Testimonies of SDJCC Members, May, 1997
Number 6 = Table of Contents =
| Forgiveness | Natalie Eyman |
| Like An Obedient Child | Yoshiko Aloisio |
| God Is Faithful | Roland Gray |
| With Eternal Love | Akemi Hawley |
| Guided By A Little Child | Hideyuki Honda |
| The Bible My Father Left For Me | Kiyoshi Okihisa |
| Salvation | Izumi Nakao |
I became a Christian after I met a missionary of a Lutheran Church in Japan. I was baptized in the currents of a river. At that time, I simply hoped to be a pure person, and to be so, I thought that I should have been a believer of Christ because my mother always told me that Christianity was the best. Even though my mother was a Buddhist in the Jodo-Sinsyu sect, she somehow knew about Christianity well. Later, I came to the U.S. and went to many different churches. I could not find a church which satisfied my needs of my belief. Then, without consideration, I converted to Judaism due to my marriage. However, I still believed in Christ, and I took my children to Sunday school at a Christian church every Sunday. Thus, my children became true Christians and to live with the Bible.
After a while, I divorced because I could not believe in Judaism, and so I went to Europe. I still regret that I did not go to Israel even though I did go to the Cretan Island in Greece, and I planned to study Greek in the university in Greece. However, Greece and Turkey started a war over Sipus Island, and U.S. citizens had to return to the U.S. by enforcement, so I came home. Because I came home, I was able to work for SONY and meet one sister in God who took me to this church in 1975. At that time, I was also looking for a church, and was very happy about staying here. Unfortunately, I started feeling uncomfortable to be in the church so soon, but no one talked to me. Therefore, I stopped going to church. Although I went to other churches, I could not find the one which could satisfy my belief. In 1982, I was remarried, and I opened a restaurant. I came back to this church with my husband this time. However, things around me did not go well, and I could not continue going to church for a long time. We worked until four o'clock in the morning every day, and woke up at eight o'clock in the same morning to go to church. As a result of our lack of sleep, we fell asleep during the service and did not listen to the sermon. I felt ashamed on my childish behavior and quit going to church. Last February, one customer invited me to Mrs. Furukawa's birthday party, and I recognized that same sister who took me to this church again. On the following Sunday, I met Rev. Nakao. Then, my belief based on the Bible and prayer grew gradually. What I had been looking for was given to me, and it brought back the memory of my sins in my mind. I begged God for his forgiveness. Then, I apologized to my children because I had been too busy in my business to spend much time with them when they needed me the most. My children kindly told me that I did not have to apologize to them and they appreciated that I had raised them wonderfully.
Yet, I had another big assignment. That was to forgive my father. He was a teacher at a junior high school, and was very strict with his students. At that time, a teacher's brutality toward a student was considered as normal, and no parent claimed for it. However, I could not forgive my father, who broke the eardrum of my left ear by slapping me when I was only seven years old. Because of this hearing disability, I could not hear what the teacher said in school, so I was embarrassed and cried many times. After some years since I came to the U.S., I saw an ENT doctor. The doctor told me that not only the eardrum but also the nervous system was broken, so the ear could not be fixed by surgery. I was disappointed by the doctor's diagnosis. I tried to forgive my father, but I could not. After I came to the U.S., he wrote me once, but I did not write him back. Then, my father was hospitalized, but I neither wrote nor visited him to cheer him up. Instead, I went to Europe for my own pleasure. This was truly against Deuteronomy 5:16. After my father's death, my sister told me that he kept calling my name and crying, "I should not have allowed my daughter to go to the U.S," every day until he died. I think that he wanted to apologize to me for his sticks of conscience. My heart was closed tightly, and I could not give him a chance. When he died, I felt sad and cried for a week, but I did not go home for his funeral. I was too angry to forgive him for what he had done to me. Nevertheless, the Bible changed me. The more I studied the Bible, the more peace I was given, and I was able to forgive my father honestly. I could forgive him because the Bible says, "But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against so that your Father in heaven will forgive you your sins too." (Mark 11:25) "Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you because you belong to Christ." (Ephesians 4:32) and these words touched my heart deeply. Also, I could forgive my father because I could believe that Jesus Christ was my only Savior, and he forgives and purifies us from our sins by his cross and resurrection every day. When I went to Japan last October, I visited the graveyard. I keeled down in front of my father's tomb, and I sincerely apologized to him by saying, "I forgive your sin, so please forgive my sin." Now, I regret that I could not forgive him when he was alive. If I had been able to forgive him earlier, he might have gone to heaven peacefully. I also feel sorry because I could have enjoyed talking with him if he were still alive. Today, I do not have any anger against him, and I look forward to the day I can see him in heaven because I was able to establish my belief again, and encounter the real meaning of Jesus Christ in this church. I thank God for giving me a chance to come back to this church once more and become a member of this church.
I realized that I was totally ignorant of the Bible, and I found no consolation. Having also to take care of my baby while at church made me more nervous and irritated at church. For these reasons I never became a regular church goer, nor did I ever get involved in church activities, because I was so involved with my life as a wife and mother, although I would bring my children to Sunday School. I still didn't know how important it was for our children to know about our Heavenly Father. I also didn't have the slightest idea about how to develop a relationship with God. God which I understood in my knowledge was the only one I knew. Obviously, this idea never kept me going forward spiritually. As I was not sure of which path to follow, I joined SGI in Japan. I chanted with my child beside me for long hours for her sickness, as I stared at the words in the long scroll.
One day I felt like I was suffocating because of the various activities that I was involved in, including the recruit of homeless people in downtown that was wearing me out. So I wanted to get out of this organization. Meantime I met Hatsune Marshall during my studies at Miramar College. She was a member of this church who was a very honest and sincere person, and I was charmed by her wonderful character. She often talked about this church after class or during lunch hour.
Shortly after that, I visited this church and was baptized with the sisters' warm encouragement and their prayer. At this time my husband had still ten more years of duty. And we moved back and forth among Japan, Korea, and U.S. Being a good Christian was very hard for me. In Japan, I was so wrapped up in earning money while I was working at an insurance company that I totally failed to attend church. Once again I came back to San Diego after our two year tour in Korea. We bought a home in MiraMesa. As I learned more and more about the Bible, I started to understand that Jesus, the Son and the Holy Spirit are equal persons to our Heavenly Father. This is the truth that the Jehovah's Witness never taught me. Rev. Nakao firmly convinced me that we will be saved if we accept and confess that Jesus is our Savior by believing in the Holy Spirit. "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven."(Matthew 10:32-33) "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom o f heaven."(Matthew 18:3) I was openly able to receive the message at this time.
Long ago, I was used to hearing how stubborn I was. I was told, "Although you look to agree and nod with people's opinion, you never change your way. That is your problem." I found out that I fenced myself in toward God's word. I was born with a character like, "Whatever will be will be." And I know I took after my father. I would like to express clearly the relationship of God and myself. "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."(Romans 10:9-10) Through this testimony, I now confess and believe that Jesus died and forgave me for my sin and rose again. We all live among many people and have various relationships within our great society. Our life, friends, job-they are all equally important to me-but my relationship with God is the most important of all. I am wishing that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit will give me strength to follow the path though my entire life. I thank God for changing my precious life by giving me hope. From now on, I want to set my priority in life to have a deep relationship with our Heavenly Father by praying, talking and listening to Him.
My parents unfortunately divorced when I was one year old. My mother and I moved to Los Angeles where we resided six months of each year in that city and the remaining six months homesteading acreage in the Mojave Desert. Three years later she re-married. While my stepfather was a kindly man, hard working, and a very good father, he was not spiritually inclined.
We lived in Los Angeles for approximately two years before moving to San Diego in 1928. During the next eleven years a very devout Christian mother insisted upon my attendance at church on a regular basis. Although this activity was both boring and unwelcome to me at the time, it eventually proved to be a tremendous blessing in disguise, one that I never completely appreciated until many years later. As a result of her prodding, I inadvertently gained an initial introduction to religion and a basic knowledge of the Bible.
In early 1942, while working at a downtown parachute manufacturing company, I met and married a local girl. To my profound regret we never became involved in any religious activities during the course of this marriage, a failure that I attribute primarily to my own lack of enthusiasm and focus on more temporal affairs.
In January, 1943, I joined the navy. Though carrying a small, military- issue New Testament during World War II, I neglected to read it, inwardly expressing the excuse that the King James version of the Bible was rather difficult to understand, and besides, I was too busy and lacked the time. While spiritual matters should have been of utmost concern to me during these unsettled years, regrettably they weren't.
After suffering a prolonged battle with cancer, my first wife passed away in 1962. The following year while serving aboard an aircraft carrier during a far east cruise, I had the good fortune to meet Sayoko. Subsequent to the submission of extensive paperwork and eight months of bureaucratic delay, we were married in Fukuoka, Japan. One year later our daughter, Karen, was born.
Following graduation from high school until the birth of Karen I had ceased attending church and was inclined to shun religious events. Despite this posture, oddly enough I nevertheless thought of myself as a Christian. However, in my subconscious mind, I sustained a nagging, guilty feeling regarding my dereliction in following the Lord and more readily embracing His teachings.
In spite of this spiritual backsliding, I deemed it vital that Sayoko espouse Christianity and that Karen be raised in a Christian atmosphere. I began to pray that the Lord in His wisdom and mercy would see fit instill in Sayoko a desire to become acquainted with the church and eventually accept Jesus Christ as her Savior.
One day without any prior indications Sayoko suddenly stated that she would like to visit a church. This pronouncement was truly God's answer to prayer. Her inquisitiveness began to create a renewed spark of interest in me as well. God was not only blessing Sayoko with His presence but also providing me with a new direction for my life.
Later I learned that Kieko Dunster, a member of this church who has since moved out-of-state, discussed religion with Sayoko during a chance meeting at the Immigration & Naturalization Service office where both were applying for citizenship. This conversation aroused her curiosity and interest, again proving that the ways of the Lord are indeed both wondrous and mysterious.
In 1968, our family began to worship at what was then known as the OMS San Diego Holiness Church. Soon afterwards I was transferred to NTC, Great Lakes, ILL., for a two year tour of duty. We faithfully attended the non- denominational church services conducted at the base chapel during this period and began to gradually but steadily grow in the Lord.
Shortly after our return to San Diego in 1971 both Sayoko and I fully accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The two of us were baptized by immersion on the same day that year by Rev. James Toda. Karen was baptized several years later.
After thirty years service I retired from the navy in 1973, and we have continued our involvement with the San Diego Japanese Christian church ever since.
I must confess that my acceptance of the Lord was not the result of a blinding light or due to sudden inspiration. Conversely, a full and complete acceptance of Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior was gradual, protracted event extending over a period of many years. I was finally made aware by Holy Spirit that my life needed divine direction and only Jesus Christ could provide that direction.
There is no way that I can ever fully express my heartfelt and eternal thanks to our God for his manifold blessings. He assured that I was initially led to the church and nurtured by a very caring, Christian mother. He Safely guided me through a number of precarious situations involving three wars. He accorded me His protection during years of flying and a series of hazardous parachute jumps. Most important of all, He blessed me with a loving and through her led me back into His fold. And as an additional blessing, He granted us the gift of a devoted daughter.
While I strayed and followed a secular path a lengthy period of tune, the Lord always remained faithful and never left my side. ( 1Cor.1:9 ) God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
When I was in junior high school, I went shopping with my sister. Then, we met two young American men. They told us that they were missionaries of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, and taught English in their church every Saturday, free of charge. Since my sister and I liked English and "free of charge" sounded good to us, we joined the class the next Saturday. Soon, they encouraged us to join Sunday service, and we went there for a while. However, they rarely used a Bible, and they read the book of Mormon instead. We did not learn anything from it. The only thing I remember is when I asked them one question, "Why does your church not have a cross?" They replied to me simply, "Jesus Christ died after being crucified, but he was brought to life again after three days, and is still alive, so a dead cross does not mean anything to us."
When I became a high school student, I was more interested in spending time with my friends than going to their church, so, I quit going there. At the age of eighteen, I met my husband, and got married after five years of courtship. My husband is a Christian, and he believes that God is our matchmaker. I did not understand what he meant at the beginning, but I understood it after I read the Bible which says, "At the beginning God created man and woman, and that a man should leave his father and mother, and be forever united to his wife. The two shall become one-no longer two, but one! And no man may divorce what God has joined together" (Matthew 19:4-6).
Due to my husband's job, we moved to San Diego. My sister encouraged me to come to church by saying, "Why don't you come to our church, and enjoy a delicious Japanese meal?" Thus, I came to the prayer meeting on Thursday. At my very first meeting, many sisters welcomed me, and I appreciated them. Then, I started attending worship service on Sundays, and I had an opportunity to speak to Rev. Nakao, and I understood the real meaning of the cross for the first time. Jesus Christ was a foreigner born about two thousand years ago, and is neither my parent nor relative. Nevertheless, he died on the cross to forgive my sins, let me be born again, let me go to heaven, and let me have eternal life without punishment. I understood these things God has done for me, and I prayed with Rev. Nakao to regret having lived in a selfish way, and to invite Jesus into me with a widely- opened door of my heart.
The Bible says, "Look! I have been standing at the door and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears me calling him and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with him and he with me" (The Revelation 3:20). "For if you tell others with you own mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord, and believe in your own heart that God has raised him from that dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in his heart that a man becomes right with God: and with his mouth he tells others of his faith, confirming his salvation" (Romans 10:9-10).
Unfortunately, when I stayed in Japan for a long time, I did not go to church. My heart became very thirsty, and I could not handle myself. I went back to church after overcoming the hesitation which came from not being there for a long time. When I went back to church, Rev. Nakao said to me, "Welcome back. I have been praying for you to come back to church soon." He welcomed me warmly. After the long break, my heart kept absorbing his sermons, and I was filled with a feeling of thankfulness. The Bible says, "You didn't choose me! I chose you! I appointed you to go and produce lovely fruit always, so that no matter what you ask for from the Father, using my name, he will give it to you. I demand that you love each other"(John 15:16-17). God has chosen me, and promised an eternal love which will never change. I thank Rev. Nakao, many sisters in this church, my supportive husband, my sister Mayumi, who keeps me worrying and praying for me quietly, and God, who accepts the real "me" with his enormous love.
I was baptized on Easter Sunday in 1969 at the Free Methodist Church in Glendale, Arizona. The reason why I was baptized was not out of my conviction in Christ, but rather out of humanistic thought.
To begin with, we started to go to church, because we were not used to the long two-day weekends after coming from Japan to America, and we wanted more Japanese-speaking friends. The moral education of our children played a small part in our decision. So, it really did not matter for us, whether we went to a Christian church, or a Buddhist church. In fact, there were many Isseis settled as farmers in Glendale, and naturally they built their Buddhist church across the Christian church. Some people came to both churches whenever there were special occasions like a Christmas party or Bon-odori. So, the choice was ours.
The reason why we chose the Christian church was that I attended Rikkyo Middle and High Schools in Tokyo, which are affiliated with the Anglican Church of England. For six years, I studied the New Testament and still remembered some Bible verses.
About one and a half years after attending the church, our daughter, Rie came to me and said, "I want to be baptized on this Easter Sunday with Christy, okay?" I said "No!" since I did not think a eight years old child really understood what it means to be a Christian. I myself was asked to be baptized by the Pastor, but I could not make up my mind.
Since my school days at Rikkyo, I had a prejudice against Christianity, because of the harsh Bible verses like "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34); "If anyone come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24); and "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him." (2 John 10).
I thought if I practice these teachings which are not of common sense, I could not live peacefully in this world. Accordingly, I repeatedly said to my daughter, "Do not be baptized on this Easter Sunday!"
Then, came the Easter Sunday. When the Pastor, Rev. Arthur Copen invited the people who intended to be baptized to the front, Rie stood up and went with her friend Christy, despite my repeated warnings. Then, the above mentioned Bible verses in Matthew 18 crossed by mind, especially verse 6 hit me hard.
I did not remember the verse well, but I felt the verse was directed to me saying, "If you do not let a little child like Rie come to me, it would be better for you to have a large millstone hung around your neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."
I was frightened by the verse and at the same time I thought I should always be with my little daughter to protect her against hardships due to her faith in Jesus Christ. With this purely humanistic thought, I stood up and went forward to be with my daughter. On that Easter Sunday, I was baptized with Rie.
To my wife, it was a big surprise. Her husband who repeatedly said "No!" to Rie's requests to be baptized, all of a sudden changed his mind and was baptized with Rie, without her consent.
But, a half year later, my wife was also baptized on Christmas day, 1969. When I was baptized, I thought as if I jumped off a cliff to save Rie, but now I feel that Rie was the one who saved me.
Rie was baptized again in Tokyo during our three-year stay in Japan, and has been following Jesus faithfully. After graduating from UCSD, she attended Fuller Theological Seminary to receive her Masters of Theology and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. She is now working at the Asian American Christian Counseling Service in Los Angeles, as a director and a counselor. Our son, Ichibei has been the Assistant Pastor at the San Diego Japanese Christian Church.
But my faith did not grow much in the past 25 years. I was working hard to keep my jobs. Supported by the faithful Christian family members, I barely lived as a Christian. About three years ago, I was hit by a crisis. All of a sudden, my body stopped functioning normally. I was depressed and confined in bed for a few months. Through the occasion, my faith was tested, and I almost lost my faith in Jesus. But, thanks to the prayers of many Christian friends and family members, my health improved a little after a while, so much so that I started working again. Then, the doctor finally found the cause of my problem. That was my heart. I underwent heart surgery and was completely healed.
"It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees." (Psalm 119:71) Today, I thank God as I serve Him as a deacon at the San Diego Japanese Christian Church.
I learned about my father's faith when I recently visited Japan. I came across my father's journal. In a journal entry from 1929, my father wrote at the age of 17, that he had doubts about why people are given life and what happens after they die. He also wrote that he sought the answers to the wonders of this world in the Bible. According to him, it all started at age 14, when he read a Bible that his older brother had owned.
Even though all of our books were burnt to ashes in the air raid, it is amazing that the Bible was the only book that remained unburnt. My mother, who was not a Christian then, treasured that Bible. I started going to church, thanks to this Bible. When I was in 6th grade, on September 27th, 1953, I got baptized. I still remember being baptized in the ocean where there were many beautiful corals.
Ever since my baptism, I never missed a single week of church. I used to walk in the mountains at night to a remote village with other grown-ups. A year later we returned to Kobe. I am grateful to have walked with the Lord in a city where there were many Christians. The more I studied the Bible, the better I understood and was convicted that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. My mother was eventually lead to the Lord as well.
In Ephesians 2:8, it says that, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." I know this for a fact now that God had provided the Bible for my salvation, even before I was born.
After graduating from high school, I immigrated to Brazil and started working at the Ford company in Brazil. While I was living in Brazil, I got to know a young Japanese missionary. We became roommates and together we spread the Gospel to the Japanese community and held many home Bible studies. A couple of years later, there were many home Bible studies, but there was still a need for a church. However, there were no funds to hire contractors, so along with my friends from church, we built our own small church. Since nobody had enough knowledge or experience in construction, I became the leader of the group.
Because of this experience, I learned how to build my own house and built them in both Brazil and in the United States. I decided to make my home in San Diego because of the good weather here. I was eventually able to build my house during my free time. Looking back, the experience that I had in Brazil of building the church helped me in serving the Lord. I am grateful for this experience and the opportunity that God has given.
While I was in Brazil, on my days off, I went to remote areas and to Argentina to spread the word of God. I clearly remember the areas where the less people had, the more they relied on God. There were many faithful God-loving people, and through them, God showed me many of his wonderful works. It has been 28 years since I left Brazil. I hear that many churches have been added and built, and God is being glorified in each of those churches, which makes me want to praise God even more.
In 1968, I came to the United States due to my transfer to the Ford headquarters in Detroit. During those days, I was very prosperous financially and materially, but ironically, because of that prosperity, I wasn't able to experience God's presence in my life as much as I did before. Even though God gave me a lot, I regret the fact that I neglected to thank the Lord.
It has been 45 years since I first received Christ as my Lord and Savior. There have been many joys, pains, peaks and valleys, but I have been protected by the Lord, and now I know how deep God's love is for me. And I thank the Lord for this. Since San Diego is so close to the Mexican border, where there is a lot of poverty, if it's God's will, my goal is to serve Him by taking down relief supplies and going down to supervise the construction of a hospital for the less fortunate. If there is anybody who would like to be part of this ministry, it would be appreciated because a bigger group would be more effective.
Upon joining this church as a new member, I want to say that I would like to be of more use to the Lord. Thank you.
"For the Son of Man has come to save which was lost." Matthew 18:11
I was born in Niigata, Japan, where it snows heavily during the winter. My father is a pastor, and he was in ministry there, since before I was born. And since it was a countryside, everyone knew about it. After entering an elementary school, I became a subject of teasing, because of our religion, Christianity.
As it happens often at schools in Japan, they made the students give silent prayers before a shrine or a temple on some holidays, such as New Years. No one questioned about such idol worship activities. Since I did not follow the fellow students, I received a lot of criticism. "You shall have no other gods before me." Exodus 20:3
I was six years old, when I was saved. I was listening to the message as much as I could understand at an evangelistic meeting sitting beside my mother. After that, I went to bed and tried to sleep that night, but I could not, and the conviction that Jesus died on the cross for me was given to my heart. I did not realize that that was the time of my salvation at that time.
During my fourth grade year, I moved to Texas. And after having finished my fifth grade in the United States, I went back to Japan, and after my six grade year, I came to U.S. ( San Diego ) again. During the time of going back and forth between Japan and the United States, I was confused. What was I doing accompanying my parents? I felt like a captive, because I lived here just because of my parents' purpose, and not because I like this place. Seeing my parents working hard for the Lord, I felt that there is nothing to do for me here. And I felt like I was in the way, for being so useless, yet staying in the same place for a long time.
There was a time when I suffered from the relationship problems at school and in other places. I have been deceived and exploited by others, and so many times I felt bitter about myself for being so credulous. Yet I had no boldness to be completely cold to someone, and I was stuck with unfulfilled resentment toward others in my heart. I stumbled and could not overcome the regretful feelings over my pureness, the foolishness to trust someone, and the fate that all the bonds were cut with everything being futile. At that point, I could no longer comprehend the meaning of "God is love" that the Bible talks about.
As time passed, the feelings above mentioned bothered me no more. But the emptiness remained in my heart. I did not know why, because I did not suffer from tangible sufferings that I often hear in other people's testimonies, such as, "I lost my parents...," or "My father was an alcoholic...," or "I had cancer...". My suffering was the suffering that was not understood other than myself. I did not know that the reason of my emptiness came from the lack of presence of the Lord Jesus in my heart. Though I was lonely, and even though I knew I should share the problem and ask for help, I would end up just being sarcastic with my friends. I was seeking for someone superhuman who could understand all my feelings even if I hid them. But in reality, we have no such person other than God. But at that time, the strong conviction of the salvation that I have had during my childhood had already faded away. I began to think that my faith was just the result of growing up in a Christian home, that it came from only the influences of my family environment. I wanted to know what truth was, and I thought I had to find it by my own power.
In times like that, God has found me and saved me from the places where I was lost. He showed me that Jesus Christ is the true God, through many people and incidents. I finally realized that we can find the truth not by our own understanding, but by God's revealing power. "For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does" Psalm 33:4.
By the grace of God I was baptized this March. I believe that everything was done according to His plan, being saved at six years old, and finally being baptized now. I am so grateful of God's love that guides me and that He is starting to use me for Him.