Today was a triple hitter!
1) Easter! We had a combined Easter worship and outreach for much of the day with the other Christian organizations and churches working up in this area. Probably 300 or 400 people came – it was a chance for me to get to know many of the other volunteers and staff who’s name I have heard over the past year.
2) Our ministry partner Beth’s big 30th birthday – we had a surprise party last night with friends from the community- it was a neat tribute to hear many share of the impact Beth has made over this past year up here. Over the past two days we had thirty friends give her thirty gerber daisies – it has been fun to honor her.
3) Back to school prep day! The two older kids start school tomorrow, so I have been busy getting all of their school gear ready with names on it. My challenge is figuring out what they need – when we went to the school last week the staff was new and seemed relatively unsure of all that we need, so I have tried to figure it out. Just before dinner Jennifer took us to a family who lives nearby in a temporary home who has a boy Owen’s age. She was really helpful – I plied her with questions and feel a bit more ready.
But Owen was not happy about meeting anyone new, and has been begging me all day to homeschool him… (smile- but no!) it is going to be tough for both of them to start a new school that is so unknown to them; Owen, while usually mild-mannered and easy-going, has had difficulties in the past during times of big transitions. We would SO appreciate your prayers for our kids (and for us) over this next week. Please pray that they will wake up ready for the challenge…. that God will meet them in surprising ways… that this will be a time of discovering for themselves that God is real and present. This morning we ready the Easter story and ended with Jesus’ promise, “I am with you always.” We desire that they will know that Jesus is with them through all of these difficult challenges.

One week and a day ago we moved our family from Sanda!  Much has happened in a week.  Last night I sat on a newly- purchased floor chair in front of a kerosene heater in our newly-moved into home  and tried to write an update using our newly-acquired personal wifi… but the wifi didn’t work.  We are guessing it was because of the typhoon that was passing through.  So I will try at different times today to work on this and get it posted.  It has been quite cold and windy most of this week, with four (I think) fairly significant earthquakes happening on various nights- more and bigger than usual.  A little fanfare for our entrance into Ishinomaki, I guess!

There are three categories that I think of from this past week:  housing; schooling;  and relationships.

Housing:

We moved on Tuesday to a home that I have posted about previously.  Missionary friends up here became friends with a lady who was overseeing the house.  It has been empty for ten years, since her nephew, the apparent owner, suddenly disappeared.  It hadn’t been touched in those ten years!  Various teams of volunteers have worked on the house over the past several weeks, and it is now cozy and a nice home.  Eric worked last night on some of the doors that wouldn’t close due to the earthquake last year – there are still things like that, and some floors that need to be finished, but overall it is looking good!  Here are some pictures.

Teams putting in linoleum flooring upstairs:

The same room after we moved in… we fit snug as six bugs in a rug when we lay out all of our futon bedding:

Our friends Aiko and her daughter Sakiko drove up with us and stayed for several days to help.  Ian became quite attached to Sakiko – and she helped to entertain him while we were cleaning and preparing to move.  Annie really loves the upstairs bedroom because it overlooks a river inlet that has seagulls swimming and playing on it.

Here we are meeting the caretaker of the house, who lives nearby.  We haven’t met all the neighbors yet, but hope to make the rounds this weekend.  Directly behind the home is an older man who has been fixing up the home to move back in sometime later this month from a temporary shelter.  We heard from our friends that he lost his son in the tsunami.

SCHOOLING

We went on Monday to sign up Owen and Annie for their elementary school – it starts this coming Monday.  The elementary school that is nearest to the land that we hope to buy was hit hard by the tsunami, and also became the evacuation place/ home to over 700 people for many months after.  It was the site of different BBQs that we have written about previously.  It looks in sad disrepair now, but the plan is for them to fix it up over the next two years.

So, all the kids who should be going to this school are being bussed to a temporary school about fifteen minutes away in the mountains a bit.  They gather at the school in the morning and ride the buses – this is what Annie and Owen will be doing.  (We were bummed, though, to find out that they need to ride on different buses – they have buses that are staggered by five minutes for each school grade).  Their new temporary school is located on the school grounds of another established school, with the temporary junior high school on the other side of it.

While from the outside the temporary school looks like a long trailer park or something, on the inside the classrooms are quite nice- nicer than their previous elementary school was!

One of the bummers about our visit on Monday was that the staff had changed significantly since Eric’s visit two weeks prior.  In Japan, every few years teachers and staff are rotated to other schools in the same district.  They have no say in the matter – it is a matter of course that they accept.  So the kind principal and staff who had greeted him and been really excited about our coming were no longer there;  in fact, we realized that we were there on April 2nd, the first day on the job for the principal and office staff who were new!  I asked a lot of questions, and didn’t necessarily get clear answers (we still don’t know what time the buses are going to bring the kids home each day!).  I was relieved though to hear that there are no buses the first day, but that we can take them and stay through the second period for the opening ceremony.  It will be helpful for us to get a better picture of the school and the kids’ classes.

Today Eric was out all day with volunteers helping at some jobs, so I took the kids myself and went to visit the only youchien (kindergarten) nearby.  I was rather disappointed in my initial impressions (it is expensive without some of the services that our previous youchien had provided;  the principal didn’t necessary wow me…), but first impressions are often wrong, and I have been reminding myself that we are here to build relationships and if Olivia can make some good friends she will be happy.  This youchien has enfolded many children from another one that was washed away in the tsunami, and also has forty or more kids coming who are living in temporary housing units.  We need to decide on this in the next day or two and order her (very expensive!) uniforms, as well as enroll her before her opening ceremony next Wednesday.  We would love your prayers for this.  There is another smaller youchien but it would mean a ten minute drive each way to the site where that youchien had been before the tsunami, and then she would have to take a bus to the new location that is being shared with another one.

Relationships:

The day that we went to see the school, we picked up Eric’s junior high friend, Y., and one of his friends who is Owen’s age.  They were bored and just looking for something to do, so drove around and did errands with us. I was really touched by his friend K.  While we were driving, he told us his story from a year ago.  He was at his friend’s home, and his mom was driving him home in the car when the tsunami hit.  Their car was picked up and began to be washed away when it slammed into a home, breaking the window of the home and their dash window as well.  They were able to get out of the car and into this stranger’s home, where they made it up the stairs.  They stayed in the home until the next day, when the water eventually receded.  K. told us that he heard his dad’s voice calling him from outside and ran into his dad’s arms.  Until that moment, his family did not know he was safe.  So hard to imagine.

When we dropped the two boys off at their temporary housing units (situated very inconveniently away from just about everything else), the boys enjoyed some soccer together.  I hope we can continue meeting these guys! (i’ve blocked their eyes to protect their identity;  you can see the temporary units in the background).

We have been spending time when we can with our Be One team, getting to know each other better and figuring out how to best function as a team.  Tomorrow we have set aside the day for a team retreat, which will be a great opportunity to deepen our relationships.  Because it is spring break, we have had bunches of volunteers up here since our arrival.  We’ve appreciated their help with our home and the many things that we continue to learn about ministry up here.  There have been a few challenges but we continue to love the Be One spirit that embraces so openly the help of all who desire to come and volunteer.

Our family is doing really well through this past week of transitions.  The kids have had fun playing with the other Be One kids, and have done a really good job in moving locations this past week.  I know that they are not looking forward to starting a new school next week, but haven’t said much about it.  We appreciate your covering all of us in prayer.  I have found God’s grace continuing to carry me through these days. I continue to learn anew that when I set my eyes on Jesus none of the challenges of the day need overwhelm me;  when I set my eyes on the challenges I am prone to become overwhelmed.  I had one small meltdown on the way to move into this home as I suddenly just wanted to be “known” here…to have people helping us move in with whom I have history.  This will come, I know… my role right now is to help our family make new memories and history and start well, trusting in the One who knows each of us by name and has counted every hair on our head.  Yesterday in devotions with our kids we read the children’s Bible of Moses leading them towards the Promised land.  Time after time, God provided just what they needed — just in time.  I am so thankful for God’s daily provisions, for time after time providing what we need.

Last night we had a soup party for friends in the community and volunteers who are up this week. Because it is spring break in many different places, we have a large group of volunteers – over 30 or so. I sat at the party with two women who came for the first time with their families. Their homed were nearly destroyed last year in the tsunami, and they have been living in temporary housing ever since. Unfortunately, the housing is about 30 minutes away, so anytime they want to come back to the area that is familiar they have a long drive. They are so amazed that volunteers would come and help them fix of their homes, what they thought was impossible before. I saw hope in their eyes– that’s a great thing.

This morning after worship, our family went to the local food court for a quick lunch. We ran into one of Eric’s friends from this area. He is in his late 50s, a single man. Eric said when they first began helping him with his house, he was incredibly shy, and he never come out. As volunteers began helping him, he became less reclusive. A neighbor friend commenting on how much he has changed said that it is due to the love of the Be One volunteers. Tomorrow, he is starting a new job and he is so excited…He ran to the liquor section of the grocery store and brought back a huge bottle of sake for us in celebration…(any takers?) Its the first time he has worked in more than a year. Eric was shocked when our friend who I just met today asked my help in finding him a wife! (any takers?) This man is totally different than a year ago! It is a privilege to participate in what God is doing here.

t the time of writing this, tomorrow we will be leaving our home for the past eight years in Sanda and driving up to Ishinomaki – our family of six, our dog Molly, two parakeets, one turtle, and two friends!  (We will be driving two cars- a friend’s car that needs to get up there).  It should be a memorable twelve-hour adventure! I have never driven twelve hours straight- especially not tired as I am now- Eric and I would both appreciate your prayers.  Friends from the community are coming to see us off, in Japanese fashion- I know there will be a lot of tearful goodbyes.

The home we will be living in for the next few months is in the school district where we plan to send our children.  We are still pursuing purchasing property (five minutes from this home) and building a pre-fab home and volunteer center if nothing else surfaces in the next week.  We are thankful for your prayers.

Moving is always exhausting.  I am entirely emotionally and physically exhausted.  Because we have not had a permanent home to move into, we realized that we cannot hire a moving company to move our things. 

And with our March schedule including a 5 day-retreat and meetings with our mission in the mountains, two trips by Eric up to Ishinomaki, and end of school activities for our children, we didn’t know how everything would happen.  But God did!  For one, he sent us the gift of Shirley M. for two weeks… a friend from Hawaii who came and served our family by helping with our packing, laundry, and cleaning during these crazy times.  What an amazing gift!  We have also been blessed beyond measure by the loving support of our community who have helped us in so many ways.  We have seen the goodness of God through the people He has brought our way.  

Now we have to say goodbye to them….Tonight Owen said, “Goodbyes are hard.” He hasn’t said much, but we can tell he, and the other children, are feeling this.  Praying for the Comforter to come along side us in the car tomorrow!

We are leaving Sanda in just five days!  I can’t write that without thinking a million different things.  Today was very hectic, in which every job I started seemed to not get finished because of the phone or someone at the door coming to say goodbye.  I was VERY thankful for the several friends who were here at different times today to help, or not much could have happened.  As I sit in our living room I can see piles of filled boxes that block the windows across from me;  but I also see clothes hanging to dry, piles on the dining room table, dishes still drying in the sink that need to be sorted and boxed.  We still have some full days ahead, but we have made a lot of progress and we are thankful for that. Two more full days before we take everything and put it into storage! Eeek – will we be ready (enough)?

We had a call tonight from our friends up north, Chad and Jennifer.  It sounds like we will have temporary housing, at least, and we truly thank God for that.  There is a small house that has been abandoned for ten years (the owner disappeared ten years ago, leaving all his stuff in the house- including goods in the fridge! – and it hasn’t been touched since then!).  The previous owner’s relatives would like to put the home to good use in a city where housing is extremely limited, and they’ve offered to let us/other missionaries/volunteers live there for free.  Some missionary friends who are the original connection have started fixing it up- tomorrow the water will be turned on and the tatami straw mats will be torn out and hopefully the whole thing bleached.  (We heard the fridge will be towed off to the dump, unopened…).  We don’t know if it will be ready by next week or not but hopefully shortly after we arrive.  It is the same school district as the land we are considering buying if nothing else comes through, so that is great as well. 

Our friend Shirley from Hawaii was here when we got the call and when we hung up, she burst into tears.  She offered God a prayer of thanksgiving for his provision, and her voice broke as she thanked God for providing a place for out family to land initially.  We are all so thankful.  Yeah!    

We were trying to figure out how we will move up our family of six, our maltese dog, our two parakeets and one turtle and suitcases in our van, when the opportunity presented itself to drive up another car that a missionary friend in Sendai will be acquiring from friends down here.  That was a great answer!  But I was worried about driving twelve hours straight as the only adult in the car, when our friend Aiko came by to see if we would have any room for her and her college-aged daughter to ride up with us and volunteer for a few days.  Another amazing answer to prayer!  I feel much better about both Eric and I have adults in the car, whether or not they drive. 

I was sharing with a friend how this whole process of moving without concrete housing/plans has at times felt overwhelming when all of our decisions seem to hinge on what we don’t know.  But this month has been a process of taking steps with whatever light God has given us.  Often baby steps at times, but still realizing that God is giving us just what we need to know to advance a little further than we were a few days ago.  Henri Nouwen says it best:

“Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, “How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?” There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let’s rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away.” 

  We are thankful tonight for the light that God has given – enough for tomorrow at least;  enough we hope to bring joy to those we meet in the morning.  

Just returned from our annual Asian Access retreat in the mountains, near where the Nagano Olympics were held.  It was great to be together with so many people we love dearly!  It is always a very special time for our children, as they play and play and sing and play some more.  The first several days they had a wonderful time playing in the snow;  during our times of meeting there was a great team from Kings’ Harbor Church who put on a wonderful program for them.

One of the hallmarks of this year’s conference was working through the nuts and bolts of our new mission partnership with SIM.  We really appreciated the three SIM leaders who came to be with us and guide us through the process.  They brought these groovy t-shirts!

One highlight and emotional time for us was a commissioning that was held for those of us who will be relocating to the Tohoku region in the next couple of months.  There are four families, and one single – our good friend Ray!  Our group makes up one-third of the mission, so it is a significant happening for all of us.  It is a joy to be the team leaders for this neat group of people!

This was not a time for dry eyes!  As our friend Peter prayed for our family specifically, the tears flowed as his prayers reflecting his special understanding and love for our family and each of our children.  And then a friend, Barb prayed for all the children who will be moving (ten children in all), as well as for Peter and Wendi’s children who won’t be going but will be separated from their friends who have lived here in Sanda.  It is not easy to go;  it is not easy to be the ones staying either.  We really appreciated the care taken in saying goodbye, recognizing how important these times are for all of us in preparing all of us for the leaving as well as for what is to come.

The deployment has begun!  Ray and one of the other couples have already arrived at their new locations in Tohoku.  Praying for them to have good beginnings… good initial times of bonding with their Japanese partners.

This Sunday we will be our big house-moving day- moving most of the things from our home into a storage unit near here to wait until we have our real housing up there secured.  Then next Wednesday, March 28th, we will be driving up and officially moving to Ishinomaki.  We will be staying with two different families here in Sanda in the in-between time.

We have an application in to purchase some land in Watanoha, and are continuing to explore options for building a pre-fab home and guest center.  We have been dialoging with our ministry partners up there about what would best serve our church’s vision for ministry.  We are still praying that another house will present itself (it would be a lot less complicated!), but will move forward with this if nothing else surfaces.   We have two potential options (?!) for short-term housing as well, and are praying that God clearly opens one of these doors for us between now and next Wednesday.

I was reminded from Eric’s video (see previous post)- that God has invited us to join him up in Ishinomaki.  At one point when I was about to indulge in fretting over our housing, I thought about this idea.  If God has invited us to be His guests up there, He certainly will not leave us homeless!  He will take care of us and give us what we need.  I was thinking about the birth of Jesus- he wasn’t born in an ideal location, but he was visited by local shepherds who had just experienced the miracle of a heavenly host on the hillside, and then by out of town dignitaries who brought special gifts.  I know the way God provides housing for us, while it may not be ideal, will be unique and chosen just for our family.  As the time to our departure gets very close and we still do not have housing, there is part of us that becomes even more curious about what He is up to!  I was especially grateful for a great reminder tonight when our friend Aiko gave me this special hand-made treasure that will go with us wherever we end up living:

It is the individual stories that help us to better appreciate the larger picture of the loss and devastation of one year ago.  Today I could not attend the Be One Hope for Japan remembrance in Osaka because Annie’s fever had spiked again, but Owen and Olivia went with our friends the Yamanes.  I really missed getting to be there, and have just felt a heavy heart of prayer and sadness all day.  Tonight after dinner the kids and I watched part of a special on television in which a father was interviewed who had made it safely to a hillside with his college-aged son when the tsunami came towards their home.  But the son decided to race back to the house and try and save their family van.  The whole time the dad is videoing, you can hear him calling his son, “Keisuke!  Keisuke!”  As the video shows the van backing out of the parking area, the tsunami rolls up to the house,, and the van is quickly overtaken by the waves.  I realized our kids probably shouldn’t be watching it – I really didn’t know what would happen.

But then they showed the son in the car, where he managed to snap several photos as the water was coming in.  And he said he heard his dad calling his name, and he knew for the sake of his dad he had to get out.  Somehow he managed to get the door open, climbed up on the roof of the car and from there onto the roof of the car as the van slipped under the water and was swallowed by the waves.  He said it was his dad calling his name that saved his life.

Eric today participated in two different Be One gatherings – one at the Be One house in the morning, and then in the afternoon a combined worship time and concert with several other church groups in the area.  Immediately after that, he went over to Mrs. S.’s home to see how she was doing, hoping to catch her daughter and granddaughter before they returned to Tokyo. ( They had been at the temple earlier when he stopped by.) They were still there, and invited Eric in to dinner.  Several other volunteer friends came as well.  Throughout the time, Mrs. S. shared her story again– of the day-long trek it took to walk back to her home after the tsunami stranded her at the Ishinomaki train station.  Getting home, discovering her daughter wasn’t home. Looking for her everywhere. Going to all the community centers where bodies were being displayed, and not finding her daughter.  It was not until ONE MONTH later that she found her along the road of their house, a road she had walked many times over that month and never seen her.

As she shared, they all cried. and cried some more.  At the end of dinner, Mrs. S. said how good it was to have friends who would listen.  If it had just been her and her daughter they would have not talked about it;  it was so much better to share their story.

So many people with stories that need to be shared.  Over these last few days of stress in preparing to move, and not knowing where/how we are moving, I know I have lost perspective at times. Today has been a good day for me to remember why God is calling us.  God used words from my husband to touch me.

As I shared in the previous post, we had been asked by our church to make a short video for today’s remembrance – we were excited to share with them a video that was being made by Asian Access.  Staff had interviewed Eric and some Japanese pastors and were hoping to get that video out by today, but a couple of days ago I got word it wasn’t going to happen.  So I worked last night and made our own homemade four minute video as a sad substitute.  This afternoon, though, our friends Jeff and Loren were able to put together a short video of just Eric’s interview.  (It is MUCH better than our homemade one- please watch this one!)  But as I sat and watched this video of Eric (I hadn’t heard any of it before) he ends with one line:   I’m really happy that our family has chosen what I consider to be God’s best.  Just what I needed to remember.  This move – it really is God’s best for our family.  He will flesh it out as we go forth in faith.  There are a lot more stories that need to be heard.  And their stories will become an important part of all of our stories, as well.

Our church in Washington DC, Fourth Presbyterian, is using the one-year anniversary of the tsunami to raise prayer awareness for Japan.  They asked us to make a short video from our family that shares about our move up and our hope for Tohoku.  With limited time, this is the four minute video that we made for them to share.  We pray it encourages, reminds, and helps people to pray.  The words that we hear so often from the people in Ishinomaki is – “please don’t forget us!”  The words that we continue to hear from God – “Go and let them know of my love and that I have not forgotten them.”

Up in Ishinomaki, Eric and the Be one group have had numerous opportunities to remember, pray, and worship with the people of Ishinomaki.  They have wanted to be sensitive to the various ways that those who are grieving want to remember this weekend.  Eric yesterday visited some of his good friends there and just sat and talked with them — perhaps what they have needed most.  Some of them have wanted to stay home this weekend; some have chosen to be part of gatherings of Be One.  Our friend Mike is up with Be One this weekend and shared a brief update on the get together last night  here.  Right now there is another gathering, remembering, and worship at the Be One house.  How much we desire those in great pain find hope and fellowship in the midst of their suffering.

Eric is up in Ishinomaki, and it seemed like great timing yesterday when a friend sent us a link to a rental home in JUST the area where we want to live.  It is the first rental we have seen listed in six months.  Even though it was a smaller home, it still could be a great option for at least the first few months. We have put in an application on a piece of property near there, where we will plan to build a pre-fab home if nothing else surfaces shortly.  We do not have to pay for the property for a few weeks, so we have a little leeway in making a decision, it seems.

Eric called the realtors right away about the rental home.  In my mind I had us already moving in!  He was told pretty quickly that someone was already interested, and in fact there were sixty (60!!) families waiting already.  We quickly realized that even if we had been the first to call, we couldn’t live there- there are many families with plights far worse than ours who need rental homes.  We have the application in on the property to buy, and will make a decision about that in the next week.  The good thing about building a pre-fab is that we will be creating housing, rather than taking away options.

There is a home near the property that friends found that had been left abandoned, and the owners are looking for someone to move in there at least temporarily.  Eric went to see it – it is small and needs a lot of work, and all of the former resident’s possessions are in there, but it could be potential for us for a few months.  The friends have still not talked with the owners about this, so we will see what happens.  In the meantime, Mrs. K., one of the sweetest ladies ever up in Ishinomaki, had Eric over for dinner and insisted that he call his wife and tell her that we could all stay with her until something works out.  Options!  We love options!

We have continued to battle illness in our family – Annie has been home the last two days with a fever that suddenly spiked – she is with me now and pretty sick… so getting a lot of things done has been challenging. I am also sad that we will not be able to go into Osaka for the Be One prayer gathering to remember the one year anniversary of the tsunami.   But I was thinking about how God is caring for us in different and unexpected ways… an amazing blessing that is coming- our friend Shirley from Kauai is coming on Monday night and spending two weeks to help our family pack and move!  It is an absolutely amazing gift of love.  Every time I get discouraged about what I haven’t been able to get done I realize how God is providing just what we need.  It is so wonderful!  Today different friends took our three healthy kids so that I could get some more done.  Annie was happy on the couch with a line-up of videos, and it really was a good day of progress.  I know the Lord will continue His care for us.