The guys are on the road, the first five hours or so retracing the route we just returned from following our retreat this past week.  They are expecting to arrive in Tokyo around 7 pm, where they will unload the truck and reload it onto other trucks headed up north.  After a night sleep, Eric and two of the other guys from Sanda will head up to their assigned locations for the next two weeks in the midst of the disaster zone.  Our friend Erik B. will drive the rental truck back to Sanda, and help keep the wives and kids in our four families a little more sane.

The past few days feel like a blur, but a really blessed one. Yesterday we cancelled my ladies’ English class, and the word went out to our community.  Up until 11 pm last night, friends were dropping by our home with bundles-full of supplies for the guys to take to those in need.  This morning the doorbell started ringing at 7 am, with a good friend of Eric’s coming by to wish him God-speed (OK- so I have no idea why the pictures are right side up until I put them in the blog.  Sorry).

By the time we were leaving at 9:00, there was a gathering by our driveway.

A group followed us over to the Thomsons for the loading of the truck.  A few minutes earlier, we had called the rental company to see if there was a smaller truck available — NONE.  We didn’t think we could fill up the extended 2 Ton.  But we were greatly surprised!

Everyone pitched in and helped…

several of our friends made onigiri rice balls for the guys, noting to Eric that they made them with konbu, a form of seaweed.  Eric said they didn’t need to explain- konbu is high in iodine, which helps counter radiation.  Just a precaution…

After the truck and car were loaded full and tarped up, we read Psalm 46 in Japanese:

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved inot the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling…

God is in the midst of her;  she shall not be moved;  God will help her when morning dawns..

And we closed with a time of prayer for those still hurting and in need; for God’s safety and step-by-step guidance for our guys.

One of our long-term prayers in serving in Japan is to help those we work with see the joy that comes from helping others outside one’s group.  These past two days brought great joy to our hearts as over twenty-five friends from our community came by our home to bring their contributions and help out.  Our former language teacher came and brought a monetary gift, as did several others.  God – its a small thing, but let this be one of the ways that you draw people closer to your heart.  We pray, too, that God will direct these goods to people who direly need them at just the right time.  Place our men just where you can use them the most to be your hands and feet; to bring physical and spiritual comfort to those in such great need.

It is 11 pm, and Eric is starting to pack his own clothes for the next two weeks.  The last sixteen hours have been spent at many grocery stores, drug stores, electronic stores, and home centers trying to get as many supplies as possible.  Even this far away from the danger zones, stores are sold out of many of the things that we need to buy:  cup ramen, liters of water, even blankets are sold out in our city!  But we have been touched by the friends who have stopped by throughout the day to bring donations  and check in on us.  Slowly but surely we have been filling up the back of a 2 ton truck that tomorrow will make its way up to Tokyo and then to the disaster zone – diapers, formula, water, towels, rice crackers, ramen, large water tanks, a generator….

It has been an on-going learning curve even for what the guys will need to take with them for their own survival and safety.  We’ve been scrambling to put together first aid kits, work gear (steel-toed boots!), easy-to-prepare food for them for the next two weeks (think freeze-dried miso and sardines – yumm) , a GPS system that will help  navigate the roads, toilet paper, camping gear… One fortunate thing, perhaps, was that late this afternoon Ian got fussy and I ended up taking him to our doctor.  He is a believer, and very concerned about the earthquake.  He wrote a bunch of prescriptions for Eric and the team just in case:  antibiotics, anti-diarrhea, cold tablets, etc.  Really thankful for that.  So, what are we missing?

Details have changed throughout the day.  A few hours ago we got a call that they may need to go further north from Sendai if the radiation affects continue to worsen.  We will probably not know until after they get to Tokyo, the CRASH headquarters, where they will set up base camp.  Tomorrow morning our fellow missionary, Erick, will pick up the truck and we will load it with all the supplies we have accumulated.  We will gather to pray and send them off.  They will use one car to take all the way up to Sendai (it is actually the car that we actually bought nine years ago while living in Sendai, and has been passed down to two other missionaries since), and the truck will leave the load in Tokyo where there are other trucks heading north with supplies.

You have probably heard that many North Americans are leaving the Tokyo area and Japan, as well.  The information about radiation concerns has been a bit extreme on both ends, ranging between no problem and extreme danger.  We are thankful that our mission and the CRASH Headquarters continue to monitor the situation.  Our mission does not feel that it’s necessary at this point to have our staff evacuate from the Tokyo area.  We know there are a lot of unknowns, and thus have continued to commit our ways to God and ask for His guidance.  The more we watch the news, though, the more we are sure that much more help is needed for the victims of this quake.  There is a grave shortage of supplies;  tonight we are hearing of many seniors who are dying from the cold because there is not adequate heat or supplies.  We can’t help them all, but our hearts are to help as many as possible.

My sister Hannah is thinking about coming to help our family for some of the time that Eric will be gone.  If anyone knows of any bargains on airlines or have frequent flier miles you could donate, let us know.  We’d appreciate that!

Some ways to pray tomorrow:  for the guys as they travel – safety;  ability to find enough gas to make it; good fellowship and preparation from God for the times ahead; for those in the disaster zones who are lacking supplies – for God’s care and love on them.  For God’s supernatural strength for all of us – we are all very tired and in need of His renewal and patience.

Thanks for praying for us.  We are grateful for your concern.  It has felt very “right” as we have pursued this course and we sense that we are following God’s path and especially His heart for the helpless.  We will keep you posted.

It is really late but we wanted to let you know that Eric will probably be leaving on Friday for two weeks to serve up in Sendai.  The CRASH Network, which is overseeing all of the Christian relief efforts, is setting up five base camps in the worst-hit areas up north.  Peter, Eric, and Kent  (all three Asian Access missionaries in Sanda) will be driving up to Tokyo on Friday and then going with the team up to one part of Sendai.  It is scary, I have to say, but last night I felt the Lord speaking to us about this.  We had a conference call with a few of us in the mission to talk about options.  Eric and I had just been watching the news and had received the updates from our friend Kazue in Sendai.  And I thought – it’s worth it to serve the least… There will be many teams able to come and serve in a month or so, but right now there are few people able to go the disaster areas and minister real help and hope.  God has given us confidence that this is His timing and His calling.

Please pray as the guys try and find supplies tomorrow.  All the water bottles were sold out at Costco and our local store today.  Japanese are scared and are in a reactionary hoarding mode out of fear.  They will need to buy gloves, boots, hard hats, etc. tomorrow.  They are hoping to buy a portable GPS to help navigate the roads, and perhaps a generator as well.  We hope they’ll be able to find all that they need before departure.

Pray for our families.  We know they won’t understand all of this;  and I don’t want them to sense fear but as a family that we place our hope in God.

We are getting reports of different groups evacuating Tokyo over the next few days.  France and Russia are evacuating their citizens.  We have just received an email from another mission asking if we could help house  some of their Tokyo missionaries.  It is very possible that I will have house guests while Eric is gone as people come south and west because of the uncertainty of the nuclear situation.  We need to pray for God’s protection, especially for those in the area attempting to help the victims.

We will update you soon.  Thank you, thank you, for praying with and for us.  These are strange days;  how much we need to place our hope in God.

Just talked to our friend Kazue from Sendai. It is an amazing gift to have this link with someone so dear to us who is in the midst of this tragedy as it unfolds.

A few updates… They are still not allowed anywhere near their old neighborhood, Arahama.  She has seen the overview photos and definitely their home and everything around them is completely gone.  She said they still have not recovered the bodies and until then will not let others go in.  She is surprised that they are not more upset by it – she said they are just so thankful to all be together and alive.  The days ahead will not be easy, but for now they are thankful for LIFE.The homes in our former neighborhood, ShichiGo, are all intact, though some have sustained significant damage she thinks.

The greatest need right now is gasoline and kerosene.  For food, she said instant rice is the biggest need.

The Junior High school in that neighborhood is housing the homeless, and those who have lost loved ones.  She has not been there herself, but heard that they are receiving one piece of bread and one juice pack a day.  Seven people are sharing one blanket.  Today is particularly cold, and tonight they are predicting even colder temps and possible snow.  PLEASE PRAY.  Their is a third nuclear plant in northern Sendai that is now a risk.  The tv is announcing to Sendai residents not to leave the house, not to let the rain that is falling now touch their skin.  Tonight the snow would make things more challenging. Earthquake – tsunami – and now nuclear leaks?  It is worst than the worse horror movie.

This morning we met with several colleagues to make further plans for the guys to deliver supplies to people  with great and immediate needs, but we need to be wise in terms of the nuclear issues.  Pray for us;  but pray especially for those who are in great need of the basics of life and hope as well.

We have just made it home from our retreat up in Nagano. Some have wondered where we are/have been in relation to the earthquake.   Our home in Hyogo prefecture is quite a bit further south and west from the earthquake zone (north of Kobe, between Kobe and Osaka). This map shows the areas where the earthquake and tsunami hit.  You can see it running up the coast from Tokyo to Sendai and the northern part of the main Honshu island.  We were staying west and a bit north of Tokyo over the last five days, in the same prefecture as the later earthquake that happened.

I have found myself at times fragmenting my thinking and emotions.  It is too painful to let my heart dwell on the pain of so many people.

Yesterday morning at the retreat our friend Scott Shaum shared, and then we took communion together.  He used John 14 as his passage.  I was struck by verse 27:  “Peace I leave with you;  my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  As I sat thinking about these words and the results of the earthquake and the tsunami on the people of Japan, I let myself feel.  And I started bawling.  I could not stop.  I let myself feel what I had been trying to contain for two days.  I was angry about what has happened, I grieved.  My heart physically ached.  I did not want to love the people of Japan so much because it hurts too much.   It almost felt like too much to bear. And  I didn’t want Jesus to tell me not to be troubled!

But I have thought since about the previous words and God’s promise in this verse.  He is promising His peace, given in a very different form than the world might give.  And I sensed God enter into my pain.  I believe He must hurt so much – He knows all of the stories.  He loves each of these individuals who have lost loved ones.  Who are still searching.   Jesus knows the pain of suffering, loss, death.  And so we can offer a compassionate and victorious Jesus to those who have suffered so. We are anxious to help meet needs – the physical ones first; and then the peace and love of a living God.

Tomorrow we are meeting with our Sanda/Asian Access friends to pray and talk about the first relief trip Eric and a few of the guys here hope to take soon.  We are just hearing first reports back from several missionaries who have run supplies up and returned.  We continue to consult with those who are coordinating and ask God for wisdom.  We will keep you posted.

Also tomorrow the team from Fourth Pres will be coming to Sanda for a day and a half.  We are excited.  They will be going to homestays tomorrow night;  then helping us prepare for a western dinner for families/students from our community.  And in the midst of all of this, Annie graduates on Wednesday!  Some full days ahead.

Thanks for praying for Reiko’s family. After two days of no news, a friend was able to drive over and find that they are alright. Very thankful.

Just heard the quake was upgraded to a 9.0! I heard a Japanese expert saying it happens once in 100,000 years. we heard that 10,000 are presumed dead just in the area surrounding Sendai. There are times that the sadness feels overwhelming.

There is a severe shortage of gasoline in all of northern Japan- citizens will not be able to use vehicles. rescue workers will need to take in their own. Roving power outages begin tomorrow in greater Tokyo. Experts are saying there is a 70 percent chance of a large earthquake in Tokyo over the next few days. We are realizing how this will very much change all of our lives here.

I have had very limited Internet access – sorry I haven’t been able to respond personally during the course of our retreat. it is still too soon to make plans for rescue teams, and we have been told that it’s better not to send supplies at this time. but we will keep you posted and hope to have more information soon.

Donations can be sent to Asian Access for the Japan Tsunami Relief Fund. Checks are easiest and can be sent to: Asian Access, PO Box 200, San Dimas. CA 91773. The money will go directly to disaster relief here.

We wanted to give a brief update on ways to be involved.  Asian Access has set up a fund that will direct all the money to our relief efforts, mostly through the local churches we will be partnering with.  Last night we had our first strategic meeting to begin working on how to best go forward in the disaster challenges ahead.  There is more information in the link below:

http://www.asianaccess.org/a2blog/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=310&blogId=6

Please keep praying.  Here are some specifics for today:

— for churches who are already working to help their neighbors.  One example is  one of our partnering pastors, Sato Sensei.  This is a Baptist church very close to the nuclear reactor.  Their church has taken the lead in evacuating residents, in particular the elderly, sick, and those unable to get away themselves.

–for Sendai L’Abri Bible Church, where Eric and I had ministered for several years.  We were thrilled to get a call from them this afternoon- their phone service and electricity is back on;  the building is at least in tact.  They have fifteen people staying there who have lost their homes;  our dear friend Kazue and her dad are there since her home is likely gone with the tsunami.  Pray that God uses them as a powerful testimony in their neighborhood.

–There are so many homeless right now.  Pray for God’s care over them in a special way.

–Pray against any nuclear radiation.  It is still a potentially huge problem.

–Pray for the many of us who are planning and praying about how to best be of assistance.

Thank you.  We don’t feel alone.

I wrote a post during the night that somehow didn’t get posted and is in cyberspace somewhere.  There was another strong earthquake during the night that knocked out our heater.  We thought it was an aftershock but discovered it was a new one right near us in Nagano city (we are in that prefecture on our retreat).  We are fine – it seemed to be more in the mountains.  We have heard helicopters and seen some coverage from this area as well.

We have been unsuccessful in contacting any of our Sendai friends today – cell phone lines are either jammed or down.  Please please keep praying.  During the night when I couldn’t sleep I asked God to bring faces and names to my heart of friends there who need prayer.  I was thankful that I could intercede on their behalf.  In particular I kept seeing the face of a church friend named Kaori.  Would you pray with me for her and her family?  They had been living at the church there in Wakabayashi ku where the tsunamis hit.  I have no word.

We are also asking for prayer for the family of our close friend Reiko B., who now lives in L.A.  She asked us to get in touch with her family because she has had no word.  We keep trying to call her parents, who are in Fukushima, somewhat near the nuclear reactor plant that is being evacuated.  Her brother and family live in Sendai, as well, and there has been no word.  One of the pastors who lives near Reiko’s parents in Fukushima, Rev. Mori, is organization the evacuation efforst of the power plant.  Pray for him and his church as they bring help and hope.

The team from Fourth Pres here with us us doing fine.  I know they are shaken but their emotional support and love for our children continues to encourage and strengthen.  We continue to believe that God has all of us here for such a time as this.

The organization that we did disaster training with last weekend, CRASH Network, is up and running, and we will keep you posted as we hear more.  We are waiting for their lead in many ways so that there is concerted effort.  Their organization and Asian Access will be setting up means to give financially to the relief work.  There are a number from our group in addition to Eric also praying about going to do relief work.  We need to continue to monitor things and find out the best ways to help.

(We just sent this out as an email- wanted to post this for others as well). We wanted to send out a brief update to let you know that we are all okay in the midst of the 8.8 earthquake that has hit the east coast of Japan.  Our mission has been gathered since yesterday in the Nagano mountains, about 200 miles from the epicenter, for our annual retreat.  There are six members from our church in Washington D.C., Fourth Presbyterian, who are here with us as well to minister to our children during this time.  We have been very thankful for their presence and stability to our children during this scary time.

Even as far away as we are, the earthquake was scary and lasted a long time.  We were all put into one room for an hour or two while the retreat staff checked for gas leaks and other earthquake concerns.  We are fine here now, but our hearts are grieving from the news that has been coming in.

Eric and I first worked together from 2001-2003 in Sendai, which is the epicenter of the earthquake.  We were able to call one of our closest friends, Kazue H., and are incredibly thankful that we reached her cell phone since other phone calls have since been hard.  Their home is very close to the coast.  She and her family were able to get to her mother’s home, much farther inland, before the tsunami hit.  But they are sure that their home is gone (the name of the small village is Arahama- one of the terrible videos on the news of houses, roads, and fields being washed away is Arahama).  She has not been able to contact our other friends from our church there, L’Abri Bible Chuch.  The church and our neighborhood are less than 2 miles from the coast, so we are just too sad as we imagine the possible devastation.  We are sure, though, that God will use the faith of these believers to reach out to the hurting in the community.

God’s timing is strange.  Last Saturday Eric and I attended an all-day training to help Christians in Japan be prepared to respond in case of earthquake.  Eric was supposed to teach that day, but we felt this was really important.  We both sense that it is likely that Eric will go and be part of relief efforts.  How thankful we are for God’s timing in preparing us to be able to more practically help..  We will pray and wait to see how God may use our family, our mission, and the Church to bring much-needed relief as the days unfold.  Our prayer is that God will quickly move and unite the Church to reach out during this terrible tragedy.  The news that we are hearing is that it may be the worst earthquake in the history of Japan.

We also believe that God has our mission gathered at this time for His purposes.  Pray that God will give us wisdom and allow us to be strategic in what will be challenging days ahead.  We do pray that the God of Psalm 46 will bring hope to those who right now are buried in tragedy.

Thanks for your prayers and your concern.  We will continue to bring you news as we can from in-country.  It is hard to know how to pray, but we believe that the Spirit intercedes for us when words do not come.   Earlier tonight we prayed Psalm 46;  we have prayed for mercy, for miracles, for accounts of Japanese whose eyes are opened to the realities of His love even in the midst of this.

With love,

Eric and Sue