Maxey Mark Pauline 1993 Japan

8/9/2019 Maxey Mark Pauline 1993 Japan

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: 1993

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A Report by Mark and Pauline Maxey | mm ^latt^^332

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-

/ u N K L e r r e f i /

To

the friends

of

the

Kyushu

Christian

Mission ^ s

Kanoya, Kagoshitna 893 Japan -

Box

417, N. Vernon IN 47265 I

LINKLETTER

303

MARCH

1993 |H|| |

^ ..d'

MAKOTO

YUSE

-

LECTURER

-

FEBRUARY

14-16,1993

£ ^ 1

If

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V3F W W : W 3 f e 4 e 4 e : f e 4

Dear Christian f r i e n d s

To re-use a worn-out

greeting, Please

forgive us our long silence. Actually,

we

haven t been

silent

but we haven t got

the

words into prin t until now. It

is

a challeng

to be on

the

opposite

side

of

the world

and s t i l l try to keep in touch with

friends

and

family. For a far away place,

we are

s t i l l able to keep in touch with the wor ld ..Act

ually i t is

amazing. Thanks

to satelli tes

up

in

space,

we

could spend several hours a day

{or night) watching the world via television. CNN has a

daily

morning broadcast and

at

nigh t t he re is another

half-hour

broadcast. These programs can be watched in

Japanese

Or

(press

a button) and watch and listen in English. Evening is best because you can watch

t h e news and e a t one

o f

P a u li n e s d e li ci ou s

meals

a t th e same t i m e .

Mail and

pub li ca ti ons a re safely

and sure ly de livered. Sometimes there

is

a de

la y due to wind, waves

or wea ther, but

eventually all the news gets to

us..more than

we

need, use

or

want. We also get a daily newspaper, The

Japan

Times, which arrives here in

Kanoya,24 hours after

i t

is published {in Tokyo). The papers

are

flown to the northern tip

of our island, put on a night t rain, and

delivered

to our house the next day at 6 A.M.

Once

a month no paper is

printed

in order

to

give the newsboys a day off.

That s

not much

of a

holiday,

but i t s more

vacation than

I got in many years of

peddling

newspapers.

Well, enough of reviewing the past. Once in awhile, though, i t s good

to

look back to see

where you ve been and to get a

fix

on where we are

going.

The news is that we ve got a new president. He

avoided

th e draft which is not a

plus for him and he began hi s presidential career by launching a campaign to le t homosexuals

serve in

the

armed

forces.

To

the

best of

my

knowledge,

the

armed

services

were

never

open

to

homosexuals. This has been a

long-term

prohibition in

th e

military. I don t think i t is

going to change. Bill Hallsted of G r i f f i t h Indiana notes t h a t Pres.

Clinton

has

marked

the beginning of his term by four decisons: (1) Begin action to

rescind

all laws regu

lating abortion on demand. {2)

Lifted

the ban on th e use

of

fetal tissue from aborted

babies

for

medical

research,making i t easier to use human tissue rather

than

animal t i ssu

for

research.

(3) He has rescinded the ban on the use of federal money to abort babies.

This means that tax dollars are paying for abortions. (4) The President

acted

promptly to

allow homosexuals to

serve

in the military.

. . Fortunately, the

military

is

a long

way

from

accepting homosexuals

in

the

armed

forces. A

t r i a l balloon

has been lof ted

which

declares

that homsosexuals

are

a

protected

minority under

current

civil rights

laws.

These

regulations directly

attack

Christian

beliefs and practices. Now

is the

time, i f

ever, for believers to stand up and speak out

against

these a nt i-Ch ri st ia n p ra cti ce s.

Will

President

Clinton

or

General Powell win

the

battle?

I m

on

the

general s side.

Makoto Yuse was our lecturer for our 31st training

course.

I t

is

a

long

way from

his

home in Nagoya {north

of

Osaka) to our house

at water s

edge heading south. We gave

him an arduous schedule and promised to see

that

he was warm

at night, fed

by

day,

and

blest

and prayed for by all of us.

We

began

with

the farthest away

churches f i r s t :

Kushikino

church le d

by Naganori Tanij i r i ; Kagoshima church led by Koichi Homori; Yoshino

church, le d by Walter Maxey; Kokubu church also le d by Walter Maxey and Kajiki church

led by Junko Daikusono. These were cold nights with

warm

felloship and solid teaching. .

While Bro.Yuse was with us, i t was a good time

to

hold

our

monthly preacher s meet

ing

at

the Kagoshima church. We talked over our work as well as our future plans, ending

with

prayers

by

all . Then we visited together

as

we

enjoyed an ample box lunch. These

monthly meetings are the glue

that

keeps us

in

contact both

with

each other• also

with

th e b e l i e v e r s we

s e r v e .



Following

the minister s meeting,

Bro. Tadayoshi

Ikeda,

Makoto Yuse and

myself went south by boat

to

the island of Tanegashima.

Bro.

Ikeda and his

wife,

Hisako,

have

labored

there many

years.

They have a strong

church, many

believers and a great

influence

on

that

island. The two

night meeting there

was

blessed

with good

attendance

and

i n t e r e s t .

I was blessed

with

a

cold

which got worse and

worse. When

I

finally

got back

home, I was

out of

action

for

a week - something unusual for me. In

spi te

o f s icknes s,

i t was an encouragement for us to have this time with the church and i t s people on the

is land. Rain or

shine,

wind or storm, hot or

cold,

th i s

church

functions and serves .

Bro.

Yuse

and I

flew

back

to

Kagoshima

airport.

He

went

to

his

home

in Nagoya.

Son,

Walter,

met

me

at the airport and we made a

beeline

to Kanoyar following, however,

the

beautiful

shoreline of Kagoshima bay. Walter was

the

guest speaker of the day at

the Kanoya Rotary Club. He gave a humdinger of a talk on th e

subject ,

Being an Inter

na t iona l Person.

Thanks

to excellent local

and

international

phone and mail

service, we are

able

to keep in touch by pressing a few

buttons

on the telephone. Times have changed -

and

for

the

better.

Son Greg, wife Beverly,and

daughter Meredith,

mind the

home front

in Cincinnati, Ohio. Greg is a most honorable patron of the local Japanese

store

that

stocks

the Japanese food that he l ikes. . Good customer that he

is

the store owner

now

calTs Gregory, senseT , the honorable

name

for t easer .

During the 40 years that we have lived in Japan, we have watched

the

transpor

tation

system

move

from bad

roads

and steam

engines

spouting

ash

and

cinde rs to

an ex

cellent travel system -

air , land

and sea. Recently,

A

Juve

of

Sueyoshi and myself

flew north

for

a meeting in Okayama Prefecture. On the way, the airport socked in . We

landed on a neighboring

island

and were bused back to our original landing

site.

The

bus t r ip was

fantastic.

A series of high bridges

now connect

the two islands. I am

not

able to est imate the amount

of money spent

and

the

engineering required to link these

2 major islands. I also would

not

want to be on one of

those

bridges in a typhoon.

The next two days, we

were

guests of Audrey WEST

and

Keith SUMMERS a t th e

Okayama

Christian Center. Niro KENJI joined us from Osaka. We had two days under Audrey s

auspices

for planning, praying

and fellowship -

all the while

looking forward

to

our

continued

missionary servi ce , but tr es sed

by

our common fai th and

mutual committment to

evangelism

in

Japan.

We

are

always

encouraged

by

the

people

that

come

our

way.

Last

month

we

enjoyed

the visi t of Dr.and Mrs. S.

M

Chang from Korea.

We

were able to enjoy a meal together

and

to

have a

good

visit afterward. Dr. Chang is founder and

president

of Kyung-Nam

Christian

College and Dongseo

University,

both in Busan, Korea s southernmost

city.

The

evangelical

community

in

Japan is

hosting

a

nation-wide evangelistic

campaign

to be held in the city of Nagoya (which is half-way between Osaka and Tokyo on

Novem

ber-

5,

6^7

.-This- ci4:yisâ long

4ft;ay-fwm-4js

-but^

comraiuxixatjxins-are_fin.e^

J/te_welcome

move- _

ment toward a

fa ith th at causes

us

to

respond to

that

ancient and

ever-present

command

that

the Apostle Peter gave. He said; Change your hearts and

lives

and be baptized, each one

of you,

in

the

name of

Jesus

Christ. Then

God

will fo rg ive

your sins,

and you will

re-

cieve the gift of

the

Holy Spiri t . This promise is for

you. I t

is also

for

your children,

and

for the

people

who are far

away.

I t is for

every

person

that

the lord

calls

to

him-

self. -

Acts

2:38-39.

HIS SERVICE Mark

Maxey

Pub l i ca t ion

o f

CHRIST IAN MISSION

B ox 417

rth V ern on , I nd ia na 47265

Address

Return Requested

e d i t o r

HORIZONS

BOX 24 r»7

_tWXVILLE T

37901

c

6 4 4

Non-Profi t Organiza

U.

S . POSTAGE

PAID

Louisville, Kentuck

Pe rm i t N o . 53 7



19-17

A

Report by

Mark

and

Pauline Maxey

/ yNKLe r r e t v

To th e frie nd s o f the

Kyushu Chri st ian Mission

Kanoya, Kagoshima 893

Japan

- Box

417 N.

Vernon IN 47265

LINKLETTER 304

JULY 1993

DEAR

CHR ISTIAN FRI ENDS ,

In days

of old

when I was

not

so

old,

I

go t

lots

of work done in no time a t

a l l

Now-a-days.

lots

of good things ge t done and somethings never ge t done

But mostly work gets div ided up into sec tions: what

has to be done

today;

what can be put off

t i l l

to

morrow and

other things

which

may never got

done -

at

l eas t

not

by me.

Pauline

and I came

to this

town Kanoya)

43 years ago this fall. We ve been collecting,storing,

discarding,

reading

and

writing

and... .ever

since.

I ve got 28

file

drawers

full

of things of that have

happened and

filed

t i l l another day. If I cleaned

out

one

f i le drawer

a day I

might

get

i t

done

in

a

month.

I m

going to

think

about

i t

fo r while, how

ever before I

actually

do i t Big projects like this

require some thought. . . .

In Japan i t

is

no trouble to find things

that are

thousands of

years old,

hundreds of

years

old and

lots of

things happening which should have

quit happening a lot time ago. For example there is

Mt. Sakurajima, very

much

an active volcano. The bull

dozers are st i l l trying to

remove

the lava that blocks

access

to

the

homes,

the

businesses,the

ferries that

provide access to the island and

its

people*

A

full

days

drive to

the

nor thwest corner

of Kyushu will bring one to

Mt.

Unzen.

It

has been

pouring

out lava for many

months

now - killing the

unwary, burning

homes

and blocking roads.

And

jus t

now, this week,

in mid-July, a

tow

ering

tidal

wave, eight

stories

high and

traveling

400

miles

an

hour has

crashed on

th e

small

island

of

Okushiri .

a

few

miles o ff

from the

i sl an d o f

Hokkaido.

As

this

le t ter

was pu t in

the

mail, 144 people were

killed and 125

are missing.

The final count

will

be

known some time l a t e r His tor i ca l ly th es e d ea th -

dealing

tidal

waves come about every ten

years.

Only

a determined people would continue

to maintain their

families

and their

l ives in spite

of

the hardships

and di f f icul t ies they

fac i

Last year,

Osaka

Bible Seminary had its

largest graduating class. The thought then was that

student

enrollment

had reached

i ts

peak and

that the

student

body

would

shrink. This has not happened. We

were

glad

when Masato Yoshii, a young

man from

a Christ

ian family, resigned his post as teacher at an is

land

school and enrolled a t

Osaka

Bible Seminary.

e

is off

to a good start.

Memebers

of

the

Yoshii

family

have made

their mark in the on-going of the

Christian faith in Japan. y guess is that they will

continue to do so in

the

years ahead.

ay

their

like

i n c r e a s e

Bill Bake r and

Pau l

Cla rk :

come

to t each encourage

us

Grandparents look on as Trent Maxey Grad

uates from

Christ ian

Academv-Tokvo. 1993

T i

Paul

and F aith A xto n vîth son

Zachary and daughter, Erin.

wm

Chu r c h a t t h e

t own

o f

T su c h i u r a

led

by

Paul

and

Faith Axton



Ralph

Waldo

Emerson

said,

The ornament

of

a

house

Is the friends

who

visit it. The people who

visit

us are more than ornaments.

They

are people

of

energy and can do .

They

have to be that kind

of people to come and

visit

us. If you put your

finger

on the word Tokyo on a map, and then

trace

i t

down to the end of the

island

of Kyushu, you will

be almost

here. Actually, i t is

a two hour

ride

from

the

Kagoshima airport

to our

home

in

Kanoya.

When

you

arrive

at our place, you are all set to

say with

sincerity,

I m

glad

to

be

here.

Paul Clark, President

of Osaka Bible Semin

ary brought Prof. Bill Baker down to Kanoya for a

short but meaningful

stay. He

spoke to our monthly

ministers

meeting and

also

at

th e churches a t Kano

ya and Yoshino. His messages were well

received.

We also had

plenty

of time to exchange ideas and

hopes

for

the future

of

Osaka Seminary as well as

our i nd iv id u al minis t r i es

One of the places I lil^ to take

visitors

to

is the monument that honors Francis Xavier (1506-

1552) Xavier was the first missionary to

come

to

Japan. Loyola said

that

Xavier

was

the lumpiest

dough

he ever kneaded. Xavier found another lump

f

dough

in the unlettered believer, Anjiro.

This

along with Xavier and f ive others arrived in

Kagoshima on

August 15,

1549

to begin his mission

endeavors. He

had

100 converts before moving

north. The Catholic faith is strong in

Kagoshima

till this

day.

Unfortunately, various buildings

and obstructions

now

make i t difficult to find

Xavier's monument.

Keep

asking,

however.

It can

be found.

May

is always a

great

month to look forward

to. Walter has his E C English Bible Class) camp

then.

The camp

this spring

was

one of the best to

be

held with excellent participation by all.

Another

thing about

May

is

that

i t

is

income

time. It al\vays

interests me that

the IRS can al

find you at this time of year. Mail

from

the

and a visit to the local tax office is the sign

f one

year past.

I saw a remarkable

thing

the

other

Sunday

at

church^ Miss Kariya, the.Sunday School

ha d f in ished her c lass

Pauline

an d I were

e only ones there.

We

waited. A car came. One per

got out. Soon,

another

car

and one person.

In

order five cars arrived

with

people in each

Pub l i ca t i on o f

CHRISTIAN

MISSION

Box

417

Vern on , I nd ia na

47265

Return

Requested

ca r and

presently

the service began. What was

amazing was

the

fact that

up t i l l a few

months

almost

nobody came to

church in

a

car.

Time and

change has surrounded us.

Aging is always with us. Pau lin e and I have

spent some time in

th e

hosoital for tes ts and exa

inations. Our doctor was specially concerned to k

whether

we had

polyps in our inner workings.

It

t

a

lot

of unpleasantness and a couple of days

at

hospital

to

find out

we

had no problem

there.

The Japanese

school

system

ends

their

scho

year in

MarchA

begins again in April. Shuts

down

for a month in August. Begins

again

the first pa

of September. Somehow, I never get

used

to bein

in a two-part

system: following

the calendar yea

of the

West

with the mind and the Japanese

system

with its different holidays and vacations. Even a

all

these years in Japan, habit takes over mind

it comes

to

annual

events

which

are

oft

repeated

It has been our privilege to

have

part of

family in Japan during all the years

we

have been

here. But

life

moves on relentlessly. Pauline

an

I

took

a plane ride to

Tokyo

to

be

present for

graduation

of

grandson,

Trent

Maxey

He

is a

big

man in many ways and we know he will be

found

in

service of both God

and

man. At his height, he w

always

be

a man to look

up

to. Keep him in you

prayers as

he goes

to the

U.S.

for college.

Having

traveled

all

the way to Tokyo to att

Trent's graduation.

also got to

spend

time wi

Paul and

Faith Axton and Erin

and

Zachary - our

grandchildren.

It

was real great.

On Sunday, we attended the church at Tsuch

followed

by

a joyous time of fellowship afterward

Another day, I

was

taking a walk. All of a sudden

a car pulled up

along

side of me. The lady driver

out,

bowed

to

me,

gave

me

a

word

of greeting, go

her car and drove on. Later I

found

out that her

vand

had been

stationed in

Kanoya.

Having recogni

me, she got out of her car to give a greeting. Th

the social amenities continue to

be

the glue of t

society.

Now

i t

is

tinic to bring this letter to a

close. May the Lord watch between me and thee w

we are

absent

one from

the

other. Mizpali '

IN HIS SERVICE MaXCt/

6

Non-Profit Organizatio

U. S.POSTAGE

PAID

Louisville. Kentucky

Permi t

No.

S3 7

E D I T OR

HORIZONS

BOX

7

KNOXVILLE

TN 3 7 9 0 1



/o?^7

A

Report by

Mark

a n d Pauline

Maxey

/ u N K L e r r e R /

To

the f ri en ds o f the Kyushu Chris t ian

Mission

Kanoya,

Kagoshima

893

Japan

- Box

417»

N. Vernon

IN

4726S

L i n k l e t t e r

306

-

December

1993 -

Dear Christian

f r iends .

Greetings from Japan

and

pardon the long dry

spell - meaning you haven't heard from me in a

very

long time. OR to re-write an old slogan,

The

type

writer is strong

but

the typing fingers are

weak

Sometimes,

out

here in the middle of the worlds*

oceans

and

islands,

we get

to

asking

th e

questions;

not

only,

who weare but why

are

we here? I t

is

vital

that

we

keep a

firm

hold on both of

these statements.

We

are

here

for

a purpose. A

very

old

summation

said

that

we

are here

to

serve God

and

glorify Him

forever.

That's

hard

to do but i t

is

a challenge to us every day of

our

l ives.

I t seems

l ike

elements

are all

lined up

to tes t

our houses,

roads,

buildings

and r i v e r banks.

The

continual rains

have

turned the h i l l s i d e s into

rivers of mud. The

mud

washes

down

into

the

streams and out

into

the

ocean.

On the

way,

the

raging

torrents

destroys

the bridges,

the houses,

the

workplaces.. . i t

is

hard to think of

an

area

that

has escaped. 25 people in

our

area were

lost

in the mudslides in our peninsula

alone.

The government

sent troops

to

help.

They walked

carefully

over

all

mudslides, prodding

with long rods

into

the muck.

Many

bodies were found and recovered in

this

way.

Our camp grounds and buildings stood

the

t e s t The winds and

raging

streams

left our

camp

buildings intact, bu t roads,

walls,

foundations all suffered heavily.

The camp

parking

area was completly destroyed.

Now i t is covered

with boulders, rocks,

sand

and

gravel

.As a

resul t ,

we had

water , water everywhere but l i t t l e of i t

was

f i t to

drink ugust a

major typhoon went thru our

area.

Perhaps

foolishly I stood

by

a

front window for three hours watching this raging storm go by. Thankfully, we suffered

no major damage bu t everything that wasn't

fastened

down took flight.Over the years, the

electric

company

has

replaced

all

wooden

telephone

poles with

re-enforced

cement

poles.

They were a major improvement. But

after the

storm had

passed, the

poles were leanina

and

laying

In all directions. I t was a sorry sight. I t s going to take a lo t

of

time,

money and equipment to

bring

these l ines

back

to

normal

again,

as well

as

to repair and/

or repl ace the phones, antennas,

windows,

houses

and

bridges.

After

three months,much of

the damage

has been repaired but much-

is

not. The

church at Kushira suffered much damage. In fact, the roof

lifted

off OR flew off, thus

leaving what remained

of

the church house and

Its

contents to be ruined.

However the

Lord

provides.

Kiyoto Paula Yanagimoto

of

MiMet,

Alberta,

Canada

d L i t

Pauline

Speaks to the Annual

J o i n t Lad ie s Mee tin g

ltd toe neber ijaUe

;k iôb

fjotu

) JfiE lobeii ufi.

l a r k

P a u l i n e M a x

M

Kushira

Church Dedication

Songs of Pra ise

and Thank s



One

of the minis t r ies

we have

had

dur

ing

the past

40

years

has been with

the

Christians

who l ive

in a special housing

area

about f ive

miles from our

house. The

people

there

have

suffered

from Hansen s

disease .The disease can be t r ea ted

but

not

cured.

But one

wonderful

thing

is

that

now

there is

medication and

good

treatment

a v a i l a b l e

As a

resul t

many

of

the

patients

a t

the

K ei -A i-En wh ere the church

meets

and

regular s erv ic es a re held) attend services

regularly

and

participate in:i ts activities.

Recently,

a t

the

en d of church service

there a

gray-haired lady came up to me,

in troduced

herse l f

and told

me

t h a t

I

had

bap ti zed her a t the Kei-Ai-En forty years

ago. What

a

joy to

meet her

again

and to

know that-s

he-had

not forgotten-her

fai th—

or

he r baptism nor the

one

who

had

baptized

he r P ra i se God

Over

th e

years,

practices

and

traditions

have

taken

r o o t a nd r emai ne d. One o f these

is the annual convent ion of a l l the

churches

and C h ris tia ns o f

our

area The

convent ion

is held

in a different

place

each

year.

The

min is te r whose

turn

t

i s

to lead th e con

vention that

year

is wholly responsible

for

the complete program. This year's

convention was

sponsored

by

and

Rhonda

Juve who serve the Sueyoshi church - about

30

miles

northeast of ou r home in Kanoya.

Not only was

this

convention very wel l

attended, t

was also a source

of

blessing

encouragement

and instruction. I

refer

speci fi al ly to

ancient

funeral practices

whic h have

been

a part of religious ceremon

ies

through the ages.

The

problem

is that these ceremonies

e becomeâ traditional paj^^t of the-Christ

ian religion - when they should n eve r have

een a part

of

Christian worship

whatever.

U N K k e T T C R

Publ ica t ion o f

CHRISTIAN

MISSION

B o x 417

North

Vernon,

Indiana

47265

Address Return Requested

have

become

a

traditional part of

the Christ

ian

religion

-

when

they should never

have

been

a

part

of Christian worship whatever.

Remembering

our loved ones

is

natural and

wholesome

for Christian people.

But

in

Japan

a different

practice

takes pl ace. Namely

that

of praying to the

dead

and for the dead.

This accompanied by incense, ringing of bells=

chanting, bowing, giving of money and of the

continuation of

memorial

prayers.

in

other

words,

the t radi t ional

Christ

ian funeral in Japan is a replica of Buddhist

prayers and practices•These have been deeply

planted in the funeral customs and ritual

for

centuries past. And Christians have been

accepting

paganism as

Christianity.

One of

th e

great events at the

annual

convention sponsored

at the

Sueyoshi Church

of

Christ,

was the preaching of two sermons

—by-Al Juve.

The

convention

was

great

in

every

aspect

but especially In the two sermons delivered

by

Juve.

He

gave a thorough presentation

nf

the Chris t ian fa i th

and what t

stands for

He said

specifically that

Christians

are

not

to par ticipate in Buddhist (or Shinto or

other

Oriental

fai th 's)

funeral

r i tes

and

practices.

I t seemed

to me t ha t

a f t e r

Bro. Juve

had

fin is hed his las t

sermon,

that a

l ight went

on the

hearts

of

the

people there. At last

they

had clear

picture of

what

I t

means

to

serving the

Living God

ND T

THE S ME TIME

reject

th e

ri tes

and

rituals

and

robes

and

symbols that pass for faith, forgiveness and

e t e r n a l

l i f e

A load h^s been l i f ted from many l ives

and

light

has

entered many hearts.

Thank you,

Juve for let t ing

the

l ight come

in .

God

bless

and keep you al l IN CHRIST.

A s pe ci al treat ha s -been twtf w«ek

visit

of Kiyoto,

and

Paula Y an ag im ot o -

all th e

way from th e town df

Millet-in

AU}epta,-Canada.-U s

a long way^from here^

to there

and

back again/ bu t it was a Joy to hav« them

here

with us fo r a very

good

visit. Maybe Air C an ad a

will help us ge t to Alberta^for a visit some day

6 4 4

u

Non-Profit OrganlM

U. 8 POSTAQB

PAID

LoulavUle,

Kentuck

Penn i t

No. S9 7

e d i t o r

BOX 2427 .7901

KNOXVIL LE

TN

Documents

Maxey Mark Pauline 1993 Japan