9 February 2020
Dear Phyllis,
In
1959 a good friend, Willis Charico, used to go every month up to
Nagano-ken (prefecture) to a town called Tobu. I have no idea why he
went up there. He lived in the Tokyo area, but for
some reason he used to go up there every month to do dendo
(evangelism). From time to time Willis would invite me to go with him
but I never got around to doing it.
In
1981 we returned to Japan after being in he states for a one year
furlough. I had been released as director of the language school and
because we had no other place to go we returned to
karuizawa in order to put Davey in the MK school there. While searching
for something to do, a fiend asked me if I would build a church. Of
course I was delighted to do something like that and took on the job. I
had forgotten that Willis Charico used to do
dendo in Tobu but it was located 30 km west of Karuizawa. A lady from
Tobu had been saved. She had a 21 year old daughter who had been killed
and Sachiko had received quite a bit of insurance money through her
daughters death. As a memorial for her daughter
Sachiko wanted to use that money to build a church in her home village
and was looking for a carpenter to do it. I was delighted to take on the
task to give me something to do in Karuizawa while we were living
there. Sachiko bought a piece of property near
her family's home and made arrangement for me to go over there everyday
to have lunch. Her sister and brother-in-law were members of the
Sokagakai which was the most demonic religion in Japan.
The Sokagakai is a militant sect of Buddhism that was the biggest
threat
to Christianity in Japan at that time. Buddhism basically is a very
passive religion that never threatens anyone, but the Gakai was highly
unusual in saying, when they took over the
country they would kill and eliminate all Christians. For ten or
fifteen years in the 1960s it looked like they might do it. They were
unusual being the most expansive religion in Japan and became a serious
threat. I had never been close to any active member
in the Sokugakai and wasn't too excited about having to go there
everyday for a meal, but the Ogawas turned out to be a very fine family
and we became quite close friends. Mr. Ogawa was a difficult bird but
Sachiko's sister Michiko was pleasant and a very
good cook. I thoroughly enjoyed her meals and going over there for
daily lunch became the highlight of the project. The only problem was
they had a large butsdan and I had to have my meals everyday sitting in
front of that ugly thing. A butsudan is a six foot
box-like frame that holds the idol that the family worships everyday.
Nearly every home in Japan has one and it is the center piece of the
house. Everyday when I went there for lunch I would bow my head to thank
God for the food and everyday in my prayer I
would always pray, “Lord, burn that thing.”
Building
the church was a major project. Sachiko gave me about $20,000 for
material and I did the vast majority of the work totally by myself. For
the big two-man jobs I hired a couple of
other regular carpenters to help me, but for 90% of the work I did
alone. That Tobu project was an unusual gift ordered of the Lord. It
gave me something to do for the year Davey was in school in Karuizawa.
It provided a permanent witness for Christ in Tobu,
and I developed a deep friendship with the Ogawa family. While I was
working on that project we received an invitation from Neil Verwey of
the Japan Mission to come to Ikoma to join that mission. By June, the
Tobu Christian church had its dedication, a fine
young pastor and his family had moved in the church to take over the
ministry, and we left the Nagano area to move to Ikoma.
After
we moved to Ikoma, from time to time I would return to the Nagano area.
The Bill Reese family had taken over the Miyota church that we had
helped start that was about 15 km from Tobu
which gave us some residual roots in that area. The church in Tobu had
done very well. The congregation was expanding to be a well established
witness in that town. I heard that two years after I finished that
church that Michiko had come down with brain cancer.
She had had surgery but was in the last stage of cancer at home.
Fortunately, through her experience with cancer she had come to Christ
and her entire family had been saved. One time when I was up visiting
the Reeses the Ogawas heard that I was there and sent
a message that they wanted to see me. Sunday afternoon I drove over to
Tobu to see Michiko. What a nostalgic moment! It was great to see a
health flourishing church where three years before there had been no
witness for Christ in that town at all. And driving
up to the Ogawa house brought back memories of many pleasant hours we
had been together. Michiko was in last stage brain cancer and had been
reduced to being more or less a vegetable, but the Sunday I was there
she was wonderfully, and unusually, clear. Oh
my goodness, did we have church.! This was the first time I had seen
them since they had come to Christ. We talked about the Word, prayed to
Jesus, sang, and wept together. What a time! Michiko said to me, “Bill,
if you had stayed here we would have been Christians
right away.” As I was, the Lord used her cancer to bring the family to
Jesus and they had become the pillars of the church.
As I
was leaving I noticed the old butsudan that I had had all my meals
before was shut up. I asked Mr. Ogawa, “What are you going to do with
that thing?” He replied, “Oh, I don't know. Probably
throw it away.” “Look, I've come with my truck toady. How would you
like for me to haul it away for you?” “Ongai shimasu (please do it)” I
could hardly believe it as we struggled to drag that enormous thing out
of the house; he said to me, “Let me help you
get rid of the garbage”. Oh what music, to hear this hateful Sokagakai
man call his butsudan garbage as we loaded it on my truck. It was a
further joy an hour later when I struck the match to burn it.
A
year later I saw my dear friend., Mary Takahashi, from Karuizawa asked,
“When did Michiko Ogawa go to be with the Lord?” I was stunned when Mary
told me,
“After you burned that butusdan Michko recovered from brain cancer and has returned to going to church.” That is one of the most amazing testimonies I have ever heard. But there is a sequel.
After
we moved to Ikoma a wonderful couple started coming to the church we
had in our house I became close friends with the Kosugis. Michi was
saved shortly after they started coming to our
church and after a period of time her husband gave his heart to Jesus.
Kosugi san was a very high level man. He was the top engineer for a
world-class water distilling company and had spent a couple of years in
the Middle East building major water distilling
plants. Neither Kosugi san or Michi had worshiped idols but after they
became Christians his father had hired a carpenter to put a kami dana
(god shelf) in their house. They both hated it, but out of respect to
his father, Kosugi was reluctant to get rid of
it. Then one night their three year old daughter came down with a major
heart sickness that required a great deal of radiation. Michi had to
hold Mari chan for the radiation treatment. Michi did not realize she
was pregnant, but due to the radiation she started
to bleed. The doctor told her that it was imperative she have an
abortion or spend three months in hospital bed rest. No way she was
going to have an abortion. One night I was visiting her in the hospital
and shared with her the story of the Ogawas in Tobu.
The next morning she called her husband and desperately pleaded, “Please call Bill and have him tare down that kami dana.”
Kosugi called me at 6:30 and I went over there to tare it out. That was
37 years ago. All the Kosugis are wonderful Christians.
Mari chan is now 40 years old and the miracle son, Hajime kun, is 37.
And after we tore down the kami dana Kosugi's father got saved.
Following Jesus is a pretty good idea.
bill
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