![\"Akeri](\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/sitenews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/images_news-2018_Akeri_father_Return_to_Japan_deu_to_TB.jpg\" "\\"Mitsuharu")
<\/a>Mitsuharu Suzuki was among the few Japanese soldiers who survived World War II fighting in Manchuria, China. His survival was not so much because of wartime bravery but rather because he developed tuberculosis and had to be shipped home.<\/p>\nWhen the Japanese emperor surrendered on 15 August 1945, Mitsuharu attempted suicide, as did many fellow soldiers. He felt ashamed to be one of the few to survive.
But life improved. Mitsuharu married Fusae and became a farmer. They had a baby daughter, Atsuko. Mitsuharu worked hard and dreamed of a happy future. But tuberculosis returned, this time ravaging his spine. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very sorry,\u201d the doctor told Fusae. \u201cYour husband is very young but, unfortunately, he will die tonight or at the most in a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n
The news devastated the young mother. She went to the river to fetch water and, looking into the water, considered throwing herself in. But then two men in black suits appeared. <\/p>\n
\u201cBe patient for just a while,\u201d said one.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, be patient,\u201d said the other.<\/p>\n
After those words, the men disappeared from her sight. <\/p>\n
The encounter pulled Fusae back from despair, and she returned home to nurse her husband.<\/p>\n
Mitsuharu, meanwhile, was tormented by his lingering illness. \u201cI\u2019m very sorry that I could not make your life as happy as you expected when you married me,\u201d he told his wife. <\/p>\n
By that time Fusae was pregnant again. With his fragile health, Mitsuharu feared for the future. He could not bear the thought of his wife struggling to raise two children on her own. He pleaded with her to terminate the pregnancy.<\/p>\n
His pleas upset Fusae. Moreover, abortion was strictly prohibited in Japan because of a decreasing population following World War II. But a government official granted permission for the abortion after hearing about the situation.<\/p>\n
Failed Abortion \u201cBe careful with the medicine, and don\u2019t exceed the prescribed dose,\u201d she cautioned. \u201cOtherwise, your own life will be in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n Fusae, with tears in her eyes, swallowed the first dose, enough to end the pregnancy. Weeping in sorrow, she felt the foetus move. <\/p>\n \u201cMy baby\u2019s still alive!\u201d she cried out. <\/p>\n The next day, she repeated the dose. Then again on the third day. Yet the foetus kept moving inside her. In desperation, she drained the medicine bottle, but still the baby remained alive.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s totally unbelievable!\u201d she told her husband.<\/p>\n Mitsuharu said nothing, perhaps recognizing that something miraculous was happening in Fusae\u2019s womb. <\/p>\n Several months later, unspeakable joy filled Fusae\u2019s heart when a healthy and loudly crying baby boy was born.<\/p>\n Discovering his origins<\/strong> \u201cWhen I heard the story of my birth from my mother, I was terribly shocked and felt as if I had been struck by powerful lightening,\u201d Akeri said. \u201cMy whole body trembled.\u201d Overwhelmed by God\u2019s tremendous love, he thought, \u201cI am a very precious gift from God.\u201d He re-dedicated himself to God at that very moment. \u201cGod intervened in my mother\u2019s womb to save my life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Akeri\u2019s parents went on to have three more children,* but his mother always told him, \u201cYou were the strongest of all the babies.\u201d<\/p>\n Finding Christ<\/strong><\/p>\n A few days later he rode his bicycle passed an advertisement for evangelistic meetings in the nearby town. The words of the poster stirred an interest in his heart. Having faced death several times, he was searching for truth and hope. <\/p>\n At the meetings, Mitsuharu eagerly learned about the Christ who died on a cross for his sins and promised him an eternal life free of illness. He learnt about the great resurrection hope. He and his wife were baptized together on Akeri\u2019s first birthday, 29 April 1951. <\/p>\n \u201cTheir baptismal date always reminds me that God intervened in my mother\u2019s womb to save my life,\u201d Akeri said. \u201cMy parents became the first Adventist church members in my village.\u201d<\/p>\n The family lived in a poor village and were the poorest of the poor because of Mitsuharu\u2019s tuberculosis. Their home had no electricity or running water, and they survived on government welfare payments. Yet one day, a pastor suggested that Mitsuharu send his children to an Adventist boarding school and college near Tokyo.<\/p>\n Fusae was skeptical. \u201cI have no idea about the school,\u201d she told her husband. \u201cAnyway, I\u2019m sorry. I think it\u2019s totally impossible. You are still sick, and we have no money.\u201d<\/p>\n Working hard despite his poor health, Mitsuharu managed to send all four children, one at a time, to the school and college.<\/p>\n \u201cIn human terms, my mother was right,\u201d Akeri said. But he sees this as another miracle and is grateful for his father\u2019s sacrifice.<\/p>\n
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Fusae walked slowly to the pharmacy. Those steps were the most difficult in her life. When she showed the special document to the female pharmacist and asked for the medicine, they cried together. The pharmacist prescribed a strong medicine that, she promised, would work without fail. <\/p>\n
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Her son, Akeri, was 30 and serving as a Seventh-day Adventist pastor before Fusae told him of his origins. <\/p>\n<\/a>Several months after Akeri\u2019s birth, a man wearing an old Japanese military uniform came to the house with a black book. \u201cThis is the Bible! This is the Bible!\u201d the man told Mitsuharu. \u201cPlease read this Bible, and you will find great truth and wonderful hope.\u201d It was the first time that Mitsuharu had seen a Bible. <\/p>\n