Matsumoto Church, Japan

Pastor Park JongSu

An evangelistic meeting was held from May 29 to June 3, 2004 to commemorate the establishment of Matsumoto Church.  It was marvelous to see about 120 people attending the five-day meeting at the houses of church members and seekers after truth.  I was so thankful and amazed at what God had done in the two months of my pioneer mission that I contributed an article about it to Adventist Life, the Japanese Church Compass.  Then Mr. Yama, a worker at the Tokyo Adventist Hospital, read it and visited my church.  I guess he came to encourage us because he taught Japanese at SDA Language School several years ago.  He came here on a Friday and talked with me about many things, staying overnight.

He told me he would stay overnight at Hakuba. (It is called the north Alps of Japan and is well-known for its ski resorts.)  I accompanied him there because it would take an hour and a half by car from Matsumoto, and I wanted to visit it once.  When we got there, there was a wooden ocarina concert going on.  (The wooden ocarina was first made in Hungary, and it’s called kocarina in Japan.)  It was the little concert held in a private residence.  Mr. Yaskawa, the performer, played his handmade kocarina and had some for sale.  It sounded really wonderful.  The last piece, “Amazing Grace,” was especially sweet.  He was playing the kocarina from his wheelchair, and a middle-aged woman that appeared to be his wife was crying in the corner of the concert hall.  I knew by intuition that there was a story behind it, and I had a strong desire to help them know God and have His support.  So I bought a kocarina for 4,000 yen (around 40,000 won) to practice on and start a relationship with him.

Two weeks later, my wife and I visited Mr. Yaskawa’s house on the pretext of wanting to hear him play the kocarina again.  While chatting, we found out that he was fighting against tongue cancer with little hope, and that was able to hold his first kocarina concert in Hakuba in the six months since he was diagnosed.  We also realized that his wife shed tears of thanksgiving while watching and listening to him play the kocarina.  We came to a stop, opened the Bible again, comforted them and prayed for them earnestly.

His father was a Christian, but he confessed to us as to why he didn’t follow his father’s faith.  Nonetheless, he admitted that we were there by the providence of God.  Fighting back tears, we offered a prayer of repentance and studied the Bible with him.  The kocarina was God’s way of bringing Him back, and as he studied the Bible with me, he was finally born again as a son of God on March 19, 2005.

He was also born again as a kocarina player that praised God.  He recorded hymns on the kocarina, produced a CD in March 2006, on the first anniversary of his baptism, and began to sell it in June.  I praise God for leading him thus far.  Please continue to pray for him as he continues to fight his disease.

Yaskawa Makoto

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