When Amelia visited Japan at the age of 14 and met Kihei, she never guessed that, years later, their paths would cross again at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, PA.

Now, back in Japan, Kihei and Amelia Takiura have shared 16 years of marriage and ministry, and the seminary where they were brought together has given them a foundation for their ministry in the church.

Amelia’s grandparents served as missionaries in Japan, and her parents took her on visits there when she was growing up. The Lord used these trips to begin opening her heart to mission work in Japan.

She grew up in Shawnee, Kansas and attended the Reformed Presbyterian church there. In high school, Amelia attended the Theological Foundations for Youth program at the seminary, which made her interested in studying at RPTS someday.

“I began to pray about going to Japan, so I went on mission trips with RP Missions three times and studied Japanese and read a lot of missionary biographies and prepared in different ways.” During this season, Amelia lost her job – an event she knows was part of a push from God for her to do something different. “I didn’t have any responsibilities to tie me to Kansas, and I had wanted to study more at the seminary, so I went.”

She enrolled in a one-year program to obtain a missionary training certificate, hoping to better equip herself for future mission work.

Providentially, Amelia’s one year at RPTS was Kihei’s last of four years studying there, and God began to answer her prayers about going to Japan.

As they attended classes together, Kihei and Amelia began to like one another.

“God made it clear to both of us that God wanted us to go to Japan together, so we got married right after graduation and went straight to Japan,” Amelia said.

There are four Reformed Presbyterian churches in Kobe, Japan. Kihei and Amelia attend Okamoto-Keiyaku Reformed Presbyterian Church, where Kihei serves as pastor. His pastoral duties often include counseling. Kihei also teaches practical theology courses at

Kobe Theological Hall, a Reformed Presbyterian seminary established by the Japan Presbytery in 1996.

Kihei attested that the training and care he received from his professors at RPTS prepared him well for day-to-day ministry.

“The professors were probably busy, but they were always kind to make time for us, and every time I went to see Dr. Gamble and Dr. O’Neill, I got something,” Kihei said. “For example, I was asking professors a question, ‘What is the most important thing in pastoral ministry?’, as a part of the homework. And Dr. Prutow said ‘patience,’ and Dr. Wayne Spear said, ‘love for your congregation,’ and I thought that both things are true to all pastoral ministry – the patient love of His people. So that remained in me, and I often share it with my students too.” This and other conversations with professors – that Kihei remembers like they took place a month ago – continue to shape the way he ministers to his congregation.

Kihei’s relationships with professors weren’t the only meaningful ones during his time at seminary.

Growing up in Japan, a country with few Christians, Kihei struggled to find good friends with which he could “share his heart and the faith.” He appreciated being surrounded by a community of believers at RPTS and was encouraged by the way that interactions with believers from different backgrounds stretched and formed him.

He often spent time in “conversation with roommates and other students – often very heated arguments and often arguing until the late of night,” spurring each other on in their studies. He recounted that he shared a dorm room with a Reformed Baptist, and the conversations they had prepared him for the present conversations he frequently has with the Reformed Baptist visitors at his church in Kobe.

However, Kihei said that the most helpful gift from his time at RPTS was Amelia.

As Kihei preaches, counsels, and teaches, Amelia raises their seven children and serves in the church by being a friend to the women in the congregation. She also embarked on a project translating books from English into Japanese, although she says it is slow going. Her most recent endeavor is creating artwork that features Bible verses to sell in the bookstore that she and her husband help with. There is a lack of Christian art in Kobe, and Amelia has enjoyed trying to fill this gap.

During her studies at RPTS, Amelia took a Spiritual Development course and a Doctrine of God course. The former helped her memorize the whole Shorter Catechism, and the latter was foundational in her preparation for mission work.

Amelia has only grown in her appreciation for having an ordered understanding of doctrine during her time in Japan.

As the Takiuras’ story shows, RPTS is a place of intersections. Students come to study from all across the United States and from around the world. They may only be at the seminary for a short time, but graduates consistently testify how instrumental their time at RPTS is in preparing them for their various places of service in Christ’s kingdom. It’s a wonderful providence that, years after their initial meeting in Kobe, the Lord crossed Kihei and Amelia’s paths on the other side of the world, using their shared time at RPTS to bring them together and prepare them to go back to Japan and serve Him together.

May the Lord continue to raise up faithful workers to go out into His Kingdom, and may He continue to use RPTS to prepare them for ministry.