I'll talk Japanese in Japan.....

We were on home leave at Grama and Grampa Finsaases in North Dakota when Kimbo was 3 and Bobby was one. It was Thanksgiving and many of the relatives were gathered together. They loved to hear Kimbo talk Japanese and had already heard that he "preached" in it, so this one evening they begged him to do it for them.

Finally, reluctantly, he got a little book, stood on the piano bench with it open, and said some sentences. Then he closed the book and seriously prayed with closed eyes: "Kami Sama,kono warui shukai o stop shite kudasai!" Only I understood what he said: God, please stop this awful meeting!

One day he announced, "I'll talk Japanese when I get back to Japan!" Because everyone thought it as so cute and laughed, he may have felt they were being rude.

He shall not die, but live.....

Furloughs or home leaves were different and sometimes eventful. Once when we were in New York at BJU friends of Kenny's, they decided we needed a night out. A change of pace. So they got a babysitter for their youngsters and Kimbo and Bobby, who were 3 and one, so we four adults could go out bowling.

I put the boys to bed before we left. Bobby slept in a portable playpen that we had along, so he was on "home turf" each night. He was a very good sleeper, so when we got home quite late, I was surprised to hear him crying.

I picked him up and realized he was hot. I asked the lady to feel his forehead. She did and then quipped, "Yes, he's got a fever. I think you should give him an aspirin."

But in my heart of hearts, I knew this was more than just an aspirin need, so I asked her if she had a thermometer. She did and when we checked it, Bobby's temp was l04! She immediately called her pediatrician and though it was near midnight, he said he would come.

I distinctly remember then walking across the room when the verse came to me, "He shall not die, but live and declare the glory of God...." That really comforted and stabilized me. When the doctor came and examined him, he gave him the right medication and I held him until his temp was down a couple of degrees and then put him in his crib where he slept soundly the rest of the night. In the morning he woke up and sat there singing.

Later, about mid-morning, the doctor called to ask how his patient was and when I told him he woke up singing, he basically said, "That might be, but I think he'll break out with roziola. He was just going into convulsions when I got here last night!"

We were pretty shocked as we were unaware of the convulsions-scare. But he was completely fine and never developed roziola. So God took good care of us and continued to bless Bobb...and uses him for His glory even today.

And by the way, that was the last call the doctor made...then he was going to a hotel where he couldn't be reached! No cell phones in those days!

I bought that TV....

After Jim went off to college, I walked into Mark's room one day to find Jim's TV in his possession.
In questioning him about it, he quickly and defensively said that he had "bought it from Jim." I reminded him that he was only in the 8th grade and Jim had been a high school senior and that we were comfortable with him having a TV in his room. We had a one downstairs that Mark could watch.

Since I soon recognized that this was a point of contention, I backed off. Backed off to my prayer request book, that is! There I wrote, "Mark not watch TV too much."

Imagine my surprise when a few weeks later that TV was sitting on the floor of my study. "What's this about?" I asked him. "Oh, I don't want it in my room any more," he answered. Only then did I show him my prayer request.

Is God faithfful or not? Beyond our own small faith even! He does even better!

He promised us comfort....

Summer vacations were over and one by one family members and a friend were leaving to go back to the States. How much fun it had been to be all together.

But now it was coming to a close and soon an ocean would separate us.

Jim came to me with his hand over his heart saying, "Everybody's going and I hurt here!"

I said, "Let's pray." We did, and I reminded the Lord that the Holy Spirit is our Comforter and that we needed Him now!

He didn't fail us.

When we went to see Kimbo off on the limousine bus to the airport, we had the joy of the Lord. Someone even tossed into the bus a sock he had left....just before the door closed!

The Holy Spirit wants to be our Comforter and how often we need that comfort!

He promised us comfort....

Summer vacations were over and one by one family members and a friend were leaving to go back to the States. How much fun it had been to be all together.

But now it was coming to a close and soon an ocean would separate us.

Jim came to me with his hand over his heart saying, "Everybody's going and I hurt here!"

I said, "Let's pray." We did, and I reminded the Lord that the Holy Spirit is our Comforter and that we needed Him now!

He didn't fail us.

When we went to see Kimbo off on the limousine bus to the airport, we had the joy of the Lord. Someone even tossed into the bus a sock he had left....just before the door closed!

The Holy Spirit wants to be our Comforter and how often we need that comfort!

He promised us comfort....

Summer vacations were over and one by one family members and a friend were leaving to go back to the States. How much fun it had been to be all together.

But now it was coming to a close and soon an ocean would separate us.

Jim came to me with his hand over his heart saying, "Everybody's going and I hurt here!"

I said, "Let's pray." We did, and I reminded the Lord that the Holy Spirit is our Comforter and that we needed Him now!

He didn't fail us.

When we went to see Kimbo off on the limousine bus to the airport, we had the joy of the Lord. Someone even tossed into the bus a sock he had left....just before the door closed!

The Holy Spirit wants to be our Comforter and how often we need that comfort!

A thankful heart...for a miraculously healed back

I wondered a strange thing: would I, a young mother, ever again be able to crawl down and get the boys' toys out from under their beds?

That's how bad my back was.

For 2 weeks I was lying flat in bed, a rarity for me and someone suggested getting a picture of it! I was actually under the care of 3 doctors, and one night the pain was so severe that Kenny called our nearby hospital which then sent over a nurse to give me a shot.

After I got better, I asked my chiropractor friend, Dr. Myrtle Baker, what it was. She said that besides a messed up vertebrae problem, I had an inflammation of the sciatic nerve running down my leg.

Time healed some, but I continued having a nagging ache. One day I overheard Dr. Morita (another chiropractor) tell his assistant, "Don't touch her lower back. it's so bad!"

I even had acapuncture. No help. Finally I called our family doctor, Dr. Johnson, and he said so kindly, "Oh come in; there are things we can do." Just that encouraged me.

The night before I went in, I called a Japanese pastor whom I had never met, but who I heard prayed for people. He said he had prayed for people on the phone before, so he went to bat for me.

When I went to the hospital, they took x-rays and I was sent to a young back specialist temporarily here from Long Beach, Ca. He put me in traction, saying he was using double what the hospital usually used. For the first time in weeks I had some relief from pain. The traction machine seemed to gently but firmly pull the muscles away from the hurting nerves. I went back a few more times for more traction treatments, but continued improving, so was soon finished.

Still I'll never forget what that doctor said as he studied my first x-ray: "You'll probably never be witout pain because arthritis has set in."

I'm happy to say that I've been without pain for over 30 years. I give God the credit as He used traction to answer prayer and has kept my back fine all these years!

Home, but not home....

A few years ago I was driving the eleven mile stretch between Fairview and Sidney, Montana.  I had driven that stretch a lot in past years. But now I was unsettled.  I didn't feel like I was home.  This was where I grew up, went to schools in Fairview and churches in both towns.

Now what was my problem?

Suddenly I knew:  Mom and Dad were both gone.  When I drove that road before, they were there.  With me or at home waiting.

The years go by and life changes for all of us.  I'm so thankful I had lots of chances to help, love and encourage Mom and Dad even though my time at home with them was comparatively brief after I finished high school.  And then later an ocean separated us.

Though I look back and think of how I could have been less thoughtless and more thoughtful, I did write them regularly once a week, helped celebrate special events by proxy and gifts.  Now I have in my possession the scrapbook I made for them for their 50th wedding anniversary, which includes historical material of both sets of grandparents, which is found in no other place. 

As the years go by we live with our memories.  I'm so thankful to remember--instead of the time during my teen-age years when Mom chided "the boys have never talked to me like you do"-- that  in later years she  wrote my Japanese friend, "We can never thank her enough for all she's done for us."  Parents are irreplaceable.  Memories stick with us.

Oh no, not another Christian......

I usually look for ways to talk to people about Jesus, but once I changed planes in Denver and I was tired. I don't think I actually prayed it, but I was thinking, "Lord, I don't want to witness to anybody today. Put me beside a Christian."

A couple got in and sat down next to me in my window seat. We greeted each other and then i settled back with my Readers' Digest.

Once in the air, it came to me very strongly, "Take out your Bible." Not an audible voice, just an inner urge. Reluctantly I reached down into my carrying case at my feet and pulled out my Bible. Immediatly I saw the wife next to me nudge her husband. They were Christians and we had a great time talking and sharing until our plane landed at Los Angeles International Airport. She was a travel agent and invited me to contact her.

I also like to probe until I find out if the person I'm talking to has any Christian relatives or friends to build a conversation on. Once I was sitting waiting for my son Bobb in Northern California. A young lady sat across from me and we started talking. She said she wasn't a Christian, but that she belonged to the John Muir Society--into revering nature. Then she added, "But I have a brother who moved to the Seattle-Portland area and he says he's become a born-again Christian!" Now that was a great encouragement and something to build on, and I trust the brother's prayers were eventually answered.

Another time an American gentleman came to our neighborhood restaurant and he couldn't speak Japanese, so they were baffled in how to deal with him. A knock came on our door and one of the restaurant workers asked if "Mark's mother" could come and translate! The visitor was a reporter for a prestigous American newspaper and talked at length about his work and his visit to China and why he was here in Japan. Then he said, "I've been talking all this time, so now I want to hear about you!" I thought "You asked for it" and proceeded to tell my side of "the story." It was like he rolled his eyes and I felt he was thinking, "Oh no, not another Christian!" Then he told me that someone had talked to him about Jesus all the way from Hong Kong to Tokyo and ended by saying, "I'm going to be praying for you every day!" I took Chuck Colson's book to him and he promised to read it even though it wasn't his political bent (!) and get it back to me later. I felt like his Mom had become a Christian, so these contacts were probably building on her prayers.

Is God interested in the seemingly small things in our lives and anxious to use simple contacts for Himself? I think so!

My Mountain Trip

My friend Julia (used to be a nun in the Vatican and later in N.Y. and NJ.!!) and I drove up to the cool (both meanings of cool at this time) to take in a few sessions at the missionary conference. She doesn't drive (flunked the test 4 times so called it enough!) so I did all the driving, which I enjoy. After the Wed. night service we followed a mutual friend to her home where we were joyfully welomed for the 2 nights. BUT that drive was about an hour from Karuizawa! I though we'd never get there. Always seems longer at night. Sometime I'll tell you about Julia...a talented, vivacious Italian lady.

The main speaker was Dr. Lu Diaz, and he now pastors in Chico, Ca., and before that for 13-14 years at the Wheaton Ev. Free Ch. His wife spoke at the afternoon ladies meeting and both were very good and relevant.

Mr. Diaz got his points across with great humor. He spoke once on Revival, which is a subject I'm always interested in. Talked about a revival that hit Wheaton College in the early '90's when the kids were lined up at the podium confessing sin. I really related with that, because only once in my life have I been in revival, and that was my first year at Prairie. At that time, too, kids lined up for days....confessing sin, making restitution by mail, etc. It's something you can't explain because it is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. And it was quiet. Like you were the only one in the meeting. The next year they had the same speaker, same set-up, but no repetition of that revival the year before.

However, I was never the same. Up until then I think I was running away from God. Kinda like, just get me out of this place so I can go on with my life! After that I remember waking up in the morning and thinking, "Wow, this peace I've got, and here I thougt that if I really sold out to the Lord I'd be miserable!" I doubt I would have become a missionary in Japan had it not been for that revival.

A sidenote....I wrote my parents asking their forgiveness....(Mom wrote: I hope it lasts! ha) and my Fairview H.S. Principal and found out later that he was so touched he read my letter to the whole school! I wouldn't have wanted to go home in the spring had I known that!!!!!!!

Anyway, back to the conference. Dr. Diaz honored his wife so beautfully and he added this joke (which you may have heard in connection with a well-known couple (!)....he said a mayor and his wife stopped at a gas station and while he went in to pay, his wife was talking to the station attendant there outside. When they drove off he asked her what they had stuff to talk about and she said, well, that she used to date that guy. He said "Aren't you glad you aren't the wife of a gas station attendant?"

She said, "Had I married him I would have been married to the mayor!"

And he told another about a lady driver who was honking her horn at the car ahead and being so obnoxious that a nearby policeman stepped up, arrested her and took her in to the police staton. When all was over, they told her they actually thought she had a stolen car because there were stickers all over it..."Jesus is my Lord," etc., and a silver fish symbol!!!!!!!!!!! Her actions didn't fit the stickers!

One special saying, "Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the mighty arm of God." So good for us to remember.

The night I got saved.....

When I was a teen-ager our uncles and their families came home to Grama and Grampa's for a couple of weeks. One summer was special because my girlfriend Jean and I got to take care of the twins, James and John. Uncle Henry and Aunt Helen and the baby boys came from Portland. They must have been 6-8 months old.

Uncle Henry played the guitar and sang. He was a Wesleyan Methodist minister, which was quite a change for this Lutheran family. I always admired Aunt Helen because she had dark hair and actually looked French. I thought Uncle Henry was wonderful to marry her. Since, I've thought she was the forerunner of my marrying Kenny, a dark-haired Assyrian!

I heard that there were meetings when Uncle Henry just began to strum his guitar and people began to weep!

Uncle Joe was a Lutheran Brethren pastor and he brought his wife Alice home. She was a gifted speaker, too, and I remember her speaking in the high school gymnasium for some meeting. Jesus was everything to her and just being around her could be convicting! Trying to reach me on my level (11 years old) to explain sin, I remember she said it was a sin to laugh at a drunk man! And she told of her mother baking bread, but stopped, washed her hands and headed over to a neighbor to talk to him about his need of salvation.

Uncle Joe, Uncle Henry andd my brother Clarence held evangelistic meetings in that gym in Watford City one summer and that's when I was saved. After one meeting I left Jean and scurried to find one of the singers and told her I wanted to be saved! She prayed with me and I knew Jesus came into my heart. The next day Clarence gave me a Bible and put me on the train to head home to Fairview. He told me to be sure to tell Dad what had happened to me. My Daddy wasn't a Christian yet and could be quite obstinate!

He prayed both before and after he ate.....

Growing up I knew only one set of grandparents. We lived near Mom's parents. Dad's parents lived in
owa and that was like a far-away country in those days. His Mom died when I was maybe 4 or 5 and I remember that he went for the funeral. I didn't understand all that was involved, but I remember I cried one night because I missed him.

We lived about 11 miles out in the country from Watford City where Grama and Grampa lived. And Uncle Ted was there, too, and sometimes Aunt Alma. Neither of them married. Grampa and Ted ran the gas station next door, on the corner. Grampa was responsible for a church that was built nearby. It was a Lutheran church and now it is a Baptist church.

I remember Grampa, with his mustache, always prayed with his eyes open. And he prayed both before and after he ate.

Grama was a petite little lady, so like a little Japanese grandmother I've often thought. Though she went through much sorrow and heartache in her early married years--losing 4 children to illnesses--she was a cheerful lady who loved to talk. It was all in Norwegian, which she spoke even to my girlfriend, Jean, when i brought her over. Before Orvin was born she came by train to be with us and one day she told me that my mother was going to have a baby! Then she said, "I guess I shouldn't have told you!" Never discussed things like that then!!

Grama Aarhus took me aside and gave me a special hug before I left for Bible college in Canada at l7. It was like she knew that we'd never be together again on this earth because she passed away a few months later. Mom wrote that her funeral was like a "coronation." Several pastors took part.

The food.....

One of my worries about going to a foreign country was eating it's food! As a child I was not adventrous when it came to food. My likes and dislikes were strong when it came to anything out of the ordinary. And my parents didn't push me to eat things I didn't care about.

While I managed fine in America and Canada, what would I do in Japan?

Then while working at the mission office in Chicago, my roommate's sister and husband came to visit. On their leave from Japan.

One evening Betty fixed a Japanese meal. It turned out to be sukiyaki, a dish of sliced beef and a medly of vegetables cooked in soy sauce. Served with fluffy, cooked rice. OK, if that was typical Japanese food I knew I could handle it. It was delicious.

But then for dessert she served some little balls of something called bean paste. They weren't either sweet or sour. Something in between. I got some place where I could discreetly spit out what I had in my mouth!

Strangely, now I love that dessert! And also, it has never been a major problem for me to eat Japanese food. God has really helped me. I don't like everything, but then neither do they, and I've never needed to make an issue of food.

Sometimes just a listening ear...

Recently my friend Carolyn told me about an incident that happened to her some years ago. She was a secretary in a school and going through a trying situation. She spilled and spelled out the problem to a friend, a high school teacher.

Now, looking back, she realizes that the teacher listened to her, but didn't put her arms around her in a "Oh you poor thing! They were all wrong....." type of answer.

Instead the teacher encouraged her to get her life together, get over this hurdle, and move forward.

Carolyn has never forgotten that lesson.

There are times when we need the encouraging arms around us, but there are also times when we need to realize we're just feeling sorry for ourselves and we need to "get over it." To move on.