A party from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints visited the Jiba.
| (Tohon Newsletter Vol.2_No.2) Reported by Mr. TODA Masao [On October 24, 2000, Mr. Norman D. Shumway (Public Affairs Director, Asia North Area), his wife and two staff members of L.D.S. Church visited the headquarters of Tenrikyo Church. ] On October 24, 2000, Mr. Norman D. Shumway (Public Affairs Director, Asia North Area), his wife and two staff members of L.D.S. Church visited the headquarters of Tenrikyo Church. The transportation, luncheon and English translation were arranged by Tohon Overseas Mission Dept. When Tohon Young Men’s Association made Betsudo-tai tour in U.S. this September, they visited the headquarters of L.D.S. Church and its Mission Training Center in Utah, also. (The article was on a last issue of Tohon Newsletter.) It was a start of our relationships. Mr. Shumway was once in Hiroshima, Japan as a overseas missionary from their church when he was college age, he said. He always had an interest about Tenrikyo, and had a good opportunity to come to our parental home, the Jiba this time in 40 years later. They looked around the Main Sanctuary, the Foundress’s Sanctuary, and the Memorial Hall. They were interested in the purpose of our existence in Tenrikyo and the word “The Joyous Life.” Tenrikyo teaches that God’s purpose in creating human beings was take delight in seeing their “Joyous Life.” One of members, Mr. Nakamura said, “By seeing action of Hinokishin, and hearing of its meaning, it touched our hearts.” Many questions were asked seriously from them and we had a very significant conversation about those matters. A party also visited to see the Tenri Central Library. Walking around the Tenri Central Library, they were amazed with a collection of books about the Christianity and a great amount of old documents. Mr. Masuda, Manager of the Genealogical Society in Utah, asked “by whom collected such amount of books, and it was not built in a day it was tremendous work to collect those books.” We explained that it was the order of the second Shinbashira and Tenrikyo followers collected those books with their passion. Under the beautiful autumn day, a party enjoyed their visit to the Jiba. We received a letter of thank, and this is a part of it below. Dear Sir, We were very honored by your hospitality during our recent visit to Tenri City and the headquarters of Tenrikyo. The transportation, tours, luncheon and English translation were all very arranged. We were most grateful. Especially we were grateful that you have the willingness to reach out to others and seek to understand them while being understood yourself. We think this is such a good quality, and commend you for it. If all Japanese religions were willing to do this, I think we could find many ways to be mutually helpful and accomplish our purpose better. I have distributed the pamphlets and other materials we received to other Church leaders. I will enjoy reading the Ofudesaki. Thanks again for your friendship. I hope we will have opportunity to meet again in future. In the meantime, best wishes to you and your family. Sincerely yours, Norman D. Shumway Return to the top of the page. |
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