The following weekend was spent
in Tokyo at a missionary retreat for persons related to the Council
of Cooperation of the United Church of Christ in Japan. My colleague
Sheila was organizing participatory worship services, so we were
kept occupied with preparations for those for much of the month.
It is good to be able to meet co-workers, especially since we
do not often encounter other missionaries in Kyushu.
At the end of May, Yodogawa Christian Hospital in Osaka celebrated
its 50th anniversary, for which I was privileged to be present
along with many other guests with ties to the hospital’s
work. It was started by Presbyterian missionary efforts in 1955
to serve a needy area of the city of Osaka. Since then it has
developed hospice care and other innovative programs in Japan
and also reached out to work with other Asian Christian hospitals.
More about Yodogawa Christian Hospital may soon be appearing in
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) magazine Presbyterians Today.
The hospital begins every day with a service of worship led by
various members of the staff. The atmosphere of love is impressive.
Please pray for the hospital to continue to bring glory to our
Savior God.
At the end of that weekend I went to a trustees’ meeting
of Fukuoka Women’s College, a sister school of Kwassui.
The Christian atmosphere is quite encouraging. Both colleges are
on the island of Kyushu in southwest Japan, but Fukuoka is more
urban than Nagasaki, and it also has wider connections by means
of Shinkansen super-express trains and a major airport. There
is less difficulty in attracting students to bigger cities at
present. Nevertheless, Kwassui is persevering in staying close
to our founding principle of offering higher education to women
in a setting motivated by Christian concern.
In July I plan to go to the United States for interpretation
assignment, traveling from California through Texas to Louisville,
for the missionary sharing conference, before heading westward
through Kansas to my sister’s home in Wyoming. I expect
to be back in the Midwest, particularly the Detroit area, at the
end of August, before a brief vacation and return to Nagasaki
for the second semester.
I pray that you are having a good summer, and that God’s
Spirit will strengthen and encourage you as you go about your
daily activities, mindful of our Father’s love shown in
Christ Jesus. May God bless you abundantly.
Barbara Easton
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
251 |
