Matsumoto Church, Japan

Pastor Park JongSu

I got a letter one day in July. (According to my prayer journal, I had been praying since July 20.) Someone had looked up the address of my church in the yellow pages and sent a letter to Tokyo Central Church.  Because they were not sure about my Japanese proficiency, they sent it to Nagano Church, which is how my church finally got it.  The sender was Yamada Kenichi.

Mr. Yamada is a 48-year-old single man that is fighting schizophrenia.  He walks with staggering steps and has little hope in life.  Even though I had never met him, his letter was mostly pessimistic, saying that he might die at any moment.  But it also let out a tiny shimmer of hope.  He expressed a desire to go to a Seventh-day Adventist Church because it teaches God’s health message.  But he said he would do so only if he were able to walk.  When I offered to visit his house, he refused because he didn’t think his house was worth inviting anyone to.

All the church members and I corresponded with him almost every week.  We took turns reading his letters and made copies of some of them.  After we spent three months praying for him, he eventually attended the Wednesday prayer meeting last October 19.  He walked an hour to get to the church.  When he realized that he was able to walk again, though with staggering steps, the first place he went to was the church, the house of God.  When the prayer meeting was over, he was overjoyed and went back home, promising that he would be there that Sabbath.  He loves church with all his heart.  His enthusiasm knows no limit.  He is faithfully attending prayer meetings and Sabbath worship services, trying to learn health principles and put them into action.  One day, after he finished reading Counsels on Diet and Foods, he said with a big laugh that it was the best education he had ever received.

And that’s not all.  He gave out evangelistic pamphlets and sometimes asked me to make extra ones in a smaller size with his testimony in them.  He was always saying that he wanted to lead many of his friends to church, and he really meant it.  One day he ran into an old friend on the street that was around 10 years younger than he was.  They had become friends while going to the same hospital, and Mr. Yamada introduced Matsumoto Church to his friend as soon as he met him again.  That’s how he led Mr. Nagada to church last May 6.  Mr. Nagada is still in touch, even though he can’t come to church every week because of his job.

Besides these two, there is a mother named Mori Mami, who recently got out of hospital.  She had been hospitalized for a long time because of her mental disease.  Mrs. Kodama is another mentally ill lady that lives next to the former church building, and she came to church after hearing hymns from it all the time.  God has been gracious in allowing people with mental disorders to be in my church.  They are a blessing because they help the church to focus on their mission.  Jesus tells me that this is all for the glory of God.  Please pray that His glory may be shown through them.  Maranatha!  Amen!

         Yamada Kenichi (the fifth from the left in the back row)