For the first time members of the Women's Missionary Society were invited to the annual meeting of the National Christian Women's Association of the Korean Christian Church in Japan in June.
Members of the Women's Missionary Society visited Japan in June as part of an exchange and exposure program with the Korean Christian Church in Japan's National Christian Women's Association. The Korean women had visited Canada last fall. This is the first time the two organizations had held such an exchange. We visited with five Presbyterials while touring the cities of Kawasaki, Nagoya, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Kokura.
The trip coincided with the NCWA's 55th annual meeting, held at Lake Biwa. Welcomed by General Secretary Rev. Jung Soon Suh, and resident Shinyeong Kim, we were joined by 85 women from across Japan. Over three days we had worship and saw four-century-old Korean shrines. We visited the hot springs and geysers near Mount Fuji and in the evening we shared food and fellowship and had tremendous fun watching a traditional Korean dance with beautiful costumes.
A visit to a Kawasaki kindergarten, opened in 1973 by Mavis Hyndman, was a highlight. The cost of this school was financed by the WMS and Sunday schools across Canada. The children were delightful and very pleased to meet us. Rev. Dr. Han Lee, the chair of the Board of the Kawasaki Cultural Centre showed us a Day Care Senior's Centre and a large drop-in facility for 600 latchkey children. The KCCJ, said Lee, operates these centres with some government assistance.
We toured the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima, the Noritake Factory, the memorial to Jack McIntosh, the Daisho-In Buddhist Temple and saw Odawara, Nagoya and Osaka Castles. In Osaka, we toured the seniors' home Setton (which is Korean for ‘rainbow') House, a dream that began in 1958 by the NCWA women and was realized with the opening in 1996. A large donation for this centre came from the WMS in Canada.
While we have all taken so much away with us from that trip, we did leave something behind. At the first Sunday church service we attended – in Nagoya – Eunice Bisset played the piano and we all sang ‘Who's Going to Tell the Story.' After that, each Presbyterial that we visited asked us to sing for them and now the NCWA women have the music and words for this song.
