The Cake Makers Motto (click here)

Going home one day after a meeting, I, Neil Verwey, was quite discouraged. I so much longed to see more results from our ministry and there was no song of rejoicing in my heart.

God looked down and saw my discouragement and decided to lift the curtain a little to let me see that some of the seeds we had sown had actually came to fruition.

Before I left home, Peggy had said to me that she would so much like some good whole-wheat bread – the Japanese just make white bread! She had seen what looked like a German bakery on the route that I would be taking.

Sure enough, I passed a business marked, “Danke” and realized what she had in mind. So, I plucked up courage, stopped the car and went inside.

When I got there, I realized that it was not exactly a retail shop – it looked more like just an office – so I asked to see the manager. A friendly girl invited me to sit down, served me a cup of green tea and then went to call him. When he walked in, he approached me in a most friendly way,

“I am so glad to see you again, Mr. Verwey,” he said. “Maybe you have forgotten who I am, but many years ago, when I was still a student, I found Christ as my Savior in one of the meetings that you held in Habikino Hospital. My name is Takao Nakajima.”

In the next few minutes, he helped me recall those wonderful days when so many of the tuberculosis patients we had visited had, in their desperation, found the Lord. He had obviously been one of the many who had prayed the sinnerÅfs prayer and asked God to take over their life.

After reminiscing about the past, I stood up and was about to leave, when Mr. Nakajima said, “Mr. Verwey, in Habikino Hospital we always read the Bible together before you left!”

I did not want to embarrass him in front of his office staff, but at his request, I took my Bible out of my brief case and read a portion of Scripture, which we then discussed. Again, I started to leave.

“Mr. Verwey, when I was in hospital, you never left before we prayed together, remember?” Mr. Nakajima said. So, there and then, right in front of his office staff, we had a prayer meeting!

Then he called several of his staff members and filled my car with the choicest items out of his bakery and refused to take any money for them.

Driving back, my spirit was restored and my heart was full of praise as I thought of His marvelous workings in the souls of men, and especially in that heart of Takao Nakajima. He had contracted tuberculosis while in middle school and had been in and out of hospital for most of his school years. In order to qualify medically for university, he had even used the X-rays of a healthy friend! Nevertheless, at the age of 19, in hospital, he had found the Savior.

On leaving the hospital, he realized that one day he would have to head up the family business. They had baked cakes for six generations and he so much wanted their business to be an upright one. Even before he was in charge, he made Matthew 7:12 his motto. “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them”.

When his father died, Takao took over the business and pasted his motto, in large characters, on the wall of the office for everybody to see. Together with his wife and the rest of the family, they are to this day determined to run their cake-making business to the glory of God.