Shirakawa Baptist Church

October 19, Thursday
7:28 a.m.

I slept in until 7:15 this morning. We were out late last night, and with such long days otherwise, I was exhausted. On Tuesday, we traveled 1½ hours to see a volcano. Volcanic activity is rather plentiful in this area. We saw numerous hot springs resorts and spas along the way. The volcano which we saw is dormant, not having erupted for a long time (how long I am not sure, I’ll ask Nobby when I see him next).

The Japanese have made the area surrounding the volcano a national park. We had to pay around 1500 yen to enter, which is about $13 US. After the entrance, we drove up a narrow winding road with dozens of switchbacks and hairpin turns to a parking area near the base of the volcano’s dome. I’m not sure that “dome” is the appropriate word, since as you can see in the photo, now there is more of a deep pit at the top of the volcano. To get to the top we had to walk a couple hundred feet up a sort of stairway. Once there we could look down into the pit. If we so desired, we also could have walked all the way around the rim of the pit. We also could have climbed all the way down into the pit. We chose to do neither, because it was extremely windy at the top (my estimate: 20-30 mph steady) for one and in addition we weren’t sure we had the energy to do any more climbing. The view from the top was a strikingly awesome panorama of other lesser mountains and hills, stretching for miles in all directions and alive with the changing fall colors of the trees. God has certainly blessed Japan with an abundance of natural beauty.

Japanese people are the most beautiful of all. We spent yesterday (Wed.) with some of the most precious believers in three different cities. In the morning, we drove into Koriyama with the Takahashis to take part in a prayer meeting at Koriyama Baptist Church and to listen to Pastor Takahashi give a report on the ministry of the camp where we are staying. Pastor Takahashi and his wife not only lead a nearby church (one to which we are traveling today, Thursday), but they also serve as caretakers for the camp.

Later in the day, we drove to another city called Sukagawa to meet yet another pastor and wife, Pastor and Mrs. Shibata (Hirokazu and Masako). The Shibatas also introduced us to their 20 year-old daughter, who has the most beautiful Christian name, Toai, which means, “Eternal Love”. Hirokazu and Masako coined the name from something they read in Jeremiah 31.

From Sukagawa, we drove 45 minutes to join the Wednesday night prayer meeting of a church in Shirakawa. There were six people in attendance. The church was started long ago by a beloved missionary named Floyd Wooden. Mr. Wooden was elderly and long past retirement age when he left for the states four years ago. He died one month later on Christmas Day. Since then the church in Shirakawa has not had a pastor. The gather on Sundays and Wednesdays for worship and prayer using cassette tape recordings of sermons. Once a month, Nobby, Pastor Abe, and Pastor Takahashi take turns coming to the church to preach.

The people told us that they were very discouraged and even thinking at times of giving up. Imagine there being less than a dozen Christians in a city the size of Fishers trying to carry on the ministry of a church with no pastor and wife. Allow me to restate: they are not just a small struggling church with no pastor, they are a small struggling church with no pastor located in a city that is given over entirely to idolatry or total secularism. There are no Christian books or Christian bookstores. There is no Christian radio. There is no Christian subculture. There are hardly any Christians, period! They have barely enough resources to keep the church going, and those are running out. They not only are discouraged. They are despairing and desperate for help.

We tried our best to encourage them with compassion, prayer, and various Scriptures. By the end of our time together, it was obvious that we had ministered to them. Nobby broke down and began crying when one of the men shared how grateful to the Lord he was for our visit. When we returned to the camp, Dale and I remarked how grateful we were that our church family was willing to let us go for three weeks to be able to minister to a church family here that has been without a pastor for four years.
Pray for Shirakawa Baptist Church.