| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
A letter from Carol and Tom Hastings
in Japan |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
March 2004
Dear Friends and Family,
Greetings from Japan where the blossoming plum trees symbolize
for us the nature of Lent and the promise of resurrection and
life. Since the first Sunday of Lent fell on leap day this year,
our church school has adopted the slogan: leap into Lent with
love. Our Sunday school is involved in a fundraising project during
Lent for the Asian Rural Institute (www.ari.edu),
an organic farm north of Tokyo which invites and sponsors grassroots
leaders every year from many developing countries to learn and
work together towards self-sufficiency based on organic farming. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Rev. Kamado performed the baptism of a 16-year-old girl with four
generations of her family in attendance. |
|
Last fall, Tom had many preaching
engagements at various churches throughout Japan. One of his trips
brought him back to Kanazawa, a city where we had lived from 1987-1991.
While visiting a small and isolated church on the Noto Peninsula,
he heard a fascinating story from the pastor there. Rev. Kamado
prefaced his story by saying how he was not discouraged by the very
slow growth of Christianity in Japan. Some might be critical of
the seemingly poor results of years and years of evangelism, but
Rev. Kamado is patient, and sees the value in simply sowing the
seeds of the gospel and expectantly waiting for many years. He recently
performed the very joyous baptism of a 16-year-old girl. This was
wonderful, but the amazing part of this baptism was that it was
the fruit of four generations of preparation. And all four generations
were present at the church that day: the girl, her mother, grandmother,
and great-grandmother. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
This girl was the first in her
family to be baptized. Rev. Kamado explained the history. The
great-grandmother had gotten hold of a Bible when she was young.
She read it over and over and was greatly moved by it, but she
couldn’t consider the possiblity of going to a church, whch
was considered to be a “foreign invasion” of sorts.
She passed on the story to her daughter, who met some missionaries
and attended a church a few times. When this woman was grown and
had a daughter, she sent her to a Christian school. This daughter
wanted to be baptized and join the church, however, her extended
family was opposed to this. When her daughter was born, she also
went to a Christian school, and she too was drawn to Christianity
and desired to be baptized. At long last, her family was more
open to the idea and gave their permission. Thus, the way had
been well prepared for this young woman and the dreams of her
mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother came to fruition on
that baptismal day. This story illustrates the power of cultural
conventions and the power of the gospel. In the end, the faithful
persistence of these four women won over the cultural objections.
Family news
This past Christmas was special because our family was all gathered
together in Tokyo. Our daughter Rose has decided, for many reasons,
to call off her wedding. So, instead of three graduations and
a wedding, we’ll have just three graduations this summer,
which is a lot of celebrating as it is! Rose and Paul will be
testing their wings in the real world. Actually, Rose is already
working as an intern at Texas Monthly magazine. So far she is
enjoying it very much, and will look for full time work in publishing.
Paul is back at Bowdoin College for his last semester. It has
been quite a cultural adjustment after a wonderful six months
in Sri Lanka. Sarah spent January exploring the world of acting
and is now in her second semester at St. Olaf. Katie is immersed
in the world of the rainforest and learning all kinds of interesting
things.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Tom successfully completed the oral defense of
his dissertation at Princeton Theological Seminary. His advisor
has encouraged him to publish it, so Tom is now pursuing that possibility.
On May 15, he will don the cloak and hood and join with the other
graduates to receive his Ph.D. In the meantime, his seminary here,
Tokyo Union Theological Seminary, is preparing to graduate thirty
students. |
|
Our weekly Kerygma Bible study group has participants from England,
Japan, Canada, Philippines, and the United States. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
I am still working on my MA in
Christian education through Princeton Theological Seminary. This
year I am involved in ministry at West Tokyo Union Church and
am able to apply this work towards Princeton’s field education
requirement. I am heading up our Christian education program,
teaching Sunday school, leading a midweek Bible study, and attending
meetings. I even had the opportunity to preach last December.
Our weekly Kerygma Bible study group continues to grow. We have
just finished a study on the book of Acts. Our group, composed
of people from England, Japan, Canada, Philippines, and the United
States, truly embodies the message of Acts—Spreading the
gospel throughout the world.
I have been representing the PC(USA) on a building project close
to where we live. It was exciting to see three new houses completed
at the end of December. The ovens were actually delivered on Christmas
Day! The two duplex units are now happily rented to people involved
in working with Alpha Japan (a burgeoning outreach ministry),
and the house will soon be occupied by a teacher and his family
from the American School in Japan. Soon we will begin making plans
for the second building project.
Thank you for your letters, prayers and support of mission in
Japan.
Peace,
Carol and Tom Hastings
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
92 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
