From Seattle, Washington USA
150 miles from where Anglicans Online began in 1994.

My memory may be faulty, but I believe I am substantially correct in saying that I discovered the presence of "Anglicans Online" while in Okinawa, in the midst of being introduced to the internet around 1994, and getting in touch with Todd Maffin in Vancouver (my place of birth). I began to e-mail by being hooked up to the worldwide web through a borrowed modem and being introduced to the worldwide web by a friendly fellow-American on a semi-tropical island. I was serving an English language congregation in the Japanese Church (Nippon Sei Kou Kai).

I think it was in the days before color was introduced to the screen. Except for annual 1-month vacations back to the continental USA, Anglicans Online was my way in the midst of parochial responsibilities and diocesan administrative work, of trying to keep somewhat connected and abreast with the Episcopal Church, USA, and the Anglican Communion.

When I went to serve another parish in the late 90s at the other end of Japan -- to the Northeast, where there was snow from mid-November until early April, I went without any of my theological resources except a few CDs and my laptop that was promptly connected to the worldwide web. It was somewhat re-assuring to read the weekly letter from AO, and to be in touch with fellow clergy to discuss and sound out their homiletic views every week. The work was exclusively in Japanese, so I found this inter-cultural window and experienced a unity in Christ that was reaffirming in my vocation and ministry.

Today, in my post-stroke condition, and retirement, I find that it is easier for me to strike the computer keyboard, than to put pen to paper, so e-mail is my method of choice for communication. I look forward to the friendly/informative messages from Anglicans Online: sometimes esoteric, mundane, theological, or devotional -- I opt for the devotional. Also I feel encouraged by the fellowship of the faithful, in particular in hearing from voices out of the past -- and the present -- those who are fellow-readers of, and sometimes contributors to, Anglicans Online.

The Reverend Timothy Makoto Nakayama
Priest, retired, Diocese of Olympia, Episcopal Church in the USA

The Reverend Timothy Makoto Nakayama
St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle
Seattle, Washington, USA
frtim@yahoo.com