March 15 was a warm spring day under a cloudless sky. The mimosa tree in the yard next to the Okamoto Keiyaku RP Church glowed with the brightest of yellows against the azure sky. It was a day that Mrs. Toshiko Yamashita would have exclaimed over with praise to the heavenly Father, but Mrs. Yamashita was not there to express her praises. The Lord had called her to come to Himself early on the Wednesday before.

Instead, the church building was full of church and family members, friends and neighbors who gathered to remember Mrs. Toshiko Yamashita and say their farewells. Several people commented on how amazed she would have been to see the church packed to the corners with people who had named her their friend or neighbor or relative. She would have laughed aloud and said in amazement, “All these people here for me? Hazukashii, hazukashii! (I’m so embarrassed!)”

She used to make us all laugh with that expression of hers. She would say it whenever she was commended for something, though her face would glow with pleasure that people had appreciated her. Mrs. Yamashita was a self-effacing, humble child of God; and as the turnout at her funeral showed, the Lord had fulfilled His Word to honor those who honor Him, to lift up those who humble themselves before Him.

Mrs. Yamashita’s life and witness seemed so relevant to this Women’s Missionary Fellowship page of the RP Witness. When WMF groups pray for mission work overseas, part of that mission work is the public, visible ministry of the congregations. But the public, visible work of the church depends on the quiet inner work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those called out of darkness to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Mrs. Yamashita is a clear example of such a life. Furthermore, if WMF groups have an additional purpose to help each woman grow in her own sense of call to witness to the Lord Jesus in whatever sphere He has placed her, then Mrs. Yamashita provides us with a model of how faithful Christian living leads to a fruitful witness through the power of the Holy Spirit. She was an encourager of other Christians and a faithful witness to unbelievers through her quiet life of faith and obedience.

At her funeral, Pastor Shigeru Takiura used 1 Thessalonians 5:8-28 as his text. Mrs. Yamashita had quoted this passage to him as he drove her home from church on one of the last days that she was able to attend a church meeting. Mrs. Yamashita was sitting in the back seat, and, in their conversation, she said quietly but firmly, “Don’t quench the Spirit, sensei [teacher]. Don’t quench the Spirit!”

Pastor Takiura was deeply impressed by such an expression of mature faith and her spiritual practicality and understanding. In his funeral message, he took the passage she had quoted from and showed how her life followed the pattern of the text. First Thessalonians 5:8-11 presents “The Christian’s Salvation”; verses 12-15, “A Life of Grace”; verses 16-22, “The Witness of a Christian”; verses 23-24, “The Glory for the Christian”; and verses 25-28, “The Exhortation to Carry the Torch.”

As we listened to how Mrs. Yamashita’s life had demonstrated these truths of Scripture, the Christians in the audience were challenged and encouraged in their faith, while the non-Christians heard the full gospel message and the meaning of life in Christ.

There were many non-Christians at the funeral. One point that impressed people was hearing how important the worship services and fellowship meetings were to Mrs. Yamashita. When the doctors told her in January that they could do nothing more to treat her cancer, she entered the hospice ward of a local hospital. However, being there meant she could not attend church; so she returned to her home. When she began to need oxygen to breathe, she paid for a portable oxygen unit to allow her to get out to church. Hearing this, two non-Christians sitting behind me exclaimed in amazement. Her faithful, joyous devotion to the Lord became a powerful testimony to friends gathered to mourn her.

Mrs. Yamashita became a member of the Okamoto Keiyaku RP Church after the massive earthquake that struck the Kobe area in 1995, leaving over 6,000 people dead. Mrs. Yamashita’s home was damaged but survived the earthquake. Her neighbors’ home, the family home of Mrs. Nakamura of the Keiyaku Church, was destroyed. The weight of the tile roof crushed the second floor. Mrs. Nakamura and her two sisters, all elderly, were trapped inside in a small room. Mrs. Yamashita’s younger son, at great personal risk, went out even as the severe aftershocks were continuing to search for the three neighbor ladies and was able to rescue them. It is probable that they would not have survived without his efforts.

Later, Pastor Takiura went to the Yamashita home to thank them and to see if there was anything the Keiyaku Church-based rescue teams could do to repair their home. Through that contact, Mr. and Mrs. Yamashita began attending Keiyaku, since there were some difficulties that had arisen connected to their previous church. After Mr. Yamashita’s death a year later, Mrs. Yamashita transferred her membership to Keiyaku and became a faithful servant of Christ in the church.

Her service to the Lord in the church was, first of all, her faithful attendance at the Lord’s Day services and at prayer meeting and the women’s Bible study. Joining in the fellowship of the Lord’s house was not a burdensome thing for her, but one she did as a joyful act of service to the Lord, with gratitude to Him. I saw what a powerful witness this became when I witnessed the amazed reaction of the non-Christians at her funeral. I had never thought about how much the Lord could use my church attendance as a testimony to Him if I were to attend church with the kind of joy and eagerness that Mrs. Yamashita showed.

Mrs. Yamashita was also willing to use all of her talents and assets for the work of the Lord. She had a cozy home and welcomed people to it. She was willing to host foreign visitors even though she did not speak English fluently. As a young woman, Mrs. Yamashita had worked as an operator for the telephone company and had been taught certain English sentences to use with foreign callers. At that time, there were many U.S. military personnel stationed in Japan. Her English skills were limited, but she had the gift of finding some way to communicate, even without words. She became part of the support staff for the Kobe Theological Hall, helping Pastor Takiura with the finances and finding many other ways to support the students and the work, including taking her turn to clean the Covenanter Center Building.

Mrs. Yamashita had become a Christian many years prior to joining Keiyaku Church. When she was 19, she was invited to a special evangelistic meeting at a Christian church in Kobe. The Lord had prepared her heart to believe, so when she heard the evangelistic message, she responded in faith and repentance immediately.

Part of that preparation came through the difficult life she had had since childhood. Her mother suffered from depression and other mental illness, and her father was a heavy drinker. Although Toshiko was bright, she was not allowed to go on to regular high school after junior high school, but had to get a job. That was when she worked for the telephone company. On her own, she went to night school to get her high school diploma. Later, a marriage was arranged for her with a Christian man. She joined him in his church, where they served faithfully. Mrs. Yamashita’s testimony before her parents was used by the Lord to bring both of them to faith in their later years.

My first impression of Mrs. Yamashita was of a quiet, helpful and friendly lady. Later, I realized what a remarkable woman she was, much more than just being helpful and friendly. A life of much difficulty had been received as the Lord intends suffering to be received, and had resulted in the shaping of a character full of the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s fruit. She was full of joy, thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. She was humble and compassionate toward others, with a desire to do kind things for people.

One way in which she reached out in kindness was in treating people’s aches and pains. She had been trained in massage therapy while working for many years on the night shift at a hospital, caring for paralyzed patients. Until her final illness, her home was the gathering place for elderly ladies in her neighborhood who came for tea and conversation and to get massages. She saw her massage skills as a ministry, and would talk about the Lord as she helped people.

There were many tears that beautiful spring day when Mrs. Yamashita’s life was remembered. There are many of us who miss her. But her life continues to challenge me, even as she always did whenever we met while she was still alive. Mrs. Yamashita would say that she had no special talents or understanding, but to those who knew her, her life was an amazing demonstration of what the Lord does in and through the lives of His children who are yielded to Him. The same grace of God can do the same transforming work in each of us.

As you pray in your WMF meetings for the work of the Lord around the world, including the work in Japan, you can praise the Lord for what He did in the life of Toshiko Yamashita. Please pray that He will raise up many women like her.

Patricia Boyle is editor of the Women’s Missionary Fellowship feature for the Witness. She is a missionary in Japan.