I THINK I ATE TOO MUCH

Most of us grow up almost hearing the sounds "Thanksgiving Dinner" and think, "family and turkey".

Joyce knows that in Japan, neither of these are true. families do NOT get together on Thanksgiving. That is, not the one in which the pilgrims thanked God for giving them a bountiful autumn harvest, protecting them through winter, and bringing friendly Indians to show them how to survive, There IS another holiday akin to Labor Day, called "Thanksgiving Festival for Laborers", but it's not the type of day for relatives to get together.

Japanese stores do not sell turkey, period. So Joyce picked up chicken and fries, then brought over some sweets from last night's church so that we were able to enjoy "Thanksgiving Dinner". Okay, no stuffing or cranberry sauce! Before prayer, we all went around and said one thing we were thankful for...then chowed down.

About chickens...do you remember the story "Brown Bird" posted on Jan.7, 2023? (not 2024) It's a little fictional snippet, but maybe with the little bit of time afforded with the Thanksgiving rest, you might take 5 minutes to read it again? Here are the illustrations, colored.

The Saito fellas wouldn't smile for the photos. What Turkeys. Mebbe they were in the Thanksgiving spirit?!

Turkeys, get it? 

Groan--June! You can do better.

Sorry. I ate too much.

REMOTE CONTROLLED

I don't claim to be an expert at all on caring for the elderly; it was only a few weeks at a time I came down to help my sister care for my mother, and I know I only scratched the surface of what many do 24 hours a day for years. They have my utter respect. This is just one thot from a short visit, when my stepmother was in the in-between stage just before full Alzheimer set in:

*******

On a good day, my stepmother could show you how to take apart clothing at the seams and put it back together after adding carefully measured and cut cloth to them for specific purposes. She easily displayed expert skills from her seamstress school days. And she didn't need to be reminded of anything, was just fine if you left her alone, she let you know. But the very next day, she would look at you with a bewildered expression if asked to perform the simplest tasks and whimper,

"You know I can't do anything by myself!" 

I remember never knowing which person I would be greeting in the morning; God would probably have to give me a different wisdom for that day. Altho' I knew the Bible said:

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men liberally,...and it will be given him" (Jas.1:5)

It's not just for caregiving. I think anytime God's children can't see anything but walls in front of them and don't know what to do, we're to ask God. It's like calling UP for directions. God points His remote control earthward and sends impulses of his wisdom. When to make what turns or what words to say when, etc. The issue is to OBEY the Holy Spirit who carries those impulses to us so we can navigate the maze best. From His vantagepoint, He sees into the hearts we cannot reach; He can change circumstances we cannot touch; it only makes sense to follow His signals.

It's not just for caretaking, but it sure helped. Hats off to all those giving their lives to honor family in this way. God's richest blessings on your labor of love.

HOW GOOD TO BE HIS SNAIL!

There's a narrow alley behind the stairs to my sister's apartment. Last week, when the pastor's mother gave me a ride home, I told her how I hid there several years ago.  My family lived up in northern Japan at that time, but I came down to Okinawa from time to time to help care for my stepmother during my sister's Stateside furlough.

Joyce had told me of how Yoneko Nishino had taken care of her elderly mother for years. After I got exasperated with some unpleasant situations and came to the end of myself, I hid in that area behind the stairs and asked God to remind the pastor's wife to pray for Joyce's sister who was watching her elderly mother--Yoneko would know how much wisdom I needed and didn't have! I felt like the fenced-in snail in that jungle-like backyard.

After graduating from high school, I remember another backyard with a clothesline to the side. I'd so wanted to go help with the outer island ministry that summer, but my mother said I couldn't go. I was out by the shed wanting to cry. God reminded me of the pocket Bible in my purse at the time and told me to simply trust Him.

It was after that, a letter arrived saying my home church had voted to pay all expenses for my university freshman year. I guess God wanted me to be on Okinawa when that letter arrived.

Missionaries aren't rich. Sure, my parents scrimped and sacrificed, and I'm extremely grateful for all they did. Of course, my sisters and I worked. But God cut corners in amazing ways, like U.S. military wives on Okinawa giving a generous scholarship to Janice, a non-military student; Joyce winning music competition prizes.

By the time all three of us graduated, God made sure we didn't owe the school any money. Granted, I am not saying He works this way for all His children; I'm just testifying this is what He did for us.

So, when the '11 Quake hit, and our family started over from scratch in Iwatsuki; I knew God would take care of us. He just takes care of each His snails differently.

なんで信仰じゃないの？

 

「信仰、希望、愛。その中でいちばん優れているのは愛」と、よく聞くけれど、なんで愛なの？だって、信仰によって、天国に行くんでしょう？その天国に行く日まで、一日に三回薬を飲む。今は午前十時、その一回目。

置物の亀でハワイ生まれのジェーソン兄の話を思い出した。

全てがはっきり見える天国では、「見ずに信じる」信仰は要らなくなる。心の最大の望みであるイエス様がいる天国で望みは、要らなくなるが、私たちの主を、完全な愛で永遠に愛し続けることができる。やっぱり愛がいちばん優れていた。

この写真、結構古い。父はコーラーが好きだった。今は飲んでいないと思う。

Shouldn't Be Able, but Had to Help

It sounded like a scream came from the direction of the falls. Sure enough, someone had slipped on the rocks and hurt himself, the heron flying overhead could see. But out here in the wilderness, no one would come by to help. That was too bad.

Wait. The man was conscious and able to swim out to the island in the center of the river and pull himself up on it. The sun would dry him off, and he could rest there; it was doubtful any dangerous predators would want to swim out to that island.

Only problem was, the man would probably starve to death, because that sliver of land was barren of vegetation for him to subsist on...

But as if having read the thoughts of the heron, a waterfowl nearby carried berries to the man on the island regularly. The heron looked at the bird swimming from the shore to the stranded man, noticing how the feet of the morehen were not webbed; it was not supposed to be able to swim. How was he doing that? The scarlet-visored bird did not pretend to know. It's just the injured man needed the berries.

Sunday a brother in Christ will be recognized as elder of a church. When he was first asked to help, people might've said he didn't have proper web...qualification, ordination. But the important thing is he wanted to help Pastor Ricardo, who needed him.

Surely God can greatly anoint his service as elder if He would smile on the swimming efforts of a creek bird!

See? Even the white-shield Eurasian coots watching decided they wanted to join in and help too.

Hospital, Hospice, House of Prayer, Hope

Remember the family that visited Daddy in my Jan. 7 post--only the mother and daughter were Christians at first.  

This year, however, it was Norimi the daughter my sister Joyce visited in hospice. She has had cancer for a few years. Back in 2016, when she was healthy, her father was not ready for eternity. But now, Norimi can go Home knowing that she can meet both parents there someday.

We had thought of using Mt. Olive hospice for Daddy. Some of my most precious memories of Daddy are when Joyce and I took turns watching him through the night. I mean, he was asleep, so it wasn't "for show" when he clasped his hands together and asked God to glorify Himself through his body.

And he begged God to be merciful to the patient in the next bed suffering terribly. Some patients woke up to greater, relentless pain in hellfire...I didn't want to think about that reality. (Euthanasia really doesn't solve everything, I realized clearly during those vigils.)

I hate to end this post on such a negative note. Can I tie it in somehow to the fact that the 2 hospice visitors were in Sat.'s "Esther-Kai" ladies' group? Maybe like Esther, with darkness, deceit, and death all around us, God would use us as emissaries of Hope...what an unthinkable honor!

CHANGE NAME OF ROOM?

Today, again it seemed physical reasons made it seem wiser for me to stay home and simply share a few minutes at the entrance when Sueko and her husband came by on their way home--it seemed God led me to the photographs and objects to show even those few moments--I'm praying our Mighty God can do a heart work in a few seconds humans need years to achieve. 

Anyway, I went back to the back room and prayed, cried for them--I love them and can't stand thinking of them without God. I'm wondering if Daddy's study should be named the "Valley of Baca (Weeping)". I read in Ps. 84:6 rains filled its wells.

Kawasakis, Kazue in jr. hi; Daddy with Kazue...how long ago is this?

His study is full of photographs of people who have a guarantee of endless torment in the flames of hell without relief after they die. When we step foot in this room, shouldn't that be sufficient cause for the start of tears such that if we had wells, they would be filled? I wonder if Daddy kept the many pictures up on his walls to keep his heart well full too.

Flip-Phone photo of restaurant: Kazue's in her 70's now!

During a visit to Okinawa last year, I was about to take a picture at a restaurant when I realized I had only my flip-phone. But there was no way I wasn't going to get photos that day. After all, we were spending time with our cousin, Kazue. She's the one who's given us land for the house we live in, and we've been praying for her salvation for...well, you can see from the first few pictures above, my Dad prayed for the family for a long time. It's the family he and his mother and brothers stayed with for 2 years during the Great Depression, so Kazue wasn't even around then.

Please help us continue filling wells for her eternal soul. We've been promised that those who sow in tears will reap in joy.

SUEKO'S COMING TOMORROW

Friday (Nov. 15, 2024), my stepmother's (Kiyo's) younger sister Sueko and her husband will be coming for a visit. Actually, she is going to be visiting her sister's tomb to offer flowers there--it is the Japanese custom to visit loved ones' burials site on memorial years--this is one of them--so that is what she is coming for. Joyce told her I moved to Okinawa with my family, so she'll be coming here with her husband, and we'll be going out for lunch.

I really like Sueko, a retired nurse. When we were living up in Iwatsuki and I came down to Joyce's several times to help out, Sueko also made the long drive up from her home down south, and the three of us would go out for lunch together. In one visit, she noticed I didn't have my purse--I'd come to Okinawa on a Low Cost Carrier that trip so tried to carry on as little as possible--opting not to bring my purse--Sueko went out and bought me one!

Oh--I hunted for photos of Sueko and her husband earlier in the year when we went out for a meal, but I couldn't find any. So I HAD to go to Daddy's study and pull out one of my stepmother's old photo albums. This picture of Sueko is when she was young--she's in her 50's now, I think. She's going to kill me if she finds out that I posted this.

On a serious note: please pray Sueko and her husband find the Lord. They are good people, and I really like them, but they do not know Him. Her husband battled cancer several years ago and asked for prayer. Pray the Holy Spirit help them realize how endless torment of the soul is of more dire consequence than cancer's temporary physical discomfort, and how God can rescue us from both situations.

STILL BLACK & WHITE, BUT...

I tried it again. This time, I didn't finish something I already started but just looked at it and did something completely different. I didn't like the first composition anyway. It seemed if the bird was going to be the focal point of the picture, it made more sense to have him at the foreground, on the bottom of the picture. I remember there was so little time when we were at the Siscos' to think about all of this, Stop June; haven't you forgotten to explain something?

Oh--right. On my Aug. 2 post "Tears", I mentioned Joyce and my stay with the Ron Siscos. They showed us the above fully preserved bird they found during a visit to their missionary children in Africa. For today's picture, I looked at several photos of the Siscos' faces, but for the first sketch only guessed, back in the room, what they looked like. I hope today's picture is slightly better!

NO COLOR YET EITHER

Even the 2022 Sketch I put in the corner of my mother's desk looked intimidating. I've been away from sketching people so long...I know the experienced artist gave advice to someone who wanted to get back to drawing after being away a long time: get a cheap sketchbook and scribble on it using pencil, don't worry about paint, or 3D at this point, just get your hand moving, and your mind used to creating, she said.

Well, I tried that yesterday because that Tonokura house makes me feel good plus it's simple lines...and I realized I was enjoying myself. But thinking about drawing moving people scares me. Maybe...not working from the absolute scratch, but maybe I could finish up these things I started before?

Call me Chicken. That sketch I started in the summer, when my sister headed up a Singalong in the Community Room--I wanted to draw her at the piano, but it frustrated me no end because she moved around so much, and I found myself turning the page of the sketch book with the first simple lines but the picture unfinished.

No, sorry; this post isn't a great inspirational one either; just me trying to get back on my feet and telling you about it. That happens too.

にちようがっこう

 「そう、しゅつ、れび、みん、しんめいき・・・」♪

あの当蔵の日曜学校で覚えたと思う。いまでも、旧約聖書歴代誌などは、この「聖書名目尽くし」を口ずさみながら開く。英語の聖書を読んでいても、やはり「ｿｳ､ｼｭﾂ､ﾚﾋﾞ､ﾐﾝ､ｼﾝﾒｲｷ」。（この歌、英語で覚えていない！）こんなに便利な歌、他にはないと思う。

今日は、姉と一緒に具志川BCの教会学校に行った。真美先生は視覚教材をフルに使って子供の興味を引き、すごく面白く教えていた。イエス様が神の子であることを証明したこと、その神様の言うことを聞かなければならないこと。

そして、ただ聞く・分かるだけでは不十分、従うことが大事であると、レッスンは、終わった。子供でも理解できるシンプルな話し方だったけれど、大切な聖書の真理でもあった。嬉しかった。

子どもの正しい霊的訓練、軽視しちゃいけないものなのね。だって、子供の時に教わることこそ、一生ずっとついてくるものだから。

いまだって、「ホセア、ヨエ、アモ、オバ、ヨナ、ミ・・・」♪と、小預言書を開くの。

REMEMBERING MOMMY

Nov. 10 is my earthly mother's birthday. It'll be 42 years since she's gone to Glory, and since she was 58 when she went to Heaven, soon she will have spent as many years in Heaven as she spent here on earth.

I'm listening to my mother's voice on DVD. My parents used to tape correspondence to their daughters away at school in the U.S., and Janice transferred the cassette recordings into DVD to be enjoyed for years to come.

On this DVD, she mentions how Daddy's cousin Seiko (in the late 1970's and still unsaved) had come to church two weeks after my letter to him. "Our Prayer Group" (3 dorm rooms) had been praying faithfully recently for his salvation; she told of how he must be struggling to get saved because Satan seems to be stirring up all sorts of problems in his life. Don't stop praying for him, she said.

I must add here it WAS a result of those problems he saw his need for salvation, and altho' Mommy had gone Home so never saw him get saved, it was my stepmother who led him to Christ.

Some think to be a missionary like Kimiko-Sensei (Teacher), you have to have a master's degree like she did and be able to teach from the Old Testament or answer questions about Bible geography/history. Well--I saw Mommy use whatever ability she had: her knowledge of botany, sure, to find wild plants on the side of the road and grow them in her own backyard greenhouse then decorate the church with them or hand out potted flowers for children to take home to their moms for Mother's Day, etc... Or use knitting, piano, cooking to somehow get other women to work with her. And the entire time, she was praying God would show her how to bridge His life and love.

But of course, mostly, I remember and thank God that she took time out to be a mother. She told me once motherhood was something, if it was God's will, it would be wonderful for me to know. I asked her what it was like. She didn't look at me but smiled and answered it was a good experience, a very good experience.

REASONABLE REACTION

This is from a memory from 1980, as my Dad might speak of it:

-----------------

It was nighttime, but we had on our headlights, so could see clearly. I was sure it looked like there was a car several hundred yards in front of us that turned left off the road where there was no intersection. But…how is that possible? In the few seconds’ silence in the car, I could tell my wife sitting next to me as well as my daughter in the passenger seat behind me had seen it too. So I made a U-turn to go check it out.

It hadn’t been a hallucination. There was a small car, all right, with its nose stuck in the tall—what locals call “habu grass” at the side of the road. But there didn’t seem to be anyone inside. Every once in a while I heard a clang, grunt, shuffle.

I didn’t want to be mugged, and tried shining my flashlight towards the sound. “Douka shimashitaka?” (Anything wrong?) I ventured.

More clanging. “Get the car off me!” was the muffled reply. WHAT?!

“GET THE CAR OFF ME!” Someone was stuck down there!

We had to flag cars down; one old couple and their daughter were not strong enough to back a car up an incline so had to get people to help. But cars were unwilling to stop in the middle of the night; they could be mugged too! It took my daughter’s actually stepping out in the middle of the road and hoping the car would not run her over before we could beg its occupants for help—which they were willing, of course, to do.

Three cars were stopped, and total strangers worked together to back the car up onto the shoulder of the road. A missionary would take responsibility for the rest, they must have figured and left. My wife, who probably could’ve been a nurse had she not become a missionary, hurried down to the bottom.

“Are you all right?” She could see his arm was bleeding.

He stood up, towering over her. To summarize, what had happened was: the man had had too much to drink. He had been driving home and needed to relieve himself. He stopped the car by the side of the road, not realizing he’d put the car, not in park, but in neutral, and since the road is at an incline, the car actually followed him, and when startled by the bump, he spun around and his arm, spread out to the side, had been pinned down on the grass cushioning by the car. The clanging noise had been caused by his kicking the underside of the car trying to get free. After all, if he had stayed pinned there ‘til morning, he knew he would be at the mercy of the habus who live in that grass—for which it is named.

Kimiko gave him a handkerchief for the bleeding, but it was apparent he didn’t seem to give it much thought. The car had been taken off him, and he was going to be okay! There was relief written all over his face.

“Thank you! YOU SAVED MY LIFE! What do you want? A Thousand Dollars? Anything! I want to do something for you!”

"No, no, no; we're just glad you’re all right", we kept saying; but he kept saying he had to do something. It just seemed the reasonable thing to do.

It made me think of how, if God has saved us, not from a nighttime of being pinned under steel and rubber with threat of being bitten by a venomous snake; but from the weight of hell's unending torment, it's ONLY REASONABLE to want to present our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice.

TAKING A BREAK-Again

No, that last photo wasn't a composite of a river tern and a heron's head. I don't know enough about photography to do stuff like that. The only "trick" I pulled was when I came home yesterday and said to Kinya, "What does this look like?", showing him this:

He looked, squinted, then said: "A turtle!"

I grinned, showing him the REST OF THE photo: it was the poster of the turtle people were trying to catch. I'd only seen what looked like a turtle's head in the water, not the entire body of a turtle, I told him, but THAT wouldn't make a very good picture; besides, I haven't even seen the turtle, head or otherwise, since that day, so....

Junie's been working a little too hard, some butterflies nearby decided. Her brain's gotten a little fried. And they decided, with the wildflowers nearby, to give her a little break. Out came luscious, soothing blooms resting on foliage beds, where dainty butterflies skipped in glowing trances of aqua and green.

Sweet dreams, Junie

Oh--OK; I got wordy again. I get that way when I've worked too hard writing, I think.

Maybe I should just go nap.

TENGAN RIVER BIRDS...Who's this?

It's getting nice and cool. My sister Joyce came to let me know it was just as cool outside as inside! I cracked open the door then rushed back for my compact camera, telling Kinya I'd be gone for a spell (He's used to my going off like this for 2-hour photo shoots at the Iwatsuki Park).

Today, I'll just post the bird photos I got, ok? Actually, the first, I'm not very happy about. The Okinawan Sparrow Hawk. I remember the most astonishing shot I got once was when I saw one in the sky that had just snagged a snake. This one's kinda boring--wouldn't come down. The Moorehouse Hen waterbird too--those two, I was just glad to see them out today. altho' they were too small and far away to get good shots. At least the small black bird has its head turned so you can see its bright red face shield & yellow bill tip.

The Egret and Great Blue Heron, Ballerinas of the Sky, I called at the Iwatsuki Park, are here at the Tengan River too. What can I say--the white against the green grass and shimmering water is just plain pretty. And the gracefulness of the GBH just can't be beat either, who seems to naturally combine contrast lines, layers, shapes in dancing around with the egrets.

I have come across many forms of unfamiliar wildlife and usually look them up online to ascertain their names...but there is one bird I just can't get a handle on. This seems to be a good shot, but I can't find a picture of a similar bird in Okinawa...I wonder why?

For now, I'll just call him "My funny bird on Tengan River"...poor little guy. Oh well.

IF ANY OF YOU LACK

Yes, that last photo was Daddy in 1954--70 years ago--when he left for the field of Okinawa with $75 a month promised from loving friends in churches and relatives at home (Canada, U.S.A.). But over the years, he realized the real supply is an inexhaustible one; one that supplies and sustains families, health, ministries. After doing missionary work for quite a while, we were used to most Christian Conventions being held in the U.S. or Europe.

When it was announced that the Congress of Fundamentalists would be held in Manila-Singapore, just a hop away, is it any wonder my Dad wanted to participate? But we didn't have finances to purchase flights or to pay for lodging. So close and yet so far. But a prayer letter from 1980 says a telegram came in with funds designated for transportation and hotel expenses. So he got to go! One of the speakers came back with Daddy from the Congress to speak at our church for special meetings, at which one of our young men was saved.

I'll have to write more about that in future posts--no; I'll put it right here. After all, I'd just told you about the transformation of the Tairagawa church building, how it was a shambles of a shack when we first found it but was "remade" into a bright building with a white cross in the center. A 27-year-old by the name of Yutaka Nagahama was riding home on the bus one evening. Things had not gone well at work, and he was despondent. Glancing out the window, he saw the cross, the church.

He jumped off at the next stop and walked back to this church, that was holding prayer meeting. Nagahama-san felt something there he wanted and kept attending every meeting until several weeks later, under the preaching of Dr. J.B.Williams, he gave his life to Christ; was baptized the next April. 

This is not just a story's shallow happy ending; rather the beginning of another uncomfortable struggle. Nagahama-san, being the second son in the family, had been chosen to take the place of the eldest son in the top family of the clan--including not only inheriting generations of property and wealth, but also having "his" house built which enshrines ancestral idols. The second son had no say in any of this.

Would you remember Nagahama-san as a reminder to pray for all the other Christians who are facing similar pressures of family and tradition to know how to navigate wisely and maintain balances of peace, joy, and truth against the cruel onslaughts and accusations of Satan? 

We know the God Who provides material needs is the God Who gives us families and health; and also gives NEEDED WISDOM for all of life's choices. Please pray these new believers cling to Him with all their new lives.