Matsuyama Church, Japan

Pastor Lee OneHo

It’s been a year and three months since I arrived at my mission field.  A lot of things have happened in such a short time.  There were times of happiness, bitterness and anxiety over my inability to speak Japanese well.  But I had three unforgettable days.  One of them was June 13, 2005.

It was the first day of the first evangelistic meeting at Matsuyama Church.  My family members were the only ones to worship on most of the Sabbaths.  I still remember preaching at the top of my voice when anybody besides my family came to the church.

The speaker of that meeting was Pastor Suzuki Sigeharu, and I felt uneasy about the possibility that nobody would attend it.  My wife and I didn’t have any problem with it because we had just started the meeting.  But our only concern was Pastor Suzuki who flew from Ciba for it.  We were worried that he might have to preach to no one but my family and the Golden Angels.  The only ones who could understand his sermon in Japanese were my wife and me.  However, he might have to preach to those that didn’t understand Japanese because I had to lead the meeting and she had to move around because of our youngest child.  I was very nervous about this possibility.

It would have been a very embarrassing situation for Pastor Suzuki.  I did my best as I decorated the church, distributed evangelistic pamphlets, hung up a banner and visited homes, but it all started out of basically nothing.  I just couldn’t help praying to God about it.

Then, in a dramatic way, He sent me some people to attend this evangelistic meeting just a few days before it started.  One of them told me he would come in his car, but I insisted on giving him a ride myself because that would give him a better chance to attend it.  Finally I left the church to pick up the people that had promised to come.  Prayers came out of my mouth naturally.  I realized that it is such an accurate expression to say that prayers came out of someone’s mouth.

Japanese people keep their promises faithfully.  So I was able to pick up four people—Tanabe Kouichi, Tanabe Toshiharu, Mr. Tagashira, and Mr. Sakamoto.  I drove excitedly to where Pastor Suzuki was waiting for us.  But I almost burst into tears on the way to the meeting place because I was so overjoyed and relieved.  I don’t even know how I got there.  I felt like shouting, “God, I would have no regrets if my life ended now!”

In no time I could see from a distance the gray building where my church was.  It was such a refreshing evening.  The sun set on that unforgettable day.  God sent me 10 seekers after truth at this evangelistic meeting, so I offered Him a prayer of thanksgiving.

 The first evangelistic meeting of Matsuyama Church