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Maiko's Testimony
Name: Maiko Minami
From: Japan
Student at Seattle Univeristy
First of all, I have a thing I want to say. I became a Christian. After three years of getting to know God, I finally decided to walk my life with God. It was at a church in Tennessee where I heard about God for the first time. I came to the States to study English for the first five months at Maryville College in Tennessee to earn credit toward a BA degree in environmental studies. My special interest was the relationship between religion and ecology. So I went to a Christian church every Sunday to start with Christianity for my studies. However, it was not easy understanding Christianity because of my poor English skills, and my heart which was not ready to know God’s love. Now I am going to talk about how I ended up knowing God’s love in Seattle.
After my 9-month-study in Tennessee, I decided to go back to Japan because of my mom’s illness. She had uterus sarcoma. After having surgery done twice, the doctor gave her less than a 50% chance of surviving the next 5 years. I went to the hospital everyday and talked with her with a full of smile so that I could give her courage to overcome her disease. Fortunately, she got well, which actually surprised the doctors. While she was getting well, I remembered a very important thing. My friends I went to church with in Tennessee prayed for my mom and I after I told them about returning to Japan because of my mom’s illness. Also, they continued to pray for my mom after I left them. When I remembered this, I realized God’s mercy and was grateful for the prayers.
After one year, I came back to the States. I chose to come to Seattle. The reason: because of Ichiro, closeness to Japan, and a good environment to study nature. Seattle is also place where I met God again! Last September, I joined a bible study group for international students called ICF on Friday nights, where I got to know more about the Bible, Jesus Christ, and his death for the sake of our sin. I met many precious people there who shared about many things, not only about the Bible but also about their difficulties and joy in life.
Also, I started participating in a Bible study group for JxJ, where I could share many things in Japanese. I also met Nono, who I had originally met in Tennessee three years ago, at this Bible study group. We were really surprised at our reunion! And I got more interested in knowing about God through these Bible study groups, events, and interesting conversations with believers.
The most powerful experience for getting to know God’s love was through Japanese Presbyterian Church, the church I started going to this year. One of my friends who I met through JxJ invited me to the church, and when I visited for the first time, I was really surprised at the picture I found inside of a brochure called ‘Michibiki’ (= Japanese word for guidance). The picture showed a smiling old couple who looked familiar to me. They were a pastor and his wife of a small Japanese church in Tennessee where I used to go. In the brochure, the couple was introduced as those who were doing ministry in Japanese in Tennesse. In a strange way, I felt that I received that very “guidance” and assurance from God telling me I am going the right way through their smile. Then, I got to know many friendly people at the church and learned more about how big God’s love is. Four months later, I decided to accept Jesus into my heart.
However, it was not an easy thing for me to become a Christian. I was raised in Japan, where I had never met any Christians my entire life until I came to the United States. The biggest challenge for me was the fear of losing my identity that I had built up, and become a totally different person. In Japan, the culture is strongly influenced by Buddhism and Shinto, which has shaped me into the person I grew up to be. And the unique culture of Japan is something accustomed to. I also studied Japanese literature and culture as my major in college in Japan, which contributed my appreciation for Japanese culture. I did not want to lose my identity as a Japanese person. The second biggest roadblock for me in becoming a Christian was my family. I thought that becoming a Christian meant to be separated from them, since the Bible teaches us to follow God in everything, even if it means separation from family. I thought this would be really difficult.
However, there was one thing that I was certain of. It is the fact that what Jesus says in the Bible was really similar to what I thought was important for people’s lives. I wanted to follow what Jesus says as my own value.
Although I had anxiety about accepting Jesus, I was able to do it. It was not because I was able to overcome all the anxiety, but because God knocked on the door of my heart many times in miraculous ways. For example, when I went to Korea on vacation last winter, a stranger came to me and handed me a book while I was wandering around the city. The book was a Bible for Japanese people who didn’t know much about the Bible. How did she know I was Japanese?! How did she know I had just started to study the Bible!? I read the Bible that night in a hotel in Korea. There are more stories like this that show God’s continual presence in my life. If you want to hear more, ask me later^^
After I accepted Jesus, I came to know the depth of God’s love more and more. And I was beginning to see the wonders of God in everyday life. Since my focus in school was the study of nature, I would appreciate and be in awe of the power and love of God every time I watched a video in class displaying the beauty of the natural world God created. After 3 months of becoming a Christian, I went back to Japan for a 2 month summer break in July.
I faced many struggles in my faith during the 2 months I was in Japan, which I had not anticipated. I really looked forward to seeing my family and friends, but something was different. Did something change? No, I was the one who had changed. Of course it was fun talking to my family and hanging out with friends, but I felt lonely at that same time. I had no Christians around that I could share with or be encouraged by. There was no one around who knew that Jesus died for their sins. I could not feel the existence of God anywhere around me in Japan.
Right after I went back to Japan, I tried to place myself around Christians who I could talk openly with. However, it was not easy for me to stay motivated in this because I am not strong. When my mom asked “Why do you need to go that far to a church where there is no one you know this early morning in the morning? You can sleep more.” After this, I stopped going to the church. Little by little, I felt distance from God. The further away I was from God, the less concerned I became with my faith. It was terrible.
Also, I could not tell most of my friends about my faith. Once I saw their faces and talked with them, I lost courage. Christianity is alien to most people in Japan. Some think that it is a kind of cult. Indifference and ignorance to Christianity have created this situation in Japan. I also pretended to be like this during the two months I was in Japan.
Even though I joined a couple of Bible study groups and went to church after I came back from Japan, I could not feel God’s love in my everyday life like I did before I went back to Japan. Love for my family and friends became much bigger than God. Instead, I started to cast many critical questions to what the Bible says. For example, my family and friends cannot go to the heaven because they are not Christians. Because of this I was losing my confidence as a Christian.
But after coming back, I was able to regain hope. I have gotten along with a lot of new students at ICF and enjoy learning the Bible and getting to know God with them. Also, I recently joined JxJ as a member of the core group. Through serving in JxJ, I am sure that my faith will grow. However, I know that my faith is unstable as evident in my experience in Japan this summer. I will go back to Japan next summer. By that time, I really want my faith to grow strong and know God’s love more so that I will be able to sustain my relationship with God in Japan. To help with this, I am going to attend the Equipper Conference. I am sure that there are many more people who had the same experience as me. I don’t want people to experience the same thing I experienced in Japan, so I hope as many new believers can join this conference as possible.
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