Itsuko Shimabukuro, the person who decorated the yellow hibiscus last week, is probably the oldest member of Gushikawa Baptist, the only one who was at the church in the old place where my parents established it, before we moved to our present location. Maybe she knew Mommy! I talked with her one week.
"Oh, but I never met your first Mom," she apologized; "She was already gone; your Dad had remarried; and Kiyo was the new Mrs. Oshiro by the time I went to my cousins' baptism at the Tairagawa church." (That's Kiyo in the blue dress on the end.) Itsuko wasn't a Christian then, got saved in 1986, four years later.
But these ladies at the church have been so faithful ever since! I met Itsuko's daughter, Wakana, only once as a single young lady--now she's a mother herself. Despite the indifference sometimes shown to her mother's talks about the Bible.... Excitedly, Itsuko reported that when it was time for her grandson to be put in kindergarten, the school Wakana chose, far from home, was a Christian one! The many years of seed sowing seemed to be bearing fruit. Wakana came to church for Dec.'s wreath-making activity; and anyone knows handcraft professionals can be found elsewhere if that's the only thing you really want.
Sunday, in that back room, Itsuko sat with children hoping to help plant seeds of God's love and life in any way possible. I guess she knows it doesn't really matter if it's robust red flora or Valentine-colored delicate hibiscuses or winsome yellow flowers; just plant the seed and then care for it; God makes buds bloom.
