Yesterday our good friend Hide came by unannounced with his fiance.  They were excited to confirm that their wedding will be next March 3rd and we need to keep the date open – we wouldn’t miss it!

But we think the real reason he came by was to talk with Eric about his experiences up in Tohoku.  Hide (and his brother and dad, in fact) is a police officer in Osaka.  The day after the earthquake, he was in an entourage of police cars and rescue vehicles that drove up the twelve hours with sirens blasting to be part of rescue work immediately after.  He spent a week, and has since been up three times for a week since then.

His mom, our former mail delivery lady, had come by the night before and heard about Eric’s three trips up north as well.  Hide and Kumi came by and he was so happy to  have someone who understood what he has experienced.  He said he comes home and it is as if the earthquake and tsunami never happened;  no one talks about it, life goes on as normal.  But for him, it is not normal.

The day after the tsunami he and his fellow officers were sent out to look for survivors, as well as bodies.  He said it was like the worst war movie you could imagine.  He would find a car on its side, with a whole family inside who had tried to escape the oncoming water but could not.  Only official police/rescue workers were allowed to do body recoveries, and so many of Hide’s days were like this.

He shared how they are all expected to be strong – that there is a mentality among all the workers that if they talk about what is hard that it shows weakness.  so it’s not normal or ok to process what they have seen.  There are no counselors or discussions on PTSD.  Yet there are are many many like Hide who week after week are still assigned to look for bodies.  When Hide goes back up at the end of this month, he expects that will continue to be his job… He said that even if they can only find hair samples now, the family members are extremely grateful.

Hide shared for quite awhile, sitting on our couch.  We’re thankful that we were somehow a “safe” place where he could share.  We are thankful for the various “kokoro no care” – counseling teams at work in Japan, and pray for more.  We’re excited about three Christian professionals hoping to come to do counseling from Hawaii and hope we can put them to use.  Keep praying for the people of Japan.  There are many who are acting like this tragedy never happened;  but so many who it has affected who need healing, care, and a Savior.

Eric and the rest of the Sanda team (except for Peter, who is staying until Sunday), came back late last night.  It has been good to have them home!  We had dinner and some “play time” with Yasko as well, so we’ve had a chance to hear stories and see some pictures from both of them. Some of her stories and photos are below.   I’m looking forward to hearing from George and Aiko on Sunday, as well, about their time up in Tohoku.

Here is the “Sanda team”, which also includes Yasko’s cousin and friend who live north of Tokyo:

It sounds like everyone worked tirelessly all day long.  Yasko said her muscles were aching after the first day!  Tonight they were sharing at dinner (I actually made them stop!) – about the disgusting finds and smells that they found cleaning up.  There were boxes of month-old fish from a fish factory or store that was filled with maggots…. some could not handle the smells but Yasko was a trooper and helped with some of the worst of it!  They were thankful for masks that helped with odor-protection…Some of the volunteers and local women were helping and grossed out, so Yasko made a game out of it, giving out points for the fish that they would see – 500 points for red snapper!  Some of the residents were nervous in digging through the rubble for fear of finding a dead body…

One of the women who lived nearby was helping clean up.  She shared that she was nervous about cleaning up, but also nervous about the next day as she was going to the unemployment office for the first time.  She had worked for a fishing company in Ishinomaki- all of them had been destroyed in the tsunami so many people like herself had lost their jobs.  She said she only knows how to do fish!  One of the volunteers gathered some of the group together and asked if they could pray for her.  She was so thankful, and started crying.  She said up until now she has tried to be strong, but it felt good to share her fears and her tears with the team.  God is at work!

Here are some photos from Yasko, Eric, and Jennifer’s updates too.

The team went out and bought flowers and flower pots to help beautiful the park and public areas.

Team Sanda and a few others helped this lady dig the tsunami dirt out from under her home, and also help her with the floor.  A new floor had been laid by other workers, but it hadn’t been done right.  Eric said it was so great because George was assigned to go there, and his specialty is — flooring!  He was able to call a co-worker and find out just what was needed to help with her flooring.  They washed her pots and pans, that had been dirty from the tsunami, and also went in the back to shovel dirt.  Her back wall had been caved into the street by the tsunami, so the team helped remove all the dirt and fix the street.  She was so thrilled to see her alley way clean again like others finally!  She kept thinking, “Why me?  Why is my house this dirty and not others?”  She did not have anyone else to help her as she lived alone (her parents had been injured in the tsunami and are still in the hospital).  It was a great blessing that the team could help her do this.  Before this happened, she always believed that she shouldn’t ask for help but should do things herself.  She said the team taught her that she could ask for help. (George and Eric, pictured below)

At one point Yasko was helping passing out clothes to people lined up.  A sixth grade girl was looking for clothes, and Yasko asked her if she needed anything.  She stopped, looked at Yasko, and said, “I just need love.”  Yasko hugged her, and they cried.  Now she wishes she got her name and phone number.  But Yasko hopes to go back, and knows which apartment is hers, so it would be great if they could reconnect.

 The pictures below are from the barbeques.

Here is Yasko serving hotdogs at the BBQ.  It was really wonderful to see the team work together to pull this off, and to see how the idea has grown!  Yasko said that there was almost a “carnival-like” atmosphere with joking and mingling and fun.

When they did the BBQ the second day in another location, a man was walking by who is a leader at a nearby evacuation center.   He stood back and watched for awhile, and then he came and asked who the group was.  He explained his position, and said that he has seen many groups come and bring things in and serve meals, but there was “something different” about this group.  He asked if there was any way the group could come and serve at his evacuation center.  So, the day that Eric and the others came back, the team still up went for a third day to do a barbeque at the evacuation center, and then tonight went to a different area where they were requested by an NGO.  Barbeques have been quite the hit this week!  What I have heard repeatedly is that there was laughter, sharing, and just “hanging out” time.  This is a treat for those who are still trying to pull their lives together.  And there was a special prayer time at the end.  Even though many residents had already gone back to their homes, they were all still watching….

Yesterday the kids and I went on what has become an annual Golden Week tradition with three other families from our community.  In the past we have done an overnight camping trip with all of them, but this year with several of the dads being busy (and Eric not being here at all) we made it a day BBQ outing.  In my tiredness, I wasn’t too excited about it, but it turned out to be refreshing and a great deal of fun for all of us- so thankful for that.  I greatly enjoy my friendship with these three women!  The kids rode their bikes for hours and hours; played with the other kids, toasted marshmallows and had a great time as well.

I made a new recipe for the day from my Cake Doctor cookbook.  I was incredibly lucky to have a chocolate cake mix and a can of cherry pie filling left from the DC team- thank you so much! – – and found this recipe.  I need to bring back more cherry pie filling from the U.S. !  It is simple- and a really amazing cake.  Even if you don’t have the cherry pie filling but just make this icing for a chocolate cake you will have yourself a happy day!  (As did Ian, just licking the beater!)

Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cake

1 package chocolate or devil’s food cake mix

1 can cherry pie filling (21 oz)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon almond extract (I didn’t have it and so omitted this)

Chocolate Glaze:

1 C sugar

1/3 C butter

1/3 C whole milk

1 package (1 C) semisweet choc chips

Directions:  Mix all the ingredients for the cake mix together for 3 minutes;  pour into a sprayed or greased 13 x 9 pan.  Bake according to directions (30-35 minutes at 350).

Make the glaze by heaitng first 3 ingredients in a small saucepan over medium look until it boils.  Boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and stir in choc chips.  When the glaze is smooth, pour over the warm cake so that it covers the entire surface.  The glaze will be thin but will firm up.  Cool for 20 minutes, then cut into squares.  YUMM!

I only had a chance to talk with Eric briefly tonight – he and Peter are driving late tonight down to a Sendai train station to pick up a colleague Stu who is coming to help continue relief work.

This morning the groups all headed out into different directions to help families throughout the neighborhoods who were trying to clean out their homes.  Peter and the Sanda team went and helped a woman clean out her floors and throw out her piano.  She had lost five family members in the tsunami.  Our hearts break with hers.  So thankful that she has had a chance to see the hands and feet of Jesus loving her!

Eric was asked to stay back to do an interview with a Christian communications group.  After that, he and Chad went out to scout out a location to have the second barbeque.  They found a location in the midst of a residential area and set up the grills, tables, and other relief supplies that they had brought.  People kept coming and coming… all the hotdogs were eaten, and all but a few bags of the chicken.  Just as the volunteers were about to eat dinner after everyone had finished, a thunderstorm blew in and they scrambled like crazy to get everything into cars.

Here is what Chad and Jennifer wrote about the barbeque yesterday:

“It felt like life was coming back,” Chad said, in reference to the barbecue at the park today.  One of the teams headed there this morning to finish cleaning up and set up for the BBQ.  Another team prepared the food and made pasta salad at the dojo.  Three other teams headed out to nursing homes and other areas to distribute supplies, as well as do some cleaning projects in those areas. 

Though they fought some windy weather conditions, it sounds like the barbecue in the park they have been cleaning for the last two days was a huge success.  Many from the neighborhood came to help clean and then even to help cook.  Kids were all over the park, playing soccer, jumping rope and climbing on the play equipment.  Flowers that the team planted around the park seemed to give it that extra touch of life.  Chad said there was just a really good spirit there today.  Praise God!!

They were prepared to feed up to 1000, and though no one took an official head count, Chad said they fed probably 350 and plan to take what was left over and do another barbecue somewhere tomorrow.  They had lots of time to talk with people and at the end were able to pray as a group with those who were left from the neighborhood, including one of the leaders.

I was shocked to see a Google map photo of the park that they cleaned before the tsunami.  There is grass; trees; it looks like a beautiful place to hang out.  Here are a few of the photos of the park after the tsunami:

Here are two more photos of the park cleaned up:  (with some cars that still need to be towed) away:

Tomorrow Eric and the Sanda team will be driving back.  Please pray for their long drive, as well as for the teams remaining to continue relief work.  They are really tired, but I have sensed such joy that they have experienced in serving and giving.  Can’t wait to hear more from them personally.

One of the highlights of our year has been the addition of a new nephew, Micah – the third child of Eric’s brother Ivan and wife Julie, and the first baby born to his brother Neal and wife Tina.  It’s been a joy to see how beautifully God answered all of our prayers.  We wish we were closer to hang out with both of these babies – can’t wait to get to see them next year.  But after we got these photos we of baby Lauren, auntie and uncle wanted bragging rights.  We’re glad that Ian will have little playmates when we get to visit Hawaii!

The big news today of course has been about the death of America’s most wanted.  I do not want to get political, but in my heart the  news I am more excited about is  the love being poured out  and the  prayers being offered up for the Japanese people in Tohoku.

Eric called late tonight and said it was an “absolutely amazing” day.  There were high winds, so the team was praying about whether to postpone or not.   Eric talked to Aoki san (see previous entry) who is one of the leaders in the apartment complex.  He said please don’t cancel it – many people are excited about it, and most of us haven’t had cooked meat since the tsunami. So they made the decision to go ahead with it.

In the morning the teams had been split up doing distribution to different areas;  but everyone came back together to pull off the BBQ.  There was amazing teamwork!!  One of the highlights for Eric was that some of the residents wanted to help out cooking – they refused to eat until everyone else had been served.

Our friend Yasko was in there cooking with the guys….Eric said she has a lot of stories to tell…

Hundreds of people lined up – children, families, dads.  Many took food back to their families, as well.  There was laughter, playing, joy, conversations.  And real MEAT!  And pasta salad!  And lots of snacks….

There were several volunteers who entertained the residents during dinner with their hula dance.

One of the things for many of the team was seeing a group of boys playing soccer on the field that had originally looked like this after the tsunami (some before and after photos):

Here the boys are, able to finally have a place to play, after many on the team had worked for three days to clear it out for them:

The team is very tired, but thankful for such a great day.  Tomorrow they are planning another smaller BBQ and scattering across the area to continue to help families clean out their homes.  Thankful that another Asian Access friend, Stu, will be coming in tomorrow night as well.

Eric just posted this on his Facebook page:  “As I stood there in the middle of the park we cleared, shedding tears of joy and wondering why, God spoke. He said ‘those are from me to let you all know how I feel.’ Thanks to the 50+ volunteers who made it happen and to the hundreds of praying friends that covered the whole event with God’s blessings.”

This morning started with a time of worship for those in the Ishinomaki karate dojo- fifty or so people I believe.  Eric was asked at breakfast to give a brief message.  He said he shared about love, with I Corinthians 13 as the foundation.  The love that Jesus gives is powerful, transforming, and hope-filled.  So thankful for that.

Eric and the other volunteers then all worked together to continue cleaning up the large park near the apartment buildings where they have been ministering.  He said that of all the days that he has done relief work the past two months, today was the hardest in terms of physical labor.  They were moving appliances, rotten tatami (straw) mats, large pieces of metal, wood — all kinds of crazy things that had been deposited by the tsunami waves in this cleared section.  Once they got down to the ground, they had to bag up the glass, metal, and dirt into large trash bags and carry them onto large piles of trash that still have not been removed.  Their chain saw from yesterday was “removed” during the night, so a new one was purchased and used to help cut up the large trees and wood pieces that were deposited.

Despite the physically hard work, Eric said it was such a good day!  Many from the community came to help out, as well, which was our hope.  There was a great spirit of comraderie as everyone worked really hard to get as much cleared as possible.  There is now a park that will allow kids who have been stuck inside due to safety issues since early march to play.  What a great thing!  Eric said that our Sanda team is doing well – they had a good debrief on the way back from the bath tonight (there are no bathing facilities in the karate dojo where they are staying).

Tomorrow the large group will split into teams and spend the morning delivering supplies to different areas and locations.  Then in the afternoon they will meet back to prepare for the big BBQ.  They are telling whoever they can, and hopefully many people will be able to come to the newly renovated park to enjoy a rare treat.  The team is going to make large vats of pasta salad over the charcoal burners, then cook hotdogs and BBQ’d chicken for about a thousand people.  I hope many, many come!  Please pray as this will be a wonderful time to bring people together, treat them to something special, and have many individual conversations.

Years ago my sister Hannah pointed out to me a phrase in I Corinthians 13 from the Message version that has stuck with me.  We had it in our wedding:  “love extravagantly.”  Verse 13 says, “¹But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.”  I love these commands!  It is what we all need as we minister.  It is the key for those who bringing aid to the victims in Tohoku.  Praying that a park where children can now play would speak of the extravagant love of Jesus.  And that the smell – and taste! – of barbequed chicken and Costco hotdogs in that park tomorrow would fill many with His unswerving hope.

Today was a hard mom day.  I’m not sure why- maybe we were all tired. I was certainly not a stellar mom by any means.   Olivia burst into tears at least eight times, and usually not for a really great reason.  By about the fifth time, I was ready to burst into tears too!  (Today’s theme is getting extended into tomorrow, so I’ll write about it later).

The day ended great, though… I finally took Annie to buy  the long-awaited two-wheeler bike we had promised her since last fall, and Olivia got her first bike as well- one with training wheels.  A local store was having a big sale this week, and after pricing them yesterday and consulting Eric the kids and I went back and bought them.  We’ve been fortunate enough to be given great hand-me-down bikes up until now;  but it was time to bite the bullet.  And such an exciting day for these girls!

We came back and had some time before dinner to try out the bikes at the park.  We all had fun — Owen on a skateboard, Ian having inherited Livvy’s tricycle, and the two new bikes.  Annie came back from the park two days ago and said she had used her friend’s two -wheeler – and did it!  This was her first time.  So it was so so fun to watch her use her new wheels – still a lot easier down hill than up.  I sent Eric a bunch of short videos -we all wish he was here but it will be fun when he comes back.  You’ll see how Ian had his fun….

Tonight on the phone, Annie told Eric, “Mommy didn’t have a really good day, but it was super-exciting for me!”

Less than a week after Eric returned from his last trip up to Ishinomaki, he left this morning to go back up.  One of our desires since we started doing relief work after the tsunami was to get our community more involved.  The first trip up we had many friends bring supplies for the guys to take up;  this time we loved how our communities chipped in and filled up our entranceway over the past few days, but more importantly, that Eric is traveling with three special friends from our community.  George and Aiko are newer believers from our community group and really felt God wants them both to be part of relief work this week.  Her mom has come to stay with their two teenage children while they are gone– probably the first time she has left them.  Yasko, our neighbor who is like part of our family, is also on the road with them.  We love it that she wants to participate as well.

In addition to our four, two teachers from Christian schools in Kansai also came out to Sanda in order to go up with our two vans today, so six left from our home at about 7:30 this morning.  (Yasko’s mom is also in the picture).

Eric called and they have all arrived safely – yeah!  These two vans were packed full -incredibly full.  We are thankful for the many we hope this can help.

Peter went up yesterday, and today the group up there did some initial clean up on one of the parks.  Eric said that finally the government is coming and taking away some of the cars plopped by the tsunami all over the place.  That is helping, but there is still so much debris and junk everywhere.  (The government has estimated that there is 28 years worth of trash created by the tsunami and earthquake on March 11).  Here are before and after photos that he posted:

Tomorrow the plan is to continue clean up with the big BBQ planned for Monday.  It is supposed to rain tomorrow, so praying that they will be safe and able to get a lot done anyway.  The large apartment buildings in the background are some of the area that they are reaching out to.

Stories have been shared from the week up there when Eric was not there.  The teams continue to spread out into the community and find people who need their assistance.  They have shared updates of specific families they have touched in various neighborhoods.  Because of the extent of the tsunami damage, the government is unable to help people clean up their homes from tsunami damage.  Many staying in evacuation centers are spending their days trying to work on their own homes, but there are many who are physically unable to do what needs to be done.  There are often huge challenges;  one of the volunteers two days agree got sick twice just from the terrible smells in one home.  The day that Eric was driving back last week, a few went to help in a home and discovered a bunch of dead squid under the floor boards – they were brought in with the tsunami and got stuck.  Ugh.  But these are the kinds of things that the teams are able to help do…

HOMEFRONT – Day 1 Theme:  Camping!

As Eric and the team drove off this morning, Annie burst into tears.  It has been hard this past week for our family to imagine him being gone again.  So I have had some good help and been coming up with some fun themes that we can use to do activities while he is gone until Wednesday.  This is Golden Week, which is a string of holidays near each other, so a time that many Japanese use to travel.  They have school on Monday, but besides that they are off.

Today after Owen’s soccer practice,  we came home for a few minutes and their first surprise and clue was a Skype call from Annie’s U.S. Kindergarten teacher, Tanicqua.  She now lives in Texas, and we’ve been wanting to touch base, so this was a great opportunity.  Besides catching up, Tanicqua read the kids, “Curious George Goes Camping.”

The kids quickly figured it out – we were going to do a camping day.  In the midst, though, we had one more relief-related delivery… the team up north needed a generator that the guys in Sanda had bought (and that didn’t fit into the vans).  There was a team leaving this afternoon who could fit it in, so me and the kids took some exciting winding roads and delivered it in time.

For dinner, we had hamburgers picnic-style!  Olivia had us set a place for Eric….

 I set up the tent while they were at the park before dinner – they were thrilled!  The older three are all nesting snuggly in sleeping bags  (But, at 11 pm, Annie continues to pop her head out every few minutes…)

We made some modified s’mores (they weren’t very good),  did a flashlight search game for glow-in-the dark (in theory) bugs and stones, and read some other camping stories.  I’m tired, but it’s been a good day… I so love the family that God has given me.   Even when one of them gets into my mascara while I run to the restroom, and the other three sitting next to him somehow don’t notice at all.

I have just ordered N.T. Wright’s book, Surprised by Hope.  I’ve wanted to order it for awhile, but made the decision after my friend Lauren sent me two quotes from this book.  This first one has struck me on several counts.  First, I am always wanting to be more strategic in our love, in our ministry, in our outreach.  Second,  there are many days where I realize that the majority of my day (often the WHOLE day) is spent within our home or within a five minute bike ride of our home.  My focus is often on our four children and family whose needs often seem to pull me in many different directions that may not be feeling particularly strategic.   Third,  I often wish I could “do” more — I wish I could go with Eric up to Tohoku each time;  I wish that we could multiply our efforts up there – care for more people, take more food and aid;  listen exponentially to the stories of pain and bring more hope.  But it is so wonderful to know that all of these things are part of the mission of God.

Here is the quote:

“This brings us to 1 Corinthians 15:58 once more:  …what you do in the Lord is not in vain. You are– strange though it may seem, almost as hard to believe as the resurrection itself– accomplishing something that will become in due course part of God’s new world.  Every act of love, gratitude, and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation; every minute spent teaching a severely handicapped child to read or to walk; every act of care and nurture, of comfort and support, for one’s fellow human beings and for that matter one’s fellow nonhuman creatures; and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching, every deed that spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honored in the world–all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God will one day make.  That is the logic of the mission of God. . . “(p 208)

And this: (p 280):  “It will, of course, be costly.  You don’t get to share in God’s life and escape without wounds.  Look what happened to Jesus himself.”