Ernest D. Faber
It has been several months since those of you on our general mailing list have heard from us. So with that in mind this letter is being
mailed to all that are on our mailing lists.
As most of you know we had two girls in an internship for the summer last year. Both plan to be school teachers. One was an American from
Indiana but her friend was a native Japanese whose home is not so far
from Sapporo.
International School [HIS] that Noriko Sawaya, the Japanese, will be returning to Hokkaido this summer and with the fall term o doing her teacher's training at HIS which is accredited with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), which serves the western U.S. and the Pacific region. Our oldest child, Linda, and our youngest
child, Donald, graduated from HIS's Junior High. We haven't heard directly from Noriko but hope to see her when she returns. HIS is moving this fall so she will be teaching in new facilities.
Different events have come and gone since you last heard from us.
summer camp was held in July with the help of the interns. Christmas programs for the children and adults were held in December.
more than the number that attended.
make an extra effort to attend.
Our
On April 16 th we had our special Easter worship services. We were disappointed in the attendance since we were praying for and expecting
Sapporo but cjuite a piece from here. Shelly plans to get her driver s license this year and with a car it will be much easier for her to
attend.
She married a Japanese and now, at the young age of 25> is the mother of four daughters. The youngest is three months old and the oldest is five years old. Her husband owns a bakery. When he is at home on Sundays, which is rare. Shelly finds it difficult to attend. But the
They live in
much. else.
I am sure the rising and falling of the dollar doesn't affect you very
But it does affect the missionary. Perhaps more than anyone At least those who are dependent on the dollar. For instance,
something that costs us 1000 would have been $8.50 last year but now takes $12.00 to pay for it. At today's exchange rate it will cost us $1 to airmail this letter as printed matter. A first class letter costs $1.30. A quart of low fat milk come to $2.50. A pound of ground meat (70% beef) now costs us $5.00. As for gasoline you
It is $5.60 a gallon.
Aren't you
government retirement program which both of us draw from as well as getting American Social Security. This has enabled us to remain in Japan with a limited amount of salary from the mission.
Occasionally we mention pur family. Most of you haven't seen them for many years. We don't see them very often ourselves. Linda has two boys and live at Grover Beach in California. Linda's oldest boy and our oldest grandchild graduates from high school this spring. He
preached his first sermon in February. Linda is a nurse working as a
quality control administrator in a local retirement center. Charles has a girl and a boy and they live in Boise [Idaho] where Charles is the Academic Dean at Boise Bible College. During the North American Christian Convention you can probably find Charles at the Boise Bible
College booth.
is already at work there although his family still remains in Kentucky. Allan recently told us that they have purchased a house in Allen, which is north of Dallas, and have just sold their present house. Allan is a supervisor for Ohio Casualty Insurance Company. They have a boy and three girls. Donald lives in Cincinnati where he works for IRS. They have three boys and a girl.
Several have expressed concern about our safety because of the recent earthquakes. Some have been close enough for us to feel the shock but the big one in Kobe didn't affect us. But there are churches of Christ in the Kobe area with preachers, missionaries, and members that were affected by the quake. Thankfully there were no death or injuries
We appreciate your prayers, letters, cards, gifts, and financial support. Many of you have been faithful over the past 4-0 years that we have been in Japan.
Let me close with a quote from Phillip's translation of the Bible. This was a portion of Sunday's text. "Let us not grow tired of doing good, for, unless we throw in our hand, the ultimate harvest is assured." Gal 6:9
Yours in His service.
December
4,
1995 in Christ,
Dear Friends
Since it is just one month before Christmas and soon after it will be the new year it is appropriate to wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We pray that all goes well with
you in this new year.
birthday
We have enclosed with this letter a little reminder of us and a means to thank you not only for your prayers but also for your financial support, and/or letters of encouragement. We are
especially grateful to all of you who have stayed with _us for these past-41 years. The picture on the bookmark should remind you of Japan, the scripture verse of God's word, the calendar of
the days of harvest, and our address of us.
Some of you are aware of the fact that Ernest and Neva made a rather short trip to the States this past summer. We left
Sapporo June 17th right after Sunday a.m. services and returned July 8th in time for Sunday services on July 9th. An elderly
Christian kept the church door open in our absence. The trip was personal and the purpose was to join our four children, their
spouses, and 11 grandchildren. We were together three nights and four days. A great time was had eating Japanese food with the family and playing different games with the grandkids. This is
the first time in twelve years that all our immediate family have
been able to get together. It isn't easy with us in Japan, Linda in California, Charles in Idaho, Allan in Texas, and Donald in
Ohio.
We returned home just two or three days before a student from Osaka Bible College, Mr.Irisa, was to arrive. We had tried to get a student to be here when we were gone but none were available for that time. Mr. Irisa wanted to come to help us and since we wanted to get acquainted with Japanese future leaders we i.nvited him. -Mr.- Irisa preached three times and had a class at camp as well as working at other things at camp. But we soon realized that he wasn't available to come to Hokkaido as a replacement for us since he wants to return to his home area on
another island after two years of study abroad.
We
know several of you have been quite concerned and have prayed
continuously for our replacement. We have been in contact with three couples interested in coming to Hokkaido but nothing has been determined at this time. We hope all of them will be able to come to this isolated area and find strength in the fellowship. There are many unchurched areas on this island.
In September, Bill Belew of Niigata, called and said they had an opportunity to buy an English school in Asahikawa. Asahikawa is
and
sent
local
help
getting
work
have stayed here for a day or two on different occasions. They wanted to repaint five large rooms of the school during their one
week vacation in October so Ernest and Neva went up a couple of times to help them out. The first time we just dropped in on them unannounced and surprised them. One of the men working at the school is an American. They hope to use contacts at the school and community to get a work started there. They have
worshipped with us a
Sunday.
last
We keep thinking about retiring but some of you misunderstand and think we are retiring immediately. Even if we find someone to come, and especially if it is an American missionary, we will need to stay around for a year or two. But that time is coming so we have begun to think about what we will take back to
America. Our children have shown some interest in things in the attic that were tucked back during through their childhood years. We made up a l i s t of things and sent them to our children for them to choose what they want. Some of this was tentatively
decided at our family reunion when our grown children and Mom and
Dad sat down and went over a l i s t that Neva had hurriedly made
up. also
They brought up things we hadn't thought about. We have been going through things that need to be sorted or thrown
We are
out such as mission records that are no longer relevant. also trying to sort many pictures.
In August we had our usual children's camp and an overnighter at the church for the Jr. High. Neither was very well attended but
in age from a two-year-old to a 14-year-old student in Jr. High. The Jr. High girl is in a Christian Doctrine workbook which Neva
checks later. Not ideal but they don't seem to mind.
planning to use to get on the Internet. hope to get the modem in a few days.
American
E-mail
If you have an
E-
Again thanks,
Merry Christmas,
May you be