New Book for September

Snippets by Rita Milligan

I knew about Rita Milligan but I really did not know too much about her life and missionary work in Japan (33 years) other than what I heard or read in newsletters.  Rita Milligan was a part of FBC for many years and was supported by many in our church family both in prayer and financially.  If my math is correct, she will be celebrating her 83^rd birthday on October 1^st of this year.

In this little book, she shares short “snippets” from her life as a young child to her present residence and ministry at Warm Beach Senior Community in Stanwood, Washington.  She shares about both the joys and trials she has gone through with the focus on God’s faithfulness, God’s promises, God’s Presence, and God’s Leading in her life.

The book begins with two Bible verses that reflect God’s call to ministry:  John 15:16 says, “Ye have not chosen Me, But I have chosen you And ordained you, That you should go And bring forth fruit, And that your fruit should remain.”  I Thessalonians 5:24 says, “Faithful is He Who calls you, Who also will do it.”

Here is one of the “snippets” entitled “Continued Ministry”:

“Rita used to have one dread in life: “What if I ever lost control of my mind?  I’d die!”

The very thing she dreaded came upon her.  But God was right there with her, even when she was oblivious to Him.  What faithfulness!  What mercy!  What power!  Thank God for all the prayer that played a part in her healing and the healing of her family.”

What awesome miracles God performs.  O Lord my God, I will give You thanks forever.

Rita worked with the warm, loving Faith Bible Church near Seattle’s International District for ten years.  She befriended Japanese students in the junior colleges, helped “Talk Time”, “Jesus for Japanese”, and other student work which showed her the oft-quoted statistics are really true: “More Japanese come to the Lord in a year in the U.S. than come to Him in a year in Japan.”

“Friendships continued after the students went back to their Japanese homes.  Rita helped twice a week at the Keiro Japanese Seattle Nursing Home.  But one day, when she was puffing her way up several hills to her parked car, God spoke to her spirit: “Rita, it’s time.”

She knew right away what He meant.  Years back, when she was hunting for senior housing for her father, she was sold on Warm Beach Senior Community which featured independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing in a wonderful Christian atmosphere at a beautiful spot an hour north of Seattle.  It was God’s “yes” for her needs.  Although she’d been on the waiting list for years, she was waiting for God to tell her “it’s time”.  Calling Warm Beach, she asked how many were on the waiting list.  The reply was seventy!  But somehow, within weeks, her Seattle condominium was sold, Faith Bible Church men loaded up her belongings, and October 19, 2012, she was settled in a lovely self-contained apartment at Warm Beach.”

This interesting and encouraging look into the life of Rita Milligan, in her own words, will give you insight into a life that ministered to many at FBC as well as a life that continues to be lived for God and His glory.

When you were watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens and saw Rey travel through the sweltering desert wasteland on the planet known as Jakku did you sit and think to yourself “I want to go to there.”  Neither did I, yet I found myself in the sweltering desert wasteland known as Yakama Reservation chopping wood, cutting down bushes and trees, and sleeping in a teepee.  Why was I there?  Who joined me on this journey?  What did I learn?

The Team

This year the Yakama Avengers consisted of the following: The Leaders- Brian Watanabe and Kaleo Chan.  College Students- Ayako Kasai and Yui Mizuno.  High School Students- Jonathan Kumai (still in disguise as Guy Fieri), Julia Kumai, Daniel Wang, Hanna Nakamura, Reeghan Crawford, and Nathan Fukuda.  Token Old Guy- Christopher Jo.

What Did We Do

Each day we would wake up, do our devotions (some of us) and we would meet for breakfast (all of us).  The first half of the day was manual labor.  We were all assigned a team and after a short pep talk which usually comprised of warnings to not cut off our fingers and to not offend the community we would be interacting with, we would pray and head off to work on our assigned task which could be painting a house, landscaping, chopping wood, or other house repair project.  Some of the team members were assigned to stay at the church and help run the children’s program.  The sight of seeing some of the younger team members wielding an axe or machete for the first time and trying to use it was one of the more frightening experiences I’ve had in my life.  Thankfully I can report there were no major injuries.  Overall it was physically and mentally demanding but ultimately rewarding work.

Every afternoon was spent running a kids’ club where we would drive out to a neighborhood and spend time playing with the kids.  A bus would round up kids from the surrounding neighborhoods and we would either roam and play with the kids or man a station which included activities such as four-square, jump rope, crafts, or entertain the kids with amazing voice impersonations.

The evenings were spent eating a delicious dinner (seriously the food was so good) and hanging out.  Playing basketball in the 105 degree heat was an interesting experiment to see how much a human can sweat and although FBC did not seem to win many of the basketball games against the other churches I can proudly report that our youth displayed their dominance in every game of Mafia that was played.

The Part Where I Wrap This Up

The purpose of the trip was to serve those in need and it was eye opening experience to see that just a few hours away from where we call home was a community that was in such need.  Suffering from poverty, broken families, school drop outs, drug and alcohol abuse, high suicide rates and very few economic opportunities, you can see and sense the hopelessness and despair that surrounds the community there.  Despite all the negativity that surrounds the community you can see how God’s love can be such a shining light amidst such darkness.  This was evident through the time spent with the children.  You would expect the children to be bitter, angry, and distrustful and rightfully so living in circumstances and having experienced things that most of us will never understand.  Yet what I found were children that came up and held our hands trusting us, children that laughed and smiled with genuine joy, and an appreciation for those two hours that we spent with them each day.  I attribute the children’s attitude to the work the Sacred Road Church has done in letting God use them to be an extension of His love.

At the end of each kids’ club there would be a short skit based on a story from the bible and getting to witness all these children learning about God and the seeds that were being planted was truly a blessing.  One evening we had the privilege to join the youth group at Sacred Road to listen to the youth pastor give a message.  Many of the kids in attendance were once children that went to the neighborhood kids’ clubs and to be able to see how that ministry was able to bring God into their lives was incredibly encouraging.

It was only one week but it was humbling to see God’s power and what an impact it can have.  It’s been over twenty days since I returned but the experience is something I still think about each day.  It has challenged me to consider what more I can do to let God use me to help those in need and a conviction to be faithful in prayer for the Yakama people.  I would highly encourage anyone who has considered going on a short term missions trip to consider going to Jakku or if that isn’t possible to strongly consider Yakima.

“Marnie was enrolled at the School of Promise this month by her foster parents. As a second grader, she is happy and excited to be in school, telling her foster mom that school is fun. Her foster mom is grateful for the care and attention each child receives and that she can trust the staff of the school. Unfortunately, Marnie’s life has been challenging. Her birth mother tried selling her, which led to Marnie being placed in foster care. At her foster home, Marnie was enrolled in a nearby government school, but she was moved to School of Promise this month after it was discovered that her birth mom is trying to find her. The fear is that her birth mom will sell her if Marnie is found. Marnie’s foster mom is confident about the procedures and policies in place at School of Promise to keep students safe. It is a sad reality that children must sometimes be protected from their birth parents and dangers that seem unthinkable.”

The life of Marnie is one reason why the School of Promise (SoP) was started by Joel & Marvel Vander Kooi in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2010. Due to the challenges of poverty faced by many families, stories like this that may seem unthinkable to us today are all too common in Thailand and lead to disturbing and desperate situations where young girls are forced into sex trafficking.

In October, a group of 20 of us (16 adults, 2 youth, 2 kids) from FBC will be flying to Chiang Mai to work with the School of Promise to run a Vacation Bible School (VBS) camp for a week at the school. We are expecting about 80-100 Grade
1-3 kids from both the school and the neighborhood to attend the camp during a Thai holiday week when school is not in session. The objective of the camp is two-fold: to share the Gospel with the kids in a fun way in English and to also expose the families in the neighborhood to the school, leading them to possibly enroll their kids at SoP. After a week of VBS, 9 of us will stay on to help run a two-day English camp the following week at a campsite for about 60 Grade 4-8 SoP students where we’ll get to work side-by-side with SoP teachers and build relationships with the students.

Our team has had monthly planning meetings since June. Through these meetings, we’re learning about effective ways to address poverty as well as learn more about the country of Thailand. Through this missions trip, we hope to further strengthen Faith Bible’s partnership with the School of Promise and also experience first-hand how God is powerfully working through the School of Promise in the Chiang Mai community.

As we prepare for our trip, we would really appreciate your prayers! Here are our prayer requests at this time:

• Prayer for team unity and humble hearts as we serve together to run the VBS camp and English camp
• Prayer for good planning and coordination of the VBS camp for kids whose primary language is not English and where there will be cultural differences
• Prayer for all of the students who will be involved in the VBS/English camps. Please pray that they will learn more about God and He will speak to their hearts and their minds during the camps.

In addition to prayer, if you are interested in making an offering to support our team financially, please make a check out to Faith Bible Church with a note stating that it’s for the SoP missions trip. The funds will be used to cover expenses for our team’s trip (airfare, hotel, VBS/English camp supplies).

Thank you so much!

In Him,

Kelly, Reiko & Hannah Aramaki, Rieko Kato, Mike, Lyanne & Maili Kurtz, Laurie & Nathan Fukuda, Tom & Hiromi Gerety, Dawn Hogan, Grace Lee & Lauren Hwang, Stacie Lee, Lauren Mayeda, Lauren Oda, Alisa Williamson, Michael Rask & Jackie Thomas-Rask (friends of the Kurtzes)