Eric has had a really good day – I will let him and his colleagues speak for themselves.  Here are some photos and a video and things that Eric was able to post on Facebook today.

Today the guys went to Ishinomaki, one of the areas that is still so devestated by the tsunami and earthquake.  Eric’s descriptions and photos follow:

Prayers of petition on behalf of these hurting people.

A map of the community:

The water line reached the top of this photo

A woman tries on her new boots.

Our small contribution meant a lot to them.

The guys made a short video today while they were in this town:

Here is what Peter wrote on Facebook about what they were doing today:

Just loaded hygiene kits for 3,000 families. Each case covers 24 people. The first 300 cases were fine, then they got heavy. One team will take these to relief center, our team is heading to serve another church.

Afternoon we took as much as we could to public housing complex. No water, gas, electric. I helped a young mother carry water and goods to her apartment. Met her husband and kids. Ten minutes later, husband came to team with cokes to say thank you. We received more than we gave.

One of our colleagues, Kent, wrote about their experiences here;  another friend Roger, also blogged about it here.

Today our family missed Eric a lot.  But when I see the photos and the video, I really thank God that He can use our small offering- our husband and dad- to serve during these important weeks.

Yesterday one of Eric’s teammates Kent spent the day up in Kessenuma – and one of their visits was a church with a kindergarten ministry.  They had shared that tomorrow (Saturday) they will be going ahead with the graduation that had been planned, but wished that they could give every family a meaningful gift (meaningful being defined by the times) – a personal hygiene kit that had been supplied by Samaritan’s Purse (four toothbrushes, tissue packs – that kind of thing).

Kessenuma is one of the towns that was largely wiped out by the tsunami.  Today Eric and Kent and another friend Roger drove back up the coast – about 2 1/2 hours – and took more supplies to that church.  Eric counted out 90 (the number requested), and then threw in another box just in case.  The pastor was so thrilled – and said he realized they actually need 94. Phew.  Eric said they spent a long time just talking with the pastor and listening to his heart.  There are still four church members there who are missing.   They also took up a bunch of boots, as tomorrow some of the members want to begin the painstaking task of digging through the rubble to search for their belongings….

Hygiene kits and unattractive high boots aren’t the kinds of gifts that would have brought a cheer a few weeks ago.  But now they are just the thing that bring smiles and thanks.

CNN came through with breaking news today- there are now over 10,000 confirmed dead;  and 17,000 still missing.  This will take the death toll up close to 30,000.  Each one of those a precious life that no longer is – it breaks my heart.

Tomorrow is our daughter Annie’s annual dance recital.  We are all very sad that Eric can’t be there to cheer and be a proud father, but we thankful that he is able to serve at this time.  And thankful that Auntie Hannah will be with us to serve and to cheer.  (Pray for her – she has a sore throat and is achey tonight!).

My sister Beth sent us Psalm 93 tonight:

¹ The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty;
the LORD is robed in majesty and armed with strength;
indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.
² Your throne was established long ago;
you are from all eternity.

³ The seas have lifted up, LORD,
the seas have lifted up their voice;
the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
⁴ Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea—
the LORD on high is mighty.

⁵ Your statutes, LORD, stand firm;
holiness adorns your house
for endless days.

One of the things that Eric and I remembered the most from our CRASH training six days before the earthquake was that going in after a disaster requires one to serve in ways you may not expect.   You may not do what you thought you were going to do, but if you go in willing to serve God can use you in many unique ways to accomplish His work.

The guys have done that today.  This is one of my favorite pictures coming out of the zone.  Eric and Peter went to my colleague Ootomo Sensei’s church to help.  This is what Eric just wrote with the accompanying photo as I was getting ready for bed:

We went to ootomo sensei’s church and his son made us wash boots! It was fine — we sorted all the supplies he received from churches and arranged his storage closet and blessed him much.

Eric also sent a photo of himself with Ootomo Sensei as well as a staff member from our former church, Sendai L’Abri.  Seeing these three men together in the same picture brought tears to my eyes.  Only God could think to bring them together at such a time as this for his purposes.

I have not had a chance to talk with Eric since this morning, when they were heading out to begin clean-up work  in the neighborhood of one of the churches in the worse-hit regions.  I’m anxious to hear how they are doing but have not been able to get through tonight.

The good news is the realization that the team and others have been making that the Japan Self-Defense Forces have been doing a great job delivering supplies to the needy areas.  Those who have worked with some of the other tragic disasters in recent years have found that the country’s military has not been prepared when the unexpected happens.  But in Japan, the Forces have moved remarkably quickly and efficiently.  There are pockets of people still in need, but the majority have received basic supplies.  It is impressive.  While private groups have helped to find those pockets, how thankful we are that many Japanese in need are at least finding their initial needs being met.

It is in the news today that babies in Tokyo (aged 0-3) should not drink the water because of nuclear contiminants.  I think i was starting to think – hope? that things were getting better — this news, and that of the green vegetables being pulled from the shelves that are coming from three different prefectures is not comforting.  We need to keep praying for this!

On a somewhat humorous note is the video that Japan has made to help explain the nuclear situation to children.  Japanese talk about poo and pee a lot more freely than North Americans.  My sister and I enjoyed this video (that I”m sure isn’t supposed to be really be humorous).

Tonight I received a surprising but delightful phone call from one of my favorite people,  Doug Birdsall.   He is the Executive Director now of the Lausanne Movement, and is the former president of Asian Access.  Doug asked me to be part of a conference call this past hour to share our perspective on the tragedies and follow-up that have occurred over the past ten days.  I had no idea that so many people were listening in from around the world, but it was a good time of sharing the needs and hurts of the people in this country that we love.  One idea that we talked about was coming up with a list of the three hundred churches affected in the region that can be adopted by Christians from around the world to pray and help meet their specific needs.  Wouldn’t this make a wonderful impact?

Phil Foxwell was also on the call  (read a great article he wrote that was carried by Fox News).  It was neat timing because he had just came out of a meeting that Eric was also attending up in Sendai with 30 or 40 pastors and 20 or so volunteers.  I was glad to hear that my husband is fine, but also to hear of the great networking that is beginning to happen as the churches seek to create an infrastructure to reach across communities and assist one another and receive teams wanting to come in and do relief work.

Phil shared about a pastor at the meeting tonight, Minegishi Sensei,  who had told a bit of his story.  When the earthquake hit he knew that since they lived very near the coast that the chances of a tsunami was very high and so he gathered his family into the car.  One of his family members wanted to run back inside and get some things out of a drawer to take with them just in case, but that dresser had fallen over upstairs during the earthquake so they left without bringing anything.  They managed to safely get to higher ground, but their home, their church, and every home of all of their church members were completely destroyed in the tsunami.  The pastor said that next to his wife and family, his books were what he loved most in the world, and they are all gone.  But his faith was more fervent than ever at the meeting tonight as he shared his desire to quickly rebuild even a pre-fab church so that the community would know where they could come with their pain.  Praying for pastors like this; for believers across the region to find support from the Body of Christ across the world that enables them to reach out in tangible ways to those in need in their community.

I am a little scared to say it, but I think today we have all been healthy.  What a beautiful thing.  Still a little tired, a few of us, but healthy.  Ahh.

This morning started for the guys in Sendai with a lot of rough, strong aftershocks.  These were more on the scary side of things, and continuous.  Eric said besides that, today was more of a low-key day.  They were told that they were moving to a different base camp, so they cleaned and packed up and then found out that for now, at least, they are staying put at the seminary.  I have not found out much else about their day so I won’t write more.  I am excited because tomorrow they are going to help out at a church in one of the very challenging areas that is being pastored by one of my favorite students- a wonderful, humble and wise Japanese man.  I’m sure they will mutually encourage each other.

One of the missionaries traveling with Eric put some amazing photos on his blog here.  We will continue to keep you posted.

I wanted to make a few quick posts for those of you who check and pray.  I’ve talked with Eric a few times today.  One disclaimer – I am trying to get the facts straight but they come via cell phone and often many hours before I post, so if there are occasional errors I apologize.  And I’ll try and correct them later if I find out!  Also, we are fine with anyone reposting this information to share what is going on.

Today Eric and his team headed up the coast to the ravaged town of Ishinomaki. Yesterday, some of their team had been there and captured footage of the grandmother and grandson being pulled out alive from their home.  (You can see it here).  The first shelter that they came to turned out to be a gym in which families could come and claim bodies;  it was a hard stop to make.  After that, they were able to find two churches in the area still standing, and the pastors and families were so thrilled to see the team and receive supplies.  They also stumbled upon a kindergarten nearby that was in need.  As they were driving away they only had some boxes of water bottles left, and wondered what to do with them.  They saw an older man walking on the street carrying an empty water jug.  They stopped and asked him what he was doing, and he was going out in search of water.  Hurray!  He was thrilled to take them back to his home and receive the gift of clean water for himself and his neighbors, as well.

During this time Eric had been in touch with our pastor, Makio Sensei, who is also up in the area visiting all the churches in his denomination.  Makio Sensei asked them to look for a missing pastor – the whole church had literally disappeared in the tsunami and he had not been found yet.  They inquired at the closest evacuation center but he wasn’t there.  They called Sensei with the bad news.  A little while later, Sensei called them with the joyous news – he had been found at another community center.  There was great rejoicing.

Here are a few photos taken by Eric, Peter and Kent the last 2 days.  They have shared that the devastation is heart-breaking.

I am feeling much better today – perhaps at a 50% capacity.  Thankful for that, and for the friends who have brought meals and bread and help to us.  It’s been such a neat way to see God’s care.

Today I spent part of the afternoon at a holiday clinic (today was a national holiday here) with 3 of our kids being checked for the flu.  The doctor ended up not doing the Q-Tip wire/up/the/nose test, thankfully, but is guessing that the 3 older ones do have influenza and gave me one day’s worth of tamiflu for the each.  Tonight, the two girls came down with the high fevers… Still waiting to see what happens with Owen.

BUT my sister Hannah arrived, and even though we had some miscommunication and I was waiting for her at the wrong station, it was a wonderful reunion and we were all thrilled to see her.  She had a great businessclass seat coming over, and Japanese people who helped her at each leg of the journey.  Yeah Hannah!  Tomorrow we need to go back to the regular doctor and get the rest of the five days of tamiflu for the kids, and I’m hoping to get some for Hannah as a precaution.  Thankfully, Eric has had no flu symptoms- that is the greatest answer to prayer!

We continue to read reports and concerns coming out of North America about nuclear radiation.  While we want to be cautious, we are not overly concerned at this point.  Our family is many hundreds of miles away, if some of you are wondering.  Eric is closer but even still not in the 50 mile zone that the US has set up as a precaution.  Perhaps the greater concern for me is the ongoing aftershocks that are rocking Sendai 4-6 times daily.  I am praying that the earth will settle, and the water as well.

Eric told me one interesting story.  They stopped at a hotel and went inside.  There was still no electricity there, so as they walked further and further into the lobby they were guided by flickers of candles lining the sides of the hallway.  The front desk had a staff there, using candlelight to do all of his work.  It reminded me of a verse that our friend Miya just sent us:  “Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.” (Isaiah 50:10)  Praying for each of us in the places of our darkness to trust in the name of our Lord.

Eric and the guys made it safely to Sendai tonight.  There were some challenges getting enough gas along the way to get there – the last rest stop they had to wait an hour for the pumps to be refilled – but they are in downtown Sendai now at a seminary that is serving as one of the base camps.

Tomorrow they will go to the Sendai Airport to help unload and begin distribution of the tons of supplies that are being flown in by Samaritan’s Purse.  The images of the tsunami hitting that airport were just incredible – I can’t quite imagine what they will find when they get there.

Tonight there was a 6.1 aftershock in the region.  Eric said they were fine, but it was unnerving for some of the crew with them.

On the home front, I went to the doctor’s today and found out that I have influenza A!  Not the news I was hoping for.  I found out that two other moms from Annie’s class also have it.  Pray that Eric doesn’t get it – that is my greatest prayer.  I was overwhelmed today in the midst of my feeling miserable when two different community friends brought meals over.  I’ve just sort of limped through today and prayed that nothing too crazy would happen with our kids since I have zero energy to do very much.

One other note.  Our friend Shelly H. from D.C. arranged through a friend to fly my sister Hannah here!  She will arrive on Monday night and stay for a week.  I am so thrilled.  The children shrieked with delight when they heard.  I hope I won’t be too contagious when she comes, but I am looking forward to her hanging out with her nieces and nephews and being part of our lives.  This is her second time to visit us here.  Thanks Shelly and other friends who helped make this happen!

Just got off the phone with Eric and wanted to share this update and then get to bed… The guys after arrival  had just had a briefing at the Tokyo CRASH headquarters assigning them to go to Ibaraki prefecture (the most southern part of earthquake/tsunami zone) and work on setting up a base camp.  Five minutes later, the director came in and said that Samaritan’s Purse is flying in 90 tons (NINE ZERO WOW) of supplies and they are going to land at Sendai’s airport.  (If you saw footage of the airport you know it’s a miracle that anything could land there!  The government apparently has cleared off enough of the landing strips for rescue vehicles to land).  They need “all hands on deck”… and would like our guys to first go up to Sendai and unload the cargo so that it can quickly be distributed to those who need it.  First thing in the morning I need to call our Sanda truck rental and see if we can extend the contract by two days – pray that they are willing.  There is a shortage of trucks and this would be a big help.  As Eric just said, all of these plans are in the hands of Jesus and they are just listening minute by minute, knowing that anything could change by the morning.