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8/9/2019 Maxey Mark Pauline 1987 Japan
1/8
A Report by Mark
and Pauline
Maxey
/LTNKLerreft /
To th e F rien ds
of
the Kyushu Chris t ian Mission
Kanoya, Kagoshima 893 Japan-Box 417 , N .Vernon IN 47265
E r
GRANDAUGHTERS:
ERIN
AXTON (Japa
MEREDITH
MAXEY C inc inna t i Oh i
PREACHING AT OSAKA BIBLE SEMINAR
M e r e d
JANUARY
1987
LINKLETTER
280
Chris t ian
f r iends.
Let 's begin th e New Year by int roducing our two new grandaughters.
is Mered it h Ann Maxey .
daughter
of Gregory and wife Beverly. We had
good visit with her by way of a two hour •^deo of her first birthday par
(November)
an d
Christinas
sent by her
daddy. Erin Noriko Axton , daugh
r
of Faith a nd h u sb an d , Paul,
wiU
be one
year
old In
March.
She has
to
se e us twice and
we
want
to go
se e
her a couple of
months
from
now.
Our
last
letter
ended
with Pauline
in the
hospital. They
kept
her twenty
an d gave her every kind of test t he y h ad , including a probe
inserted
her heart through a vein-extremely
painful . They
said he r heart was in
condition but bouts of extreme tiredness and irregular
heart
beat
per
She
is taking medicine
and
trying to
ge t
a
period
of r es t e ve ry
day.
her in y ou r p ra ye rs .
People
were very
kind to
her (and
to
me)
while
sh e was gone.
Her room,
a red by t h ree o ther pat ien ts , was full of flowers and visitors. Other patients
around her bed. They seemed to draw strength and comfort from her.
th e day sh e checked
out,
on e
of
her
roommates
said,
with
genuine
sadness,
going to be different with Pauline San not being
her e, i sn 't
it?
Things were different when sh e go t back home, too. For on e
t hi ng , t he
go t organized and
th e
meals go t a whole lot better. She
has resumed
her
ork - spealdng
fo r
a j oint meeting of the women of th e Kanoya church
and
th e
chu rch and
at the
January meeting of the
Kanoya church
women. Twice a
sh e
ha s
a ladies'English Bible
class
In
the Chris tian Csnter . She has writ
n an
a rt ic le for
t he Februa ry issue of Horizons
magazine.
It will appear oppo
ite my
regular
column
there.
One Man s bpinion.
That
will be
kinda neat. We
our
45th wedding
anniversary, December
29 ,
quietly,at
home.
Pauline
chili
in
memory of our
meal at Stone's Chili
Parlor, Warsaw
Ave,
Price Hill
ncinnat i, Ohio, soon after we were married. I ca n t ruly say that life fo r me
g an whe n
I
married her .
For
many
years,
Pauline was th e only English speaking, foreign woman
in
r
town
and on this peninsula. Now that has changed .
Sophie
Shang a nd Anna
teach English
at a new college at the
end
of town. Mie Tamura from Hawa
i is employed by
Kanoya City
to teach in
it s
s choo ls . Sha ron Rus se ll from Toron
Canada
is
here
as a
Rotary Exchange
student. A1 and
Rhonda
Juve,
having
two
years
of language school up north,
ar e
now in
their
second
year
working
with
th e Sueyoshi church, a
good
one hou r d ri ve
northeast
of Kanoya.
parents,
Leo an d Bette Juve
of
Lincoln,
Nebraska j oined them and new
daughter, Sarah Beth, fo r three months
this
fall. All of these were in our
fo r super
special days
of thankfu lness , fellowship
and
good food at Thanks
and Christmas. Anna and Sophia
surprised
us with a Christmas
tree
sent
Oregon. How
good i t
smelled . How
pretty
it looked when se t up decorated
t the
Christ ian
Center ,
and
later at Kanoya church. Lat e Ch ri stma s
eve,
our
room was again wall to wall
with
young people,
refreshing
themselves
after
. i
preached
and had a communion service at
th e
leper colony
church
morning
and
visited
in
the wards
there. At
one
o clock, all of us went
o the Osumi
Gakkusha (orphanage) where
we
ha d another
Christmas
service an d
a red g if ts w ith them for th e 36th time -
in
person or b y p ro xy .
We
took
some
of o ur
Chris tmas
money
a nd b ou gh t
a
new TV , replacing our
job o f ancien t o f days.
This
on e ha s a button yo u ca n
press
an d h ear
th e
track i n E ng li sh when
th e
words Bi-L ingual
appear
on
th e
screen. Every
Saturday night
at
6,
I
watch
Little
House
on
th e
Prairie.
Now,
fo r
th e
time I hea rd t he se
people
speaking
English
just
like
they do up in Mankato
nd
S le epy Eye ,
Minnesota - terri tory where I
used to
live
an d
which is the set-
VISITORS FOR PAULINE
AT THE
HOSPI
8 FOR CHRISTMAS + AL
JUVE,
PI
33rd
CONV
KAGOSHIMA
CHURCHES-KOICHI
HOMORI
HOST
MINISTER
28th ENGLISH
BIBLE
CLASS
CAMP
NOV.
8
8/9/2019 Maxey Mark Pauline 1987 Japan
2/8
ting for
th e
series.Incidentally, this is th e
only program
on th e state-owned
radio and
television
network
which
allows any pre sent at ion o f th e Christian faith. If this
element
of the
program were eliminated,
nothing of im
por tance would be lef t
As
for mysel f,
I
have
never
c au gh t u p
since
get ti ng back
home. Wal te r
and
Mary returned
to the
US
just
a week
after
we came.
They are
making
their
home in Murphysboro, Illinois, where
he r parents
live- This
semester,
Walter is on c ampus at
Cincinnati Bible Col lege teaching mission-related
courses.
Before he le ft,
he
arranged
for
a
year of services fo r Sunday
morning at Yosh ino
and Sunday
afternoon,
for his preaching point
at Kokubu. The church conducts the meeings themselves bu t Pauline and I go t he re every fourth
Sunday
for
preaching and fel lowship. It is a joy to be with these Christ ians. I am also preaching regularly at
Kushira
church, Kei Sei Kai church (leper colony)
and
Osumi
Gakkusha
and fill in and
visit
other
places
as time al
lows. English Bible
class
on Friday night have been a special jcy.We aregoing through
th e
book of Romans,very
slowly, using the Easy-to-Read New Testament. It is written in 4th grade level English so it goes well. There
is time for coffee and visiting after class. Sophia and Anna have been special people in making the Friday night
c lasses both wel l-at tended
and
successful. I also want to
thank
A1 and Rhonda
Juve
for coming to the
Christian
Center regular ly and teach ing while we were gone. Saturday
afternoon
is given over to Engli sh Bible classes
fo r four
different
age groups.
It seems like
there
has
not
been
a time in
the last four
months when I
did
not have to be
preparing
a
speech or writing
a
paper
or
both.
I have
spoken
to
th e
Rotary Club
to
which I
belong;
to a women's club
ctdied Soroptimist on the subject, Modern Day Trends Among American Women; to our preacher s meeting on
The
Changing Scene in th e U.S. ,
and
I
gave
two
talks covering
the questions, Who amI? , Why am I here?
and Where am I going? for
ou r
28th week-end Engli sh Bible Class camp, Nov. 8-9. Each camper
received
a
printed
copy of all
th e
material
covered
in
these
presentations.
Juve
was camp manager. The
first
week-end
in November, I was in Osaka for their fall convention (called Tane Maki Kai) and gave the opening address on
th e
subject,
The church of
Christ
as
revealed
in th e New
Testament.
As I only
had
time to give
the highlights
of
the
material
prepared,
I am
sharing this
material in my
preaching
in
the churches.
I
s tayed over
one
day
after the
convention to take part in
the
twice-annual Councilor's meeting of Osaka Bible Seminary.
Part
of
our
time was spent discussing their upcoming 50th anniversary , 1 also gave the opening message on the theme. On
to Maturity at the 33rd convention of Kagoshima churches. It was an excellent convention, well-prepared,well-
attended
and
hosted by
the
Kagoshima
church and its
minister, Koichi Homori. These conventions
are
always
a reminder that something good and enduring has happened - and is continuing to happen - here in this far
away c orn er o f J ap an .
Last
May, Mark
Taylor, edi to r o f The
Lookout,
asked
me if I
wouldn t wri te
a
s er ie s o f five articles
under the ti tl e, The Lesson and Life . This weekly feature attempts to
make
a present day application to the
scripture lesson. I said, Yes. I had to live up to
my
agreement by getting them into his hands by the
mid
dle of November. I made it - just. The first article appeared January 18. If they haven't caught your attention
yet, dig up the back issues. I spent a lot of hours on them. For the past 28 years Hayama Seminar which
meets in an isolated place near Tokyo the first
Mon. Tue8rWed.
after
New
Years has attracted missionary men of
every persuaaon for lectures, critiques and discussion. Paul Pratt asked me months ago to prepare a paper on
Teaching English as a Bridge to the Gospel. I have no ideahow many hours the writing and re-writing took
as it grew to 31
pages.
In spite of a
terrible
throat infect ion, I made
the
very long journey . The presentat ion
was very well received which made
the
supreme effort worth-while. Time and space is ud . A closing thought:
US officials are talking
the
dollar Mown (making it cheaper in r elati on to th e yen). Talk is cheap
for
them,
costly for
us.
Fbr the sake of Japan missions, why not be praying the dollar
i ^ ?
IN HIS SERVICE
WIVES: from
l e f t
- Mrs. Homori, l imure, MINISTERS-MISSIONARIES: from left:Yoshii,Tan
Maxey, Ikeda, Tanijiri
Yoshii j i r i
Ikeda, Daikusono, Homori,
Juve,
Maxe
Publication o f
C HR IS TIA N M IS SIO N
B o x
4 1 7
V e r n o n I n d i a n a
47265
d re ss R etu rn Requested
E D I T O R
H O R I Z O N S
BOX 7
KNDXVILLE TN
3 7 9 0 1
Non-^oHt
OrpniutioA
U S
POSTAGE
PAID
tourtviUt,Kcnlwcky
Permii No. 537
8/9/2019 Maxey Mark Pauline 1987 Japan
3/8
^ y
Report by Mark and Pauline Maxey
LiN Lerre t^
w
IKEDA TEACHES THE
25TH TRAINING
COURSE
LADIES
MEETING KANOYA CHURCH PAULINE SPEA
8/9/2019 Maxey Mark Pauline 1987 Japan
4/8
Pres. Clark and the other councillors. The annual budget is presented at the March meeting.
Approving
it
is easy. Having the
money
to pay for it is something else. The U.S. Secretary of the Treasury has succeeded
. in talking down
the
value of the dollar in relation to
the
yen 48 in the last 18 months. One-fourth of
the
sem-
inary
budget
is given from the Japanese side. Three-fourths is from the missionary side,, who must
exchange
their dollars, now worth 48 less, into yen for the support of the seminary. TMs is our only preacher train-
ing
school
in
Japan.
It
must continue.
If
any
person
or
group reading this
letter is
led
to
send
an
oiffering
to this school either on a one time basis, or , better sti ll , on a continuing basis , would you address your
letter
to OSAKA
BIBLE SEMINARY
BOX
696 SAN JOSE CA 95106.
The Seminary celebrated its 50th anniversary April 20 and
2L
It
was
a
very
special occasion. Former
graduates
were
there
with their stories of how
it
was
(o r
wasn t) in the good old
days.
Martin Clark was
remembered for the
36
years he has led the school. Grace Madden Braley, the only surviving member of the M
B. Madden family, recalled the days when
he r
parents began mission work on the spot where the Seminary now
stands. Leone Cole recalled how he r husband and
herself
began the Seminary in 1936. She unveiled a plaque
in
the
Seminary
building
in memory
both
of
him
and
of
his
founding
the
school.
The four
Cole
children
were
there also for this special event, all coming from the U.S.
Our mission has always been a supporter of this school both financially and in the sending of students.
These
s tudents a re
now serving churches all over Japan both
as
leaders and members. Four
of the
preachers
in our
a rea and
two of their wives are graduates of Osaka Bible Seminary. We are glad for the presence o f thi s
school and wish
it
well for another
50
years
-
and more.
Following
th e
March
councilor s meeting at
OBS,
Pauline
and
I
went
to
Tsukuba City,
north
of
Tokyo,
to
spend a few days with Pauline and Faith (Axton) and to be present for grandaughter Erin s first birthday.
Besides
us she
had three Japanese boys
and
a g^l from Afghanistan as gues ts . I t was a fun time for everyone,
It took a day to get back home and back to our duties
again.
We
thank
Makoto
Motoyoshi
fo r some discount
coupons to help on the air fare.
A special
March
visitor was Stuart Kawasaki now serving as a two year missionary north of Tokyo.His
father became a Christian here in Kanoya many years ago. I was a guest in his parents home in California just
a
short time
before h is f at he r d ied qui te
suddenly.
Now we had a chance to have his son
in
our home
for
a
a few days. He said, I am here as a Christian and as a missionary because of you. A word like that is the
reward that comes to those preach
th e
Good News
of
forgiveness and
new
Ufe in Christ. I
was able
to s pe nd a
day with
Stuart
in his mother s home
town
of
Hayato.
We were abl e to fi nd h is l iv ing
relatives,
dear friends
of his mother from her childhood days and the family grave. It was a very moving time.
Some
of these friends
came
to
see him
at th e
home
of
a
Buddhist pries te ss ( she
inherited
th e
temple
and
its responsibilities from her
husband) where we were visiting over th e
noon
hours. She served
each
of us the biggest box lunch I
have
ever seen in my Ufe. I ate l /16th of
i t
and was more than fuU.
After al l these years I have never come
to
terms with
it , but
the school
year , employment year and
finan-
cial year ends in March and th e new year
begins
in April.
There
is two or three weeks of
transition
in betweai
to allow for
the
necessary changes to take place. We used this time to make a couple of trips for medical rea
sons. By car to Kumamoto, a
five
hour
trip
that took n in e b ec au se of bumper to bumper
traffic
We
visited
th e eye doc to r who
operated
on my eye two years ago. He found my eyes
in
good
shape and no
cataract in
my
right ey e where I h ad b een
assured
there was one by another doctor. Good news indeed.
On
Pauline s side,
however, th e news was no t so good: incipient cataracts in both eyes. Come
see
me next
year. Dr.
Ide ta said.
A fur ther t rip took us to th e Taiwan
Adventist
Hospital where
Pauline
and I had check -ups and I had ex
tens ive den tal
work
done.
Dr.
Merlin
Ekvall
th ere h as ta ke n
special
care
of
me
through
t he yea rs .
He will
work
on me two hours or more at one sitting. Very few Japanese den ti st s a re willing to
do
that. We s ta yed i n a hos
tel. Big
rooms,
h ard b ed s
and
reasonable
price.
Missionaries
Rick
and
May Merrill
and
2 daughters came to
spend an evening with us.Verney and Belva Unruh,our missionary neighbors in Japan 35 years ago,flew up from
Haulien.
They took us out to a Mongolian
barbecue.
Lots
to talk
about. On
the
week ened, we
took
a
three hour
train trip to Lo-Tung, staying with Ted and Bev Sidles in
their
Home of God s Love orphanage. Seeing Steve
and
Carolyn Taylor
and other
missionaries
there; enjoying
a 13 course Taiwanese feast prepared
and
served to
th e
children and
us by
townspeople and preaching on Sunday. Back
in
Japan on
the
10th day.
We
enjoyed
the
super
hospitality and fellowship
of~B^
^d~ Nobukuo^Hirotaka in Fukuoka (northeriTKyushu). ThwTit was back
home on April 8
re ady to
plunge into
th e
work again. . . . In closing, we are sorry to report th e
deat h o f
Mrs.
Gladys Auerawald,formerly
of
North
Vernon,
Indiana and of Johnson C ity, T enn
in
her l at te r y ea rs . She
served
as our first forwarding secretary for 15 years. She was a great Christian woman in every respect . IN CHyRIST.
Pub l ica t ion o f
CHRISTIAN MISSION
Box 417
Vernon , I nd iana 47265
Return Requested
ED ITOR
HORIZONS
BOX 2427
KNOXVILLE TN 379
644
z
Non-Profit
Organizatio
U. S POSTAGE
PAID
Louisville,
Kentucky
Permi t No. 53 7
8/9/2019 Maxey Mark Pauline 1987 Japan
5/8
A Report
by Mark
and Pauline Maxey
/uNKLerre t^ /
To
th e
fr iends of the. Kyushu Chr is ti an Mission
Kagoshima 893 Japan - Box 417, N.
Vernon
IN 47265
SEPTEMBER 1987
LINKLETTER
282
Greetings
trom
southern Japan. (Our temperatures are like
uthern Georgia.) It has been an unusual summer of sudden rains and
and exceedingly hot days. Two
typhoons
have gone by - one on
ch side giving us
some
blow but no show. May it ever be thus.
The cycle of
Ufe
- bir th , marriage and death still rules. We have
new births to report m our spiritual and physical family but we have
special
times with grandaughter,
Erin Axton
now
months
old,and
Sarah Juve, just a month younger
daughter
of feUow missionaries
and
Rhonda, who live an hour away.
There are no deaths to report. But the wedding of
Sophia
Shane
d Fumiatsu
Ikeda
was
truly an international one.
Sophia
is
Chinese American
English in
our
local college
th e
past
three
years. i Ximiatsu is
panese, from
northern
Kyushu. They met in my English Bible Class.
phia s family came from Chicago. Her aged
bu t
lively Grandmother from
aiwan. Bro. Yoshii and I jointly conducted the service in English and
At
their
wedding
reception they
showed videos of
their
lives
cluding their baptisms, conducted by myself. It was an
imp>ortant
state
ent of the ir Chr isti an faith to all. Sophia s middle name is Hope. Her
brought the let te rs
for FAITH, HOPE
and
LOVE
and
mounted them
the front of the church. A nice touch and a remaining witness.
Our Christ ian camp, now in i ts n in th y ea r, continues to serve
well, and
other
Christian groups also. This helps make it self-sus
ining fin€uicially. This year we had new lights and ceiling fans put in
e larger rooms and
wall
fans in the smaller ones. Also a sliding screen
oor for the main entrance. At last, we can keep the blood-drawing in
c ts out . Nearby
Mt,
Sakurajima
continues to
belch
ou t
black sand.
It
shes down the slopes onto our parking lot when it rains. Already it
s filled in a foot.
Some
day we will have to dig ourselves out .
EBC (English Bible Classes) camp was held in May with 20
mpers. Al Juve gave two talks and he and Sophia and I conducted
e discussion groups. Picnic lunch and games on a nearby moutain
s a
happy
closing event.
Thousands
of azaleas
were
in full bloom.
Our church camp occupied the week of August 3. It was divi
d into two sections. Koichi Homori was dean of
Jr .
Camp and Al Juve
Sr. Week.
Naganori Tanijiri was camp manager. All of us had duties.
was to be chapel speaker for four mornings.
Guests
c on ti nu e t o
find
their
way
to
the end
of
th e
l ine
where
l ive. Actually I may
say
that
on
March 15 i t was th e end of the local
l ine
t ha t s er ve d ou r
t own .
I t c lo sed down
fo r
l ack o f cu s tome r s .
our way in May were Bob
a nd Har ri et
Knight from California where
w or ks
with a
Korean church*
He was a GI
in Kanoya immediate ly
af ter
war. He ha d
returned
once
before
but now he brought
hi s
wife to
see the city and the people he knew way
back
then.
70th BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR MARK MAXEY(L
to
r ,
Mrs .Yoshii, Rhonda Juve, Noriko Yoshii, Al
Juve,
Hideo
Yoshi i ,
Fai th Axton, Shel ley Max
ey, Paul
Axton,
Paul ine
Mark
Maxey,
Mary
Walter Maxey, Trent Maxey w ith E rin Axton.
/Z / ?
WEDDING OF SOPHIA
SHAEG
FUMIATSU
IKE
CAMPERS
FOR
SENIOR WEEK AUGUST
6,7,8
ENGLISH BIBLE
CLASS-
S FOR
SAVIO
70
CANDLE
CAKE-w/ERIN
AXTON
NORIKO YOS
8/9/2019 Maxey Mark Pauline 1987 Japan
6/8
In June, we had Dr. Chris T emplar, faculty
member at
Johnson Bible College, near
Knoxville,
TN. She was on
her
way fo r
a
summer of teaching in China . She spent
three
days with
us, one day of which was used t o c onduct
a
seminar for our monthly preacher s
meeting
on
th e
use
of
th e computer
in
th e church and
the church office. Her presentation was well-received
and
much
appreciatied.
Martin and
Evelyn Clark
spent a few
days with
us th e la st of May, celebrating their
50th wedding anniversary. Our
families
began
missionary work
in Japan the
same
ye ar and
we have
been working together (but not geographically) ever since. We
spent
some time talking
about
Osaka
Bible Seminary,
saw some local
scenery
and
enjoyed
a
s te ak d inner a s guests of
A1
and Rhonda Juve.
In
July we bade a sad farewell to Rotary exchange student, Sharon Russell
as
she re
turned to Canada.
She
had become
like
a
daughter
to
us
during
her year
here. In August it
was
Jay
Smith an d Ben Jozwick from Phoenix AZ, here to take 5
retired
Navy planes to the USA.
With
wings
folded, they were slowly
pulled down
to
th e
sea, 5 miles
away
- during the midnight hours.
They
will
be
rehabilitated fo r use
in
fighting
forest
fires.
I
spent
some t ime
as
interpreter
fo r
them
a s th e
de t a i l s
w er e w o rk ed o u t
We have
enjoyed
our yard
this year.
The
grass
h as been thick
and g re en .
Just th e
r ight
place for a 4th
of
July picnic held on
the 5th .
A1 Juve
was
in charge
of
fireworks
at
nig ht to
wind
up
the
celebration.
At Rotary
club
I
gave
a talk
on
the 200th year of the
Constitution and
some of
i ts background. In our backyard
we
had
a
nice
harve st o f g rape s
from
our s ingle v ine, planted
36
years ago. Also some
very
tasty berr ies which kept coming
on
fo r several weeks.
Berries
ar e no t
supposed
to do
well in th es e
parts
bat my
friend,
Tom
Blakemore
in
Tokyo
has p roved
otherwise
an d
s h a r e d s o m e o f
h is
s t o c k w i t h m e
Age
a nd weathe r h as taken
i ts toll
on
our
buildings.
After 30 years we had
to put
a
new ro of on the
Christian
C en te r. The west end of
our
metal
house was deteriorating- badly. So
the m«tal~wtth panels
of
aluminum. II cost an arm-anxi^a-leg.
At
the
same
time
al l
wir ing leading into
the house was iq^ldoed- electric
meters relocated. Hopefully,
our major repair
i t e ms a re in b a c k o f u s fo r some
t im e
Our
community
is
changing.
We
built
our
house
in
a
wide
open
prair ie.
This
year
th e
land
across the road
and to the
r ight
has
been
filled
with
six-story apartment bui ld ings .
The
girl s
high school in the
front and to
the left
of us has
extended
i ts p ro pe rt y and earthen
wall across
in
front
of
us. A
new
i nt er se ct ing road l eads t o
our
Christian Center. The bus stop has been
moved to the front of o ur house. While
it
is s topped t he re a
par t
of
our driveway is b lo ck ed . The
crosswalk h as b een relocated so half of it l eads i nt o our driveway.
So now
we
are
greatly concerned
about
t ra ff ic safety
fo r
th e
many students who cross this main highway everyday. In the b ack o f us
the Faith-Love
Kindergarten
operated by the Kanoya
church
is
replacing an old
wooden building with
one of ferro-concrete so th^are using the lot in back
of
our house fo r the next six months.
The annua l convent ions of
the
missionaries and
the
c hu rc he s a re very special events
of
every
July.
This y ea r
they
were held in Hiroshima, 750 kilometers away. Pauline and I went by
car and
took
a book
display from
the
Chri st ian Cent er .
Lee
and Sandra Jones hosted an
excellent
missionary convention. I gave the
closing
message on The
Missionary
and the Folks at
Home.
The
Japanese
convent ion
was held in a downtown hotel nex t to the Peace Park (where
the
atom
bomb was
dropped.) Etsuzo and Lydia
Kishi
and the Tomo church host ed a superb
convention. (Lydia
hails
from
Kanoya).
I
sang
a
song
with
the Grandfather s
Quartet for
the
morning service.I . ialso
sang
on e
verse each o f th ree
hymns at
th e
informal
evening
meeting which
was
well
received.
August came to a grand
climax
with
t he r et ur n
of
par t
of
our
clan to
Kanoya. Pau l,
F aith a nd E rin came fo r
two
weeks
from
Tsukuba,
no rth o f
Tokyo.Walter
and
Mary
with
Shelley
and
Trent returned from the US August
14. Pau li ne had
been remembered
on
her
birthday, Augus t 2nd
with many f lowers
and cards a nd phone calls from
her
children. My
big
day
came
on August 17 7
days late)
when
the family,
with
Paul and
Faith
in
charge,put on a
par ty
worthy of my becoming
70 .
This^a-a specia l rday- in-Japanr I t
was
also special day-for me
because
I never expected-to live that
long or to have such a
wonderful
celebration of i t Two cakes, on e
forming
t he l ett er 7 and th e
other the letter
0 ,
covered with 70 burning candles made a wonderful sight. I was able to blow out
68 of them
before running
out of air . Becoming 70 was
not
painful, i t was
joyful.
I f ee l l ik e I am
entering
a new era of l if e w ith Pau lin e at my side
and
al l
of
you
r ea de rs o f
t hi s l et te r reaching
out
to us
with love
and
prayers
ro the
other side
of the world. Blessings to you all.
IN^^S^Eg^CE,
Publ i ca t ion o f
CHRISTIAN MISSION
B o x 417
r th Ve rnon ,
Indiana
47265
Return
Requested
editor
H O R I Z O N S
BOX 7
KNOXVILLE
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Non-Profi t Organizat io
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53 7
8/9/2019 Maxey Mark Pauline 1987 Japan
7/8
A Report
by
Mark
and Pauline Maxey
/ u N K L e r r e ^
To t h e
f r iends
of t h e Kyushu
Christ ian Mission
Kanoya,
Kagoshima
893 Japan -
Box
417, N. Vernon IN 47265
DECEMBER 1987
LINKLETTER
#283
Dear
Chris tian
f r iends .
Greetings again from Japan. This is a Sept . resume' in as few words
as
possible. Having
safely passed
my
70th birthday,
Pauline
and
I made a 24
day
t r i p to the USA
a t
ou r own expense,
both
to see
a ll
our f am il y members
and
to
remember
my 50th year
in
th e
ministry.
Leaving
Japan on
September
4, we
went f i r s t
to Alberta, Canada
fo r
three days with Kiyo to and Pau la Yanagimoto,
ou r
oldest
daughter,
and three
sons-Tem,
Taka and Tamon.
F ine looking boys they are.
Their
high sc ho ol d ays
w i l l
soon
be o v e r .
Thence to Colorado
Springs,
O for a
fine
v i s i t with Helen
and
Tibbs,
th e older
brother of
th e clan,
including a
trip to th e top of
Pikes Peak on the
cog train. Houston , Texas was th e next stop to see Nathan and Hope Reader. Hope
i s our younges t . She is a graduate student
a t
th e University of Houston, and
also
teaching graduate students, all from
minorities
or from overseas.
We were
in Jopl in ,
Missouri
for th e
week-end
of Sep tember 13 . Oldest
s i s t e r Isabel Dittemore l iv es the re . Also grandaughter, Megumi,
enrolled
a t
Ozark Christian College
plus
two nieces, 3
grandnieces
and four grandnephews.
Needless to say
we
had a mighty fine time together. Isabel
treated me
to a T-
bone steak. That may be nothing great to you
but
such can
not
be bought in
our
town. For one thing, th ey t ake all th e bones
ou t
of
th e meat. For ano ther , t he
price
is
so outrageous you wouldn't believe me i f I told you. On Sunday morning
I preached for two services
a t the the Col lege Heights
Christian church. Randy
Garris, Minister. I used Psalm
and
th e t e x t Teach Us to Number-Our Days.
1 preached to more people that Sunday morning
than
I will
preach
to in Japan in
a whole year .
On to Cleveland
and Akron ,
Ohio to see
th ree
of
Paul ine ' s
brothers:
Boyd and wif e, Edi th ; Roy and wife, Margaret;and oldest
brother,
Allen. The
v i s i t s
were
short bu t good. A lso
we go t
to
meet
Robert
and Rheba
Pethtel of
Dublin, Ohio. She is now publishing a genealogy of t he Pet ht el family. I t is an
unusual
name.
She found
i t
had
at least
21
different spellings
in the records
she examined.
When
I was
introducing
Pauline
before
we
were
married,
I never
found anyone who
could
ge t i t th e f i r s t time I said
i t
- or th e second or
third
t ime e i t h e r .
North Vernon,
Indiana
was
ou r next stop
on September 16.
Pauline
and
I began our married
l i fe
there and our
f i r s t
daughter was born there.. After
leaving North Vernon for mi li ta ry and
missionary
service,
i t
has remained as
our working address. Forwarding secretary, Rozanna Hartwell, welcomed us and
we had a wonderful gathering and response
at
the church
that
night. Special
thanks go t o m in is te rs Charles Carter
and Brian
Jenkins.
We spent
two days with Bever ly and Greg Maxey, second son in Cincin
nati , Ohio and
got
acquainted with and rny hair combed by grandaughter, Meredith.
On
Friday,
we visited Makoto Yoshii,
Toshiaki
Chida and Sachiko Ono, graduate
students
at
Cincinnati Christian Seminary. That night, Kathryn and Bryan Maxey
drove
down
from northern Ohi o; L oi s and. Victor
Maxey
of Cincinnati
and
t h e i r
son,Tom and family
gatherered a t
Greg
and Bev's
home in Amelia
fo r
a lo t of
good
food,
good
visit ing
and the
three
brothers singing all the songs they ever
knew - and
t h a t s
a
l o t of songs. G reat
Sunday,
Sept.
20 , found
us
a t th e Madelia Church of
Chris t
in southeast
Minn., where I f i r s t began
preaching
50 years
ago.
The church
is
new but the
original
pulpit that I used is s t i l l
there.A
few
of
th e people from that time
s t i l l
remain. We appreciated being
able
to speak there and enjoying
the
won
derful
noon meal
served
by
th e church ladies .
Thanks
t o m ini st er ,
Scott McFar-
lane and to Mr. Mrs.Gordon Dorothy who took care of us so well.
Monday night we visited th e Truman Church of
Christ
which
is
16 miles
south, I preached
there
about twoyears.
We
stayed with Willis and Pauline HamnHDnd
visited
family
and
friends during the
day, and enjoyed a chance to speak and to
renew acquaintance
with
many I had baptized and married in th e past. Minister
B il l H al ls te d and
wife
made us
welcome
as
di d
th e
church a t
the fine socia l
hour
t h a t
fo l lowed.
Heading
southwest
to Worthington, Minnesota the next
day,
we spent a
few minutes at t he lovely
graveyard of
Horicon Church of Christ, located in the
countryside.
I wanted
to
se e
again th e
graves of
Carrie
Wolfe; daughter,
Cather-
in and
grandson,
Jirrmie
Allison
and
ref lect
again
on
the
fact
that
great
people
often come from un like ly p laces , especially
those
who s er ve t he Lord.
n
^ ^ brm^ you
i^ood tidings
LUKE 2 - K J .
ND CHRISTM S
JOY
FjipM U^ OTH
F I F T Y
YEARS AGO I PREACHED MY
F I R S T
SERMON FROM
T HI S P U LP IT
YES
THERE
IS A
SLEEPY
EYE
IN
MN
8/9/2019 Maxey Mark Pauline 1987 Japan
8/8
Alvin and Mary Giese, nv youngest sister drove up to meet us . We
enjoyed the
hospitality
of Jackie and Bob
Jannereth,
the
minister at
Worthlng-
ton; a time of fellowship and sharing at the church that night;and.avi it to
our
l i fe long fr iend ,
Ivan Bullock. We were
saddened
to learn
of
th e
recent
death of
Mamie, hi s
wife of over 60
years.
Mary
and Alvin
went
with
us 50
miles
north
to
Walnut Grove,
child
hood home of Laura Wilder an d now
of
TV fame: L i t t le House on th e Pra i r i e .
40,000 visitors a
year come
to
this
l i t t le town of 400, half of them Japanese.
This shows th e immense popularity
of
this show seen on Japanese TV each Sat.
We spent
th e
next
two
days i n Rochest er , guests of Prof.
John
Cachia-
ra s
and wife. Dot; speaking
in
chapel at Minnesota Bible
College
and visiting
two class and renewing our ties with Dick Lash, our friend
s ince h is
missionary
days
in Korea.
We
flew
to
Salt
Lake City, on
th e 25th
to
see Col leen
and Guy
Pethtel,
Pauline's
f ou rth b ro ther .
We
had a good time as their guests at Ponderosa and
also
In
last
minute shopping
for
food
items
to
take
back
to
Japan. On
to
San
Franclso
on
Saturday,two hours ta lk
with Bob Pritchard
a t th e
airpor t ,
and
then
t en l ong, m is er ab le
hours
in a too small
seat
In th e smoking section
of
th e plane.
What a
rel ief to
escape into
fresh
a ir and le g room. Overnight at Martin and
Evelyn Clarks; good visi ts with th e two Kagoshima
students,
Motonobu
Ikeda
and
Naomi
Omura at Osaka Bible Seminary; then Paul Clark drove us to the airport. A
fl ight to Kagoshima, supper and visi t with Walter and Mary and home by 9 p.m.
Some changes have taken place In ou r
small
foreign community: Anna
Kasten
has
returned
to the
USA.
Jim
Scott of Eugene,
Oregon
ha s r ep la ced h er
as Eng li sh teacher at the
local col lege .
Julia Pananen from North Pole, Alaska
(not the north pole but a
town
by that
name
is our new Rotary exchange student
and a joy to have In our home, in
class
and in
the church l i fe . , Jeff
and Leigh
Angela Holbrook,
my grandniece,
visited In November.
Jeff
1s a Marine
pilot
ser-
ing 6 months In Okinawa,
We
ar e enjoying time with Makoto Yoshli,
home
fo r a
coupleofjooDths,
Mr.s.
Kubo,
faithful
member
of.Tarumizu church diod
while wo
w^xe-^lTThe
US
After
14
years
and
approximately
150
articles,
my
column.
One
/Man s Opinion, will
come
to an end with the
December
issue of Horizons
maga
zine. Actually, I had a couple of more things I wanted to say but i t is time^^
for others to
be heard,
[ —
^ — I
became
district representative of the Governor of
Rotary
for
seven clubs
with
the assurance that i t was a window
dressing jo b requiring
l i t t le
In th e way
of
time.
Mistake.
The
honorary jo b
has required lots
of
work,
lots of meetings t o a tt en d,
attendance
at committee meetings
and th e
distr ict convention and preparation fo r and
participating
in a panel discus
sion a t
the convention. And th e y ea r
i sn t half
over yet.
I went alone to the
annual
Tane
Maki
convent ion o f Osaka
Bible
Sem
inary,
November
1,2,3.
I
gave
a
lecture
on The Church
of
Christ :
I t s
Evan
gelism and took part
in
the follow-up panel discuss ion the next day. I gave
i t my best In preparation and presentation bu t a divine disatlsfactlon remains
Three hour s was spent
a t
th e
college
board
meeting
on Wednesday discussing th e
college organization
and
t he funct ions of
all
college personnel.
Then i t was
th e
long tr ip
back home by plane and
car.
Well,
th e times do
change.
Two
ac tive. vo lcanoes are blowing the i r
tops in Japan just now: one
at
the north and one just 20mi
le s
from
us .
Grey dust
covers everytning. tconomical ly , the
dollar
continues
to
sink and ou r
govern
ment would have i t so . I wonder what
history wil l
have
to
s ay about a country
which consistently debases i ts currency by ta lk,ta lk, talk; which allows i ts
land
and
industries
to be
bought
at 50i on th e dollar; which has removed all
references
to
religion
from
I ts
textbooks; which
t r ies to
teach
morality
under
the psuedonym of
i ts
being
value;free
(which really means valueless ), and
allows students to graduate who can barely read and write and hardly spell .
Let us both
sing
and
pray, God bless
America and
then
le t us join
hands to make i t worthy of His
blessing.
God
bless
both your Christmas and
your
New
Year.
IN HIS SERVICE,
P u bli ca ti on o f
CHRISTIAN MISSION
Box 417
Ver no n, I nd ia na 47265
r es s R e tu rn Reques ted
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