Project Japan Report

May 15th at 5:00 pm Dave and I will speak at First Baptist at 415 Barr Rd.,in a joint service with Lexington Presbyterian Church, as we give a report on the trip to Japan.  Dave is putting together some pictures and we will share a report of what God did during this trip, as well as take questions and try to answer those, in regard to the current and future state of things in Japan.  Hope you can join us!

My Pictures

Here are almost 300 pictures that I took on my trip.  Check them out.  I will also be sharing highlights of my trip, sprinkled with some pictures, during my message on Sunday morning at FBC.  My sermon title is "Lessons Learned in the Light of Disaster." I will share some Scripture that sheds light on the unanaswered questions of life such as disaster, as well as give some applications from this trip and what I feel God showed us through it all. It will also be applicable, I believe, to anyone going through some challenges or difficult situatons in their life right now. Dave & I will be sharing a more complete power point presentation focused on the specifics of our trip and Q & A time soon as well, probably at each of the 3 churches that sent us.  Will let you know when that is lined up.

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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. 

Easter in Japan!

The timing of  our trip was amazing--the week before Easter Sunday!  We gave out plastic Easter eggs with chocolates in them.  Many did not know what Easter is, but we told them & encouraged them that there is a Savior who came to give new life and that He will help them rise again and bring life out of so much loss.  The one church where we spent the night in Ishinomaki had also been flooded and lost one of their own, but is now distributing supplies to hundreds at a time.  They have met in homes while getting their building cleaned up, but will begin services again on Easter Sunday.  Pastor Ito is ecstatic as he tells about the uncanny timing of his little church having a resurrection of their body, even as we celebrate the resurrection of the Body of Jesus!  His church is small, with only 18 believers, but through the support of multiple Christians and donations from the US, the community flocks to receive supplies and he states that everyone now knows where they are.  Truly, this could be the beginning of new spiritual life in Ishinomaki, Japan. 

Stories of Hope

Here are a few stories that stood out for me.  These are stories that contain sadness, but also are stories of hope.  The stories tell me this is not just the 6:00 news.  These are people with names.  The story of people like Grandma Sumiko who escaped to the mountain behind her house and huddled with 60 other neighbors, building a fire in the snow and passing the night, before the water would receded enough to crawl back down the hill and step across the empty foundations where their houses stood, on the way for help. It is also the story of how her daughter with who she now lives, has chosen to begin a life of faith in Christ & how in the town where 5,000 of the 10,000 residents died or are missing, a new Bible study will begin in their home, the only such in a town that has never had a church.  When Sumiko’s husband died last year, the town experienced the first ever Christian funeral & seeds were planted even then with the 300 in attendance that day.  We stood on the ruins of where Sumiko's house used to be and prayed for God to bring new life out of the rubble and that through her family, others would come to know Christ. 

This is also the story of survival in the likes of Mr. Kimura, the 81 year old man who returned to the house that had been flooded the day after the tsunami hit and lived for 5 weeks on his own before some returning neighbors discovered he had not evacuated, like the others. He opened canned food that survived the flooding and then he walked past multiple stores that were unable to open, as far as he needed to until he could get to a store.  He slept on water-logged bedding, and lived without heat, electrical power or gas.  Mr. Kimura used to be a sailor & reports losing 80 of his former workers and friends. Thanks to a neighbor letting the church around the corner know, we could clear out the water and odor filled bedding and tatami mats, clean up his small 2 bedroom house and provide him with new bedding. Thanks to our team, Mr Kimura knows today that there are Christians who care about him.  When cleaning out his house, we asked what he wanted to do with his idol and he said "You can throw that out!"  He also kept saying, "Christianity is good. Christianity is good!"

This is the story of Japanese who have been taught not to cry who are now experiencing emotions and tears that seem out of character. It is also the story of Japanese who have been told that Christianity is not for Japanese, but who are flocking to line up at churches and church run distribution centers to receive what they need & are learning that Christians from both Japan and around the world care about what they are going through.  There is great sadness in Japan, but for God's people, there is also hope!

Reflections on the devastation

I saw the results of devastation like I have never seen firsthand before.  At times it appeared and felt like we were tourists, getting out our cameras and staring at sights that were surreal and bizarre.  Sights like a car on top of a 5 story building, a train in a graveyard, piles of vehicles upside down in the yards where people still live upstairs & spend their time trying to get debris out of their living rooms and bedrooms into piles on the street.  Sights of streets lined up higher than I can reach of old tatami mats, ruined refrigerators, useless TV sets, and water-logged furniture arranged according to categories, as only the Japanese would arrange their trash. Sights of empty train stations and traffic lights that don’t work, and sights of formerly proud Japanese lining up in droves to receive handouts to rebuild out of the rubble.

Then the reality sometimes hits that some of these cars had people in them & that each person in these lines have a story.  Many of these buildings that we are gawking at were the final moments and graveyards of numerous human lives—friends and family members of those we are handing supplies to and talking with while they wait their turn so patiently.  The shoes on the beaches that were washed up, came off of people that did not make it & the dead cat on the beach belonged to someone who probably washed ashore elsewhere.  The upside down boats that we find blocks from the ports may have had passengers and may have left behind widows and orphans. The reality is that life will never be the same in Ishinomaki, Onagawa, Shichinohama, Minamisenriku, Kessennuma, Sendai, Iwaki, or much of the rest of Japan  The devastation that we temporarily observed & temporarily tried to help, that we have now in some ways left behind, is a new and harsh reality for millions of Japanese.  It is a reality that cannot be conveyed by mere words or pictures, but is the story of individuals and families left behind.

Safely Home!

Got in a few hours ago.  It was neat to have some friends from church and CR there with signs and a warm welcome!  Spent the evening catching up with family and sharing my pictures with them.  I will get some more posts up tomorrow & tell you some specifics about all that has taken place.  Having trouble keeping my eyes open right now!  Good night!