|
March 2003
Greetings from Japan. A blustery, cold wind is howling as we
write. The plum blossoms are about half out, but the cherry trees
will have to wait another three weeks.
The three topics mentioned in our last newsbrief are still ongoing,
and so we'll give a brief update of those. Our Web site now has
an address (www.konkyo.org)
but it will be later this month before there is anything on it.
I am trying to learn how to properly maintain a Web site, and
I have an excellent teacher. So I look forward to being able to
put numerous translated articles there from the "Reasons
To Believe" materials, among other items, in the near future.
The Web site will have an English page, so you will at least be
able to see a small portion of it even if the rest of it (in Japanese)
is gibberish to you. The word konkyo, means "a basis for,"
and is our equivalent of "Reasons.org". (If you haven't
visited this Web site, please do. There is lots of interesting
stuff on it.)
The situation with the property next door we are trying to acquire
will take some time to sort out, and so we probably won't be able
to report anything on it for several months. The exciting events
coming up with the Make-A-Wish also mentioned last month are coming
together nicely. The Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics open
the Major League season with two games in Tokyo. A little boy
by the name of Shun, who suffers from a life-threatening disease,
will get to throw out the first pitch in game number two on March
26. Recently retired and very popular "Yokozuna" (Grand
Champion) Sumo wrestler, Takanohana, has the honors of doing that
in game one. So that will be quite a contrast to be sure. Shun
will also get to meet his favorite player, Ichiro Suzuki, who
I'm sure you have all heard off. (By the way, "Godzilla"
Hideki Matsui, now of the New York Yankees, has been cooperative
with Make-A-Wish in the past, and so we look forward to such cooperation
from these two and others in the future.) MLB is also sponsoring
a "Kids Day" on the day before the season opener, with
practice sessions with both the Mariners and A's in Tokyo Dome.
They've given Make-A-Wish Japan 1000 tickets to distribute to
kids and their parents to get in, and so this too will give us
some good publicity in our efforts to expand MAWJ to be able to
help other such children reach their dreams.
March is also the month when the Kyodan-related missionaries
get together for their annual retreat. This year, the Presbyterian
missionaries (which include two families not with the Kyodan,
but with the Reformed Church of Japan) will have a separate conference
added on to the end of the main conference. Tim is the convener
for that, and so lots of loose ends are being tied for that now.
As always, we appreciate your prayers in our behalf.
In Christ,
Tim and Juji Boyle
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 178
|
