Cross & Comments - November 2010

N v r 0 0 INSIDE THIS ISSUE NOVEMBER’S PRAYER OF THE MONTH ——–———— pg. 2 CRAFT & VENDOR FAIR PROVES SUCCESSFUL ——– pg. 3 OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD ————––—-——–- pg. 4 CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR PERSONS WITH HIV/AIDS – pg. 5 CAPITAL REGION THEOLOGICAL CENTER NEWS —— pg. 6 THANKSGIVING EVE SERVICE ——–—————-——— pg. 7 7 0 1 S a n d C r e e k R o a d , C o l o n i e , N e w Y o r k 1 2 2 0 5 2 4 9 7 B r u c e K . C o r n w e l l , P a s t o r T e l e p h o n e ( 5 1 8 ) 8 6 9 5 5 8 9 w w w . c o l o n i e r e f o r m e d . o r g A three year work assignment in Japan. For BJ Todd, who had majored in Asian studies and taken Japanese in college back in the ’70s, it was a dream come true. For his wife, Debi, it was just the opposite. To put it mildly, she felt as if the rug had been pulled out from under her and as Rev. Cornwell read verses 4-7 of Jeremiah 29 during a service in October, it all came back to her. ―Those people who had been sent into exile from Jerusalem to Baby- lon…that was me!‖ she said. The move had demanded that s he give up her home and her job, leave family and friends, and live in a coun- try where both the language and customs were completely foreign. It was frightening, unnerving. ―Trailing spouse .‖ That’s what s he was referred to o n every govern- ment document and that seemed to sum up her new station in life. The decisive, know-what-to-do woman she had been back in New York had taken leave. That became obvious two weeks after they arrived in Japan when BJ left for a trip back to the states. ―For three days, I got dressed and went to the front door. I just couldn’t open it and go out,‖ she said. The thought of venturing out made her physically ill. What if she took the wrong bus or train and got lost? ―There was no t one single sign in English. I couldn’t speak Japanese so if anything went wrong, I had no idea what to do.‖ Each day BJ called and asked what she had done that day. The an- swer was always the same: stayed home. But on the fourth day, she responded, ―I did some grocery shopping, took clothes to the cleaners and went to the bank!‖ Thus says the Lord...Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat what they produce… She had, according to the title of Bruce’s (Continued on page 2) Exiles in a Foreign Land The Todds Describe their Three-Year Stay in Japan Cynthia Placek

Cross & Comments - November 2010

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