A letter from Barbara Easton in Japan
March 5, 2013
Lenten greetings from Japan!
Although we are in a busy season at the end of the academic year, it was possible this time for me to attend the local World Day of Prayer service held at Nagasaki Church. While reflecting on our connections across the world, I want to thank you for your support of Christian mission through your prayers and offerings that make it possible for me to live in Japan as one of the mission co-workers of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), teaching English and Christianity at Kwassui Women’s University. Our senior class students will be graduating this week and going out into the larger society. Please pray that they will take with them what they have learned about the love of God for all persons.
Because of a good schedule for entrance examinations at Kwassui this year at the end of January, I was also able to attend the annual weekend Women’s Conference held near Mt. Fuji. This started many years ago as a gathering for missionary wives, but now it reaches out to any interested woman of any nationality, so many people come from the nearby area around Tokyo. West Tokyo Union Church is a big supporter. The theme this time was “Treasuring Our Gifts.” About 70 women came together to listen to Ms. Lorelei Johnson VerLee present three talks about how we can recognize our God-given gifts as women and identify how we can use these better for growth.
Lorelei grew up in Japan as the daughter of missionaries, became the wife of a Methodist pastor, and later started an organization (Creative Women of the World) to help very poor women in various parts of the developing world (starting in Haiti) improve their lives through business opportunities as artisans. Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) is an important starting point anywhere. After the very destructive earthquake in Haiti in 2010, a peace park was made for children there to have a safe place to play and develop themselves. Lorelei has also worked with the Nozomi project in Ishinomaki, Japan, to encourage local women to find a new purpose in life through making jewelry from glass pieces picked up after the March 11, 2011, tsunami. The motto is “Don’t ever give up.”
Besides the presentations at the Women’s Conference, there was active small-group sharing about the challenges and joys of each of the individuals' work in Japan. In the Bible in 1 Timothy 4:14, Paul says: “Do not neglect the spiritual gift that is in you….” Lorelei said that DNA may mean “Develop your Natural Assets.” We could see ways that persons in our groups have chosen to follow God’s calling in their lives. A Filipina is working with women who have suffered trafficking or domestic violence. A Japanese woman has been doing evangelism in her neighborhood. It is essential for personal contacts to be made to help women and children especially.
Among the workshops I was particularly interested in were “Gifts of Age,” to think about “how” each of us will grow old, and “Puppets: For Communicating Important Truths,” concerning teaching Biblical truths to children and adults. The puppets were an enjoyable addition to the program. After these, Carol Sack (missionary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), who does music therapy as a pastoral harpist, presented a moving but peaceful “Time with the Harp.” She regularly plays for people in need who may be mentally challenged, homeless, in prison, or in hospice settings. People look forward to her music every time.
“Discovering our gifts” was the topic for Rev. Susan Townsley (co-pastor of West Tokyo Union Church), who spoke with reference to the Samaritan woman in the Bible (John 4) who discovered she was able to tell her estranged neighbors about her encounter with Jesus at the well. We can all start from the place where we are. This passage in the Bible is particularly meaningful to us at Kwassui because our name, meaning "Living Water," comes from this. The Women’s Conference was concluded with a closing worship including Holy Communion.
Although getting to the conference site from Nagasaki meant a 10-hour journey by train each way, it was a valuable opportunity to consider again how we can discover what we have been entrusted with for the sake of others in this world as well as for ourselves. Some people are artistically creative, whether in flower arranging or quilting, as shown in the accompanying picture of the puppet “participation” in the lead-up to communion, or in other ways. Although I do not possess those particular gifts, each one of us has been given ways to help other persons draw closer to Jesus Christ and God’s reign over all in this world.
As Easter approaches, let us pray that the Resurrection may be evident in our lives as we reach out to persons in need around us, as our Savior reaches out to each of us. Please continue to join together as members of the body of Christ to support the work of witness of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) through your prayers and gifts.
Barbara Easton
The 2013 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 208
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