Matsuyama Church, Japan

Pastor Lee OneHo

It was the day of the first baptismal service of Matsuyama Church.  The person being baptized was a 61-year-old lady named Tamai Smiko that always put on neat makeup.  She ran a small cosmetic shop and usually read books when there were no customers.  When she started attending Matsuyama Church in September of last year, she set aside a week to study deeply into Daniel and Revelation, which eventually led to her decision to get baptized.  I looked out to see whether there were any customers whenever I passed by her shop to visit.  That’s because my visit might not only disturb her business but also prevent me from talking about the Bible with her.

I would drive to a supermarket for no reason if I saw a customer in her shop.  Then I would go around the supermarket for about 15 minutes, browsing the vegetables and smelling fried dishes.  Sometimes I would buy a cheap item or a small gift for her if I felt awkward about just going out.  Then I would slowly head for her shop, hoping the customer had left.

That’s how I would visit her shop and give her a Bible study once a week.  At times I had to give way to a customer.  I carefully asked her if she wanted to get baptized after we finished studying Revelation 12 on March 2.   She made up her mind without any hesitation.  Later on she confessed, “I can’t believe how I answered you so easily back then.”

Preparing for her baptism was such a cheerful experience.  I did so as if I were a mother that was preparing clothes, a bath tub and diapers for her future newborn baby.  I came up with many different plans because there was no baptismal tub.  It was too cold to get baptized in the sea; however, it would not look good to get baptized in a bath tub.  Nor did I like a big bucket where one could get in.  What’s more, our sister church was 50 kilometers away from here, and it was impossible to get there because of transportation and evangelistic meeting scheduling problems.

Enduring the cold weather was the most convenient way after all.  The sea was near here, and everything else was fine.  So we just prayed for the perfect temperature and weather on March 25.  And our prayer was answered.  It was strangely warm, and there was not a cloud in the sky.  But the water was cold, as expected.  It was okay when I got into it at first, but I decided to perform the baptism in a hurry because my feet were getting colder and colder.  I went ahead and baptized her with my poor Japanese.  Everyone there got together and offered God a prayer of thanksgiving as soon as we came out of the water.  In no time she was shedding tears.  So were the Golden Angels, who praised the Lord with their songs.  It was such a beautiful Sabbath afternoon.

Another lady named Ms. Okiue, on the fourth floor of my apartment complex, is now very willing to open up her heart.  She is enthusiastic about going to church, doing the dishes after meals, cleaning up and studying the Bible.  She is definitely the best student in the Korean language class.  One day she came up to me out of the blue and asked to be baptized in the cold seawater on December 10, her birthday.  My goodness!  I’m wondering if I should accept her suggestion or persuade her to get baptized some other day.  Lord, I will do according to Your will!

The first baptismal service of Matsuyama Church (Tamai Smiko)

The baptismal service of Okiue (the lady on the left)