Memorial stones

A few years ago my dad took about six of his teen-aged great-nephews on an all-day family history tour, including stops at some cemeteries. At the first cemetery, he had a story about almost every person who is buried there.

When they reached the second cemetery, one of the boys noticed that it was much larger than the first one, and said, "I sure hope Uncle Charles doesn't know everyone in this cemetery!"

It is not unsurprising then that my baby photo album includes a photo of me and my younger sister, both of us barely out of the toddling stage, next to an antique tombstone a couple states away, taken on a vacation-cum-roots-searching trip.

Asking these questions is normal:

What are our family's roots?

What are the roots of our faith?

What are the roots of missions in this land ~ and in other lands?

Those roots include knowing those who have gone before. And those roots are often found in cemeteries.

More than a decade ago I visited the Yokohama Foreigners' Cemetery. I do not know if missionaries are buried there, but I assume so.

In a picturesque village in the mountains of Nagano, TEAM Mission owns some land, and a language school where many missionaries have spent their first two years in Japan. There, under the tall cedars, in a small enclosed area one can find eighteen graves from the past half century, marking the lives that have been given as people have followed the call to take the good news to that foreign country.


The Mission Houses Museum in Honolulu tells the story of early missionaries there. The adjoining Kawaiaha'o Church and Mission Cemetery tells the story, in tombstones, of those who gave their lives.

A friend who visited Christ College in Taiwan last year saw the grave of Gladys Aylward.

What memorial stones have encouraged your faith?