Leaving Japan

There are few things I don’t want to forget as I reflect upon leaving Japan.  I don’t want to forget to pray for the individuals who we saw and talked with.  I don’t want to forget the pain they are going through.  I also don’t want to forget the strong spirit by which the Japanese people are fighting and rebuilding.  I don’t want to forget the radiant faces of children & the smiles as they received the beanie babies, the baseball caps, and the T-shirts. Finally, I do not want to forget my brothers & sisters that I met who are working endlessly to be the light and to be the hands and feet of Jesus at this time. 

The pastors and missionaries are tired, but they are stepping up to the plate.  I think of Noriko, Pastor Ito’s 27 year old daughter who quit a good paying job in the big city of Tokyo, to come and help her dad in his ministry.  I think of the believers at the church in Iwaki that is being used to serve meals at the local evacuation center & the believers who while grateful to serve, also lamented the inability to use their regular worship center, while it serves as a warehouse for distribution.  I think of churches in Tokyo who are taking groups of 10-15 people, all the way on 5-7 hour trips north to serve a meal and assist the smaller churches there who cannot do it alone.  I met a college student who came form southern Japan with his Bible study group to spend all month helping out.  I met pastors and missionaries who had gathered from across Japan and others who returned from overseas, as we had, for temporary assistance.

 

I leave Japan with hope, knowing that the church is being energized, even though it is tired. I leave with hope that the average Japanese is seeing that Christians care and love them, even though they have lost so much. I saw gratitude and humility, a fresh openness and appreciation for outside help. I leave with the hope that the unified effort that has brought Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Brethren, and Evangelical Free churches and missionaries together will continue & will focus on not only the physical, but the spiritual needs of the Japanese people.  I leave with hope that this Easter, a resurrection is on the horizon, and that on my next visit to Japan, there will be many whose stories will include not only a physical rebuilding, but a spiritual resurrection as well.