<Begin Segment 7>

SF: When evacuation took place from your area... you went to Poston, is that right?

PN: Right.

SF: And what role did the church give you? I think, weren't you an official, officially appointed by the Baptist Church?

PN: Yeah. Well, the wonderful thing about the, well evacuation and incarceration was that we became one. We weren't thinking in terms of denominational groups in the camps. We became an ecumenical church. So we round up all the ministers and Christian workers, and we became one church, as it were. I liked that. We all worked together, not denominationally. And then in our camp, "Poston One" at first -- and then I went as a missionary, as it were, to "Poston Three" -- but Camp One, Poston, we divided into four parishes. And each one of us were assigned to a parish and were responsible for a certain amount of, of the barracks or blocks in that camp. And then we worked together -- well, we worked inter-denominationally. But we're helping each other, daily vacation Bible school, worship services, choirs, church activities, we're in these different parishes. But then every once in a while we have it all together. Had great time together. Great experiences when we'd come together. Have a big "singspiration" or something.

SF: So what kind of services, as it were, did you all have ecumenically in camp? Like, did you have one common church and you'd have a combined service on Sunday for everybody, or did sometimes you'd have a Baptist service at a particular time and then a Methodist service later in the day or something like that?

PN: No. It was an ecumenical church. It was all one. In Camp One, Poston, we had these four parishes with each parish having their own minister, and the care of that particular parish by that minister and the other helpers taking care of that one area. And so they all worked together. Then every so often -- I think about once a month or once a quarter -- they came together and had a great... well, in "Poston One," we had sometimes as much as eight days -- eight great days, we'd call it, coming together and having a special service in the evening. And you find a whole community coming together -- you know all four parishes and others coming together -- having a great inspirational time. And because of the trauma and uncertainty of those days, it was a very -- well, we used the word evangelistic opportunity as people saying, "I want to become a Christian. I want to commit my life to become a Christian." So it was a wonderful opportunity. Hey, you had a captive audience. [Laughs] And so the constant sharing of the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ, of God's love, and of the Savior. See the Christians had this wonderful message of the Savior. And the time like that, a Savior means so much because the uncertainty and oppression. And there was a tremendous response to that emphasis. So lot of them became Christians. Fact is a lot of them went into the ministry because of the camp experience. So in the midst of their oppression and suffering, there were some (who) -- "made the desert to bloom," as it were. There were a lot of wonderful blessings that we experienced. Coming to Camp Three now, is a little different. Camp Three was a smaller camp, and I was the only English-speaking minister. Fact is, I volunteered from Camp One to "Poston Three." So we had one worship service in one section, early morning, and then I moved over to the other section for the other service, for the other group. So we had two churches, as it were. But, you know we were really one.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.