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' 1984

sa^a QRrisiian ^Mission, ^nc(of Jlmeriea)

N o t f o r P r o f i t C o r p o r a t i o n

MISSIONARIES ^saSa iSiBlo Siotninary forwarding agentsGeorge Ethel Beckman Roger Beryl Johnson

Jenann Beckman 3320 Westgate Parkway8-40 Kamizono-cho Rockford Illinois 6110 3

Nishinomiya 622 Japan 1-815-399-36900 7 9 8 7 1 7 1 7 0

M ay 7, 1984

D e a r C h r i s t i a n F r i e n d s :

M ay th e grace an d peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you .

Every winter is followed by spring though somet imes spring seems a long time in coming. After a winterwith record break ing long cold spell and snowfal l spring is welcome.

Usually the new year begins with a three day holiday in Japan when no work except tha t which is absolutelyessential is done and the missionaries enjoy a brief rest after the busy month be fore. However, this year atour house a group of young missionaries gathered for a concentrated seminar on the study of the Japanese Kanji, character writing, under Mr, LeRoo, a Belgian missionary who has developed a newcourse of study,Ethel and daughter Ruth prepared the meals fo r t he m.

On January 11th, Exie Fultz entered the hospital for a third operation for detached retina of the right eye.We tried to visit as nearly every day as we could while she was in the hospital, an hour's trip from our house,and then she stayed with up for two weeks after her release nntil she saw the doctor again, NowL-she-ls-irv-thehospital again for a fourth operation. Please pray for her.

OnMarch 30th two events of significance took place at Osaka Bible Seminary, In the forenoon Miss KaoriNiiro, daughter of two alumni of the Seminary received a three year degree in religious education. In theafternoon the new Harold W Cole Student Residence Hall was dedicated for the housing of t e students and Mr, Mrs, Saitoh dorm parents and deans for the men and women respectively. The rooms are bright and cheerfu l an d a r e adequate fo r tw o students in each room.

On Monday April 1st, the preachers of this area, extending from Nagoya to the northeast and Hiroshimato the southwest held a joint meeting at the Seminary for mutual encouragement under the planning and arrangement of Mr Mrs Saitoh ministers of the Rokko Church Thirty preachers and wives attended the meeting.

The new school year began on April 17th with four fine young men joining the student body making theenrollment for this term six men and two women Ethel is teaching the new students a general overview of theOld Testament and finds them eager to study and learn, George is teaching Romans Corinthians to the secondy e a r s t u d e n t s .

From last fall we have had breakfast for Junior high school students the first Monday of each month. Wehave had five or six students come each time at 6:30 for a short morning devotional led by Miss Hosokawa

breakfast before they leave for school about 7:20 On the first Monday inApril we invited all those 'who had graduated from the sixth grade to join us and begin coming. Some of them come regularly to BibleSchool andchurch on Sunday but several are engaged in clubs at school which takes them away on Sunday

One of these young students. Miss Naoko Oda was baptized on Easter Sunday She had indicated shewanted to become a Christian twoyears ago but her parents who knownothing of Christianity were opposed.Finally after two years of persistence Naoko became determined enough to be able to win their consent

^1 womenattended the semi-annual Women s Luncheonin Kobe this April Four women from theokkochurch attendedwithEthel but theyall had to hurry back to attend the regular women s meeting of thechurchin theafternoon Mr Nakagawathe for the Japan PTLClub wasthe mainspeakerfor thismeeting

We are planning to leave Japan on August first for about three months inthe States We hope to see asmany of you as possible while we are there. Thank you for your prayers and other support.

Your Co-workers in ChristT H E B E C K M A N S

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J e n a n n s y s

We had a unit on Simon Peter in Sanday School l a st q u a r te r. This le d up to hi s denial of J es us , v is it tothe empty tomb, jump overboard at Lake Tiberias and answer to Jesus question, Do you love me? Feed mysheep. On the f irs t of April the start of a new year for the Sunday School as wel l) my mother an d KenseiYokomizo switched classes; she now t eaches the fifth and sixth graders and he t eaches the third and fourth gradersIn prepa ra t ion fo r th e p r o g r a m on Resur rec t ion Sunday, I ass igned P e t e r s denia l an d Jesus c ruc i f ix ion an d resurrection to his class, Peter and John s v is it to the empty tomb to my class of first and second graders, andJesus appearance at Lake Tiberias to my mother s c lass . Then I drew up a list describing ten possible picturesfor each class and had the elementary school students draw and color pictures for three KamishLbai pictureshow). Then I had a junior high school student a ninth grader. Miss d mentioned above) write the scriptsand on the day of the program three other junior high school students all seventh graders read the parts ofnarrator, Peter and everyone else. The only other junior high school student present read a spoken part toone song in the program, and the kindergarteners sang a special number, so everyone present had had a part.I was especially pleased that four mothers and a father came for the program. Not all parents are opposed totheir children learning to follow Jesus. Please pray for us as we teach these young people, and pray that theirh e a r t s migh t be open fo r the s e e d s to t ak e r oo t, grow and b e a r f ru i t .

Thank you,J EN A N N B E CK M A N

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1984 OB S graduate , M U s K ao ri N ii ro

Him-y

T he f ou r new s tudents f rom lef t to r iga tI) K i y o sb l M i y a gt , 2) Yosbth t ro Henzan ,31 Notoaobu I k e d a 4) K o i c h i To k u d a

M r, N o ri h ik o S a it o h, r G p re s en t in g t h e s ta l f ,a o d M i es N o rl ko Nakamoto, represen t ing th ee t ud e ot s, c u tt in g t he r ib b on at the ent rance ofth e ne w d o r m i t o r y .

M i s s Naoko Oda, r e c e n tl y b a p t i z ed