B
y the grace of God, I am
still able to correspond
with Sister D in a Women’s
Prison in Japan. As her
home is in Auckland, New
Zealand where I come
from, we have much in
common, as well as being
Sisters in Christ, both awaiting the coming of
our Lord, and sharing news of the world, and
prophecies of His 2nd coming. Although we
now live on opposite sides of the world to each
other, we can still comfort and encourage each
other. Both our countries are on the “Ring of
Fire”, with Japan having an increasing number
of earthquakes, and also for us in New
Zealand, as predicted when Christ would
return to the earth. I am able to send her
newspaper cuttings and postcards from our
country, and also in other parts of the world,
and keep her up to speed on world affairs and
the nearness of
Christ’s return. We
can both see these
days as being just
prior to His return,
and we can comfort
one another with
these things.
She has been
imprisoned since
the Tsunami in
2011. In those days,
the whole of the country was suffering from
the aftershocks of the earthquakes which
followed, when she gave birth to a baby boy,
who now lives with her family in New Zealand.
He has now started Primary School, and says
what he likes most of all is playing with the
other children, and eating his lunch! Sister D
is now able to speak to her family on the tele-
phone, and so she is able to speak to her little
boy. What a joy for her! She is able to enjoy
these pleasures being rewarded for good
behaviour. She has not been given a date for
her release from prison.
Sister D works in a Sweat Shop where she has
had numerous promotions, which is quite a
rarity as she does not yet have full command
of the Japanese language. Although she has
suffered ups and downs in prison life, she
seems to have matured and developed by all
that she has been through. I am her ‘Okason’,
which means in Japanese her Spiritual Mother,
and I am accepted as that person by the staff.
She recently has had a bad bout of toothache,
when the dentist drilled holes in her tooth to
let the poison out, but the pain was so exten-
sive, that she had to have the large double
back troublesome
tooth pulled out.
She has asked that
I thank everyone
who prayed for
her, in her awful
pain. Lately, she
says “I am in
excellent spirits,
now that the pain
has gone. I have
been doing even
more reading and
studying the Gospel on good helpful stuff to
do with spiritual growth. The Scriptures have
so much to say and teach on our thoughts,
minds, feelings and emotions, and it is inter-
esting and exciting to be able to learn and
understand it all on a deeper, clearer, more
personal level.” She says the best part of all
A Light Shining in a Dark Place
| Sis Helen Pyper (Auckland, New Zealand) pictured
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