Getting instructions as to how to use the saw

A new saw was delivered in Rikuzentakada today to a group of very excited Japanese men. Recently, the men had been using trees damaged during the tsunami to make tables and chairs. With only the small chain saw they had and some chiseling tools, they were doing a remarkable job. However, with the new saw, they can do more elaborate things and even cut many of the high quality cedar logs into lumber for various uses.

For these men who have lost hope for the future since many lost their homes and families in the tsunami, this saw gives them a brighter outlook on what they can accomplish.

As they look to the future, may God reveal Himself to them and allow them to have Hope in Him. There is a Volunteer Clown Team coming to this area on the 22nd of April, and several of the men are voicing their anticipation of the event. There is hope that these men will respond to the message these clowns share of Christ’s love and salvation.

First Baptist Church of Fort Pierce, Florida had sent some hand knitted scarves to give to anyone who needed them in the tsunami area.  However, it was already April so we were concerned about whether anyone would need them.  Spring is just around the corner, and there is such little storage space in the temporary housing.  Japanese often accept something to be polite.

After entering the building, I casually mentioned that we had the scarves in the car.  When I asked if they knew anyone who might be in need of them, one of the timid ladies asked, “Would it be OK if we used them here in this area?”  My “yes” might have been rather loud and enthusiastic! Ron got them out of the car, and the ladies in the room immediately started going through the box.  In order to give them an out if they needed it, I hesitantly said, “I realize spring is around the corner, and you don’t have much storage room in the temporary housing.”   Without hesitation, the same timid (well, I thought she was timid) lady spoke up and said, “This valley stays cold and windy for a very long time.  Also, winter will come again!”  She was already digging through the box.

Selecting Scarves

Once scarves were chosen, the ladies settled down to getting their crafts put aside and lunches prepared.  Ron went outside to be with the men.  The men were making tables and chairs out of cedar trees damaged during the tsunami.  He and the guys struck up a conversation about the chain saws, tables and chairs that eventually led to the tsunami, and from there on to losing loved ones and coping with the aftermath.  One man had lost four of his family members.

Meantime, inside the ladies are talking about how to get other community women involved, what to cook next, and how to help others who are grieving.   The coordinator from the NPO told me several times how thankful the people are for the Care house, and she told me about the various things the community is doing to help each other.  They showed me a big calendar of their schedule on the white board and how they are looking forward to a team of volunteer clowns who are arriving the latter part of the month.   They asked, “What will they do?”  I told them that I didn’t know, but I was looking forward to it, too, and I was going to be there also.  One elderly lady said, “I have it on my calendar at home, too!”

I left later that day thankful that God had provided caring people who gave sacrificially so that funds were available to purchase the small cube shaped building to be used as the Care house.    I was humbled that God started way back in May providing such a kind lady to be one of the coordinators for the area, and He gave me the opportunity to meet her back then.  I was even more grateful that their thankfulness for the building provided just the right timing to tell them that as believers our example to follow is Christ.  Our love for the people in the area and the desire to help comes from knowing Him and wanting to model our lives after Him.  His love is so great that He gave His life on the Cross to provide forgiveness for our sins and give us life abundantly in Him.  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Between 2:36, the earthquake time, and 3:44, the tsunami time, mistakenly, several hundred people from the Unosumai community evacuated to the Disaster Prevention center where they thought they would be safe. only to realize that it was not an evacuation center and they should have fled to higher ground. The building was not tall enough to give refuge to those who ran there for shelter. The waves covered the building, and the kindergarten next door.

Several hundred men, women and children stood shoulder to shoulder in the large meeting room on the second floor and waited, oblivious to what was coming. Others took refuge in the hallway. The waves crashed over and through the building carrying people out the windows and doors. Most of those bodies that washed away have not been recovered. After the tsunami wave receded, over 100 bodies were found inside the building, officials estimate that over a hundred more were washed away. Then, there are those who survived to tell the tragic story and question why they were “unlucky” to have survived..

On March 29, 2011 we visited the shell of the facility that still stands as a reminder of the lives lost, those who fled there for refuge.

Pray for this man who comes there to pray and pay respect to the one he lost. He is probably praying to the deceased person he brought the coffee for.He does not know the living God who can answer his prayers and give him peace. Pray that he will have an opportunity to hear the gospel and come to know the God who can heal his heart and give him eternal life.

Since less than half of a percent of Japanese know Christ as Savior, and probably even less than that in the rural areas, it is probable that those who died in that building, died without Christ, most without ever having an opportunity to heari about God and His Son who died so they could have life.

Pray for the family members who are left behind, for comfort for them, for an opportunity for them to hear the Good News.

Just as they can’t forget that day, the terrible loss, the drastic change in their lives, don’t forget them either. Continue to pray for God’s Holy Spirit to pour out His comfort on them and draw them to the Father.

Many who were “lucky” or “unlucky” enough to survive the tsunami are deciding that they don’t have the courage to continue living. On March 12, 2012 the day after people across Japan remembered those affected by the triple disaster, a young man in his thirties drove his car to the top of the mountain near his village and jumped off, taking his own life, leaving a wife and two small children along with elderly parents and widowed mother-in-law.

People in the village now live with yet another shock as this is the second person in their village to commit suicide since the tsunami. Disbelief fills their faces as they try to deal with how could a survivor succumb to taking their own life.

This first site is for Baptist Press and has an article by Susie Rain. View by copying this URL in your browser. http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37360

This article is from the IMB website. View by copying this URL in your browser. http://asiastories.com/features/road-to-recovery/?story=7808

BP News article…JAPANESE ARTIST’S EXHIBIT REFLECTS GRATITUDE

OFUNATO, Japan (BP) — An abstract piece of pottery — a lopsided hurricane lamp with holes letting out the inner light — sits in the middle of the art exhibit.

The artist, Shiro Ogasawara, beams as he points to it and explains it was in the kiln when the 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit Japan on March 11, 2011. The tsunami waves came soon after, wiping out most of the Japanese town of Ofunato and washing his kiln away. He found it months later, blocks from his destroyed home and buried in mud, with just a few items intact.

Surrounding the lamp in the exhibit are pieces Shiro has made post-tsunami to offer encouragement to his community. One drawing depicts the Chinese year of the dragon and says, “Let’s hang in there this year and do our best.” Another dragon drawing is meant for the entire world, specifically the Tohoku Care ministry of the International Mission Board, saying, “We are thankful for your help and support.”

“For each phase of our recovery process, Tohoku Care has been there for us,” the retired schoolteacher and community leader says about the IMB’s Japan disaster response ministry.

“Initially, our emotions went up and down,” Shiro says, noting that Ofunato lost around 460 people in the disaster. “I was depressed but received encouragement through the prayers of volunteers. Looking back, meeting Tohoku Care was God’s leading to bring us together.”

IMB missionaries first met Shiro and his wife Ritoko when they were delivering relief supplies such as clothes, toilet paper and blankets. The couple was standing outside their temporary one-room home when the Tohoku Care van pulled over and the couple was asked if they needed anything. The Ogawasaras had a tent set up as a distribution site for their neighborhood and quickly became the contact point for IMB relief efforts in Ofunato.

“The first time Tohoku Care came, they asked if they could pray. It made my wife cry,” Shiro remembers. “Every time they came, she wanted them to pray. Because of her tears, I knew she needed emotional care as well as physical.”

Ritoko says those prayers eased the pain in her heart and helped her start moving forward. The couple invited Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams working through Tohoku Care into their home for tea as a way to say thanks. Ritoko served them in cups Shiro dug out of the rubble from their old house. The visits meant so much to the couple that Shiro drew diagrams of where the workers sat and wrote their names. The diagrams decorate their wall.

“We’ll never forget the relationships we have made. When people hear the name Tohoku Care, something warm rises in their hearts. We will never forget the help that we have received,” Ritoko says. “If we didn’t have this disaster, I would never have met Lana [Oue]. The disaster brought us together.”

IMB missionary Lana Oue pats her friend on the hand in appreciation. She and her husband Tak have spent a lot of time sitting around the table with the Ogasawaras. Their relationship has advanced in the last year from simply providing relief supplies to friendship to sharing stories from the Bible.

“Several meetings back, our friends brought us a New Testament,” Shiro says. “I opened it and read it and asked, ‘What does it mean?’”

Shiro’s art now reflects what he reads from his new Bible. He points to a drawing of cherry blossoms. He felt cherished and loved after reading 1 Corinthians 13:13 and drew the flowers. He takes the drawing off the wall and hands it to Tak and asks the Oues to explain the passage.

The men pull out their matching yellow New Testaments and start a deep discussion. Shiro marks the verse with a red pen and jots down a few notes so he can go back to it later when he has more time to think and contemplate.

Lana says the Ogasawaras have not made a decision to follow Jesus but have taken the first steps, studying the Bible and asking questions. In the hardest-hit tsunami areas, missionaries say less than 1 percent regard themselves as evangelical Christians.

The Oues pray their friends will one day share the Gospel with their neighbors and fellow tsunami survivors. In the meantime, the missionaries continue to share stories from the Bible and help the Ogasawaras meet the physical and emotional needs of their neighborhood.

A knock at the door interrupts the impromptu Bible study. A woman walks in with a bag of fresh fish for the Oues. She saw the Tohoku Care van and came to offer a gift of thanks for all of the organization’s help this year.

Ritoko watches the exchange and can’t help but smile at the friends who give her glimpses of Jesus’ love through cleaning up rubble, providing for their physical needs, lending a listening ear and other acts of Christian service.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=202080182876926573873.0004b9650bd4469ab25fd&msa=0

In the second temporary housing area, a grandmother approached the van and kept saying, “Ningyo,” (doll). In talking with her, the team the team discovered that she had lost her daughter-in-law in the tsunami, after which her son and six year old granddaughter had come to live with her. The grandmother had been wanting a doll for her granddaughter because the child had been crying for one. BB and her team told her that God provided in a marvelous way! A group of young GA’s in the States had made homemade dolls and had made a group picture to go with each doll being held by the child who had made it. As the doll for six-year old, Yua, was given to the grandmother, she hugged the doll—as if it were for her—and began crying! BB embraced her for several minutes. Words were not necessary!

While at the same temporary housing area, the team had a third encounter with Yu, a Japanese wife who had expressed a strong interest in the Bible, although not a Christian. Since her Bible had been washed away in the tsunami, BB had promised and delivered a full Bible to her because she kept saying how much she had enjoyed reading the Book of Genesis. On the day of delivery of the Bible, Yu greeted the team and broke into a full smile when she saw it. Although the conversation had always been in Japanese, she joyfully shouted in English, “Genesis” and “Hungry for God”! After sharing and praying for her needs, the team left with a promise to return.

At the third encounter with Yu she and her mother had baked a cake for the volunteers and BB and brought it to the table outside where all were enjoying playing “Bingo” with the temporary housing residents. You could sense a feeling of joy and community there! Before leaving, Yu agreed to meet for Bible Study at her small temporary house during the first week of December to learn more about Christianity and the Bible. Thank you, Lord! What a day!

Written by Brenda Burch

What’s in a cup! Well a lot can be in a cup. Tea, coffee, even HOPE for the future.

Mrs. Oga went back to the place where her home had been before the tsunami. She dug through the silt and mud and as she did she found five of her fine china cups buried deep inside. There was not one scratch on them. She carefully took them home, washed the dirt away and thought about the past, the tsunami and the future. That these cups had survived such a destructive force, intact and unscratched, caused her to look at the future and have hope that she too could survive and face the future.

She did not survive unaffected, but she had a smile on her face as she shared her story and each time she uses the cups she remembers. She read the Bible as a child and is now remembering some of the things she heard. Pray for her and her husband to be saved.

This past Sunday Tak and Lana (we)  visited Mrs. Oga and her husband, had coffee from those very cups. We once again talked about the cups as we delivered packages of winter supplies from Taiwan. We also delivered a hot carpet that was donated by a church in Ohio and she was so excited she threw herself face down on the carpet and rubbed the soft mat. After our coffee, we read the Bible and prayed together.

But, back to “what’s in a cup”. The cups also affected a volunteer from Georgia who was part of a clown team from Fayetteville. She heard Mrs. Oga’s story and was so blessed by her courage that she summed up her volunteer trip with that story. I wish you could hear her testimony!!

The volunteer wanted to buy a cup to take home as a reminder and when we took her to store she found exactly the same cups that Mrs. Oga had. That was a very unlikely thing since we went to a Walmart type store and these cups were fine Narumi china. Definitely a God thing!!! The only ones in the store were on display so she bought them and took them home to America. In the midst of destruction left by the tsunami, there are bright spots and little things that give people hope!!

These cups will remind the volunteer from GA and others that she shares with to pray for Mrs. Oga, her husband and the tens of thousands of others that were affected by the tsunami. Will you join her???

Takamatsu is the prefectural capitol and is designated a core city, which means it is carries out many functions usually performed by prefectural governments. Most of the national government’s branch offices for Shikoku Island are located there.

The city of Takamatsu has a population of 419,00 with over 600.000 in the greater metro area, making it the largest metro area on Shikoku. It has a large concentration of nationwide companies’ branch offices that play a large role in its economy.

During the feudal era in Japan, Takamatsu flourished as a castle town and the castle tower became the symbol of the city. The tower was destroyed during the late 1800’s. In  2004, the Symbol Tower, the new symbol of Takamatsu, was completed near the main train station and shopping district.

The city’s major tourist attraction is the Risturin Park. This beautiful garden took over 100 years to complete and was improved on for another 100 before being finally opened as a public park. Bridges, hills, ponds, and trees are arranged to give the visitor a vision of the entire country of Japan.

Pray for the laborers to share the gospel, for the citizens to Takamatsu to realize that the Creator God is patiently waiting for them to realize that He wants to be their Savior and give order and purpose to their lives now and life everlasting as well.

Many are praying for Tohoku, the northeast part of Japan affected by the earthquake and tsunami, but there is another great prayer need and opportunity. Volunteers with tender hearts for those in need are coming from all across Japan. They meet Christians who are also going out to help. These Christians are sharing about Jesus and their faith and relationship with Him. Ask God to work in the hearts of the volunteers who hear the message. Pray they will seek God, find him, and become messengers to take the gospel across Japan.