Beckman George Ethel 1972 Japan

8/11/2019 Beckman George Ethel 1972 Japan

1/3

J ^

OSAKA CHRISTIAN

MISSION

Inc.

(of

America)

January

4,

1972

Dear Chr i s t i an

Fr iends ;

Happy Nev Year,

pray that the peace of God

which passes a l l

understanding

may

f i l l your hearts throughout this

new

year.

.

pray that we

may

see peace in

the

wor ld b e caus e

the Prince of Peace r e igns in the

hear t s

o f men.

We appreciated so very

much

the greetings and l e t te rs received from you a t

Christmas t ime.

We had

a

specia l

blessing

a t

Chjristmas

time th is

year

as Grace

Farnham

came to spend the Christmas and New Year

holidays

with us. I t was a joy

to

have

her

and

she seemed no older than when

sho

l e f t Japan ten years ago.

The church here in Nishinomiya kept Sunday, t he twen ty -s ix th ,

for

special

Christmas meetings. The

morning

was devoted

to

th e c hild re n

from

ten o clock to

noon. Our regular worship service

was

a t four- thir ty in t he a ft er noon

followed

by

supper

together

and

a

shor t

fel lowship

meeting;

Twenty-six

in

a l l gathered

fo r the

eveni ng meal .

Since

Sunday was on J anua ry second, the senond of

the

regular three day

New Year celebrat ion, the

church

people stayed and had lunch together and played

games in our home un t i l about four in the af ternoon. That evening

our

family ,

inc luding

Mr, Sugano

and Miss Farnham,

were inv i ted to our next

door

neighbors

for a typ ica l New Year s meal. Most of the foods had been

prepared

on December

31s t and eaten

cold except

for the

hot

ozononi

a spec ia l New

Year s

soup.

Word came from John

tha t

he expects

to be sent to

the Phi l ippines in

Apri l ,

As a

Medic

in the Air Force he wil l accompany

wounded

servicemen being evacuated^

from Southeast Asia to hosp i ta l s outs ide

t ha t

zone. In view of th i s we

a re

hoping to

be

able

to

see

him th is

year.

The f ina l decision on the

Yen-dollar

exchange was

that

the Yen should be

raised 16.889^ to 308 Yen to the dollar, with a l imit on

possible

fluctuation from

301

to

315 Yen per

dollar . This

was

considerably

more

than

we

had

anticipated

(and

was a

serious threat) , but i t should help the international monetary

situation, Commodity

prices

here continue to rise. The Prime Minister s Office

published

a r

eport that the r ise

during 1971 v/as

6.1^,

are

very

grateful

for

the way in

which

many of you

have

responded to

th i s

monetary

cr i s i s .

Some

have

indicated

a

raise

in the

regular church budge t

to

increase our support . In

addi t ion

we have received several

spec ia l

of fer ings to help in the present

emergency un t i l

the

budget i nc reases

can go

in to e f f ec t .

Thus God abundantly

provides through

you and

we

praise

Him.

Thank you very much for your cont inued suppo rt of

us

in a

number

of ways.

May God

b less you.

Minis te r s

to

Japan,

The

Beckman s

8-kO

Kamizono-cho

Nishinomiya

662,

Japan


2/3

\ Nishinomiya^ Japan

April 17? 1972

Chr i s t i an

Fr iends

Yesterday

as

Ethel

called

another

missionary

on

the

phone,

and

with

the

commonly

salutation asked how

she

was, she replied,

We're

praising the Lord. Ethel

What a womderful answer She

wondered

afterward how many of us

could

an ^^

that we

were

praising the Lord, or, when,we so often automatically reply,

Pretty good, we are mentally

complaining

of the

difficult

lot we are in.

How

i t

is

that we can praise the Lord in spite of, rather even

because

of the

frustrations, or heartaches that

come

our

way,

for i t is through these

we

can

learn the full joy

and

peace of total dependence on Him. And

how

marvelously

He

s u s t a i n

u s

The school year for the Seminary ended March thirty-first. Because the two

were

finishing this

year each lacked

some required credits for graduation,

we

had

graduation

exel?cises.

Mr

Masuda

returned

to

Hiroshima

to

begin

his

work,

while

Homori is staying on anotherîx

weeks

to complete his required credits.

he

new

hool year begins this

week,

Ap ril 187

We

have one new student^ enrolled,

making

a

i fW WH TMi~t^m.

This

seems like

a very few, but

when'^ôld

another missionary^

exclaimed,

You

are doing well to have that

many

these daysi

rwiuii aWinMiilliMrj III - n.w -

T?he last

week of

March

was the annual missionary convention, with Brother William

Orlando,

Florida, as the

main speaker. Unfortunately

we were

unable

to go,

but

went,

and

we praise

God

for the wonderful blessing that

she,

as well as the other

people,

received. She

came home

with joy

and a new confidence in

her

faith and

de s i r e

to wi tne s s

to ge the r s

This week Brother Ellis

will

be speaking at

Osaka

Bible Seminary each morning and

the various churches

in

the area in the evenings, Friday evening

we

are

antici

ting a rich fellowship

with

him

at

our

missionary

prayer

meeting here

at

our house.

May third to fifth is the annual all-Japan convention of the Churches of Christ,

Kagoshima Prefecture this year, with Mr. Ellis as the

main

speaker again. Pray

us

that

each of the

Christians attending will

be

strengthened

and be

instilled

a s in ce re d e si re to l iv e and wi tness h is f a i t h

The lastest v/ord

from

John

is that his orders to go^he Philippines

have been

and

that

he

will continue

to be

a t

McConnell

Air

Force Base

in Kansas

for

time yet.

He

is

now a

sergeant and

working

in

emergency at

the

hospital

there.

Saturday,

April 15

the

movie The Restless

Ones

was shown

here in

Nishinomiya.

asked s e v e r a l o f h e r f r i end s to see it and come

he re

fo r

d inne r a f t e rwa r d We

that

Munbê

Sunoo,

the

te enage son

of

our

Korean

friends,

went

forward

and

a d esire to become a Chr is t ian We do covet your prayers for each one

i n

family as they face many di f f icu l t i es

tha t

r ea l ly

t e s t

t he i r f a i t h

We rejoice with fel low Christ ians here

in

the Ggaka area and

in

some of the

areas

where ^saka

Biîe

Seminary

personnel

visited

for special services in

about

I5

baptisms from

Ju ly to

December

l a s t year .

V/e thank God for each one

of

you, for your concern and your prayers on our

V/e

pray

c ont in u al ly f or you, too tha t His peace may ill your hea r t s t h a t

ou may

know

the

joy

of f u l l su r render to Him

in

ll t h ings

Yours

in Chr i s t i an

l ove

^he Beclâns


3/3

OS CHRISTIAN

MISSION

Inc. (of America)

8 -^ Kamizono-cho, Nishinoffliya 662,

Japan

July 21, 1972

Dear Chris t ian Fr iends;

Greetings

in the Name

of

Jesus Chris t o ur L ord,

your continued

he lp .

Thank you very

much for

Osdca Bible Seminary

closed the f i r s t term

of the new school

year

t h i s month.

At

the

end

of

the

f i r s t s ix weeks, Mr.

K. Homori, who had s tayed

to f in i sh

one

course

still

needed

for

gradua ti on , r etu rned

to

Kyushu

to

begin

work in

h is

home

prefecture of

Kagoshima.

His degree will become effective next jj^ch, the end of

the

present

school

year .

Mr.

Homori

has been one

o f our

most

ac t ive and

zealous

s tudents

in r ec en t y ea rs .

During

h is l a s t years a t school he had f inanced

and

conducted

a

weekly meeting in

a

rented ha l l

near

the

school ,

with the

help

of

other students and

f acul ty .

We wish him God s r i ches t bless ings in h is work.

Jenann

was

able to

join a

charter f l ight

from

Chicago

to Japan on

July f i r s t

for a two month stay

dviring

summer

vacation.

Since there are

several

other former

students

of Canadian Academy home

for

the sxiramer, she has

been able

to

renew her

memories

and feelings of the past . t i s wonderful

for

us to have her

hone

again

fo r

a few months.

Ruth has spent the

f i r s t

five weeks of

vacation

helping a t school in the day

camp for elementary

school children

who

have needed specia l help in English

because it

i s

t he i r

second

language. Though

it

was hard work she was

glad

for

the experience and did enjoy it

too.

Sunday

she

wil l leave for Karuizawa

where

she

wi l l

be helping

the

Fleenors in th eir

summer

camps.

The

monetary

si tuation

in the

yen dollar

exchange continues

to be

disturbing.

The dollar has fallen to 300 yen now

and

the re a re

continuous

speculations that

it

will continue to fall

to

possibly

as

low

as

270

or

280

yen.

At

th e

same

time

commodity

prices continue to rise. Today s

newspaper reported a rise

of

30.8^

in

t r a in

f a res

to

be approved soon.

Some times i t

i s

with extreme sorrow and d i ff ic ti lt y that we must write

et ters

or

par ts

of l e te r s .

This

i s our

feelings

a t

th i s

t ime. We have

known

for

some

time

tha t

Oden

and

Reraa

Brown,

our forward ing

agents ,

have

not

enjoyed

excellent

health.

Rema

especial ly

has found

it

d if fic u lt a t times to carry on id

a

very act ive manner. Now it has

become

necessary tha t th ey g iv e

up

t he i r work

fo r

us .

We

have

f e l t tha t t h i s

was

a

team working together

with us fo r these

many year s . Now t ha t

t eam mus t

be separa ted. We deeply regre t it but cannot

expect them to continue under

th e t h r ea t

of

worsening heal th .

We

know t ha t

they

wil l

continue active

for the Lord

even.though the i r

service

wil l

take

different

shape

in

tlie

future. May

^od

bless

you, ^den and

Rema

and

may He

comfort and

strengthen you.

When Ethel

was home last

fall she had talked to Richard and ifWgaret Saevre

about the poss ib i l i ty of

assuming

the t ask

when

the Browns found

it necessary to

r e t i r e . They are able to

take

over

the

work

r igh t away, so the arrangements have

been

made

and

they

wi l l

be our

new

forwarding

agents

from

thj

f i r s t

o f

August.

Therefore,

frcmi

now on all checks and correspondence to us throu^ our forwarding

agents should

be

sent

Richard Saev re

R .

R . 1

Brodhead, Wi scon si n 53520 .

6^

Ministers to ^ apan

The

Beckmans

Documents

Beckman George Ethel 1972 Japan