Our outreach English classes in Tomioka began in September 2005 and continued until...

...the Tomioka community center shut down our classes in February 2007. We had made it clear in all our advertisements that we were connected with a Christian church and that we therefore have a ten minute Bible time at the end of each ninety minute class. The community center knew about this from the time we began our classes and for almost two years had no problem giving us permission to use the facility. However, the reason given for denying use of the facility in February 2007 was that we were engaging in religious activities.

Until we find a facility to use, Ann and Michiko Matsumura (pastor's wife of Kodama church) hope to have monthly reunions with the English class ladies.

The first of our reunions was a picnic on April 10, 2007. The ladies, along with a few of their young children, were glad to get together again, especially on a beautiful day in a park under the cherry blossoms for which Japan is so famous. We talked, played some games, got to know our visitors (Ann's sister Lois Bamford and their long time friend Andrea Forsythe), ate lunch, and walked in the park.