Sister Rosamaria came back to Japan for the Italian Fair. When Sister first came to Japan, the convent of the Daughters of St. Paul had just moved from Asagaya to the present location in Nogizaka, and there were few Japanese Postulants.
It was at that time that they started fully the propaganda (preaching and publicity), and visiting each house one after the other. Sister who could not speak Japanese also went to visit together with the Postulants.
When asked what surprised her most in Japan, Sister answered:" poverty". She had been astonished to see mothers carrying their baby on their back to do laundries, and people who were so poor that they could not buy books.
But there were many people interested in Christianity and who wished to know about it.
Sister Rosamaria had been very much moved to see people accepting the pamphlet with gratitude because they could not even buy books.
At that period, Father Fukahori, the Pastor at Omori church spoke Italian quite well. After the propaganda, they visited this priest to make a report, etc. One day Sisters introduced Father Fukahori to some people, and one year later, they received a letter of thanksgiving saying that they still could not buy a book, but the whole family received the holy grace of baptism.
"Same kind of letters gave me so much consolation 3 or 4 years later. There were difficulties, but much more joy" says Sister Rosamaria.
Before her perpetual vow, Sister had been wondering whether to move into a contemplative congregation (as the Trapistine), but after receiving that letter, she never doubted about her vocation as a Daughter of St. Paul.
Two years after she came to Japan, she moved to the convent in Fukuoka, and from there she traveled to Kagoshima for propaganda. Pastor in the Church of Xavier in Kagoshima also could speak Italian.
Amami Island has not been returned to Japan for a long time when Sister went there. All the convents had been closed down before the war that almost nobody had seen a nun before. As the Sisters went back to Amami after 25 years, they received a really warm welcome, and people called them "lady-priest". There also, as people had been very poor, Sisters visited them giving pamphlets rather than introducing a book.
Father Migita from the Society of St. Paul, and the vocation of our Sister Ijuin were the special gift from God at that time.
Sisters had to go asking for donation in the U.S.military base bringing boxes of cigarettes. The year following the Marine exhibition, they started the propaganda in Okinawa. When the film about Mother Teresa has been completed, they went all around Kyushu. This was how Sr.Rosamaria ran around Japan for 39 years, to spread the love of God.
