メリディアン
日本語
帰還宣教師から
From Returned Missionaries
Church Beginnings in Okinawa
Part One-A
By Paul C. Andrus
Northern Far East Mission President December 9, 1955 to July 19, 1962
At the time Elder Stapley set us apart in Honolulu on November 1, 1955, he counseled me to move ahead in Okinawa as soon as I felt I should. From that time I felt a burning desire to establish the church in Okinawa as rapidly as I possibly could and for all the six years and seven months and ten days I presided over Okinawa I exerted my greatest possible efforts to that end.
On Sunday, December 11, 1955, two days after my arrival back in Japan, I met at the mission headquarters with the Northern Far East Mission LDS Servicemen=s Committee with Army Colonel Robert Slover as chairman and with Air force Captain Clain Smith, Army enlisted man Lee Farnsworth, and Elder Don Lundberg as members in attendance. At this meeting we agreed that we should strive to establish missionaries in Okinawa as soon as arrangements can be made. Also at this meeting I learned that the LDS Servicemen=s Okinawa District has purchased a piece of property for the church for a meetinghouse site in Okinawa.
December 22, 1955. Brother (Major) Henry Griffith, President of the Okinawa LDS Servicemen=s District is in Tokyo on US Army business and I was able to meet with him at Mission Headquarters and discuss sending missionaries to Okinawa. President Griffith assured me that the members of the church in the LDS Servicemen=s organization on Okinawa are eager to have the missionaries come to Okinawa and will do everything possible to assist the missionaries after they arrive. He confirmed that a parcel of land has been purchased by the LDS Servicemen=s Okinawa District for the church in Okinawa.
Thursday February 2, 1956. Sister Andrus and I flew to Okinawa today for a five day visit. Okinawa is still under the jurisdiction of the United States Military Far East Command so it was necessary to get permission to enter Okinawa from the Far East Command office at Pershing Heights in Tokyo. It was also necessary to obtain permission from the Japanese government in Tokyo to reenter Japan. It was a four hour flight from Tokyo to Naha Air Base aboard a Northwest Airlines Turbo Constellation.
Major Henry Griffith, President of the Okinawa Servicemen=s District, and his wife Hilda and about ten other American members of the church were on hand to meet us even though we arrived at 9 PM. Brother Griffith had arranged for very comfortable quarters for us at the US Army Ryukyu Command ( RYCOM) Plaza VIP Billets.
Friday, February 3, 1956. President Griffith and I spent the day making military courtesy calls. We called on Chaplain Graham of the Air Force who took us over to meet General Hipps, Commander in Chief of the Ryukyus military forces. We also met Chaplain Marrs, who was in some of the same military units as I was while I was stationed on Okinawa and in Japan in 1945 and 1946 as a pilot in the US Army Air Corps. We also called on Chaplain Morrison. Everyone was very friendly and Chaplain Marrs and Chaplain Morrison even attended one session of our servicemen=s conference. Henry Griffith, who is from the south has done a terrific job of making friends with all these Baptist Chaplains.
The first Okinawans to join the church were baptized on December 25, 1955. They were Sister Nobu Nakamura, her teenage daughter Ayako Nakamura, and Sister Kuniko Tamanaha. This evening Sister Andrus and I met these three sisters for the first time.
The Lord brought Sister Nobu Nakamura into the church in a most remarkable way so that she could play a key role in the establishment of the church on Okinawa. Elder Ralph Bird served his mission in Japan and after his mission went into the army where he was stationed on Guam. One day in 1955 he unexpectedly received orders transferring him to Okinawa, but when he arrived on Okinawa at his new station he was told that they did not know why he was ordered to Okinawa and they did not have an assignment for him. Private Bird had free time while the army was figuring out where to place him and having served his mission in Japan he was interested in the Okinawan people so he decided to go for a walk through the Okinawan countryside. During his walk he came upon a most impressive old Okinawan residence and was so impressed with it that he decided to go in and ask permission to take some pictures of the house and grounds. He slid open the front door and called out in Japanese as is the custom in Japan and Okinawa.
This was the home of Sister Nobu Nakamura, a prominent middle aged Okinawan lady who for some time had been searching for a church to satisfy the spiritual needs of herself and her family. At the time Ralph Bird stepped up to her door she was inside the house on her knees praying to God to lead her to the true church. When she went to her door she expected to see an Okinawan person but she was astonished to see an American soldier standing there. She was even more astonished when this American soldier spoke to her in excellent Japanese and immediately asked him how he was able to speak Japanese so well. Ralph Bird explained that he had been a missionary in Japan for the Mormon church. Upon hearing this Nobu Nakamura asked him to please come in and tell her about this church which he did. Elder Bird taught the gospel to Nobu Nakamura and her family and put them in touch with the LDS Servicemen members on Okinawa. Shortly thereafter Ralph Bird was transferred back to Guam because the army had no assignment for him on Okinawa. On December 25, 1955, Nobu Nakamura, her daughter Ayako Nakamura and their friend Kuniko Tamanaha were baptized into the church.
Saturday, February 4, 1956.Today a sign was erected on the parcel of land the LDS Servicemen=s District has purchased as a chapel site near the town of Futenma. When President Joseph Fielding Smith dedicated Okinawa for the preaching of the gospel in the summer of 1955, he suggested to Henry Griffith and the other members that they look for a parcel of land in the Futenma area. They did so and recently purchased this parcel with the intention of the church erecting a chapel right away.
This evening I met with President Griffith and all the leaders of the Okinawa Servicemen’s District and all the leaders of the Okinawa Servicemen=s Groups and discussed sending missionaries to Okinawa. It was agreed by all that missionaries should be sent to Okinawa as soon as suitable living quarters can be arranged.
Sunday, February 5, 1956. Sister Andrus and I attended the general session of the Okinawa Servicemen’s District Conference at the Kadena Air Force Base. Total attendance was 177 including 76 nonmembers most of whom were Okinawans.
This afternoon I again met with President Henry Griffith and all the Servicmen’s District and Group Leaders. At this meeting I suggested and everyone agreed that missionaries should be sent to Okinawa in April and that I should make arrangements for the missionaries to stay at Sister Nakamura=s home until they can move onto the church property in Futenma.
Monday, February 6, 1956. Sister Andrus and I were taken on a tour of the southern part of Okinawa by Brother Dale Ogden and his wife Joy. They drove us as far north as the Motobu peninsula where I had been stationed as a pilot in the US Amy Air Corps in 1945.
This afternoon President Griffith and Brother Dale Ogden and I met with Mr. Ohama, our Okinawan lawyer in Naha. The newly purchased church property in Futenma is registered in the name of the church and in the names of Henry Griffith, Lew Cramer, and Alv. G. Youngberg, a member of the church who is an architect.
This evening Sister Andrus and I attended an Okinawa District building fund dinner at the Kadena Air Force Base Chapel where everyone contributed enthusiastically.
Tuesday, February 7, 1956. Today I visited Sister Nobu Nakamura at her home and met Mr. Nakamura for the first time. During this visit Sister Nakamura related to me the miraculous story of her conversion. Clearly the Lord raised up Sister Nakamura to help the church get established on Okinawa. During this visit I confirmed arrangements for the missionaries to stay at the Nakamura home when they arrive in April.
At 1:30 PM Sister Andrus and I boarded a Northwest Airlines Super Turbo Constellation and returned to Tokyo at 300 miles per hour at 21,000 feet in 3 hours.
Thursday, March 15, 1956. Today I was able to decide which missionaries to send to Okinawa to open the work there. I have selected Elder Leroy Anderson and Elder Sam Shimabukuro for this important assignment.
Tuesday, March 27, 1956. Today I turned in applications to the US Army Far East Command in Tokyo for permission for Elder Anderson and Elder Shimabukuro to enter Okinawa.
Wednesday, April 11,1956. Elder Leroy Anderson and Elder Sam Shimabukuro sailed for Okinawa today aboard the Japanese ship, Hakusan Maru. I drove them to the ship and saw them off. They are scheduled to arrive in Okinawa on April 17th and for the first time in history our missionaries will be laboring in Okinawa. Elder Anderson and Elder Shimabukuro will be met in Okinawa by Brother (Major) Henry Griffith, president of the Okinawa LDS Servicemen=s District, and other LDS Servicemen who will take them to the Home of Sister Nobu Nakamura in Futenma where they will stay until they are able to move to the church property in Futenma.
Friday, August 31, 1956. I flew to Okinawa today aboard a Northwest Airlines Super Constellation for a five day visit. I have assigned Elder Willis Wright and Elder Merlin Simmons to labor in Okinawa and they accompanied me today. With the addition of Elder Wright and Elder Simmons, the church now has four full-time missionaries laboring in Okinawa.
LDS Servicemen’s District President, Gaylen Jorgenson and his wife and a group of about ten members were on hand to meet us at the Naha Airport. Also Lieutenant Colonel Hewer, a Protestant Chaplain, was on hand to meet us. Chaplain Hewer had kindly arranged for me to stay at the US Army Ryukyu Command VIP transient quarters even though I was not traveling on military orders on this trip.