Born & Raised: in Menlo Park California.

1970 Graduated from University of Oregon

1970-1976: Employed as a Recreation Therapist at Pacific State Hospital, Pomona CA. Worked as a lay leader with international students at First Baptist Church, Pomona (currently Purpose Church).

1976-1977: One year at Fuller Seminary.

1977-1979 After arriving in Tokyo in Sept. 1977, Roberta began two years of Japanese language study.  She had incredible determination to learn the language but she was not very successful.  In spite of the fact that she studied more hours than she’d ever studied, including listening to language tapes in her sleep, she finished her allotted two years without receiving a graduation certificate.

1979-1997 She headed north in September 1979 to be a missionary at Shokei Girls’ School (currently Shokei Gakuin) where she taught Jr. College, High School and Jr. High girls.  It did not seem to her like they spoke the same language taught in the Tokyo language school!  The adjustment of not understanding the language as she thought she should and trying to be a “good” missionary took much effort! But with determination, she became fluent in the language.

Shokei Girls’ School was founded by American Baptist missionaries in 1892.  Roberta replaced the previous missionary, Miss Beulah M. McCoy, and became the 67th missionary at the school.  Miss McCoy had succeeded Mary D. Jesse, the second principal. In 1979 there was a kindergarten, junior high, high school and junior college with about 2,000 students attending when Roberta arrived. About ¼ of the faculty were Christian but a Christian program with chapel each day continued. Now some 125 years after its founding, the same percentages of Christians and Christian programing continues.

Roberta’s duties over the years primarily included teaching English conversation classes to 7th through 12th grade, speaking monthly in daily chapel services, and sponsoring the English club.  She learned what the ministry of “being” is as she spent hours each day with the teachers. As time went on she developed two significant programs for students.  One was a noon-time weekly fellowship for Christian and non-Christian high school students who wanted to know more about Jesus. It was called the Rose of Sharon club.  The second program was a home-stay program during Christmas where students stayed in American homes.  The school continued this program until 2002.

During these eighteen years, Roberta worshiped at Shokei Baptist Church.  She occasionally gave the message and taught Sunday school.  This period of time was not only a place for her to worship and serve but it was also a training ground in using the Japanese language in her future ministry. The pastor, Rev. Akiharu Nasu patiently taught her to become effective in use of the language and understanding culture.

1987 Graduated from Fuller Seminary with MA Theology.

The Book Interest in the work and school history began during this time on “A Flower With Roots.” Although not yet in book form, Roberta began the groundwork for the book in conjunction with the 100th Anniversary of the school celebrated in 1992. For this purpose, she visited the American Baptist Historical Society archives two times to gather material.

1997 to 2006 In 1997, the Lord led her into a ministry of a wider scope, working with local churches in the North East of Japan called the Tohoku Region.  Her title was “Tohoku Area Missionary.”  The 17 churches and Preaching Places are spread out over a wide area.  Many of these churches are small.  In addition to speaking at various churches when asked, she held English classes and Bible classes in Japanese at the various locations.  Through these classes, local Christians invited their friends who live in the surrounding area to join in.

These kinds of classes were also taught at Shichigahama Preaching Place which eventually became the main focus of her ministry. It met in the back of a dress shop owned by prominent Christian woman  This small group of believers had been without a pastor for many years.  Baptist ministers in the area came to help the group Sunday afternoon at their 2 pm service.  Roberta’s role was not that of a minister but more of an encourager and stimulator toward a more evangelistic presence in the community.  She held Bible classes for members, friends of members and non-Christians in the community.  There were classes in English also for those who wanted to improve their communication skills.  The hope was that these people would also begin to come to the Sunday afternoon services. This proved a fruitful outreach.

In December, 2002, this small congregation moved out of the dress shop where they had met since their inception (1958). With the help of many people who had attended over the years, the six believers who now attended bought a house and turned it into a church building. Because they still could not afford a pastor with such small numbers, they continued as a “Preaching Place.” Roberta assisted the group until their average Sunday attendance reached twelve people. In 2006, after Roberta resigned due to returning to the USA for home assignment, the church asked a retired pastor to become their pastor.

The Book Continued During this period of time Roberta continued researching the history of Shokei and continuing to write but could not conclude the book. However, after returning from her 2002-3 furlough, several teachers promised to help her get the manuscript published in Japanese language. As Roberta wrote it over the years, an alumnus, Aiko Kouchi, translated what she was writing into Japanese. In 2003, 1300 copies of Nezuita Hana (A Flower With Roots) was published by Kurisuchan shinbun.

June 2007~April 2009  Roberta lived in Tokyo in order to develop a volunteer missionary program. At the same time she worked with churches in the Tokyo area. After extensive planning by the missionary leaders for new housing for volunteers, the mission decided to tear down the house she lived in in Musashino city, Tokyo and build a volunteer center. Roberta moved into an apartment and continued hosting a few volunteer groups. Renting out the Musashino land brought in extra income. However, the market-fall of 2008 squashed all hopes of building a volunteer center. The real estate company renting the property backed out, and the International Ministries Board sold the Musashino property.

Roberta looked forward to teaching part-time in Yokohama at Soshin Girls’ School beginning in April, 2009. However, shortly, Roberta found that she had cancer and was only able to teach for one quarter.

July 2009~September 2010  Roberta had major surgery at Keio University Hospital in Tokyo where cancer was removed. After 21 days in the Japanese hospital, under the watchful eye of over 45 friends who came to visit her, she packed up and stored her belongings and returned to her sister’s house in the USA. There, for a year, she had chemo and radiation therapy. By August 2010, she felt God’s call back to Japan.

The Book Continues During her time of recuperation in the USA, when feeling well, Roberta began to do more research using the internet for the first time. Many interesting leads lead to new material and a new chapter in the book. The book had to be rewritten for an American audience rather than a Japanese audience, too.

September 2010~May 2014 Roberta slowly began yet another ministry phase by returning to Japan and living on the grounds of Kanto Gakuin University campus in Yokohama where there was a university, a high school, primary school and kindergarten. Her single official duty was to be a financial auditor of the Board of Directors!  Six months into her stay, 2011.3.11 a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami destroyed the coastline of NE Japan. This came as a great shock to her because the area she had spent so much time in was greatly affected. she put great effort into assistance and public awareness of the needs of the north east where she had spent 29 years. As this ministry continued, she began teaching at the kindergarten, conducting mother’s activity groups, and leading Bible studies. Six groups of volunteers, came to work at the school or in the tsunami zone in the north east.

May 2014 Roberta returned from Japan, and retired from International Ministries in July of the same year, choosing Kent, Washington as her home. She has become active in Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle. After spending a few years adjusting to life in the USA, and through the encouragement of Japanese friends, Roberta published in English A Flower with Roots—The Story of Mary D. Jesse and Shokei Girls’ School in February 2018 with Wipf & Stock Publishers of Eugene Oregon.

1977-1979 After arriving in Tokyo in Sept. 1977, Roberta began two years of language study.  She had incredible determination to learn the language but not with too much success.  In spite of the fact that she studied more hours than she’d ever studied, including listening to language tapes in her sleep, she finished her two years without getting a graduation certificate.

1979-1997 She headed north in Sept. 1979 to be a missionary at Shokei Girls’ School where she stayed until 1997.  It did not seem to her like they spoke the same language as was taught in the Tokyo language school!  The adjustment of not understanding the language as she thought she should and trying to be a “good” missionary took much effort!

Shokei Girls’ School was founded by American Baptist missionaries in 1892.  She replaced the previous missionary, Miss Beulah McCoy, but was about number 79 in the history of the school.  Miss McCoy had succeeded Mary D. Jesse. There was a kindergarten, jr. high, high school and jr. college with about 2,000 students attending when Roberta arrived.  Now some 125 years after its foundation, less than one-quarter of the teachers were Christians.  But Christian ministry still continued.

Roberta’s duties over the years primarily included teaching English conversation classes to 7th through 12th grade, speaking monthly in daily chapel services, sponsoring the English club.  As time went on she developed two significant programs.  One was a noon-time weekly fellowship for Christian and non-Christian high school students called Rose of Sharon.  The second program was a home-stay program during Christmas.  The school continued this program until 2002.

During these eighteen years, Roberta worshiped at Shokei Baptist Church.  She occasionally gave the message and taught Sunday school.  This time was not only a place for her to worship and serve but it was also a training ground in using the Japanese language in her future ministry.

The Book: Interest in and work began during this time on “A Flower With Roots.” Although not yet in book form, Roberta began the groundwork for the book in conjunction with the 100th Anniversary of the school celebrated in 1992. For this purpose, she visited the American Baptist Historical Society archives to gather material.

1997 to 2006  In 1997, the Lord led her into a ministry of wider scope, working with local churches in the North East of Japan called the Tohoku Region.  Her title was “Tohoku Area Missionary.”  The 17 churches and Preaching Places are spread out over a wide area.  Many of these churches are small.  In addition to speaking at various churches when asked, she held English classes and Bible classes at the various locations.  Through these classes, local Christians invite their friends who live in the surrounding area to join in.

These kinds of classes were also taught at Shichigahama Preaching Place which eventually became the main focus of her ministry.  This group of believers had been without a pastor for many years.  Ministers in the area came to help the group Sunday afternoon at their 2 pm service.  Roberta’s job is not that of a minister but more of an encourager and stimulator toward a more evangelistic presence in the community.  She holds Bible classes for members, friends of members and non-Christians in the community.  There are classes in English also for those who want to improve their communication skills.  The hope is that these people will also begin to desire to come to the Sunday afternoon services also. This proved a fruitful outreach.

In December, 2002, this small congregation moved out of the dress shop where they had met since their inception (1958). With the help of many who had attended over the years, the six believers who now attended bought a house and turned it into a church building. Because they still could not afford a pastor with such small numbers, they continued as a “Preaching Place.” Roberta assisted the group until their average Sunday attendance reached twelve people. In 2006, after Roberta resigned due to returning to the USA for home assignment, the church asked a retired pastor to become their pastor.

The Book During this period of time Roberta continued add more material but could not conclude the book. However, after returning from her 2003 furlough, several teachers promised to help her get it published in Japanese language. In 2003, Nezuita Hana (A Flower With Roots) was published by Kurisuchan shinbun. The translation was done by a graduate of the school, Aiko Kouchi.

June 2007~April 2009  Roberta lived in Tokyo in order to develop a volunteer missionary program. At the same time she worked with churches in the Tokyo area. After extensive planning by the missionary leaders for new housing for volunteers, the mission decided to tear down the house she lived in in Musashino city Tokyo and build a volunteer center. Roberta moved into an apartment and continued hosting a few volunteer groups. Renting the Musashino land brought in extra income. However, the market fall of 2008 squashed all the hopes. The real estate company renting the property backed out and stopped paying rent, and our Board sold the property.

Roberta looked forward to teaching in Yokohama at Soshin Girls’ School beginning in April, 2009. However, shortly, Roberta found that she had cancer and was only able to teach for one quarter.

July 2009~September 2010  Roberta had major surgery at Keio Hospital in Tokyo where cancer was removed. After 21 days in the Japanese hospital, under the watchful eye of over 45 friends, she packed up and stored her belongings and returned to her sister’s house in the USA. There, for a year, she had chemo and radiation therapy. By August 2010, she felt God’s call back to Japan.

The Book During this time when feeling well, Roberta began to do more research using the internet. Many interesting leads were traced, leading to new material and a new chapter one. The book was rewritten for an American audience.

September 2010~May 2014 Roberta slowly began yet another ministry phase by living on the grounds of Kanto Gakuin in Yokohama where there was a university, a high school, primary school and kindergarten. Her single official duty was to be a financial auditor of the Board of Directors!  Six months into her stay, 2011.3.11 a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami destroyed the coastline of NE Japan. While she began working with kindergarteners in Yokohama, she put great effort into assistance and public awareness of the needs of the north east where she had spent 29 years. As this ministry continued, she began Bible studies, and mother’s activity groups, and hosted six group of volunteers, both singles and groups.

May 2014 Roberta retired from Japan, and retired from International Ministries in July of the same year. After spending a few years adjusting to life in the USA, through the encouragement of Japanese friends, Roberta published “A Flower with Roots—The Story of Mary D. Jesse and Shokei Girls’ School” in February 2018.