wfn.org | Growing toward fellowship

[BethAH@mbm.org]

December 13, 2000
Beth Hawn
Communications Coordinator
Mennonite Board of Missions
phone (219) 294-7523
fax (219) 294-8669
<www.MBM.org>

December 13, 2000

Growing toward fellowship: Aoi Tamura (Advent 3)

KITAMI, Japan (MBM/COM) – On Nov. 7, 1999, nine people gathered
for worship at Kitami Mennonite Church, a now 13-year-old
congregation on the northern island of Hokkaido.  The seven
adults present shared their first impressions of church,
Christians, and what led them to faith.  It was “thinking about
baptism” month, as the congregation worked to answer the
questions of its newest participant about the meaning of baptism.

The congregation is a family to each other.  Their numbers are
small, but they are determined to continue together in
fellowship.  “Even the little handful that we are, to gather
together and know that we are met by God is a gift … worth any
price,” said Mary Beyler, a mission worker in Kitami since 1988,
appointed by Mennonite Board of Missions and the Commission on
Overseas Mission.  She has served in Japan since 1974.

In this third story of a four-part series, Aoi Tamura shares her
story.  A gentle woman with a sharp mind and a ready smile, she
shares with forthrightness and humor.

Aoi Tamura took gradual steps toward Christianity, accompanied by
a young Christian man, a supportive congregation, and a
missionary who happened to be a good cook.

“Probably the first time I visited a church was when I was doing
research at Hokkaido University,” she said.  A young man named
Takuya Tamura invited her to a service at Yuai Mennonite Church.

“There’s a teacher named Norman Kraus, who speaks well.  Why
don’t you come along to hear him?” he said.

So, together, they went to the worship service.  She remembers
the narrow room where the church rented space at the Hokkaido
Christian Center in Sapporo.  “It was hard to arrive late because
of the small room.  But the church people helped me to find a
place to sit.  I felt at home from the very first time I
visited,” she said.

She does remember wondering about the “Amen” at the end of every
hymn, though.  “It seemed weird,” she said.

She attended church once or twice a month while preparing for
graduate school entrance exams.  Two months after starting
graduate school, Aoi and Takuya had an engagement ceremony in the
church, even though Aio did not yet consider herself a
Christian.  Soon she began attending church almost weekly.

“I wasn’t thinking about baptism, but I was asked to be on a Yuai
Mennonite Church committee, so I was actively involved before I
became an official member.”

They married in the church four months later, in October 1984.
The next spring, Norman Kraus started a beginning-level Bible
class.

For Tamura, it became a baptism preparation class.  She said it
was “a class for doubters because Norman Kraus could answer any
question.”  About a year later, Kraus asked if she wanted to be
baptized.  “The class was fun, but I wasn’t as far as believing
in Jesus yet, so I refused,” she said.  “I wasn’t ready.”

The next year, Kraus offered the class again.  Tamura said she
attended again despite her continued doubts because “Ruth Kraus
made good snacks.”  She also attended a baking class taught by
Ruth.  “I guess you could say I became a Christian because of
Ruth Kraus’s baking – especially brownies,” she laughed.

In 1987, as Aoi worked on her master’s thesis in psychology, the
Tamuras made plans to move to Kitami, where Takuya had been hired
as a professor of psychology.  The Yuai church encouraged Aoi to
receive baptism in Sapporo before they left.  By this time, she
had come to believe in Jesus, so she asked for baptism.  “The
baptismal water was in a kitchen pan with a ribbon tied around
it,” she said.  She remembers that a number of North American
Mennonite missionaries were at the church that Sunday because of
a conference in Sapporo.

“When I decided to receive baptism, I realized I had already
changed,” she said.  “Before, I lived my life by what I wanted to
do and what was convenient for me.  Now, I am able to think about
other people.”

She said it was when a friend’s father died that she recognized
the change.  When she heard the news, she was working to meet a
crucial deadline for her master’s thesis.  In the past, she would
have felt sorry for her friend, but the drive to complete an
important task would have been stronger.  When she became a
Christian, she learned to be people-oriented rather than
task-oriented.  “I realized I could make time to go see a
mourning friend,” she said.  “Faith had changed me.”

Kitami Mennonite Church formed in 1987 when the Tamuras, along
with another Mennonite family and a single woman who all moved to
Kitami about the same time, began to meet for worship with two
Christians who lived in Kitami and had previous connections to
Mennonites. Aoi, a professor of psychology, corrects the Japanese
in sermons that Mary Beyler preaches to congregations throughout
Hokkaido.  “Her corrections help me to say more clearly what I
mean to say.  I learn from my own sermons through the comments
and questions she writes,” said Beyler.

* * *

Bethany Swope       PHOTO AVAILABLE