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the Anabaptist Church
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Mysteries of the Kingdom of God Newsletters Sermons by Eli Hofer The Writings of Ulrich Stadler |
Michiko Koyama Murphy's letter to her granddaughter Spring 1994 Dear Eryn, Your mommy told me several months ago that she wanted to know about me and my side of the family, so you can know about your background. Now you are too young to know and be interested in such things but some day you may wonder about your roots. You are only two years old and the only grandchild I have. You may have brothers and sisters or cousins, and they may be interested too. So here I am, trying to write something about myself and my background. I was born April 18, 1933, in a small village in Japan called Osafune which was famous for making Samurai swords. Osafune is in Okayama prefecture near the city of Hiroshima. Japan is a very small country, about the size of California. It is a much older country than the United States. I was told that my family tree can be traced back to the 9th century. Around 1624 the Japanese government closed the country, not allowing foreigners in or Japanese people out. This allowed the government to have greater control of the people. For 200 years Japan was isolated. Christianity was banned. Not until 1859 was Japan an open country again. The ban for not allowing Christianity was not lifted until 1873. It was just a year before my grandfather was born. Even though the ban on Christianity was lifted, it was still despised. I don't know what this isolation did to Japan, besides not allowing Christians but I think it made Japanese people narrow-minded and self-righteous. They had a hard time understanding foreigners and also became very shy toward them, not knowing how to behave or be sociable. The first time I ever saw a little blonde girl, she was walking with her mother on a street, I was maybe 12 or 13 years old. I stared and stared. Good thing it was in the city and there were lots of other people walking besides them, so they did not know I was staring. The girl was so pretty and wearing a lovely dress, too. Do you know what I thought? I wondered if she goes to the bathroom like we do. I knew she was a human like me, but she sure looked like a doll. Years later, when we were living in Ecuador, South America, your grandfather asked me if I want to take the children and visit my mother who was living alone in Japan, because Ecuador was having revolution, sometimes the roads were closed, we could hear gun shots, the American embassy was guarded with armed solders. Your grandfather came with us as far as Panama to help me. From there, I took the children (your daddy, Aunt Naomi, Uncle Pat, and Uncle David). Your grandfather came to Japan to pick us up later. Your uncle Jim was not born yet and your daddy was just six years old. Anyway, just like I was staring at the little blonde girl, many children stopped by my mother's house and stared at my children. The samurai were established about 800 years ago. The samurai was very much like knights in Britain, serving the feudal lord. A samurai had the highest status of the four classes: next were the farmers, then craftsmen, then merchants. To become a samurai you had to be born into the family, if you were born into a merchant or farmer family, you could not become one. If your father was a doctor, you will become a doctor. There were two more classes of people. One is above all, the royal family, and the other, the lowest of all is called Eta, or Bulaku-min. I don't know who they were originally, but I think they were treated as bad or worse than slaves in old America. They were considered unclean. They lived in little villages by themselves, because no other people would let them live nearby. My mother remembered that when one of Eta came to her house, they took their shoes off at the gate. Also she told me that when they went shopping, the merchant would put their money into a basket and wash it before taking it. When I was growing up, my youngest brother had a classmate who was an Eta. To my brother, he was just a friend, but to my mother, he was a different kind of person. After my grandfather became a Christian, our whole family became Christian. And we had Sunday school at our place. One Sunday after Sunday school, my brother and Hiro-chan, who was Eta, were playing, and toward the evening it started to rain and became quite a severe thunderstorm. My brother told him that he should stay and spend the night with us. So he stayed and he had a good time with our family. My mother told me the next day that as a Christian she knew what she must do, but her feeling of keeping one of them and letting him sleep in the good guest's futon was quite a struggle. My mother was a very kindhearted woman, and she knew what she was required to do, so she did but with a struggle. Later the boy, Hiro-chan, became a Christian. Just as slavery has ended in America, Japan changed also, and there were no longer classes. This kind of behavior among the people could not last forever. No more samurai or Eta. This is good, but for the people who had to change it was hard, especially for the samurai, who used to have so much the power. My great-grandfather was the last samurai in our family, and giving up being one was a very difficult adjustment for him and it caused him to start to drink. He drank all he had and more. My guess is that my great-grandfather must have been living with just the samurai name and empty pride. That could be the reason possibly, he started to drink. My grandfather had to take care of the family when he was young. I think he dropped out after fourth grade, the highest grade you had to go at that time. He told me that he wanted to go somewhere overseas, but he had to take care of his parents and brother and sister. Anyway, my grandfather's life was not easy from rather an early age, and that made him think. He wanted to find out the truth about life. He went to learn about Buddhism and Shintoism which are Japan's main religions. He was not satisfied with their beliefs. He used to go to his grandparent's home often for the errands. On the way he found a Christian church and in front of it, there was a sign that said, "Everyone is welcome. Please come in." He looked at the sign every time he passed the place. He knew some of the people were Christians. But he hesitated, because he would not like to cause problems at home. His family was a strong believer in Buddhism. However Buddhism did not give him the answer that he sought and so at last he went in to that Christian church. After that first time, he visited the church many times and talked with the pastor. And he became a Christian. He was baptized when he was 30 years old. To become a Christian is a big decision for anybody, but for my grandfather, it was harder than you or I can imagine. You see Japan was not a Christian country, and it also despised Christians. "We have our own religions, why should we get the Westerners' religion?", many people thought and said. I guess they did not remember that Buddhism is from India. Jesus said, "Count the cost." For my grandfather, the cost was quite high. He could lose friends, relatives and even his life... (My aunt's husband's grandfather had to leave town when he became a Christian. He could not live there anymore.) At that time houses had no running water and wells were used. My grandfather's house had their own well to get water, but one of his friends who became a Christian about the same time did not, so their family was using the community well. When they became Christians, they were told not to use the well anymore. Christians were not welcome, in fact stores didn't sell anything to Christians! Christians were so rare that there were only a few in the whole county, and since nobody moved around like nowadays, especially in the country where most people were farmers, everybody knew what was going on and who became Christians. Even now compared to the United States, blood relatives have very strong ties in Japan. I think this is also the result of our history. Every class stuck together as in the olden times. The samurai family would not marry into a non-samurai family, even though there were no more classes. So they checked the background very carefully and made sure they matched well. Yes, it was a disgrace for the relatives of a Christian who had abandoned the good old traditional behaviors. So you were disowned. Even though the classes were officially discontinued in the 19th century, on my birth certificate it was written that I was of the samurai class. So, the classes linger on. I am 61 years old now, and looking back on history with my old eyes, to my surprise 61 years is not all that long. My mother was born in 1902, just 35 years after the classes were abandoned. When you are looking at a history of thousands of years, 60 or 100 years can be considered a short period, and it is rather interesting to put somebody you know into a period of history. Most of my memory of our family was my grandparents, my parents and my brothers. We had family guests almost all the time while my grandfather was healthy. We had an elderly guest whose name was Nakatani-san. Another one was Kin-san, a young man from Korea. I was too young to know why they lived with us, but later I found out that our guests were always in some kind of need, and my grandfather brought them home so they can be cared for. Even though we lived together with grand parents as was the custom in Japan, I don't know what my grandmother's family was like at all. My grandmother was a quiet person, and she worked outside a lot. I don't know if she loved to do outdoor work, or did because my grandfather did quite a bit of evangelical work, or because of both. Anyway, she could teach sewing in case her husband got sick or died and she had to take care of the family. My mother told me that samurai's family, the feudal lord's family, and the royal family had servants so the children did not need to work, but daughters were sent as maids to other families for training. My grandmother was also trained. When my father was a substitute teacher, my mother and father were engaged, and while he was teaching, he coughed up a lot of blood, and became very sick. He had tuberculosis (TB). At that time TB was known as incurable, so his family called my mother's family and told them the engagement was out of question. "I am sorry, but there is no hope." My grandparents were praying, and the pastor was praying, and of course my mother was praying, and my mother received a verse from God, John 11:4 which said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it." My grandfather asked my mother what she thought about her engagement, and she gave the verse to Grandfather. The pastor and Grandfather both had a confirmation, so my grandfather told my father's family that the engagement is still good. Afterward, my mother went to see my father at his sick room. There was a big scroll, hanging from ceiling. "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies." John 11:25. They got married after six years of engagement. My mother told me about this when I was a teenager, she was sewing something, and I was by her watching. After my parents got married, my father went to a Bible school. My parents and my older brother were living there by the Bible school. After the graduation, I think he was an assistant pastor at a town in Shikoku Island and there he got sick again. He died when he was 39 years old. My father's last name was Ohta. His house was in the northern part of Okayama Prefecture. Since my mother had only a sister and no brother, my father took my mother's family name. It was and is still rather important to keep the family name. My father was quite tall for a Japanese. He was also a gentle person. He must have suffered, as he was not healthy and could not support his family. He was living with his father-in-law and mother-in-law and had to depend on them for everything. Once in a while I went to his bed room to visit him. His desk was always so neat and organized. Once he asked me to get a pair of scissors, and told me where it was in the desk drawer. He said he knows everything exactly where it was. Even in the dark, he can pick what he wanted, because they are well organized. Once I was wiping the dining floor. There was a table, and I guess I was not wiping under the table. My father asked me how I was going to clean under the table and also underneath the table legs. I must have been quite young. I was embarrassed, because my father was watching what I would do to solve the problem. I lifted up the table leg a little and wiped the bottom of the leg. Did I clean the floor where the leg had been? I don’t remember. But my father taught me how to think and solve problems. He could have just told me to move the table a little, so that the floor could be cleaned, but he did not. He just waited for me to solve the problem. When my father died, I was 9 years old. He died at home. I remember his face after he died. He looked just like sleeping peacefully. The next day, his face changed and it was more beautiful and showed a hint of a smile. My grand parents, my mother, my brothers were all there and recognized the smile in his face and someone said, "He is with Jesus and he is happy.", The doctor told to the family it was a miracle that he lived this long. He was laid in a coffin. His very peaceful face was surrounded with soft-colored roses, and it was serene. Our family was so different from others. It was a custom then that if a student's father or mother died, the whole class paid honor to the family by attending the funeral service. Since there were too many students, they waited outside the building. While we were singing hymns at my father's funeral, I was self conscious for my classmates who were standing and listening our singing. There is usually no singing in the non-Christian funerals. By the time my brothers and I were growing up, we were accepted in the community as a Christian family. I don't know how long my grandfather suffered persecution. I asked him when I was told about his Christian friend and the well, "How could they live without water, and how could you live without buying anything?" He told me that they could get water at night while nobody was using the well. And he went to the store also when nobody else was there, and the merchants were kind and sold to them. It seems there are always two kinds of people: one is against new things good or bad, and the other is open to the new. Even though they may not openly say they are for Christianity, some people were curious and open. Not everyone was hardheaded and against it. And people who were watching the Christians found they were honest people and started to accept them. Nov. 25, 1994 Dear Eryn, You and your Daddy and Mommy came today and brought all the joyful sounds and made us all happy. It was so wonderful to see you were happy and loved by your Daddy and Mommy. You can speak so much more than when we saw you last. We can communicate now. You had fun with Grandpa, you were hanging on Daddy and Mommy's arm and played hide and seek. You sat on Grandpa's lap and played with him too. We watched you put together a picture puzzle of 25 pieces that was quite difficult because they were all the same shape. "I can do it," you said, and you did it without any help! You are only two years old. When I was about your age, I went along with my mother to Kyoto. My aunt, my mother's only sister, had a baby. We went there by train. In Japan there are lots of trains and buses. I remember going with my mother to a public bath house to take a bath. It was my first experience at a public bath. Anyway the tub was like a small swimming pool, except the water was quite hot. I never went in the middle. I was too small and my feet could not reach the bottom, so I held onto the side the whole time. It was strange to me that many people were taking a bath at the same time. A Japanese bath is not like the one you have in your house. When I was a young girl, I used to prepare the bath. That was one of my chores. I had to get a bucketful of water from the well and carry it to the tub. I don't remember how many times I had to go, but it was quite a chore to put water into the tub. Then I had to get firewood and heat it from underneath. Once when I checked the water and thought it was warm enough my mother said, "Stir the water, only the top of the tub is warm." So I put my arm in the water, and to my surprise the water was warm only several inches from the top, and my arm was cold below. I wondered why only the water on top was warm if I was heating the huge tub from underneath. Do you know why? Many times my brothers helped and each of us carried a bucket and we raced. By the time we got to the tub, so much of the water was gone and we got wet, but it was fun. Maybe because preparing for the bath was quite a chore, or it was a fellowship time for both adults and children, we took turns in the bath with our neighbors. Our neighbors all had the same last name and were related, some close, some not so close. They knew each other so well. I guess it was like a big family. With running water, water heaters and a TV in every house, these customs are long gone. I was eight years old when the second world war began. Even though the outside world was stormy and the grown ups groaned, the children accepted it as normal, because they did not know any other way. We were secure in the little community, accepted and loved. The war changed many things. My mother's only sister, my aunt's family was living in Tokyo at that time. Their house burnt down in an air raid and so my aunt and cousins came to live with us. My cousin's father was a Christian minister and he was called to be a chaplain and went to Celebes Island. His father, my cousin's grandfather was in a jail, because he was a Christian! He was in jail because he refused to say that the Emperor was a living god. The policemen would come to our house also because we were Christians and some people thought that Christians were spies. If a policeman came while I was gone to school or somewhere else, my mother nor grandparents would let me know, so that we do not worry any more than necessary. It happened that one day while I was at home. Maybe he was ordered to come. That is why he came. Maybe he was a kind and understanding policeman. He did not search the house. I remember he took one of our big Bibles with him. Anyway, he was talking with my grandfather quietly. If he searched our house, he could have found at least ten Bibles, besides the rest of religious books and some books were even in English! I did not face any cold shoulders or persecutions of any kind from our neighbors nor teachers, nor people in town. Our neighbors were just as friendly and kind as before. My father and my grandmother died during the war, and our neighbors came and took care of everything, arranged for the funeral, digging the grave, prepared the meal for the people who came for the funeral, etc. That was the custom in our community. Only at the school, some students came and told me that I was a spy, because our family was Christian. Besides, I was not very healthy when I was growing up. Even though my father lived in a separate building because of TB, we must have inherited a more sensitive body and I got sick quite often, later I had a touch of TB, too. At that time, TB was like cancer with no known cure, only worse because it is contagious, so children rejected the person. To some of them I was a spy and had a contagious disease that will lead to death. Come to think of it, only a few people said that, and I know now that they did not mean to hurt me. We did not have much food during the war. Because we lived in the country, we still could have fresh fruits from the trees and could go to garden to get vegetables, so it was much easier than living in the city. I remember my mother served leaves of pumpkin when they were still tender. It must have been the food was quite scarce more than I remembered. We went to look for the edible plants to a field, too. I thought it was like a picnic, and it was fun. There was no sugar for a long time, even salt was in shortage. Around that time my brother and I went to catch grasshoppers, my mother did, too, and so we ate grasshoppers. We thinned the rice with 10 times or more water in it and made it more or less like thin milk. We had to put on so much wheat in it, too. One day, my mother asked me to cook supper, and I made the rice .... when it was ready and I picked the pot up, it was hot and I dropped it. There was nothing I could do. It was a thin liquid, so I could not pick it up. I cried and went to look for my mother. Nobody scolded me, but we had less food to eat that night. We had a hole dug out for evacuation in case of an air raid. There were some at the school, too. But we never went in and I did not experience anything scary. Everything was normal to me as I did not know anything else. Many children came from the big cities and our class got larger. The worst thing about the war for me was not food, not air raids, because we lived in a country, but the lights. We had to have a black piece of paper or cloth to wrap around the lights, so the light won't leak to outside. Light means people, and if we were found, we would be bombed, that was what we were told, and somebody was going around the street at night to check. So when the war was over, I was so glad. We could turn on the light in every room, and what a wonderful feeling it was. No more darkness! Many things changed when the war ended. The people who told me I was a spy started to go to church, and started to go to Bible studies in English, taught by missionaries from England in our church. Another era had begun and singing hymns and going to church became a fashion. I should be glad, but I was not. I was not a good Christian. If I really knew who Jesus was, I would have rejoiced, but instead, I stopped going to the church. I was not a happy carefree teenager. I was lonely and confused. God was far away. I ate because I got hungry and that was the only reason for living, and I hated that. Let's talk about happier things. God was still in charge, But I was not walking with him. When I was in the second grade, our family went on a retreat. My father and grandmother stayed home. My father was not well enough to travel and grandmother took care of him. The retreat was held at an island in the Inland Sea. Usually, my mother trimmed my hair, but I went to a barber shop to have my hair cut. It was a special occasion. I must have begged, too, and since my mother was busy getting ready packing everyone's clothes, she gave me money for my hair cut. It was the first time and the last time for me to go to a barber shop. I didn't think much of it after I went there. But, everybody else went to have their hair cut, so I wanted to go. There was no beauty shop at our small town. I think the beauty shop and a permanent wave was an after war product, too. Anyway, it was fun to ride on a big ship. I saw flying fishes jumping along the ship. Also I found out that the horizon was not straight but the water curves a little at both ends. That was the first time I realized that the earth was round. During the retreat, a typhoon came and brought lots of wind and rain. Because there were so many people, I was not afraid, even when the wall of the hotel came down with a big thud. The children were separated by age groups and had a Bible study. Since I was tall for my age, I was put together with fourth graders by mistake. The teacher let each child read part of the Bible, and I found out that everybody can read so well, and I got nervous. When my turn came and I started to read, I stumbled on a word and started to cry. Then the teacher asked me how old I was and I told the teacher my age, and she said, "You can read very well. I thought you were fourth grade." I don't remember much more. I think I was too shy to enjoy being with all the strangers. But, it was a big event and when school began, we had to write what had happened during the summer vacation and I wrote a long story about the trip and the teacher read that at the class. Mother kept the notebook, but it was destroyed by the big flood that we had later. It must have been the same year that the war ended, and it must have been in September, we had the flood. Everybody thought our neighborhood was high enough, so when the warning came that the river bank might be broken, all the neighbors went to a house which was by a small stream and much lower than the rest of the houses. My grandfather too went to help put up the furniture up in higher places. Somebody yelled, "The river bank has broken!" Then Grandfather came rushing home. Behind him, the water was running already. There was no time to put anything up. My aunt and cousins were still living with us and they had their cooked rice hanging on the ceiling, and that was the only thing we had. We all went up to the attic, which I had never seen before, it had a small window. There was nothing in it and it was dark. We did not have time to go to the other building where my father used to sleep. All the dirty water rushed in with our furniture and fire wood and all kind of things floating. I was too stunned to be scared. I think the water receded within 24 hours, but we had no drinking water. Everything was soaked by dirty water. It was a chore to clean all the messes, but I found so many things I never have seen before. It was too bad so many things were destroyed, but it was fun to find beautiful dishes that were stored away. There were lacquered trays with legs, and they came apart. I am glad I was not an adult at that time. I did not know the value of things we lost. The organ was the only thing I cried for. My grandmother passed away when I was in the fifth grade and my grandfather, when I was in the seventh grade. We were left with just my mother and my three brothers, one older and two younger than I. My mother was trained as a seamstress, following the old samurai custom of training daughters. Although she never earned any money from it, she was trained as a seamstress for men's clothing. She taught me how to sew. When I was 7th or 8th grade, Mother gave me old material for me to sew anything I wanted. She had shown me how to design dresses, so I designed it as I wanted and sewed all by myself. She let me wear the dress I made. It must have been a strange looking poorly made dress, but I was very happy. Once in a while all five of us, my mother and brothers sang hymns. Since they could sing parts, it was fun, and we did not know the time was getting late. I was the only girl in our family, I became quite a tomboy, playing together with my brothers, climbing up on trees and jumping down, went swimming and fishing in the nearby river. We went to catch cicadas ... This is not a happy experience, but I will write it down anyway. Now that I am old, I can see it with a smile. I must have done or said something quite bad. I don't remember what. I think my older brother was involved and he must be the one who told my parents. He could have been scolded as well, but I don't know that part. When I got home, father and mother were sitting side by side like a king and queen, very much dignified and solemn. I must have known my guilt. I sat before them and heard the lecture, and I had to apologize, bowing before them. And, it was so very difficult! I was looking for some information about my family, I found a note my older brother has written about him and grandfather. My brother was in the first grade. Some older student was mean to him and he had a fight. He came home crying and Grandfather told him, "You have the blood of the samurai in you. Even though there is a good reason to cry, you have to show as if nothing has happened. How can you open the door crying?" He was not allowed to come inside the house until he stopped crying. My nephew, my youngest brother's son was with us for a year in the United States and he went to a high school in Kent, Washington. One day, I told him that his great-great grandfather was a samurai, he was surprised to learn that. You see? For my generation, we were still told about it and it was used for training, but the next generation, it seems to no longer be a matter of importance. Some good memories were of Christmas. We were the only Christian family in our small town in Japan and we invited the neighbors for Christmas evening. We prepared presents, small paper sacks of fruits and sweets for everybody who came, and some presents for the Sunday School children, and pastor gave a message and the children sang Christmas carols. My mother played the organ, so it must have been before the flood, and possibly before the war got bad. The neighbors came, almost all of them and our house was full. We had a Christmas tree too, and I dreamed while I was looking at the tree with decorations. We had a decoration, a small western style house, it was pink and glistened with white snow on the roof. It was the most precious ornament to me. I dreamed of the people who were living in that kind of house far away and they too are cerebrating the birth of Jesus. On my second grade Christmas, I received a book titled 'Les Miserables' by Victor Hugo, translated for children in Japanese. Now that I have read the unabridged one, I realize that it was quite a bit shorter, but I remembered the story. My father had lots of good books for us children in his bookshelf. Uncle Tom's Cabin, Pilgrim's Progress, Polly Anna, Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Little Princess, Robinson Crusoe. Reading books are fun. My mother read to us four children at night. I remember especially the long winter nights, all of us sitting around the Kotatsu, (a charcoal heater in a sunken area of the floor, covered with blankets) and listening to Mother read about the Scarlet Pimpernel and getting excited about how people disguised and escaped from France to England over Strait of Dover. She read to us about a bear who woke up in the spring and stood up against a tree and rub himself, and could see how big it was growing ... I think listening to her made me fond of reading about the wilderness and animals. There were a couple of stories I read when I was young. I don't remember the title or the author, but they are both old stories I found them in my father's book shelf. I wish I was a good story teller for your sake. I read it when I was quite young, and of course it was in Japanese. I will try to recall it for you. Once upon a time, there was a feudal lord living in a big house with many servants. One day, a man servant went into the kitchen for some errand, and found quite a commotion going there. A young maid was crying and several other maids were around them talking to each other, some whispering and others talking loud. The male servant asked one of the maids what was going on, and she answered that the girl dropped and broke an expensive dish. Also, we were told to be very careful about the dishes, because they are very expensive. She should die for that. (Now remember, in olden times, this was not uncommon, the samurai could do anything they wanted.) "Oh?" the male servant said, "Can I see the one not broken?" So someone went to get one for him to see. He examined the dish for a while and he asked again for all of them to be brought out. So the rest of dishes were brought and stacked on the table. "I will be right back. Leave the dishes as they are, and don't move them." He went out and came back with a big wooden mallet. The maids who were talking stopped and looked at him. His face was tight and he told the maids move away some. He lifted up the mallet and with one smash, all the expensive dishes were broken in bits and pieces, scattered all over. All the maids cried out, "What have you done? You must be out of your mind!" He said, "No, I am not. When the lord or mistress needs me, call me. I will be in my room", and he left. The maids were making so much noise that the mistress came and saw that all the dishes were broken and learned what had happened. The man servant was called before the lord. He asked the servant quietly the meaning of this. The man servant answered, "I did it, sir. Now you can kill me and save the rest of the lives." The lord understood what he said. Instead of punishing him, he praised him and gave him reward. The young maid who broke the dish was forgiven, too. That's the end of story. Interesting? Another story: This is not a samurai story, but it is also an old one. In Japan, the newly weds lived with the husband's parents and there the mother-in-law was strong and had power over the whole household, often mistreating the daughter-in-law who had married her son. It was amazing to me that since the mother-in-law was once a daughter-in-law herself and had been treated harshly, why couldn't she be more kind and understanding to the daughter-in-law when she came into the position to rule? Now there was a young bride who was serving her mother-in-law. The mother-in-law has power over her son too, and the son usually does not bother with the relationship between his mother and wife. It seemed to the young bride that her mother-in-law was enjoying picking on her and finding faults about her. Even though the mother-in-law was unreasonable, the daughter-in-law patiently accepts her and tries to please her, because that was expected of her and of all daughters-in-law. She was showing submission and trying very hard to please her, but the mother-in-law kept up her pecking. This went on for several years, and, on the surface, the daughter-in-law used polite words and served her as she was supposed to, but in her heart, she was getting colder and colder. Her mind was changing from pleasing the mother-in-law to getting rid of her. She thought to herself, it cannot be obvious. I must do it secretly, but how? One day she decided to confide in her doctor. So she went and talked with the doctor, telling her of her harsh live and asking for poison to get rid of her mother-in-law so that no one would know. He listened carefully and asked her if she was sure that is what she wanted. She answered with very low voice, "Yes." The doctor said, "I can help you with one condition. Since you want to poison her, you must act toward your mother differently from now on. You will have to do everything for her. Be kind and smile, even though she is very mean. Can you say, 'Yes, mother' for whatever she says? Say, 'I will do it for you' and make a special effort to please her. Can you do that?" She said she could and the doctor gave her some medicine to give to her mother-in-law. "You do not give very much, I will give you this small spoon. Just a few grains of medicine at a time will do. Mix with her food. Remember, you don't want her to know. You must act accordingly. Do not use the spoon for anything else. Don't let the medicine touch you. When it is gone, come back." So she went home with the medicine. And she served her mother-in-law very kindly. Even though her mother-in-law was mean, she endured with her renewed mind, thinking "Now you are so mean to me, but you are going to pay the price. Just wait." She hid these thoughts to herself and tenderly served her mother-in-law. For several months, she put the medicine in her mother-in-law's food, for several months she made a special food she liked for her, gave her massage, and whatever the mother-in-law liked, she did it for her. One day, the daughter-in-law went back to the doctor. He asked her, "Is the medicine gone already?" She said, "No, doctor. I came here to ask another favor. I don't know what was wrong with me that I wanted to kill her. She is so kind to me. She is the best mother-in-law a person ever could have. Can you undo the medicine, so she can live?" Her head was downwards and the doctor could see her tears dropping on her knees. "Daughter, you don't need to worry. Go home and take good care of your mother-in-law. She will live." "But I gave her poison for so many months." "No, you didn't. It was only sugar." This is the end of story. I would like to tell you about my brothers. I have three, one older and two younger than I. I think my older brother was 13 years old and the younger brothers were five and two when our father died. My mother did not marry again. My older brother was a father figure to the rest of us. My older brother, KAZUMICHI, is now a judge in Tsuyama, where near my father was born. He loves to paint. Once your uncle Jim asked my brother what was his occupation, he answered as an artist. He is very good at it and his paintings were exhibited not only several place in Japan, but recently exhibited in China. He does not make his living as a painter but as a judge in the court. The younger brother, KINJI, is a physicist and works at the Japanese Atomic Power Research. He worked in Vienna Austria for several years, and he still goes there often. I guess the headquarters for the Atomic Power Research for Peace is in Vienna. The youngest brother, YOSHIHISA, is a chief editor for the academic book company called GAKKEN, short for Gakushu Kenkyu sha. (Gakushu means study, Kenkyu means research and sha means company). He is also a free lance photographer, and we have his company's books and his pictures in them. I met your Grandfather at a small English conversation school in Tokyo. He was a teacher and I was a secretary. I was not walking with the Lord at the time, and your Grandfather came and helped me come back to God. Now your Grandfather and I try very hard to follow our gracious Father, and He has blessed us and we are happy together. I learned that the most important thing in the world is seeking Him and do His will. I think this is about all I want to write at this time. My cousins from my mother's side and father's side are also doing well in the world. One on my mother's side, Ken Kida, is a professor of Old Testament at St. Paul's University, one on my father's side, Toshiaki Ohta, is a professor of Physics at Tokyo University. Ken-chan's father was the Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene in Japan before he retired. His father was a Christian missionary in California and so he speaks English and once was a interpreter for Billy Graham in one of his crusades in Japan. Do You know what I think after I had written this? I think God is so good to who follows His way. We were blessed because our parents and grandparents followed our loving God. He has honored His followers. But as soon as we forget and start going our own way, the blessings will leave us. When I look back, I can see God is always faithful to His followers, but when we go out from His covered area, we get into trouble. People go through good times and hard times. Only God can give blessings and peace even when the outside circumstances are stormy. Our heavenly Father wants us to be happy. He wants to bless us. But when we do not want it, He cannot give us. Dear Eryn, your Grandfather and Grandmother pray that you will be blessed and happy by following our heavenly Father. We pray that also for your brothers and sisters, cousins and your family and children. With Love, Grandmother Michiko |
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