The week before had been a difficult one, but one I wouldn't change for the world. We all traveled north to Tohoku (the larger area covering the earthquake/tsunami stricken area that encompasses Sendai and many other devastated cities) on Monday and returned Thursday night in time to debrief, pack, and send the CA team off the next morning. We really held together well those few days in Tohoku and in all of it, I can say that I'm deeply grateful to have been able to help those who have so little hope in this time. Here's the breakdown of our week :
I slept well and we all woke up each morning for group prayer at 5:45am at the church. Prayer lasted until about 6:40 and then we headed back to the volunteer center to eat breakfast before driving another hour north to Higashimatsushima where we checked in at the local volunteer center. For two days, we shoveled mud out of the rain gutters along the roads in neighborhoods around the center. It was hot, smelly, nasty work, but I loved it. The mud had to be shoveled into bags and hauled to a dump site which left us all exhausted but feeling fulfilled. Many of the neighbors came out of their houses to either help or talk to us as we worked. Some women came out with their children and they cheered us on. Although we could not communicate very easily, I expressed my gratitude to be able to do something small to help them in the massive efforts of rebuilding their houses. (Many of them in that neighborhood had lost everything on the lower floors although most of their homes were still standing.) Two little girls (2 and 4 years old) played in the street the whole second day we worked, giving us encouragement and splashing in the puddles. It is encouraging to know that we helped real people with real families even though it was just something small like cleaning out the rain gutters.
Later, after working to clean up a small part of the widespread disaster, we took a drive through areas closer to the shore that had been completely wiped out by the water. It is difficult to imagine, but these pictures were taken 3 months after the tsunami. According to those who saw it shortly after the disaster, these places have been 50% cleaned up.
One man in particular comes to mind. His name is Mr. Sasaki and he has been living in the shelters for 3 months (over 100 days). He is trying to find a place for he and his family to live but housing is scarce these days. Through the grace of God, Pastor Shelley was able to make contact with him shortly after the disaster and supply him with some appliances he will need to outfit his future apartment. She introduced us to him outside the shelter on our way back to Tokyo and later we drove by his house... or what is left of it.
And now here we are. Finally caught up again. I'm sorry it took me so long to write this post, but to be completely honest, it was a difficult post to write. I hope you will continue praying for Tohoku and for all of Japan. For those who are concerned, we experienced an earthquake of 6.4 magnitude while up north, but what we felt of it was mild and nothing was damaged. Some of our team didn't notice it at all. I write all of this to say: quakes are happening all over Japan, but I pray every day for quakes of a different sort. The kind that shake the heart of Japan for Jesus. We will see it one day.
Pray for Tohoku. Pray for Japan.
With love,
Amanda