TWO NEW YORK COLLEGE PROFESSORS VISIT US IN REUKE

Dear Children, Grandchildren, and Friends,

Here is another chapter from the book I am writing.

 TWO NEW YORK COLLEGE PROFESSORS VISIT US IN REUKE

From my diary July 26-28, 1975

We had a call from a town official that there were two tourists in town who wanted to meet us. We picked them up and brought them home and had a very interesting time with them.

Mom wrote to her parents about them and their visit:

"Ellis and Mary Blade are very unusual, intelligent people in their 60s. They live in the center of New York City in a 17^th-floor apartment during the week where their work is close at hand. She, a university mechanical drawing and engineering professor, he a mathematician presently in the field of making up computer programs in connection with the air pollution problem. She is one of only two or three women in this same field in the United States. They have no children and so their lives are wrapped up in their careers and varied interests—music, art, etc., and traveling. They flee to the country on weekends where they rent a home beyond the sidewalks. They are the type of people that make you feel that you've known them all their lives. We were laughing and chattering away before they were barely in the house. We feel that their hearts were touched and moved because of some of the last comments they made. He told Ron that his sermon was the highlight of his visit and said that 4,000 people should have been here to hear it. She told me that she was very thankful for our help, especially spiritually. We witnessed to them straight and of course they also got it in our family devotions, church, and just being here with us."

The Blades spend their summers traveling to various countries around the world. They hike, climb mountains, and engage in outdoor activities. They told us that a week ago they were climbing a mountain on the Shiretoko Peninsula on the eastern side of Hokkaido when they came to a sign in English that told them the mountain was closed! Our dear friend Kamidate-san who lives over there met them at an inn where he picks up and delivers laundry. He speaks little English but was able to get across to them that the Hokkaido bears, which closely resemble our grizzlies, are coming out of hibernation and are a danger to mountain climbers.

Kamidate-san was also able to get across to them that he had a church in town and invited them to his services the next day. Dr. Blade described to us their reaction to the invitation. "I said to my wife, 'We haven't been to church in years and here a heathen Japanese boy invites us to his church. We should give it a try.'"

They made arrangements to be picked up the next morning at the train station. When it was Kamidate-san the pastor himself who came for them, they were surprised thinking that he would surely have someone else do the job. (Kamidate-san was just beginning a ministry there in his home city and didn't yet have a faithful group of believers.)

They then told us that when they went inside Kamidate's "home church" they waited for the congregation to arrive. After a few moments Dr. Blade said to his wife, "The church must be us." Kamidate San put a tape on the cassette player and they heard a sermon by Pastor David Yearick on the "Exceeding Sinfulness of Sin."

You see, Hampton Park Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina, had been sending us monthly financial support and tapes of the pastor's weekly sermon. I had passed them on to Kamidate-san to listen to as a help in learning English.

Kamidate-san had called us, tried to explain about the Blades, and let us know that he had recommended that they meet us, thus  precipitating their visiting us. He was anxious for them to hear the Gospel clearly from us.

They were a unique couple to say the least. They slept in one of our tatami-floor rooms. They were amusing. We got a kick out of how they told the above story. On Sunday they attended our services which we held in our home. I preached in both Japanese and English for their benefit. After our family evening service he surprised us by telling us that he knew the hymn we sang— "Yesterday, Today, Forever"—and he quoted the reference to the Bible verse for that hymn. Then he told us that his parents had been missionaries to the Mormons in Utah.

The next day when I took them to the train station where they were going to tour an island from which Russian islands could be seen (one which we had evangelized with Bibles and tracts), they  told me that the best part of their trip that summer was the time they spent in our home. We prayed that God's Word would continue to work in their hearts. For a few years we kept in touch at Christmas time.

Note: Here is the link to some information we found about Mary Blade on the internet today:

https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Mary+Blade  

MISSED A CROW BUT HIT A TELEPHONE WIRE

July 15, 1969 >We had no telephone and when I tried to get one I was told I would have to buy stock in the company which was very expensive and required at least a 2-year wait. We had to go to a neighbor and use his phone and he would have to come to our place if we got a message. I prayed and reminded the Lord that we were here to be a Gospel witness and a phone was very important if we needed to contact family in the USA or if they needed to get in touch with us. I said that it was a burden for our heathen neighbors to have to come to our place especially in the dark and sometimes in stormy weather.

Japan is ahead by 13 hours EST in America. I had a .22 rifle, one of the few in Japan, and the neighbors wanted me to help them by shooting the crows around our place because they were stealing their fish that were drying on wooden racks. They were even boldly attacking women as they carried their groceries in shopping bags. I was glad to comply and shot crows around our house when I was outside reading or working. The kids would run and get them and some times when they fell in the ocean they would wade out and retrieve them. The neighbors offered to buy a dead crow so they could hang them up to scare the others away.

One day when I was shooting at them above my house I shot one off a telephone wire, but the bullet made a funny sound. Soon after that a group of men in suits came to our door and asked if I had been shooting above the house. I was the only one in the area with a gun so they knew right where to come. I told them I was shooting in that direction and pointed to the area where I had heard a strange sounding shot. They said they were glad I was honest and they would be able to repair the telephone wire I had shot through quickly since I told them where it was.

I found that "Quickly" was 3 full days that a repairman hung up in a bucket about 150 feet in the air splicing wires together, and I prayed that he would not fall out of his bucket!  Ten thousand people from a near-by town had no phone service during that time!

After the phone service was restored the men came back and the man in charge of the phone company spoke to me in fluent English. He said that ordinarily they would expect compensation but since I was honest about it I would not have to pay anything. He politely asked if there was anything he could do for me? I told him about the 2-years waiting time it would take me to get a phone. Then he said in clear English, "Maybe God brought this about." He said he would like to come to our church services. He and his wife began to attend our Sunday services, but that soon ended when he was transferred to a large company in N.Y. City.

On November 14th I received a contract with stock in the company with a new phone! It turned out that the reason a man of his standing was in an isolated place like Rumoi was that he had lied in his job application and his punishment was to be sent here to serve for a few months’ time. On September 19 I had a long talk him. His father was the head of the largest Buddhist temple in Japan. Truly the Lord works in mysterious ways in answering our prayers!

Several years later the town decided to offer about a dollar for every crow we killed. Marlene and one of our boys took the first basketful to the town hall. A man in a suit put on a pair of gloves and gingerly took them out and counted them. When he paid her he shyly said, "Next time just bring the legs."

Soon after that I was called into the police station and the police chief, who had become a friend of mine, regretfully informed me that a new law was passed and all .22 rifles in Japan had to be surrendered to the police. The reason given was that they didn't make a loud noise when fired and could easily be used in a murder. I didn't turn mine in until a year later. He was patient with me. 

Your Dad

HERRING PALACE PART 2-AN ANGRY LANDLORD AND A MOVE TO RUMOI

My diary entries explain the next step of God’s intervention and undertaking in guiding our family to our next place of ministry.

JULY 7, 1968

Our neighbors in Sapporo gave us a going away party—Genghis Khan meal on a vacant lot in the neighborhood. Aoki San our neighbor and dear friend gave a speech about us and our new home in Rumoi. We had prayer and the kids sang “Hide Thou Me.”

"Sometimes I feel discouraged and think my life in vain. 

I'm tempted then to murmur and of my life complain; 

 But when I think of Jesus and all he's done for me, 

Then I cry, O Rock of Ages, hide thou me." 

Most of these neighbors attended our English Bible study and also evangelistic services with Pastor Ishiguro from the Mino Mission. Some attended church services with us hearing the Gospel in their own language.

JULY 12, 1968

Ray Ruetz (fellow missionary) and I went to Rumoi to finalize our agreement on the house with Seki San (the owner of the house). We even brought a load of books to leave at the house. We found Seki San angrily clutching a tract from Mino Mission which I had given him and saying he had changed his mind and we couldn't move into the house. It quoted from I Corinthians 8 and equated idolatry with demonism. We discussed this for hours. I told him about our going away party and showed him the tie I was wearing that they'd given me as a gift. His son, who was listening to us and had been to Tokyo, urged him to let us move in. He understood our predicament and that Saito San hadn’t told us about the problem. (Saito San was supposed to have called to tell us the deal was off but hadn't, probably on purpose.) His father relented, we signed a contract and gave him the first month's rent of 20,000 yen—about $60. The Lord helped us!

JULY 19, 1968
 
We finished packing and loading a truck we rented for $50 with the help of three fellow missionaries, Ray Ruetz, Larry Burgett, and Gerald Smith. At 1:30 p.m. we headed for Rumoi. We arrived at 6:30. We unpacked and were starved having gone all day without eating. Then we found a large bowl of raw squid the landlord had left as a welcoming gift. They have a large squid boat. We had never eaten squid but we were hungry so we cautiously dipped some in the sauce provided. The more we ate the more we liked it, and in a few moments we had "licked the platter clean!” We all went to bed tired and happy. The next morning I walked along the beach while thanking the Lord for His goodness. The Rumoi Times had an article and pictures of us and young people began to visit us. Our efforts to reach Rumoi and the Japan Seacoast had begun!

Note from Mom: We later learned that the Seki’s squid boat had taken in an especially good catch that day and they had taken that as a stamp of approval for renting to us. Can you just imagine with what trepidation they had done so? It was so very unusual for a large American family to want to settle in such a place. Japanese on the island of Honshu considered Hokkaido to be a tough, backward, out-of-the way place to live, and the local Rumoi people couldn’t believe that we would want to live there during the severe winter. However, in the article in the Rumoi Times that Saito San had written, he had given the reason for our being there: Dendo (evangelism). Yes, he got that right! 

 

Mr. and Mrs. Seki looking at all the activity out the window or our new front room 

Making new friends

This newspaper article appeared December 24th in Rumoi Times. Following years they would feature our family in their New Year’s edition. The Japanese pronunciation of our name sounded like “Brown” to them. The year was Showa 43 (43rd year of Emperor Hirohito’s reign).

Herring Palace

Dear Children,

Many have said that we should chronicle our answers to prayer, God’s amazing blessings, and some of the unusual and interesting things that have happened in our lives during our 59 years of marriage. Recently I took my diary which I have kept from 1960 until today and began to go over the many unusual ways the Lord has cared for us over these years. When I came to 1968 this morning I thought, “ I'll never get this done since I'll turn 84 this month,” and then I thought that at least I could share this portion with you. It is a rendition of just the highlights of the events surrounding how the Lord provided and answered our prayer for a home from which to serve Him and provided us with a Nishin Goten (Herring Palace) in Reuke, Hokkaido.  I trust that it will give you a taste of our 17 years in Japan. We still thrill when we review God’s marvelous grace in our lives. To God be the glory!

Herring Palace

In mid-April 1968 we decided to quit language school in Sapporo and seek the Lord for the next step. For about five years I had a concern for reaching the people on the northwest Japan Sea Coast of Hokkaido, mainly due to the fact of it being entirely unevangelized. We felt the Lord would have us go there and continue language study while utilizing what we were able to use along with the ever-present opportunity to teach the English Bible.

What does a missionary do when the time comes to move into an area completely unevangelized? Usually if a missionary is under a mission board he will have the mission leaders advise him or even have more experienced men go ahead and help him settle in the new territory. We had no mission board (we prefer it that way) so it was up to us when and how to make our move.

On  Friday morning June 14, 1968 at 8 a.m., I with my wife, Marlene, and our five children ages 9, 7, 6, 5, and 3 headed west toward the Japan Sea Coast of Hokkaido. We stopped on the way,  bowed our heads, and asked the Lord to lead us. Three hours later we reached Rumoi, a seacoast fishing city of 45,000. First we went to the Shiakusho (city hall) and inquired about renting a house. The officials there told us there was nothing like that available and that we should return to Sapporo. We had hoped there would be some kind of a real estate broker there. We began walking through the city, not knowing what to do next. I said to Marlene, "Let's just walk and look for a miracle." People stared at us, kids crowded around, and people ran out of their shops to see the gaijin (foreigner).  Kids were shouting, "Gaijin," and saying things like, "Look how big he is," so I said, "Haven't you ever seen an American before?" They answered, "Yes, on TV, but not for real!"

We came to an ice cream parlor and I wanted to go in, but Marlene said it would be too expensive. I said, “Now if someone asks us if we want to rent a house you will be sorry you didn't want to come in." We bought each a cone, and while we were sitting at a table eating our 11-cent cones, about 10 minutes later a man looked in the window and spotting us  came in and asked me what my business was here in town. I told him that we were looking for a house to rent. He said that he knew of many and asked us if we'd like him to take us to see some. "Just a coincidence," some might say, but to us it was as much of a miracle as turning the water into wine! This short little man wearing a tam and sunglasses, turned out to be a newspaper reporter for Rumoi Times.  He asked us if we would go to his newspaper office where he could take pictures and write a story about us. Of course we went.

For two days Saito San showed us different places that were available. They were all too small for our family of seven. Finally, on Sunday we returned home to Sapporo but confident that the Lord would continue this work. On Monday we received a call from Saito San, and he said he had found a house we'd like. We returned on Wednesday, and although we turned down the house Saito San thought we would like, he kindly helped us to keep looking until we found the perfect place.
We had asked the Lord for a place with lots of room for the kids inside and outside to play and a place where we could have a cow, chickens, and a garden.  Our language teachers had told us that we would never find such a place. Saito San took us to Reuke, ten minutes out of Rumoi, to a huge house right on the seashore with a road between the house and the beach.

The owner of this very large house had been a herring fisherman. The house had been built 70 years before and had housed his family on one side and 70 of his fishing crew on the other side. It was called a Nishin Goten (Herring Palace) built without a nail; all the wood was cut and inserted in grooves. About 10 years before this the herring for which he had fished in front of his home had disappeared and forced him to change fisheries. He moved his family to be closer to the harbor from which he began fishing for squid. Thus their home place remained without occupants these many years.

We were advised to go to the head of education of the Rumoi area to get an introduction from him to the landlord of the house so that he would more readily rent to us reasonably. We did so, and this man very graciously called the owner, Seki San, and arranged an appointment for us at 1:30. You can imagine the surprise when this fisherman heard that a large American family wanted to rent his home.

When Seki San, showed us the house, we saw that one of the rooms was dark and eerie with a large Buddha encircled with pictures of the dead parents, relatives, and the Emperor. We told them we couldn't live in a house with a room like that. Also there was a kamidama (Shinto god-shelf) built right into the house. There was an offering of fresh strawberries in front of it that day. They balked when I told them that would all have to go, but the $80 a month I offered them won the day and they moved everything to an outside storage building.

That house proved to be a tremendous blessing from the Lord as we raised our children there for 11 years. The first morning living there when I looked out the window and watched a ship sail by, I was overwhelmed with what the Lord had done for us.

My Dad (October 9, 2016)

October 9, 2016

Dear Children, Grandchildren and Friends,

I haven't written since last Christmas and have no excuse whatsoever. I'm not sure if you want to take the time to read my ramblings but then I began to think of how I would have loved to read what my dad would have written about his thoughts and experiences. He only went to the 8th grade (it still stands over near his old farm home) but we could never trip him up in spelling. I wish he'd have written about the WPA ("we poke along") "OPA" (other people's affairs"), John L. Lewis who headed the coalmines he worked in during the depression--one was only 36" high! The time I heard him yell to the neighbor "The dictator died" and the neighbor yelled back "Hitler"? and he yelled back "Roosevelt"! His view of politics if written would have left no doubt where he stood. As the oldest of 5 children I got the brunt of his thinking. He hated unions, and being forced to contribute to the "United Way" because of the places like Planned Parenthood who received some of the money. There were times when to the exasperation of his bosses in Bethlehem Steel Mill where he later worked, when he kept them from getting 100% of the men to contribute. He was upset when he heard there were some players on the Pittsburgh Pirates who were not from Pittsburgh. He didn't believe in intentional walks when he came to my baseball games and didn't believe me when I told him my manager ordered me to do so. He used a Damascus twist barrel 12 gauge single shot shotgun and sometimes got both rabbits when they ran out of a brush pile at the same time--shot one and reloaded and got the other one. He got in some "knock down drag out" fights at the Jenners Recreation Hall poolroom and I had to go and get his torn shirts the next day. He was an expert pool player and was very tricky when a newcomer challenged him to a game for money. He'd let him win until a large "pot" came out and then he'd clean them out. We lived in an old mining company house heated with coal we would gather out of the hot slag pile the mine threw out.--no hot water and an out-house and wash tub was our bathroom. I could hear my mother and dad arguing about money every night when they went to bed--Mom spent too much at the company store and there was nothing left in his paycheck but a little "script"--the money they paid with and you had find a kind soul to exchange it for the real stuff--usually "Jess" the barber who would do that for us if we wanted to go out of town for something like a 10 cent movie. Tennessee Ernie’s' "Sixteen Ton" was literally true.  He would complain if his partner didn't work hard enough to get sixteen ton. We had no car so he would take me on his shoulders and hitchhike to my grandfather's farm where he would work and bring a chicken home for supper. When he took me fishing I had to use a bent pin for a hook--hooks were too dangerous he said.

No need to comment on my ramblings they are mainly meant for our 9 children. I'll write again before the election DV. I started out to write about the Trump/Clinton debate which starts in an hour but got side tracked thinking about my dad who came to know Christ as his Savior at 50 years of age and as a new man in Christ kept the faith until the Lord called him home at 77 YOA.

"More Than THESE" (February 17, 2017)

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Dear Kids, Relatives and Friends,

A lot has happened since my last letter—an election, an inauguration of a new president, cabinet appointments—lots of political stuff that has been thoroughly covered over and over.

This blog was originally started because Proverbs 1:8 begins with, "My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother." I have in my possession a sheaf of papers handed down from my forefathers more than a century ago called "Instructions To My Children." They contain good clear Biblical instructions about salvation and godly living. They are meant to be handed down from generation to generation.

The verse quoted above is not meant for little children nor even just for sons and daughters still in the home. Charles Bridges in the best Bible commentary there is on Proverbs says, "Nor must this reverence be confined to the years of restraint. Neither age nor rank gives any claim to exemption.”

My nine children and their spouses and my 38 grandchildren are included here! I have used most of my space in my introduction but I want to send you at least one lesson I've been thinking about lately.

John 21 begins with Jesus revealing Himself to the disciples after his resurrection. He addresses Peter, Thomas, and two other disciples before they know who He is. Peter said he was going back to the same occupation he had before he met Jesus—he said, “I'm going fishing.” The others said, "We will go with you." You can read the rest of the story yourself about fishing all night and not catching anything. I relate to that very well! Then Jesus appeared on the shore and told them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat and they caught 153 large fish. After they had breakfast with Jesus He asked Peter if he loved Him "more than these." Three times He asked Peter if he loved him.

Remember just a few days before this Peter had betrayed Jesus three times. What are "THESE" that we find in verse 15?  What had become more important than loving Jesus? These=Fish!

Now in closing I ask each of you to think upon this question—Could you have a "THESE" in your life that you love more than Jesus? I hate to make a list of possibilities because you could quickly deny any of them being your "THESE."

A "THESE" could be an obvious thing like husband, wife, your children, or grandchildren. Perhaps your job or some pleasure? TV or techie stuff like computers or video games, Facebook or phone? A boy friend or girl friend? A car or 4 wheeler or snow machine? Airplanes and traveling? A sports team or physical exercise? Camping, fishing, hunting? None of these are sin, but if you love anything more than you love Jesus they become a sin. Take some time; meditate and pray about whether or not there may be a "THESE” in you life.