Sunday afternoon, when Joyce dropped me off at home for an hour's nap and took off for Uken, she wasn't going to the scenic coast, touring the electric plant, or just viewing roadside bananas.
No; she was to meet Rieko Shimabukuro, one of the members at Gushikawa Baptist Church, about possibly buying a house. The pictures of Rieko are old--she is in her sixties, and the infant is now grown--but God has kept her faithful to Him. Recently, their family needed to move and began looking for a new home. Right about the same time, news came into our ears that relatives nearby were selling their house. Rieko's family was looking for an inexpensive place, but perhaps the buying price would be lower before realtor fees entered the picture.
Oh--the relatives? It was the house of Daddy's cousin Seiko, the only relative to accept Christ while he was still living! Seiko, his wife, and his son had been living there; but now that the parents were both gone, the house was being sold, and the son would live in a smaller place elsewhere.
King David was determined to build a temple for the ark of God before he built his own house. Well, another cousin gave property to my Dad on which to build our house, so it was built the SAME YEAR as the Gushikawa Baptist Church, in 1987.
That year is hard to forget. It was the same year Kinya and I were married!
