p. 12 | Japan by F. H. De Vinney

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 5, 1911

Japan

By F. H. De Vinney

F. H. DE VINNEY

THE months have passed so quickly that we can scarcely realize that it is now more than a year since we left the home land, and joined the little force of laborers proclaiming the message in this far-off heathen country.

We arrived in Japan in the most trying time of the year, the hot season; but the Lord has been gracious, and our health has been as good as when we were at home under familiar and more favorable conditions. Elders F. W. Field and W. J. Burden met us at the ship's side in Yokohama, and we were quickly taken through the customs and on our way to our future home in Tokyo, the capital of Japan.

Having read much concerning the country, we had some very decided impressions as to what we should find; but we shall never forget the feelings forced upon us as we first walked through the little, narrow, dirty lanes that serve as streets, with their open sewers filled with vile, stagnant semifluids on each side in front of the little one-story houses, and the seemingly thousand and one odors coming from this filth. This, with the character of the foods displayed in the little open shops, all exposed to flies, dust, and odors from the sewers, was not very conducive to good appetites; but though we rapidly lost flesh, we continued as well as usual.

The repulsion of feeling caused by the first observations is rapidly passing away as we find many things to admire, and to let our minds dwell upon rather than upon the disagreeable things.

We were given a very cordial reception by the brethren and sisters, who soon made us feel at home. This, with the cooperation of all the mission workers, has made us hopeful for the future of the work in Japan.

Since we reached the field, Dr. W. C. Dunscombe, our medical superintendent, has left us. He went to Edinburgh, Scotland, to take postgraduate work, and his wife returned to the States. Later, Elder Field, so long superintendent of the field, also returned to the States to take up school work in the Pacific Union College. This was upon his own request, that he might give his two children school privileges impossible to secure here. The love and best wishes of every member of the Japan Mission follow him to the home field, and we know that he will continue to work and pray for the success of the work in Japan.

The work of the Japan Mission now extends from Okita, on the northwest coast of the mainland, to Kogoshima, in the southeast of the island of Kyushu, a distance of over 1,300 miles, about three days' travel by train. The railroads are narrow gage, the cars small and always crowded, the trains slow, and the discomforts to those accustomed to American trains, great. Almost the entire population, or quite 50,000,000 persons, live between the points mentioned, and for the most part in the narrow valleys following the coast lines, with but small population in the interior.

Imagine a conference extending in a narrow line from Boston to Chicago, with work established at points of about the same distance apart as are the largest cities between those two places, and you will get about the right idea of the extent and position of our work. This extended growth has not been the result of a plan, but has come about through openings made by the sale of our literature.

The great distances make our work difficult and expensive, and in many ways hard to manage. Our churches are so far apart that they can not get together in general meetings to give one another the sympathy and support so encouraging and desirable. It is impossible to call our laborers together as often as is really necessary, on account of the expense. But we are so much more conveniently and favorably situated than some in these Oriental fields, and have so many pleasant features connected with our work, that we believe we have the best field in the great heathen lands, and the longer we remain, the more certain we are of this.

Last fall we had two tents in the field, with good results from each. This year we expect to have three tents out, having received a new forty-by-sixty-foot tent from the States during the summer, which will be pitched here in Tokio next month. Our tent season begins about the second week in April, and continues until the last of November. The rainy season coming early in July, and the typhoon season the first of September, the year is divided into three parts just about right for an effort, so each tent can make three pitches, and avoid the bad weather. This season we plan for one tent to make four efforts and serve two companies, the first company remaining to bind off their work while the second uses the tent for an effort where there is an interest that a laborer is holding until he can have the use of the tent.

There are many encouraging features in our work; but we realize it is “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,” that the work is to be done, and that it can be advanced only by much prayer and earnest, patient effort. We thank the brethren and sisters of the home land for their interest and their prayers in our behalf.

Tokio.