In the Fall 2007 issue (not yet online) of Pacific Union College's Alumni journal, ViewPoint, the text of the commencement address delivered in June 2007 by Dr. Julius Nam, assistant professor of religion at Loma Linda University School of Religion, is published. (The audio of the address is available HERE.)
In the address, he recounts the story of Teruhiko Okohira who came to the United States from Japan, and ended up at Healdsburg College (which later became Pacific Union College). From there Okohira-san, with William Grainger, returned to Japan as missionaries.
Towards the end of the address, Dr. Nam recounts the following:
Third, this story shows how we all are historically, existentially, and organically connected to each other. Let me tell you the rest of the Okohira-Grainger story. Through their work in Tokyo, a young soldier named Hide Kuniya became an Adventist and joined the work of the church. In May of 1904, two Koreans in Japan -- waiting for their ship to Hawaii in a few days' time -- met Kuniya and became Adventists. One went on to Hawaii, but the other returned to Korea. On the ferry back to Korea, the man, Mr. Sohn, met an educated gentleman named Mr. Lim, who became an Adventist by the end of the voyage. Lim established the first Adventist church in Korea and his ministry resulted in a Mr. Kim becoming an Adventist. Kim shared Adventism with another Kim, who introduced Adventism to a Mr. Bon, who became an evangelist and went around Korea preaching the Sabbath and second coming of Jesus -- including to a Mrs. Lee, who passed on Adventism to her three children -- the eldest among them, my mom. So here I stand today because of the uncommon passion and service of Okohira and Grainger.
Hide Kuniya happens to be my great-great-grandfather's brother (am I off by a generation?), one of the first Seventh-day Adventists and an Adventist pastor in Japan.
I just found it interesting to find a bit of family history in a place I wouldn't have expected. So maybe it is a small world, after all.
1 comment:
Cool! So, how did you manage to get your ViewPoint before I got mine? Oh, wait...I just checked my big stack of mail. It's been waiting patiently for me to find it.
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