and and Ne.va 7aAe.n. 35U S.U.

12iA St

4-8 NonJih 49, Ccut 15

deA Plo-ineA, lA

50315

HigcUitu, ku, SAPPORO

itoch 1991

Ihis is a look at 1990.

They began with six in 1988 ^

Eveiy year since 1938 the Niigata missionaries have been sponsoring a ski trip to Hokkaido.

time incl-uded missionaries from Osaka and Tokyo.

in February of 1990 there were 29 of them. The mup this

Since our camp site is close & several

famous ski slopes they always use our camp site. Therefore we become involved with the group.
We usually go down and open up the building, turn on the heat, check the water, and then

welcome them. They joined us on Sunday night for a service at the church here.

In March one of the Christian youth graduated from high school and moved to Tokyo. In the summer, a couple who were members here, also moved to Tokyo. Two elderly Christians are in poor health and two of the women members have few Sundays free due to their jobs in hospital

care and retarded children's supervision.

So the church has b^n struggling but never the

less able to meet its operating expenses since Ernest sei*ves as the minister.

of the church with iron rods and

the nei^bors.

This past year they were able to replace the rotting smw slide prevention poles on the roof

donated lumber, inese keep the snow from cradling onto

Buildings are built close to each other here.

Early in June our daughter Linda's tv/o boys, Kevin and Jason, arrived on their own at

Sapporo's International kxrport,

Linda joined them for two weeks in August.

The boys joined the Japanese youth for a three-day camp which we held at the camp site from August 25 to 27. There were 39 in attendance. Neva taught them English lessons and Mr. Kimura from Tomal^omai taught them what is commonly called "The Lord's Prayer." Part of the classes consisted of games lead by Neva and Ernest vdth the boys helping. Animated videos on the Old Testament \iere shown in the evening. The last of November we had an overnight stay at the church at the insistence of the elementary children. The theme of this program was the Sermon on the Mount. In Japan many

Overnight stays at the church entail a lot of work because of cooking, teaching, bed making as well as discipline. But they mind us welL 21 attended. They will attend these special
services better than Sunday School.

passa^s from the sermon are used in secular writings but usually with the wrong meaning.

Ihe last special program of the year occurred at Christmas. It is alA^rays difficult to decide whether to have it on Christmas Eve, Christmas ley, or Sunday evening before Christmas. There

are pro and con aspects for any of these,

were 30 in attendance.

Havii^ it on GbrLstmas Eve sometimes interferes

with family celebrations, yet we decided it would be best to have it on Christmas Eve.

There

studying Mark's_gospel during the Bible_pqrtion of their class. These are' primarily nei^borhood women and throi^h short writing assi^ments are beginning to share their burdens.
In April Ernest began teaching one class at a Christian High School in a nearby town which is

on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Eleven ^ults enrolled in the program are

We continue to have several English classes for elementary, Jr. High, High School, and adults

working with hi^ school dropouts from all over Japan.

Ernest will be 65 this year and will be eligible for Social Security but we have no plans to
retire. The mission is currently operating at a deficit and we hope the salary replaced by Social Security will allow us to avoid cutx-ing salary supplements to preachers who are facing
extra educational and medical expenses.

In April, 1990, Mr. Kimura started coming to Sapporo to hold math classes.
malQiig new contacts for child evangelism outreach.

He is able to

sup^ement his income while assisting the church here in maintaining Ehglish contacts and We continue to pray for someone to help in the v/ork here. The mission is settin{| up an intern program so let us know if you are acquainted with ajiyone interested in Jatanese" mission work, pie mission has an endowment fund and the interest is to be used to partially support anyone

interested. V/e covet your prayers for God's provision of a native pr^cher as wefL
In His service.

4t
'90

peA.'fi at play

P,

EAne.^t at the, puAplt

Ovenjilghi, at the. chiuich

HOKKAIDO CHRISTIAN MISSION

Emest D. Faber

IDS

4-8 North 49, East 15

Higashi ku, SAPPORO

065 JAPAN

September, 1991

Dear Friends in Christ,

long. Financially, we have been in rather poor shape the last few months. As of today we received our July salary and we are awaiting word from the forwarding agent as to the
August salary.

I knew it had been a while since I had written to you but didn't realize it has been this
We really don't have the funds to put out this letter so we will borrow them

in order to do so since we can't put it off much longer.

Our supporters are aging so their support is dwindling. Coupled to that is the low exchange rate which puts us in this bind which we are in. I have applied for Social Security but I haven't received it yet. When I do, we will probably be able to maintain our current
programs.

It was the first time in 10 years that all of them have been able to get together.
stayed in Japan.

I took a few days off in August dnd with personal funds went to Iowa to visit my aging mother. At that time, our four children and 8 of the 9 grandchildren met together in Iowa.
Neva

While I was in Iowa the Hokkaido Christian Mission board met informally to talk about finding a replacement for us. I will make the initial contacts. We welcome suggestions.
Worship services tend to be very poorly attended. Most of the members seem to have to work on Sundays which doesn't encourage the attendance of newcomers. We are at a loss as to what
to do about i t .

A member who was baptized when in high school 10 years ago, then married and moved away, was in services Sunday. She brought her 6-year-old daughter with her which Neva taught during the sermon. The subway makes it possible for her to come from across the city.
English classes still remain strong with about 60 students including three adult classes. The students range from kindergarten to adults. All classes have some emphasis on the Bible with the adult classes spending some time reading the Bible in English.

first camp was for one day with 37 present and the second camp was for two days with 27 present. These figures include the adults. The theme of both camps was "Jesus, the Living
at our own camp grounds on Lake Toya, 50 miles south of Sapporo. An American, with some exageration, recently said of our camp site, "You couldn't find a prettier place in the
summer. Besides this three other groups use the camp site.

The English classes form the basis for our summer camp program. This year we divided into two camps. One for chidren in the lower grades and the other one for the upper grades. The

Water." This was developed by Mr. Kimura, preacher of Tomakomai, in Japanese. Neva's English classes centered on that theme, and Ernest had devotions using object lessons with that theme in mind. Bible video's were shown in the evening. The camp, as usual, was held

world. The Moiwa Church of Christ, also in Sapporo, used the camp site twice so it got a lot of use this summer. Altogether over a 150 people were reached through the camp this
But because none of
summer, we contacted an American family in town. Two of their younger

For the past two summers we have had grandkids in our camp programs.
to have native English speakers among the children that attended.

children attended the first camp and two older ones attended the second camp so we were able

partially support the Tomakomai work where we previously lived,

them.

One Sunday in July Mr. Kimura called from Tomakomai asking if they could use our baptistry. Since Mr. Kimura had a bad cold he asked me to baptize the young man. As you know, we still
as well as the Obihiro

pray for Mr. Sugiura [Obihiro preacher] and family. His health is not good and his wife an.d son are in the hospital for eye surgery. His 82 year old mother lives with
In Him,
Ernie