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State
Missions Offering
October 2005
Praise the name of the merciful Lord!
By
Akiko Beville
Columbia, SC
By the grace of God, I
know God who is the creator and truth. I was born and raised by traditional
Buddhists in Kyoto, the city which is highest hierarchy of Buddhist
tradition. I never heard about the Lord, Jesus Christ, the savior. God’s
plan is a mystery. By being able to come to the US, I was able to find
incomparable joy in Christ.
I married an American
officer whom I met at work. We married 53 years ago and came to the US in
June of 1952. My husband, Billy, is from Florida. He took me to church in
his home state where I could hear about Jesus Christ. At that time I could
not understand English well and could not read the Bible well yet, but we
attended church with our small children. At a revival service, I realized I
was a sinner and Jesus is my savior. I accepted Jesus as my savior, but I
was still a baby Christian and could not be mature.
Twenty eight years ago, a
Japanese pastor, Rev. Watanabe, who was studying at Columbia Bible College),
taught us a Bible class in Japanese. I still remember that I was deeply
moved by singing hymns and studying the Bible in Japanese. Even though I was
not a mature Christian for a long time, Jesus did not forsake me. Now I
could understand that the Father, God, and Jesus, the Son and the Holy
Spirit are the Trinity. Through the trinity I could understand and
appreciate God’s love, patience, and endurance.
I have gone to Woodfield
Baptist Church for 44 years. I faced the possibility of my death from a
serious disease and experienced a lot of family difficulty, but my sisters
and brothers in Jesus gave prayers and encouragement to me. This was because
of God’s guidance.
I believe in the
repentance of sin and the cross of Jesus. I hope to follow His word from the
Bible, and I am attending worship, Sunday school and praising the Lord now.
Because of the kind
offering from the American church to the international church, we can meet
the fourth Sunday afternoon in Columbia and have Japanese worship. We enjoy
the worship and the fellowship. Most of us belong to English-speaking
churches too, but the Japanese service is closer to our hearts because we
understand the language better. We can mature as Christians as we study in
our heart language.
We appreciate the prayers
and offerings by sisters and brothers in Christ for the salvation of
Japanese people. There are many people in our area who do not know Jesus
Christ. I want to spread the gospel so they will accept God, and I can go to
heaven with them.
But by the grace of God I
am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. (I Corinthians.
15:10)
The ministry to Japanese is one of the
ministries supported by your gifts to the State Missions Offering of the
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of South Carolina. The goal for 2005 is
$110,000. |
Download this image of
Akiko Beville
in high resolution
suitable for printing. |
You may download this article and use it in your church bulletin or in
any way you would like to promote the SC/CBF State Missions Offering.
Other monthly
features:
February 2005: Charmaine Townsend.
Metanoia. Go.
March 2005: Raymond Bennett at Christ
Central Ministries in Allendale. Go.
April: Fumi George, Japanese Ministry.
Go.
May: Tyquanisha Fludd, a Young Leader
at Metanoia. Go.
June: Duc Nguyen Van, the pastor of a
Vietnamese congregation in Greenville. Go.
September: Oakland Baptist Church in
Rock Hill doing missions in Belgium. Go.
October:
Akiko Beville,
Japanese Ministry. Go.
December: Lana
Rowland on Belgium. Go.
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