faber ernest neva 1987 japan

7/27/2019 Faber Ernest Neva 1987 Japan

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i/htss!35U S,U, 12ih S tDe^ flo-iae^, IA 5031^

Dear Fr i ends in Ch r i s t ,J anu a r y , 1987

/ a 1-5Oine^t and and Ne.Da Tat&A.4-8 NoAih 49, Cast 75

Hlga^ttL h i , SAPPORO

Many mon th s h av e gone by s ince we have pu t o u t a p i c t u r e r e po r t o f th e work her eon Hokkaido . It seems t h a t as we g e t o ld er th e re i s more w ork to do and l e s s t imeand ene rgy t o g e t it done . So many o f ou r Mondays have been t aken up wi t h o t h e rt h i n g s that it has been difficult t o g e t t o someth ings t h a t take more than a day t o complete ,It does seem t h a t every t ime we start to wr i t e t oyou we a r e in vo lv ed w i th th e ne v e r end i ng jo b o fr emov ing snow . It snow ed 10 t o 12 in ch es a ga in it h i s p a s t week-end. We only had t ime to shove th esnow t o th e s i d e . Th i s a .m . w as t h e n s p e n t i nt a k in g th e snow down t h e street a b l o ck where wecould put i t on an empty lot . iH BThe main activities that have taken place in the ^||a ^H]pas t severa l months were camp, the evangelistic ^meeting, and Christmas services. ^H jAs r epo r t ed p r e v i o u s l y we now hav e o u r own camps i t e . Thi s camp s i t e i s re nte d o ut to o the r church g r o u p s an d also to Christian families whena v a i l a b l e . Dur ing th e y e a r o f 1986 f o u r f am i l i e s ,the Hokkaido International School, two Churches of J^^Kv 5.. ,Christ, a n d three other churches u s e d thefacilities. I t was used once in February, twice in /U^aio qamakaiM.'^ HaptUmJ un e , tw i c e i n J u l y , tw i c e i n Augu s t , tw i c e i nSeptember , once in Oc tobe r , once i n November, and once i n December in a dd it i o n to anov e r n i g h t "workday" i n May. You can r e a d i l y se e that it is be ing used even du r i n gth e co ld , snowy win t e r months . This he l p s us t o keep th e co s t s down fo r ou r members*u se o f t h e camp site and pays upkeep and i n s u r a n c e . Bes i d e s th e above E r n e s t andNeva have been th e r e s ev e r a l t i m e s t o work a n d / o r f o r r e l a x a t i o n .The sum mer cam p f o r ch i l d r en was h e l d f rom J u l y 27 to J u l y 29 . The r e were 15ch i l d r en who a t t ended wi th 7 he lpe r s and t e ache r s . For t r an spo r t a t i on we re nted th ek i nde r ga r t en bus from th e Moiwash i t a Church o f C h ris t in t h i s c i t y . It was a co ldr a i ny ses s ion and th e swim i n th e l ake wasn ' t very en joyab l e bu t th e ch i l d r en l e a rnedabou t th e Good Shepherd du r i ng th e s t udy s e s s i on s . Handcraf t was s t r i ng a r t . Sinceth ere a re f i r eworks every evening acros s th e l ake a t th e r e so r t a rea the s t r i ng a r twas a p ic tu r e o f th e f i reworks . The ch i ld ren enjoyed making s t r i ng a r t p ic tu r e s fo rth e first t ime in t h e i r l i v e s , J ap an es e lo ve a lmos t any kind o f art medium.

On Sunday a f t e rnoon , September 14 th ,seven adults a n d o n e child f r om thechurch here went to the ChristianHouse at Lake Toya f o r o u r a n n u a lchu r ch retreat. Af t e r an o v e r n i g h tr s t a y we r e t u r ned t o Sapporo . It wasthe s a m e w e e k e n d that the localshrine h a d a celebration so i t w as a

La. F'"'"""" 'I g l i t t l e noisy around the camp s i t e .The Sunday Schoo l c h i l d r e n a lway sseem t o en j o y coming t o chu r ch ands t a y i n g ov e r n i g h t . Ten c h i l d r e ncame Sunday a f t e r n o o n th e 2 1 s t o fSep t embe r t o s t a y ov e r n i g h t . Theyhelped do th e cooking , p l ayed games,watched a movie , prayed and s t ud i edtoge the r t h en s l e p t i n s leep ing bagson t h e h a r dwood floor.


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An evange l i s t i c meet ing wash e l d f r o m t h e 3 1 s t o fO c t o b e r t o t h e 2n d o fN o v e m b e r , T h i s wa s an a t i o n a l ho l i d a y week -endh e r e i n J a p a n , T h ee v a n g e l i s t was M r, Ueyamafrom Tanabe, Japan . He worksw i t h t h e l o n g - t i m e -mi s s i o n a r y t o J a p an , MissGrace Lemmon, M r. U eyam a i sm a r r i e d t o a f o r m e r m e m b e ro f t h e church h e r e . T h i swas h is f i r s t a t t em p t top r e a c h an e v a n g e l i s t i cmee t i ng and he d id a ve rygood j o b . We we r e v e r ydi sappo in ted wi th th e s t a r tof t h e m e e t i n g b u ta t t endance p i ck ed up and wec lo sed wi t h a f i n e g roup t h el a s t n i g h t . Th e r e wer e 22d i f f . e r e n t p e o p l e whoa t t ended th e meet ing dur ingth e th re e n ig h ts . Some o fthem were he re eve ry n igh t .

3C/uJdyieji'4 ChAJ^tmcu pajity

The r e we r e five who c ame t o t h e s e rv ic es f o r th e f i r s t t im e and tw o h ad n e v e r b e e n ina church bu i l d i ng be f o r e . S i cknes s , w ork , and a honeymoon t r i p kep t some membersfrom a t t e nd i ng .The Christmas program for the children was held on Sunday afternoon the Sundaybefore Chr is tmas . Neva pu t th e program t oge the r s t a r t i ng ou t with an i nt ro d u ct io n o fOld Testament prophesy of Chris t , the appearance of the angel to Joseph and then toMary, th e t r i p to Bethlehem, th e b i r th in th e s t ab l e , th e shepherds, and the wisemen.Between scenes the re were appropr ia te ca ro ls and hymns. Following the p re se n ta ti on o fthe g i f t s by the wise men the chi ldren presented "g i f t s " t h a t represented obedienceto various commands of Christ . We hope t ha t those who heard and those who had a par tin the p ro gram wen t away with th e knowledge of what Chr is tmas i s a l l about.On th e 24th we had ou r annua l Chr i s tmas eve c a nd l e l i g h t s e r v i c e . There were 16adu l t s , 3 J r . High s tuden t s , 5 ch i ld ren , and 1 baby in a t t endance . These included 8households and 3 o the r adu l t s , Ernest preached on the sub jec t "Jesus i s God."Over th e ho l i d a y s we en j o y ed t a l k i n g by phone wi t h t h r e e o f ou r c h i l d r e n and wereceived a card from th e four th one on Chr is tmas day.

T h e J a p a n e s e a r e c o n c e r n e dwith the yen f a l l i ng below 150 fo r th e'' ' f i r s t t ime in h i s to ry bu t th e USp y government s t i l l wants i t to fa l l

*- further. Your missionaries real ly. lljL would like for the yen to be more'T -stable. I t t a k e s 40% more d o l l a r stod ay than a coup l e o f y ea rs ago f o rtisame yen expenditure, and tha t''


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/"/ f Vist i (/^ sst357^ Si^dej> Plo-ineAf IA ^0315

SEPTEMBER 1 9 8 7

E ji ne .^ t a ru i and Neva 7aJL&A.4-8 Mofvth 49 , ecu>t 15HU.gcu>hU. kiL, SAPPORO

Dea r F r i end s in Ch r i s t ,Today t h e sun i s sh i n i ng . It i s th e k ind o f day t h a t begs you to g e tou t s i d e . In f a c t , that's wha t E r n e s t d id j u s t be f o r e l u n ch . He wen t no r t h f i v emiles to the garden we have. He picked some green jjjjjjjjMHbeans and l e f t them with Mr. Sakai, a Christ ian u _________junk dealer, and brought back some potatoes BHjju^Bu t good wea t h e r h a s n o t been th e norm thissummer. Most people feel that we have only had 'j yday or two of summer. The schools report that the 1 ^ f

k id s r e t u r n e d w i t h ou t t a n s . It was a c oo l [ a lmo s t

We wan t t o t u r n your a tt e n tio n to some o f th eact ivi t ies that-took place here ear l ier in the SWQSPLRAllONyea r . On March 15th we had a d i nne r fo r t hose who were en te r ing schoo l o r who weregraduat ing . We had s eve ra l who graduated from grade schoo l and s ub sequen tl y e n te r edjunior high. It is difficult to ma^intain

^ on Sunday and q u it e o f te n after s choo l du r i ngf ' 1 ^ : ^ t h e week. The i r t ime i s no t t h e i r own. Butstill we do wha t we can t o keep in t ouch w i t h^ t h em .

^ On March 29th we had a f i f t h Sundays i ng s p i r a t i o n wi th th e a cappe l l a Church of' ' "u " I - " Christ. Steve Carrell , their missionary, lead% the singing. The songs were selected by Ernest^ ^ and Steve from several available song books.

song , "The Love o f God", is a f a v o r i t e o fHk f them. It was taken from an old song book and is' ' f seldom seen in print today. Between the songsa p p r o p r i a t e s c r i p t u r e pa s s a ge s were r e a d by0, ' members of both churches. There were fourteen' Pi , j * adul ts and three children present for theafternoon service.

Tn-TTKir n^r~rMm Thenext f i f th Sunday-aet-ivit-ywas-hei-dofi-LRIIN^ H/ LhIU 31st. We rented a movie called "HongkongSweethear t" , Severa l pos te r s were pu t up in th e a rea and 1000 f l i e r s were passed ou tdoor - to -door . As a r e s u l t o f t h i s adver t i s emen t a l oc a l h igh school g i r l at tendedhe re f o r th e first t ime . Bes ides t h e Ch r i s t i a n s ,there we r e in a t t e n d a n c e tw o o r three others whomwe have welcomed t o church f rom t ime to t ime , Ba*rar.taimin" nuini

The summer months were e spec i a l l y busy in asmuch as we have th e r e spons i b i l i t y fo r th e camp a tL ak e T oy a. Ch r i s t i a n who he lped last ye a r weren o t a b l e t o do so b e c au s e o f work o r illness.

We made t h e trip t o th e camp eve ry weekend[Sunday evening to Tuesday morning] from Ju ly 19tht o Augus t 17 th . The first weekend we wen t down t oc u t t h e weeds and t o c le a n th e building i nprepa ra t ion fo r th e camping season. Weeds in t h a ta r e a g row a s h i g h a s y o u r h e a d so o u r u s e delectric powe r ed weed cutter s a v e s us a lot o fman u a l labor. TE-ACMNg A7 CMP


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The nex t weekend, Ju ly 26-28 , we had our church camp. We borrowed a 9-passengGrvan from Mr. Saka i and wi th ou r 8-passenge r wagon we were ab l e to t r a n spo r t a l l th ec ampe r s and a l s o th e f ood , e t c . needed fo r th e

^ * t h r ee days we would be a t camp. This year ' s themewas "The Teachings of Paul". In the picture Daichiamakawa, a Ch r i s t i a n j u n i o r h igh s t u d en t , ishaving h is f i r s t exper ience a t g iv ing a devo t iona l .The s i gn on th e wa l l beh ind h im i s th e theme. ItiSP' was written by Mr. Oofuchi also one of ourChr i s t i an s , The a t t endance was a d isappo in t ing lowS ,4 of thirteen people. One father, who is not ahr i s t i an , came with h is daughter . While a t camp' he helped with the camp f i r e , se t t i ng up a t en t ,o u td o o r c oo k in g , and c l e a n - u p and h o p e f u l l y4" absorbed some Christian teaching.T\p\/rTrTriM'^ a t rA/yiT> Tot the nex t week-end we had an Engl i sh campp lanned bu t few s t uden t s were ab l e to go. Onemothe r , a s tu de n t in Neva ' s Fr iday morn ing Eng l i sh c l a s s , wen t wi th h e r t h r e e

ch i l d r en . Others who a t t e nded were Mr, Nar i t a , who i s a member o f th e Moiwa Churcho f Ch r i s t , and S t e v i e , t h e younges t c h i l d o f a c a pp e l l a m i s s io n a r i e s , S t ev e andMarcia Hasbrouck. Since the number was smal l Ernes t t augh t the Engl ish c las ses . Onecou r se was words in th e Eng l i sh l a nguage t h a t havea B i b l i c a l backg r ound and th e o t h e r was commonprepositional expressions. Neva then was free to gSujapo-..t ake th e t h r e e g i r l s up s t a i r s where she r epea tedthe vbs course that we had taught at camp the week """jbefore. In the afternoon we h a d h a nd wo rk a ndcraf t . The older ones made something of leather "P"and th e younger ones made a penc i l holde r from i c e

From August 9th to the 13th Ernest and Neva ^were at the camp site for relaxation. After ^ ^a r r i v i n g a t 10 p.m. Sunday even ing Erne s t glued ^down t h e f l o o r in th e ba t h r oom. They have beenworking on t h i s bathroom dur ing severa l v i s i t s toth e camp. By g lu ing it down t h a t n i g h t it was * ready to use the next day when guests arrived. PAUL CLARK ANL TAflXLy

Our guests a t the camp were Paul and Rickie Clark of H ir ak ata C ity near Osaka.They wer e a ccompan ied by t h e i r ch i ld ren , Jenni fer , Jocelyn, Jeremy, and Jonathan. Acol lege f r iend. Lee Anne, was with them. They arr ived early Monday a t Otaru, on theJap an Sea , and drove down to th e camp site where we g r e e t e d th e first Church o fChrist missionaries that we had seen in five years. The Clark family were on a t r iparound Hokkaido. Ernes t helped Paul plan t h e i r t r i p so they could see the major

a r e a s o f i n t e r e s t in a min ima l amount o f t ime . Wesaw them aga in Saturday when they came to Sapporo.They worsh ipped with us Sunday morning . In th eMBHBHHHM a ft ernoon , E rnes t took them to areas of in teres tr _ | -**. within Sapporo. I t certa inly wouldn't do for aP 8iipgwihiB|||^W ' l.at Clark to visit Sapporo without seeing the statue of1; ' \ William Clark of Hokkaido University. We went with' "t t i i them as fa r as the camp where we s tayed ove rn igh tsaw them o f f on t h e i r r e t u rn trip Mondaylfi

Jjr^ On May 23rd Ernest went to Obihiro for the^hB fi^st time in three years to perform the weddingceremony fo r a Chr is t ian whom he had bapt ized many1^^

faber ernest neva 1987 japan

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