Dear Friends,

On May 15th, the Japan Baptist Women welcomed a group of twelve American Baptist women to Japan. The women were from all over the United States and had come to share Christ's love with their Japanese sisters and to learn about the country and culture.

When the trip was originally planned more than a year ago, it was hoped it could coincide with the Asian Baptist Women's Congress to be held in Okinawa the third week in May. But, because of the SARS virus in various Asian countries, the congress had to be postponed until 2004. Even though it was a disappointment not to be able to attend the congress, the ABC women decided to visit Japan and Okinawa anyway.

As our Japan Baptist Women's committee members welcomed the American Baptist Women at the airport, several of them recognized one of the women they had met at the Baptist World Alliance in Australia in 2000. It was a grand reunion and a wonderful way for everyone to feel the warm fellowship of Christians from around the world.

The group spent one night in Tokyo and then divided with one group going north to Sendai and the other staying in Tokyo and Yokohama for three days. The Sendai group visited the Hidden Christian area and Shokei Girls' School plus had home stays with the Baptist women in the area attending church on Sunday with their host families.

The Yokohama/Tokyo group spent the first day touring Tokyo and learning a bit about the history of this fascinating country. The next day they traveled to Yokohama to visit the where many missionaries are buried. They then visited Yokohama Baptist Church, the oldest Baptist church in Japan, 1873. On Sunday each woman attended church with her host family sharing in the fellowship with Japanese Baptists.

On Monday both groups met at Tokyo Station and traveled to Osaka by the Bullet train to meet our Baptist women there. They visited the Mead Christian Center and stayed with Baptist women in the area before going on to Hiroshima to visit the Hiroshima Peace Park and Museum and the Hiroshima Peace Church, one of the Japan Baptist Union's newest churches.



From Hiroshima, they traveled to Okinawa where they had home stays and fellowship with the women of the Okinawan Baptist Churches.

All of us who were involved in this mission encounter feel especially blessed by the keen interest in missions and evangelism that each of these women has and for the love that they shared with us. After they had gone and we began to share each of our experiences, every woman said they wish that they had had more time to get to know the women better. The women had an exuberance that was given to each one of us that will help us to carry on the work with more enthusiasm and excitement.

For more pictures of the women's encounter tour, please look at my home page http://pws.prserv.net/jpinet.jderolf/

We will be in the States from July 10th until October 10th. If you are interested in having us visit your church, please contact the Minister of Mission Support person in your region and ask them to make the arrangements. If you are not sure who that person is click here to look them up: http://www.abcusamissions.org/contact/ministers.cfm

In His service,

Judy