beckman george ethel 1979 japan

8/11/2019 Beckman George Ethel 1979 Japan

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Olsafea

OHinstian

Misston, 3lnc

^ OF AMERICA

Missionaries /ThlL-k^ np t

for rofit

corporation Forwarding

Agents

George

Ethel Beckman

Richard

Margaret

Saevre

Jenann Beckman / _aka riri f c;fminary

8 - 40

Kamizono-cho j / Brodhead, Wisconsin

53520

Nishinomiya 6 6 2

Japan

Dea r Ch r i s t i a n

F r i e nd s :

e>\9i9

ftB-

January

2 1979

A

happy

ne w y ear t o

each

of you . May yo u b e g iv en s tr en gt h an d guidance for

e a c h d a y as

you

w a l k with t h e Lord.

Our

Ch r is tm a s

n e w s le tt er w a s so la te

i n g et ti ng

t o M ar ga re t that

s h e

c o u ld not

get

it out

before Christmas Now t hi s l et te r will

be

close

to

that

one

but we w ant to

share with

you

the joys

an d blessings

that h ave be en ours

this

Christmas season

while

t h e y

a r e

s t i l l

f r e s h in

o u r

m i n d s .

First

of

all

we

want

to

express

our

gratitude to

all of

you who

have

remembered

u s

with

cards

and

le tte rs

and

sp e c ia l gifts at th is t ime. We se n t part

of

the money to

E t h e l s

mother an d e a c h o f o u r th re e c hild re n in

t he S ta te s

to cal l

u s for C h r i s t m a s . By

having

them call

us we

saved

about

half the

cost

of

what it

would have

been from here.

It

was

a real joy to he ar a ll

their

voices including little

Levi s

for

t he f irs t

time.

Our

special

Ch ristmas mee tin gs

began

on

December fifteenth

when Ethel

and

Jenann a tt en de d t he C hr is tm as

worship

service an d dinner at t he J ap an es e l an gu ag e

school. That

evening all

three o f us attended the

annual

sukiyaki dinner-party which

c l o s e s th e seco nd

term a t

Osaka

B i b l e Semina ry

On

December

20 the

Rokko Church

women s group

met with two of

Ethel s

Bible

classes fo r t hei r

Ch r is tm a s

dinner a nd w o r s h ip s e r v i c e M r s.

Miyake

an d M r s .

S ak ur am o to o f

th e Rokko Church a t E th el s r eq ue st e ac h gave a testimony as part of the

program.

At

Ethel s suggestion

that

anyone who would like to share Mrs. Hori told how

in

the last

year

or so she had come to

r ea li ze t ha t J es us

came to this earth for

he r

per

sonally.

Several women later spoke

of

how

t he y h ad

been

blessed

by

the meeting.

December

24 was a busy da y from morning until night. Our

church

room was

full

to overflowing with

children

and their

mothers

for the Sunday

School

hour. We ha d a

very simple program, as each

class

sang or quoted memory verses they had learned.

Following th e regular morning and afternoon worship services th e Rokko

Church

ha d

their Christmas meeting - a sukiyaki dinner and fellowship at five followed by a candlelight

service at seven.

Several

guests

came to

t he c an dl el ig ht s er vi ce

filling

the

room

again.

D e c e m b e r 25 - Our

Ch r is tm a s

dinner

w as sh a re d

with th e six w om en w ho study

with Ethel

on Monday

afternoon

and t he ir t hi rt ee n p re -s ch oo l c hi ld re n

an d

M r. T an in ar i

wh o helps Jenann with t he c hi ld re n w hi le

their

mothers study.

All

these children

come

to Sunday School

except Mi a

an d U tak o

wh o are

still

babies.


2/5

December 31 -

is

the busiest day of

the

year

as

t he housewives fin ish up their

cleaning and prepa re special foods to last through the three

days

of the new

year

cele

bra t ion St i l l e leven

members

of

th e Rokko

Church a t tended se rv ices

and

af te rward

with

the

a dd it ion o f

Mr. Oka,

stayed and helped

us

celebrate

the

anniversary of

our

arr ival in

Osaka

t hi rt y y e ar s

ago

tha t day

We

look

forward to the new year with hope and encouragement. There

are

some

things fo r

which we

seek your

prayer

suppor t ,

1. Our

all

Japan Christian Convent ion to be

held

in Okayama Prefecture March

30

April

1.

Pray for

the

group

of Christians

planning and making

preparations

for

the con

v en t i o n

2. Mr. Ueyama and Mr.

Suzuki,

who

will be

graduating from

the

Seminary on

Mar ch

3 0

3. That we may

have

several new students enroll in

th e

Seminary

in

April to

prepare

fo r service

in the Lord s vineyard,

4. The

seven

women in Ethel s Bible classes who are not yet Chri st ians that

they

may

give their lives to the

Lord

this year.

Also

Mrs.

Hori

that she

may be immersed

i n to

Ch r i s t

5. Our tentative p lans to

go

to t he S ta tes in

September for a

short stay.

We

would appreciate some indication of the best time{s) to visit you and report on the work

in

Japan

Truly

the

Lord is

good.

His mercy is

everlasting

and His

love

endures forever

encircling the earth. May you

each

know

the

reality of that

love

in your lives is our

prayer

for you

th is new

year

In Chr i s t

George Ethel

Beckman

Jenann

a sk s :

Was your Christmas anything like ours?

It sounds

li ke all we did

was

eat

dinners and attend programs, because my parents did not mention the eight Christmas

hymns

my

mother

stenciled

onto 32 in. x 43 in. sheets of paper to

teach

the Sunday

School children, or the

40

dozen cookies she and

four of

the mothers baked

to

give

them, or

the new dress she sewed

for

me.

Nor

did

they mention

the

mobile frame my

father

built

to hang

those

song

sheets

from, or the handwork I

designed:

a

Christmas

crossword puzzle-in

Japanese,

a drinking straw

star

of David and a set of stand up paper

figures for the flight into Egypt.

y

father mimeographed the

last

item for

m

and

my

mother helped cut out enough for

my

class

of

pre-schoolers.

But what I think

I ll

remember

the longest

is

the

number of times I heard the message, Jesus

was

born

in ful fi llment of God s promise o f a

Savior.

In Chr i s t

Jenann

Beckman


3/5

Cisaka

0II|risttan Mtsstan < nc

JUf\i

^^

W?9

Missionar ies

George

Ethel

Beckman

J enann

Beckman

8 - 40

Kamizono-cho

Nishinomiya 662. Japan

De a r Ch r i s t i a n F r i e nd s :

(OF AMERICA)

(no for Profit

corporation)

OSAKA BIBLE SEMINARY

May

14 ,

1979

Forwarding

Agents

Richard

Margaret

Saevre

R. R. 1. Bo x 146

Brodhead , Wiscons in 53520

During

this beautiful

Spring

season we send greetings

from

Ja pan an d thanks

giving

to a ll o f you who are

so fai thfully

supporting

us

in your prayers

and

f inancial

he lp .

Spring i s always a busy season

for t h e miss ionar ie s

in Jap an an d especial ly in

th is a re a. The mon th

of March

ended

w ith tw o grea t

events

on

the

thi r t ie th .

The

fi rst o f

t hese

events

was graduat ion in

the morning a t Osaka

Bible Semina ry

when two

young

men

rece ived four year

degrees .

Keiichi

Suzuki ,

on

the

r ight in

th e p ic tu re ,

came

to

the

Seminary

af te r

graduat ing

from

a

univers i ty

in

Tokyo. He i s the Timothy

of

M r. H iro aki Satoh,

a second

gener a ti on g radua te

from Osaka Bible

Semina ry ,

who ha s been minis te r ing

to

two churches

in Tokyo. Mr. Suzuki has returned

to

h is home

c hu rc h to

b e

t h e i r

min i s t e r

so

M r.

Sa t oh c a n d evo t e

h i s fu l l t ime to t h e o t h e r c hu r c h .

Koji

Ueyama ,

th e

young man

on

the

le f t

in

the pic ture a l so cam e to the

Seminary as

a univers

i ty g r aduat e. He has gone to

H ig as hi O s ak a

Ci ty ,

jus t eas t

of

Osaka Ci ty , where he has become the

fu l l t im e m i ni s te r o f t h e c hu r c h

wh i c h

h e h a d b e e n

serving on

the

week ends during

h is

l a s t

year

a t

the

Seminary .

m0 fti jHlMBBfe

The

second

of those events was the

begin

ning in the

evening of

the t hi rt ie th a nn ua l c on ve n

t ion of the chu rches o f

Chr i s t

in Japan . The

con

vent ion t h i s year w as held in the northern

part

o f Okayama Prefec ture ,

a

two

hour

drive from

o u r h o u s e . The t h eme

fo r th e conv en t i o n w as ta ke n from Oo l . 3 : 1 -1 7 - T he

Ch r i s ti a n s

Spiri tual

Growth

-

and we heard some f ine messages

preached.

This yea r 308 people

a t tended . The 31s t a nnua l c onven tion w i ll be held in Hokka id o i n August next yea r .

Won t you

join

us there; if

not

in body, in your prayers ?

We had to le av e th e convent ion

Sa turday af te rnoon so

t ha t

Ethel

and

Jenann

could

teach Sunday

School and we

could

be here

for

the

churches to meet . We returned

to the

convent ion

Sunday

evening for th e

Engl ish s e c t i on .

Brother George

Alder

from San Jose

Bible Col lege

as

our main

speaker

brought us some very encou rag ing and chal lenging


4/5

messages, Audrey West and Daynise Halloway did a very good job in p lann ing and

preparing

for

th i s

convent ion

The new

s ch oo l y ea r

of Osaka

Bible

Seminary

began April 17th. M iss

Iwagami,

from Kochi/ Shikoku,

enrolled as a

f re shman and two

older

women

are

audit ing

the

first

year c l a s s e s

One

of them

is Mrs .

Hori ,

a

woman of 68, from

Ethel s Bible

c l a s s

She ,

a long wit h

two

other women, plan to be immer sed on

June

third.

Ethel i s again t ea ching Fundamental

Knowledge

of the Old Testament s ix hours

a week ( 2 days)

plus her classes

at

home.

George

is teaching two

classes;

an

e xe ge si s o f Romans and

Corin th ians

and

a

cour se

on

t he a u th o rs h ip

date

and des t i

n a t i o n o f

t h e

b o o k s o f

th e N e w

T e s t a m e n t

Mr.

Shoji

Motobayashi has taken over Ethel s Sunday

School c lass

to rel ieve

her noy^

and to

cont in u e t o t each whi le

she

i s gone Please

pray

for

him

in

this

new

v e n t u r e

The Lord wil lin g we hope

to

see many of you

la ter

th i s year .

In C h r i s t

George

Ethel Beckman

H i ;

We t ried some th ing new in Sunday School this

year

-

a n Eas te r

Program. I m

afraid

i t was a humble

beginning for

s

omething

w e wou ld l ike to have every

year;

maybe

n ex t y ea r

we

can

have

a parade around the

neighborhood.

At Easter the Sunday School children received binders in which

th ey h av e b een

putting definit ion of

words

used in the Bible. Looking a t the

printed

defini t ions, you

wouldn t

think

i t

difficult

to come up with

such

simple

wo rd ing, but

i t

i s

A_fellow rriissiQnary told me

about

a poll

which

r evea led t ha t

85

ofJapanese

Christians h ad gone

to Sunday Schoo l as children and

another

8

had attended

English

Bible

c lasses at

some t ime. Only

7 had become

Christians

without having a back

ground

of Chr is ti an

teaching. This is a good

thing

fo r a

teacher

to remember.

In Ch r i s t

Jenann Beckman


5/5

Cisaka

^It|rtsttan (^isston,

3nc

Missionaries

Ge orge Ethei B eckman

J en an n B ec km a n

8 4 Kami zono cho

Nishinomiya

6 62 , J ap an

OF AMERICA)

(not for Profit corporation)

O S A K A BIBLE S E M I N A R Y

September

1 2,

1979

Forwarding Agents

Richard

Margaret Saevre

R. R. 1,

B ox

14 6

B ro d h e a d ,

Wis c o n s in 5 3 5 2 0

^1979

lii

M rs . U ed a^ Mr s. Nish id a.Mrs. Minami,

Mrs. Hori

I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and call on the name of the Lord.

P sa lm 1 16 :

17

It has been the custom of

the Christians

of

th e Rokko

Church to give a special offering to

God

whenever

they receive a special blessing or have

some

special occasion in the family.

The greatest

such offering

of

thanksgiving was given

this summer

by Mrs. Oka when

her

friend

Mrs. Ueda

became

a Christian. Her joy in having a part in leading a friend to Christ

overflowed

in thanksgiving to God. Her special offering to the Lord paid for most of a new wall to wall car-

petting for th e first two rooms in the church meeting part of the house.

M r s . U ed a h ad los t h e r h u s b a n d in

^ deat h from a heart a t t a c k four years ago

k while they were on tour in Spain It was

^ Mrs .

Minami

first became interested

idPgl ::

^ I

in

Christianity

through

the kindness

of

* Vivian Lemmon when

he r only

son died

o f

s u n s t r o k e . N o w , s e v e n t e e n

years la

Mrs.

Ueda,Mrs. Nishida,Mrs.

Minami, Mrs. Hori committed her life to

Christ.

Mrs, Hori has been a

member

of a Methodist church in

Kobe

since childhood, being a fourth

generation Christian, She now lives in

Koyoen

and

through

the Bible class has decided to be a

Christian only an d a member

of

the Rokko church.

One of

th e

aims of th e

missionaries

in Japan is for th e church to be able to continue on

its

own. After

t h e s e f ou r w om en

be c a m e C h r i s t i a n s ,

th e

Bible class c ha nge d from W e dne s da y

to

Sunday afternoon, and instead

of

a missionary

teaching

it , the members of th e church a re t ak in g

turns

i n le ad in g

the lesson. At least tw o

th in gs h av e b ee n

accomplished

in

this

change.

The

members

of

the

church a re t ak in g th e

responsibility

for

the

continuance

of

th e

c la ss,

an d

the

men

o f th e

c h u r c h

a n d more

w o m e n a r e

b e i n g

i n v o l v e d in i t

The spring term of

th e

seminary ended July sixth. The

students

and some of th e faculty

have

been

helping

in

camps and vacation Bible schools during the summer vacation.

From July

twenty-fourth

through twenty-seventh, th irty-sev en ch ildren atten ded v acation

Bible school in Koyoen. Jenann did most of th e planning and preparation of the mater ials for th e

four c la sse s. Some

of the

mothers

helped

with the handwork for t he p re -s ch oo l

children

an d

wi t h t h e r ef re s hm e n t s

Ethel

arrived

in

Wisconsin

on July 31st to have some t ime w it h her mother

before

we begin

travelling.

On he r

first

Sunday here she

went

to O Niell,

Nebraska,

to help in a surprise cele

bration fo r

Paul

and M ar cia o n their f o rt ie t h w e d di n g anni versary.

On August 19th she parti

cipated

in

a

Japan

Missions

Rally

at t he C hr is ti an

Church

in

Ramsey,

Illinois,

which

is

sup

porting Don and Norma Burney in Japan, There she

also

made the acquaintenance of our grand

son,

Levi,

as

David and Ruth

ar e

ministering with

that

congregation. From

there sh e

went

to

Marshall, Illinois, with Exie Fultz, where sh e

spoke

to the prayer meeting and Women'fe Mi s

sio na ry C ir c le o f t h e c hu rc h.

George arrived

here

September fourth, having s ta ye d i n Japan to do some

needed

repair on

the house and h el p g et it ready for Jenann to take c are o f w hile we ar e gone. He also attended

a meet ing of

the preachers

of

th e area.

Eleven

preachers,

two missionaries, and a few

other

people

went

up a mountain to a special hotel

where

they listened to some of the younger prea

chers

preach th e Word and tell of the work they

ar e

attempting for th e Lord. There was also

singing, praying

an d

exchanging of progress an d

difficulties.

While

we are

in th e S ta te s

w e

are

renting

a n

apartment

across

the

street

from

Ethel s

mother

. Cur

address is

Box

2 4, F oo tv il le ,

Wisconsin,

53537, and our telephone is

1-608-

876 6 9 51

We

c on tin ue tc o ff er our thanksgiving to the Lord

fo r

all of

yo u

who

are

upholding u s in

y o u r p r a y e r s

an d s u p p o r t .

George

Ethel

Beckman

beckman george ethel 1979 japan

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