Outreach

• Encounters
• Consultations

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Relief
 
This year many Japanese enjoyed 10 consecutive days of vacation from April 29-May 8! This is why this time of the year is known as “Golden Week.”  During Golden Week, we had our biggest contingent of volunteers yet, as many church members who had been hampered by their jobs could finally break free and go up to the tsunami-devastated area to help.  In all, about 25 churches were represented by the 120 volunteers in our various Golden Week teams.

REMOVING DEBRIS IN KESENNUMA
A team of 8 volunteers decided to help Pastor Minegishi clear debris in the area around his First Bible Baptist Church site in Kesennuma. A photo of this church was featured in the front page of a major national newspaper on May 2.  The property of his destroyed sanctuary had already been cleared of debris, so our volunteers were asked to clear debris from houses in the neighborhood. But just when the amount of rubbish looked so overwhelming that progress seemed impossible, 32 Brazilians from 3 churches arrived to help.  They had contacted me beforehand asking if they could join us. I had gladly accepted their offer, and directed them to help us at Kesennuma.  Well, they arrived just at the right time, and with 40 people working together, all the debris in the target area, including a large ruined truck, were successfully removed! Hallelujah!  But this was just the 1st of 3 days of debris-removing!

Mr. & Mrs. Hatakeyama are owners of a machine shop near the Kesennuma church.  On the 2nd day, a team member noticed them working hard in their shop clearing debris.  So she asked if we could help. They hesitantly accepted our offer.  We spent the better part of 2 days removing mud, debris, machines, and 700-lb. heavy iron beams from their property.  Before we left, we gathered in a circle, held hands and prayed. As I prayed, we all began to cry as we asked for God’s strength upon the Hatakeyamas in the face of seemingly hopeless destruction.  At the end, we all shared tears, hugs and handshakes with this precious couple.  I know we’ll be back as the task of clearing out the vast debris on their property is still not over.

HELPING THOSE WHO HELP OTHERS
At Ishinomaki, we met a woman who had lost 16 relatives in the disaster.  Despite the terrible pain she was going through, she was using her house as a shelter for 6 families who had nowhere else to stay.  She came seeking help to feed her expanded household, so we supplied her with an abundance of food and relief goods.  She thanked us profoundly with tears and with many, many bows.

2 TONS OF CHARCOAL
On one trip up north, we carried 1.5 tons of charcoal. A company had donated 2 tons of charcoal, and it was stored in our church for a few days.  We loaded most of it as quickly as possible onto 2 trucks and took them to 2 distribution centers.  During this same trip, I met a lady who boldly asked me for charcoal!  I couldn’t believe my ears!  No one had ever asked me for charcoal before.  Since we still had half a ton in our church that I wanted to get rid of, I told her I would deliver as much as she wanted next week.  So on Trip 8, she watched with disbelief as we unloaded 23 boxes of charcoal at her front door.  As for the charcoal we had delivered previously, we used some for the barbecues and cookouts we did on Trip 8.  One blessing out of this episode is that when the company heard the charcoal was being put to good use, they offered to give us another 12 tons!!!!

USED WASHING MACHINES
We were also able to deliver 42 used machines to shelters, hospitals, homes and distribution centers.  We paid $120 each for these machines that were in very good condition and gave them away to places that needed them.  At one distribution site, we delivered 9 machines in the late afternoon, and within 2 hours, they were all gone! This is an indication of the great need for appliances, as many were swept away by the tsunami.

Thank you for continuing to uphold East Japan and us, as well as all the other volunteer organizations working in East Japan, in your prayers.

Please pray that:
1)    The Fukushima nuclear reactor will be completely shut down.
2)    The government will have the wisdom to rebuild East Japan in the best way possible.
3)    Infrastructure will be restored in all areas of Tohoku.
4)    We can encourage people in the face of utter hopelessness so there won’t be a repeat of the 30,000 suicides that happened after the Kobe earthquake in 1995. In scale, experts project 180,000 people may commit suicide in the East Japan region.
5)    We can lead many survivors to a meaningful relationship with God that will give them purpose and strength to face the trying days still ahead.
6)    The Kesennuma First Bible Baptist Church and Sendai Seaside Bible Chapel, which were totally destroyed, will be able to rebuild even larger and more beautiful than before.
 

Thank you for your love and prayers for Japan! Our hearts go out to Spain, which just suffered a rare earthquake, and to New Zealand, which had a deadly earthquake in February, before Japan did.