I was born in Aiichi Prefecture in 1939 in Uwajima city.  There were five children in my family, all boys except for myself.  Presently two of them live in Tokyo and two of them live in the Osaka area.  My relatives, who live in Oosaka, run a Shinto shrine.  Whenever an important event happens in their life, people always call the temple priest to come and perform religious rites for them. 

              My husband is originally from Yamaguchi Prefecture.  His ancestors were involved with the Japanese Meiji Restoration. Even now in Yamaguchi City there is a gravestone carved out of precious stone which was built at the beginning of the Meiji era which is dedicated to his ancestors.  My husband’s parents ran a factory in Shimonoseki, which subcontracted with a company dealing with saltwater fish.  His three brothers moved to Tokyo and his parents soon followed leaving only my husband to run the business in Yamaguchi prefecture..  When his father died the family purchased a gravesite beside the grounds of the shrine in Tokyo.  My husband’s grandmother was a daughter of the chief priest of the Shinto shrine, the Hofu Ten Mangu, and was raised in a traditional Japanese environment.  This shrine, known all over Japan, combines the traditional ancestor worship of Shintoism with the idol worship of Buddhism. 

              My husband and I married in Osaka in 1960.  In 1962 and 1964 we were blessed with daughters.  My husband was a sportsman during his school years and so he became a coach for a city baseball league. Also, in Osaka we were able to start store after store.  We also owned an office building that housed offices for business related to the music industry.  We bought land and houses.  When the Shimoshin High School(Shimonoseki high school) baseball team went to Koshien(a high school baseball tournament held in August every year) many people came from Shimonoseki to cheer for them and stayed in our home.  Also during the World Festival held in Osaka many of our friends brought their children and stayed with us..  This all occurred when my girls were in elementary school.  At the time I was attending cooking school and went on many trips with my family.  My brothers would also bring their families to our home to spend time with us.  We had many employees and a very lively family life. 

              However, right before my oldest daughter Fumi was to take her entrance exam into high school, a tragedy happened.  A friend of my husband, who was the president of another company whom he greatly trusted, went bankrupt.  On top of this he fled the country which caused great anguish for my husband who had signed as a guarantor for this man’s company.  This man’s bills were astronomical.  We got to the point in which we didn’t know which end was up.  My family threw all of our money into hiring a lawyer in order to try and stay afloat.  As a result my husband’s company also went under into bankruptcy. After losing the business, my husband and I were left Osaka where the only thing we had left was the family gravesite.  My husband found us a place to live in Shimonoseki, but since both of my daughters were entering high school in Fukuoka, my daughters and I decided to move there. 

My husband started a bar in Buzenda, (a bar strip) Shimonoseki and commuted back and forth from there to Fukuoka.  In spite of all of these events, Fumi was able to pass her entrance exam into a city high school and after graduation landed a job.  She worked herself through college.  Afterwards she married a man who worked for a chain store.  My second daughter graduated from a private high school and began working at a company which made medicine.  Two years later she also married.  Her husband was the only son of a drug store owner from Miyazaki.   After her husband graduated from Pharmacy school he signed a contract to work for five years as a manager at a drug store in Fukuoka..  In 1988 girls were born to both of my daughters.  At age 48 I was filled with happiness and busyness at the same time.  After this Fumi divorced and  two years later re-married..  It was a very turbulent few years.  My granddaughter Mai was so cute; I immersed myself in providing a peaceful home for raising her.  Five years passed.  My second daughter and her husband built a house in Miyasaki and moved there where her husband’s family had been temple officers in Miyazaki for many generations.

              My youngest daughter had always been sickly, but at this time she was healthy and even driving a car, working, and fulfilling her obligations at the temple.  In 1995, once again both of my daughters had sons.  The gynecologist had repeatedly told my youngest daughter that she should not have any children after the first, but she desperately wanted to try for a boy.  After giving birth to her son, she developed blood problems and at the age of 30, died.  She could not be saved by medicine or by her Buddhist religion.  I was so sad and grieving desperately when I returned to Shimonoseki to be with my husband.  Up until that time, I had left the business in Shimonoseki up to my husband and his employees, but my husband implored me to work for him also.  We had borrowed a lot of money from the bank and the government and at the same time the economy was going sour so we were deeply in debt.  After consultation we decided to get rid of our condominium, bar, and hotel restaurant and were left with one small store.  It was at this time that Fumi left her job and moved to Shimonoseki.

              Pastor Tony’s oldest daughter Tasha and Mai were classmates in Elementary school.  Fumi, Mai, and Ryo went to the summer church camp that theirs church sponsored.  As a result they started attending Sunday services at Shimonoseki Christ Bible church.  They began sharing with me about they had learned each week and I began reading the Bible every day.  I was attracted by Fumi’s earnestness and kindness and I also began to attend church.  I discovered that even though Jesus Christ knew no sin, he was put upon the cross in my place.  I came to believe in my heart and professed with my mouth that he was buried and rose again.

               Because of the line of work we were in, I was constantly faced with the challenge of dealing with Buddhist weddings, funerals, political campaigns, and temple festivals.  I was greatly troubled by the compromises I was having to make and was finally convinced that we should not run a bar any more.  We closed the store.  My husband then got a job working at City College and I began working as a cook in a medical facility.  I really enjoyed this job.  This past spring, I was finally able to pay off all of our debts and was able to retire.  This spring it will be 13 years since my daughter’s death but I am looking forward to quietly watching my four grandchildren grow up.

              One Thursday night in June, as pastor Tony was taking me home after Fumi’s Bible School class, he asked me, “Would you like to be baptized?”  That night, in a dream, I felt that I heard God’s voice telling me that I needed to be baptized.  I called Pastor Tony the next day and gave him the good news.   I will never forget the joy in his voice and the prayer he prayed for me that day.  I was very much moved!  I discovered later that July, the month I was to be baptized, was an extremely busy month for the church.  But I am thankful for the many years of Pastor Tony’s prayers and for the blessing that my brothers and sisters in Christ have been to me over the years. My cell leader, Mrs. Asada, gave up some of her precious time in the mornings to do baptism preparation for me.  My heart is full of thanksgiving. 

A favorite verse of mine is in Ecclesiastes 3:11 which says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. “  I believe from my heart that Jesus took our place on the cross for our sins and was raised again three days later.  I am thankful for what He has done for me.  I want to treasure his Word in my life as I try to live for him.