The Book of Ruth

This story below should have been posted a very long time ago. I apologize for not having done it sooner. I will try and catch up with some of the things I have neglected.

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Masako Moriyama telling her story.

Mother-in-law and my relationship

Thank you Planning Committee and guests for this opportunity to share with you my story.  I was REALLY excited until I started my research and got into my preparation and realized that my experiences and Ruth’s experiences didn’t connect at every point, although we did connect on a very important point, namely that we are all relatives in Christ through Ruth! 

Also, praise God, through praying and with the help of other resources, I did discover that the OUTSTANDING lesson of this book is the WAY in which the hand of God is seen guiding the faithful in the details of everyday life! 

I am Japanese, as many of you know; I grew up in a land where the dominant religions are Buddhism and Shintoism, which you would guess would strongly influence the culture. 

I grew up not knowing the true meaning of Buddhism but PRACTICED doing what everyone else did, following rituals in the Buddhist culture. 

In spite of missionaries from many countries, including Canada and USA having worked there, Japanese Christians today number LESS than 1%.  Somehow, the Japanese are able to accept the concept of a Creator God, but becoming a believer in Christ is another matter.  Perhaps Japan is too self-sufficient, maybe too proud and arrogant to see and admit their short-comings and wrong-doings. 

My family immigrated to Canada in 1975 when I was nine years old.  In my first year in a Canadian public school in Surrey, I remember saying the Lord’s Prayer every morning, and that stayed in the deepest part of my memory, literally hibernating for nearly 30 years until I became a Christian in 2004.  About 14 years prior to becoming Christian, I was a PROUD and ARROGANT 24 year old who returned to Japan in search of her identity, searching to feed and fulfill desires for materialistic values in my life. 

I didn’t intend to stay there for as long as I did, but, just when I was ready to come back to Canada, I met the man who soon became my husband.  He loved to say to me that he would support me forever and followed me to Canada and joined my family – so, YES, I certainly have the BEST ‘souvenir’ any proud and arrogant girl can get from Japan, better than ice cream! 

We have one son, born in Burnaby, nine years ago. 

In 2003, my husband’s mother decided to come to Canada to see where her youngest grandson had been born.  After spending both good and bad days with me, she passed away 8 months later. 

She was a faithful Buddhist woman.

Let me share an example of how faithful a Buddhist she was.

A few times a year, we welcomed the spirits of the dead.  This we did on her husband’s memorial day in February, on the Old Calendar New Year’s Day, and on Moon Festival Day in September.  We made food to feed all the spirits the full day before.   On the day of worship, we made place settings for the number of the deceased, followed by a day of burning incense all day until sunset.  Finally, the living family members gathered, bowed to the spirits, and ate the food that the spirits of the dead had presumably feasted on!  A piece of each food was placed in a bowl with the liquor that was served to be put outside for few hours. 

My mother-in-law’s stay in Canada resulted in a constant struggle for me because she had an onset of dementia on top of some other medical problems.  She needed several visits to an emergency department and so did I because of a miscarriage and continual stress related sicknesses I had (liver and cervical pre-cancer condition).  I had a two year old toddler who needed my attention all the time, on top of that, my mother-in-law had become accustomed to me serving her, like I was her maid. 

I didn’t mind being her maid and very much valued and enjoyed the time together but I honestly needed rest.  I had wonderful helpers come to relieve me from my duties, but that COST MONEY.  IT WAS THEN, I started to drive her out on SOCIALS where she could meet and talk with Japanese people. 

At first, she hated that experience because she was hard of hearing.  Also, she was strong-willed – she did not like being treated like an elderly person or being told what to do against her will by her daughter-in-law, 50 years younger.  But, unknown to me, while yet not being a believer, God shed His love and guidance on me and my mother-in-law.  It was during this time that my mother-in-law met a wonderful Japanese Christian woman, Mrs. Takashima, who befriended her.  My mother-in-law REALLY began to like her and eventually she went out instead on Sunday mornings to a Japanese Mennonite Church in Surrey, AWAY from this somewhat irritated and hysterical daughter-in-law – namely, me. 

I couldn’t believe that the time came when my mother-in-law didn’t need her cane to walk.  Finally, she even told us to return to Japan the things that represented her Buddhist beliefs.  Although she was never baptized, the last four months of her days on earth, she visited and learned the teachings of Christ’s salvation and redemption.  What great GIFT from God this is, PRAISE God. 

The church where she attended gave her a Christian funeral. 

Just like Ruth’s mother-in-law’s faith in Jehovah INFLUENCED Ruth, so, in the same way, the CHANGE in my mother-in-law INFLUENCED me and my husband.  After she died, my husband and I started going to church.  God, through her, left a very special ‘seed’ planted in our hearts.  Within a year after she died, both my husband and I decided to follow Christ.

God had prepared us to trust and believe in His promises for us. 

I now live in a community that is humble, caring and supportive, not relying on pride or arrogance I once valued, PRAYING instead of being hysterical and agitated. 

His GRACE showers us EVERYDAY. 

Furthermore, as I mentioned in the beginning of my presentation, Ruth, a FOREIGNER and a Gentile, became the mother of a son who is in the lineage of Christ, making us all sisters (and brothers) IN Christ.  For me, just as for Ruth, I DAILY REAP the blessings that Christ gives us, and EVERY minute and day of my life,

He guides me, and THAT is the Gift that Ruth and I share.

Lastly, thanks to God, for sending those missionaries overseas for a large portion of their lives.  Also thank you to the supporters of those missionaries, for without them they would not have been able to go and I would not be here today.  I acknowledge and honor the people I personally got to know, especially Martha Janzen, Mary Derksen, Anna Dyck, three women from Kansas and one woman from South Dakota, just few of the many who went to Japan. 

Walking across the stage is Mika Toews representing Ruth
and on the far left is Cyndy Brandt - fashion commentator.

THANK YOU.

Masako Moriyama

Women’s Inspirational Day

Sat., April 30, 2010 at Emmanuel M.C. in Abbotsford, BC