beckman george ethel 1978 japan

8/11/2019 Beckman George Ethel 1978 Japan

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O^saka Cliristtan ^iBaton 3nc.

Miss ionar i es

Geor0

Ethel Beckmon

8

40 Komizon^cho

Nishinomiyo 662. Japan

Dea r Ch r i s t i a n

Fr i ends :

OF AMERICA

not lor Profit corporation)

OSAKA

BIBLE SEMINARY

May 19, 1978

Forwarding Agents

Richord Morgoret Saevre

R. R. i

Srodhead,

WiKonsin

53620

Winter has

passed

and Spring has hal f gone by since

l as t

Newslet ter .

During the

winter months our tim e an d energy seemed to be so taken up with the immediate classes

and preparation fo r the Spring

term

that t he re was not

time

to write about i t

The

bigges t event

of

the

winter

fo r us was the

birth of

Levi

David on

February fifth

in Manhat tan, Kansas ,

to

daughter

Ruth a nd Dav id

Hinson, making us grandparen ts for

the

first t ime. Judging from t he p ic tu re s

we

have received,

he must

be a bright

and

h e al th y b aby

On

March

31,

two young women received the two year certificate from Osaka Bible

Seminary. Miss Takano returned to her home in Nagano

Prefecture to

help in the church

there under the l eader sh ip of

Warren

Christianson. Miss

Inoue

is working in Osaka and

helping in the Nakamiya Church in Hirakata

City

under the leadership

of Mr.

Taniyama.

The

third

woman in

the class Miss

Tsuruta, decided

to con ti nue her

study

a t the

Semin

ary

toward

the four year

Bachelor of

Arts degree.

She

is

a

graduate

nurse and

h as part-

time

work at a nearby hospital and helps with

the

Sunday School at the Miyakojima Church

i n

O s a k a

The

new school term began April eleventh

with one new fu ll

time

student.

Miss

Mari

Ariki

from

Hiroshima, and

four

par t t ime

students

and

auditors.

One

of the auditors

is

Mrs. Kimura, wife

of

one of the upper class men. Thus the

total

number

of

those study

ing

is now n ine

. I I

Gradua t e s

March

31

1978

Mis s Inoue

Miss

Takano

New

Students April

11,

1978

Mrs

Kimura Miss

Ariki

The

annual convent ion of

t he chu rches

of Christ in

Japan

was held

on Okinawa

this

year and was the

largest

so far in

the

history of our work

here.

Over 468 registered and

attended

some of the sess ions . Of

these

172 went from Mainland Japan by plan e or ship,

were guests from other countries, mostly the United States, and 277 registered from


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th e c hu rc he s o n O kin aw a. B esides t h e s e the re w ere an e s t ima t ed 20 who a t tended b ut d id

not reg is te r .

The

theme

of

the convent ion Who has overcome the

world b ut

he

who bel ieves

that Jesus

is

the

Son

of God

1

John

5:5) was well

developed by the

four speakers

whose

messages were Walk in Love/ Walk

in

the Light / Walk

as

Wise Men/ and Walk in

th e S pirit , It w a s

a

t hr il l t o

see

the

maturity

of

t he p re ac he rs , two

of whom

were t ra ined

a t Osaka Bible Sem inar y, a nd the s tab il it y o f t he chur ches s ince our coming

to

Japan

nearly

30 years

ago .

Though they may be

few an d sm all in numbers, w e are co nv in ced that

the

church would c ont inue her e

even

i f

the

miss ionar ies a ll

had

to l eave . Every year as we

attend

these

convent ions,

completely planned and sponsored by

t he J apanes e chu rche s

w e a re

r e a s s u r e d

o f

t h i s .

We

praise God

tha t

Japan is st i l l an open

doo r wher e

Chri s ti an miss ionar ies

are

welcomed

and

respected . There i s

s t i l l

a great

harvest h ere to be

reaped.

In

many

places

the seed

has

not

yet been planted. Pray

the

Lord

of

t he h ar ve st to send

more

workers .

David Hinson, our

son- i n - l aw ,

graduated from Manhat tan Chris t ian Col lege , May

14,

with

an AB in Miss ions .

He

p lan s to take further study a t Lincoln Christ ian

Seminary

before

making

preparat ions to

come

to Japan.

Please

remember

him and Ruth and Levi in

y o u r p r a y e r s .

This

i s

our

bus ies t

t ime of the y ear as

George

t eaches

two c lasses

in the

Seminary.

He has ventured

to

t ea ch th e c l a s s

on

the In te r-Bib li ca l h i s to ry i n J ap an e se

th i s

te rm,

requiring much more

preparat ion.

Ethel is aga in teach ing

Fundamentals

of

the

Old

Testa

ment six hours

a

week

2 days)

bes ides t he

three women s

classes at home and

a

Sunday

School c l a s s on Sunday morn ing .

Thank you and may God bless you

hrist

Jenann s ay s .

D e a r F r ie n ds :

George Ethel

Beckman

Starting

in

March

we have been

going

to the

Old

People s

Home

on

the

second

Satur

day

of

the month, since

I

can t get

away

on Sunday.

We

gave e ach person at

the

home

a

cop

of

a booklet

about God

wri tt en by the

Church

o f Chri st minister in

Tokyo, for Easter and

h av e b een

using i t for

our

themes for

our

program.

Final exams a t language school were

on

Tuesday,

March

28. We had classes the

next

three

mornings, too,

and I spoke in chapel Wednesday. I forgot whether

i t took

me

six o r e ight hours to get

my

message into Japanese and

then have a teacher correct

i t .

Thursday afternoon

I visited the

Bible

Seminary

l ibrary to

see

what

I

could

do

to help

the re . I ve b ee n b ac k tw ic e

now

to decide what Dewey Decimal numbers to give

new

books.

I t s very

difficult

when

I can t

read the books yet

because they re in Japanese.

Since a t rained l ibrar ian l ef t th e

Seminary

some years

ago

some r ecords have gotten lost

and

much

work

has

been left

undone.

As

soon

as.I

brush up on

my

training

I

have

a

big

job

cu t ou t for ir ie.

I visited a

high

school

classmate

during

spring

vacation and started back

to

school

on May 11. I go on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 1:30 - 3:30

and

have a different

teacher

each t ime . I m trying to

leave

Tuesday and Thursday

mornings free to

study

at

home before c lass , but i t is not

near

enough t ime.

I

find it hard to study on

other

days,

now

that

I

have the

laundry and spring

cleaning

tarting with

the

kitchen cupboards) to

do for my mother

and I m trying

to sor t out

and file our

supply

of

visua l a ids for Sunday

Scho

In the

youth

group we are still talking about plans.

I

hope to have something

more

definite to

r epor t a bou t

i t soon .

In Qhris t ,

Jenann

Beckman


3/6

M/7

daaka dllprtsttatt ^Mtsstan 3c

Miss ionar i es

George Ethel Beckman

Jenann

Beckman

8 -

40

Kamizono-cho

Nishinomiya 662,

Japan

(OF AMERICA)

ot for Profit corporation)

OSAKA BIBLE SEMINARY

September

6, 1978

Forwarding Agents

Richard

Margaret

Saevre

R. R. 1. Bo x 146

Brodhead, Wisconsin

53520

Dear

Chr i s t i an

Fr i ends :

Greetings in the name of our Lord

Jesus

Christ whomwe are serving together with you

in proclaiming

the Gospel

of Christ .

We are coming to

the close

of one of

the

hottest and driest summers ever recorded in

the

history of Japan with temperatures in the mid nineties every day consecutively

since

July 5/ and night temperatures in the lower

eighties,

In many

places

the water situation

has become quite critical and severely

rationed,

and fruit and

vegetables

are scarce and

very high

due

to the

prolonged hot, dry weather.

We

had

one of the largest and most successful Vacation Bible

Schools

that we have

had

for several years. Altogether a

total

of 39

children

were enrolled, ranging in age from

three years old to junior-hi students, and there were no more than two absent any one day

Helping

teach were

Shoji

Motobayashi,

Rokko Church member and

student at

Kansei Gakui

University,

and Mari Ariki, freshman

at Osaka

Bible Seminary from

Hiroshima. Mrs.

Miya

of

the

Rokko

Church also helped Jenann

with the preschool children. As a

result

of

the

V. B.

S.

fiv e new children

have

started

to

come

to

Sunday Schoo l so far.

Members

of

Osaka

Bible

Seminary were

busy in summer

camps and

special

meetings

also. Mr.

Uevama . 4th year student, and Miss Inoue, 2nd year gradua te o f th e Seminary

helped

in camps and

evangelistic

meetings

on

Okinawa.

Three baptisms

were reported in

those

meet ings

PreSo

Martin

Cla rk and Mr. Mrs.

Saitoh

of

the

faculty and

ministers

at the Rokko

Church he re he lped in camp and evangelisitc meetings

in

Kagoshima

Prefecture.

They

reported twenty-two people stated that they were seriously considering becoming Chris

tians and

fourteen others expressed their determination

to

begin attending church services

and des i re to s tudy the Bible.

During

Mr.

Saitoh s absence from

the

Rokko Church, George

preached one

Sunday and

Mr. Suzuki,

4th year

student

at the

Seminary preached the second Sunday.

Once

a

month the

Rokko

Church

has

a

fe llowship dinne r and honor s

a ll

those who

have birthdays that month. In July we also celebrated the

silver wedding anniversary

of

Mrs. Oka,

who was immersed

two years ago,

and in

August that

golden

wedding

anniver

sary of

Mrs.

Hori, a member of Ethel s

Wednesday

Bible

class

who has been attending the

Rokko

Church

this summer.

Mrs .

Hori is a

member

of a denominat iona l church

in

Kobe,

but

l ives

here in

Koyoen.

She has expressed an interest in becoming a member here.

On August 28 and 29 some of

th e

preachers and missionaries of this area

held

a


4/6

While

the

work

is

slow and it

takes

much teaching

to

win

one person to Christ,

we

are

encouraged and

optimistic

about the future. The preachers who

have

graduated from

the Seminary are showing maturity and a sense of responsibility for

the

church of

Chirst.

There is a strong conviction among them for the

cause

of

New Testament

Christianity.

As to

our financial situation,

we

are

sure

that

you

are

aware of what

the

instability

of the dollar means to us. Less than a week after we made

out

the budget to

be submit

ted to the next directors meeting

of

the mission, the dollar fel l

from

about 200 Yen

to 180

Yen fo r

one

dollar.

Since

then

it

has

ranged

from

that

180

to

190

Yen

to

the do ll ar .

What

this

means in p ract ic al te rms to

us i s a

loss of nea rly

40 in

our

real

income within

the

l a s t year .

And we have

no cont rol

over this

l o s s .

Thank

you

and may God bless you.

In

Chr is t ,

George

Ethel Beckman

Jenann

s ay s .

. .

D e a r F ri en d s:

Last newslet ter I

mentioned

helping in th e Seminary lib rary. W ell ,

when

we inv en

toried the

books

in

July

I weeded a ll

bound

magazines from

the

s tacks .

Inflation

has

prohibited

binding

any fo r the

pas t

ten

years ,

so we

decided

to make cardboard

boxes

to

keep them in

on

sepa ra te shelves from the books. Having col lected and sorted all

the

magazines

we c ou ld

f ind ,

i t is

a race

to get them

ready for shelving

before

school

st rts

I

plan

to take

a

correspondence

course

in

library

science

from

Ohio

University

(in

Athens,

Ohio)

starting this

fall . And fo r the sake

of comparison,

I p lan to

vis i t

the

l ibraries of several regional univers i t ies

known

to have theology depar tments . Professor

Nakano,

who is in charge of the

Seminary

l ibrary, has already accompanied me on a trip

to Tenri City for

th is

purpose.

Language

school

star ts September 14. I ll be going Tuesday and Thrusday a ft er noons

aga in .

In

my

afternoon Sunday Schoo l

c lass we have begun a s tu dy o f the N.T. with

the

theme God Spoke (Hebrews 1:1 2). The s tuden ts have to find

out

to

whom,

where ,

how

and

what .

I

make

each a copy of every

new page

for

our

homemade

workbooks .

In Chr is t ,

Jenann

Beckman


5/6

Ctjrislian

Mt00i0n

Missionar ies

George Ethel

Beckman

J en an n B e ckm an

8 -

40

Kamizono-cho

Nishinomiya 662. Japan

Dea r Ch r i s t i a n Fr iends ;

{OF AMERICA)

(not for Profit corporotion)

O SA KA B IB LE SEM IN AR Y

\ 5

m s

Decembe r ? ,

1978

Forwarding Agents

Richard

Margaret

Saevre

R, R. 1,

Bo x 146

Brodhead , Wiscons in 53520

Warm gree t ings

to

you

during this busy

but joyful season .

There

are p lan s

fo r

special

programs

fo r both children

and

adul ts .

We

know that fo r some i t is only

a

mark

in

t ime

but

we

feel

that we sho uld

be making the most o f th e

t ime.

Col . 4:5 .

)

The Lord

w il li ng we wil l

gree t

of our first a rr iv al i n Japan

the

28th of

this

month. We

want

to expr s our

gratitude

to so many

for the

fellowship

in

te ac hin g th e G os pe l o ve r

t hese many year s .

A

spec ia l

n ote o f g ra ti tu de

goes

to those

who

h av e s erv ed

as our forwarding

a -

gents

so f ai th fu ll y

over t he se y ea rs . Ethel s

brother

Roger Brown

and

h is wife, Vivian,

were our f i r s t

forwarding

agen ts from 1948 - 1958 .

Mr.

Mrs . Oden E . Brown,

now

l iv

ing in Mounta in

Grove,

Mo. ,

served

i n t ha t c ap ac ity unt i l 1972 , Since then E th el s c ou si n

Richard

an d Marg are t S aev re h av e

been

our forwarding

agents .

Bes id es b ankin g our funds

and making out receipts

t he y h el p

in promoting our work and s ee ing about

the

printing and

mailing of our newsle t t e r s . Surely the i r

reward

in heaven wil l be great for the ir faithful

serv ice ,

for they give of the ir

t ime

and e ffo rt s o

wil l ingly

and w it hout

remunerat ion.

Four

churche s have supported us throughout

these

30

years

as

l iving

link.^church.es

Central

Christian, Beloit, Wis . ,

Church of Christ, Footville,

Wis , ,

Central CfiristiarT,

Waukegan , 111. from 1948 and Centra l Chr is t i an , Rockford, 111. from 1950. A

fifth church .

First Chr is t i an , Kenosha,

Wis .

also suppor ted us on a l iving l ink

bas i s

until 1973 . Other

churches which

have suppor ted us

regular ly throughout

the 30 years

are

Traders

Point

Chr is ti an , Ind ianapol is ,

Ind . , Lincoln

Christ ian,

Worthington, Ind. and Church

of Christ ,

Freetown, Ind . A number of other

churches

and individuals

have

supported us and we are

grateful

to a l l .

Recent ly when Geor ge

was

in t he o ff ic e of Osaka Bible

Seminary

during the morning

b reak he mentioned

the

fac t

tha t

some people were a sk in g a bo ut h is

plans

for re t i rement

s ince

he

was

approaching

the

a ge w hen

many

people

do

ret i re

o Mrs , Hor iuchi ,

who

came

to

t he f ac ul ty

soon

after the

Beckmans

arrived in

Japan ,

was p re se nt and

she

sa id

to

George , You have

been

here l on g e no ugh now to have

learned

much t ha t

would

be

o f such

g re a t h e lp in counse l

to th e Japanese Chr is t i ans . You may

be able

to make yo ur grea tes t

con tr ibu ti on to

the

Chris t ian

work yet in

your l i f e . We

hope

you

don t

re t i re . She

i s wel l

pas t 65

and h er h ea lt h

i s not too good

so

she

i s request ing a

reduct ion

in

work l oad ,

bu t

wants

to

continue

as long as

she

can . She

seemed quite

disburbed a t

t he po ss ib il it y of

losing

the

investment in an older

missionary. -


6/6

One Sunday evening

we w ere

honored by a vis i t with three men

from

Indianapolis

as Jerry Roch invited us to

dinner

with th em in th eir h ote l in Osaka .

The

next

evening

Larry Hill made the trip out to Nishinomiya

by

t rain to vis i t us . Our

Sunday School

children

w ere happy to

r ec ei ve t he l et te rs and pictures that

Larry

brought from

the

Whirlybirds of

the T rade rs p oi nt

Church

and we have

sent

le t ters and

pictures to

them

in

re turn .

We

h av e b een

pleased

to

see

the steady growth

in

our

Sunday

School. Even

though

a few

regular

members were absent,

every

chair

was

f il led Sunday. We pray that it will

c on t i n u e .

it

I

The pl nning the prep r tion

the

decor tions the Y

S

varied

and interesting program the complete

develop ]/

I j i

ment

of

the

them in every

part of

the decorations

and

'

IHH i' program

were perfect.

This was the way Mark Maxey

I

d^cribed the

6th

annual

Tanemaki Kai held

on

the

'fc* camplis dTO'saka Bible Seminary, November 2 3.

^ Tl\e theme was: I am

th e true v ine

which

was

develop

8 by ee''messages:The

Abiding

Branch; The Cleansed

Branch;

and

the Friiit Bearing Branch, A total of

183

a t

^J tended making this

the

largest of these preaching

con

I ventlons

held

to this date. The music chairman

had

I ^ *l i asked the young people of the Rokko

Church

to present

T f nu^- a song an d t he y s ea rc hed for a song that f it the theme

J enann

ot oho i i ^ . . .

and found none. Sho]i^.Motobayashi wrote the words \j

and composed the mu^ic.

for

a song that he and Jenann put on paper and sang as a duet V

during th e fi rst s es s i on .

Occasional ly the American Thanksgiving Day falls

on

November

23rd,

the Japanese

Thanksgiving Day so that the missionaries who teach

in

the Seminary have a holiday. Sinc

this year

was

one

of those

occasions,

the missionaries of this

area

camejiere. for Thanks

giving: dinner.

After

dinner George

lead

a

de^^ional

which

consisted of hymns of

praise

CiiTEngUsh),

interspersed

with Scripture

readings of Thanksgiving

and

each

missionary

mentioning a blessing during this past year for which he was especially grateful. Our

greatest praise and

thanksgiving was

for

the love

of God through

Jesus

Christ, through

whose grace such a meeting was possible. We were glad,

too,

to have

Vivi^ Lemmon

back with us after a six

month s

stay in

the

Sta tes .

We look forward

to

a

great

new year and we

pray

th at God s richest blessings may

rest

on

you through this new year, too.

Thank

You.

In Chr i s t

T h e B ec km an s

beckman george ethel 1978 japan

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