From Black To White

Jane's hair was white. Dave's was salt and peppery. "We're packing," she sighed.

"Furlough?" I asked.

"Not just a furlough. This is it! Retirement. We're on our way home for good."

But Jan's smile was still there. Her voice showed excitement. They'd see more of their married children, grandkids and family.

Where did the years go since Jan and Dave ventured to Japan for missionary work? Young, adventuresome, gung-ho! Macarthur called for l0,000 missionaries. Five thousand went. They did.

Jan's and Dave's hair was dark then.

What did they do, really? Well, first they gave themselves to God. But then they literally gave the best of themselves--their youth--to and for Japan. They gave up their familiar culture for a foreign one. They gave up a language, which was second nature to live and work with one of the world's most difficult languages. They gave up the joys of family weddings, graduations, reunions, births, yes and funerals.

They gave up the comfort of being lost in a crowd for sticking out like a sore them and feeling probably like Gulliver and his wife.

They gave up the "old shoe" feeling for, "Hey, look, a funny foreigner."

Eighty combined years of service for Jesus and Japan.

But they'd be the last to say they gave up anything. They made hundreds of wonderful friends. They thrived in a different culture. They felt proud to converse and evangelize in a different language.

And best of all, they planted seed. God's seed. In different ways. All through the years. And they saw fruit for their labor of love. I'm sure they made mistakes. It wasn't all smooth. There were rough spots.

But now they've gone back to their homeland. That welcome doesn't compare with the one that's waiting over There. When President Teddy `Roosevelt returned to America from an African hunting trip, thousands welcomed him as their Head of State. On the same ship was a missionary couple returning. No one was there to meet them. Sensing her husband's disappointment, the wife encouraged, "But we're not Home yet."

Dave and Jan aren't Home yet either.

We found it....

The two grandkids and a friend were about to leave for the airport when we discovered that Julia's passport was missing. A joint prayer meeting ensued and we put the problem into God's hands and counted on children's faith. We even called America. Jim said not to worry, that they could get a new ticket and we could get another passport here at the American Embassy. However, it would all probably take a couple of weeks and she would be left behind as the other two went on.

So we searched. Everywhere. Or so we thought.

Suddenly, while making a telephone call, I was rummaging through a pile of papers right by the telephone, and there staring up at me was the passport!

We rounded up the kids and had a jubilant praise service...and I hope they never forget that wonderful anwer to prayer!

Just so it's red......

"You can get her anything," I heard My Dad say, "just so it's red!" That was definitely my favorite color during my early teens and I remember having a red jacket and red sandals. This color affection eventually cooled, but never completely vanished. So when I came to Japan I had one red dress that Mom had made for me.

During some of those early months I spent some time helping at a mission infirmary. One day one of the more seasoned missionaries said to me, "Lila, get rid of that red dress!" It seems that red was associated with prostitutes and ordinary people avoided wearing it.

Then some years later we returned to Japan from a home leave and what did we notice but that people were wearing red! "What happened?" Michael Jackson came over with his red outfits, and from then on it was acceptable. So now you can wear it all you want to....thanks to Michael Jackson!

Oh-oh! Are you ever in trouble.....

Late one afternoon I went to the bank and took out some money. Most shopping is done with cash here. I came home and was about to go out on another errand when I couldn't find my wallet. A Ghana friend, Marjie, was here and we prayed. And searched. Finally she said that I better go and report it to the police.

So off I went to the police station. The policeman on dury carefully wrote down what the wallet looked like and what was in it. Credit cards, health cards, train cards, store cards...the usual. But when I informed him that my Alien Registration card and Japanese driver's license were also in there, he looked up from his writing as if to say, "Oh-oh, are you ever in trouble!" The red tape involved is the biggest hurdle.

We finished and I headed on home. When I walked in, Marjie asked me what my wallet looked like. Then she led me to a hallway and pointed to a shelf. "Is this it?" She queried?

It was and I remembered exactly what led me to put it down there! We rejoiced together at this answer to prayer and I hurried back to the police station. He hadn't yet had time to cancel my credit cards, so there was no problem. I'm sure he was happy at this outcome, too! I wasn't in deep trouble after all!

Loyal to North Dakota

My Dad always loved North Dakota. He took off from his native Iowa as a young 20-somethingish man, leaving behind a prosperous family business to pioneer as a homesteader. After getting his land, he built a sod house that was his first home. He was a great story-teller and even as a child I sensed that when my Dad walked into the dining room where a bunch of threshing crew farmers were eating, the place livened up.

He used to say that America knew North Dakota was a "pain in the neck," but when oil wells began springing up all of the state, they knew it was "growing pains."

His jokes were usually on himself or his state. Like about the lady who with her husband were visiting the area. Dad said she swung her arm over the vast plains and said, "I'd have to love my husband an awful lot to live here!" And another time some ranchers/farmers were lined up for something that required them to give their names....Kringlaak, Severson, Finsaas...and finally the writer looked up and admonished, "Why don't you men get white men's names?"

Though he moved his family 50 miles West to irrigated land after years of crop failures, he stll remained in his beloved Norh Dakota. The far Western part, Fairview, where they say that when you drive up one certain street, you have 2 wheels in North Dakota and 2 wheels in Montana. His wheels just went to Montana to shop.

After 25 Years....

I didn't have any sisters, but somehow I never thought of it as a minus. Maybe because that while each of my 8 brothers were very special to me, I also had lots of girlfriends all through life. I brought a good nurse friend, Myrtle, home from school one summer and later she married my brother Ray. Many of these girlfriends and I have kept in touch through the years.

Like this morning when the phone rang early and a voice speaking in Japanese asked for me. When that was cleared, she said, still in Japanese, "This is Junker." I blurted out, "Pat! Where are you?" She told me that she was in Tokyo--from Michigan--and has just a couple of free hours this afternoon and wants to "see your face and take some pictures."

Pat ad I go back 54 years to when we were both new missionaries studying Japanese in the mountains of a resort area called Karuizawa. We, along with Anna, Bessie, Rainy and Mabel, lived in a big house, which still looks beautiful today, for a year. We studied at least 8 hours a day, helped at meetings, rode our bikes all over the mountains and laughed a lot. Like the day, shortly after we got there, when Mt. Asama erupted. As we girls stood outside on the second floor patio trying to figure out what the smoke and noise were about, some Japanese were down below, looking up at us, trying to tell or ask us something. We all stood there mute until Pat, the daring one, said just 4 of the few words she knew in Japanese to them: "Wakarimasen, keredomo, tabun shirimasen." (We don't know what you're asking, but we probably don't know the answer anyway!) We've never let her live that one down!

So this afternoon we'll see each other's faces and take some pictures...and have some coffee! After 25 years!