sims, who edi tedth e Tokyo Christian for some years,has recently written a book based onh i s l i f e and work w ith th e a bo v e t it leIt is being p ri nt ed i n J ap an , a nd canbe obtained by writing to him at Rt . 2,Oak Dr., Powell, Tenn. 37849. Price: 1.50 per copy.

RELOCATION REPORT IVOn March 26 th e d oc to r n ex t door toNakano Church paid the final one-half ofthe price of the land, and we delivered

the deeds to him. Since then he has beendoing extensive remodeling of the house,so that it no longer seem s like ours* even to th e children

The next day we signed a contract forthe purchase of the land at Mejirodai fromth e Keio Railroad Co. and paid th e firstone-third of the price. Further paymentswere made on April 24 and May 15, so theland is now completely paid for.Meanwhile t he p lans for th e house weregoing through manychanges and alterationsbut gradually taking shape. Within a fewdays of the final payment on the land wesubmitted a n a pp lic atio n to t he Hachi oj iCity Government for a building permit.

Most of you will never get to see it ,so we a re g iv in g you here a simple sketchof th e floor p lan. The ent ir e buil din g ha s2,664 s qu ar e fe et of floorspace, and thecost will be 538,200. This will us e up al lth e funds r e m a i n i n g from th e sa le atNakano, so landscaping and other suchref inements wil l have to come la ter Thes t r ee t on th e nor th s id e le a d s to th estat ion, and is th e front of th e lot. Th echape l f ac es this way, and is approachedby stairs because the l and level is abouts ix fe et a bo ve th e s t r e e t at th e NE c o r ne rThe residence part faces th e smaller sidestreet on th e w est, and ha s a good viewof th e mounta in s. The l iv in g and diningroom and the tw o main b ed ro om s haveSouthern exposure, and in the SE cornerof the lot we have space for a garden. Theworship room is small (18 feet wide and24 feet long), bu t we plan to sea t 40people, which is th e size of an averageJapanese congregat ion. The rest of theopen space on the west side of this build

ing is reserved for an enlargement of thechurch building in th e future. The righth and par t of th e entrance hall s erv es a s acombination cloakroom, cry room and smallclassroom. The living room of th e houseis planned for various meetings also, withth e children being able to us e th e familyroom separately. The Japanese law requiresa part of the struc ture to be a churchexisting only for religious wors hip andteaching (not l iv ing space) in order for thebuilding and land to qualify for ta x exemption, and that had a lo t of influence onthis plan. We pray that we shall be able toavoid some of the problems that ca n beimagined arising from th e church adjoiningth e missionary residence.The contractor has h ad q ui te a bi t ofexperience in building missionary homesfor Southern Baptists and Lutherans, andwe h a v e conf idence in him. T he c on tr ac tcalls for th e work to be finished by September 30 this year, so we hope to includesome pictures in the next and final oneof these re locat ion repor ts .

H a ro ld Si m s

The Patton family as they were leaving Japan on June 18, at theHaneda .Airport. This p ic tu re represents mos t of those tha t were there .After a four hour delay they nnally took of f and arrived safely in SanF r a n e i s c o

During their stay in the States they i-an be reached at Mr. and Mrs..Andrt?w P at to n, P .O . Box. Bushsvlvania, Ohio 43317. Write them an dpray fur them.


15/23

Mikawashima Church Plans New BuildingThe Mikawash ima hurch of hr i s t(a Korean congregation) ha s been thinking

about a new bu i l d i ng for a long time.1. Theirs is one of the first church buildingserected by th e Cunningham Mission a ft erWorld War 11, and back in 1948 materialswere scarce and of poor quality. After 20years of service, a number of repairs havebeen necessary over th e past few years,and even now i t has no toi le t . 2. Theattendance has been consistent ly averaging70-80 every Sunday morning, which is thecapacity of the one-room building. 3- Mr.Pek, a prosperous and agressive businessman (owner of three te a shops) now servingas treasurer, is the spark plug that gotthe present building p lans going and isleading t he fund- ra is ing campaign. Th egeneral p ro sper it y in Japan now makespledges come in rather easily.I didn t know of definite plans for thisnew bui ld ing unt il late last year when 1went over there to visi t one Sunday andwas asked for a pledge. I found ou t thatthey were planning a 55,000 building,and was happy and encouraged to be shownthe book con ta in ing s igned pledges formore t ha n h al f of the cos t Mr. P ek himselfse t the example by pledging 8,000. Several others were giving as much as on emillion yen ( 2, 800) . Some time ago wereceived about 5,000 from the will of aChristian lady for the work here in Japan,so 1 told them that seeing they were sowilling to give sacrificially themselves Iwould be happy to contribute (thanks tothis legacy which th e Lord prov ided) one-tenth of the cost of the new building. Thiswas a big encouragement to them. 1 have

already paid one-hal f of my pledge, andam waiting until the work starts beforegiving th e rest .Here is an architect s drawing of thebuilding being planned. They hope to finish

it this fa ll . T he old bu ild ing ha s been torndown, an d th e church is meeting in an earby bank buildin g during-the i-nterimperiod.

Haro ld S ims

I

This young couple were ma rrie d March 29, 1970 in the Churchat Yokosuka. This is t he firs t wedding since t he chu rch wasrcopen d in k cb ru aiy 1967 bv Mr. il ult ray and Momhashi San.These two, Mr. and Sirs. Furukawa hecame Christians a lx iu t twoyears ago at the church. Mecau.sc they are younger than thea ve ra ge to be married, and b ec au se they are young J hr is ti ans )they are having many trials, i lcase pray lor them.

Th e Milton Jone.s family are pictured here as they arrived inYokohama, Japan on .April 27. This is th


16/23

CONVENTION IN NAGOYAThis is a picture of the people who

at tended th e 21s t annual convention ofour Christians in Japan. The meeting washeld in a smal l h otel alon g th e seacoasta bout one hour from the city of Nagoya.The dates were May 2 5 whi ch took advantage of a weekend and two Japanesenational hol idays so mor e of th e laymen*would be able to a tt en d. T he re were atotal of 126 registered. Thirty-two of thesewere from t he Tokyo a re a.

The theme this year was Living inthe 70s. Missionaries were present andparticipated in the program discussions

s

Springtime InShikokuFrom April 4 8 I went down to th e farside of th e island of Shikoku to give four

lectures on T he Res to ra t ion Movementat a spring re treat for th e members of th etw o sma l l churches in that a rea . The workthere was started by the Don Burney familysome years ago. They continue their work,and also have two Japanese preachersworking harmoniously wit h t hem.A total of 26 different people attendedat least part of the time, and everyoneenjoyed the beauty of nature cherry treesin full bloom, tower ing green mountains ,clearstreams ofwater, fresh air, and quiet.One young man was immersed into Christon the Sunday following the meetings, andthe others received much inspiration fromth e fellowship.

Haro ld Sims

and fellowship on an equal basis; bu t th eplanning and managing was done entirelyand done capably by the Japanese brethrenfrom th e N ag oy o area. It was e nc ou ra gi ngaga in t hi s year to se c th e faith, responsibility and developing leadership amongboth the Japanese p r e a ch e r s and th eg rowing numbe r of businessmen in thevarious churches. The churches in Japanar e small in numbe r, an d g rowth is slow;bu t admitting this I don t t hink they couldbe a l together accurate ly - ca ll ed weak. Wear e encouraged about prospects for th e7 0 s ove r he re .

Harold S ims

I

BOX 3 6 8 . JOLI T I LL IN O I S 6 0 43 4

a


17/23


18/23

SIMS NEWSLETTEE September, 19?Page 2

After feediiag the troop the next morning we l e f t in . a 3 - c a rcaravan f o r t h e Heal th Center n e a r C ol e s p l a c e South o f Osaka.We drove through the rain for 12 hours.-*^ost..of: the 700 kilometerson the t o l l expresswayand arrived ;)ust as/tiie f i r s t s.assJxDn. o fthe Convention was warming up. This was oxie ofrjbhe hesj; : ever,.-with-a i o t a l at tendance o f 80 people i n c l u d i p g - v i s i t o r ^ . . .r- * Among the visi tors were the Ohio Singers ,: a group of elevenyoung people-, mainly students at Cincinnati Bible Seminary. . Theword, Ohio, means early morning in Japanese language, so the double meaning was interesting.) The musicians had been recruited byMark and Lydia Prat t , children of our fellow missionaries who arepresently. students at C.B.S., to come to Japan f.or two months thissummer to help in the work by singing a t various places. They mademore than 100 d i f f e r e n t appearances i n about 70 days and were veryw e l l r e c e i v e d by t h e J ap an es e p eopl es r; :Other vis itors in our home during the( summer have been Mrs. Bed-well of Presoott, Arizona , Mrs. Nora- Ingold -and Mrs. Maxine Pulliamof Indianapolis, Indiana, and the Leland Tyrell tour group near theenh o f t h e i r r o u n d - t h e - w o r l d t r i p . Following the Convention we spent three nights at the Ray Mingshome in Osaka and two f u l l days a t Expo 70. I t didn t rain muchduriidg that time, and the s i t e was npt too crowded or hot, so weviewed t under b e t t e r conditions than mill ions of others . Thewhole family found i t very interesting and enjoyable and wanted tosee more, but at the end of the second day we had very sore feet andwer c u t o f money so we came home.

: - ; THE BABY . On July 1^, a missionary friend called and asked i f we wanted ababy. They had taken in a young Japanese g i r l who was in trouble,and a baby g i r l had been bom to her that morning. Now they werelooking for someone to care for the baby while they rehabilitatedthe mother. There were several prospects -for adoptio n, b ut nothingwas desirable a t that time. So we agreed on the spur of the momentt o t a k e c a r e o f the l ttl one. You u s u a l l y have a p e r i o d o f somemonths to prepare for a baby, but we had Just one day. Some of^Lois lady m e n d s on the airbase got busy and rounded up enoughbottles, diapers, and other equipment to..take care of her adequatelywithin a few hours; and. we brought her to.our place from the hospit a l when she was 2 days old. She has gotten along fine on her SM(Japanese Similac) formula and has brought us a^lot of Joy. Perhapsthis i s the kind of pract ical social work that-we are called to doinstead of passing resolutions asking the government to do this andt h a t . I t has now been s e t t l e d t h a t the Ro bert Wferricks, who w i l l besuooedihg Us in the work here in Sayama t h i s . f a l l will, adopt thisb a b y a n d they have named h e r Miriam E s t h e r .

SUMMER -CAMP- August 3 *9 we were a t Lake Motosu for our annual week of oa,mPI t wms the f i r s t time for our family to be there since 1965* thenatural beauty had not changed, and we enjoyed i t as usual.. .Therewas a t o t a l attendance of 105; one college boy was baptized;, therewas a good spir i t of cooperation among the campers; and the weather


19/23

SIMS N WSL TI R September, 19vPage 3a l so was very favorab le . The Ohio Singers were a t th e camp and cont r ibuted a lo t to i t . We l e f t the 2 week old baby with f r iends fo rt h a t week.

PROGRESS ON THE NEW HOUSEThe digging o f the foundat ion fo r our new house s t a r t ed in ea rly June, but so did the ra in s^ The ground the re i s qui te hard , soth e Water j u s t s tood in th e tren ch es fo r weeks as we waited ou t thera iny season . F ina l l y th e r a in s qu i t and th e hea t came about themiddle of July , and since t ha t t ime the progress has been very encouraging, One o f the h igh l igh t s of the summer was July 31> whenthe th ree boys and I went over to Hachioj i to help the crew of e igh tJapanese men r a i s e the framework o f our houseli f t ing the pre-outheavj p i l l a r s and beams by bru te s t rength and, coopera t ion . We worked un t i l a f t e r dark before the frame was squared and ab le to holdtoge ther by i t s e l f . Then we a te a snack o f raw f i s h and Coke, gaveeach man a cash bonus, and went happi ly home.As o f today th e roo f i s on and many o f th e window frames havebeen se t in place . Plumbing and heating work has also begun. Wemake th e one hour t r i p over t he re a t l e a s t 2 o r 3 t imes a week towatch wi th much i n t e r e s t and joy as th e workmen bu i ld .On Monday evening, August 2k, we had the Ohio Singers come upto our new place a t Mejirodai . Very near us there i s a four-s toryhospi ta l , so I asked the doctors i f they would l i ke to have thesinging group enter t a in the pat ien ts . They said tha t would be f ine ,but there was no large room to meet in . I said we could sing outdoors on the hospi ta l grounds, so they obliged by f ixing a background of red and white bunt ing; and we had a concer t there before avery apprec ia t ive audience o f pa t i en t s and nurse s . The crowd grewwith each song, and the hospital windows were a l l f i l led with faces.After that , we moved down to the railroad s ta t ion and sang for JOminutes, passing out leaf le ts to passers-by describing the locationof the church and announcing the beginning of services in NovemberWe had ordered some Col . Sanders Kentucky Pried Chicken andLois had prepared big bowls of p ota to salad and baked beans and cupcakes to feed the singers and some young people who had come to passout the announcements. Some f r iends and good prospects fo r thechurch who l i ve up there near the s ta t ion inv i ted us in to t h e i rapartment to eat , so we accepted the i r invitation and fed 35 people,including our s tar t led hosts . I heard her t e l l a fr iend, You know,t h e se Chr i s t i ans a re r e a l f r i end ly and in fo rmal . This l a s t appearance of the Ohio Singers before the i r re turn to the U.S. was the beginning of our new work in Mejirodai. We knovr tha t you wil l join usprayer fo r God s bless ing upon every s tep of the way.

Your s in H is s e r v i c e ,

HAROLD AND LOIS SIMS


20/23

Greet imgs rom ejiroda i

An air view of the 2500 building-lot development undertaken in Hachioji city by the Keio Railroad Co. Our lotis outlined .As allofyouknow, we have been working on our relocationpro ject for years, and since July we have been watching the progress of cons truc tion work with a great dealof interest, satisfaction and anticipation. Full of thanksto od for His guidance, grace and goodness, and to youfor your prayers, encouragement and support, we happilyreport the successful completion of our plans.


21/23

We m oved in to ou r new r e s idence on Oc tobe r 9 Th i swas as soon as possible and before a lot of the finishingwork was done; so although we have been very busygetting settled has been slow because of the stream ofcarpenters plumbers heating men painters and othersrunning in and out of the house. They really ran the daythey turned thewater on and leaks started up all over thehouse just as we were preparing to sit down fo r d inne r.This is the way the house looked as we started to moveo u r f u rn i t u r e in

This house is by far the nicest place we have ever livedin and we are most happy with all the comforts and conv e n ie n ce s o f i t We have r o oms and ba t h s wi th a cent ra l hot-water heating system. This is a view from ourdining room into the living-room. The afternoon sunbeams through the front window.


22/23

Our first worship service was held on November 1 ashad been announced. There were 13 people present, including Mr. and Mrs. Cliff Nelson who brought greetingsf rom the Clovernook Christian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.Therewere 4 Japanese people from the local community,and 2 Japanese f riends from another church in Tokyo andour fam ily of 5. Alsowehad 5 children for Sunday Schoolthat first day. Mrs. Nelson and Jonnie were taking thispicture.

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Mr. Mori, the contractor, presenting the keys to thebuilding.The dedication service was held Sunday afternoon Novem r 15, with an at tendance of over 80 fr ie nd s from 8 different churches in Tokyo and a few local people. It wasmost encouraging to have these true Christian brethernshare our joy in the new building. This was the 23rd anniversary of our arrival in Japan, and certainly one ofthe high points in our miss iona ry experience.


23/23

This is how the chapel looks from thestreet , except that now the rocks and t rashh a v e b e e n re m ov e d f r o m th e s t r e e t an dsome shrubbe ry has been planted.The ins ide of the chapel. The wood carving of The Last Supper built Into thetablewas bought by 3 U S, sai lor friendson a visit to Taiwan some years ago andpresented to us as a special gift. Theblack bag with the cross on it is the offering basket .

We believe and know that God has been guiding us in manifold details and in wonderful ways during this yearinthe obtaining of th is location, the design of the building,the choice of a contractorand we praise Him for allthings. More intensely than ever before we want to bedoers of His will and fulfil l our calling to preach the gospel to these people. For the next seve ra l years we planto center our work in this area, serving as the evangelistfor estab li sh ing Christ s church here.

Wewish for each of you a Christmas brimmii^ with thankfulness as you look back over the past year and a new yearbright with promiseand hope whichwe all have abundantlyin C hr i s t our Lord and Savior _ i3-33-7 MejirodaiHachioj i-shi Tokyo

HAROLD AND LOIS SIMS N D F M I L Y

sims harold lois 1970 japan

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