I wonder if Kiyo's sister talked to a lot of butterflies, birds, and cats as she lay there?
The following was written about in the Nov. 15, '22 post: Kiyo's 7-year-old sister had her baby sister strapped onto her back every afternoon and was told to care for her while her mother was out working in the fields.
But one day, she had lost her footing by the side of the dirt road and ended up falling backwards--in other words, right on top of the baby--and couldn't get up no matter how hard she tried. So she lay there for hours, like an upturned turtle, until someone came by. By then the suffocated baby had begun to turn blue.
But God had more plans for this baby. After a few sharp slaps on the behind by the grandmother, Kiyo's wails told the sister and mother she was going to live after all.
Threats of war filled the skies, and Kiyo was coming home from school one day when someone shouted to run. Maybe there were screams, but there was a much louder drone and razing. Everyone was running, some falling. Kiyo was so overcome with desperation she couldn't look to the side...but she must've seen something, she says, because to this day she is haunted by the sight of a tongue hanging out of a cheek and can't eat sashimi or any kind of raw meat.
Kiyo saw human bodies thrown through the air by the force of exploding bombs, and heard a soldier with his arm raised call out for his mother just before he died. But God had plans for Kiyo, and she made it safely across the open field.
Kiyo survived the war years and excelled in sewing; worked her way to the main island of Okinawa (she had been living on Ishigaki, one of the outer islands of the Ryukyu Island chain of the Prefecture of Okinawa). Her co-worker there, Matayoshi-san, invited her to a nearby church started by strange foreigners from Canada and Hawaii.
These "missionaries"--didn't newspaper headlines say they were involved in a hit-and-run? But when Kiyo got to know Roy and Kimmiko, she not only got the full story, she was also introduced to the Living Savior. And despite her quiet personality, she became the very first young person in the church to go to Bible School to train for and return fully equipped as a church worker!
One of the greatest surprises my Dad had when he began his ministry in Uken was a person who told him, "I've been praying God would send someone to my village to start a church." This person, saved and cured of Hodgkin's Disease in a leprosarium, had returned to her village where there was no other Gospel Witness, and asked God to send help. For 15 years--even in the hot summer months, when old wounds would emit unpleasant odors, Kiyo would hold Bible Studies with this healed-leper-now-sister--and encourage her in things of Christ.
Yes, God had plans for Kiyo and had been protecting her all this time. Kiyo ended up leading her mother to Christ, and altho' her father had forsaken the family and left home decades ago, she ministered to him at his hospital bedside.
But I suppose the biggest thing God saved Kiyo for was for us. When our mother, Kimiko, went to Glory, the one who knew our work inside out, Kiyo, was asked to step in and become the new Mrs. Oshiro (Mommy and Daddy had prayed together about this). and as such, she could now rejoice with us, not only as church member, but as family member as well!
I almost forgot. A few years later, it was this new Mrs. Oshiro who led Seiko Oshiro, my Dad's cousin, to the Lord!
I almost forgot. God hadn't.
