I wrote a post during the night that somehow didn’t get posted and is in cyberspace somewhere.  There was another strong earthquake during the night that knocked out our heater.  We thought it was an aftershock but discovered it was a new one right near us in Nagano city (we are in that prefecture on our retreat).  We are fine – it seemed to be more in the mountains.  We have heard helicopters and seen some coverage from this area as well.

We have been unsuccessful in contacting any of our Sendai friends today – cell phone lines are either jammed or down.  Please please keep praying.  During the night when I couldn’t sleep I asked God to bring faces and names to my heart of friends there who need prayer.  I was thankful that I could intercede on their behalf.  In particular I kept seeing the face of a church friend named Kaori.  Would you pray with me for her and her family?  They had been living at the church there in Wakabayashi ku where the tsunamis hit.  I have no word.

We are also asking for prayer for the family of our close friend Reiko B., who now lives in L.A.  She asked us to get in touch with her family because she has had no word.  We keep trying to call her parents, who are in Fukushima, somewhat near the nuclear reactor plant that is being evacuated.  Her brother and family live in Sendai, as well, and there has been no word.  One of the pastors who lives near Reiko’s parents in Fukushima, Rev. Mori, is organization the evacuation efforst of the power plant.  Pray for him and his church as they bring help and hope.

The team from Fourth Pres here with us us doing fine.  I know they are shaken but their emotional support and love for our children continues to encourage and strengthen.  We continue to believe that God has all of us here for such a time as this.

The organization that we did disaster training with last weekend, CRASH Network, is up and running, and we will keep you posted as we hear more.  We are waiting for their lead in many ways so that there is concerted effort.  Their organization and Asian Access will be setting up means to give financially to the relief work.  There are a number from our group in addition to Eric also praying about going to do relief work.  We need to continue to monitor things and find out the best ways to help.