Tokyo GQ Christian

"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15
Volume 75

First Quarter, 1976

Number 1

mum
ON FURLOUGH
The role of a missionary on furlough
is somewhat undefined. For that reason

Burr Warner of West Alexandria, Ohio.

Then, a month later wecelebrated Thanks

then returned to Hayesville, North Caro lina for another short visit with my par
ents. Then we returned to Atlanta where

many Christians think that the mission ary's furlough is time and money and

giving with the Warners and someoftheir children and grandchildren. Mrs.Warner is Betty's only surviving aunt on her
mother's side.

we were the guests of my brother John,

and his wife, Dottie. In East Point we

visited the Jefferson Park Church, my

home church, and the Mount Olive

Kirlough.

energy misspent. On the contrary, if it is spent properly a furlough can be very re warding for both the missionary and the people a missionary contacts during his
It is not a fact that a great deal of the

Another supporter, the Church at M. Victory, Ohio welcomed us on October19. I spoke at the morning worship hour and
showed our slides in the afternoon to the

group after enjoying a carry-in dinner

with them.

Church, anoAer supporter. Then we drove back to Rushsylvania. Although we enjoyed the long trip immensely, we were happy to touch back at home again.

momentum in missionary interest in our

churches was initiated by missionaries while they were on furlough? Thousands of people throughout the world have been
saved as a result of this interest and en

thusiasm. Even thelocal evangelistic pro grams of the churches at home have often
been revitalized as a result of the new in

On October 21 Noel and I began a three-week trip to North Carolina, Geor gia, and Florida. Our first stop was at my parents' home in Hayesville, North Carolina. We found them in good health and did what we could to help them in
the few hours we had with them. On Wed

FURTHER TRAVELS
After a day or two at home,Betty and
I went to Cincinnati for the Conference on

terest in missions. Some are questioning our missionary methods, but itis working

nesday we proceeded to Atlanta and were warmly welcomed at the Southwest

and we give thanks to God for it. The furloughs of missionaries are justified by
their fruits.

NEW ROPEHOLDERS
We have always enjoyed our contacts with the church at Ft. Recovery, Ohioand their fellowship. In November, we re
ceived a letter from them which read like

Church of East Point and I spoke to the group gathered there. We were guests of my brother Burgess and his family during that stay in Atlanta. On Thursday morn ing I had the privilege of speaking in chapel at the Atlanta Christian College, one of my Alma Maters.

TO FLORIDA
The reason for the long itinerary at that time was to participate in a Mission ary Rally that the Church of Clearwater, Florida was having. This church has been a faithful supporter for many years and we have enjoyed sharing with them in ministering to the Japanese over the years. Our friends, Mr. and M-s. Richard Snapp, were our hosts at Clearwater. Brother E. Ray Jones, the other ministers, and the church there were very kind and hospitable to us. Other churches I spoke to in Florida on that trip were: Dunedin, Largo, East Tampa, Sarasota, Eau Gallic, Garden City, and Orlando. Our gracious hosts
were the Phil Hardens of Seffher and the

this: "At our board meeting this week it was decided that we would like to place your work in our regular missionary giving schedule. Beginning in January we will be sending $20.00 a month to you." Needless to say, wewere encourag ed by this letter. We appreciated it even more because of our high regard for the
Ft. Recovery Church and their minister.

Evangelism sponsored by the Cincinnati Bible Seminary. Our hosts in that city were Bill and Ethel Gulick. Following the Conference I attended the Missionary Ral ly of the Indianola Church of Christ in Columbus, where my kind hosts were Mb:, and Mrs. David Casdorph. Soon after returning home I leftagain to participate in a Mission Round-up sponsored by the church at Hicksville, Ohio. On the way I spoke at the Harlan, Indiana church where LeRoy and Nellie Haynie were my hosts. Mr. and Mrs. John Paul Hill, who ministers to the Hicksville Church were my kind hosts during the Round-up. In early December I visitedtheChurch at Huntsville, Ohio and worshipped with some friends at the Marysville, Ohio
Church.

CHRISTMAS
We had planned fox some time to spend the Christmas vacation with our daughter, Sharon, her husband, Chris

We look forward to a fruitful ministry among the Japanese as we cooperatewith

these new co-workers.

Schuerich, and our grand-daughter, Sandy. Therefore, we did not plan any
other activities at that time. So our whole

family spent two weeks with them in Joplin, Mssouri. This made our Christmas

YEAR-END TRAVELS
On October 12 we visited the church

at Eaton, Ohio, which has helped to sup port us for several years. Atthe same time we were guests in the home of Betty's
aunt and her husband, and Afrs.

Paul Buttrays ofMelbourne. Somefriends

helped us get tickets for DisneyWorldand we enjoyed a day there. On the way north we spent a night with the Milton Jones family, missionaries to Japan, and

perfect. We returned to Rushsylvania on January 3 and the weather has been so wintry since then that we have stayed
close to home.

(Continued on page 2)

PATTON NEWS
(Continued from page 1)

NOEL
Before we went to Joplin our son Noel visited a friend in Minnesota, bought a used car lliere, andihendroveontojoplin
to meet us tliere. Wliile we were still there

NEWS FROM JAPAN

Dale and I'eggy Wilkinson continue the work at Yachiyodai. Other avenues of work are opening up for them. He is now teaching in tlie pharmaceutical col lege where Sainejima, withwhom Dale has beenstudying the Bibleat Yachiyadai, is a professor. Tlie Wilkinsons are now looking for a suitable place to start a new work after we return to Japan in August. They would appreciate your joining them in prayer concerning this.

FLIGHT RESERVATIONS
We have received information con

he was able tofindajob, he rented an

apartment, and we left him behind when
we returned to Ohio. Thus our second child launched out on iiis own!

cerning the missionary flight we plan to take back to Tokyo in August. We will perha])s take the one leaving San Franci sco on August 30 (Monday). The fare will be S300 per person, $1200 for our family of four. .\ deposit of$120, or $30
per person will have to be made soon and
the balance will be due about one month

VISIT FROM AN OLD FRIEND

A lew days ago wc were priviledged to have David Buttray, son of Stanley and Mabel ButtrayinTokyo,as ourguest.
He grew up witli our children in Toyko and we feel as tliough he were our own
son. He enjoyed his visit with our sons

THANKS
We are very grateful to all ofyouwho remembered us by gifts and cards at
Christmas time. You added a lot ofcheer
to our celebration of (Miristmas.

prior to flight time. We are nowreceiving funds tofinance our return flight to Tokyo. If you can help in this please send your check to our forwarding agent, G. Wade
Fletcher, Route 6, Box 14, Rushville,
Indiana 46173.

AND SO. . .
the end of our furlough in August. Miiy
We hope to see many of you before Cod inake you abundantly fruitful and multiply your good works during 1976.

and they often reverted to Japanese as a medium of speech during his stay. David is a student at Milligan College and will graduate in the spring.

ITAGAKI TO

CHRISTMAS AT MEJIRODAI
Here are some of the ladies from Ix)is

OKINAWA
In late October and early November Yukio Itagaki. minister of the Xakano

from the cluirch went caroling to some

of the church-connected homes. At that

Sims' Friday morning English Conversa

tion Class who sang some of the songs

in the Cantata we did on December 20.

time flu was an epidemic liere, and at five of the seven homes where we sang
one member of the fanrilv was sick with
fin.

church Hew down to Okinawa to speak

at an island-wide rallv and also in a

number of our churches there. This was

his first visit to that area of Japan, but

20 years ago he was in Bible college with two of the preachers there and it was a time ol renewing friendships with these co-workers as well as evangelism and encouraging of the Christians there. Re

The Cantata "The Prince of Peace" by Robert Hughes was sung entirely in Eng lish by this group and a smaller niLxed choir including si.x men's voices. It was enjoyable and educational for all of us to work together on this project. For our Christmas worship service

On (Christmas dav we had two Christ

mas programs for the Sunday school. At 2 PM the pre-schoolers had their pro gram, and the total attendance of parents
and children was .57. At 7PM the elemen

on December 21 we had a congrega tion of 39 people - the highest ofthe year.

On Christmas Eve a small group

tary children preformed two plays and

did some musical numbers, and the total

number present was 100.

cently, when I was in his olTice talking

about various things he showed me a stack of pr()i>ably over 30 letters he had received from various people he had met during his 10 dav journev. He also told me that after one meeting the j)eople stayed to talk and didn't want to go home. Finallv, the preacher dismissed them from the small second-story room and told tliem to go home, but they went downstairs and prom])ily came back up another stairway and asked lo hear
more. So, he felt it was a verv fruitful

trip and good for the Xakano church people as well as the brethren in Okinawa, and he hopes that the effects and friend ships made will be longlasting.

"I THINK HE HAS COME

INTO CONTACT WITH

JAPANESE PREACHER HAS BRAIN TUMOR

Koji Sugiura graduated from Tokyo Bible Seminary in 1958, and served as preacher at Yokosuka for eight years. During this time he married a Christian kindergarten teacher, and they have three boys who are now all school age. Almost 10 years ago he went to Obihiro,
Hokkaido to serve as minister of the

THE WRATH OF GOD"

At the preacher's meeting on January 19, Stephen lijima was telling about a very shocking automobile accident and
sad funeral in their church earlier in

the Red Cross hospital up there. His good friend John Nkito from Tokyo went up there by plane to be with him during and after the operation, and many of the Tokyo Christians had special prayer and sent special offerings.
When Bro. Muto returned he said

the month.

A rather young man was

small church there, which also had a

taking his wife and 14 month old baby

and his wife's sister out for a drive on

Sunday, January 4. The policehave no

idea what caused the one car accident,

kindergarten. This work was begun by the Ernest Faber family who are now serving as missionaries in Sapporo city
on the same island. Obihiro is one of

that the operation could be termed successful. Although he had already lost the sight in one eye and most of the hearing in one ear before the operation
and this cannot be recovered, the tumor

but an autopsy has established there was no alcohol involved. Anyway, the car hit a steel post in front of a service station with such impact that thehusband and baby were killed instandy and the wife and sister very seriously injured, lijima-san said that it was indeed a fact that this young man had almost quit coming to church in recent months and also wasn't giving any offering. On that Sunday when he should have been in church he was out driving. But he didn't say anything about the backsliding at
the funeral. However, the older brother

the coldest places in all Japan, and he

was rather isolated from his fellow minis

was non-malignant and it was all removed cleanly. Sugiura-san's trust in

God never wavered, and his attitude be

ters except by letter. In one of his letters some time ago he wrote me that he now
understood how missionaries feel when

fore and after the operation was very good. Also, it was wonderful to see how
Christians from various churches therein

they go a long way from home and stay

there a long time. He helps support

himself by teaching English and other subjects to students in tutoring classes at

his home after school hours.

said

publicly to the audience at the

funeral the words above - no doubt spo

ken with soberness, and fear and sadness

We in Tokyo were shocked to hear just before Christmas that the doctors had discovered a fast-growing tumor in the part of his brain behind his forehead. He was operated on to remove this in an all-day operation on Christmas Eve in

Hokkaido who didn't know him person ally donated blood and came to visit and offer financial and other help. The latest reports indicate a normal recovery and that he will be at home before the end of January. We hope he will have many more years of usefulness
in Christ's service. We believe God has

answered prayer, and would like to ask you to pray for him and his family.

but true discernment and courage.

HOME MEETINGS IN MEJIRODAI

Airs. Kakizawa (persimmon rapids), one of our members, is very zealous in
ahead on the basis that they would just

inviting people to church services; but

Tokyo Christian

read the book of Mark togetherand talk about it. Lois goes to all of the meetings,
but Mrs. Kakizawa, as the host, takes the
lead.

Published four times a year in January, April, July and November

for the missionaries of the Church of

Christ Cunningham Mission, Tokyo, Japan by Mission Services, Box 177, Kempton, Indiana 46049. Second Class postage paid at Kempton,
Indiana.

she found most of her neighbor house wives saying that they could not come to a meeting at the church at 10:30 Sunday morning because (1) the husband was at home on that day only, and wanted her to be with him (2) the children were at
home from school and had to be fed and

Mr. 2-26-4 Tokyo Agent: CuUum Mr. 3-7-8 Tokyo agent:

and Mrs. Stanley Buttray, Kamiochiai, Shinjuku-ku, 161 Japan. Forwarding Mrs. Homer Anderson, 622 Street, Meadville, PA 16335. and Mrs. Andrew Patton, Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, 164 Japan. Forwarding Mr. and Mrs. G. Wade Flet

attended to, (3) it is the only time to sleep in, relax and be together as a family and (4) visitors often come at that time. Sev eral of them went on to express a sincere desire to study the Bible if they could come on a week day morning when they
would be free to leave the house for a
while.

cher, R.R. 7, Rushville, IN 46173. Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims, 3-33-7 Mejirodai, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 193 Japan. Forwarding agent: First Church of Christ, Orange at Center St., Eustis, FL 32726. Two-year subscription $ .50 Subscription and Flaming Torch $1.00

So she considered the situation and

An encouraging number showed up the first time, and they all agreed to meet twice a month on Wednesday mornings. The unemployed ladies of the church try to attend every time, and thereare always some present who have never come to church. Lois is always interested in the various and often surprising questions they ask and comments they make. All participate, enthusiastically exchanging knowledge, thoughts, experiences and humor. Lately, attendance has been aver aging 10 to 12, and it is growing. Of course we pray that they will eventually
be led to faith in and obedience to Christ.

her own schedule and after telling us

about it she invited those who were inter ested to come to her house on a Wednes

Some are mothers of Sunday school children, and some are mothers of our

day morning at 10 AM She was afraid

she would not be able to "teach" them

young Christians, but others are just in

terested to different degrees.

anything, but we encouraged her to go

MYSTERY OF GODLINESS
Great is the mystery ofGodliness, and the mystery of God's working! After Adam and Eve's disobedience, time pass ed and sin multiplied on earth. Otherthan the Faith of Noah and his family, not one could be found who believed in the myst ery of the One God who was Holy, Right eous, Just, and All-Powerful. This brought the judgement of God upon the human race, and only righteous Noah and his family escaped to tell the story.

is once again reveling in it's return as a

world "super power." Japan today de

As I see it, in the next ten years, nearly fifty per cent of the present missionaries
will have, for various reasons, left this

lights in being "intellectually" equal with

the most advance nations of the world.

But the sad part is - with all of its ad vancement in learning, Japan still, re mains ignorant of, and almost in total darkness concerning the most important knowledge of all; That being, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal
life."

mission field. I am praying to God, the "Lord of the Harvest," to not only send replacements to offsetthis expected deple
tion, but also to call and send a sufficient

Upon the repopulation of theearthby Noah and his descendents, once again sin and deceit reigned, and onceagain the Mystery of Godliness was rejected. But even so, fortunately, itwasduring this elapsed time of nearly 2,000 years that God, often in many ways, revealed to the Fathers and the Prophets more and more of His mystery.

number to reach Japan. Especially, to reach those who are willing to accept the number to reach Japan. Especially, to reach those who are willing to accept the "Great Mystery of Godliness,"that is, that God, through Jesus Christ, died for them and for the 112 million of Japan. -Stanley Buttray

So it is also, for the world ofJapan, in the middleof this century, to be saved. It was to thi.; world of Japan, that God
called sixty-two Church of Christ mission
aries soon after the War ended to reveal

the"Great Mystery of Godliness." Ofthese sixty-two, there were twenty-six families and ten single persons. During these
twenty-seven post war years, twenty-seven

With the unlocking of the mysteries of these prophecies came a further reve lation of the Mystery of Godliness. For these clearly spelled out God's plan for cleansing and saving the corrupted
Ivofld'trbm'slnr And with thVfulhesTbf

of thefirst group ofsixty-twomissionaries, for various reasons, quit Japan as a mis

sion field. Also, two others were called to

be with the Lord while serving in Japan.

However, we do praise God, that the num
ber of new missionaries that havecometo

time came the advent of the promised

Christ Child and the attendent miracles

Japan in recent years is twenty-six. This sort of calicos duTthetwenty-swen"earlier

returned missionaries. So the total num

which followed, including the sacrifice on

the cross. His resurrection from the dead,
and ascension into Heaven! These

ber of missionaries presently isforty-ninethe same as in the earlier years. Five of

the recent new missionaries are sons of

mysteries of God, hidden from the be

ginning of time, were now fully revealed and fulfilled before the eyes of the world. For 1900 years now, this divine my stery of Godliness (God in Christ recon ciling the world unto Himself), has been the priceless possession of untold millions who have opened their eyes, understood, and accepted God's Son as Lord and Savior. Thus, victory over death, hell, and t he grave is assured, and the Lord Jesus has become the passport unto eter nal life. . .to all who apply for citizenship
in Heaven,

missionaries and grew up in Japan. With their wives they make up about forty per
cent of the newer missionaries. At the end

of 1975, the total number of missionaries

who came in this Post-War era numbered

eighty-eight.

POSTMASTER FORM 3579 REQUESTED

BOX 177, KEMPTON, IN 46049

In this age in which we are living, the "Great \fystery of Godliness", that transcends all wisdom, reveals the "My stery of Iniquity" (spiritual darkness) which still plagues the populations of
the earth.

au. APiUL 71

The Lord's Hoaper Jfo OBC PtO Box Sib Joplin, i'O# 64b01

For example, Shintoism, one of the

spiritual powers of darkness in Japan, though sorely wounded by defeat in war.

Tokyo m Christian
"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15
Volume 75

Second Quarter, 1976

Number 2

LOOKING TOWARD JAPAN

Three more months of our furlough time have slipped away. And now only a
little over four months remain before our

MORE TRAVELS
Because Philip and Stephen are in school most of my travels are being done alone. January 25 - 29 was spent with the Eastern Carolina Missionary Rally of North Carolina. During the rally, I visited and spoke at: Tenth Street Church and First Church, Roanoke Rapids, Ahoskie Church of Christ, Maple Grove Church,

of vacation from school at the same time, we made the long trip to North Carolina to visit my parents again. We arrived there on Thursday evening and back home on Monday evening - a trip of over

return to Japan. That too will soon be

behind us.

Preparations are now in progress for our trip back to Tokyo. Our passports are already in hand. Philip had to have
one of his own and we now have three -

1,000 miles. Most of the time spent there was in gardening and other jobs to help my parents, and of course Philip and Stephen went fishing a great deal.

Jamesvilie, First Church, Washington, and

the Pineville Church of Christ. The final

one for Betty and Stephen, one for Philip,

and one for me. We are now applying for visas for us all. As times permits, we will pack our belongings and ship them ahead of us by parcel post. Larger items will be purchased and shipped from California.

SUMMER PLANS
After school is out in June, we plan to

meeting was held at the Community Church of Christ, Washington. Folks in all of these places showed me great kind ness and warm hospitality. It was good to see the work of the Lord progressing and enlarging in my home state.
Then I traveled north to the Tidewater

travel south again to North Carolina and Atianta. In Atlanta, we plan to attend a
seminar and visit relatives. Later we will

TRAVEL FUNDS
Reservations for our return flight to Tokyo firom San Francisco have been made for August 30. We will take a reg

ularly scheduled commercial flight but with chartered flight fares. Prior to that date we will drive to Joplin, Missouri to spend a few days with Chris, Sharon, and Sandy Scheurich and Noel. Hien we will take a plane to San Francisco and spend a
short time at the Home of Peace of Oak

land shopping for the equipment and sup plies to be shipped as unaccompanied
baggage.

Area where A1 and Margie Floyd of Vir ginia Beach were my kind hosts for several days. While in that area I spoke at: Lindale Church of Christ, Portsmouth Christian Church, Aragona Church of Christ, Laurel Avenue Church of Christ, Kempsville Church of Christ, and two Christian Ladies' Meetings. After returning home again, I spoke to the churches at Marion, Ohio and Mount Victory, Ohio. Then on March 710 I participated in the Kyowa Mission ary Rally. The churches in the area sur

travel to Pennsylvania and Canada. Our summer schedule is not yet completed but we plan to spend the time in visiting churches, participating in DVBS, and some camps. When these trips are com pleted, of course we vrill tum our faces toward Missouri, California and Japan.

NEWS FROM JAPAN

We continue to get news by mail &om Japan. The Wilkinsons continue in the work at Yachiyodai and report good progress. We often receive letters from one of the Junior High girls there who began to attend the church services be

rounding Kentucl^ Christian College and

We estimate that $2,500 will be re quired for our trip back to Tokyo. Offer
ings are being received to cover the ex penses of this trip for the four of us. If you can help us on this please send your check for the purpose to our forwarding agent: G. Wade Fletcher, Route 6, Box 14, Rushville, Indiana 46173. Our tic kets must be paid for six weeks prior to the flight date.

the college itself jointly sponsor the rally. During the rally I spoke at the church at Ripley, West Virginia, Central Church of Christ, Portsmouth, Ohio, the church in Garrison, Kentucky and at Kentucky Christian College where most of the ses
sions were held.

fore we left Japan in June of last year. She made inquiry about the meaning of Easter recentiy and this gave an oppor tunity for us to explain the meaning of
the resurrection in detail. In a short while we will be able to meet her and

others like her and explain the Gospel further to them at Yachiyodai.

On March 21, I visited the church at Bumettsville, Indiana and spoke to them again. Following that, I spent a whole
week with the Rushville Church of Christ

THANKS
We wish to thank all of you who have been so hospitable and kind to us in our

SCHOOL
A few days after our arrival in Tokyo, our two sons, Philip and Stephen, will enter the Christian Academy in Japan again. Philip will be a senior and Stephen

in Indiana, and while there I also spoke to

the Sexton church.

travels among the churches. It has given

us great pleasure to meet old friends and

From there, I went to participate in a Mission Round-up at Garrett, Indiana on April 4-7. On April 11,1 again visited the Scottsville Church, Floyds Knobs,
Indiana and had a wonderful reunion with our friends there.

to make new ones. Thank you also for continuing to pray for us and to support us with your offerings. "Now he that
ministereth seed to the sower both min

1^1 enter tiie tenth grade. Tuition for

both of them will be due for the full year when they start to school. The tuition fee will be $1,000 a year per child or slightly above. They will commute to school each day as they have done in the past. That means that about three hours a day will be consumed by traveling to
and from school.

ister bread for your food, and multiply

your seed sown, and increase the fruite

EASTER IN NORTH CAROLINA

Since most churches have their own

special program on Easter Sunday, I did not plan any engagement for that day. Therefore, since our sons had a few days

of your righteousness; being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God." (II Corinthians 9:10,11)
-Andrew Patton

CONVENTIONS
This year our conventions were held earlier than usual, because the meeting place (a nice, reasonably priced hotel on top of a hill overlooking a beautiful bay east of Nagoya) could not be obtained during the first week of May. The Japa
nese convention was held over the March

FIFTH SUNDAY RALLY

Last January, I propsed at our month ly preacher's meeting that we have "Fifth Sunday Rallies" in the Tokyo area this year. Some youth meetings had been pretty successful last year. The sugges tion didn't seem to catch on very well. For one thing, the name is not transla table into a short pithy Japanese phrase

EASTER MEETING
Some months ago a couple of Japanese preachers from other churches in Hachioji
visited me to ask if I would be interesed

28 week-end, with an attendance of 203 adults and 38 children. This year for the first time, a completely separate and planned program was organized for the children, and the large number of them indicates that this annual "gathering of
the clan" has become established as a

like it is in English. Finally they said, "Why don't you have the first one", I
said, "0. K. we will." The date was Feb.

29, and of course a fifth Sunday Febru

ary is rare enough to make that in itself a talking point. Lois came up with a good idea for the theme -- "Living for Jesus". We intro duced that familiar song, which is not in

in and cooperate with a plan to hold a joint public meeting on Easter Sunday afternoon in the central part of the city. It would be the'first attempt ever, as far as they knew, to have such a large Chris tian gathering in this rather old city
famous for textile business and the 1200

family fellowship that is planned for and enjoyed by all and a very real bond of
unity and love between the Christians scattered in about 60 small congregations

year old Buddhist temple and monastery

on Mt. Takao.

over the country.

Some of the missionaries were at the

Japanese convention, and then others came in on the final day to make a total of 55 attending our two day missionary
convention that followed the other one.

There were several messages and discus

sions on the American Bicentennial

theme, "Give Liberty, Give Life". Also there were many testimonies and reports from each family on their work as weU as the usual good group singing and special
music.

During the missionary gathering there

was a nationwide railroad strike for one

day and it rained most of the time, but

we took no notice of either one. On

March 31, we all came down from the mountain top and returned to our dif ferent fields much refreshed spiritually, filled physically with raw fish and rice and pretty well drained financially.
Harold Sims

the two regular Japanese hymnals, as the theme song, and gave everyone a Xeroxed copy to take home. The Japanese here at the local church helped to round out a program for the afternoon and evening which included dividing into three dis cussion groups, a special speaker and some special music as well as good con gregational singing. For supper we had our local Kentucky Fried Chicken place to bring in box lunches (they contributed a can of CocoCola with each) which were deliverd and served warm. Each person paid $2.00 which took care of all expenses. It was a miserably cold, rainy day, but we had 71 people here, which taxed the capacity of our little building. Our mem bers worked busily and happily in leading the program, registering, serving the meal, cleaning up etc. and were very thrilled to
meet so many brethren and see our church so packed. At the preacher's meeting in March it took only a few minutes to set up places

I thought that sounded like a good idea, appreciated their coming to invite
my participation and agreed to work with

them. First of all, I was glad to discover

that there were more than 10 other small

churches here who were willing to coop erate in this venture (Baptist, Holiness, Alliance and other) and to get to know some of the preachers. Then it was en couraging to see how things worked out so smoothly in all areas. The largest de partment store in town agreed to let us use their roof as the meeting place free

of charge.

They also did some good

advertising for us through their regular newspaper inserts. We had about 20,000 handbills and 300 posters printed and dis tributed them with the help of the mem
bers of the various churches. Several of

the non-Christian merchants in our neigh borhood readily agreed to put a poster in their window. We were also able to get a well-known radio evangelist as the speak
er for the occasion and formed a com

bined choir as well as arranging for special

music by two groups from outside.

for the next three fifth Sunday rallies.

Harold Sims

On Easter Sunday morning, it was raining, but by afternoon it was merely

cloudy. After our morning service and a
quick lunch, we went down-town for the

meeting. They had printed 800 programs,

and all of those were given out, so that
would be a conservative estimate of the

very large crowd standing in a semi-circle around the stage. We saw more than 30 of our members or people we knew and

had invited to the meeting among the

crowd. At the decision time some of

these went forward, and we have re ceived the cards for follow-up.
I was on the finance committee. More

than enough for all expenses was received and everyone who participated was very thankful and happy.

Mr. Sugiura, the preacher in Obihiro, Hokkaido whose operation for brain tumor was reported in the last issue of the T.C. has been making a very good re covery. He is at home, and in April re
sumed his duties in the church and tutor

ing neighborhood children.

We received

Grandfather's Quartet singing at Japan Missionary Convention. Left to right: Martin Clark, Paul Pratt, Mark Maxey and Harold Sims.

letters from him and his wife expressing humble thanks to God for the good pro gress and recovery from the operation and also for the spiritual blessings and lessons learned through the entire
experience.

MR. AND MRS. ITOH

FORTY-EIGHT ON 4 - 18
In Japanese language the months are called by number as well as the days. So the date April 18 could be read as 48 by leaving out just one syllable. This occured to me as I was writing announcements for the bulletin one day, so I told the people in Mejirodai church that our goal should be 48 people present for Easter. This was promptly taken as a joke, be cause our attendance does well to average 20. I didn't really think we would make it myself, but mentioned it for three
weeks.

About 10 days before that a 9th grade girl who has been attending church reg
ularly for four months came and said she would like to be baptized. One of our
older members who had first invited this

girl to church then went and urged the whole family to come and witness the baptism. And they did. Father, mother, older sister,' sister's boy friend, mother's good friend, and two of the girl's school friends came. At least four of this group
were in church for the first time in their

Mr. Itoh using an overhead projector with cartoons drawn by his wife to tell the story of their life to the follcs at Mejirodai.
On January 18, Mr. Naoki and Mrs.
Yurilco Itoh transferred their member

ship to Mejirodai Church of Christ. They are originally from Kyoto, Japan; where
they were immersed in the Baptist church. (She is the grand-daughter of a Baptist preacher.) But their immediate previous membership had been in a small Baptist church in Cambridge, England where they had lived for two years while he was studying for a doctorate in theor

etical nuclear physics. We received a nice letter from the church in England recom mending them. He is teaching in the Sophia University in downtown Tokyo, and they are living in a rented house not far from here. They have two cute little boys who always come with them. At the end of 1975, we had no couples among our active members here. At the end of January we have two couples. It is a great encouragement.

lives. With this group of eight people there to witness the baptism, and all of our members except one present and several friends they had invited, and three people visiting and counting all of the
babies and small children we had a total

of 49 people present. I had said very carelessly the previous Sunday when we had 23 present that I would go up through the ceiling if we met
our goal, but had forgotten it until one

started coming recently said ^e waswait

agement to all of us.

quiet little round-faced lady who just

ing to see it. We all had a good laugh about that. What a great joy and encour
-Harold Sims

PROMOTION
Tokyo Christian

ENGLISH LANGUAGE SUNDAY EVENING

MEETINGS
Some months ago the Paul Pratt family down in Isehara began having a hymn sing and Bible study in English. Their son, Mark and his family, new mis
sionaries to Japan, and their nephew and

Published four times a year in January, April, July and November

for the missionaries of the Church of

DAY
The Japanese school year begins in April, so for the past couple of years we have been having our Sunday School "graduation" on the last Sunday in March. Four girls who were finishing the 6th grade and going into middle school were given a hymnal (all of them had pre viously bought their own Bibles) and urged to attend the adult worship services
from now on. Some of this class have al

Christ Cunningham Mission, Tokyo, Japan by Mission Services, Box 177, Kempton, Indiana 46049. Second Class postage paid at Kempton,
Indiana.

Mr. 2-26-4 Tokyo Agent: Cullum Mr. 3-7-8 Tokyo

and Mrs. Stanley Buttray, Kamiochiai, Shinjuku-ku, 161 Japan. Forwarding Mrs. Homer Anderson, 622 Street, Meadville, PA 16335. and Mrs. Andrew Patton, Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, 164 Japan. Forwarding

his family, in the U. S. military service

stationed nearby wanted to have this fellowship. We invited them to come to

Mejirodai once a month for fellowship

with us, and also we invited some of our adult English class students who come to hear the English but also receive some thing better. The meetings are held on

agent: Mr. and Mrs. G. Wade Flet cher, R.R. 7, Rushville, IN 46173. Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims, 3-33-7 Mejirodai, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 193 Japan. Forwarding agent: First Church of Christ, Orange at Center St., Eustis, FL 32726. Two-year subscription $.50 Subscription and Flaming Torch $1.00

ready stayed for worship services, so we believe there is good chance of their con tinuing. Eleven were advancing up into 4-6 grade class, and also eleven were coming up into the 1-3 grade class from the pre-school one, and each of these children were given certificates and a pic ture. Each of the three classes had a por tion of the program, which mainly con sisted of songs and memory verses. But the 4-6 graders made a series of pictures to show on the overhead projector sum marizing for the other children the les sons they had been learning from the book of Judges.

Sunday evenings. It seems to be very

difficult to get the Japanese to come out
to meetings at that time.

Hope (Sims) and Tom Schmidt and

their two children moved in Feb. from

Oklahoma City to Artesia, New Mexico where Tom has taken a new job as man ager of the 150 acre farm for the new Christian College there.

SLIDES
o

A set of 41 slides, mainly show ing the work of the Simses at Mejirodai, accompanied by a 26 minute tape explanation is avail

able through Mission Services,

Box 177, Kempton, IN 46049.
r

1^,

Mr. and Mrs. Saito after her baptism with birthday cake baked by Lois Sims.
When Hiroo Saito was married in No

vember, 1973 he told everyone that he

hoped his bride would become a Christian and that they could establish a Christian home. After the ceremony one of her relatives indicated to me that her family would accept such a decision as the nor
mal course of events.

Well, it took over two years; but over the months we noticed subtle changes in her words and attitudes and an increasing warmth toward the church people that kept us hoping for a clear decision from her. When her birthday came last Jan uary 31, she told her husband in the morning that she was willing to be bap tized but she would prefer it to be pri

vate. He immediately contacted me by phone and we arranged for her to be bap tized that night. All of the church folks were very happy to hear about it at the worship service the next day. In fact, one of the Sunday School teachers dropped by the church on some business and was able to witness the baptism along with her husband and our family. But of course her husband was the happiest of all. He said it gave him a much deeper and clearer understanding of the grace and power of God and the seriousness and responsibility of evangelism to have

Harold Sims

piB-"

experienced the struggle of winning his

wife to Christ.

POSTMASTER FORM 3579 REQUESTED

BOX 177, KEMPTON, IN 46049

aiv

71

The Lord's Koaper '/o OBC

P0 Box &lb

JopXin, i-.0 64b0i

Christian
"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15
Volume 75

Third Quarter, 1976

Number 3

BUTTRAYS' CAMP HOME

sale of Mission Property is one Godgiven method to raise these finances. Pray that God will overcome the problems involved in the sale of this land. Or that He will provide the finances some other way. Pray for the four young missionaries who are interested in this Evangelistic Camp Program. Pray that all the Japanese preachers
will catch the Vision of a multitude of

souls that can be won to Christ through this cooperative evangelistic program. Stanley Buttray

GRADUATION

Stanley and Mabel Buttrays' future home on the new Shinshu Bible Camp site. Desig nate all offerings "Buttray Camp Home Fund" and send to forwarding agent; Mrs. Homei Anderson, 622 Cullum Street, Meadville, PA 16335.
Since last writing about the new

"Camp Site" in Nagano Prefecture, some progress has been made. It was two years ago August 10th that the
six and a half acres of land in Mimakihara

My Goal and Desire was to see the Mission Property sold in time to see at least a functioning Main Building being used for campers by this summer! We finally got electricity by the first

(Honorable Pasture Land) near the town

of Mochizuki was purchased from seven
different farmers.

of this year, but still don't have water!

I am planning to see the town water
officials on the 28th of July, and am

At that time the outlook for a camp

hoping to be able to resolve the problems

involved and get permission. It is now a year and a half since the

Stanley and Mabel Buttray with their son David at his graduation. Webb Hall, in the background, was David's home these past four years.

building program looked promising, but was dependent on the quick sale of
"Mission Property". Much to my regret, the sale never materialized. So, one of our missionary
friends came to our rescue and loaned us

Mission agreed to sell 2/3 of the land

where we have lived these past 26 years.

It was in June 1972 that our son David

Only now has any real progress been

made toward the sale of this land! In this as well as all evangelism problems.. .. Time and God's Blessing must be waited

enough money to start the Camp Build

ing Project!
First a 130-meter road was built to

Buttray graduated from Christian Acad emy High School in Tokyo. And now four years later he has graduated from Milligan College with a B.S. degree in
Biology.

on!

Mabel and I often have regretted that

we were unable to return for our eldest

the land.

Then another 120-meter road

was made on the land, including a water

pipe laid in the road. Next a basement excavation (for our still future home)
and a bull-dozed area for a tennis court

A troubling thought question that incessantly reappears in my mind these days is: how much Time is Left? I am
confident of God's concern and Blessings, but am fearful that Time is Short!

was done.

Then beginning in late No

vember 1975 the basement foundation

for our home was started and only last

week, July 19th was it completed! This week a retaining wall for one side of the driveway and a drain ditch on the
other side was finished.

At the very peak of the battle when time was necessary for victory over the enemy, Joshua prayed!.. . Time stood still... Victory was assured! As I view the lengthening shadows of battle in selling this Mission Property, am I too bold in asking God to stop the
"Hand of time" in order to a^ure Vic

son, Paul's graduation nor his wedding ceremony. But the Lord our God is good! For He made it possible to return this year in time to see David graduate on May 16. With four years of undergraduate schooling behind him, he still is not quite sure what he wants to be or do in life. However, at present he is tentatively planning on taking graduate work at
East Tennessee State University in John son City, Tennessee. But this depends
on whether or not he will be able to

Thanks to missionary friends 4/5 of

the subfioor on the basement foundation

has been done. This is temporarily covered by a canvas to keep the wetness
out of the basement.

tory? So that a functioning Evangelistic Camp for the fulfillment of God's King
dom from among the people of Japan will become a reality this year!

find satisfactory part time work. For we are financially unable to supply all his needs while doing graduate work.

This is progress!
two years.

Even if it has taken

The "Camp Building Program" is at

a standstill.. .for lack of money! The

(Continued on page 4)

siAinrisa miw
MORE TRAVELS
Our travels among the churches during this furlough are almost completed. One more trip will be made to wind that up. Since the last issue of Tokyo Christian we have visited the following churches: Greenfield Church of Christ, Berkley, Mich.; East Liberty Church, Ohio; Millcreek Church, Ohio; Kenton Church of Christ, Ohio; Betty spoke at Oak Hill Christian Service Ladies' Retreat; Warwood Church, Wheeling, W. Va.; Belmont Ridge Church, Beallsville, Ohio; and worshipped with the Piqua and Rushsylvania Churches.

NEWS FROM

FAREWELL!
This is the last issue of the Tokyo Christian prior to our return to our work in Japan. Therefore, we take this oppor tunity to bid you adieu and godspeed. We wish to thank each of you who has helped to make this furlough which is
now about to end so memorable and

JAPAN
The Wilkinsons in Tokyo have written that they will be absent from Tokyo during the month of July. They have rented a cabin near Sendai and they will be working with the Christians there in evangelism during that time. They are looking for a place to settle down and work in after September and perhaps Sendai is one of the places they have
under consideration.

profitable to us spiritually speaking. We shall never forget your kindness, hospi tality, and assistance. You have encour aged us to be better servants of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We thank all of the churches

Mr. Saito, one of our Timothies from the Arakawa Church in Tokyo, graduated

During this time I also participated in 3 Daily Vacation Bible Schools: at Burlington, Indiana; Batesville, Indiana; and Rushsylvania, Ohio.

from Osaka Bible Semin^ in March.

He has been called to minister to one of

our churches on Shikoku Island. Donald

SEMINAR
On June 14-19 we attended the Sem inar on Basic Youth Conflicts which was

held at Atlanta, Georgia. My brother, Bui^ess, and his wife, Anne, paid our expenses and were our gracious hosts during the week. 16,000 people attended the Seminar and 3,000 were turned away for lack of seating. All four of us were -able-to-^end and^we got rich peisonal
benefits from it.

and Norma Bumey are our missionaries on Shikoku. I helped to lead Brother Saito to the Lord, worked with him at the Arakawa Church during his high school days, and tried to encourage him in his studies at Osaka Bible Seminary. It now gives us a great deal of joy to see this man enter his evangelistic work in Shikoku. May the Lord help him to win many of his fellow countrymen to the Lord and to build them up in the faith. A young man named Mr. Suzuki is
another member of the Arakawa Church

at Osaka Bible Semina^. He seems to

be doing very well in his studies and we are looking forward to a fruitful ministry for him after he graduates.

who is studying for the Christian mini^ry

and individuals who were such gracious hosts to us during this furlough. It is very gratifying to us that we have been so very fortunate as to meet so many new feends and to renew old friend ships during the past year. It so happened that our furlough partially coincided with the celebration of our native country's bicentennial. It has done our hearts good to discover again the old foundations and to review some of the basic things that has made our country great. Alexis de Tocqueville, a French polit ical philosopher who visited our country when she was young to discover the reason for her greatness, concluded thus: "America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease f^l)e great.^
Those are our sentiments too. He meant

SUMMER

that if Americans forsook God, God

would forsake America. We must all

drink of God's well of living water and

ACTIVITIES
Our final trip to churches will be to the Pittsbui^h area. There we will visit the Duquesne and Norwin Churches. After returning to Rushsylvania we will do our final packing and house cleaning. Then we plan to drive to Hayesville, North Carolina to spend several days
with my parents. From there we will drive to Joplin, Missouri for a visit with

then He can use and bless us. Then we

SCHOOL
According to news received from the

in turn can be a blessing to those about

us and to the nations across the seas.

Christian Academy in Japan, the school where Philip and Stephen are again en rolled in Japan, the first semester of the school year will open on August 30th.
That means that we will be at least a

THANK YOU
On Sunday morning, March 21, I learned that my 81 year-old mother had fallen down the steps in her home and had been hospitalized, seriously ill. Immediately, I began making arrange
ments to return home to be with her for

Chris and Sharon Scheurich and our son, Noel. On August 25 we expect to take a plane to Oakland, California where we will stay at the Home of Peace until our plane leaves for Japan on August 30th. We expect to have a busy summer.

couple of days late for the opening of school. That could not be helped due to the fact that we already had made our plane reservations long before we got the news of the opening of school.

FUTURE WORK

TRAVEL FUNDS
We have received only about one half
of the funds needed for our travel back

Upon our return to Tokyo we plan

to enter the same work we were engaged in before our furiough began last year.
We will continue to assist Brother Hiroaki Sato and his wife in the work at the

a short time. This meant changing of passport, visa, alien identification and various other things so that I was unable to leave Japan until March 29. After arriving in Meadville, Pa., on March 30, I spent everyday visiting her at the hospital; watching her slowly improve during the next six weeks until reluctant permission was given for her to return
home.

to Tokyo. The time is drawing near to our departure time a little more than a month. Our travel expenses must be met and we would appreciate any help you can give us toward meeting them. Send your check to our forwarding agent, Mr. and Mrs. Wade Fletcher, Route 6, Box 14, Rushville, Indiana 46173 and designate it for our travel.

Sakurayama and Arakawa Churches. And again we will be solely responsible for the leadership in the new work at Yachiyodai. We plan to expand this work as quickly as possible and also to
start other new churches in the same

At this time she is slightly improved over her previous condition having good days and bad days. She has been able to attend worship service once and is able
to take short walks with assistance.

My mother and I want to thank all of you for your prayers, cards and letters
which meant much to both of us and the

general area as time, funds, and workers permit us. Pray with us that the Gospel
will have a good reception in this area.

family. Please continue to pray that she may fulfil God's purpose for her life. Mabel Buttray

TRIP TO KYUSHU
On May 1, at the invitation of 2 younger missionaries, I left for a series of meetings in two places in Kyushu. First I flew down to Fukuoka, where I was met by Ben Hirotaka. He has started a work in his rented home there. During the week he has various English classes to make contact with people in the area, and he insists that in return for learning English they must come to the Sunday services and study the Bible. I was hap pily surprised on the Lord's Day morning to see 27 people in attendance, includ ing several couples who owned small businesses like a barber-shop, flower shop
etc. None of these had become Christians

A brief picture story by Harold Sims

ship with missionaries Walter and Mary Maxey in their new home, and Mark and Pauline Maxey in their old familiar home. While on this trip I took quite a few pictures for a change, and some of them are rather revealing of Japanese religious
beliefs and customs.

A statue of the 13th century Japanese

Buddhist reformer Nichiren. He is

specially revered by several of the most active and powerful new religious move ments in Japan, including the Soka-gakkai = Value-Creating Society that is mak ing advances in the United States.

yet at that time, but I think some of them are close to a decision, and pros pects for the future of the work seem very good indeed.

This is the group attending services at

Shime (Fukuoka) on Sunday May 2. Ben Hirotaka stands at left rear. They live in the house in the background.

Worshippers being purified by the Shinto priest. The offering box is in the middle.

'i.

Liwi
On May 4 I flew on down to Kagoshima. The city is dominated by the
active volcano Sakurashima.

Tokyo Christian

Published four times a year in January, April, July and November

for the missionaries of the Church of

Young people who have come to this Shrine to pray for the assistance of the god in passing entrance examinations to High School and College. When they are
successful they come back to leave an offering and to write on wooden tablets their names, addresses and other perti
nent information.

Christ Cunningham Mission, Tokyo, Japan by Mission Services, Box 177, Kempton, Indiana 46049. Second Class postage paid at Kempton,
Indiana.

Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Buttray, 2>26-4 Kamiochiai, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 161 Japan. Forwarding Agent: Mrs. Homer Anderson, 622 Cullum Street, Meadville, PA 16335. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Patton, 3-7-8 Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164 Japan. Forwarding agent: Mr. and Mrs. G. Wade Flet cher, R.R. 7, Rushville, IN 46173.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims, 3-33-7

For 2 days we had a retreat for young working people from the churches of that area in a Japanese hotel at the foot of this mountain. (Note the Volcanic
rocks in the background of this picture of our last meeting.) I gave 3 messages on The Christian in Society, At Work, and In the Home. I also enjoyed good fellow-

Mejirodai, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 193 Japan. Forwarding agent: First Church of Christ, Orange at Center
St., Eustis, FL 32726. Two-year subscription Subscription and

$ ,50

Flaming Torch

$1.00

NEWS NOTES
Mr. and Mrs. David and Sylvia (Sims)
Smith, associate minister with the Bellville, Ohio Church of Christ, announce the birth of a daughterRachel Jean on May 28.

2. What kind of book is the Bible?

3. What kind of a person is Jesus? They are very cleverly done with drawings, charts and designs all by the author who is also an artist belonging to the largest association of artists in Japan. The Wakaba-cho Church recently com pleted construction of a new parsonage. The old building, erected with relatively cheap wooden materials more than 25 years ago, was in very bad shape; so the people contributed as generously as they could and put up a very nice looking 2 story house which was completed in July. It is very unusual among our churches in Japan for a local church to undertake a project of this size without any help from the missionary, but we think it is also an indication of maturity, faith and courage that they did it. Espe cially this is true of this church which was located next to the Cunningham residence for almost 50 years and often very dependent on their help. The new parsonage has a total area of 864 square feet and the total cost was just under $23,500 or about $27.00 per square foot. One half of the cost was paid in cash from special contribu
tions received from the members for this

a Sunday afternoon Easter Rally spon> sored jointly by all the churches in that
area.

Jonathan Harold Sims graduated from the Cincinnati Bible College on May 7, receiving the B.A. Missions degree. He will continue studies in the Seminary Graduate School for about 2 more years. Daniel Sims has a summer part-time job at the McDonald Hamburger stand in Tachikawa, and is enjoying his first job very much.

The 240 people who gathered at the all Japan Convention near Nagoya in late
March.

This year our summer camp will be held in another place, after using the
facilities at Lake Motosu for almost 20

The missionary convention, which fol lowed the Japanese convention.

project and some funds that the church had been saving over a period of years for such purposes. The rest was paid by the preacher from his personal and family funds, and will be reimbursed to him over a period of several years.

Mrs. Margorie Solliday, of Tustin, California, a room-mate of Lois 30 years ago in C.B.S., recently visited in the Sims home for a day during a tour of
the Orient and also attended a home

years. The buildings at the former place have very badly deteriorated, and also the grounds were badly washed by a typhoon late last summer after the camp season had ended. So this year we will be using a small Japanese inn and a near by old farmhouse located beside another smaller lake in the same Fujiyama foot hill area. Already 115 have registered for camp from 6 or 7 different churches in the Tokyo area. This year all of the
management is in the hands of the

Bible study in one of the Japanese homes.

The monthly preacher-missionary meet ing on the third Monday of June (21) was held jointly with that of the noninstrumental brethren. Speaker for the
occasion was Mr, Horton who teaches

Japanese preachers.
The Mejirodai church will take the Sunday School children and some mothers up to the mountains for 2 nights stay in a Japanese inn to have our Vacation Bible School this summer Aug. 22-24. A total of 79 have signed up for the trip, and we look forward to an interesting program which is now being planned.

English and Christianity at the Ibaraki Christian College, This is the second such meeting, and we plan to have at least one such fellowship every year. A total of 20 people attended.

Part of the crowd of over 1,000 who gathered on the roof of the Daimaru De partment Store in Hachioji City to attend

POSTMASTER

Mr. Fumio Sato has recently published

the third book in a series of small 2-

FORM 3579 REQUESTED

color booklets written for introducing people to Christianity. The titles are 1. What kind of place is a church? (Continued from page 1) I am trusting and hoping that some church or family in the Johnson City area will come to his rescue and help him in accomplishing his goal. He is presently sharing an apartment with a classmate at the following address: David Buttray 606 Spring Hill Rd. Apt. 1 Johnson City, Tenn. 37601 Telephone 929-8472
'Stanley Buttray

BOX 177, KEMPTON, IN 46049

Christian
"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15
Volume 75

Fourth Quarter, 1976

Number 4

PATTON NEWS
BACK IN JAPAN
After an interval of about 15 months

we are now settled again in our home in Tokyo and have resumed our work. We had a wonderful furlough and we thank all of you wonderful friends for making it possible. While in the U.S.A. we traveled many thousands of miles, met many old friends, and made many new
ones.

' I

Among the many kind and helpful things done for us by our friends in America while we were there we might mention four in a special way. Mrs. Louise Williams of Mt. Victory, Ohio pro vided us with a comfortable home again this time and paid the utilities for us. We are deeply grateful to her and to the Lord who put this into her heart. The house is located in Rushylvania, Ohio and this allowed us again to have much contact with the Rushylvania Church, one of our supporting churches. Along with this Brother Dulin of Cen tral Church, Kenton, Ohio gave us half a
beef for the freezer in the house. That

Some of the people who attended the Welcome Meeting for the Pattons at the Sakurayama Church.
school for tuition for the first semester for the two of them. The same amount

will be due on January 27 for tuition for

the second semester. Now the boys are settled in school and seem to be enjoying
it.

been having a Bible School Class for ladies in the afternoons. Since resuming the work myself I have started an English Bible Class for high school students and
another for men who are advanced in

made some very good eating and we are very grateful for this token of Christian

love and fellowship. The third thing done

for us was by our son-in-law and daugh ter, Chris and Sharon Scheurich. They
loaned us a car which served us well dur

English enough so that the class is taught exclusively in English. Also another Eng

VISITING CHURCHES
On our first Sunday in Japan we wor shipped with the Sakurayama Church in the morning and they had a welcome meeting with a lunch for us following the worship service. Then in the afternoon I
went with the Satos to the Arakawa

lish Bible Class for ladies and another for

children have been started on Thursday.

Three new ladies and a man have started

ing our furlough. We returned it to them on the way to California and Japan with 25,000 more miles on it than it had when we borrowed it. We are very grateful to
them too.

coming to the classes as well as several

new children.

Also, we would like to mention the kindness and hospitality of Betty's aunt, Gladys Stackhouse, of Fontana, Califor nia, and Betty's cousins, the Perezes, the Bitontis, and the Stackhouses. They always go to a lot of expense and trouble to help and entertain us when we visit them in California. They are great and kind hosts and we are grateful to them. Thanks to them, we lacked nothing while
we were in Califomia.

GETTING SETTLED
We arrived back in Tokyo safely on August 27th and started immediately to get settled in our home. Final prepara tions were made for Philip and Stephen to enter the Christian Academy at the beginning of the following week. We wrote out a check for $1,000 to the

Church to worship and renew our fellow ship with them. Since I spend so much time in ministering to the people at Yachiyodai, I regret that I have so little time to meet with the Sakurayama and Arakawa churches. I am able, however, to attend the prayer meeting and Bible Study held at the Sakurayama Church on Wednesday evenings. Of course, the two churches men tioned above need some help, but several others of our churches in Tokyo are shorthanded in leadership and need help.

5,000 handbills have been printed and I am distributing them in the community surrounding the meeting place we are renting. The people there are very
friendly and working with them is veiy

enjoyable. Various opportunities for wit nessing to the people are presenting them
selves and we are trying to take advantage of these. I try to get the names and
addresses of all who attend our meetings

and when time permits they will be

visited at their homes. I feel that the

people in that community are beginning

to know where we meet and that we are

preaching Christ. More time will be needed to gain their confidence and reach
them with the Gospel.

YACHIYODAI
On our second Sunday in Japan I went back to Yachiyodai with Dale and Mark
Wilkinson who have ministered there

THANKSGIVING
Our Lord always leads us in triumph and fills our hearts with rejoicing and

while we were on furlough.

They had

(Continued on next page)

PATTON NEWS
(Continued from pi2ge one)
peace. New blessings come our way every day and He is always near to comfort, encourage, and strengthen for any task at hand. T^uly, the Lord is more precious to his children than silver or gold and to
know Him and walk with Him is more to

THE COST OF WEDDINGS IN JAPAN

Recently one of my students in Eng lish made a report in class on the cost of weddings in Japan to gain experience in speaking English. He had just read an article on the same subject in a Japanese newspaper. The newspaper report was the result of a survey made by a group that is trying to reduce the cost of weddings in Japan to the bare minimum. This group divided the cost of weddings into three areas: the cost of the engagement, the cost of the wedding and reception, and the cost of the honey
moon.

groom is not yet a Christian, he has

attended church for some time and has an

be prized than anything else. May He be exalted and His name praised forever.

interest in the Christian religion. They will be married at the Kamiochai church, the missionary ladies will take care of the things related to the wedding and reception, and missionary Paul Pratt will perform the ceremony. The couple
will have a beautiful and memorable

wedding with only a very small fraction

WEARY IN WELL-DOING
Recently I talked with one of the ladies of my Bible Class about a matter that was giving her concern. Her con science was burdened over it. She says
she and her husband have been married

of the expense of the costly weddings

mentioned above.

Simplicity and frugality with a corres ponding dignity grace any wedding and
make it a memorable occasion. - Andrew Patton

Well over 100 couples were inter

viewed to determine the amount of

almost ten years and are very compatible. During these ten years they have never quarreled once. But the wife's relation
to her mother-in-law has soured because

the daughter-in-law's efforts to be kind and to do good to her husband's mother has been met by rebuff and rejection on the mother-in-law's part. The daughterin-law said she had given up about a month ago and had despaired of having any good relation with her mother-in-law. I urged her not to become weary in well doing and suggested that maybe more
kindness could break down the attitude

of rejection her mother-in-law has for her. At the end of our talk the lady said she would search God's Word more, hun ger for God's righteousness, and then she would be on the right path toward cementing closer relations with her hus band's mother. A proper relation-to God helps to make a proper relation with

money utilized in their weddings, the three areas mentioned above being com bined in each case. They found that the average cost of a wedding here is over two million yen (about $7,000). The most reasonable weddings cost between 500,000 yen (about $1,700) and one milion yen ($3,400). Numerouse weddings among these couples interviewed cost over three million yen (over $10,000). Most of the weddings were what is called "Shinzen Kekkon" (marriage before the gods). In other words, these marriages took place at the Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in Japan. Their gods are localized in temples or shrines. There fore, in their minds the marriage takes place before the gods. It is not surprising that hardly any of these weddings which they investigated took place in churches. It is well known in Japan that a christion wedding is very reasonable in price. In spite of that, how ever, church weddings are very few. The
reason for that is that "Shinzen" marri

PRAYER MEETING
The missionaries of the Tokyo area

held a prayer meeting at the home of Stanley and Mabel Buttray on October 2, 1976. This meeting was not only
occasioned by our desire to pray together, but was also held in comme moration of W. D. and Mrs. Emily Cunn ingham and their mission work in Japan. The Cunninghams were our predecessors
in the work here.

They first arrived in Japan on October 1, 1901 to start the work in Tokyo, be coming through this the first direct-sup port foreign missionaries of our people. This year we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of their first arrival in Japan.
Most of the little band of missionaries

people. A personal burden is helping to

lead this woman toward God,

ENGLISH CLASSES
My English clsses were resumed at the Sakurayama Church in the middle of September. Now I teach these classes on Monday and Tuesday evenings 4:00 to
9:00. Proceeds from these classes are used

to help pay the minister's salary and to help in church work in other ways. These classes bring the students into contact
with the church and Christian influence.

ages are more popular. The way these weddings are financed was also discussed by those making the survey. The usual method is as follows: when a couple gets married the groom and bride each deposit on the average the equivalent of from $2,000 to $2,500 in a bank, the bride always depositing the larger amount. This money is to finance their children's weddings in the future. Farmers usually have to sell a piece of
their land each time one of their children

in Tokyo were present at the prayer meeting, but previous, engagements. or, classes prevented some from doing so. Stan Buttray read the Scripture and brought a short message. Matters of rejoicing or for prayer were brought up and the fact that the prayer meeting was

being held 75 years after the Cunning hams arrived in Japan brought some fine comments from those present. We were surprised to discover that so many of us missionaries were missionaries today
because of the direct of indirect influence

gets married.
the last child.

If one has several children

he has little land left after the marriage of

of the Cunninghams. Like Abel, the son of Adam, though they are dead, they are speaking today. Their work had not died out but is being carried on by those they encouraged to enter Japan as mis
sionaries.

ADDRESS CHANGE
Our forwarding agent's address has always been Rushville, Indiana. But recently there has been a slight change in their address. Their present address is: Mr. and Mrs. G. Wade Fletcher, R. 6, Box 14 B, Rushville, Indiana 46173. We pray that the good blessings of the Lord be poured out on each of you.

One can easily see that this works a heavy burden both on parents and newlyweds. All of this is done for the sake of

vanity and family prestige - the draining of family wealth in order to bow to cus
tom and the popular trend. How blessed is the couple which can exchange their firm and sincere vows
before the true God who is Lord of hea ven and earth and who instituted marri

After our prayers there was fellowship over a meal. The blessings of the Lord was on our meeting and we felt encour aged and inspired to greater efforts for
God. - Andrew Patton

age, all of which does not involve a great deal of expense. The placing of so much emphasis on money and prestige starts a new life together off on the wrong foun dation - that of material and family pride. It seems to me that a Christian couple which is planning marriage that rejects these woridly and vain things Js truly blessed. We know a couple who are plann ing to get married in October. The bride
Some of the Bible School students at

ff

Yachiyodai.

is a faithful member of the Sannobara Church of Isehara and, although the

Exercises in early morning.

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL '76

At last January's meeting of our Sun day School teachers we were talking over plans for the new year, and one of them

and helpers from the church, 9 mothers

not members of the church, and 53

suggested a new idea for the V.B.S.

Instead of having the regular 5 day series of lessons and handwork perhaps we should consider a trip to some place in the mountains for about 2 nights. It
would be fun for both teachers and stu

elementary school children) went. There is a micro-bus rental agency in our neighborhood. Generally they charge
at least twice as much as regular train

fare, so we didn't consider that means of

travel at first. But when we had so many

dents, the total teaching time would be at least the same, plus the added benefit of getting to know each other and a Chris tian life-style better by living together. Everyone thought it was a good idea. In February Lois and I made a trip up

we inquired and they kindly made a spec ial price for us. So we went in 3 24-passenger buses. On Tuesday, August 10 a general

into the Fuji lake area to look at sever^

possible sites for summer camp. One place particularly impressed us. About 10 years ago the rains from a typhoon
had caused a dreadful landslide on one of

meeting of all the parents was held at the church, and everyone seemed well-satis fied with the complete information handed to them in an 8 page booklet. So sent off by a large crowd of parents
we left from in front of the church at 2

Arrival at the lake. (Micro-buses and inn in background.

P.M. on a hot Sunday afternoon and

arrived at the Inn at 4:30 after one rest-

the steep mountains, and the majority of

houses and inhabitants of a village weye

swept into the depths of Lake Saiko in the middle of the night. The mountain
still shows the scar. Since the survivors

could not farm the new layer of rocks, etc., the government suggested that they establish some small family-operated inns

stop on the way. We settled in and had the first of 4 classes on "Jesus by the Lake" that night. The four subjects were: 1. Calling of the four fishermen; 2. Stilling the tempest; 3. Walking on the water (which I acted out by stanind on a rock out in the water

during the Monday night campfire) and

4. After the resurrection. On Monday

by the lake catering to schools, clubs and

various organizations always wanting a

The group. Mt. Fuji can be seen dimly

across the lake.

cheap place for retreats.

Tiie farmers

were not used to business, and were not

sure their simple cooking would appeal to the city folks, so training classes were set up for them and eventually it became a "people's inn village", with 20 or more places clustered at the end of the lake. We stayed in the one operated by the for mer head of the village -- a simple, kindhearted, chubby old man who showed us cheerful country hospitality. In March a questionaire was sent out to find out what the response of the Sun day School children's parents would be to this idea, giving them an idea of the plans, dates and costs. The ones who responded were overwhelmingly favorable, though for many of the younger children it would be the first time to be away from home overnight. In May, Mrs. Miyashige, the teacher who brought up the idea and was naturally put in charge, went up there to see exactly how much time and money it took to go by train, actually walk the hiking trails, see the rooms, eat the food
etc.

we took a long hike, which included entering a cave where there was still ice remaining from the winter. We had our lesson while resting half way. On Tuesday the older students rode bicycles around the lake while the younger ones played baseball or made small rock gardens.
We returned on the buses to the

church

Tuesday afternoon

where the

parents were wmting.

During our days

in the mountains the city experienced the hottest weather in years, so the timing

was just right for us to be in the cool mountains enjoying clear views of Fuji. Also this year I served on the neighbor
hood children's summer activities com

Resting during hike through the woods.

mittee and was able to arrange things so that no fireworks, picnics or other activi ties conflicted with our plans. In September and October our Sunday
School had a noticeable increase in

Tokyo Christian

Published four times a year in Jan

attendance, and everyone is looking for

ward to another trip next year.
-Harold Sims

uary, April, July and November for

the missionaries of the Church of

Christ Cunnungham Mission, Tokyo,

SALE POSSIBLE
On Oct. 12, the Yotsuya Mission

Japan by Mission Services, Box 177, Kempton, Indiana 46049. Second

Class postage paid at Kempton,
Indiana.

In June we gave out information with a registration form to our Sunday School and English class students and began regu lar meetings for planning, which con tinued through the summer until just before the VBS began on August 22.
The S.S. teachers all worked hard on

signed a temporary agreement for the sale

of the land where Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Buttray have been living for over 20 years. Needless to say this was after many weeks of long and difficult negotia tions. The sale is contingent upon the company buying it being able to obtain the consent of about 40 neighbors whose sunlight, TV reception, etc. will be affected by the erection of a nine story apartment building there. If the people oppose it too strongly they cannot get a building permit under Japanese laws and will but buy it. We are now in a 45 day waiting period to see what the results of their visits to the neighbors will be. We ask you to join us in praying that God will work things out according to His will. If the sales goes through we will give
more details in the next Issue.

Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Buttray, 2-26-4 Kamiochiai, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 161 Japan. Forwarding

Agent; Mrs. Homer Anderson, 622

CuUum Street, Meadville, PA 16335.
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Patton,

their various assignments, and it was one of the best and most thoroughly planned meetings I have been associated with.
The 12 rooms were named for the 12

3-7-8 Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164 Japan. Forwarding Agent: Mr. and Mrs. G. Wade Flet cher, R.6, Box 14 B, Rushville, IN
46173.

apostles, and each class had a different colore name tag etc. Schedules, including baths, were planned down to the minute, and as registrations poured in way above our original estimates much time was spent figuring out who would sleep on the floor space available in each room. A total of 77 registered, but because of sickness etc., some couldn't go at the last minute. A total of 72 (10 teachers

Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims, 3-33-7

Mejirodai, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 193 Japan. Forwarding Agent: First

Church of Christ, Orange at Center St., Eustls, FL 32726.

Two-year subscription
Subscription and Flaming Torch

$.50
$1.00

LOIS SIMS HAS OPERATION

Lois Sims underwent sui^ery at the Seventh-Day Adventist Hospital in Tokyo
on August 31 for removal of a rather

SUMMER CAMP
Our readers are no doubt familiar with

EVANGELISTIC MEETING AT MEJIRODAI

Our Fail evangelistic meeting this year was from Thursday September 23 ( a Japanese holiday) through Sunday Sep tember 26. There were meetings every night from 7:30 -9:00, and on Friday
morning from 10:00 - 12:00 for ladies who could not attend in the evenings because of having to feed and bathe the children. Our evangelist was Masatami Kikkawa, the young minister of one of our growing churches in the city of Ono (no connection with the book of Nehemiah) about one hour up from Kobe. On the final day, three people came

large gallstone. She had stomach pains and discomfort from July, and x-rays
confirmed the existence of the stone. As

soon as the operation was over the Doc tor stepped out into the hall and told me

that it was a normal operation with no difficulties or complications and went on to add the assuring word that while they had the opportunity to look around in

side of her they did and there was no sign

of any malignancy in any area. She was in the hospital for 10 days, and of course had to take things easy at home for a month following that, but is
now back to normal activities. The

the name Motosu, which is the lake by which we have had our camp almost every summer for 20 years. Earlier this year we decided that the buildings and grounds there had deteriorated so much that we would seek a more suitable place. Some of the older young people were dis appointed, because they always enjoy swimming in the cold, clear lake. This year the camp was housed at the People's Village, mentioned in the Mejirodai V.B.S. report -- using two build ings, the inn with 70 -80 campacity and an old thatched-roof farm house nearby. The camp was held Monday Aug. 2 Thursday Aug. 5. The cool, rainy
weather cut down the recreation sche

people of the church and even many of her English class ladies were very kind to visit her in the hospital. Many of them brought us large muscat grapes and muskmelons that we usually find too expensive
to buy, and some of the church members

dule, but the attendance of 115 was the highest ever. Also this year for the first time there was a Japanese manager. Everyone was so happy with the way things worked out that dates for 1977 were reserved before they left.

forward at the invitation to accept Christ

as Savior, and two of them - a mother and daughter who have been attending since last spring ~ were baptized. Mrs. Nakazato's older sister, a Lutheran, who had prayed for her to become a Christian a long time rushed across town by train during the afternoon to arrive here just

brought in meals for Danny and me so

that we fared O.K. We thank God for His

faithful and gracious healing and care.

-Harold Sims

in time for the evening service and bap

happy.

tism. They, aswell as il of us,were very

VISITORS
People visiting with the Simses during
the summer were:

* Mrs. Maijorie Solliday of Tustin,

California; a roommate of Lois' in C.B.S.

TTie following Sunday, the other one was baptized. She was the 12 year old daughter of Mrs. Nakagawa (the second person baptized here at Mejirodai) and a student in our Sunday School since her first grade and our first year.
Although the attendance was not as good as we hoped for we-are-most thank ful that this meeting became the time of

29 years ago and now a specialist in teaching people with brain injuries, etc.
who was on a tour of several countries in
the Orient. * Mr. Howard Harris from Kern Park

The faculty by the lake. {Fugi in back' ground partially covered by clouds.)

decision for these three who were highest on our list of prospects.
-Harold Sims

Christian Church in Portland, Oregon who spent 3 weeks visiting the work of
their missionaries, Mr.
Hirotaka in Fukuoka.

and Mrs. Ben

* Mr. and Mrs. Mike Sensibaugh who

Avere in Japan with the St. Louis Cardi
game.

nals footb^l team to play an exhibition

* Miss Mary Ann Glanville of Oakland, California who spent 3 weeks in Japan
with the Lion's Club International Youth

Exchange program. * Mark Maxey and his daughter, Hope.

POSTMASTER FORM 3579 REQUESTED

BOX 177, KEMPTON, IN 46049

The Lord^s ftoaper % OBC

P0 jiox 51.L

'fiv AfivlL 71

Joplin^ yO% 64601