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June 1999
Dear Friends:
Greetings to you in Jesus’s name. I hope the power of Pentecost
is moving in your lives daily. This year I had a very special
Pentecost. It was my first Sunday in a new town. Also, it was
the first Pentecost in ten years that I had not been preaching
at Tarami Mission Church in Nagasaki.
After 13 years of teaching English at a school started on Shikoku
Island by the former Presbyterian Church in the United States
50 years ago, I came to the island of Kyushu in 1982 to work with
the Nagasaki sub-district of the United Church of Christ in Japan.
During the year between these two assignments I studied at a seminary
in the United States, and then in 1986 I went back to finish my
Master of Divinity degree, which I received in 1988. During the
two years I was in the United States, the Nagasaki sub-district
decided to have me pastor a church that had been meeting on a
school campus. In 1989 this congregation moved to the neighboring
town of Tarami and I was pastor there from July of 1989 to March
of this year.
For the last several years, my duties in and out of the local
congregation seemed to be increasing as my mental and physical
energy was decreasing. I suppose part of this can be attributed
to the natural process of aging, but there was also a definite
overwork situation. I think my brain was more tired than my body.
There was no strength to process all the items coming into the
church day after day. In addition, responsibilities at the presbytery
and sub-district level and being on the board of four schools
consumed my time as well as my energy.
Before my last interpretation assignment in 1997, the congregation
was asked by denominational headquarters if they would like me
to return after my interpretation assignment was over four months
later. The congregation was unable to decide whether I should
return even after hours of discussion. This was a very discouraging
time for me. However, between the leadership of Nagasaki sub-district
and the denominational headquarters, it was decided that I should
return to Japan. But when I came back, my heart was ready for
a change.
After returning from the United States in the fall of 1997 and
catching up with all the work that had piled up in the four months
I had been gone, I managed to wind up in a very low physical condition.
I missed a presbytery meeting and several other meetings at presbytery
and sub-district level. Also, some Sundays I was unable to get
a bulletin ready for Sunday service. During 1998 I had not gone
on vacation, as I did not feel up to going anywhere, and the summer
was really extra hot.
I began thinking about retirement and when and where I should
retire. A few missionaries do retire in Japan, and I often think
of this as an option, though I am not strongly determined to do
so. This is where my mind was when I came to Nakatsu last October
to visit my pastor from my days in Shikoku. He and his wife were
living in some retirement apartments sponsored by the presbytery.
I was really charmed with the town, the apartments, and the health
care center next door. Just before I was to return to Tarami,
I went to visit the director of the complex and like a bolt from
the blue he asked me to come be the chaplain here.
Looking back on it, it seems like my head should have reeled
at such an idea, but I think it seemed like a perfectly logical
step from the first time I heard about it. Well, actually when
I went home, I thought about it for a few days and decided someone
else would be better for this job than I, so I called the director
to turn down the offer and instead got convinced that I should
accept the offer.
As you can imagine, many things happened between October 21 when
I first was asked to come be the chaplain and May 20 when I finally
moved here. I felt a very strong call back in October but after
I accepted it, I began having real doubts. Now I have been working
at Izumi No Sono (garden of the spring) for one week (since June
1) and I am so happy and thankful to be here. During this first
month my hours and my duties are rather light in order to give
me a chance to adjust to a new place. There are three weekly chapel
hours—on Tuesday for the apartment residents (I attended
that when I visited in October), on Wednesday for the staff of
the care center, and on Saturday for the residents of the care
center. The Saturday chapel hours are done by four different local
pastors in rotation (including me), but the Tuesday and Wednesday
times are my responsibility.
It is a very fine care center, and I am just amazed at the way
God worked to get me to this particular place at this particular
time in my life. As I only began work one week ago today, I cannot
report much on the people here, but I hope to keep you better
informed than I have in the past.
In the meantime, the congregation in Tarami has a Japanese pastor
who is working as a kind of stated supply. He is very happy to
have that work and they are very happy to have him. When I was
in the Nagasaki area two week ends ago I went to the Sunday service
there and I was glad to see everyone. On July 4, I will go there
for their 10th anniversary and, in fact, I have been asked to
preach for that occasion. Today I tentatively chose Matthew 5:13-16,
on being salt of the earth and light of the world. Please pray
for that congregation—that they really will be salt of the
earth and light of the world.
Also, please pray for me as I begin this new work. Every day
I am learning something new—like the names of the 150 residents
and 130 plus staff members. May God bless you and work through
you daily.
In His love,
Priscilla Abbott
The 1999 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, page
167
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