Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Oct/95

Contributor - Corrina Kippers

Title - Student Missions

Topic - Student Missions

January, 1995, I was blessed with the opportunity to spend six months in Japan as a student/missionary. I went to Meiji Gakuin Higashimurayana High School where I finished up my high school, and helped to bring the Lord Jesus into the lives of many students.

Meiji Gakuin Higashimurayana High School's roots can be traced back to 1859 when American missionaries from the Reformed Church in America and the Presbyterian Church in America came over to Japan for the first time. Today, Meiji Gakuin is a private school based on Christian principles and is comprised of a Junior High School and three Senior High Schools (one of them is in Tennessee, USA) and a college. Northwestern College in Iowa is also closely affiliated with Meiji Gakuin Higashimurayana in Japan.

The foreign students are placed with a Japanese host family so these families can experience Christianity first hand through us.

In the family with whom I lived, only the mother and daughter were Christians, not the father and son.

Japanese people work hard and strive to give their children the best education possible. Meiji Gakuin Higashimurayana is a private school which has the highest quality education possible in Japan and the learning of the English language is utmost importance. Most of the students are from Buddhist and Shinto religious backgrounds and when they come to Meiji Gakuin Higashimurayana they are taught that the Lord Jesus is #1, which to them is very strange, so we minister to them in our way; we eat, study, sing, laugh, do sports with them while they see us praising the Lord and notice how the Lord Jesus shines right in us.

This was not hard to do, because amid three earthquakes a day, I continually felt the presence of the Lord, so much more in Japan than I ever felt in Canada.

My six months stay in Japan is one of the greatest highlights of my life. The friendships I have made I will always treasure. Japanese people are a wonderful people, always kind, courteous and helpful.

I strongly urge any teenager who is interested to send a letter to myself, care of Christ Community Church, Welland, Ontario for more information.

I would sincerely like to thank the congregation of Christ Community Church, for their prayers and financial support. Without these special people in my life none of this would have been possible.

And last, but definitely not least, I would like to thank God for giving me the will and the way to do this work.

Thank you, and God Bless.

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