They were renovating an old Japanese house where other missionaries were going to live. Meanwhile, Ichishima-san’s “real” project was an hour drive south, renovating a three-story city building to be a center-of-influence. Neither project earned him more pay. He’s supported by a less-than-minimum-wage ministry stipend. He’s the man in the yellow helmet. One of the hardest working missionaries I’ve met.

Mornings find him doing maintenance or chores around a third building used as a health food store in his town. After morning worships with the two other missionaries he works with, he invents products to sell at the store, ships mail orders, on top doing everything the other missionaries needed him to do.

It’s off to renovating buildings in the afternoons. Evenings saw him tutoring students as a ministry or book-keeping back at the health food store by lamp light. I never figured out how he had any time to do personal ministry, but the evidence that God gifted this man with ability to labor was impossible to miss.

Sabbaths, you can see him at the church plant in the center-of-influence building. He unlocks the building, greets, is acting elder for communion, sabbath-school teacher, and takes up the offering. After service, he’s the deacon waiting on tables at potluck. He even does the dishes. You’d think a man carry such a load of work would wear out his cheerfulness, but not that I’ve seen. In fact, during potluck he cheers up small grumpy children so their parents can finish their conversations with others. Sabbath afternoon he gives one-on-one Bible studies to people from the community.

One Sabbath I was asked to preach at his church when there was a funeral for one of the members. We learned that Ichishima-san had befriended the man in the community and as he became weakened with sickness, Ichishima-san would go to his house to bathe and dress him. He’d give him a ride to prayer meetings on Wednesdays… (did I mention Ichishima-san conducts prayer meetings on Wednesdays?) Sabbath, he’d chauffeur the man to church, study the Bible with him, until the man was baptized… just six month prior to his death. I could go on about Ichishima-san.