Eric is home and doing well.  We’ve had a busy but very sweet day as a family.  We are all so happy to have him back!  Tonight we went and satisfied Eric’s craving:  all-you-can-eat yakiniku (thin-sliced beef that you grill at your table).  It was great fun.  We continue to spend time debriefing, and we both appreciated the chance to talk and debrief with Jack A.,  our mission’s psychologist on the phone.

We just got a call from our friend Kazue.  They are staying temporarily in a friend’s home that is up for sale;  they are searching for a 3 bedroom apartment but so far it has been impossible to find.

They were finally able to go back to Arahama and the location of their home.  They found nothing there, except some of the foundation cinderblocks and part of one tree.  I guess I had hoped that they would find some of their personal things…

This neighborhood had nothing left – it was completely demolished by the tsunami.  They are starting over with absolutely nothing, but still optimistic.  We are working on helping them financially with furniture and clothes needs — if you are interested please contact us.

We wanted to thank many of you who have prayed for the friends we have shared about in our blog.  We just heard from Reiko that her parents in Fukushima are staying put and doing better- after three weeks they finally have water coming into their home.  This is a huge relief – they were needing to bring water in from an uncle’s home and go there to shower.

Last night when Kent and Eric came home, they said that most of the damage that they saw was from the tsunami much more than from the 9.0 earthquake.  But when I saw these pictures of Reiko’s parents home – a few hundred kilometers away from the epicenter – I was shocked.  She wrote that it took them over a week to clean up the inside.

Here is their tile roof that they are waiting to get repaired:

I like this picture because in the left corner you can see the Japanese writing on the front door of the  little church that is right across the street from them.  This is where I spent one summer in the early nineties while working as a summer advisor.  Reiko lived right across the street, and became a wonderful friend that summer.  God used our friendship to connect her to God and another local church, pastored by Mori Sensei and his wife.  Reiko has been a great friend ever since.  And I love it that it  is that it has been a local church that has been coming into her parent’s community when others are afraid to (because of radiation) and bringing fresh produce and daily needs.

The church where Reiko got involved in Iwaki was my “command base” that summer.  Mori Sensei and his wife were wonderful models to me then and since.  Last year, the Mori’s church burned down.  They built a larger facility and have since understood more of God’s purposes – they have been using it as a warehouse since the tsunami to bring relief to the community.  Even though they are near the nuclear reactor, they have announced that they aren’t leaving but will stay and care for the community.  Watch how they are caring!   I saw this video made by some missionaries working with the Moris and once again the tears flowed.

The kids thought Eric was coming home tomorrow (Saturday)- so when Eric called to say that he and Kent were able to get home Friday night, I didn’t tell the kids otherwise.  But we made banners in preparation, and I managed to make an apple pie and get it in the oven before we left for the train station.

They thought we were going to pick up Uncle Kent and “another guy who had been helping up at the earthquake.”  There was SUCH joy at the train station when they saw with their own eyes that the other man was Daddy!  Such awesome squeals.

It’s great to have him home.  We have a video clip from the train station – watching Ian run to his daddy is worth the watch, I think (I’m biased of course).

The last few minutes Eric has been talking to Peter on the phone.  Peter is staying up until Sunday to make a good transition to the next team coming in.  But there was an unfortunate incident today that he is handling – when Peter first called Eric about it, Eric hoped it was an April Fool’s joke, but it’s not.  A relief team brought back to the one campsite a dog that they found in the city where they were working.  The church staff agreed to let the dog stay for a few days, even providing dog food.  But today that camp director (our friend Hi-chan’s husband) got bit when the dog escaped and had to go to the hospital.  Pray for Peter especially as he finishes his time and needs to handle a lot of different teams coming and going with varied expectations and preparation.  Tomorrow is a big day for many of the agencies as Franklin Graham is planning a visit to the area.

Eric will write soon about some of his experiences.  I hope we can get a good night sleep.  Ian has been having bad coughing fits during the night.  Tomorrow we have a soccer parent’s orientation for weekend soccer that Owen is starting.

Just a few minutes ago, we sat and watched a video clip of the mayor of Minami Souma, an area about 20-30 kms. away from the Fukushima nuclear plant, making an appeal for volunteers to come in and help his city.  Because of the fear of radiation, they are not receiving help.  (Here is the link- it is a bit lengthy but does have english subtitles:  

Two weeks is up tomorrow!  Eric is planning to leave Sendai tomorrow and begin the trip back to us.  We don’t know if it will be a two-day trip or not;  I know our family will be waiting with open arms.  Olivia asks over and over throughout the day when Daddy is coming home.  Tonight, we called him during dinner.  Olivia told him what we were having – chicken, noodles, and corn.  Then she held the phone over her food and said, “Daddy, doesn’t this smell so delicious?”  Can’t wait till he really can smell the same food and we can be at the same table together!  I asked Eric what he wants to eat when he gets home and he said yakiniku (thin-sliced beef).  He said they have had a lot of sardines  (I know! I know!) and rice but not a lot of meat.  Here is a picture Peter posted on Facebook the other day – lunch on the road:

Their living conditions have been better than they expected.  They have stayed in sleeping bags on the floor of a seminary that has had electicity, heat, and hot water.

The other base camp in Sendai, an actual camp, still has no hot water, so the team members staying there have only used wipeys to clean up.

One of the other team-members with Eric and Peter yesterday sent us some photos from their time of doing English games and songs with the kids.  These photos made me happy.

While they were at the evacuation center, the guys left some supplies for those living there.  The staff person said that they won’t be able to use the kitchen supplies for a long time – but Eric and Peter wanted to make sure that they had what they needed to get started.  They were thrilled.

I just had a chance to see two-hundred some photos from Roger H.,  a missionary friend who was working along side of the guys for a few days.  It helped so much to picture where they have been the past two weeks.  I’m hoping to put together some of the photos into a slide show over the next day or so…

I was especially touched by photos of the pastors and the churches who have continued to do ministry;  who have stayed put;  who are ministering to their communities and welcoming in the missionaries who are coming in.  They are awesome.

I just read the following letter tonight…. it is written by an American businessman who lives in Tokyo.  It is not about patting missionaries on the back, but a praise to how God uses the body of Christ to do his work.  It is a wonderful tribute to what God does when he calls us to minister.  I think – who would ever want to run away?

Friends,

The response to the earthquake by many of the westerners here in Japan has been to head straight to the airport and get out of the country.

The Christian missionaries here have done just the opposite; they collect relief supplies and go straight to the disaster area to help out.

It is truly amazing what they have accomplished.

They collect supplies through donations from local citizens and international aid associations.

Then they get trucks, road permits and take the supplies to the 400,000 people who have lost their homes to the earthquake, tsunami and evacuations from the exclusion zone around the nuclear reactors.

Churches in the affected region are often used as distribution points.

Some of these churches have been damaged by the earthquake, and some are even without electricity.

This has been a 24/7 job for many of my missionary friends, but I have not heard a complaint from even one of them.

Goldman Sachs has moved their offices from Tokyo to Osaka so that their employees will not be inconvenienced by the disruptions of the earthquake.

Tom

As missionaries have partnered with the Japanese church, God has been doing some really neat things in the midst of so much pain and suffering.  It amazes me what God can do!  A friend just shared this verse with me:  “God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering” (Gen.41:52). I have begun to pray that God would make Japan fruitful in new ways in the midst of our suffering.  He has a way of doing that.  May the Church;  all of us Christians here – respond in such a way that God is able to bring new fruit out of the wreckage of this devastation.

As I have listened to Eric fill in for me how their days are filled – often from early until really late — a large part of the mornings and/or evenings are filled with helping load and unload shipments that have been coming into Sendai from Samaritan’s Purse, Food for the Hungry, and other countries who have been sending relief for distribution. Tonight Eric mentioned how much he has enjoyed watching the humility and wisdom of one of the Samaritan’s Purse staff, Ken Isaacs. Ken has flown into Japan to oversee the work being done, and his background in doing relief work has been really helpful. Eric told me that Ken went to Costco and spent 250 thousand dollars – he bought them out of underwear and other things that are needed up north right now. Then he went to bicycle shops and tried to buy as many as possible, since gas is hard to get this is one of the best means of transportation at this point. (Eric laughed that Ken cancelled his order for a bunch of Japanese rice cookers when he found out the premium rate of these appliances in this country!) We are thankful for the generous outpouring that has been coming in to help meet the enormous needs of the people here.

One of the needs that the guys have realized is helping to entertain the children who are spending all their days and nights in large gymnasiums/evacuation centers. Most have no toys, no school, no home. So Peter and Eric arranged to do some fun english games/classes today in one of the evacuation centers where they have built relationships. Eric said the two of them just went at it this afternoon for several hours with about thirty kids, and parents and other adults who would come and go with smiles on their faces. I think it was a highlight not just for the kids, but for the two guys as well! I think this kind of ministry is going to be crucial in days to come as parents/adults focus on cleaning, moving, rebuilding, but there are not safe places yet for children to play.

Chad Huddleston, a missionary colleagues who has been making trips up to Tohoku to do relief work, conveyed this story to his wife. I read it tonight and it touched me deeply.

Wow. I don’t even know what to say. Chad just shared with me the moment that impacted him most today. He met a young man as they were passing out food and supplies and asked him where he lived. The man said that his house had been washed away. They were living in one of the evacuee shelters. Then Chad asked him what the needs at the shelter were and the man answered, “Kodomo,” which means “child” or “children.” He went on to share that his four year old son had been washed away in the tsunami. His wife was there too, and as Chad and Kitani-papa talked and then prayed with them, they both just sobbed and sobbed. Unimaginable. Unexplainable. Yet we hold on to the truth that God is good. He has asked us to go. He wants us to love these people. So, we go.

Pray with me today for the tens of thousands of children who have been displaced from their homes; many who have lost family members.  And pray with me for those families who have lost children, perhaps the most unimaginable lost.  We have a God who knows what it feels like to lose a son.  May His love sweep in tangible ways over those who need such love and comfort.

Today I finally got ahold of our friends the Watanabes, who own a lovely ocean-front Japanese hotel up in Ibaraki-ken,  part of the tsunami zone.  They have been special friends for twenty years, back when I was an advisor for summer workers up in northern Japan.  One of the summer workers, Cindy stayed with them for part of the summer, and when I would make the rounds they would have me stay as well.  This picture is with Mrs. Watanabe and her youngest son in their lovely Japanese garden….

Over the last twenty years they have been special friends to our family.  Every few years we have had a chance to stay with them.  Mrs. Watanabe is a beautiful believer, and she has always welcomed us into their hotel as if we were own family.  We have watched their three children grow up;  their oldest has become a manager for their hotel.  The last time we visited we stayed in their new home.  They had finally moved out of the older home attached to the hotel and built a beautiful home overlooking the ocean.

Today, the Watanabes told me that their hotel and their new home were washed away with the tsunami.  She told me that there was the big earthquake, and right after that tsunami warnings.  They had a hotel full of guests;  they quickly loaded everyone up into cars and went inland.  Thirty minutes after the earthquake, six meter waves (about twenty feet) engulfed the shore, rising as high as the shrine up on a tiny mountain overlooking the hotel that we would often hike to.  Everything was destroyed.  Thankfully, however, everyone from the hotel survived.  She also shared that the members of their small little church all survived.

They are hoping to start rebuilding in August.  Even in the midst of this tragedy, Mrs. Watanabe quickly invited our family to come and visit.  I was trying to find out how we could help;  what we could send them; she is inviting us to visit.  There are so many ways that we can look at life;  her outlook amazes me.

They recently celebrated the one-hundred year anniversary of the hotel’s founding by Mrs. Watanabe’s grandparents.  So much heritage, beauty, memories washed away.

I hope we can still visit; help somehow.  I am so relieved and thankful that the Watanabes are all alright.  But I am so so sad that their home is gone;  that the hotel that has been their family’s life and love for one hundred years was eaten up by a twenty foot monster.

I remembered a quote from my research days by Paul Tournier.  He wrote about the importance of place.  I am feeling the pain of so so so many Japanese who have lost their place in the world.  Today somehow it feels overwhelmingly sad.  “It is readily understandable that to be denied a place is to suffer a serious moral trauma.  It is a sort of denial of one’s humanity…. Uprooting:  the word expresses at the same time both the effect of being torn away from the love of one’s fellows and the loss of one’s place in the world”(1966:27).

I talked today to Reiko’s parents up in Fukushima.  Here is a photo (sorry again that its on its side!) from when her parents visited me once when I was at the Watanabe’s hotel.  Wow- maybe about 18 years ago?

On Sunday they had decided to move, but since the gas came back on they are now planning to stay.  They are within the possible danger zone of nuclear radiation, and most of their neighbors have already left.  The water has still not been turned on, so I tried to convince them to come to Sanda for a week or so.  Mrs. Goto explained that the roof was damaged in the earthquake and while waiting for a repairman (in high demand right now) it is just covered by a tarp.  If a strong wind came while they were gone, it could ruin the house.  And she said, for my husband, home is so important.  He would just rather stay…

I sort of get it.  Their place in the world is just so important. I still hope they will choose to get away for awhile, but their home really matters.  I am just so sad that so many in Japan these past few weeks have lost their place in the world….

One p.s. of hope: Mrs. Goto told me this morning that a church came to the neighborhood bringing lots of fresh food. She didn’t even know what church; they were just coming to take care of people who were left behind. Mrs. Goto said they told the church people about their friend Eric who is up in Sendai helping. I don’t know who this church is – but what a beautiful picture this is of the Body staying behind to care.

There are a number of earthquake-related things that have touched me today.

Here is our friend Phil Foxwell interviewed on Fox news.  I love how he responds to these questions.  (you may need to copy and paste the link to see it – but Fox News gave Phil’s Christian message amazing airplay).

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4609657/japanese-earthquake-god-in-the-rubble/

And then I watched the video of a group of children in Kenya singing their sorrow with all their hearts for the people of Japan.  They don’t even know my people here but they feel, they know the sorrow.

And finally, here is an email that I received today.  It is from a good friend of my sister and brother-in-law.  He is Indian, in ministry in Mumbai.  How it touches me that the world grieves with us; the church around the world is responding.

Dear Sue:
How are you? I am a friend of Beth and Gene. I live in Mumbai, India.
Ours is a small house church with about 20 people. Beth has been to our church a couple of times. We love her and feel she is a part of our church. I have been to her house in Philly a couple of times. So, when we heard about the tsunami hitting Japan we thought of you and your family. We praise God that you and your dear ones are safe. We are praying for the people who are affected by this calamity. On April 1st and 2nd our church will be praying for 24 hours as chain prayer. Kindly send us some specific prayer points. Beth has given us the link to your blog and a few days ago I read some of the postings.
Sue, our church desires to support the relief work that you and your church is doing. We want to donate Rs. 100,000 (a little over US$ 2000, wish we could give more.) As we were praying and discussing about it, we felt that it would be good to support trauma counselors who could minister to people and pray with them. Please feel free to use a part of the money for any other urgent need that you think is important and critical.
*******

Here are images from the Atlantic that are unbelievable.

Peter Thomson’s brother, David, has arranged with the manager of Chick-Fil-A in Valencia, CA to do a special fundraiser on April 4th to go towards tsunami relief.  Wish we could be there!  But there will be staff from Asian Access and a video from Peter and the guys.  If you live anywhere nearby, we’d love it if you can go and eat a chicken sandwich and drink a lemonade for us – to benefit the victims in the tsunami.

Japan Self-Defense Forces have been doing a great job at getting supplies to the evacuation centers, but the guys and other volunteers are finding that it is the people who are staying in their homes in the devastated areas who are not receiving the supplies that are needed for daily sustenance.  CRASH Japan, the organization they are partnering with, seeks to find and bring relief to the places that are missed by the government help.  There are still many such communities out there…

Today Eric and the guys went to a town that is two miles inland from the coast, called Minami Sanriku.  This picture shows one of the nine homes that are remaining of thirty-eight that had been there before the tsunami.  My mind can’t fathom  a wave of water coming two miles in, capable of destroying a village.

In true Japanese style, Eric said that there are nine mats set out to equally divide up any supplies that are brought in to help the nine families who remain in the town.  They welcomed the contributions brought in by the team.

Jonathan Wilson, a missionary here in japan who is the founder of CRASH, wrote this today:

But imagine four times the damage of Katrina and seven times the loss of life of 9/11 in a nation that is barely the size of California and with a struggling economy roughly a third the size of the US. What does that do to a country? What does that do to a region? Now consider a family or individual waiting for help to come. The greatest thing that we have to offer Japan is hope. Hope is not something that can be shipped in a container, or airlifted in. Our teams are operating from five regional bases throughout the entire area. One team near the area evacuated around the nuclear power station described the evacuation centers as well stocked and well run, but the people as terrified. Hope is packaged not in a box but in a person. Our focus is to send thousands of volunteers to stand beside the people of Japan until the job is done. To help them clear the rubble, rebuild their homes, and find hope for the future.

This morning I got a welcome call from our friend Reiko B. in Los Angeles.  We had written earlier about her parents in the Fukushima area- it took several days until we were able to hear that they were alright following the earthquake.

They are still in their home in Iwaki, Fukushima, about 25 miles from one of the nuclear reactors.  They have not wanted to leave their home, although many of their neighbors already have.  For the past two weeks they have managed without water or gas by going every day or so to their uncle’s home up in the mountain area to bring back water, and by using electric heaters to try and stay warm.  Reiko shared, though, that her dad injured his shoulder carrying the water, and they just found out that it is not an indefinite amount of time until the water comes on.

Reiko is trying to convince her parents to leave for a few months.  She is checking on government housing in the Sanda area so that they would be near us.  We are willing to do whatever we need to do to help them move, and would even like them to come sooner and stay in our home.  Reiko has been in touch with them daily, and I will try and call tomorrow.  How hard this is for seniors to have their lives so turned around!  We pray for God’s gracious plan for them.

Today up in Sendai the guys took a much-needed Sabbath.  Eric said that he was feeling a lot better tonight.  This afternoon, our friend Kazue and her husband came to the seminary where Eric is staying because he had some supplies for them.  (From previous posts, their home was completely washed away with the tsunami).   Eric saved them the embarrassment of opening each box to verify what they need, but rather the guys loaded them up with boxes and told them to pass on what they don’t need.  They were able to supply some basic essentials, including underwear and hygiene kits, a cooking set, and even some gasoline that will help tremendously.

We still are praying about how to more directly help Kazue and her family get re-started.  They are looking right now for some kind of an apartment in the same area as their home was, but she said it’s hard to find such a thing for several things:  a) all of the buildings have been affected by the earthquake, so little is known yet about damage done structurally to all of the buildings;  and b) she mentioned that realtors aren’t exactly back to work right now.  Pray with us that God will provide housing for them to help them at least get temporarily settled.

My sister Hannah is leaving tomorrow already.  What is so sad is that she has gotten a bad cold the last few days.  Tonight her throat is quite swollen and she is feeling very miserable.  I’m praying that she will be better and able to fly tomorrow early evening.  We have had a low-key time this past week with everyone sick at different times, but many sweet times together for which I am very thankful.