This is a post that was published on our old website many years ago, maybe about 20 years ago. But we would very much like to take it with us and republish it on our new pages. If it is possible, we should probably create an separate section where we collect and summarize all the various missionaries or envoys that Betel has sent out and helped send out. In any case, we will start collecting material, then we will see if we can start publishing it gradually. Here is a good start, where Hans briefly presents the service that he and Edith had in Japan:
We were in Japan for six periods, about three years each. Anita, our oldest daughter, was only four months old when we first left, and Kjellfrid and Einar were born there.
We lived almost the entire time in the city of Niiza in Saitama Prefecture, about an hour's drive from Tokyo. Niiza has about 150,000 inhabitants, Saitama seven million. In all of Japan, there are 127 million people.
First, I worked for a few months at "Nytt Livs Lys", a large Christian printing house with 60-70 employees. There we printed Bibles, books and tracts in various languages. Much of the literature was sent to China and Russia.
Then I went to a language school in Tokyo for a year and took the basic course. Edith also studied there part-time. After the language course, I continued to work at the printing house. Gradually, I felt the call to start church work. At first we attended English-speaking congregations, but then we moved to a Japanese congregation where an Australian missionary was the elder.
When we left for the second time, we continued our language studies. I attended language school for another year and completed all the courses. Then we started having house meetings in our home. I began to speak at the congregation meetings occasionally.
We took over responsibility for a small congregation in the town of Misato, about an hour’s drive from Niiza. We helped build up the congregation there, and now Tamio Kaneko is the elder there. We also had responsibility for the congregations in Sugito, Niiza, and Hatoyama that we helped start. In all places, people were saved and baptized, and we had a great time. In addition to the four congregations, we helped start a new work in the town of Omiya. The meetings continued in all places, and we thank God for that.
The greatest thing has been seeing many Japanese people's lives transformed. They can now testify that Jesus has given them peace in their hearts, which they did not have before. What they did not find in Buddhism, Shintoism and materialism, they have received from the living God! We have made many friends in Japan, and I miss the country and the people there.
The children were with us at the meeting all the time and I got to baptize Anita and Kjellfrid. In the congregation, Japanese was spoken and we all took part in that together. The children went to an American, Christian private school. Everything was in English there, but they learned a little Japanese there too. At home, we have always spoken Norwegian, but the children have spoken English among themselves.
We have done a lot of tract distribution and evangelism, but the most important thing has been to lead souls to Jesus and to take care of them so that they would be saved. It is a lot of hard work. At one time I had the main responsibility for three congregations at once. It was very demanding and it took its toll on her health.
Edith's main task was to take care of the home when the children were small, but she participated in cooking classes for Japanese women, and spoke and testified at the meetings from time to time. The children also helped with the churches and they were active in evangelism from the American school.
Japan is a high-cost country and for many years I taught English to make ends meet. Through this work, some also became Christians. The girls also had their own English classes for a time. One whom Anita taught, Yonyama, became a Christian and married a German missionary. She has been on a visit to Norway. I married other Japanese couples at the end of her missionary time.
Now we live in Volda. Edith works as a cleaner at the hospital. I am a part-time evangelist at Betel, and work part-time for the construction company Volda Maskin. Einar is in his first year of junior high school and attends the youth meeting at Bethel. Anita is 23 years old and attends the Teachers' Academy, and Kjellfrid is 20 years old and attends Akta Bible School in Stavanger.
Pray for us!
Hans Reite