greatly feared how my beloved par ents would react. I waited until they were on a journey and then wrote them a letter. They an swered, “Do not receive baptism.” This answer set me into a state of perplexity for a time, but my great love for God and my desire to be obedient to Him caused me to take fresh heart and step out boldly and accept Christian bap tism. They were grieved and angry with me but day and night I prayed that the Lord would open their hearts to the gospel. I also have two elder sisters and two younger broth ers who at that time were all un believers. The merciful Father answered my prayers. After two years my brother, Koichi, repented and be came a very earnest Christian. I shall never forget that bright hap py morning when he was baptized. It was War time and before my youngest brother, Haruo, went to the Navy he said to me, “ Sister, I want you to pray for me.” Then we prayed together. He was melted and cried. How glad I was that he gave his heart to the Lord before he went to war. Today both broth ers are in the Christian ministry in Japan. After the war David Morken was director of Youth for Christ in Japan and I was a soloist. One day my parents came to hear me sing and my mother accepted Christ. . . and my father even helped her fill out her decision card! When I told her about the love of Jesus she wept, for the story of Jesus deeply touched her. My father kept attend ing these meetings and soon he too opened his heart to the gospel. My happiest moment came on the second day of January 1952 when my parents willingly burned the idols in our home. In 1954 my eldest sister became a believer as a result of my telling her of the way of salvation in Jesus Christ. My other sister had become a Christian earlier so now our entire family are believers in Christ. Many times I prayed . . . and fasted . . . and the Lord has brought to pass His prom ise, “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house.” Miss Yamamoto is now studying music in America at the Biola Bible College, Los Angeles. — Ed. END.
Nobu Yamamoto (third from rt.) & family. For their idols, a bonfire.
Nobu Yamamoto
My heart was full of longing
M y name is Nobu Yamamoto. I was bom in an idolatrous family in Yokohama City, Japan. My father was a Buddhist and my mother was a Shintoist and they had both a Buddhist altar and Shinto altar at my home. As a young child I was taught to wor ship before the altars. My mother used to clean the altars, offer rice and water and flowers and give prayers unto the idols. I have often helped her prepare the offerings, and I also have gone to the temples and shrines with my relatives. After I finished primary school I was enrolled in Seika Girls’ High School in Tokyo. In this high school there was a Christian teacher and when I became a second-year stu dent she became my home-room teacher and also taught me English and moral conduct. At one time during the teaching of the latter she opened her Bible and read to our class. Thereafter, often she opened the Bible which lay on her desk and read from the Christian Scriptures, though this school was not a Christian school at all. This was my first introduction to the Bible. With this I became in
terested and began to seek God earnestly. As I pursued my various studies, my heart was full of long ing for Him. My teacher, Miss Hirase, noticed my longing heart and began to lead me personally. She invited me to accompany her to a meeting where Christians gath ered together for worship. Now at this meeting which I attended with Miss Hirase I met an American missionary who was very lovely in heart and spirit. I was still very small of faith, but the attitude of this lovely missionary impressed me greatly. And I became more in terested in the Christian faith. It happened that back of my high school was a small Christian church and I began to attend the church with my friend who also was read ing the Bible. My parents greatly disliked the Christian faith and op posed my attending. Even though I loved my parents deeply the tender call of God was so wondrously sweet I could no longer resist it. I became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and ac cepted Him as my personal Saviour and He graciously loosed me from my sins. As a sign of my new faith I desired Christian baptism but I
9
OCTOBER 1956
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