faber ernest neva 1990 japan

7/27/2019 Faber Ernest Neva 1990 Japan

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WOt /( ^% > f f t5f- 1 M ^t'l I3514 S,U, U th StDe^ floine./>, IA 50315

February 1990

Dea r F r i e n d s in C h ri st ,I t has been well over a y ea r sin ce we have printed a"Hokkaido Chris t ian" pic tor ia l l e t t e r . So it i s aboutt ime we reported to yo u again. Regular supporters anda few o t h e r s r e c e i v e letters o t h e r t han t h e "Hokka idoChrist ian" . I f you received th is l e tt e r by a i r mailthen you a re rece iving a l l o f our publ i ca t ions .Hokkaido i s Japan 's winte r playground. Popular winte rspo r t s a r e s k i i ng and ic e hockey . There a re sk ig rounds in mos t a r e a s o f Hokkaido and many o f t h epopu la r ones a re wi th in 2 hours o f Sapporo. Today(February 6 th ) Sapporo ' s 41s t annual snow f e s t i v a lbegan. There a re 347 huge snow s t a t u e s in fourl o ca t i on s . Expected a t t endance i s 2,000,000. Theunusual heavy snow f a l l th i s year was a bless ing tot h e s k i a r e a s and t h e snow f e s t i v a l .But n ot eve ry one is happy wi t h th e hugh amoun t o fsnow. After every snow the ci ty must remove it from1500 miles of s t ree ts . No ci ty in the world of th i ssize is located in an area w ith t h e a m o u n t of s nowwhich Sapporo has. Also the snow accumulates on theroofs of the h o u s e s a n d since h o u s e s are closetogether it causes problems. Two days th i s week Nevaand E r n e s t r emoved t h e 4 -5 f e e t o f snow f rom t h e r o o fof the church an d the garage. The snow on the housec a n com e dow n on its ow n .

For the pas t 2 years a g ro up from the Niigata Churchhas come t o Hokkaido fo r 3 days of sk i ing . ToyaChr is t ian House (camp s i te ) i s located near severalski a rea s so they ren t it for two days while they arein the area. They are coming again this year with agroup o f 30, Of t h i s number 5 a re miss iona r i e s , 2 a rewomen English teachers , 2 o r 3 are Japanese Christ iansand th e r e s t a re non-Chr is t ian , Neva and Ernes t wi l lgo down on Friday night to get the place opened up andto welcome them to Hokkaido, On Sunday eve , Feb ruary25th, the whole group wil l be a t the Higashi ku Churchand jo in-US in our services. We plan to invi te othersto jo in with them and us.As most o f you know Neva (one month) and E rn es t ( th re emonths) were on a shor t furlough l a s t year. Charles,Pa t t i , and family came to help in our absence.Visiting family and churches was a real blessing.Our annual summer camp was held July 25 to 27. Ernestwas already in America and Neva le f t the day that campc losed . There were 48 in a t t endance . Some of th eschools weren 't out for vacation unti l th e f i rs t dayof camp. So a few of the campers were in school thatmorning and then le f t right away for camp. A microbus was rented from Hokkaido Christian Center, and asmall commercial bus was also rented, Mr, Kimura f romTtomakomai and a son of an a cappella missionary wereamong those who helped with the camp.Ear ly in November Neva and Ernes t went to Tomakomai toh e l p Mr, an d Mrs , K i m u r a w i t h their a n n u a lk indergar ten bazaar , v/e took some used th in gs fo rthorn to s e l l and Neva s e t up a stand to s e l l various

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kinds of mixes which she had prepared . We took acouple of J r . High students with us who enjoyedhe l p i ng at th e s t a nd . Be s i d e s th e Kimuras we wereab le to meet some people we knew when we l i ved inTomakomai several years ago.A number o f the ch i ld ren weren ' t ab le to go to camp sowe held an overnight meeting a t th e church November23rd, Japanese Labor Thanksgiving Day. For t h i s eventthere were 26 children from pre-school to 6 th g ra de rs .The theme of the meeting was on The Value of Life withs t ress on interpersonal relat ionships and use of God'sc r e a t i o n . We showed a f i lm a b o u t "A Little P r i n c e sSac r i f i c e " which s t a r t e d a good d i s cu s s i on and l e dn a tu r a l ly in to th e value Je sus p l aced on us a tCalvary. Most of the chi ldren were English s tudentsand we we r e amazed at t he d if fe re n c e be tween ch i l d r e nwho ha d attended Sunday School and those who hadn' t .At t i tudes o f kindness , r espons ib i l i ty , obedience andwi l l i ngnes s to he lp were e spec i a l l y no t iceab lyd i f f e r en t . In shor t they placed g rea t e r value onothers. A few days af t e r the meeting 3 s i s t e r s sentus thank you l e t t e r s . Very nice. I t was in te res t ingand informat ive to view the meet ing t hrough th e eyeso f th e ch i l d r en who a t t ended . The i r mothe r is a l o c a ldoc to r ' s wif e who was i n t roduced t o ou r Eng l i shc lasses by a Jr . High Sunday School student.The next major event was our Family Christmas Serv ice .Since Christmas Eve f e l l on Sunday th is year we metSunday Evening, December 24. We tegan a t 6 p.m. witha meal t h a t Neva and 2 or 3 others helped prepare. Atthe c lose of the meal g i f t s wer e exchanged . Theprogram cons is te d o f caro l s , film about a grandmothert e l l ing her grandson about Christmas, an d a sermonen t i t l e d Immanue l (God wi th us) . Most f am i l i e sc e l e b r a t e Chr i s tmas at home on Chr i s tmas eve bu t evenso there were 24 present with 10 of these being Jr .High School o r o ld er. I t was encouraging to s ee t hre eyoung mothers br ing t h e i r smal l ch i ld ren and to seethe l i t t l e ones l is ten ing a t ten t iv e ly to the message.Regular a c t i v i t i e s include Sunday School , Churchservices, an d our various English classes .Our c amp s i t e , which we ca l l Toya Christ ian House, i sused by seve ra l d i f f e r en t groups each year.. During1989 one group used it dur ing th e winter months ands ix g ro up s u se d it o nce and one group twice during theummer camping season. The t o t a l number o f people

tha t were accommodated by the various groups includingsome . families was 255. Enough people are using themp s i t e to make it s e l f suppor t ing.

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De/JA. leachetA. LeiJj2A/>Recent ly a newspaper account sa id t h a t th e number o f people i n t e r e s t ed in r e l i g ion i sdecl in ing because o f " pro sp eri ty and r e l a t i ve ly high l eve ls o f soc ia l and e conom icsecur i ty . . . " We have seen a dec l i n e in i n t e r e s t over th e yea r s and t h i s i s r e f l e c t ed inSunday School a nd Chu rc h. A denominat iona l miss iona ry who had j u s t r e tu rned from aninterdenominational meet ing conce rned with chu rc h g rowth told us t ha t in a l l the churchesrepresented it was increasingly d i f f i cu l t to have Sunday School. Many churches have simplygiven up. It seems spor ts c lu bs , f am ily rec rea t ion , music and cram school le ss on s a redemanding the young people 's t ime on Sunday, Few p ar en ts e ve r send the i r chi ldren. Parentsencourage th e educa t iona l and soc i a l over the r e l ig ious .We a re now in th e f i r s t year o f th e 90's. Someone has sa id th at the 60's was "Viet Nam andLSD", the 70's was the "Me Generation", the 80's the "Decade of Greed", and it looks l ike the90's seem likely to be th e "Decade of Etecadence." Christ can be th e determining factor. Letus dedicate ourselves to a decade of increased prayer and witnessing.We thank you fo r your help in allowing us to be a voice among people who aren ' t Christ iansand who don't have a desire to be Christians. We are l i teral ly "a voice in the wilderness."In Him,


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HOKKAIDO CHRISTIAN MISSION4 -8 Nor th 49 , Ea s t 15Higashi ku , SAPPORO

06 5 JAPAN

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May 30, 1990Dea r One and Al l ,Spring has r ea l l y come. There was a t ime when we began to doubt i f itwould ever come. This i s a beaut i ful t ime of year fo r Sapporo. As you dr ive about theci ty you can see the many color fu l f lowers . Right now the l i l ac s are in fu l l bloom.Mostly purple with some whi te her e and th ere to give it variety . Although an importedt ree , it has become the symbol of Sapporo.Warmer days b r ing wi th it work t h a t cou ldn ' t be do ne in th e w in te r months . Some o f th epoles on the roof rot ted and began to fa l l . They wil l have to be replaced. They areneeded to keep the snow from s l id ing onto the neighoring property. The t in roof hasneeded painting for some time therefore this year will be a good time to get a t i t . Butreplacing th e poles and pain ti ng th e roof will have to be done in between t r ips to thecamp s i t e .We usually have to go to the camp s i te three t ime for mowing and general repai r work.Already one t r ip has been made fo r mowing the grass . A be t t e r word would be weeds. Andta l ler weeds you have never seen. Some of the weeds were already 4 to 5 feet t a l l .One major expense wi l l be wate r . It seems th e bot tom o f th e we l l has caved i n and it wi l lhave to be worked on. Since the well is used jointly with the neighbors any repair workwil l have to be done together. This wil l probably take t ime.Hokkaido International School, here in Sapporo, wants to use the camp s i te next week. Theyare w ill in g to carry in th e w ate r. There are e ight groups t ha t want to use it duringHokkaido's short 3-week vacat ion t ime. This i s from July 25 to August 18 .A group from Niigata with some jo in ing from other areas came to Hokkaido to sk i . Theyused the camp s i te for two nights. The road, because of snow, wasn't open so they walkedin and since there was no water they had to carry in the wate r th ey needed. There were 29in th i s group. On Sunday night, the 25th of February, th ey join ed us in our Sundayevening serv ices . The re were a t o t a l of 36 for tha t serv ice . Many in the sk i group hadn ev e r a t t e nded a chu r ch s e r v i c e be f o r e .During spr ing vacat ion the l a s t week of March we took the Junior High f i r s t year studentsto the camp s i te fo r English lessons and a t ime of fellowship. There were s ix of us. Onewas the missionary's son of the a cappella Church o f Ch ri st . A small group but a greatt ime o f fe l l owsh ip .The Board of Directors> with off ices in Des Moines, met a t the home of our forwardingagent , Marg DeRysc he r, on March 29. The members of th e Board a re a l l from Iow a. Char lesChairman, Des Moines , John Noe, Adel, Max Harland, Perry, Doug Raymond, GenePerson, and Marg, Des Moines. All were presen t .US and Japan Financial Reports and Faber's Activity Report were presented and discussed.The Board also discused how best to use a bequest which we recently received. The bequestwas from a close f r iend of Neva's fami ly and from her home church. I t was a t o t a lsurprise to us although we knew this person had support ed us over the past several years.Final decision on th is i s pending.Recently Ernest has been going to the ci ty of Yoichi. This ci ty i s west of Sapporo andl i e s along the Japan Sea, The area i s noted for i t s grapes and apples. I t also hasbecome known throughout Japan because of t he Chr is ti an Hokusei High School which has beenadmitting into the school youth throughout Japan who had dropped out o f regu lar highschool. The school emphasizes giving the kids a "second chance." I t has become a modelschool for this increasingly common problem. They asked Ernest to come and help with anEnglish conversa tion class for the seniors. Even though i t takes an hour and a half todrive there Ernes t f e l t tha t because of the n atu re o f the school it would be well tocoope r a t e wi t h t h em .Thank you for your continued support in way of your prayers, letters, and monitary gifts.May God b l e s s you.Yours i n His s e rv i c e .


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HOKKAIDO CHRISTIAN MISSION4-8 North 49, East 15 ^H ig as hi k u, S7VPP0R00 6 5 JAPAN

September 4 , 1990D e a r C h r i s t i a n F r i e n d s ,Well, we lived through i t. Nol I t was not an earthquake though we feel those sometimes.Nor was i t a typhoon which we often hear about. I t was two grandchildren. Our oldestgrandchild, Kevin, with his brother Jason were with us from July 11th until August 27th.They are the sons of Linda and Gary Worcester. Kevin is thirteen and Jason is ten. Theycame on their own by Family Service. Linda came August 15th and returned with the boys.The f i r s t two weeks they were here we s t i l l had a full schedule with activities almostevery day. During that time the boys joined several of the c lasses to talk to them inEnglish and t o join them i n English games.The third week we were busy getting the camp site ready for the summer camps and alsogetting ready for our own camp. Undoubtedly by this time they felt a little.neglected.After camp was over Grandpa took them to the Putt-Putt golf course which is near us. Itwas Monday so they were able to putt all day on one ticket. The same week they also werea b l e t o go bowl ing.Later we spent a few days at the camp site for relaxation. The hot spring's town nearbyhas fireworks every night. The boys never tired of looking at them. We also visited anactive volcano and one day went to the Pacific Ocean for beach combing. The boys wereoverjoyed with their finds of sand dollars and pretty shells.During their stay Kevin developed a keen interest in Japanese writing and the computer.Jason loved to watch baseball even when broadcasted in Japanese and was disappointed i fthe Tokyo Giants didn't have a game. He learned the names of many of the players and ^isocollected several Japanese baseball cards. He went home with a Giant's baseball cap and apromise from Grandpa that we would send a recording of the Japanese Series.Later, when Linda came, we again went to the camp site, and at the boy's request wentbeach combing again and also went to see the f i r e works.Linda enjoyed shopping in Japan especially those places that had a lot of Ainu woodcarvings and Japanese style dishes. That didn't thril l the boys too much though.Many of you have had that experience but i t was the first time for us to havegrandchildren without the parents being present. We are looking forward to having othergrandchildren t o come. Perhaps next year.Our annual summer camp was held from July 25th to the 27th. There were 30 children and 9adults. Mr. Kimura, the preacher from Tomakomai, came to help with the teaching. This isan English camp so much of the teaching is on English. But Mr, Kimura's class was inJapanese and his theme was the model prayer of Jesus. Each day started with devotions andwe had a B i b le v id e o f i l m i n t h e even ing .We were disappointed that none of the Junior High kids could attend. They wanted to buttheir school schedules conflicted. We tried to find another time when they could go butnothing worked out. We wil l try to do something for them in the future.Recently a member of an independent Baptist church, who moved from Okinawa, has attendedchurch. We pray that he will continue and after his wife a rr ives that she will want toattend also. During August a new member of the a cappella church at tended. She wasbaptized in our baptistry a few weeks previously. Their missionary was on shortf u r l o u g h .Since January our income has been declining. We are about $200 short each month. Themonthly average for this year is $2165. Perhaps with the coming of fall i t will pick up.But we a r e blessed and because o f reserve funds we a r e still i n the black.If you sent something recently your receipt is enclosed. We would also like to remind youthat we need to hear from you i f you want to remain on our Air Mail mailing l i s t .May God b l e s s you.

Y o u r s i n H i s s e r v i c e .

faber ernest neva 1990 japan

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