I first met Chieko Tanaka in 1989 in Tokyo through her daughter, Konni Tanaka, a member in our church. Chieko was leading a congregation with her minister husband near Washington, DC, and came to Japan with the intention of spending a semester at a charismatic seminary as well as to visit her daughter’s church in Tokyo. During her stay, Chieko studied the Bible with me and a couple members of our church on every occasion she could because she was so impressed by the effective evangelism of our church. As she and I studied the scriptures, Chieko realized that she had missed a basic understanding of how to get the Holy Spirit when she read Acts 2:38. However, she was to travel in two days to another part of Japan to attend the seminary. Chieko faithfully fasted to gain clarity on the newfound teachings, and decided to cancel her seminary plans and remain in Tokyo to further study the scriptures. Much like the Ethiopian eunuch who met Philip along the desert road and said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?", Chieko asked us to baptize her. After her baptism, she went back to the states and began to preach the Word to all the people in her congregation.
Years later in 1996 while still in Tokyo, Japan, I was privileged to meet another woman named Etsuko Inoue. She came to church with one of her employees in the hopes of understanding why her young employee was so full of joy every day. There was a series on Jesus being taught that week at church for anyone interested in learning about the Bible. She attended all the meetings that week and then approached me about learning more from the scriptures. Etsuko was the CEO of her company, a very talented and gifted woman, but extremely humble. Although she was many years older than me, she eagerly studied the scriptures with me. Within a few short weeks, her life was transformed by the Word of God and her faith. She became a Christian full of joy and the Holy Spirit.
As a result of Etsuko’s conversion and the changes that she made in her life, she had a profound impact on her husband, Kazumasa, and the rest of her family who also made Jesus the Lord of their lives. After a few years, Kazumasa and Etsuko were appointed deacons in our church in Tokyo. They were extremely active in helping others, especially in sacrificing for the poor in Cambodia. Unfortunately, Etsuko had an untimely death as she went to meet her Lord resulting from of a massive heart attack in early 2005. Kazumasa mourned the loss of his wife deeply as their marriage was the best ever since becoming Christians, rising at 5am every morning to pray together and having breakfast with the their family before going to work.
Meanwhile, Chieko continued to worship the Lord in the United States, hoping someday to return to Japan to preach the word there. Her husband was very supportive of Chieko’s new work for the Lord. He passed away at an early age in 2000. Her mother-in-law, who she had baptized, was living with them. In the summer of 2005 she and her 104 year old mother-in-law moved to Japan to be with the Tokyo church.
Later in 2009, the Singapore church initiated a historical tour of Jerusalem for Christians in the Asian churches. Many of the older Christians in the Tokyo church discussed how they would like to go, so Kazumasa and Chieko signed up separately believing that there would be a large group going together from Japan. By God’s planning (and a little help from cupid), Kazumasa and Chieko were nearly the only Japanese Christians on the tour. Because Kazumasa did not speak any English, Chieko was kind enough to translate for him throughout the trip. Needless to say, they both fell madly in love with each other during this time.
When my husband, Frank, and I asked them at their wedding reception about their honeymoon plans, they replied that they would first spend a week at Yosemite Park, followed by a brief stay at Niagra Falls then go to Washington D.C. to attend the tenth year memorial service for Chieko’s first husband. What I will keep in my memory more than anything else is the child-like joy in each of their hearts as they held hands and giggled while they told their love story to us. Through the power of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they had found love and life after death.
“Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.”
Genesis 24:67 (NIV)
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