A few days ago Owen came home and told us that it has been a thousand days since the tsunami hit. Woah. That sounds like such a long time; but in some ways it feels here like it was still a short time ago. Many hearts are still raw; many people still living in temporary homes; many still unemployed.
This morning we had a very intense worship time. We did not do what was planned; but rather ended up focusing on some of the challenges that are being faced by our friends in this region. One friend was grieving over the tragic suicidal death of her father a year ago; another shared that a mutual friend is contemplating suicide. We cried, and prayed, and cried and prayed some more. One friend just buried her head in my arms and sobbed. I held her, and cried. I sat at lunch with a junior high girl who is just so sad, so often, since the tsunami. There was a great deal of heaviness. But Jesus was in our midst. I am convinced of that.
Tonight one worshipping friend from this community got into a fender bender and called me — so so discouraged. She is a single mom and lost the discussion with the police and the other driver about who’s fault the accident was. She will need to write it up with the insurance and pay for it. She was so sad; struggling so hard with being single and not having a husband to be there by her side.
All of us felt pretty worn out! But I looked around the room this morning – maybe forty-some of us crammed together into a combined dining/living/kitchen area. And I felt so thankful for our Be One team… a group of us who are committed to being here – for whatever that means. To walk with our friends from Tohoku through their sorrows, their joys, their jobs, their singleness. To be here, God willing, for the next one thousand days.
The Takameter 
So sorry there is so much sadness. Am praying for you and the B-One team and the many in your church, neighborhood and community that struggle with the sadness. Blessings, Carol Brown
I suspect you have multiple ways of celebrating anniversaries in Japan besides calendar dates. When I entered the workforce a co-worker had commented he had held a party when he turned 10,000 days old (27+ years) and I remembered that and did the same (it happened to fall on a Saturday). It’s a lot easier now-if Owen is computer literate and you have MS Excel (probably can do the same in other programs), type in =today() and you will see the date. Then you can enter another date and get the difference between them, or put in a formula to subtract or add numbers of days. I had done that years ago to calculate when 100 full moons from our wedding date was, which was a couple of days after Christmas in 2001. Using another family’s child birthday as a cover, we invited our church group for a party and it was perhaps the first time I caught Winnie by surprise (the other was her 50th birthday, which is a different story). Other odd calendar parties was “dozen day” 2004 (right after church at 12:12 on 12/12), which was Josiah’s 100 monthday. Multiplying the day count in Excel by 24 or 24*60 gives you hours and minutes. Turns out Andrew’s 5000 day was a million minutes since we moved to Tennessee, which was just a lunch out. A friend of ours at church turns a billion seconds (31+ years) this Friday (the 13th). Haven’t figured out how to recognize that yet.
Gilbert Chan
Sue,thank you for all of the updates and posts!! It is wonderful to hear about all of the ladies. Both the good an the bad. I remember you ALL daily in prayer as the little tea cup from my youth, that I found while picking up pottery for you ladies sits in my dresser. It is a daily reminder to remember everyone in prayer. I have a beautiful idea for a new “memorial necklace” since we are coming to the third year anniversary of the tsunami. I will draw this vision out and email you and Lisa the necklace idea. How I miss the ladies and long to return to Japan. Until then, blessings to you my friend and sister in Christ, Becca Hartford