Maxey Mark Pauline 1990 Japan

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3^

A Report

by

Mark and Pauline Maxey

/ uNKLe r r e f i /

To the friends o f th e

Kyushu

Christian Mission

Kanoya,

Kagoshima

893

Japan

-

Box 4 7»

N. Vernon IN 47285

LINKLETTER

#293

March , 1990

75/7

1950 - 1990

O u r UOth

Ye a r in

Japan

Dear Chris tian f r iends ,

The way

i t

is

is that

i t seems to be t ak ing longe r to

get

things

done

than i t used to .

Getting

th is le t te r

is one

of

those things. Thanks for your

patience

and fo r

your faithful and

p rayer fu l suppo rt a ll

these

years.

Our 40

years

in

Japan will no t

be

complete until next

fa l l . According to my book,

Way Down

Here,

Pauline

and I and two

children arrived

in Yokohama on

September 12 ,

1950.1 arrived in

Kanoya on

September

26

and

th e whole

family

on Friday,

October

20.

So

th is

fall on November

23 ,

a

national

holiday and a day

fo r

ou r

annual convent ion, the 40th yea r w il l be properly remembered.

Meanwhile we are

g ra te fu l f or

the good years God has given us in

Japan and fo r th e la rg e

family

both physical and

spiri tual

that

He

ha s

blessed

us

with .

Now

this: since

Walter

and Mary need to go to th e U.S.

next

year

because

of

the ir chi ldren s

education,

Pauline and

I

will take a

short

furlough

this

year. We will leave Japan th e

lat ter part of

April and

re tu rn t o Japan

on

or

about the

last

of September.

We

hope

to vis i t as

many

of

you

as possible during

t h a t t ime. Ou r

method

o f

t rave l

with in th e

U.S. has

no t

been

decided. There ar e

only

a limited number of Sundays so we hope

we can speak during the week also, even i f th e groups ar e small.

You

can

ge t

in

touch with

us through ou r forwarding

secretary:

Mrs. Rozanna Hartwell , Box 417, Nor th Vernon, Indiana 47265.

Phone number

is : (812) 346-3226. Also

you can

contact

us thru

our son,

Gregory

Maxey, 9 01

Robin Hi l l , New Richmond,

Ohio,

45157. Phone Number is : (513) 553-5483.

They will se e that we get your message. However,

t hey canno t

promise you a

specific

speaking

date.

I need

to

arrange

an i t inerary which will allow me to use tim e and

t ravel

th e most efficient ly. Also, I d

rather

no t

f i l l

in

fo r minis

ter s when they a re a bs en t. I need to meet

them

and know them.

Also i t goes better and is more satisfying when

the

minister is

present

and a

part of th e

meeting.

Also, Lord willing, we will be attending the North

American Christian Convent ion in Kansas City, Missouri, July

10-13. My

mother

was born

and

reare d in

Fulton

MO

and she

and

my father were

married

in Kansas City, so we have an additional

reason to

attend

that convention.

We

will have a large booth

and extra chairs, so come and Set a spell.

Environmentally,

our

local

volcano (45 minutes away)

continues

to

belch

smoke and ashes daily and to explode

with

regular i ty .

Last week,

I

jumped out of

bed

and ran outside

to

se e

where a bomb had

exploded

in ou r

neighborhood. No

bomb.

Just

Mt. Sakura jima do ing i t s

thing

a t midnight. One v ery big

problem is that

th e

as h builds

up th e

land areas while

th e

paved

areas

a re r eg ul ar ly

cleaned

or washed. So

walks

and roads

become water collectors as there

is

no place

fo r

the water to

go .

Japan-U.S.

relations

are

a regular diet in th e news

papers here,

both

English

and

Japanese editions.

Maybe

i t is

bet ter to

discuss

th is

way.

Churchill s a id , Ta l k ,t a lk , ta l k

is be tte r

than f ight , f ight , f ight . One of th e stupidest things

I have

heard

is

that

when

J apan bough t MGM

studios

i t also

bought America s soul. More likely i t is

Sodom

and Gommorah

in the metal film cans than anyth ing else. The return

of

America to

the

Puritan

ethic of work,

frugali ty,

morality and

faith

in God

i s th e real answer to ou r current cr i s i s - no t hysteria.

Miss Azechi s ay s: This is

the

way

it

is

Naganori Tanijiri Begins

Teaching

I Peter

Las t S e s si on -28 th

Winter

T r ai n in g Cou rs e

Katsuo Shimoda Mourns His Fa t he r s Dea th



It often happens

that after

one death another soon follows. Ritsuko Shimago attendedTarumizu

church on

December

17th. She died on

December

20.

n

evening service

was

held at the

home

on

December

21.

The

funeral service was held in the morning of December 22. Cremation was at noon. A lunch was

served

in the

crematory

waiting

room.

Two

hours

later, the

family

gathered

around

and carefully placed

bones

in the

ceramic

urn

brought

for

just

that purpose. The top of the skull

was

the

last

piece put in.

The urn

was

placed in a box. The box wrapped in a white

cloth.

The

nearest relative

carried

the

urn

as we went to the cemetery. A square stone was removed from the rear of the family grave stone. The

urn was placed on a shelf which also held the remains of other family members; the stone replaced;

final prayers said ar d the funeral was over. Then family and close friends returned to the Shimago

home for a meal together. It

was

a Christian family and God

was

honored at the funeral.

Shimoda

Denzo

died on Friday, February 2. As February 3

was

an unlucky day on the Buddhist

calendar the crematory

would

not operate

on

that day. A prayer service

was

held

on

Friday night; a

second

service in the home on Saturday night; a regular funeral on Sunday afternoon; a trip to the crematory

immediately

after;

entombment of the remains

at

five p.m. and a supper at the Shimoda

home

to bring

the funeral ceremonies to an end. I conducted the Shimago funeral and Bro. Yoshii and I jointly

con

ducted

the Shimoda funera l

The death of Shimoda Denzo had a special meaning

fo r

me.

He

was a

carpenter. He

came to

work for me in January of 1951 and worked for me 20 years building church buildings in our area

and in the Tokyo

area.

His son,

Shimoda

Katsuo, worked as an apprent ice with his

father,

served

three

years with

the

Japan

self-defense forces,

and has worked

fo r

me at

the Christian

Center

since that time. y my count they built,

rebuilt

or

moved

and

rebuilt

14 church buildings besides

other construction and maintenance. The

good

work

that

thev did lives afters them.

A highlight of each year's act iv it ie s i s the annual Winter Training Course held the last of

January and

the

f i rs t part of February. A teacher

is

asked a

year

in advance.

Then

i t

is hi s

choice

to pick a book of the Bible or a Bible-related subject and prepare to teach

i t . Our

speaker

this

year

was

Tanijiri

Naganori, long-time

minister

at

the

Kushikino

church. He

chose

to

teach

the

f irs t

let ter

of the Apostle Peter. His exposition

was

both well-received and enjoyed. We had four nights of teach

ing, two hours each

night.

This

was

followed by teaching sessions of

either

one night or

two

nights at

the other churches (in this order): Kushikino, Kagoshima, Nishinomote,

Tarumizu,

Kushira,

Sueyoshi

and

Yoshino. Maybe next year

we

will get

to

hear what Peter s aid in his second letter .

on January 22 I went to the island of Tanegashima, south of here, to take part in the engage-

ceremony of

Motonobu

Ikeda and Hiromi Iwaasa. Her

parents

were

present

from Tokyo. His

parents a re se rv

ing the church in Nishinomote. Mr. and Mrs. Motoyuki Nomura from near Tokyo were

also

present. We all

joined in prayer fo r

them

and encouragement as their April wedding date draws near. I returned to Kago

shima as I

came

by hi-speed hydrofoil.

Nice

ride in the bay but not so nice in the open sea

hitting

waves at high speed. I

think

I

prefer

th e slow boat to China - or wherever.

Good news department: third

daughter, Hope

Reader, phoned

to

say she had

received her M.A.

in

linguistics

from the University of Houston (Texas).

It

has been a long row

fo r

her as she was a

full-time teaching assistant at the university

at

the same time she

was

working on her degree.

Recently, Bro. Yoshii asked

i f

I wouldn't give a

talk

to the mothers of the kindergarten

children on the general subject of Training

and

Discipline. I surprised myself be talking for U

hours. Nobody

left

and nobody went to

sleep.

I certainly am not an expert in the

field

but I learned

a few things from the

parents

who raised

me

and a few

things

from the

children

Pauline and I raised.

To

close:

.a happy-ending

story

in a few words. I

got out of my ca r

to

take

a

picture at

Pauline's

request.

I

go t

back

in the

car. Drove home (45 minutes) and found I had no

wallet. We

went

bacl<-tha^~n4gh4-w4th- l^hl^ghts.-No-Tuck.

We

went back—24-hours-later-to-the-spat where-we-had taken

the picture. One car.

One

man wiping the car. He saw us looking. He said, Here i t is . He gave

me

my

wallet, refused a reward, got in his car and

drove away.

drove

away

also - rejoicing.

IN

HIS SERVICE,

Publication o f

Kyusliu

Christian Mission

th Vernon, indiana 47265

dress Return Requested

C

6

E D I T O R

H O R I Z O N S

BOX 7

K N O X V I L L E

TN 3 7 9 1

Non-Prolit Organisat

U.

S.

POSTAGE

PAID

Louisville, Kentuck

Permit No .

537



A Report by Mark

and

Pauline Maxey

/ uNKLe r r eR /

To

the

friends

of the Kyushu

Christian Mission

Kanoya, Kagoshima 893

Japan

- Box 417 R Vernon IN

472fl5

LINKLETTER 29^1

Decembe r 1990

Christmas

Blessings

^

Dear Christian friends, jjK

I t has been 8 months sincce you heard from us by way of

this

H

letter.

But during that time we have been to the US for 6i months and

are

*

back in

Japan. We

will

give

you a compres sed account of what has happened

to

us

s in ce th e

l a s t LINKLETTER

dated

March 1990.

Before leaving Japan on

furlough

we traveled to Tokyo to see

ou r

family

there

and

to

perform the wedding ceremony fo r Motonobu

Ikeda

from Kago-

Shima and Hiromi Iwaasa

of

Tokyo. There was no

music

played.

Instead,

as

th e bride and groom came forward everybody stood up and sang th e wedding

March out of their hymnbooks. Amazing yet thri l l ing. Soon after, they went

to Cincinnati to receive hi s g raduat e deg ree. Pau li ne and I were there fo r

that

and

to

shout Banzai when hi s

diploma

was presented.

While in Tokyo we

attended

a board

meeting

of

American

Christian

college

headed by Paul Axton. The college is doing well as

i t

enters i ts second year. I t was

also a

jo y

to

s ee aga in g randson, Zachary Hark

Axton.

He Will be

known

by hi s red

hair and remembered

fo r

pointing h is f in ge r

a t

what he

wants

and

uttering

th e word,

This Very effective.

We

le f t Kanoya on Monday, April 16; flew to Hong Kong; stayed with Helen

and Wayfu ll Jew two

days

and then to London , a mis er ab le 14i

hours

away.

We

were due

to

participate in a wedding in

Ireland but

i t was cancelled. We went anyway - stayed al

night in Limerick and went a long way to get to Tipperary. I t

is

a beautiful country

but greatly t roubled.

Pablo

Ambaht (Philippines)

and

wife

welcomed us

at Hillside

Church of

Christ (NYC). The Sunday

A.M service

reminded me

of

Pentecost with

i ts

audience

of

every hue and nation. Time was no problem. I didn' t begin

to

preach

until

after 12.

That night with

th e

Maspeth church,

Harold

Ward,

minister.

I t is a great

church

but

now in a

beseiged a rea of th e city where church doors

must be

kept locked.What

a

great

t ime of

fellowship

and

sharing we

had

that night.

(This was on April

29.)

Our

next

stop was

a t th e

Cleveland

Clinic ,

May 1-4, for

check-ups.

The

exams were thorough but the reports both mixed and

long

del ayed . Af te r a painful

bar ium enema I collapsed in front

of th e nurse's

stat ion. She

called

a doctor. Soon

I saw a pair of shoes in f ron t o f me. I raised my head and saw the name on hi s white

coat.

Or.

Einstein .

Einstein , I said, I've always wanted to meet you. £=mc2.

He smiled, took me

to

a side room and

said, Stay

here t i l l you feel better. After

awhile

I did. Thank

you.

Dr. Einstein.

Next stop was

Cincinnati, Ohio. Son ,

Gregory; wife,

Beverly;

and

daughter

Beverly

live

here. With

Greg' s help

we were soon located in a furnished apartment

con-

vient to a

shopping

center and

jus t

a few minutes from a N-S Interstate.

I t

was

just

right for our needs.

A good

Baptist

brother in Louisville KY sold us a 1984 Mercury

wagon

at

a

reasonable price. I t

proved to

be.the right car for

us and the

front

seat gave

Pauline the

full

le g

support which she needed. The ca r served us well and

we left

i t there fo r Walter

and

Mary

to use on

their

upcoming

furlough.

Almost th e

f i rs t

and

th e

l as t stops on ou r schedule were

a t

North Vernon

IN.

Pauline

and

I began

our married

l ife

there

in

1941.

Our

forwarding agents

have al

ways been from

that

church.

I t

was one of th e

very

f i r s t

churches

to support us and

i t

has never stopped.

When

i t was

time to

return

to

Japan,

Pauline

needed a

f irs t-c lass

seat

that would keep

he r

le g

elevated

during th e long f l ight

across

th e

Pacific.

The

people

of the North

Vernon

church

provided

th e ful l

amount

of

th e

t icket .

We have

so

much to be grateful for and to

many,

many people.

Rozanna Hartwell, our

present

secretary, made us welcome in he r home both

as we arrived and during ou r

stay.

Also when we

were

preparing

to

return

to

Japan.

We

are

grateful

to he r

for her invaluable assistance in our miss ionary

endeavors.

Maybe i t s

th e

O ri en ta l in

us ,

bu t we made i t a point

to vis i t

th e graves

of our parents. Pauline to Fairview Cemetery near Wind Ridge, Penna . where she grew

up .

This

was also a time

to speak to

he r home church. They had a

special

meal fo r us

a t th e fire

house.

We

stayed

all night with Anna Staggers, now 90 . She was Pauline's

Sunday School

teacher when

she was a

l i t t le

girl .

My

parents

ar e buried

in different

places:

Father a t Circleville

O

and Mother a t Claremore

OK.

We went to both

places.

Fo r to u s

a

CHILD

is

b o r n .

To

us

a SON is

given.

He

sha ll be cal led

WONDERFUL,

COUNSELOR,

MIGHTY

COD,

EVERLASTING

FATHER,

PRINCE

OF

PEACE.

O f

th e in cr e a s e o f

HIS GOVERNMENT

and

of

PEACE, there

shall

be

no

end...Establishing

and

Upholding

it

with JUSTICE

N

and

RIGHTEOUSNESS from

t h a t

t ime

on

an d

FOREVER.

Is s ieh

e : § -7

^rAlaska Airlines^

puts a

message

lik^

this on every tray'

Lof food It

serves^

mm

Departed Japan April 16

Back home

Again-Oct.26



Visiting family members was also important to us .

We

go t to v i s i t Pauline s immediate family twice: Allen

Pethtel of Barberton

OH;

Roy Pethtel and Hargaret of Akron

OH

and sister-in-law Edith Pethtel of

Brecksville

OH.

Later we had a day with Guy Pethtel and

Colleen

in Kearns UT.

Renewing

my own roots,

we

spoke

at the

Sugar Grove Christian Church; near Mt.

Sterling

and up

the

hill from

the village of Stepstone where the Maxeys hailed from for th ree or four generations past. This 100 year old church

is far from dead. In fact,

under

the long-time leadership of

Francis

Nash th e church is going

to

expand i ts facil i t ies.

I t

i s

n o t o f t e n

I

ca n v i s i t

t h i s

church

bu t when I do I know where I

came

from.

I was born in Pomeroy

UA,

spent iny early yea rs in

Portland

OR and Boise ID bu t

reached

adulthood in the state

of Ohio when Father

brought

th e family

east

so

Isabel

and Tibbs could go to Bible College .

I t

was then that

Father

was minister a t th e Christian church i n H il ls bo ro OH and l a t e r a t

New

Holland

OH

before

moving on to Circlevi l le OH.

The remarkable

thing

about the

Hillsboro

church

is that

fo r many, many years they have consistently supported

th e

mission

work of

three

members of

th e

same family: my s i s t e r Isabel in

he r mission

work in

th e Far

East; iny

brother

Tibbs in

his

work with black

leaders

(College

of

the

Scriptures,

Louisville

KY)

and myself in our work in Japan. Such

support,

i f

no t unique, is

certainly

unusual. For me, i t s an honor

to

have support from the church a t Hillsboro.

We

traveled

in 20 states and say

that

we were wonderfully

received

and

treated

at each

place

we

visited.

I am

only

sorry

that

we can not speak at

length

about our experiences at each church. A trip to the west took us through

Louisville

KY where

we

spent

many

furlough years and where daughter . Faith was born. The Loyal Friends

class at

Clifton church rol led out the red

carpet.

Also the church at Shively KY. Bill Roberts always sees to

i t that

we ge t

some

new

clothes when

we

are home. ThU he did and also

loaded

the car up with good books to take back to Japan.

Going

further west brought us to the North American Christian Convention In

Kansas

City KO. We had a booth

there a t which we met dozens of f riends from the past and met an equal number of new friends. I t was a

very

good

time

of

renewing

friendships. By pre-planning

all

the

remaining

Maxey children

arr anged to be

present

fo r a fami ly

reunion. There were nine Maxey children. Three are dead: Leigh Angela, Prudence and John. Six remain:

Isabel,

Tibbs,

Mark, Mary,

Victor

and Bryan. The si x of us

plus

wives, children and o ther k ith and kin

spent

a day

singing, talking,

-swapping Jukes

dnU recdlHtiy

outtarrtttsfr-taTes

of-hardsh1p,

hffpp1ness-:and the~decistons^ that led us

to-our-various^pliBces—

o f

C h r is ti an s e rv i ce a t

home

an d a b r o a d .

The North American Convention i tself was packed out every

night

but I found the evening

services

disapoint-

ing..

The music session was too loud and too long leaving the preaching to be listened to by a worn-out crowd. The

sermons were

passable.

Maybe

the preachers

were

trying

too hard.

I t

is

not easv

to

be

just

yourself

and

no t

tr v

to

im

press anybody when you

are

talking to a few thousand people.

By

general consensus. Dr. David Grubbs, missionary to Africa

preached the best sermon of the convention. Preaching at a convent ion Is an honor missionaries

deserve

but the real

missionary work of

th e world is

done in

the

hidden corners of

th e world

where fame may

no t

reach and does

not matter .

On the way west, we had a week-end with the Sal ina KS Heights

Christian

church. I t featured a Christmas

in July program. Everything was

authentic

except

the

snow. The whole congregation cooperated in making this an

ou t

standing event fo r us . Later, all

will

be packed and

shipped

to Japan ^n

time

fo r Dec. 25, Heading further west, we

l ef t

ou r car

in

long-term parking

a t the

airport i n P ie rr e SD. This means parking

your

car on

t he g ra ss a t

the edge

of a wheat field, locking i t up and

flying

away. Nobody pays and nobody bothers your

car.

Hurray fo r the West

We stopped a t

Boise;

spoke a t

th e church

a t

Emmett ID;

stayed

with

friends

Bob and Dora Wecker and visited

with two special

friends a t

th e

Christian

Retirement

Home

in Boise.

Elsie

Gebauer in her 90 s and Mae Wolfe , 105 ,

both s t i l l sound of body and mind, were members

of

th e

Boise

church when iny

father

preached

there.

Mae Wolfe was niy

Sunday School teacher in

those days.

On

west

to

Southside

church in Lebanon OR North to a wonderful week

of preaching

and teaching

a t

th e

church

a t Kenai AK. I t was

DVBS

week so we also had adult DVBS fo r t he par en ts who

brought

their kids. Worked

f ine.

Four men

of

th e

church

took

me salmon

fishing

in th e

famed Kenai

River.

A

f ish

h i t

Gary

Horwath s

l ine.

He

gave

th e pole

to

me

to

reel the

f ish

in; th e other men l i f t e d him ou t

of

th e water in a net and Bruce Wlllard

took

th e 50 pound king salmon home and

pu t i t

In hi s freezer. He

is waiting

for me to come get i t - or send fo r i t .

Next to the North Pole (Alaska, that

is

near Fairbanks)

for

24 hours

with

John and

Julia

Voelker, Julia

was a Rotary exchange

s tudent i n

Kanoya. She went back to Alaska, married he r Lutheran pastor, John Voelker, and

they

are living happily ever after .

I t

was good to be with them and also in he r parents home.

From

Alaska we flew to Ed

monton, Canada to jo in

ou r

family there: Paula and Kiyoto Yanagimoto and their

fou r ch ildren .

Although

the chi ld ren

were

all

busy with summer jobs, on Sunday, we

all

went to King Edward Park Church where I preached. Pauline, myself

—and-grandaughterT-Megum-n—have-^pstr1>irthdays

so-ê*âintly

had airearly

birthday

paTrty^for all

three

of

us before

Paul ine and I

left

fo r the

States.

Our

daughter,

Hope, was able to

come

to

Cincinnati

and spend a week with us

before

she had to return to her teaching at the University of Houston. We will resume our story in the next issue. Until the

next time

then-)

UAV GOO BLESS AND KEEP YOU.

MAY

YOUR

CHRISTMAS BE FJLLEP WITH JOY

AMP YOUR

NEW YEAR A TIME OF NEW

BEGINNINGS FOR

YOU ANP YOURS -

AM? IN EVERY AREA OF LIFE.

In Hl6 SeAv^&, MoAfe

Max y

'

Putîcation of

Kyushu Christian Mission

B o x

417

Vernon, indiana 47265

ress Return Requested

EDITOR

h o r i z o n s

BOX 2 4 2 7

KNOXVILLE

TN a7901

C

6 4 4

Non-Proflt OrganiM

U. S .

POSTAGB

P A I D

Louisville,

Kentuck

Permi t No. S97

Documents

Maxey Mark Pauline 1990 Japan