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Dear Ch r i s t i a n F r i e nd s^

March 15 , 1974Minburn* IowaBox 173Adel.IA 50003

Japanese music is in the air When we l e f t Japan las t June the Tomakomai church gave us a se t of casset te tapes with Japanese churchtnusico Yesterday, I l is tened to a tape from the preacher. BrotherKimura. I t was recorded the l a s t day of 1973. I re turned home onlya couple of days ago af te r a twomonth absence so th i s was the f i r s topportunity to hear the tapeo Also there were l e t te r s from JapaneseChr is t ians and friendso Japan i s on our minds We hope it i s ony o u r s

As we think of Japan and our return we think of our needs We arereturning in August to begin .Sappaxo^^ Since the workis new we are going to need your prayers and material help Most ofthe needed equipment we have on handso (We will not attempt to buythe 8mm Japanese-sound Life of Christ films and projector ($2000)unless someone or church so designateso) We hope to build before theyear is out, and limited otherfunds from the sale of the Tomakomai mission houseo We wil l buildhousing and hopefully an adequate church building. Until completionTnost of your undesignated gifts will go toward this project . Sapporois a modern city with good substancial huildingSo We want to builda bui ld ing compatible to the areaoIn l ight of present day inflation and reva luation of the yen churchesare reviewing their missionary commitment. Perhaps you are one whohas increased your support or are intending to do so. This is maturemiss iona ry g iv i ng .We will not try to l i s t pla ces E rnest has visited the past two monthsHe -left Iowa January 11th for Texas, and then traveled to Florida. Theincent ive to v i s i t Florida was the reques t from the Virginia Gardenschurch of Miami Springs The church building in Tomakomaj:~wa"9planned a fte r th eir building. From Florida Ernest went to Georgia,Tennessee , Kentucky, and OhioDuring spring break of the Cincinnati Bible Seminary Ernest and ourson, Charles, who is a freshman at CBS, came to Iowa on Monday, March11th and they will return to Ohio together Friday where Ernest willcontinue his tour by visit ing Delaware and Kentucky, and then continuewest to I l l ino i s and Wisconsin Ernest plans to be home for a portionof the week pr ior to F^enurrection Sunday.While Ernest is gone the family continues to be busy. Linda is inDenver for a six-month t ra in ing course and Charles i s busy with hiss tudies and work in Cincinnat i . Allan i s a senior and Donald an eighthgrader in the Minburn, Iowa, school Neva continues her college workby going to Iowa State University, Ames, and the community college atBoone two days a week.An ar t ic le by Neva on "Winter Vacation Bible School in Japan" was recently printed in Standard Publishing Company*s Key magazine. Perhapsyou might l i ke to read it.We were happy to learn that Charles was on the Deanb l i s t at CBS. Wepray he continues the good work. He preached his f irs t sermon duringChristmas vaca t ion. He did a very f ine job . He wi l l do some supplypreaching during the summer as time permits .The family will be together for the summer. This will certainly be anenjoyable and memorable summer On leaving for Japan we will be leavinrb eh i n d t h e three older children.Did you know that when we return to Japan in August i t will be our 20thanniversary of Mission work? We f i rs t le f t for Japan in August, 1954.We again thank our supporte rs for the fai thful and consistent supportover the pas t nnd espec ia l ly during our furlough year

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HAL 0

iDot ted l in e marks n ew lo t i n Sapporo .

SapporoDuring the summer of 1972 land around the

Tomakoma i miss ion house was sold and th eplot was purchased in Sapporo for a newwork. The Fabers ej^ect to locate there thefall of 1974 following their return from/ furlough.Sapporo, a cityof 1,200,000 people, is, as you

probably know, the capital city of Hokkaidoand one of _.Ja^an!s^ ten Ingest cities.Hokkaido, until recently, was basicallyagricultural. But with the modernization ofJapan Sapporo has becomea commercial andindustrial center. All major businesses ofJapan have an o ff ice there.The new plot lies along a main, paved roadthrough a new resident ial area. It is four

miles north of th e heart of the city. Moneyfrom the sale of th e mission house inTomakomai is on hand for a parsonagewhichth e Fabers will us e until a native workerassumes the leadership. Funds are needed fora church building which will a lso include themiss ion office.

There are some Christ ians of th e Obihirowork in the city and one of these, Miss Fujii, aBible college graduate definitely will helpin the teacning program.

f i s t i ^

Sapporo Obih i ro ^AToraakomai

tAl ^ i ^ V |

Ernest D. Faber was born at Minburn,Iowa, in 1926. After graduating from highschool in 1944, he served one and a half yearsin the Army being discharged in 1946. It wasduring his Army days as an occupationalsoldier in Japan that he became interested inthe Japanese people. In 1948 he ^ent to TheCincinnati Bible Seminary and graduated in1952.Neva E. Faber (nee Fate) was born at ClayCenter, Nebraska, in 1928, and graduatedfrom high school in 1945. She a ttendedsummer school at Has tings College afterwliich she taught two yearsina nir^ school.

In 1947 sh e w ent to Th e Cincinnati BibleSeminary graduating in 1951.The Fabers were married in June of 1952.They served the Fourth Church of Chris t,Cincinnati, Ohio, while Ernest completed ayear of graduate study. They went to Japan in' August of1954. After one and one half years oflanguage study in Tokyo they went to Obihiroto begin the work there. The work inTomakomai was begun in 1968. The Faberswere home on furlough in 1960-1961 and 1967-1968.The Fabers have four children: Linda, innurse's training at Scottsbluff, Nebraska,Charles, infirst year ofBible college, Allan, ahigh school senior, and Donald in junior high.

FORWARDINGADDRESS

J ohn NoeBox 173Adel , la .50003(515) 993-4195

FURLOUGHADDRESS

E r n e s t &Neva F a b e rR. R .Minburn, la .50167(515) 677-2468

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TomakomaiThe work in Tomakomai was begun in 1968after the Fabers' second furlough. For three

years they held services in a small, rentedhouse. The church building was dedicated inOctober of 1971. It was built on land purchased in 1966.Mr. Kimura, a member of the Obihirochurch and a graduate of Osaka BibleSeminary, came to work w it h t he Fabers inJune of 1970. He was married the followingyea r .Mr. and Mrs. Kimura are capable leadersand have been successful in working withyou th and chi ld ren. The re h av e been fourbaptisms (2 adults). Three others have madetheir confessions of faith and await parentalpermission for baptism. Although the youngcongregation is yet in the infant stage a solidfoundation is being laid.In April ox 1973Mr. Kimura began classesin English, Mathematics and Music. Thisgives him an opportunity to make new contacts while performing a community servicesince there is no other tutor ing school in thenew residential area . The nominal feescharged for this service are used to supplement Mr. Kimura's small, mission salary

The Fabers opened a work in eastern? Hokkaido following a survey trip in 1956.Obihiro, the center of a large agriculturalarea, was chosen. Here in the southern part of

Mph'-m

Tomakomai 's Church building.and to help with overhead expenses of thechu rch .One room and a bath were added to th e

church in 1972. The mission house was sold inJune of 1973 just before the Fabers left for

Obihirothe city in an area called Tetsunan (meaningsouth of the tracks) the ^bers built a.newhome and moyed_in June of 1956. The firstevangelistic meeting was held by lijima

furlough. Funds from this sale will be used toenlarge the parsonage in Tomakomai and tobuild one in Sapporo where the Fabers willlocate when they return to the field in Augustof 1974.

of Tokyo, whose hometown is Obihiro. Thismeeting was held in the Fabers' living room.Th e church continued to meet there until th echurch building was .bmlt in 1958.Although there have been over 65baptismsthe past fifteen years it has been difficult todevelop leadership since a large percentageof the Christians moved to larger cities.From the church one young man graduated

from Osaka Bible Seminary. He is now thepreacher in Tomakomai.In September, 1966, the Tetsunan Church vcalled Mr. Koji Sugiura to be their minister.Mr. Sugiura, a graduate of the Tokyo BibleSeminary, is married and has three children.His mothe r also l ives w it h t hem .Mr. Sugiura supports himself by teaching^English and Mathematics at the church ')building. The church supplements his salary.They have reimbursed the mission for thepurchase price of the land. All regularmission support has been terminated.

Church building in Obihiro.

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gt? 91^4August 22, 197^

Minbum, Iowa

Dear Chr i s t i an Fr i e nds ,The news uppermost on our minds is our return to Japan on August 26th, Thisflight is a mission group flight at a considerable savings. We will go by KoreanAir Lines to Korea for connections to Tokyo and our flight to Chitose, Hokkaido,We will arrive Chitose the afternoon of the 28th,We return to Japan with mixed emotions. We are happy and willing to returnto our first lovethe Japanese people. In doing so you are aware that we leaveto God's care three of our children. Linda, in her last year of nursing atScottsbluff, Charles as a sophomore and Allan as a freshman at Cincinnati BibleCol lege ,Arecap of our furlough activities might be of Interest to you. CombiningErnest's and Neva's speaking committments we have presented the work to 90 chiu:-ches, 7 women's meetings, 9 VBS, 6 camps, 9 faith promise and/or church sponseredmission emphasis, 7 Bible colleges, and 3 conventions.Word from the church that we continue to support in Tomakomai is very en-couraging and indicates Mr..and Mrs, Kimura are witnessing faithfully in ttot city.We have had several cassette tapes from the Kimuras, the Sunday School, and the

church. They had a very successful evangelistic meeting in July with a recordattendance of 15-20 individuals attending each evening in spite of the transportation strike which prevented the evangelist from coming. They began a new campprogram for the area which entails considerable physical labor as well as the responsibility for the spiritual leadership. Mr. and Mrs. Kim\^ have been able tolead several of the Sunday School children into adult worship as they made thetransfer from Junior high. Two of the high school students have been assist^gin regular meetings at a neighborhood high school. The Kimuras have times ofdiscouragement but labor faithfully and energetically establishing a firm foundation bearing much of the financial burden personally.We have debt free land fo r the new work. Ernest has been in contact withMr Suzuki of the southside Moiwashita church in Sapporo. He in turn is consulting a contractor relative to the mission house and church building. Indicationsare i t will take $60,000 to build both. Of this amount $28,000 from the sale ofthe Tomakomai mission house is on hands. We will need $32,000 more before wecan build both. We hope to build this fall but can do so only with considerableincrease in our present support, Adelay of only a few months increases thebuilding costs due to continually rising prices. In order to determine, at leastto a degree, the backing that we can expect as we make this venture we encourageeach of you to fill in the form at the end of this letter and return to us. Supporting churches desiring to increase their support may also use the same form

i nd ic at in g t he amount of increase .At the 10,000 feet high Colorado Christian Service Camp on Tarryall CreekDonald was baptized into Christ, We rejoice in this decision of his which unites

our ent i re family in the Lord,As we begin o\ir 21st year of mission work we are mindful of our dependenceupon you. We have wonderful supporters and thank each and every one of you.Receipts received after May 15th will be sent after we return to Japan, Ourreceipts are pre-numbered and the next receipt book is in Japan.Until further notice our Japan address for correspondence will be in care ofMoiwashita Church of Christ, 250 South 35th, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan,

Yours i n His s e r v i c e ,

MAIL THIS FORM TOHokka ido

ChristianMi s s i o n

Box 173,Adel, Iowa, 50003

The Fabe r s

Pledge for Evangelism in SapporoIn dependence upon God we (l) pledge to the work inSapporo, Japan,

^^10? $20( $ por_month5_quarterfor ^months/ ^years/ indifinitelyNameStree tCity State_

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^ livi *t*Box 173Adel, lA 50003

3W

Novein1)er 197^r epor t fromTHE FABERS

726, North ^9 East 13Higashi ku, Sapporo065 JapanThree months have passed since we returned tcJapan to begin our 21st year cf misslonarj- work and

our four+.h year o f s er vic e.The past three Dcnths have been preparatory innature. After arrival in Hokkaido we looked for I 'l

^

with th e plans for the mission house and churchbuildjng and employ a contractor The architect is ;the -husband of a meml-er of the southside Moiwashita - ^Church o f Christ and the contractor , also secured ,through them, was one who built the church's addi- ^ ^ - ' ,, i ,tion'two or 'three years ago, / '-1' == Q

Shortly after the^foundation was poured on Octo-old friend from the Sauktcwn Chi:rch of Christ , MillCreek, Indiana, had been visiting Korea and Tokyoand suddenly decided to visi t us here. A cal lthrough our neighbors a t 2t30 P.M. informed us hewas somewhat concerr.ed s ince we are one and one-half hours from th e airport . Upon aiTival at theairport Mr. Hostetler was just arriving. The 3:00P.M. time was Tokyo's departure time, The picture _ -at the right shows Mr. Hostetler at the building

gether to pu t up buildings to conform with our yneeds. Even then cur wishes are not always 6:followed. ' -The progress of t he bui ld ing can be seen in thepicture taken a few days ago Since then the crosshas been installed, th e outside walls stuccoed, andthe ins-ide carpentry work almost completed. We will be able to be in the building early in

Decembe r .

Some of the problems that have occurred in building are as follows: door to Donald's roomwon't fully open into the hallway? mail slot at the front entrance can't be located as originally planned; bathroom door set over three inches too far thus not leaving room for the washba s i n to fit.

Arecent report shows that Sapporc If growing. The population increase over the last month

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was 16^9 people with an increaseof A4-9 households. A check of our ^immediate area (cne^ kilometer^ or^Cha r l e s wou ld like tc work wi t hyouth in a youth ministry. Lindain fo rrc s u s t h a t we wi l l have a .son-in-law in July of nex t yea r. She is engaged to Gary Worcester of Hill City, Kansas.Linda is going to be a farmer's wife. Dorald, with us here in Sapporo, is busy with hisschoolwork and scou t s .

Just before l ea vin g t he United States we had a family picture taken, This has beenour custom during past furloughs. Every supporter should have one by now, We will send,a fJioto to anyone who des i r e s one.We rea l ly dis l ike to mention money but it seems we have to from time to t ime. Thetotal cost of the two buildings will be $5^,000, By the end of December we hope to pay$38,000 leaving a balance of $16,000. The $38,000 is money received from the sale of To-makomai's mission house , money received from contributions, and funds we have borrowed

agains t our personal l i f e insurance.The contractor has given us a year to pay th e balance with payments due in March, June,

Sep tember , and December. This cer+-ainly i s provident ia l in as much as we wouldn' t havebeen able to go ahead with building without th is aid. At the present tiir.e bank loans areveiy dif f icu l t to secure. The interest will be 10^ of the balance after Janua.iy f i rs t .This is a very low in ter est r ate for Japan. Needless to say th e sooner we receive yourg i f t s the more we w i l l be ab l e t o s av e .

We expect to begin services in the new building on or be fo^ Christmas. The date wil ldepend on when the bui ld ing is completed, But there will be other expenses before we getthe work under way. Cost of such things as cha ir s, t ab le s, pulpit, heating stoves, advert i s i ng , pr in t ing , etc . wi l l have to be met.

We will begin with Sunday School and morning worship. Other services will be added asthe need arise . Some English c la ss es wil l begin in January wit?i the bulk of them beginn in g w ith the new school year which i s April in Japan,There are Christ ians here in Sapporo from the chmxh in Obihiro where we forii;erly livedSome of them wil l jo in us in the new work. Your prayers are needed fo r th i s new work.We have heard, from some who have indicated they d esire to support us regularly, Thisnew support and increase of support i s necessary during th i s time of worldwide inf la t ion

and to meet our f inancial obligat ions fo r the coming year.We thank you fo r your fai thful f inancial and prayer suppor t.