F.rncst 3514 S.W. 12th St.

and

Neva

E^abcr

North
065

49,

Ejist

15
JAPAN

He's Moines, lA 50315

Higashi ku, Sapporo

FEBRUARY I983

Dear Christian jb'riends,

The calendar tells us a couple of things. It tells us that we have entered a new year. It also tells us that we need to write you

again. -h.s we look back to 1982, we want to thank each and everyone of you for your letters, cards, prayers, and financial support, we
have said i t before and want to repeat i t again. vithout your help

in many ways we wouldn't be able to be in Japan.

activities.

cipate in^^the Christmas worshi;^ ser- .

the month was being able to parti-

real" high light of

CHRISTMAS SiiHVICE

^^

a real thrill to be able to'sing and

The services at the church were on a

I
I CHILDREN'S DRAWIA CHILDREN'S DRAMA -

Day 5^ children met at the church at

2 P.M. for their service. The pro-

gram consisted of singing,^drama,

vice.

lowship following the worship ser-

CHURCH drama DRAMA

In order to conserve fuel on this cold island they have a long win ter school vacation. This year's vacation was from December 25th to January 21st--almost a full month. Just before school was to begin we had an all day meeting for the children. They
arrived at 9 a.m. and

cause of the melting

snow. ve won't have

A A

SiDEwALK SIDEWALK

as much trouble this year since the city asphalted the walk in front of the church late last year. This was in preparation for the open
ing of a new elementary school just a half-a-mile west of us. This will be the second elementary school to open near us since we moved here and indicates how this area is growing.

_
'

have "been gratified by the response that many of you have shown in helping Osaka Bible Seminary secure

dormitory.

You, our supporters, w^ith only

new building.

We, as well as Mr.

contributions,

' ' t i o n to what you have sent we have wJmm

mi
AV. ^

forwarded $1000 from the general fund and will send more as funds per-

DINNiiR DINNJiR AT AT TOMAKOMAI TOMAKOMAI

you for your support.

mit.

foot of the new dormitory.

Remember $50 buys one square^^^

Again thank

Remember us and remember the Kimuras in your prayers,

Many God bless you.

In^^ j^^v^e ,

1a

1^
1983

1953

]~~t ^ li ^ i^ ^

c/Vl!
MISSIONARIES
Ernest and Neva Faber

5 5 I o

V**

% r^c.

FORWARDING ADDRESS

Mars

DeRuyscher

HOKKAIDO

North 49, East 15 Higashi ku, Sapporo 065 Japan

3514 S.W. 12th St.

Des Moines, lA 50315

Sapporo
Totnakomsi

Obihiro

i
On The Field

In May of 1953, Ernest resigned

from the ministry of the Fourth
Church of Christ in Cincinnati,

Ohio, and with Neva and their

three-month-old daughter, Linda, started traveling to raise support
for their work in Japan.

They decided to locate on the

northern most island of Hokkaido, where there was no other work of the Churches of Christ/Christian

Church. The name, Hokkaido Christian Mission, was chosen

and the first forwarding agent was
Churches

Merton C. Fate, Neva's brother. At that time the mission address was Danville, Illinois.

After traveling for a little over a year, the Fabers leftfor

Japan on August4th, 1954, on the freighter SS Topa Topa.

Preachers

They arrived in Japan 63 days later on

September 7th. The first year and a

half were spent in language school in Tokyo, laying a foundation for speak ing and preaching in the Japanese tongue to the Japanese people.
Ernest and Neva, with the advice of a native of Hokkaido, Mr. lijima of the Minato Church of Christ, decided to begin a church in Obihiro. Ernest arrived in Obihiro in April and land
was secured. The mission house was

completed and the family, now con sisting of three children, joined Ernest
in June of 1956.

During the eleven years in Obihiro,

there were 62 baptisms and 1 transfer.

In 1967 this work was turned over to

Mr. Koji Sugiura, who has labored there

since that time. Also during this time, one young man entered the ministry. After a year's furlough, the Fabers (now a family of six) moved to Tomakomai in 1968. They worked there until 1973, leaving Mr. Hiroaki Kimura to minister there. This work has always

been very slow, with only four baptisms during that time. One of these became a
minister, and another young man now

teaches in their Sunday School. The present work in Sapporo was

begun in 1974. While the Faber family was on furlough in 1981-1982, Mr. Noriaki Kimura, who was baptized in
Tomakomai, was the interim minister. He remained until January 1983, when

he resigned to go to a church in Osaka. The church in Sapporo has had its ups and downs. There have been 4 bap
tisms and 12 transfers to date. But most of these members have moved from the

area and no longer attend there. Ernest and Neva work through the
local church to reach out into the

The Church At Work

community by means of English classes, cooking classes, women's meetings, VBS, camp, etc., as well as the regular Sunday school and worship
services of the church.

Their present goal for the Sapporo church is to strengthen the faith of the present Christians, lead their children to a faith in Christ, increase the mem bership, and secure a native preacher.
In The U.S.A.

The Faber family is as follows: Linda, Gary, Kevin (5), and Jason (3) Worcester, Hill City, Kansas; Charles, Patti, Melissa (4), and Ryan (1), Boise, Idaho; Allan and Debbie, Covington, Kentucky; and Donald, Pam, and Josiah {3 mo.), Cincinnati, Ohio. Below, the family gathered for a family portrait during Ernest and Neva's recent furlough (two grand children are missing from the picture, and the family is not
standing in the order listed).

The present Board of Directors of

Hokkaido Christian Mission is made up

of people living in Central Iowa: Charles Eldridgc of Des Moines, Board Chairman; Marg DcRuyscher, Des Moines, Secreta.y Treasurer and forwarding agent; Max Harland, Per ry; Elbert Newland, Des Moines; Doug Raymond, Des Moines; and John Noe, Adel, who also served as
forwarding agent from 1961 to 1974.

/SLIS'
/-/c Ij A^ o C. liv i 6t %
3514 S.W. 12lh SI.
Des Moincs. lA 50315
Kriicst and Neva I'nber

North

49,

I.ist

15
JAPAN

Higiishi
065

ku,

Sapporo

ivUiY 1983
Dear i-riends in Christ,

ji?rom April 29th through May 5'th is known as "Golden iweek" here
in Japan because of the number of holidays it includes. Many people enjoyed three to five days of vacation. But for us it was a busy week since we were preparing a tea for mothers of the Sunday School

children for Mother'

^ Ts-q

schedules we had lit-lHj^^^ tie time to practice BElii:V

simple program but one which included all the children in simple v\ords of and thanks to
so designed a very

f- H

to

1''i.

I El H jm

m U

make

some

paper carnations, bake cup cakes for

the mothers. On Mo

i^school hour I3 minutes short and runnin^, over the normal closing time. ^^t one thirty in the afternoon 28

ther's Day one-half hour was spent practicing, by cutting the Sunday

jH _ AHpH|l|MHk
^
;'

Sunday School children and 10 mothers v.ere present. The children did an excellent job in spite of the short
time for preparations. A sixth-grade ^ivl was tiie chairperson, three of

^
' '} '|;i'"*,

iliri^? playetl^J:Ju?__ajLv;;iii^ two. of

HpHHS f)

tlio memboj-'s children led the pray-

ei's , and eight of the cliildi-en i-ead

The Sunday School is growing. Mrs. Yamakawa teaches a class of 6th

^-,1'ade girls.

Six are regular in atMOTHiiH'S DAY Ti^^

tendance--another ^4- or 'j have come

occasionally. lirnest teaches the ^th and 3th graders plus one sixth grade boy. Tliei-e ai-e eiglit enrol
led and most of them are vei-y regular.

The main growth now iu in

the lower grades and kindergarten. There

have been nine new
students in that

i; , ^ -i r ' , '
' 'i
,>

s 'i \ '''''''
': ' '

', '

,
,

nHBiw niraHt riipw

HKHH

55SIS5S 5SSS5

SSSBfldl^Sl

who is talking about unfamiliar people with_strange foreign names.

listen to a'foreigner

NiiVy ELEIVLfiNIARy SCHOOL

(Use of Bible names in Japan is very rare.)

One Sunday each month the children come back in the afternoon for the celebration of birthdays. This is a time of Bible story

review and contest quizzes.

They seem to enjoy this and keep us busy

trying to find interesting ways to review. In this informal meeting we are better able to get acquainted with the children. The Chris tians assist in the program and later with the help of their children
distribute tracts in the area.

Attendance has been very low in church services since some of

the people left with the preacher. But a gentleman about our ages has started coming and is very regular in attendance--he was in Er
nest's English Bible class before our furlough but only started at

tending church recently.

One of the members has to work Sunday

morning but regularly brings his family for an evening service.

and regularly brings his younger sister to prayer meetings'. a high school girl and works part time on Sunday mornings.

member of the Moiwashita Church df Christ has moved into this area

She is

Neva started a cooking class late last year which is opening a door to getting acquainted wi'th the neighborhood ladies. The group is small but two of the ladies are from this block--both young enough to be her daughters. The ladies share the cost of the ingre dients plus a small fee for fuel. We have recently moved a small flower bed and opened an area

along side of our drive to accomodate parking. parking ordinance along this,busy street.

With the asphalting

a no-

of the side-walk area and increased traffic we anticipate

A new elementary school

five blocks down the street is evidence of the growth of this area.

A difficult field from the beginning as been made more complex

with the abrupt leaving of the Japanese preacher. The challenges are now.even greater but our God is able--pray that He may use us to
his glory.

We close this letter with thanks to all who have supported in what ever way that might have been, Marg would like to remind you to
make all checks out to HOKKAIDO CHRISTIAN MISSION.

Yours in His service,

1 1983
Ernest and Neva

/,s?ys'
Faber

North 49,
3514 S.W. 12th St. Des Moines, lA 50315

East

15

Higashi ku,
065

Sapporo
JAPAN

SEPTEMBER I983
Dear Frienis in Christ,

Today is a beautiful fall day. It is the kind of weather that we expect here on Hokkaido this time of the year. We know that it
won't lasto It isn't far from fall to the arrival of the cold north
wind and an abundance of snoWo

I t has been longer

than usual between letters

this time.

I t is a bit

d1ffinnlt to get aside the

time needed to put out a

mailing during the rush

of the summer schedule.

Summer activities be-

gan in July,

We had ori-

ginally planned our summer camp for the weekend of

July 30th but the place we

wanted to use was not

available then. Therefore we rescheduled i t for the

CAMP SITE

weekend of 23rd to 25tho We later learned that the junior high

schools would not be in vacation

until the Tuesday following the

close of our camp on Monday.

We

contacted most of the students

whom we thought might be inter

ested and told them we would dis

miss them on Monday early enough

for them to go to school. Our UJAiiipi"S~"a~Taiuily "uxic With all SgOo setting. The city-bred children
EATING AT AT CAMP CAMP EATING

held rabbits, fed chickens, caught

bugs, climbed and slid down hills 1

ate heartily of food cooked on open fires, and showed equal enthusi asm for the study sessions. The theme was "Bible, Science, and God."
There were a total of twenty-six in attendance including three under

ten years of age and nine sixth graders.

There was only one day between camp and VBS which began on Wed

nesday July 27th,

The theme of this year*s 3-day-course was "Joseph,"

There was an enrollment of 31 with an almost even number of children in the upper and lower elementary classes.

name on tracts.

In the meantime, we were busy folding and stamping the church's

The second week of August we went on a short trip

and as we passed through the small fishing and farming villages we

l e f t tracts in the doors of a l l the houses.

scheduled for September 9-11,

Our evangelistic services were

Begin

ning on September ^th,when Christians

could help, we put tracts with an
announcement of the meeting in ^000 houses which are within a mile of the
church,

Asahigaoka Church of Christ in Sendai;

was the evangelist for the meeting. This is the second meeting he has
held for us in Sapporo, This time his wife accompanied him. There was
an average attendance of nineteen in

Mr. Shimada, minister at the

cluding children. larly.

Three people made

decisions to study about Jesus regu

One third-grade daughter of

Christian parents said she would like to be baptized.

On the first day of the meeting ^eva s cooking class and women's
Bible study group met together for a combined meeting, Mr^ Shimada taught a Bible lesson and Mrs. Shi mada cooked a meat dish. There were
SIX neighborhood women at this meet
rather than Tuesday and conflicted
attenders.

ing even though it was held on Friday

ANNOUNCING THE MEETING

with the schedule of several regular

We want to take the time to thank some of our friends who have recently given of their time to write

to us 0 One of our supporting chur

ches has started sending us the re cording of their A.M. services, a weekly blessing which we greatly
appreciate,

the fluctuation in receipts recentlyo

August receipts were much better hut : Jj^oOO lower than last year.
continue to provide.

Marg has been concerned about

this year's average monthly giving is 1

The Lord !
'
1

has always met our needs and will

Thanks you for yours prayers, financial help, letters, and concern. '
Yours for Christ in Japan,
MR. AND MRS SHIMADA