This diary was written with my Japanese and American friends in mind.
SDA = Seventh-Day Adventist
December 19 Here's a email i sent: Hey there M-san!
Glad to hear from you. That sounds like a heavy duty magnet on that MRI you're putting in! They were showing some of the new MRI technology the other nite on TV here - like where people were putting their hand in and moving it around, and it was taking MRI video. Then they MRIed the brain and you could actually see the synapses going on and off based on whether they were moving their left hand or right hands - really cool :)
I spent most of the day yesterday in front of the computer. In the morning i went to Akashi clinic, but they are closed on Thursdays - DOH!
But this morning! I made it to the clinic in sunny but typhoon-speed windy weather. The doctor checked my knees, and told me basically what i wanted to hear - the cartilage is hurt on my right knee. He said if i kept it still, and excercised my quads etc., that it should heal itself. Whew! Thank you God :)
Actually, things had been getting better and better, but last week my right knee acted up again. Then i got this email from you with good advice that made me stop and think. But the clincher was that my left knee started acting up Monday. I'm really to the place where it DOES hurt just to walk, so i got quite concerned. Thanx for the concern. I bot a new supporter today, so that should make it a little more stable. Also, coming back home i got off and pushed my bike up most of the hill whereas usually i grunt-ride almost to the top - haha. I see where President Bush had his knees checked, so maybe we have some empathy thing going...
It's cold.
I checked the internet for my train ride to Kyushuu - 13hours and 56 minutes. That's a long ride - haha. I'm planning to go on the 31st, and come back on the 4th of January.
Great news with the GC! The missionary in Madagascar who was against this book for several years said a couple of months ago that he reconsidered, and thot it would be nice to get it into Malagasy. Then this week he said he would like to translate it into French too! Tremendous! French is one of the 3 languages i most want to see it in - right up there with Chinese and Hindi.
Bot a bicycle for my homeless friend last week. I understand he loves it so much he is keeping it in his tent - haha.
Getting close to sundown, pray you are staying close to Jesus. He will see
us thru
(^-^)
December 15: It is also great to hear that Saddam Hussein has been captured! My heart goes out to all those in Arab countries who know nothing but religious oppression all their lives. Somehow i want to tell them about a Saviour who can save them from their sins!!!
So now i'm starting studying Arabic! Yea!!
December 14 Email i sent: Friends came today and we went for a walk in the woods behind the houses here. It was a beautiful crisp day, and i cut my hair this morning. I live very frugally: clothes i wear around the house have a clothes pin holding up the pants, holes in the socks, no car or even motorcycle, simple food (13,000JPY/month is probably less than half the average Japanese person's monthly bill) etc. I don't say this to show anything, except that i know i'm responsible to God for all the funds he has allowed me to have, and i have to follow the truth given by Spirit to Ellen White: Christ’s Object Lessons, 351. It says, "Money has great value, because it can do great good. In the hands of God’s children it is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, and clothing for the naked. It is a defense for the oppressed, and a means of help to the sick. But money is of no more value than sand, only as it is put to use in providing for the necessities of life, in blessing others, and advancing the cause of Christ."
Did you hear about the revised version of the Questions on Doctrines? Yes, i have heard of this revised book. Information may be available on it on the internet. It sounds like they are trying to do a good job, but noticing their awful compromising of the truth in the past, i doubt this revised edition will tell the straight truth.
I purchased a used bicycle for my homeless friend last Friday. It was 5,500JPY (around 50USD), which is just a bit less than the postage for the box of books sent to you. I wonder which is the better bargain - haha. I'm just glad to be able to help out. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
Last Thursday i taught my first English class at a local nursery school. I'm not used to teaching 28 kids at one time, but somehow the Lord helped me thru it.
They just said on TV that Saddam Hussein has been captured. I sure hope it is true. The world doesn't not need mass killers.
December 8: My cut was small, and it is all healed now. God has made us with wonderful bodies! Last nite i saw some motion pictures on TV of a baby inside it's mama. Awesome pictures!!! The tiny being was so delicate - so cute! Even the people on the TV show were oohing and aahing about the amazing pics. Of course this is Japan, so probably noone thot about the 1,000 babies that get aborted each day in this country. So sad to see killing being done to satisfy the mother's wants :(
December 7: Today Y-san (the lady of the house where i live) and i went to Konan (a big home supply store), and i picked up 3 big boxes. On Sunday there are LOTS of boxes - too many. I cut my finger and bled all over the place - yuck. We spent over 1 hour going thru the old clothes, and putting them in boxes. So now there are 3 boxes full of (20kg) clothes :) One of them i put summer-type clothes in, and that is the one i will send to southern India, where i am sponsoring a family who will get the original GC into the Indian languages. I am surprised at how nice most of the clothes are tho! Some are children's clothes, and some are adults.
Y-san picked out a few things for her grandkids, and i picked out a pair of pants and 2 shirts. I'm finally going to throw away an old shirt i had with a big hole in it - haha. Y-san was happy about that too - haha. Now i have to figure out how to get big 10kg boxes to the post office. They sure won't fit on my bicycle!!
I went down to Sakai city yesterday to see my church friend's husband who is in the hospital after breaking his leg from a fall on a scooter 2 weeks ago. He is not Christian, but is kindly disposed towards it, so we had a Bible study of Romans 5. Then we ate, and rolled his wheelchair outside to the lovely pond/park behind the hospital. He seemed really happy, as it was his first time out of the confines of the hospital in nearly 2 weeks :)
Then a friend and i went to see the homeless man who had surgery to take something off his back last Monday. He seemed in pretty good spirits. I was disappointed that he didn't buy a bicycle with the funds i gave him last week, so decided that we should go together to look for a used bicycle. We walked and walked and walked, but none of the 3 places we went to had any. I got quite tired, and my knee twinged once too, which is the first time in several weeks. My former homeless friend and i are planning to take this man to a bicycle shop in Osaka this coming week, and pay for the bicycle there so he doesn't spend the money on cigarettes or whatever.
On my website: www.earlysda.com i recently put up the first part of the audio version of the original GC i recorded. It took me a long time to record, and then to edit on the computer, but i think it sounds pretty good now. Could you clik on "Part 1", and tell me what you think of the recording? I also want to know if it skips on your connection. I have the full book already read and on CD, and will put it all on the internet if the first part is OK.
Last Thursday i was introduced to a new English class!!! Praise God!! This will pay 10,000 yen a month, so i can help even more to get the 3rd Angel's Message out to the world. I give some of God's money to a homeless man, and God gives me much more! Surely my cup runs over with joy and blessings of the Lord!
(^-^)
PS: I saw this web site the other nite that said only 4% of Americans have a
Biblical Worldview. It is interesting:https://www.barna.com/research/barna-survey-examines-changes-in-worldview-among-christians-over-the-past-13-years/
December 3: Actually i had a very good day today - no kids crying - and even found some great clothes along the side of the road for my friend in India. In the bag there was a great pair of Levi's just my size!!!! Who cares that there are some funky bleach marks on the left leg. The cords i had for around 10 years finally gave thru in the seat recently (that's where the saddle rubs), so i cut them up and am using them to wipe the floor. An other pair of pants (that i'd picked up around 3 years ago), i finally gave up because they were so small i couldn't snap them. I wore them around the house, hanging my shirt over the snap and top of the zipper, but one too many "near-drops" convinced me to send them on to India. Japanese throw away great stuff!! The first box arrived in India last week, and P-san said that the kids and he too were enjoying wearing the warm clothes :)
November 30 A Email i sent: Three things in the church here in Japan have made themselves crystal-clear this year:
1. Leaders and members here want to be free to either worship their Buddhist altars, or at the minimum, keep them in their homes.
2. Unconditional love. This mantra is repeated from the pulpits almost every Sabbath, and is on the home page of the Japan SDA web site. Of course anyone who believes this will not listen to any words of reproof, because "Jesus' love is unconditional".
3. Sunday-keeping churches are our brothers and sisters. Sure, there are a few honest souls in every congregation, but as churches, they are all under the control of Satan. When i show them in the 1858 Great Controversy where it clearly says that, they usually say, "official SDA policy is different", and then go into the mantra mentioned in #2......sigh.....Fortunately there are a solid few here and there who are holding back the great tide of evil :)
I was shocked at the dress styles in the Collegedale church when i was back that way in May for my neices' graduation. Whore house? Church? I couldn't tell, but it is very difficult to concentrate on worship with that around you. What worship! haha. The sermons were excellent - if you think stand-up comedy constitutes a sermon. The whole atmosphere reeked of worldliness, and made me realize a small portion of Jesus' feelings when he got a whip and drove everybody out of the temple.
I did not know Terry Ross committed suicide. That is awful. I thot he and his wife had a beautiful ministry i think mostly with the Solomon islands, but i heard a year or so ago that he had an affair and divorced his wife. What is true or not, i don't know. Satan always works his hardest on those actually pushing forward the 3rd Angel's Message. I know i need everyone's prayers too.
There was exciting news from India two weeks ago! A husband and wife team have agreed to work full time to get this original Great Controversy into the various Indian languages!!! The husband's name is S., originally from Sri Lanka. I have agreed to sponsor them, so i pray that God's money will be used in a proper way to give him glory. It is sooo hard to find people in India who will actually work, so i am a little nervous, but if you can, please breathe a prayer for the success of this new project.
The books from Verne Bates that you so graciously sent me around 3 years ago are now winging their way over the Asian continent to the above-mentioned family. They don't have very many books, but are very eager, and good at English. I pray that they will be greatly blessed by them. While i was packing up the precious books, i thot about how much benefit they had been to me. i spent many thousands of hours with those books, typing them in one by one, translating them etc. Now they are on to the 2nd stage of their lives. Your kindness in sending them will be remembered a long time E-san!!!
There are 2 people in Kenya in contact with me now. Hopefully one of them will be willing to go forward with the GC. Seems he has had "ambition" problems in the past tho.....have to be careful and pray for the Spirit's direction. A French missionary in Madagascar is interested in getting it into Malagasy too :)
Have you been to or heard about the "Gospel of John" movie? It is a 3 hour word for word account. I'd love to hear about it from anyone back that way. https://www.jesusfilm.org/watch.html
I'm pretty excited about what is going on in the Middle East too. I think this is similar or perhaps bigger than the Berlin wall falling down. Now is the time to evangelize!
Here's good news about a new SDA church in Iraq:
https://www.adventistreview.org/archives/2003-1547/news.html
November 10: Thank you very much for helping me out today. 足にも擦り傷があるけど、打撲以外は大した事ないみたい。 交野にきてから２回目の転倒で、やっぱり前も雨の日だった。 あのCarpenters’の歌ご存知ですか→ Rainy days and Monday always get me down♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪
でも本当は英語を教える日、月、火、水、大好きです。
(・∠・)
Yea!!!!
楽しく、痛く、頑張っていま〜す。
有難うございました。
November ?? A Email to a Japanese friend/student
Hi Y., Thanks for the cool pics of the clouds. I really like them! I showed them to Y-san last nite when she came upstairs to send a email to a friend, and she said you take nice pics :) But hey, i KNOW about the sun thing - （Yさんが大阪人と思って突っ込んでくれるやろう、と思ったの。 ほんまに大阪人か？！）
If you want to see some cool pics of clouds that look like UFOs, clik here: https://strangesounds.org/2013/05/lenticular-clouds-the-spectacular-clouds-that-look-like-ufos.html
My brother has been to Ukraine i think once before. He and my sister sponsored a Russian family to come to America so the man could go to school to become a pastor. He had friends in Ukraine, so once before my brother went there. In his email the other day he mentioned something about maybe liking some woman there, so that's why i think he's trying to find someone. He's quite down on life, and i would be very happy to see him with a nice girl who would help him be happy :)
Danny?? Whatever God's will is. I like Japan very much, but maybe it's best for me not to marry, i don't know. I really do love kids, and would really enjoy having someone to be with - but i'm not actively looking for anybody. 怒ってないよ。 僕の事を考えてくれて嬉しい。
Yesterday i went down to A-san's apartment, and put a bunch of clothes in a big box he found. We put it on the back of my bicycle, and took it down to the post office. We got 18.6 kilos in it, and mailed it to India for 8,000 yen. I was very surprised when A-san gave 2,000 yen towards postage! He said it was best to help people with it, rather than use it all on himself - excellent!! I hope to send another box of clothes out around the end of this month or beginning of next month. Some kids in India should be warmer this winter than last :)
In the afternoon we went to 帝塚山 and met a 85 year old sister （信仰の上）. N-san was there too, and we sang some hymns and studied the Bible a little.
I ate lunch at A-san's - the usual - rice, tofu, and grated pumpkin (yummy), but for supper i wanted spaghetti. We got back a little late, so i gave up on the spaghetti. But when we saw the big Italian flag at こまとら we decided to have spaghetti anyway. It was delicious, and we had some 小松菜 too. yum yum. You should have come - haha.
Hope you have a good time today. I have to look for some more students on 4:30 Monday, because my class at that time quit this last Monday. We studied a little over a year, so it's a little sad... I'm looking forward to Sabbath in a few hours (^-^)
またメール下さいね
Danny
November ??: 今度の日曜日会いませんか。 自転車でＳたちのとこまで１５分くらいしか掛からない。 是非会いましょうね：） 昨日Ａさんに会って、インドへ服を送った。 御飯を作ってくれたりして、楽しかったよ。 Ａさんもカンパしてくれて、びっくりした。 「人を助けるためにお金があるでしょう」とか言ってうなずいた。 彼のために祈り続けて下さい。 僕たちまたＹａさんのお家に行きたいけど、暇の木か日曜日ありますか。 では、いい安息日を！
このＨＰで聖書を寄付できるらしい。
https://www.persecution.com/donate/
November 7: Ｅメールの内容： こんにちは、僕の住んでるところのＵさんの旦那さんが２週間前亡くなった。 癌で、５年前手術受けて、また今年の３月に出て、５月から入院したり、家に帰ったりしてた。 最期はお家で、家族に囲まれながら息を引き取った。 いつ死ぬか人間分からないけど、その前にイエス・キリストを受け入れて欲しいな〜。 復活されて、最後の審判を受ける。 皆。
Sorry, not keeping up very well with this....
September 16: God sure does make some amazing things! Last week there was a collision in the sky of the moon and Mars. To see the big whitish swallowing up the orangish little orb was quite inspiring. One of my Japanese friends said it poeticly, that it was like a puppy dog staying close to its master. I wondered if having the 2 nearest celestial bodies to earth being in alignment with each other would exert extra pull causing earthquakes or something, but fortunately nothing happened :)
My knee has been giving me problems for about 6 weeks now, but it looks like the water on it has finally subsided. I still wear a black supporter (for volleyball use) during the day, but it is noticeable better. Thank you Jesus :
The wobbly front basket on my bicycle finally became too much, and i recycled one from a thrown-away bicycle last week. It's more fun to ride when the front wheel isn't being jerked around. Like a friend said tho, if i didn't put 15 kilos (a small exaggeration) in my backpack, it wouldn't be such a problem - that's right, haha
Last week one of my friends met A-san and i, and we went around to have worship with an old lady, and then see K-san in the hospital, and then went back to A's apartment where he fixed supper, and then we went to church to hear a Korean man speak about the end-time prophecies mostly from Matthew 24. It was interesting how he showed the state of wars etc. in the world (it was the 2nd anniversary of the attacks on America), and my friends were quite impressed. I pray they will want to study the Bible more, and give their lives to Jesus soon :
This summer i used the 青春１８切符 to travel with A-san to see his sister in Niigata. The little church there was very friendly, even inviting me to live there to help them!!! I took a day trip to the tiny church in Yokkaichi. Good thing, as they are closing down the church at the end of this month. Very sad... Then a trip to see a friend in Hiroshima, where i went to the large church, and then another day-trip 2 weeks ago to the old and dying Gifu church. It was interesting to me, that almost everywhere i went there were one or two people in each church who seemed to really be on fire for Jesus, and spreading the 3rd angel's message. I pray my influence told for good.
July 28: An English student-friend and i went for an hour + drive last Friday over
the other side of Nara. The green mountains were really nice, and the
immaculately groomed tea fields looked almost as good as the many golf
courses. I think we could see around 6 golf courses from the top of the
mountain!!! We studied the Bible awhile too. My friend asked how she was
supposed to keep the Sabbath. She will have a hard time when she decides to
go all the way with Jesus, but the reward is worth it.
(^-^)
July 10: My home-stay family's mother Y is grandma for the 5th time! It was born on Tuesday, the same day that her husband came home after a 9week stay in the hospital. Y was complaining about needing more hands, and fortunately her other daughter came for a day to help out. You see, 2 of her grandkids have been staying here for the last 5 days. They are quite a rowdy crew :
Last Thursday i went down to Osaka and rode all over on my bicycle and bot some almonds and went to the International House and saw my former homeless friend A-san and ate supper at his place. I think i got too much sun, but it sure felt good after 4 weeks of rain, clouds, rain, clouds (^-^
Wednesday evening one of the grandkids here and i played Sea Battle on GamesPark with someone named "hi". He was a 11 year old from America. He was so rude, that i cancelled the game before we started shooting. There are some real losers out there. Next, we met a gentleman from the UK who gaves us hints where his ships were and everything. There are some real winners out there too!!!!!
One of my Japanese friends sent me emails the other day saying she is keeping some frog in her bathroom now! I wonder if her cats will get it....
On the Sabbath i met 3 church friends and one former homeless friend, and we studied about Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, and watched part of a video called "Jesus", then went to a lavender garden. It was a nice, restful day. You can't smell the sweet fragrance, but go here: https://www.kobeherb.com/en/ for some pics
Here is what my pastor friend in Kalimpong India wrote me 3 weeks ago:
Last week we were busy with Penteconstal , Free Church Pastor and Elder. We
taught about Sabbath and Baptism. They are very happy and planning to join
our Adventist Church. Behind them there are 180 members and hope these
brethren will slowly understand the truth. Our book G.C in Nepali help them
lot and we presented behalf of the church.
This morning church members from Bhutan came to Kalimpong requested 100
copies of Nepali G.C. Even in Darjeeling we send 50 copies requested by
presbyterian Church members. Really this book is a great blessing to many of
our nepali readers. Even in NEPAL many brethren send thank you and best
wishes for bringing up this book and they are very glad.
I'm hoping to send him some more funds next month for the Bengali, Hindi, and 2 other languages currently being translated, and some tithe to be used by evangelists there. The tithe i sent last year from me and my 2 Japanese friends has supported 2 full-time evangelists, and they have been doing house-to-house work, and say they have 25 people grounded in the truth who want to be baptized. BUT, now is the rainy season, and it's too hard to even walk anywhere, so they are praying for a let-up in the rain so they can baptize these people:)
The Korean version of the original G.C. got printed up 2 weeks ago, and the ABC stores in Korea are distributing it free - yea!
Recently i've been putting emphasis on the work in northern India. The pastor there writes every week, and now we are planning to start a medical evangelism training centre. It's wonderful to see that there are many people pushing forward the Lord's work (^-^
2 weeks ago i went to Mt. Rokko with a family that i used to teach English to many years (6?) ago. It was really fun to meet them again, and to climb up the mountain. We went to Garden Terrace which is a nice new restaurant/shopping/strolling area. We got rained on a little, but had umbrellas, so it wasn't bad. It was really neat to see the fog below and the clouds above -- https://www.kobeherb.com/en/ kind of like we were in a sandwich:)
I have a rebuttal to what Vance Ferrell wrote about me in his May Checkpoints newsletter. He says that i am in cohoots with Verne Bates in Oregon, and that we are leading people to throw away Ellen White's books. Nearly every point he raised was not true, and even someone who works on his web site read my rebuttal and said that my rebuttal was true. It's at: http://www.earlysda.com/checkpoints.html Please let me know what you think of this
Of all the comments received from this bruha, every one of them has been positive. In other words, Vance Ferrell plays loose and fast with the facts, stirring up trouble to get people to donate him more money. I've supported Vance in the past, buying his books etc. as you can read in the rebuttal, and have no axe to grind with him. I just want him to state the facts. Because of his newsletter, Lawrence Nelson was harassed by some people, and bless his soul, he believes the words of Vance over mine, even tho he verified that Vance told at least one untruth in his newsletter. Elder Nelson said he'd received "hundreds of letters" of appreciation for this book, but for some reason chose to believe the words of Vance Ferrell without checking the facts for himself. He told me that some people said they would stop supporting him, so probably he got scared. Elder Nelson is old and has worked long in the Lord's vineyard, and is not as accountable as Vance Ferrell is.
July 7: Last Friday i had my first private Bible study with one of my English students. She had seemed interested before, but never made a decision to study until i asked on the airplane going up to Tokyo. She's the one who went to see her daughter in Knoxville, and i was hoping to meet her there,but... Anyway, we had a pleasant time talking about the Bible itself, and how it all boils down to faith - either you believe it or you don't. There's no way to -prove- it by scientific methods. Her sister died last year, so she is a bit hostile to God, but deep-down she seems to really want to know more about him. May God's Spirit work on her
Yesterday i came across an amazing book on the internet. I was searching for info on "Tibetan Bible", and saw a book that was printed by PPPA, and was written by a SDA. The trials/miracles etc. to get the Bible into the Tibetan language are really inspiring. With India and China thawing relations, the Sikkim border is scheduled to be reopened soon. Kalimpong was the old staging point for trade into Tibet many years ago, and it's possible that it will become a hub of activity again. I sure want to get that GC into Tibetan and Chinese soon! If you are interested, http://www.nwtv.co.uk/pages/arts/books/books/tibet/chap01.htm this is the book.
https://bestlifeonline.com/bizarre-sea-creatures/ These pics i came across are awesome. God has sure made some interesting (weird) creatures...
May 8: This has been a trial for me. I've just finished putting up a rebuttal on my site, which you can see from: here. If there are any problems with it, or any advice, please let me know
Yesterday i called Elder Nelson. He said many people have called him, waking him at nite, and saying they would never give him any money again. He did not sound angry at me, but seemed a little upset-disappointed. In his letter to me dated April 29 tho, he said he had gotten "hundreds" of letters of support from people who had received the books. It bothers me a bit that he is currently believing the rap from a few people without checking the facts himself
I DO know that Satan is not happy at all about 17,000 of these treasure books being spread all over the world. If he was allowed to attack Ellen White personally and nearly kill her over this, he will surely use every weapon the Lord allows him to, to destroy the influence of this book. Perhaps God is telling us to trust more in him and less (none) on donations or leaders?
Anyway, it's been a stomach-wrenching 2 days for me, but with getting this on the net, hopefully i can get a good rest tonite:)
April 14: While i agree that the US is setting itself up to be the force behind the Catholic led body of religions, the fact is, is that without the US, there would be much more bloodshed and mayhem in the world. Surely this is a window of opportunity to get the 3rd Angel's Message out!!
Excerpt from The Australian, April 14th, 2003
In 2001, it was only the US that could liberate Afghanistan from the Taliban. The results in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan today are not perfect. But all those countries are better off than they were, and only the US could make those changes. American participation is essential to the world. American power is often the only thing that stands between civility and genocide, order and mayhem.
I do not want to pretend that everything the US has done has been right. The manner and methods of this administration sometimes are counterproductive. But that is not grounds for the shameless attack on the US and its dilemmas launched by Chirac and Schroder."
God bless America
Here are some beautiful http://blog.livedoor.jp/friendu_bai/archives/1663787.html pics of the row of trees with cherry blossoms near my house.
3/11 The following is the Japanese translation of the letter the pastor in Kalimpong, India sent me. You can see the original English version on the Kalimpong emails page
親愛なるダニエル兄弟へ、
我々ダージーリング・ゴルカＳＤＡ教会の皆さんと僕からナマセテと有難う！ 極東の兄弟姉妹の知ってる者と知らない者と豊かな経験があった事を知らせたくれました。 （韓国の旅の事を前のＥメールで知らせた） この貴重な本が多くの言葉に翻訳され、本当に誇りに思って、あなたを賞賛します。 本当に、この本はすべての家にあって、皆が理解できるようになるべきですね。 今、ネパールの東部やカトマンズからあなたが発行した本を取りに来るアドベンチスト兄弟が訪れています。 各自に１００冊くらい渡して、経済的に余裕のある人に売って、買えない人に無料であげるように指示しています。 数日前葬式で印刷所の社長と翻訳者に会って、良い交わりができました。 この本のお陰で多くの人が彼らの事を知り、知名度が高くなってきたばかりではなく、自分の人生も変わってきて、恵まれてると話しました。
最近ユニオンの長、ヒンディ語を話すジョーンさん（ここ日本の佐川さんに当る人）に会って、２ヶ月前この本を手に入れた事を誇りに思ってると言いました。 このネパール語に訳された本はいつも彼のテーブルのそばに置いてあって、来客皆にこの本を勧めています。 いろんな教会から長老や牧師がこの本を注文しています。 ある所では「この本を注意するよう」と言ってる人もいます。 何で？と思って彼らと相談したら、「ある教会のリーダーたちはエレン・ホワイトでさえ女性の事を大事に思ってない」という単純な答えが出ました。 でも今まで何人かの牧師でも喜んでこの本を受け取って、かばんに入れて、常に持ち歩いています。 こういう牧師たちは密かにこの本を読んで、教会員の前で公然として話すのを恐れてるようです。 その理由は彼らは自分の地位や仕事を守りたがってるからです。 いつかこういう人たちは今のアドベンチストより強いアドベンチストになると僕は確信しています。 彼らの人生がすぐ変わるように、いつも祈っています。
さ〜、妻と娘が治療を受けるためカトマンズに行っちゃったので、僕は一人で留守番をしています。 すぐ帰って来ると思うけど〜。 お医者さんの指示に従って、僕は長い旅できません。 僕の健康状態は思わしくないけど、むりやりにやっています。 教会の活動大好きです。 何もしないならもっと痛くなるので、いろんな仕事で気を紛らわしています。 とにかく、私たちの主は良い事をしてくれるし、伝道する時にどこに行っても祝福し続けてくれます。 ここの二人の伝道師（僕が２００１年に二人分の支援金を送った）は素晴らしい仕事をしています。 もう一人は糖尿病だからあまり働けません。 まだ冬なのでバプテスマ式は４月に行なう予定です。
冬の間にバプテスマを行なった事があるけど、何人かは風邪を引いたり、肺炎を起こしたりした様だった。 私たちの教会の伝道師たちは個別訪問をして、この本を売ったり、経済的に弱い人に無料で配ったりしています。 教区が彼らの生活費を払えなくても、この本で一時的に神様の働きが支えられてる事を心から感謝します。
先週本がよく売れたので、教会の理事会の決議でそのわずかな金で教会の修理とペンキ塗りに充てた。 病気なので最近Ｅメール送れなくて、ごめんなさい。 それに、教会と学校の秘書である人がコンピュータに入力したら、コンピュータが動けなくなってしまった。 シリグリ市で新しいのを買うのに１２万円くらい掛かるそうです。 クレジットで買って、コンピュータを自分の部屋に置いておくつもりです。 ノート型はいいけど、高くて買えません。 部屋に置くのはいいと思います。 好きな時にＥメールやりとりできるし、他の人に触れるのを許しません。 学校にはコンピュータが一台しかないから僕が今使ってるコンピュータを学校に譲るつもりです。 いつも秘書が学校のテストなどの作成に使っているから使いたくても使えないのです。 主が道を開けてくれるのを望んで、特別に祈っています。
教会員皆はいつもあなたを愛し、祈りの時に覚えています。 明日は特別な安息日で、教会員皆が集ってパトラックをする予定です。 ダニエルもここに居たらいいけど、居なくてもあなたの事を忘れません。 毎日、車、聖書、ネパール語の大闘争などを通して、あなたが一緒に居る事を覚えています。 我々のため骨折りをしてくれて、有難うございあます。 私たちの主があなたに健康を与え、そしてヨハネ１４：１〜３を実現させるように望んでいます。
韓国での素晴らしい体験談をＥメールで聞かしてくれて、有難うございます。 いい安息日を！
> イエスはあなたを愛しています！ アーメン。
キリストにある兄弟、
Ｐ．
3/9 Oddly enough, we are having the heaviest snowfall of the year just as we are about to enter spring...
３月５日→実りの多い韓国訪問から日曜日帰って来て、もっともっと頑張る気が湧いてきました：） 燃えてるクリスチャンに囲まれるのは本当に心強いものですね。 ＤＣのところで泊まって、パーチュ・グレイン（乾燥された穀類？）を食べて、美味しかったよ。 やっぱり健康改革を受け入れたら、現代の真理 をよりはっきりと理解できるようになる。
大闘争の韓国語版の翻訳は進められてる。 もしかしたら、向こうの福音社に当たる時兆社が発行してくれるかも知れない。 すごく嬉しいです（＾−＾） 中国語、ベトナム語、タガログ、ベンガルなど、いろんな扉が開かれて、どう進めればいいのか祈ってくれませんか。
My recent trip to Korea.
Sunday i got back from a 3 day trip to Korea. The most surprising thing about Korea was the price of everything - HIGH! Higher than Japan for many things. One liter of gasoline was around 1.10USD, strawberries around 5.00 for a pack (huge, juicy, yummy ones:), 2.60 for a loaf of bread etc. etc. How do the people live? The GNP per person is only around 9,000. Going out in the countryside it looked like many people live in pig-stys, so probably most of the elderly, rural people just scrape by with what they can grow themselves.
Tremendous news involving the spread of the original Great Controversy! A man met me at the bus stop near the Korea Publishing House (like R&H), who i had never seen before, but had sent several emails to for the last 2 months. He is without doubt the leading translator of Ellen White books into Korean. He has his own bakery and farm out in the country, and while not employed by the denomination, has a good relationship with them. After talking with him in the car about 15 minutes about my plans, we headed over to KPH to meet the chief editor who is his friend. He was interested in this project, and said he would bring it before the committee for approval. If it goes well, KPH will print 5,000 copies for 90centsUS each, and then distribute them gratis at camp-meetings this summer. He said KPH would keep the copyright which makes me hesitant, but he assured me i could put the book on the internet freely, and the translator said that he has never had problems with this arrangement for his books. If you have advice on this, please let me know.
So the translator is going great on the book, up to chapter 2 by the time i left Sunday morning. Like all others he couldn't understand why i'm so interested in spreading this book, but by the time i left he seemed to understand better. Early Writings was translated into Korean around 10 years ago, and as you know, this original GC with some changes is in the back of that book. However, the Korean translation has taken out ALL times where Ellen White wrote "I saw" or "I was shown". He shook his head too....
The translator also has connections with the Bangladesh church officials, and knows the publishing director there personally. He mentioned this book to the director when he was there last month, and the director was very co-operative, saying that there were only 2 or 3 books currently translated into Bengali. Looking on the internet, Bengali is used by 189,000,000 people, number 4 in the world! Of course the literacy rate may not even be 50%, but still there are a lot of people who need this truth in their native tongue. So i'm going to contact him and see if we can't get this book into Bengali. It looks quite favorable at this point. The translator says he sponsors orphan girls who want to get a good education (not readily available in a Muslim country), so i promised to help him with one student studying in the Philippines to be a dentist, with the understanding she will go back to Bangladesh to help her own people. I asked the translator why not get the education in America, and he said: "After they get used to American culture, they don't want to go back to their own country. They have to work hard, but things are still much better for them in America than in their own countries. But if they study in the Philippines (SDA Mountain View College), they will go back to their own country."
The food this translator's wife served was quite strange, but tasty - parched grains. It's hard to explain, but they get several different grains and steam and roast and dry them, and then you eat them just like that - crunch, crunch, crunch. They were very good, but gets a bit boring after every meal. Of course they did have some other things like fruit, and tofu, nuts, corn on the cob, beans etc., but the hard little grains were the main dish. A freelance TV journalist (non-SDA) lives next to their property (3/4 acre is 100,000USD!) and has featured their lifestyle on national TV several times. He gave me a video, so i'll show some of my friends here.
On with more info about translating the original Great Controversy:
I met the man who printed my Japanese GC on Sunday. It was Hallelujah time
as he has come back from the Reformed SDA church into the SDA church!! His
son isn't so happy about it as he says the kids in the SDA church are not at
all like his friends in the Reformed church, but he sees it as an
opportunity to witness:) His work is full-time printing of various
religious books, especially various Bibles and Spirit of Prophecy. If
you've seen The Study Bible, it was printed by him. Anyway, he has
connections or affiliates in several countries, and expressed great interest
in working together to get this book into:
Chinese (mainland, simplified Chinese)
Vietnamese
Tagalog
Each of these will cost around 900USD to translate it looks like. Then on
to printing - Yeah!
This doesn't have anything to do with this trip, but last week a man said he'd contacted a Brother in Brazil, and was talking to him about getting this book into Portuguese. When i got back home last nite, there was a email from the pastor in Belarus who got this book into Russian last year, saying that he thinks he can find somebody to get it into German. A man in Sweden offered to translate it into his language for 3,400USD, but that sounds like too much, so i turned down his offer.
So there are quite a few burners in the fire:) If you have any advice or help, please drop me a line!
Hang in there. God has a crown of life for those who are patient and keep the faith to the end (^-^)
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2003 sounds slow, go back to exciting home page!
Go to earlysda.com to read original 1858 Great Controversy book