and the Missionary Experience in Japan
Rich in wonder and full of adventure, this is the story of a German woman missionary in the South Pacific and Japan. Filled with a sense of religious mission, it also gives us a perspective on what drove individuals to go beyond the normal confines of their lives and societies to carry out the missionary outreach that played such a significant role in many parts of the world during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Using her own voice, the story of Rose Notehelfer traces the extraordinary journey, both physical and spiritual, that took her from her native roots in a little German village to the far reaches of the Pacific and East Asia.
Originally intending to go to China with the German branch of the China Inland Mission, she ended up being sent instead to a small group of islands near Truk in the South Pacific — as a circuit teacher, preacher, and nurse. Later, through a complicated series of events, she came to Japan where she married another German missionary and lived and worked with her young family during World War II. The description of her life during that period presents a vivid account of what it was like for a Westerner living in Japan during the war.
F.G. Notehelfer is Professor of Japanese History at UCLA and Director of the UCLA Center for Japanese Studies.
ISBN 1-891936-68-9 (pb) $29.95