Dear Praying Friends and Family:

Greetings to all from the land of the Rising Sun.  We are still plodding along here in Japan and honored to be ambassadors for the King of Kings!  Thank you so much for your prayers, support, letters, cards, packages, and encouragement.  They are very much coveted!  We thank the Lord for you folks and pray for His abundant Grace to abound in your lives and in your churches.

Discoursing

Our language acquisition is progressing, yet at a slower pace than I would have hoped.  Learning a new language to live with is different from learning it for study and reading purposes.  Not only do you have to say it right, but you have to know what it means in Japanese context as well.  Shellee and I were talking to our nine year old neighbor (Mana) the other day as we were looking at a double rainbow outside.  We said that it was “beautiful – utsukushii.”  Mana cocked

her head to one side and gave us a confused/amused smile.  My pronunciation was right, the phrasing was right, but to the Japanese you would never call the weather “beautiful.”  Oh well, it is by our mistakes that we learn the best I think. 

We are becoming more comfortable with the first alphabet and working on the second.  The alphabets are identical in sound but with different characters.  There are forty-six characters with two radicals that change those sounds.  Add to that 40,000 Kanji (Chinese characters) and you have a language that most Japanese have difficulty writing.  So we plod and mess up, and then plod some more.

Doctors

We have had our fair share of doctors visits in the three months we have been here.  Titus and Micah have both had ear problems (probably from the flight over).  Josiah has had several visits to check up on his hydrocephalus (a condition caused when he was born premature, that blocks the absorption of spinal fluid in the brain – he therefore has a shunt that drains the fluid for him into his belly), and Shellee had to have a root canal.   With Josiah, we knew that he would need to have continued care to maintain his shunt.  As it had been some time since we had a check up, and Josiah had grown quite a bit, the doctor here wanted to do a CT scan and a couple of x-rays to make sure everything was still functioning normally, and to just get a basis for future treatment.  When the shunt was put in, Josiah weighed only 6 pounds.  The Neurosurgeon then, told us to expect several shunt revisions (surgeries) as he grows, and that the condition was permanent with few exceptions.  The CT scan showed 3 things: 1. Josiah has a brain (no more excuses for not getting his homework done!), 2.  The shunt placed at 6 pounds is still in great shape and could last for several more years, and 3. There was NO SIGN OF HYDROCEPHALUS AT ALL!!  This was an answer to prayers prayed by many folks over many years!  The doctor said he wanted to keep the shunt in for a year and make sure that everything still looks fine before talking about removing it altogether!

I must confess an oops!  I was talking with someone the other day and mentioned Shellee having a check-up.  They asked for “what”.  I then looked back through my files and confirmed my error.  I never wrote about it.  Shellee has a split personality – and she has been seeing a doctor for it.  Chalk it up to culture shock, moving shock, or whatever kind of shock you want to call it, concerning the fact that I didn’t mention it already.   Shellee should have her own personality back sometime around the first of October if everything goes well.  Right now she’s taking it easy until then.  We’ve included a picture for you to see the other part!.

Demonism and Dendo

August was a very dark month here in Nayoro.  There was “Matsuri” at the beginning of the month: a festival where spirits are worshipped and invited to participate in all of the festivities and then entreated to bring “good luck”.   The gods are brought on a Mikoshi (portable shrine) and set in the middle of the festival to “see” all that is happening, and the parades and dances are for the pleasure of the gods.  While many folks (even many Japanese today) see the Matsuri as a cultural event with games and activities and things to buy,  the Scriptures are clear:  “What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?  But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. (1 Cor. 10:19-20)”  Every year during Matsuri there is a novelty item that comes out – this year it was light up horns on a headband.  It was a constant reminder of whose territory we are in.

Mid August brings the time of “Bon” (pronounced “bone” or to the Japanese “oh-bone” – the “oh” puts it in a place of honor).  This is a Buddhist holiday when family graves are cleaned up and sacrifices are placed on the markers in order to appease the spirits.  The Japanese believe that during this time the dead spirits of their ancestors come back to the earth to visit their relatives.  The fancy lanterns light the path for the spirits to follow, and to keep the spirits away from the places where they don’t want a spirit lingering around.   For us, the boys had nightmares at night and there were evident spiritual battles raging.  I am told by other missionaries  that theyexperience similar things. We spent extra time in prayer and looking to the promise “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. (2 Kings 6:16)” 

“Dendo” is the word for “evangelism”.  Beside the weekly time of passing out tracts door to door, Brother Randy and I went two nights to the Matsuri to pass out the Word of Life.  For all of the celebrations to dead idols and dead ancestors at a dark time, we were able to place the Light of the Gospel into a thousand hands – even to a few Shinto priests.  This was a drop in the bucket though of the thousands that came out every night.  We simply didn’t have enough hands.

We had a great opportunity to get the Gospel out to a good group of children as well as a few adults during the church’s VBS program at the end of July.  The Smiths usually hold it at a nearby park and pass out invites during the weeks before.  The Lord gave good weather despite the forecasters failed predictions, and the Gospel was clearly presented to many who have never before heard.  Even though our verbal skills were limited, we were glad to be a part and to help in every way possible.  Now it is time to pray that the seeds planted will bring forth fruit! 

Day to Day 

Adjusting to a “normal” life after being on the road for 3 ½ years has not been without its challenges.  We have had to shift gears completely from being constantly on the move, to staying at home and going out only occasionally.  We have used a resource called “Managers of their Homes” to help schedule our daily routine, and have enjoyed spending more time as a family.  We have planted a garden for the first time and are now enjoying the blessings of the Lord, and the results of hard work:  tomatoes, sweet corn, cucumbers, watermelon, green beans, pumpkins, cabbage, sugar snap peas, and broccoli.

The boys have finished their schooling and are awaiting their new round of books.  We have time set up throughout the week to have time with each of the boys individually and Friday night is family night.  Rachel Smith is over everyday throughout the week to help Shellee around the house, and some of the other girls come over at various other times to help when needed.  Randy and JoAnne are our mouths and wheels when needed and life would be very different and increasingly difficult without them.

We are humbled and blessed by the goodness of God and thank Him for His manifold blessings.  Thank you for helping us fulfill the calling of God on our lives, by holding us up in prayer and by your sacrificial giving.  We trust that the Lord will richly repay you for the impact you have in the lives of the Japanese. 

Prayer Requests

• Grace as we learn Japanese.
• Salvation of  the Japanese in our neighborhood and those that have received Gospel tracts.
• The safe birth of the newest Wilhite (and this time it’s a  . . .)
• Difficulties that a missionary family here in Japan is facing.
• God’s continued provision for our family.
• The Smith’s, as their son Preston is getting married in November, and they are praying for the finances to get back to the States for it.

By His Grace Alone,

Duane for the Wilhites