Lights to Japan

Roger Stevens was born May 21 1956 and brought up in Southampton. The UK was coming out of post-war austerity. Until he was about 14, he says they lived without a telephone, a fridge or a car. His father worked at Dock House at Southampton Docks and his mother was a full-time housewife, later taking on some clerical work. His father had been based in Singapore as a soldier in World War II and was one of those who managed to get away just the Japanese army took Singapore.
Roger says he had not been brought up to go to church and was close to being an atheist. At the University of Birmingham where he was reading History, he read a Christian book, "Live a new life" by David Watson and was struck by the words of Jesus, "Come to me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest As he read the book he began to feel that here was what he had been looking for all his life and he prayed the prayer of commitment at the back of the book and on March 18 1976, alone in his room, he asked God to forgive his sins nd he put his faith in Jesus Christ. He says, "This encounter with Christ was the greatest event in my life, gave me inner peace and a purpose for living and was eventually to result in my becoming a mission worker in Japan.
He went to London Bible College in preparation for missionary service, probably in Japan.
Jea-Nam grew up in a large family in a country village in South Korea. Buddhism is the traditional religion of Korea, but her family was more influenced by Confucianism which emphasised moral living and especially honouring one's parents in this life and after death. It was not until she was about ten years old that she even heard the name of Jesus. Her friend's father was accidentally killed while he was trying to stop a fight between two young man. He would normally have been imprisoned for life, but her friend's mother publicly forgave him and the sentence was reduced to 15 years. Jea-Nam heard that she had forgiven him because she loved Jesus. Who was this Jesus? she wondered. After High School she went to the Universe nursing school and when she finished nursing training went to work in West Germany. The following year a Christian friend invited her to a Korean Christian conference in Switzerland. She accepted mainly because she wanted to see the beautiful Alps. In the beautiful surroundings she felt for the first time her heart was not clean. At one of the talks at the conference, she had what she says was " a sudden flash of revelation in my heart" that Jesus had been resurrected from death and that He was the truth and the life. She repented and asked for His love and forgiveness.
She went to London and to improve her English went to the Abbey School which taught English as a Foreign Language and it was there she and Roger Stevens met as he was one of the teachers. They married in August 1989.
Their daughter Angela was brought up in Japan and was a fluent speaker of the language as well as English.