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October 2001
Dear Friends,
Orientation for new missionaries to Japan just finished today.
It is always a special joy for me to help lead this orientation
and meet with the new missionaries. This year, we received new
mission personnel from the Philippines, Korea, and the United
States. They will be involved in ministry to migrant workers,
visiting seafarers, coordinating activities for students from
parts of Africa and Asia who come to study low-income agricultural
techniques, reaching out to students at the junior and senior
high school levels, and in ministry through community evangelism.
During evening meditation one night, our new missionaries were
asked to share what they had given up in order to come to Japan.
Among the answers were: individuality, positions of authority,
mobility, shared humor, and an ability to express oneself freely.
We considered the life of Abraham together, focusing on the things
that he gave up in order to follow God. We also looked at the
promise which he held to through all of that time—the promise
to become a great nation and to receive the blessings of God.
We ended by looking at what Abraham gained as a result of his
obedience and faith in God. Asked what they were already gaining,
our missionaries mentioned other things: a potential for cross-cultural
understanding, a new language and culture, and a new community
of friends and fellow-journeyers.
I was the leader of the time of meditation and based the message
on a question asked of me this summer: What will it cost you to
return to Japan? It was a question I felt unable to answer, as
this September began my fourteenth year of mission in Japan. Running
through my thoughts was the sense that it seems at times to cost
me everything; yet at other times, nothing, for I have been richly
blessed in my experiences and relationships here. It was interesting
for me to see the new missionaries rephrase the question through
our time together to ask, What do I willingly lay down in order
that I also may be a blessing, and be blessed?
Interestingly, I discovered that the idea of "cost and gain"
arose for me again as I edited the newsletter for our missionary
community. This month, I asked my neighbor Juvilyn, a one-year
missionary intern through the United Methodist Church, if she
would write an article for the newsletter. Juvilyn works in a
section of Yokohama that is a gathering place for homeless people,
day laborers, and migrant workers. In her article, Juvilyn shared
what it had cost her to be in mission here: separation from family
and friends, loneliness, the isolation of living among people
of a different language, discrimination, and suffering over the
pain of those around her. What I found in Juvilyn’s article,
however, was not a focus on loss, but rather a message of deep
gratitude and joy. Juvilyn found her experience had made her richer,
for she had matured as a Christian and had struggled over how
to integrate her faith with social concerns.
In September, a new location of ministry began for me at Korean
Hansaran Church in Tokyo. This church welcomes a large number
of Koreans coming to Japan to study. I was asked to lead a young
adults English Bible study twice a month on Sunday afternoons
at this church. We had 12 young adults join in the first class,
and more on the second. The young adults at this church have asked
to incorporate Christian music and drama into the times of Bible
study. This will be a first for me, and I have begun to write
dramas based on Bible passages that I hope will be both meaningful
and appropriate for second-language learners.
A significant event is taking place at the end of this month
within the Korean Christian Church in Japan (KCCJ). Pastors and
visitors from Korea and North America will be joining together
for KCCJ General Assembly meetings in Nagoya, Japan. KCCJ pastors
will be electing the moderator and general secretary at this meeting.
For both myself and the staff at the general office, this decision
is an important one, as we relate directly to the general secretary.
On a lighter level, I look forward to seeing some faces from
home (in this case, Seattle) this month as I anticipate the visits
of two sets of friends. Since I strongly wish to be in the U.S.,
sharing the concerns of Americans, this is a real blessing.
Added to this have been the expressions of compassion among many
Japanese, both friends and strangers, when they learn I am an
American citizen. A particularly heartwarming expression of this
came the other day when I helped an American friend get a piece
of jewelry cleaned in the department store. Though we had not
bought anything, we were informed that the service was free. More
than this, the salesperson helping us at the counter asked where
my friend was from. Upon sharing that she was an American, the
jewelry store worker expressed her sorrow over the attacks on
the U.S. As we left the store, six salespeople were bowing to
us and wishing us their blessings. I walked away thinking, amazed
yet again at the kindness of Japanese people. Experiences such
as this only reaffirm that truly the cost is so often eclipsed
by the gain.
Yours,
Gail Beran
The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 185
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