On November 2, 2022, Josephine and I returned from a ten and a half weeks trip to Japan. It has been three years since we were there to minister. It was good to be in Japan. This will be a report of some of the things we did during those weeks.

Warm greetings at the airport and upon arriving in Tachikawa

Upon coming out of immigration and customs at Tokyo Haneda Airport on August 23, we were surprised to see Ruku Obata (pronounced Luke) waiting for us. We have known Ruku since he was in grade school. He is twenty-three years old now. After graduating from college, he began a special four-year course in Bible and theology. He graciously drove us from Haneda Airport in southeastern Tokyo to Tachikawa in western Tokyo. He also carried our luggage up three flights of stairs to our dorm room in the Tachikawa church building.

Sister Sano was at the building to meet us when we arrived. She was a great help over the time we were there. She serves as the church secretary and also cares for the flowers around the church building. We were blessed on this trip to have time to deepen our relationship with her.

Fukushima receiving the Hogan-Cate Mission Award at Harding School of Theology 

We left on Monday, August 22, and arrived in Tokyo the following day. Our first priority was to set up housekeeping and get a functional office together. This is something we did each year for twenty-three years until the pandemic started in early 2020. Our primary ministry on this trip was to fill in for Nao and Noriko Fukushima while they were in Memphis studying at the Harding School of Theology. While I shared lessons with the congregation each Sunday, Josephine reached out to members and studied with those interested in English Bible Study.

Lesson topics for the Tachikawa church

For the eight Sundays we met with the Tachikawa church, I chose to preach through John 13-16. This was Jesus’ message to his disciples the night before he was betrayed and killed. On our first Sunday, there were two assemblies. One in Japanese in the morning and one in Chinese in the afternoon on the fourth Sunday of the month. One member is from Mylasia and speaks Chinese. I wrote out my sermon in English and she translates it into Chinese. At the assembly, I read the sermon in English and she read her translation in Chinese. I did this for three Sundays while we were at Tachikawa. The first sermon was written two weeks before we left for Japan to give time for translation. The following sermons were prepared each week.

Visitation for brother Shigekuni – minister, teacher, principal

Since our main work on this trip was to minister to the Tachikawa church, we stayed in the Tokyo suburb of Tachikawa most of our time. We did get out several times. On Monday morning September 12, we traveled an hour and a half to Ochanomizu to meet up with a group going to Hitachi Ota three hours and two prefectures away. We went to the Ota church building for the visitation for brother Nobuyuki Shigekuni. This building was the place where Josephine attended her first Japanese worship assembly in the summer of 1969. The brother we had come to pay respect for was the minister at that time. He later visited us in Memphis in 1975. He was a high school teacher and principal for Ibaraki Christian High School.

Another occasion to get out of Tachikawa was afforded by a brother from the Yokota church. He offered to take us to Haruna in Gunma Prefecture to see brother and sister Shiro Obata. The Obatas helped us numerous times while we were full-time workers in Japan (1977-86). Brother Obata was one of my mentors. He fell in July 2019 and suffered a serious injury to his spine. After much healing and physical therapy, he is back walking and continues to preach for the Haruna congregation each Sunday while seated. Sister Obata suffered heatstroke this past summer and is now in a care facility. It was a blessing to be able to visit them.

Japan School of Evangelism Lectureship via Zoom

In addition to speaking at Tachikawa, I spoke at the fall lectureship for the Japan School of Evangelism with Takeshi Kushida minister for the Hitachi church. My topic was Paul’s understanding of the church from Ephesians. Paul pictured this gathering community of believers in several ways. But I focused on my favorite image of the church as a household of God (Ephesians 2:19).

Our two-week rail pass began on September 28 with our going to Kojima in Okayama Prefecture. This is like going from Memphis to Austin, Texas. We went there to visit with Sandy Rogers. Over twenty years ago, she and Brent moved to Kojima to teach English and started a congregation at the same time. Brent died three years ago but Sandy remains to work with the congregation. Their school closed just before the pandemic broke out. On our return to Tachikawa, we visited a couple Josephine and I had English Bible classes with while they were in Memphis.

Tuesday Bible class with some of the Numazu church members

During the second week of our rail pass, we made a day trip to Shizuoka. I taught a class for the Numazu church at their Tuesday morning Bible study. Sarah Andrews started that congregation after WWII. There are three other congregations she started before the war in that area – Okitsu, Oiwa, and Shimizu. We received a delicious sushi lunch after the class. We visited with brother Tomoyuki Shinozaki former minister for the Numazu church as well as brother Fumio Maeda minister for the Nakada church and his wife Sachiko before returning to Tachikawa.

Later that week of the rail pass, we started our long trip north. It began with the Tomobe church. The church members knew we were coming so they planned an impromptu meeting for that evening. It was a “tea party” with fifteen gathered of which three were non-Christians and one of them came for the first time. I shared a lesson and answered questions during that meeting. We appreciated the members quickly organizing the meeting.

While in Tomobe, Jeanne Ray was our host. She has opened her home to so many over the years. She and Marlin came to Japan in about 1972 to teach English. This gradually changed to re-establishing the church in Tomobe. It has now been over 35 years since they started ministering in Tomobe.

Joel, Hiro, and Seika ministering to the Mito congregation

While in the Ibaraki area, we visited Joel Osborne and Hiro Akahoshi who team minister to the Mito congregation. The church secretary, Seika, also came with them. We had a wonderful meal together and discussed the work in Mito and in Japan in general. We worked with Joel and Hiro in 2011 following the tragic earthquake and tsunami.

From Ibaraki, we went further north to Hachinohe in Aomori Prefecture. This is like going from Memphis to Chicago. Twelve of us gathered on Sunday morning for worship. It was such a blessing to be with these brothers and sisters. They rented a room in a local hotel for the occasion. They usually meet in a member’s home. Following the worship, we had a wonderful bento lunch and then an impromptu ladies’ class. It is always an encouragement to see those who have the desire to learn more about God.

Lunch with the Hachinohe congregation after worship

On our way back from Hachinohe, we stopped at Omika in Ibaraki Prefecture. I spoke in chapel for the Ibaraki Christian University. That afternoon, Josephine was asked to share a lesson with some of the ladies. She taught from Habakkuk. Later that week after returning to Tachikawa we had lunch with a couple we taught while in Memphis. The husband teaches at Nagasaki University and the wife works for a research group.

While we had to secure visas to enter Japan, 0n October 11 the borders of Japan were fully opened to foreign tourists. This means that travel to Japan can be done pretty much as it was before the pandemic. This gave us hope for a spring trip in 2023.

Visit with Leslie and Sara Taylor ministering in Matsudo, Chiba

The week before we were to leave, we were finally able to squeeze in a visit to Matsudo in Chiba Prefecture to see Leslie and Sara Taylor. They had worked with the Matsudo church for five years with Steve and Debbie Carrell. They returned to the states for two years before returning two years ago in the midst of the pandemic. They are now working full-time with the Matsudo congregation.

Our final Sunday was spent with the Ochanomizu congregation in downtown Tokyo. They sponsored us when we came as full-time workers in 1977. Over the years, we have benefited from their encouragement and help. I spoke for the Japanese assembly in the morning and then for the English assembly in the afternoon. We stayed in the old building in 1969 as college students. Brother Obata, mentioned above, was the minister at that time. It was like coming home.

Speaking at the Ochanomizu congregation

On Monday, October 31, we began the process of packing and closing up housekeeping. We had tried to go to Japan in 2020 and 2021 but were not allowed. Having finally been able to enter and minister, we are very thankful. It has been great to renew friendships and minister once again in Japan. We are ever indebted to those who encourage and support our ministry. Our prayers have always been that God is glorified through our efforts.

Hello and happy summer everyone! I can’t believe it, I just looked and it’s been three months since I last sent out a report. Wow, time is continuing to fly!

For so long, mainly because of Covid, days and weeks just tend to look the same. We as a church family are unable to have special summer activities, parties, get-togethers, or movie nights any time of year in order to keep from having a large group of people together inside. Each time we think we’re going to be able to open up and plan something, the numbers go up again. They are currently at their all-time high both for all of Japan as well as here in our prefecture. But, as in the States, people have decided that it’s time to just live their lives (carefully, still wearing masks in public) and the government is no longer encouraging people to stay at home or to close down businesses.

I decided, before the numbers went up again, to take a trip, and continued with my plan even after they went up. I spent about five days traveling to and being in the area around Tokyo. My goals were to renew friendships and do a little more networking, get advice on books that should be added to the Kojima library, and then go shopping at one of the larger Christian bookstores in Japan. (still not very large though!) It was exciting to find some really good books in Japanese to add to our library, including a good study Bible, (it weighs a ton!!) and I’m excited to introduce them to the Christians here!

I was terrible about remembering to take pictures, but I enjoyed spending time with Sister Jeanne Ray and some of her English/Bible students, being with Sister Emiko Noguchi for a day, meeting a Christian sister, and hearing about the café and outreach that she and other Christians in her area use to reach hurting people such as alcoholics, homeless people, people suffering from cancer, and whoever else comes their way. I was able to speak with Brother Nao Fukushima only by Zoom because of his wife Noriko‘s illness, and Brother Yoshiya Noguchi for just an hour or two because he was so busy that week. And then a couple nights plus Sunday with Leslie and Sara Taylor and their delightful children and the Matsudo church. I was so delighted to get to spend a few hours with a woman, Nao, who was in my mom‘s Bible class, and her children attended my children’s Bible class here in Kojima two years back around 10 years ago. She’s now a Christian and assisted Sara in teaching the children’s Bible class at the Matsudo Church. And we got to talk a lot, it was great! The first picture below shows the Taylors and Nao with her daughter, taken a week and a half ago when I was there, and just for fun, the next two pictures are her kids, from when she was living in Kojima 10 years ago. And I got a picture of Brent in!

After my time in that part of Japan, I flew to Ishigaki Island, maybe the southernmost and westernmost island in the Okinawa chain of Japanese islands, for a short vacation.

Again, my pictures are either nonexistent or pretty bad, but I’ll put one down below of me eating an Okinawa, or maybe Ishigaki, a dish of noodles with Japanese flavored spareribs on top, and another one of the most beautiful flowers I saw down there.

Highlights of my trip were-

• Spending time with Christian sister Rumi, who decided to join me at the last minute,
• beautiful flowers, amazing night sky—probably the best I’ve ever seen the Milky Way,
• beautiful sunrise over the ocean,
• swimming in the ocean for a couple of hours,
• seeing gorgeous tropical fish, coral, clams, etc. from a glass bottom boat,
• swimming in the most beautiful pool I’ve ever seen,
• relaxing in the best what I would call a bungalow I’ve ever been in,
• making a pottery turtle in a workshop,
• eating amazingly delicious small pineapples such as peach pineapple and melon pineapple,
• eating tropical fish sashimi, and
• just, in general, relaxing in such an amazingly beautiful place.

Rumi flying down to vacation with me at the last minute was a blessing, I think for both of us. I pray that I was an encouragement to her and that she was a real blessing to me.

After 27 years of living in Japan, I’m glad I finally made it to Okinawa!

As I said before, no real big news, except I continue to praise God for the growth I see in the Christians here in Kojima.

For example, one sister considering getting a degree in Christian counseling so that she can be a counselor to others.

One sister teaching and encouraging a seeker, and the actual “teachers” sitting back and listening in amazement.

People teaching our children’s Bible class (so far just one child) for the first time.

One of our seekers said to the group, “I’m looking forward to the day when I will have a story to tell about how God saved me, the same as (some of our other Christians) have! He’s already loved me through all of you.

I pray Ephesians 1:18-20 for all of you, that through the Spirit you know deeply the hope we have, how great and amazing our blessings are, and the unbelievable power God uses for us.

Thank you as always for your prayers, messages of encouragement, and support.

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Konnichiwa from Kojima! (That means hello!)

On Resurrection Sunday, our church was able to have a large meeting outside, complete with inviting friends, worship and Bible study, a picnic, and even an Easter egg hunt. See pictures below. I apologize I didn’t get any Easter egg hunt photos. But you all know what that looks like anyway! I believe we had about 17 adults and seven kids from infant to junior high.

In the past, we have met under cherry blossoms, but this year Easter was late enough that the cherry blossoms were all gone, and anyway the place we have met in the past is not allowing picnics at this time. So we met at a beautiful park with wisteria trellises. The amazing wisteria pictures below were taken by Tomomi, not me.

Ken used a story from Japanese tradition as a redemptive analogy to Christ’s sacrifice of his own life for us. I think it resonated with newcomers.

My friend Lisa came with her three kids. It was her first time experiencing Resurrection Sunday worship and she seemed to really enjoy it. The kids enjoyed the picnic and the Easter egg hunt.

Unfortunately, the Covid numbers are going up again, so my hopes that we would be able to begin having monthly get-togethers soon that we could invite friends to will have to wait a while longer.

Four of us have begun taking turns teaching a Bible class for our one regular child so that the others can attend worship and Bible study (and teach or translate!) for the other three weeks. This has just begun, so we’ll see how it goes, we may have to tweak our arrangement a little, but we hope it will be a good experience for all involved.

Pray for us, that all the Kojima Christians will continue to grow in faith and fellowship, and that we will soon be able to begin inviting friends to activities again.

Please pray for our sister Yukiko; without going into details she is searching for a godly way to handle a personal situation.

Brent Wood Rogers was born July 4, 1959, in Arkansas, U.SA. At a very young age, he felt a strong calling to be a missionary. He graduated from college in 1980. While at college he met and married Sandy. Together they planned a life sharing their faith in Jesus overseas. In 1981 they moved to Bangalore India, and lived there for three years, working as missionaries. Then Brent came down with a rare infection, and they returned to the U.S. for treatment. While in California, Brent preached in a small church, earned a master’s degree and Sandy taught school. God began to open their eyes to opportunities in Japan.

In 1991, they moved to Kojima for Brent to teach at Mt. Hood College. In 1993 he opened an English school which eventually became Logos. Brent suffered from several life-threatening health crises in rent years. Brent continued to learn to trust God to help them through these difficult times.

After living most of the last 26 years of his life in Kojima, Japan, Brent was diagnosed with colon cancer in April 2017. His courageous battle ended and he left this life on December 18, 2017. He left behind his wife of almost 38 years, Sandra Hougey Rogers, three siblings, two children, Tim and Rachel, and three grandchildren, Zoiee, Destyn, and Willow.

Brent and Sandy Rogers

Brent and Sandy Rogers

Brent and Sandy Rogers have been in Japan since 1991 working as vocational missionaries. They operated an English school called Logos in Kojima, Kurashiki in Okayama, Japan (west of Osaka/Kobe). Brent died on December 18, 2017. Since that time, Sandy continued ministering to the congregation in Kojima.

Reports:

• Fall 2015
• April 2013
• July 2012
• February 2012
• July 2011
• March-May 2011
• December 2010-February 2011
• September 2010
• August 2010
• April 2010