April Fool’s or Not…

The kids thought Eric was coming home tomorrow (Saturday)- so when Eric called to say that he and Kent were able to get home Friday night, I didn’t tell the kids otherwise.  But we made banners in preparation, and I managed to make an apple pie and get it in the oven before we left for the train station.

They thought we were going to pick up Uncle Kent and “another guy who had been helping up at the earthquake.”  There was SUCH joy at the train station when they saw with their own eyes that the other man was Daddy!  Such awesome squeals.

It’s great to have him home.  We have a video clip from the train station – watching Ian run to his daddy is worth the watch, I think (I’m biased of course).

The last few minutes Eric has been talking to Peter on the phone.  Peter is staying up until Sunday to make a good transition to the next team coming in.  But there was an unfortunate incident today that he is handling – when Peter first called Eric about it, Eric hoped it was an April Fool’s joke, but it’s not.  A relief team brought back to the one campsite a dog that they found in the city where they were working.  The church staff agreed to let the dog stay for a few days, even providing dog food.  But today that camp director (our friend Hi-chan’s husband) got bit when the dog escaped and had to go to the hospital.  Pray for Peter especially as he finishes his time and needs to handle a lot of different teams coming and going with varied expectations and preparation.  Tomorrow is a big day for many of the agencies as Franklin Graham is planning a visit to the area.

Eric will write soon about some of his experiences.  I hope we can get a good night sleep.  Ian has been having bad coughing fits during the night.  Tomorrow we have a soccer parent’s orientation for weekend soccer that Owen is starting.

Just a few minutes ago, we sat and watched a video clip of the mayor of Minami Souma, an area about 20-30 kms. away from the Fukushima nuclear plant, making an appeal for volunteers to come in and help his city.  Because of the fear of radiation, they are not receiving help.  (Here is the link- it is a bit lengthy but does have english subtitles:    It breaks our hearts.  Eric started wondering – how can we get a big truck?  I know Christians will respond.  We will pray  - you and us! – and see what God does….

 

Kids

As I have listened to Eric fill in for me how their days are filled – often from early until really late — a large part of the mornings and/or evenings are filled with helping load and unload shipments that have been coming into Sendai from Samaritan’s Purse, Food for the Hungry, and other countries who have been sending relief for distribution. Tonight Eric mentioned how much he has enjoyed watching the humility and wisdom of one of the Samaritan’s Purse staff, Ken Isaacs. Ken has flown into Japan to oversee the work being done, and his background in doing relief work has been really helpful. Eric told me that Ken went to Costco and spent 250 thousand dollars – he bought them out of underwear and other things that are needed up north right now. Then he went to bicycle shops and tried to buy as many as possible, since gas is hard to get this is one of the best means of transportation at this point. (Eric laughed that Ken cancelled his order for a bunch of Japanese rice cookers when he found out the premium rate of these appliances in this country!) We are thankful for the generous outpouring that has been coming in to help meet the enormous needs of the people here.

One of the needs that the guys have realized is helping to entertain the children who are spending all their days and nights in large gymnasiums/evacuation centers. Most have no toys, no school, no home. So Peter and Eric arranged to do some fun english games/classes today in one of the evacuation centers where they have built relationships. Eric said the two of them just went at it this afternoon for several hours with about thirty kids, and parents and other adults who would come and go with smiles on their faces. I think it was a highlight not just for the kids, but for the two guys as well! I think this kind of ministry is going to be crucial in days to come as parents/adults focus on cleaning, moving, rebuilding, but there are not safe places yet for children to play.

Chad Huddleston, a missionary colleagues who has been making trips up to Tohoku to do relief work, conveyed this story to his wife. I read it tonight and it touched me deeply.

Wow. I don’t even know what to say. Chad just shared with me the moment that impacted him most today. He met a young man as they were passing out food and supplies and asked him where he lived. The man said that his house had been washed away. They were living in one of the evacuee shelters. Then Chad asked him what the needs at the shelter were and the man answered, “Kodomo,” which means “child” or “children.” He went on to share that his four year old son had been washed away in the tsunami. His wife was there too, and as Chad and Kitani-papa talked and then prayed with them, they both just sobbed and sobbed. Unimaginable. Unexplainable. Yet we hold on to the truth that God is good. He has asked us to go. He wants us to love these people. So, we go.

Pray with me today for the tens of thousands of children who have been displaced from their homes; many who have lost family members.  And pray with me for those families who have lost children, perhaps the most unimaginable lost.  We have a God who knows what it feels like to lose a son.  May His love sweep in tangible ways over those who need such love and comfort.

 

Places matter

Today I finally got ahold of our friends the Watanabes, who own a lovely ocean-front Japanese hotel up in Ibaraki-ken,  part of the tsunami zone.  They have been special friends for twenty years, back when I was an advisor for summer workers up in northern Japan.  One of the summer workers, Cindy stayed with them for part of the summer, and when I would make the rounds they would have me stay as well.  This picture is with Mrs. Watanabe and her youngest son in their lovely Japanese garden….
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Over the last twenty years they have been special friends to our family.  Every few years we have had a chance to stay with them.  Mrs. Watanabe is a beautiful believer, and she has always welcomed us into their hotel as if we were own family.  We have watched their three children grow up;  their oldest has become a manager for their hotel.  The last time we visited we stayed in their new home.  They had finally moved out of the older home attached to the hotel and built a beautiful home overlooking the ocean.
Today, the Watanabes told me that their hotel and their new home were washed away with the tsunami.  She told me that there was the big earthquake, and right after that tsunami warnings.  They had a hotel full of guests;  they quickly loaded everyone up into cars and went inland.  Thirty minutes after the earthquake, six meter waves (about twenty feet) engulfed the shore, rising as high as the shrine up on a tiny mountain overlooking the hotel that we would often hike to.  Everything was destroyed.  Thankfully, however, everyone from the hotel survived.  She also shared that the members of their small little church all survived.
They are hoping to start rebuilding in August.  Even in the midst of this tragedy, Mrs. Watanabe quickly invited our family to come and visit.  I was trying to find out how we could help;  what we could send them; she is inviting us to visit.  There are so many ways that we can look at life;  her outlook amazes me.
They recently celebrated the one-hundred year anniversary of the hotel’s founding by Mrs. Watanabe’s grandparents.  So much heritage, beauty, memories washed away.
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I hope we can still visit; help somehow.  I am so relieved and thankful that the Watanabes are all alright.  But I am so so sad that their home is gone;  that the hotel that has been their family’s life and love for one hundred years was eaten up by a twenty foot monster.
I remembered a quote from my research days by Paul Tournier.  He wrote about the importance of place.  I am feeling the pain of so so so many Japanese who have lost their place in the world.  Today somehow it feels overwhelmingly sad.  ”<em>It is readily understandable that to be denied a place is to suffer a serious moral trauma.  It is a sort of denial of one’s humanity…. Uprooting:  the word expresses at the same time both the effect of being torn away from the love of one’s fellows and the loss of one’s place in the worl</em>d”(1966:27).
I talked today to Reiko’s parents up in Fukushima.  Here is a photo (sorry again that its on its side!) from when her parents visited me once when I was at the Watanabe’s hotel.  Wow- maybe about 18 years ago?
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On Sunday they had decided to move, but since the gas came back on they are now planning to stay.  They are within the possible danger zone of nuclear radiation, and most of their neighbors have already left.  The water has still not been turned on, so I tried to convince them to come to Sanda for a week or so.  Mrs. Goto explained that the roof was damaged in the earthquake and while waiting for a repairman (in high demand right now) it is just covered by a tarp.  If a strong wind came while they were gone, it could ruin the house.  And she said, for my husband, home is so important.  He would just rather stay…
I sort of get it.  Their place in the world is just so important. I still hope they will choose to get away for awhile, but their home really matters.  I am just so sad that so many in Japan these past few weeks have lost their place in the world….
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Hope

Japan Self-Defense Forces have been doing a great job at getting supplies to the evacuation centers, but the guys and other volunteers are finding that it is the people who are staying in their homes in the devastated areas who are not receiving the supplies that are needed for daily sustenance.  CRASH Japan, the organization they are partnering with, seeks to find and bring relief to the places that are missed by the government help.  There are still many such communities out there…

Today Eric and the guys went to a town that is two miles inland from the coast, called Minami Sanriku.  This picture shows one of the nine homes that are remaining of thirty-eight that had been there before the tsunami.  My mind can’t fathom  a wave of water coming two miles in, capable of destroying a village.

 

In true Japanese style, Eric said that there are nine mats set out to equally divide up any supplies that are brought in to help the nine families who remain in the town.  They welcomed the contributions brought in by the team.

Jonathan Wilson, a missionary here in japan who is the founder of CRASH, wrote this today:

But imagine four times the damage of Katrina and seven times the loss of life of 9/11 in a nation that is barely the size of California and with a struggling economy roughly a third the size of the US. What does that do to a country? What does that do to a region? Now consider a family or individual waiting for help to come. The greatest thing that we have to offer Japan is hope. Hope is not something that can be shipped in a container, or airlifted in. Our teams are operating from five regional bases throughout the entire area. One team near the area evacuated around the nuclear power station described the evacuation centers as well stocked and well run, but the people as terrified. Hope is packaged not in a box but in a person. Our focus is to send thousands of volunteers to stand beside the people of Japan until the job is done. To help them clear the rubble, rebuild their homes, and find hope for the future.

 

People Updates

This morning I got a welcome call from our friend Reiko B. in Los Angeles.  We had written earlier about her parents in the Fukushima area- it took several days until we were able to hear that they were alright following the earthquake.

They are still in their home in Iwaki, Fukushima, about 25 miles from one of the nuclear reactors.  They have not wanted to leave their home, although many of their neighbors already have.  For the past two weeks they have managed without water or gas by going every day or so to their uncle’s home up in the mountain area to bring back water, and by using electric heaters to try and stay warm.  Reiko shared, though, that her dad injured his shoulder carrying the water, and they just found out that it is not an indefinite amount of time until the water comes on.

Reiko is trying to convince her parents to leave for a few months.  She is checking on government housing in the Sanda area so that they would be near us.  We are willing to do whatever we need to do to help them move, and would even like them to come sooner and stay in our home.  Reiko has been in touch with them daily, and I will try and call tomorrow.  How hard this is for seniors to have their lives so turned around!  We pray for God’s gracious plan for them.

Today up in Sendai the guys took a much-needed Sabbath.  Eric said that he was feeling a lot better tonight.  This afternoon, our friend Kazue and her husband came to the seminary where Eric is staying because he had some supplies for them.  (From previous posts, their home was completely washed away with the tsunami).   Eric saved them the embarrassment of opening each box to verify what they need, but rather the guys loaded them up with boxes and told them to pass on what they don’t need.  They were able to supply some basic essentials, including underwear and hygiene kits, a cooking set, and even some gasoline that will help tremendously.

We still are praying about how to more directly help Kazue and her family get re-started.  They are looking right now for some kind of an apartment in the same area as their home was, but she said it’s hard to find such a thing for several things:  a) all of the buildings have been affected by the earthquake, so little is known yet about damage done structurally to all of the buildings;  and b) she mentioned that realtors aren’t exactly back to work right now.  Pray with us that God will provide housing for them to help them at least get temporarily settled.

My sister Hannah is leaving tomorrow already.  What is so sad is that she has gotten a bad cold the last few days.  Tonight her throat is quite swollen and she is feeling very miserable.  I’m praying that she will be better and able to fly tomorrow early evening.  We have had a low-key time this past week with everyone sick at different times, but many sweet times together for which I am very thankful.

 

 

From Eric and the Guys

Eric has had a really good day – I will let him and his colleagues speak for themselves.  Here are some photos and a video and things that Eric was able to post on Facebook today.

Today the guys went to Ishinomaki, one of the areas that is still so devestated by the tsunami and earthquake.  Eric’s descriptions and photos follow:

Prayers of petition on behalf of these hurting people.

A map of the community:

The water line reached the top of this photo

A woman tries on her new boots.

Our small contribution meant a lot to them.

The guys made a short video today while they were in this town:

Here is what Peter wrote on Facebook about what they were doing today:

Just loaded hygiene kits for 3,000 families. Each case covers 24 people. The first 300 cases were fine, then they got heavy. One team will take these to relief center, our team is heading to serve another church.

Afternoon we took as much as we could to public housing complex. No water, gas, electric. I helped a young mother carry water and goods to her apartment. Met her husband and kids. Ten minutes later, husband came to team with cokes to say thank you. We received more than we gave.

One of our colleagues, Kent, wrote about their experiences here;  another friend Roger, also blogged about it here.

Today our family missed Eric a lot.  But when I see the photos and the video, I really thank God that He can use our small offering- our husband and dad- to serve during these important weeks.

 

Graduation Gifts

Yesterday one of Eric’s teammates Kent spent the day up in Kessenuma – and one of their visits was a church with a kindergarten ministry.  They had shared that tomorrow (Saturday) they will be going ahead with the graduation that had been planned, but wished that they could give every family a meaningful gift (meaningful being defined by the times) – a personal hygiene kit that had been supplied by Samaritan’s Purse (four toothbrushes, tissue packs – that kind of thing).

Kessenuma is one of the towns that was largely wiped out by the tsunami.  Today Eric and Kent and another friend Roger drove back up the coast – about 2 1/2 hours – and took more supplies to that church.  Eric counted out 90 (the number requested), and then threw in another box just in case.  The pastor was so thrilled – and said he realized they actually need 94. Phew.  Eric said they spent a long time just talking with the pastor and listening to his heart.  There are still four church members there who are missing.   They also took up a bunch of boots, as tomorrow some of the members want to begin the painstaking task of digging through the rubble to search for their belongings….

Hygiene kits and unattractive high boots aren’t the kinds of gifts that would have brought a cheer a few weeks ago.  But now they are just the thing that bring smiles and thanks.

CNN came through with breaking news today- there are now over 10,000 confirmed dead;  and 17,000 still missing.  This will take the death toll up close to 30,000.  Each one of those a precious life that no longer is – it breaks my heart.

Tomorrow is our daughter Annie’s annual dance recital.  We are all very sad that Eric can’t be there to cheer and be a proud father, but we thankful that he is able to serve at this time.  And thankful that Auntie Hannah will be with us to serve and to cheer.  (Pray for her – she has a sore throat and is achey tonight!).

My sister Beth sent us Psalm 93 tonight:

¹ The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty;
the LORD is robed in majesty and armed with strength;
indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.
² Your throne was established long ago;
you are from all eternity.

³ The seas have lifted up, LORD,
the seas have lifted up their voice;
the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
⁴ Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea—
the LORD on high is mighty.

⁵ Your statutes, LORD, stand firm;
holiness adorns your house
for endless days.

 

Purposes

One of the things that Eric and I remembered the most from our CRASH training six days before the earthquake was that going in after a disaster requires one to serve in ways you may not expect.   You may not do what you thought you were going to do, but if you go in willing to serve God can use you in many unique ways to accomplish His work. The guys have done that today.  This is one of my favorite pictures coming out of the zone.  Eric and Peter went to my colleague Ootomo Sensei’s church to help.  This is what Eric just wrote with the accompanying photo as I was getting ready for bed: We went to ootomo sensei’s church and his son made us wash boots! It was fine — we sorted all the supplies he received from churches and arranged his storage closet and blessed him much. Eric also sent a photo of himself with Ootomo Sensei as well as a staff member from our former church, Sendai L’Abri.  Seeing these three men together in the same picture brought tears to my eyes.  Only God could think to bring them together at such a time as this for his purposes.

God’s Reunions

Today held its mix of ups and downs for the guys up north.  They continue to battle the challenges of poor communication as one of the challenges of this immediate relief work – being asked to deliver supplies to a given church, getting there, and discovering that someone else has already done just that.  But then there are God-given moments….

I didn’t catch all of background of this, but Eric and Peter spent the day together today.  Kent was with another group delivering a water purifiers.  At one point they pulled off the highway, and they were making a phone call to a pastor contact.  The pastor asked where they were at the time, and they realized they were within just a short drive from the pastor’s church.  So Eric and Peter drove over and met with this pastor.  He owns a large campground next to Sendai in a town called Rifu.  This is a possible location for a staging ground for relief crews to come in and stay in the months to come and assist the greater Sendai area with cleanup.  Part of Eric and Peter’s job is to identify possible locations and begin discussions with the staff for doing this.

When Eric got out of the car, the pastor seemed to recognize him, but they couldn’t make the connection.  After a few minutes, though, the pastor asked if Eric’s wife’s name is Sue… and then it all came together.  One of his church members had married Hiroko (Hi-chan, as everyone calls her) – she had been the staff we had worked closest with during our two years at Sendai L’Abri Church.  After we had moved down here to Sanda, Hi-chan had been “matched up” with a member of this pastor’s church, and  Olivia, just a baby then, and I had flown up for the wedding, held on location at this church where Eric and Peter were.

The pastor wanted to surprise her.  Hi-Chan came out a few minutes later, and gave a formal greeting to the guys.  Then she looked again and realized it was Eric and showed such great  joy.  It was a great, surprising, reunion.  We have realized that this friendship could serve as a great connection as Eric and Peter and their team continue trying to set up an infrastructure potentially through Hi-chan’s church that will allow for many teams to come and facilitate in the clean-up process.  I love how God does things like this! (Eric and Hi-chan are in the center of the photo below).  Hi-chan recognized the car, as well… the car they are driving was our first car when we moved to Japan, and Hi-chan had spent a long time helping us get it registered.  Nine years and several missionary families later, it has returned to its home of origin and is chugging around town bringing relief and love to those who need it.

Homefront:  We are all loving having Hannah with us.

After another family visit to the doctor (can you say exhausting? – one parent; four children in the waiting room and then together being tested in the doctor’s office; then repeat this whole scenario in the pharmacy)…, Annie is officially diagnosed with the same strain of influenza as me.  The others are put on one dose of Tami-Flu instead of two a day.  I feel like I sort of nose-dived a bit in terms of recovery – my throat and my head have been very achey today rather than feeling better. Praying for a good day tomorrow and more fully returning to health!

I believe these are important times where God is praying us not just to action but also to prayer.  Keep up near your heart, O God – the safest place in the world.

 

Candles in the Dark

I wanted to make a few quick posts for those of you who check and pray.  I’ve talked with Eric a few times today.  One disclaimer – I am trying to get the facts straight but they come via cell phone and often many hours before I post, so if there are occasional errors I apologize.  And I’ll try and correct them later if I find out!  Also, we are fine with anyone reposting this information to share what is going on.

Today Eric and his team headed up the coast to the ravaged town of Ishinomaki. Yesterday, some of their team had been there and captured footage of the grandmother and grandson being pulled out alive from their home.  (You can see it here).  The first shelter that they came to turned out to be a gym in which families could come and claim bodies;  it was a hard stop to make.  After that, they were able to find two churches in the area still standing, and the pastors and families were so thrilled to see the team and receive supplies.  They also stumbled upon a kindergarten nearby that was in need.  As they were driving away they only had some boxes of water bottles left, and wondered what to do with them.  They saw an older man walking on the street carrying an empty water jug.  They stopped and asked him what he was doing, and he was going out in search of water.  Hurray!  He was thrilled to take them back to his home and receive the gift of clean water for himself and his neighbors, as well.

During this time Eric had been in touch with our pastor, Makio Sensei, who is also up in the area visiting all the churches in his denomination.  Makio Sensei asked them to look for a missing pastor – the whole church had literally disappeared in the tsunami and he had not been found yet.  They inquired at the closest evacuation center but he wasn’t there.  They called Sensei with the bad news.  A little while later, Sensei called them with the joyous news – he had been found at another community center.  There was great rejoicing.

Here are a few photos taken by Eric, Peter and Kent the last 2 days.  They have shared that the devastation is heart-breaking.

I am feeling much better today – perhaps at a 50% capacity.  Thankful for that, and for the friends who have brought meals and bread and help to us.  It’s been such a neat way to see God’s care.

Today I spent part of the afternoon at a holiday clinic (today was a national holiday here) with 3 of our kids being checked for the flu.  The doctor ended up not doing the Q-Tip wire/up/the/nose test, thankfully, but is guessing that the 3 older ones do have influenza and gave me one day’s worth of tamiflu for the each.  Tonight, the two girls came down with the high fevers… Still waiting to see what happens with Owen.

BUT my sister Hannah arrived, and even though we had some miscommunication and I was waiting for her at the wrong station, it was a wonderful reunion and we were all thrilled to see her.  She had a great businessclass seat coming over, and Japanese people who helped her at each leg of the journey.  Yeah Hannah!  Tomorrow we need to go back to the regular doctor and get the rest of the five days of tamiflu for the kids, and I’m hoping to get some for Hannah as a precaution.  Thankfully, Eric has had no flu symptoms- that is the greatest answer to prayer!

We continue to read reports and concerns coming out of North America about nuclear radiation.  While we want to be cautious, we are not overly concerned at this point.  Our family is many hundreds of miles away, if some of you are wondering.  Eric is closer but even still not in the 50 mile zone that the US has set up as a precaution.  Perhaps the greater concern for me is the ongoing aftershocks that are rocking Sendai 4-6 times daily.  I am praying that the earth will settle, and the water as well.

Eric told me one interesting story.  They stopped at a hotel and went inside.  There was still no electricity there, so as they walked further and further into the lobby they were guided by flickers of candles lining the sides of the hallway.  The front desk had a staff there, using candlelight to do all of his work.  It reminded me of a verse that our friend Miya just sent us:  ”Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.” (Isaiah 50:10)  Praying for each of us in the places of our darkness to trust in the name of our Lord.