TOMOKO PICTS

I am an MK (missionary kid) and mother of two grown children. Altho' my husband is Japanese (from Koriyama), and we speak Japanese at home, my education (elementary-university) has been in English, so most of my reading and writing is in English too. Last year, we moved to Okinawa and now live in the house my Dad built. I was born in Okinawa--it's been a long time, but I've come home...at last. 2025 August posts are publications put out by wildlife of a Saitama park in 2019.

Archive

January 2, 2014

CERTAIN FORTUNE

Meal & Fellowship after New Year's Day Service
Several posts ago, I mentioned a family here having a case of SIDS.  Well, to yesterday morning's New Year's Day service at Bethel Baptist, THIS FAMILY CAME!  What a treat.  So did Koso-san, the person who was saved this summer due to his wife's illness and Homegoing.

Short-term missionaries, Andrew and Janae Gonnerman (they came in July), will be going back to the U.S. in June.  The church folk realized, with a sad shock, Andrew and Janae would be here with us only half a year longer.  A 7th grade English student they teach Fridays came to the Christmas Eve candlelight service and again today to our New Year's service.  Not only that, he stayed afterwards for our dinner in the straw-mat fellowship room (it doubles as our nursery too, hence the pink, blue, green cushion-tiles covering the floor) at the back of the church.

Christmas Eve, while walking to church, I thought I saw two figures I recognized...yes, it was Andrew and Janae!  They too were walking; they would be walking to the train station nearby to go to Kyoto right after the service.  Something inside made me take a picture of Janae, and now I know why.

Janae Gonnerman
See the sign behind her?  That's the sign for a shrine...about 5 mins. away from the church.  One of the main activities for families on New Year's Day is to visit shrines hoping to "procure good fortune" for the coming year.  So, on the way to Bethel Baptist for the New Year's Service yesterday, I saw a crowd of people flocking to the 久伊豆神社.

The guard stopped traffic so I could cross the street and go through the shrine entrance.  But I didn't cross the street towards the shrine, instead turned right at the road to go on to Bethel.  After all, the church there offered eternal security availed us by Christ's certain work on the Cross.

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Last week, one of the pupils in our children's Bible Club asked why the Gonnermans had come all the way from America.  Perhaps one day she will come to see they wanted more Japanese to get for sure--not just hope for--eternal good fortune.

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