Sunday afternoon here in Japan. We had about an inch of snow last night. I went out this morning to “break in” my new snow shovel that I purchased for $15.00 on Thursday. It is a plastic “push model” and would cost perhaps $4-5 there in the States. I started pushing the snow and could tell right away that the snow was very very wet. As I went to pick up the snow I could also tell that my shovel was not made for heavy lifting so I just pushed the snow into the open gutter alongside our building. Now I wonder how long my shovel will last knowing not everyone will “pamper” it in the manner I did!
A couple weeks ago I went to lunch with our neighbor Abdullah who had just returned from Kuwait. We were sitting in the restaurant when the place began to shake. It was not a violent shake but just enough motion that it got everyone in the restaurant to stop doing what they were doing including interrupting their conversations. It lasted for maybe 20 seconds and as I found out later it was of a 5.4 magnitude. I never really got frightened but it was interesting to watch the responses of the individuals in the restaurant. These are people who were here when the 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit and most of them do expect another large earthquake. There was definitely a sense of tension as the building continued to shake during those 20 seconds. The new base manager for our base in Shichigahama happened to be here having lunch in the Hope Center with the rest of the staff. Nick said the first thing he did was look for me to find out what to do. Then the earthquake ended and as they listened to the radio and found out that there was no tsunami threat, everyone relaxed and began to eat again. This event did serve as a reminder to be prepared. So this past week I spent time creating an “evacuation area” here in the warehouse where we will store food, water, flashlights and a first aid kit that will be easily accessed and loaded should we have to evacuate in a hurry.
We had a couple of our staff leave this week as their contracts ended. When Michael left on Tuesday he wanted to ship his bags to the airport so he would not have to take them on the train with him. He asked if he could take a truck to do so and then just leave it at the train station for me to retrieve later in the day. I told him it was fine and to just leave the keys in the truck and I would come pick it up. So, about 10:30 Michael called to say he was there at the very small Kesennuma train station. I took Nick and headed for the station. I wanted to say goodbye one last time to Michael if I could. When we got to the station which is approximately 5 minutes from the office, I pulled up next to the truck, asked Nick if he knew the way back to the office to which he replied he did and told him I was going inside to say goodbye and that I would see him back here at the Hope Center. I went inside and was talking with Michael when Nick came in and said the truck would not start. He said he had put it in neutral and it still would not start. I asked him if he had pushed the clutch in and look on his face told me his answer. He said he had put it in neutral! I told him that you have to push the clutch in to start the truck. So, at that point Michael was getting ready to leave so we hugged and then Nick and I walked outside toward our cars. As we looked in the direction of the vehicles we saw a vehicle rolling backward in the parking lot. Nick immediately broke into a sprint about the same time I realized it was a van whose front end was identical to our truck. It was several more steps before Nick realized someone was backing out of the parking spot next to his. At that point I had my hands on my knees bent over in full laughter. I was getting a lot of attention from the Japanese people around me who had no idea why I was laughing. Of course, I had to share this story with the staff that evening. Fortunately Nick is a very nice guy and got a good laugh out of it as well.
We had a team from KOZA Baptist Church in Okinawa visit us this week. As I have stated previously, it is always a treat when they come. They are so supportive of our work here. Not only do they continue to send teams to do mud out and construction work on a monthly basis but they also send us supplies that are difficult to access in this part of Japan such as peanut butter. Speaking of which, I thought there was going to be a revolt the other day. One of the staff pointed out to me that we were on our last jar of peanut butter!!! Fortunately we had a couple of our staff going to Tokyo for the weekend. So during devotion time on Friday I announced that we narrowly averted a crisis. We would have a new supply of peanut butter coming on Monday when they return from Tokyo. It got a pretty good laugh from the staff. I only hope the staff understood the sarcasm that went along with that statement.
Well, that’s it for today! Thank you for all your prayers and support!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Sunday evening here in Japan. Winter has definitely arrived here in this part of Japan. Daytime temperatures range from 32-40 degrees most days with nighttime temperatures being in the 20-30 range. For some reason I expected it to be a little warmer here this time of year. I have heard that the next couple months will be even colder most of the time. I am so very thankful that I do not have to make the long walk down the boardwalk from my tent to the shower as I did in Sumita camp! I keep thinking of how fortunate we are to have gotten moved before winter truly set in there in Sumita! I have to say that during this cold weather when the winds are blowing as they have been for a few days; it does remind me of a blustery South Dakota winter. Of course from what I hear, your winter there in South Dakota has been anything but a “South Dakota” winter this year!
We continue to do remodeling work on houses. Fortunately most of the homes are enclosed or easily enclosable so the construction staff is able to stay somewhat warm with the assistance of small kerosene heaters. The heaters don’t warm the entire structure but at least the workers are able to warm their hands before the heater from time to time to ward off cold fingers. Most of the construction staff and volunteers have come prepared for this weather so they continue to work even on the coldest days.
We are beginning to receive volunteers again with five arriving from the United States this past week as well as a young lady from Switzerland. I do enjoy having international staff around. It is fun to hear of their lives in their home countries as well as their spiritual journeys. We have not had as many volunteers the past couple months and it appears that January will be the same. I am uncertain whether it is due to the tsunami being farther removed from one’s thoughts as time passes or people just do not volunteer as much during winter months. We continue to reach out to friends and family to encourage everyone to come and assist in the rebuilding efforts here.
It is encouraging to see new businesses open here in this area. In the past month a new grocery store and a new book store have opened and quite a few businesses near the waterfront have reopened in temporary structures. I continue to urge the staff to buy locally if possible even if it costs a little more as these people have lost so much; they need all the help they can get. It also gives us a good chance to meet with the local people and show our support for this area as well.
It’s really an interesting concept they have for reopening those businesses there in the waterfront area. They have erected temporary structures right amongst the destroyed buildings. This is an area that sank during the earthquake so the roads have been elevated to avoid being flooded. I read that in some of this area, the ground had dropped as much as seven feet! As I was driving back here yesterday afternoon from Ofunato I noticed that there are now huge piles of dirt heaped in the areas that sank. They were out with track hoes leveling the dirt in the fields as I drove by the area. Word is that they will try to infill some of these areas with as much as ten feet of dirt. I am not certain where the dirt is coming from although I saw them loading trucks nearby where they are shredding the wood that was collected during clean up operations. I can’t imagine that the shredded wood could be used for fill but I don’t know where else they could be hauling it. I will have to make another investigative trek to watch them this week to find out exactly what they are doing.
One of the most encouraging things that is happening around here has been the number of local visitors that have come by The Hope Center. Japanese people are ‘gift givers’ for almost any occasion including when they just visit someone. Every store you enter has a gift section. Almost every day someone shows up here with a gift in their hands. Some of the people are neighbors. Some are people we are working for or have done work for and some are people who had been in this building before the tsunami and just want to see what it looks like now. We invite everyone in and offer them coffee or tea and usually end up chatting with them for a bit. It is just amazing to see how we have been accepted here in this area. God is definitely blessing us and our work here!
Well, it is time to get this sent. I will write again when I have the opportunity and something worthy to share! If there is anything in particular you are wondering regarding our work or Japan in general, just send me an email and I will try to answer best I can!
We continue to do remodeling work on houses. Fortunately most of the homes are enclosed or easily enclosable so the construction staff is able to stay somewhat warm with the assistance of small kerosene heaters. The heaters don’t warm the entire structure but at least the workers are able to warm their hands before the heater from time to time to ward off cold fingers. Most of the construction staff and volunteers have come prepared for this weather so they continue to work even on the coldest days.
We are beginning to receive volunteers again with five arriving from the United States this past week as well as a young lady from Switzerland. I do enjoy having international staff around. It is fun to hear of their lives in their home countries as well as their spiritual journeys. We have not had as many volunteers the past couple months and it appears that January will be the same. I am uncertain whether it is due to the tsunami being farther removed from one’s thoughts as time passes or people just do not volunteer as much during winter months. We continue to reach out to friends and family to encourage everyone to come and assist in the rebuilding efforts here.
It is encouraging to see new businesses open here in this area. In the past month a new grocery store and a new book store have opened and quite a few businesses near the waterfront have reopened in temporary structures. I continue to urge the staff to buy locally if possible even if it costs a little more as these people have lost so much; they need all the help they can get. It also gives us a good chance to meet with the local people and show our support for this area as well.
It’s really an interesting concept they have for reopening those businesses there in the waterfront area. They have erected temporary structures right amongst the destroyed buildings. This is an area that sank during the earthquake so the roads have been elevated to avoid being flooded. I read that in some of this area, the ground had dropped as much as seven feet! As I was driving back here yesterday afternoon from Ofunato I noticed that there are now huge piles of dirt heaped in the areas that sank. They were out with track hoes leveling the dirt in the fields as I drove by the area. Word is that they will try to infill some of these areas with as much as ten feet of dirt. I am not certain where the dirt is coming from although I saw them loading trucks nearby where they are shredding the wood that was collected during clean up operations. I can’t imagine that the shredded wood could be used for fill but I don’t know where else they could be hauling it. I will have to make another investigative trek to watch them this week to find out exactly what they are doing.
One of the most encouraging things that is happening around here has been the number of local visitors that have come by The Hope Center. Japanese people are ‘gift givers’ for almost any occasion including when they just visit someone. Every store you enter has a gift section. Almost every day someone shows up here with a gift in their hands. Some of the people are neighbors. Some are people we are working for or have done work for and some are people who had been in this building before the tsunami and just want to see what it looks like now. We invite everyone in and offer them coffee or tea and usually end up chatting with them for a bit. It is just amazing to see how we have been accepted here in this area. God is definitely blessing us and our work here!
Well, it is time to get this sent. I will write again when I have the opportunity and something worthy to share! If there is anything in particular you are wondering regarding our work or Japan in general, just send me an email and I will try to answer best I can!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
It is Saturday evening here in Sumita. The last half of the German team leaves tonight. The first eight left last evening. The team could not get tickets all on one flight out of Sendai so they had to split into two groups. It allowed for the “younger” members to stay behind for a day. They decided to head into the mountains for a day of hiking and seeing a different part of Japan than they had been subjected to all week…
Unfortunately I was fighting a head cold for most of the week I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with the group. I did get a chance to talk with them briefly regarding their home town of Offdilln which I understand to be an hour or so north of Frankfurt. They showed me its location on the internet and shared with me how they have a twenty year cycle for cutting trees around the community advancing in a counterclockwise direction each year to a new spot. They use the wood for heating mostly. If nothing else, they are organized!!!
Today we had a home dedication for Onodera San. She lives with her son and his wife. She told Jeff through an interpreter early on when Jeff came to work on the house last month that she was the one in charge! So, today I got to meet the 88 year old “fireball”. Pastor Minigishi led the service of a couple songs, a few brief words and a scripture reading of Psalm 127. It all went well. Pastor Yoshida, Jerry and Lynda’s friend, who is here working as a volunteer made green tea when the service had concluded. He asked me if I desired some but I turned it down. I have heard all the therapeutic qualities of green tea but it still tastes to me like the grass I chewed on as kid! We had MORE tea and snacks after the green tea was gone.
After the dedication I went to the warehouse to pick up some boxes to bring to the base for moving. From there I headed out to Ofunato for a burger and fries. I found this small place named Burger Hearts in the mall there last month with Ayamai’s assistance. I have been there twice now so they know it will be a “point to the menu” order. It is just nice to have a hamburger and fries every month or so even if does cost $10.00! After finishing with my food I headed out along the coast east of Ofunato to an area I had never gone before. As with most coastal areas, almost everything along the water has been destroyed. Yesterday’s drive also took me through some mountainous regions so I was able to see some leaves changing colors as well. All in all it was a good day to just “get away”.
Sunday morning: The German contingent is now down to three as the last eight of group one left at 4:00am this morning for Sendai airport to return home to Offdilln! Everyone is heading off to church leaving me here in the camp by myself. I just want to relax today and possibly prevent me from sharing my cold with others. I just finished listening online to the Avon football game. It was great to be able to sit here and follow along. The connection was great and I didn’t lose the signal one time. Go Pirates! I may even have enough bandwidth with everyone gone to be able to watch a college game online. Keep those fingers crossed!!!
Please pray that our transition to Kesennuma to our new quarters to go well. We will be trying to tie up all the loose ends over the next couple weeks and hopefully have an operational base set up there by November 18. I have been told that we need to be fully functional there by the following Monday. There is lots of coordination with city services to handle yet so hopefully that all goes well. It is hard to think that in a couple weeks we may no longer be tent dwellers! It certainly won’t be a perfect set up there but it will be much improved. I do look forward to the day in the near future when we will take these tents down and put them in crates.
Well, that is it for this week. That being said, I may not be sending along an article for next week or several weeks. I will just “play it by ear” and see how things are going.
Thanks for all your support and prayers. I truly could not do this job without them! I want to wish you all a truly blessed Thanksgiving. Please take some time to give thanks for all the blessings we have been given!
Unfortunately I was fighting a head cold for most of the week I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with the group. I did get a chance to talk with them briefly regarding their home town of Offdilln which I understand to be an hour or so north of Frankfurt. They showed me its location on the internet and shared with me how they have a twenty year cycle for cutting trees around the community advancing in a counterclockwise direction each year to a new spot. They use the wood for heating mostly. If nothing else, they are organized!!!
Today we had a home dedication for Onodera San. She lives with her son and his wife. She told Jeff through an interpreter early on when Jeff came to work on the house last month that she was the one in charge! So, today I got to meet the 88 year old “fireball”. Pastor Minigishi led the service of a couple songs, a few brief words and a scripture reading of Psalm 127. It all went well. Pastor Yoshida, Jerry and Lynda’s friend, who is here working as a volunteer made green tea when the service had concluded. He asked me if I desired some but I turned it down. I have heard all the therapeutic qualities of green tea but it still tastes to me like the grass I chewed on as kid! We had MORE tea and snacks after the green tea was gone.
After the dedication I went to the warehouse to pick up some boxes to bring to the base for moving. From there I headed out to Ofunato for a burger and fries. I found this small place named Burger Hearts in the mall there last month with Ayamai’s assistance. I have been there twice now so they know it will be a “point to the menu” order. It is just nice to have a hamburger and fries every month or so even if does cost $10.00! After finishing with my food I headed out along the coast east of Ofunato to an area I had never gone before. As with most coastal areas, almost everything along the water has been destroyed. Yesterday’s drive also took me through some mountainous regions so I was able to see some leaves changing colors as well. All in all it was a good day to just “get away”.
Sunday morning: The German contingent is now down to three as the last eight of group one left at 4:00am this morning for Sendai airport to return home to Offdilln! Everyone is heading off to church leaving me here in the camp by myself. I just want to relax today and possibly prevent me from sharing my cold with others. I just finished listening online to the Avon football game. It was great to be able to sit here and follow along. The connection was great and I didn’t lose the signal one time. Go Pirates! I may even have enough bandwidth with everyone gone to be able to watch a college game online. Keep those fingers crossed!!!
Please pray that our transition to Kesennuma to our new quarters to go well. We will be trying to tie up all the loose ends over the next couple weeks and hopefully have an operational base set up there by November 18. I have been told that we need to be fully functional there by the following Monday. There is lots of coordination with city services to handle yet so hopefully that all goes well. It is hard to think that in a couple weeks we may no longer be tent dwellers! It certainly won’t be a perfect set up there but it will be much improved. I do look forward to the day in the near future when we will take these tents down and put them in crates.
Well, that is it for this week. That being said, I may not be sending along an article for next week or several weeks. I will just “play it by ear” and see how things are going.
Thanks for all your support and prayers. I truly could not do this job without them! I want to wish you all a truly blessed Thanksgiving. Please take some time to give thanks for all the blessings we have been given!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
this week's review
Sunday evening here in Sumita. It has been a week of varied activities here in Japan. Monday was “Sports and Recreation Day”. It is a national holiday in Japan. We got together as a staff and took the twenty minute ferry ride from Kesennuma to Oshima Island. The ferry ride gave us a view of the Kesennuma devastation from a different direction; the direction that the tsunami came into the community. As amazing as it is to be in the city seeing the damage, it is even more so from the water. To look at remnants of the buildings knowing the incredible height and force that the waves must have possessed to cause such damage as they slammed into the city is difficult to believe even though the evidence is right there in front of your eyes.
Oshima Island sustained significant coastal damage as well. The island is very beautiful with what used to be nice beach areas, many secluded cove areas and a tram that extended from the port area to the top of the highest point on the island. One now sees deserted beaches where the waves crashed inland far beyond the sand of the beach washing out roads and power poles as well as coves still filled with debris and the tram’s support poles leaning or broken off. All along the coast on both sides of the island you see boat docks and ramps washed out or undermined by the rushing water. Floodwalls have been destroyed in areas as well. The island was without electrical power for a month after the tsunami. Today they are trying to rebuild in some areas, cleaning up the beaches and working to get the roads reconstructed.
Yesterday several of us went with David to do a distribution of winter items to the community of Tadaide which is a small fishing village on a peninsular region nearby that was hit from two directions by the tsunami. We had tea with a local couple after the distribution of blankets, food, hot water bottles and some other smaller items. The couple was at their house with his 92 year old mother at the time the tsunami hit. He had just recently retired from working with the city; otherwise he would have been at the city office where several persons perished during the tsunami. Their house as near as I can estimate must reside 60’ above the current water level in the bay. I saw the water mark left on the wall in their garage about 8’ above the floor. The couple told of how just prior to the tsunami wave coming into the harbor, the water level dropped so low they saw rocks they had never seen before on the floor of the bay. After the tsunami, all the roads into the village had been washed out. There was no way to get any supplies to the village or to take anyone out to a hospital. It was a month before they got electricity restored to the community.
Most of the debris has now been cleared from the area. The flood retaining wall is now gone and the harbor area is extended into the village where housing used to be. The village has no protection should another tsunami hit the area. The village lost its entire fleet of fishing boats. They are hopeful as a community to purchase a fishing boat and begin fishing again some time next year.
This morning I was sitting outside my tent reading when I noticed the local group gathering for some ground golf. We had some heavier rain on Friday so there was a pond about 6’ in diameter right behind one of the “holes” they had set. Several men were standing there looking at the water when I said to Cam, “I wish we had a sump pump”. He reminded me that we do have wet/dry vacs. I said to him, “let’s do it”! So he grabbed one vac while I rolled out the extension cord and ran it to my tent. He began to suck out the water as all the people gathered around to watch. It was going rather slowly so I went and got another vac and we had the pond drained in about 15 minutes. Actually there was a little water left, but I think they wanted to get the game going so they told us to stop. We put the vacuums away and then one of the ladies motioned for us to come over. I was going to run this morning so I waved her off but I told Cam to go over and then told Cheri who was here for the weekend to go play as well. They had a great time playing with the locals while I had a nice run. It is always fun to help out where and when we can in unexpected ways. God is so good to us here!
Oshima Island sustained significant coastal damage as well. The island is very beautiful with what used to be nice beach areas, many secluded cove areas and a tram that extended from the port area to the top of the highest point on the island. One now sees deserted beaches where the waves crashed inland far beyond the sand of the beach washing out roads and power poles as well as coves still filled with debris and the tram’s support poles leaning or broken off. All along the coast on both sides of the island you see boat docks and ramps washed out or undermined by the rushing water. Floodwalls have been destroyed in areas as well. The island was without electrical power for a month after the tsunami. Today they are trying to rebuild in some areas, cleaning up the beaches and working to get the roads reconstructed.
Yesterday several of us went with David to do a distribution of winter items to the community of Tadaide which is a small fishing village on a peninsular region nearby that was hit from two directions by the tsunami. We had tea with a local couple after the distribution of blankets, food, hot water bottles and some other smaller items. The couple was at their house with his 92 year old mother at the time the tsunami hit. He had just recently retired from working with the city; otherwise he would have been at the city office where several persons perished during the tsunami. Their house as near as I can estimate must reside 60’ above the current water level in the bay. I saw the water mark left on the wall in their garage about 8’ above the floor. The couple told of how just prior to the tsunami wave coming into the harbor, the water level dropped so low they saw rocks they had never seen before on the floor of the bay. After the tsunami, all the roads into the village had been washed out. There was no way to get any supplies to the village or to take anyone out to a hospital. It was a month before they got electricity restored to the community.
Most of the debris has now been cleared from the area. The flood retaining wall is now gone and the harbor area is extended into the village where housing used to be. The village has no protection should another tsunami hit the area. The village lost its entire fleet of fishing boats. They are hopeful as a community to purchase a fishing boat and begin fishing again some time next year.
This morning I was sitting outside my tent reading when I noticed the local group gathering for some ground golf. We had some heavier rain on Friday so there was a pond about 6’ in diameter right behind one of the “holes” they had set. Several men were standing there looking at the water when I said to Cam, “I wish we had a sump pump”. He reminded me that we do have wet/dry vacs. I said to him, “let’s do it”! So he grabbed one vac while I rolled out the extension cord and ran it to my tent. He began to suck out the water as all the people gathered around to watch. It was going rather slowly so I went and got another vac and we had the pond drained in about 15 minutes. Actually there was a little water left, but I think they wanted to get the game going so they told us to stop. We put the vacuums away and then one of the ladies motioned for us to come over. I was going to run this morning so I waved her off but I told Cam to go over and then told Cheri who was here for the weekend to go play as well. They had a great time playing with the locals while I had a nice run. It is always fun to help out where and when we can in unexpected ways. God is so good to us here!
Saturday, October 8, 2011
harvest
Saturday evening here in Sumita. Another week is behind us. Rice harvesting is in full swing. There appear to be two ways to harvest rice in this area of Japan. Some people use rice combines which are about the same size as a very small car. They move along on tracs through the soft mud fields. The combines have a head on the front of the machine that resembles a mini-silage cutter with a platform for rice bags on the side where the rice grain is routed after being stripped from the stalk. When the bags fill the farmer stops and seals the bags, replaces the full with empty bags and continues on. It has been fun to watch as I have never seen rice harvesting before. The other method involves a small scythe and bamboo poles. Lots and lots of manual labor involved in this method! The farmers cut off the rice bundle at the base with a small hand scythe tying the bundle at the base and then hanging the bundle upside down on bamboo rails they have stretched between bamboo poles that they have set in the field. So far I have not seen how they will remove the rice from the stalk using the later method but am anxious to see how that is done as well.
There is something about autumn and the cooler temperatures that make me desire to run. I get the urge to run this time of year almost every year. I don’t know if there is still a connection in my brain to the days long ago of playing football in high school or if I just like getting out and running when it is cool. Anyway, the other day I was running here in Sumita looking at the rice harvesting going on. I got to thinking about harvesting and my thoughts drifted back to when I was growing up on the farm.
I remembered dad picking corn with a 77 or 88 Oliver tractor with a two row picker. We did some combining of corn but we always picked some too all throughout my high school years. I was always the “hauler and “unloader” sometimes with mom’s help. I always tried to make it back to the field before dad needed another empty wagon. To me it was like a competition to make it back before he had the next wagon picked full. There was always a chance the corn picker had broken down again as well. It is hard to believe but some of those corn pickers purchased from Abe Voigt were not always of the “highest quality”. I guess Abe didn’t always see what was wrong with them before he sold them to dad! When I graduated from high school we had several cannibalized pickers sitting to the west of the yard. I think it got to the point where we hardly ever had to go buy parts as we usually could take a “spare” part off one of the pickers parked in the trees. Let’s just say there was plenty of scrap iron on the farm sale years later. I am still thankful to my brother Dave for all his hard work previous to the farm sale.
Those days when I was growing up were much simpler times for sure! We didn’t have cell phones, ipods, computers, cd or dvd players. Schools actually were adding teachers and programs and weren’t cutting them as is the case now. One could actually go through an airport without going through intense screening and your friends and family could actually accompany you to or meet you at your gate when you departed or arrived.
The Vietnam War had just ended but still we felt no threat to our safety there in America. I also remember hearing somewhere along my life’s timeline how computers would change the world and make businesses more profitable. So, my question is; what happened? Where did things go wrong? Wasn’t the computer supposed to save us time? We live in a world where the pace of life is increased to a level where we feel like we “never catch up”. People are in deeper debt than they ever have been. Businesses are failing at record numbers. Banks are closing at a rate only surpassed by the Great Depression of the 30’s! Are we truly living in a better world today?
I think there are a lot of Japanese people finding out right now that a simpler way of life is not all bad. For the first time in their lives they have the opportunity to see that all the material things they have collected over the years can quickly disappear leaving them with nothing but the clothes on their backs and “starting over”. We are beginning to see more and more Japanese people coming to Jesus Christ through our efforts here. They see the joy in us doing the work we do and want to share in that joy. We are fortunate to work with an organization that allows us to share the word of Jesus Christ with the people here in this country. Many of these people have a hope that they have never known; a hope for eternal life. And for the first time since March 11 they now have peace and joy in living once more. There are great things happening here. Beauty is arising out of the pain of the past here in Japan!
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. Please pray that more volunteers come to assist with the work here in Japan. The harvest is plenty but the workers are few!!
There is something about autumn and the cooler temperatures that make me desire to run. I get the urge to run this time of year almost every year. I don’t know if there is still a connection in my brain to the days long ago of playing football in high school or if I just like getting out and running when it is cool. Anyway, the other day I was running here in Sumita looking at the rice harvesting going on. I got to thinking about harvesting and my thoughts drifted back to when I was growing up on the farm.
I remembered dad picking corn with a 77 or 88 Oliver tractor with a two row picker. We did some combining of corn but we always picked some too all throughout my high school years. I was always the “hauler and “unloader” sometimes with mom’s help. I always tried to make it back to the field before dad needed another empty wagon. To me it was like a competition to make it back before he had the next wagon picked full. There was always a chance the corn picker had broken down again as well. It is hard to believe but some of those corn pickers purchased from Abe Voigt were not always of the “highest quality”. I guess Abe didn’t always see what was wrong with them before he sold them to dad! When I graduated from high school we had several cannibalized pickers sitting to the west of the yard. I think it got to the point where we hardly ever had to go buy parts as we usually could take a “spare” part off one of the pickers parked in the trees. Let’s just say there was plenty of scrap iron on the farm sale years later. I am still thankful to my brother Dave for all his hard work previous to the farm sale.
Those days when I was growing up were much simpler times for sure! We didn’t have cell phones, ipods, computers, cd or dvd players. Schools actually were adding teachers and programs and weren’t cutting them as is the case now. One could actually go through an airport without going through intense screening and your friends and family could actually accompany you to or meet you at your gate when you departed or arrived.
The Vietnam War had just ended but still we felt no threat to our safety there in America. I also remember hearing somewhere along my life’s timeline how computers would change the world and make businesses more profitable. So, my question is; what happened? Where did things go wrong? Wasn’t the computer supposed to save us time? We live in a world where the pace of life is increased to a level where we feel like we “never catch up”. People are in deeper debt than they ever have been. Businesses are failing at record numbers. Banks are closing at a rate only surpassed by the Great Depression of the 30’s! Are we truly living in a better world today?
I think there are a lot of Japanese people finding out right now that a simpler way of life is not all bad. For the first time in their lives they have the opportunity to see that all the material things they have collected over the years can quickly disappear leaving them with nothing but the clothes on their backs and “starting over”. We are beginning to see more and more Japanese people coming to Jesus Christ through our efforts here. They see the joy in us doing the work we do and want to share in that joy. We are fortunate to work with an organization that allows us to share the word of Jesus Christ with the people here in this country. Many of these people have a hope that they have never known; a hope for eternal life. And for the first time since March 11 they now have peace and joy in living once more. There are great things happening here. Beauty is arising out of the pain of the past here in Japan!
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. Please pray that more volunteers come to assist with the work here in Japan. The harvest is plenty but the workers are few!!
Friday, September 30, 2011
driving issues
Sunday evening here in Sumita. It seems like it was only a couple weeks ago that I was writing to you about the typhoon. Oh, that’s right, it WAS only a couple weeks ago. Anyway, this week guess what came rolling through Japan? Another typhoon!!! This one ended up dumping a lot of rain on us during a two day period on Wednesday and Thursday. We watched the river behind the camp as it rose once again to new heights. I hope we don’t have another typhoon come through and break the “river records” again as we only have a couple more feet before the camp would become part of the river! This time the typhoon’s effect on us consisted of us walking across the floor of the tents feeling the water and mud squishing underneath the fabric flooring. I am thankful that was the extent of our “problems”.
It finally stopped raining on Thursday about midnight. We woke to beautiful blue skies on Friday morning with the mountains covered in incredible shades of green accented by white puffy clouds as they sifted through the valleys. I know I have mentioned it several times but this is an incredibly beautiful place.
This week provided some unusual challenges. It seems that this was the week that everyone forgot how to drive. We had a team of volunteers here from Osaka. As they were pulling out of the parking area on Wednesday they drove up on top of a wooden and concrete bench near the gateball field. I am not really sure how they managed to do it but it took several strong young men to lift the van off the bench so they could drive away.
On Thursday evening our Sumita volunteer, Mr. Araki, came for a visit. He was leaving just as I returned to camp from taking Mimi to the train station. I was talking with the volunteers in the dining tent when we heard a loud noise from outside. We went out to see his car parked sideways in the parking lot and a couple of the portapotties pushed back about three feet. He stated that as he was turning around in the parking lot he backed up into what he thought was a rut so he pushed on the accelerator. What he actually had backed into was the rope that anchors down the portapotties! So when he “gunned it”, he pulled the rope’s stake out of the ground which then caused him to sideswipe the portajohns with the side of his car. We got them pushed back into place on Friday morning and reanchored them with only a little cosmetic damage to one of the johns. His car actually was damaged worse as the john must have hit right at the front seam of the right hand driver’s door. He now has a new “wrinkle” right at the seam on the door.
Friday night Ayami was driving the MPV back to camp and decided to go over a very narrow bridge here in town. Unfortunately someone decided to approach the bridge at the same time and she drove into the last pillar on the cement bridge putting a scrape in the paint on the corner of the front bumper. It was really minor damage, fortunately. She has been since advised to never ever take that bridge again! (I believe I shared last week that she is a new driver, correct?) It only takes another minute or two to drive down to the next access road and come back to camp so there really is no reason to ever go the way she had come back but she did. We had a little discussion as a staff about driving habits that evening. Even though only one of the incidents involved a staff member we are still responsible for everything that happens while others are associated with this camp.
Today was adventure day for me as I drove to see a large dam in the area as well as driving further up the coast to an area of devastation I had not been to before. I got out of the car at a bay area near Sanriku. I stood on a small remaining piece of the floodwall looking out toward the ocean. It is just breathtakingly beautiful looking out over the bay. Then as I looked to my left and right I saw the areas that used to be protected by the 25’ high concrete wall that is now almost completely missing for what appears to be over a mile total surrounding the bay. Nearly the entire village was destroyed in the valley. It is difficult to not be emotional when seeing all the destruction. Every area I go to just makes me shake my head in disbelief as I see the destruction. As I was leaving the village, I looked over to see several elderly men playing gateball in a park area. There in the middle of all that destruction they were “going on with life”. It seemed so surreal in that surrounding. But life does go on for those who survived!
Well, that is it for this week. I hope all is well in your corner of the globe! Thanks to all of you for your prayers of support and safety!
It finally stopped raining on Thursday about midnight. We woke to beautiful blue skies on Friday morning with the mountains covered in incredible shades of green accented by white puffy clouds as they sifted through the valleys. I know I have mentioned it several times but this is an incredibly beautiful place.
This week provided some unusual challenges. It seems that this was the week that everyone forgot how to drive. We had a team of volunteers here from Osaka. As they were pulling out of the parking area on Wednesday they drove up on top of a wooden and concrete bench near the gateball field. I am not really sure how they managed to do it but it took several strong young men to lift the van off the bench so they could drive away.
On Thursday evening our Sumita volunteer, Mr. Araki, came for a visit. He was leaving just as I returned to camp from taking Mimi to the train station. I was talking with the volunteers in the dining tent when we heard a loud noise from outside. We went out to see his car parked sideways in the parking lot and a couple of the portapotties pushed back about three feet. He stated that as he was turning around in the parking lot he backed up into what he thought was a rut so he pushed on the accelerator. What he actually had backed into was the rope that anchors down the portapotties! So when he “gunned it”, he pulled the rope’s stake out of the ground which then caused him to sideswipe the portajohns with the side of his car. We got them pushed back into place on Friday morning and reanchored them with only a little cosmetic damage to one of the johns. His car actually was damaged worse as the john must have hit right at the front seam of the right hand driver’s door. He now has a new “wrinkle” right at the seam on the door.
Friday night Ayami was driving the MPV back to camp and decided to go over a very narrow bridge here in town. Unfortunately someone decided to approach the bridge at the same time and she drove into the last pillar on the cement bridge putting a scrape in the paint on the corner of the front bumper. It was really minor damage, fortunately. She has been since advised to never ever take that bridge again! (I believe I shared last week that she is a new driver, correct?) It only takes another minute or two to drive down to the next access road and come back to camp so there really is no reason to ever go the way she had come back but she did. We had a little discussion as a staff about driving habits that evening. Even though only one of the incidents involved a staff member we are still responsible for everything that happens while others are associated with this camp.
Today was adventure day for me as I drove to see a large dam in the area as well as driving further up the coast to an area of devastation I had not been to before. I got out of the car at a bay area near Sanriku. I stood on a small remaining piece of the floodwall looking out toward the ocean. It is just breathtakingly beautiful looking out over the bay. Then as I looked to my left and right I saw the areas that used to be protected by the 25’ high concrete wall that is now almost completely missing for what appears to be over a mile total surrounding the bay. Nearly the entire village was destroyed in the valley. It is difficult to not be emotional when seeing all the destruction. Every area I go to just makes me shake my head in disbelief as I see the destruction. As I was leaving the village, I looked over to see several elderly men playing gateball in a park area. There in the middle of all that destruction they were “going on with life”. It seemed so surreal in that surrounding. But life does go on for those who survived!
Well, that is it for this week. I hope all is well in your corner of the globe! Thanks to all of you for your prayers of support and safety!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
the week behind
Sunday afternoon here in Sumita. It is a hot one out there today. I just made a trek up to the local grocery store to buy some ice cream. There was a baseball game going on across the street earlier and apparently they celebrated with ice cream as there was none to be found in the store!! So, I settled for my favorite Japanese snack, “Cockypea”, which is 50% peanuts and 50% wedges of small spicy rice crackers. It is a great combination of flavors. I heard from one of the staff that it is available there in the States so I won’t have to go “cold turkey” when I return home next year…haha!
The mudout/demo work continues here in this area of Japan. Six months have passed since the earthquake and tsunami and there are still many homes that remain untouched. I heard on Friday that people have until October 1 to decide if they want the government to demolish their house. If they wait until after October 1, it becomes the responsibility of the homeowner to repair or destroy it. We have heard many times from homeowners how they had no hope of rebuilding until we did the mudout of the house removing all the rubble, taking down ceilings and walls and removing all the mud from under the floors as necessary. It is impossible to understand how overwhelming it must be to walk back to your house and see it in that condition assuming it survived the tsunami.
We had the opportunity yesterday afternoon to distribute home kits to residents of temporary housing here in Sumita. One of our cleaning staff lives there so when we gave her a home kit two weeks ago news spread throughout the neighborhood very rapidly. I contacted our Sendai office and they sent up another 17 home kits so we would be able to share one with each residence.
Most of the people living there are from the Rikuzentakata area which has neighborhoods where there is absolutely nothing left except the street pavement. We spent some time after distributing the kits having tea with several of the residents hearing their stories and chatting with them. Mr. Sasaki, a man 40 or so years old, shared that he has lost both his parents during the tsunami. He showed us some photos from one of the magazines that he had at his residence. One series of photos showed his house as the tsunami approached and then it being completely engulfed as the wave crashed over his house and all the other structures in the neighborhood. On the next page of the magazine was a picture of him the following day standing amidst the rubble looking for his house. He never found it or anything from it. He is incredibly upbeat and positive about the future even though he has lost everything.
My other “tea party” was at an elderly woman’s residence. Obaasan (grandmother), as she preferred to be called, is 88 years old and lost her son and daughter in the tsunami. She is a great lady and quite funny actually. She is having trouble seeing and hearing so conversations were difficult but we still had a great time with her. We put together a small shelf unit that she had ordered which was still in the box. She fed us chestnuts, sweet potatoes, some kind of yellow pickles and of course tea! Her grandson works at a nearby hotel and lives with her. We asked her where they both sleep since there was only one small area to sleep. She pointed to where she was sitting and said she sleeps there since she is small and doesn’t take up much space!
We left there offering up our services for anything she might need in the future. The community is up on a hill above the main part of town and she walks down the hill pushing a cart to do her shopping. We gave her Ayami’s phone number so she could call Ayami if she wanted or needed a ride. Of course we wrote it in LARGE print so she would be able to read it. She then tucked the note away with her medicines. I told Ayami that she may have been promoted to being her Doctor!!! Ayami is a “new driver” so when Mimi offered Ayami’s services I told Mimi it may be best if Obaasan didn’t take her glasses along when Ayami drives!
We continue to share the Word with those who do not know God. He has blessed us so with our relationships. Please keep us in your prayers for safety as well. There have been numerous earthquakes this week. None did any more than just shaking the ground. Let’s hope and pray it remains that way. So, it goes here in Japan. God bless you wherever you are in the world!
The mudout/demo work continues here in this area of Japan. Six months have passed since the earthquake and tsunami and there are still many homes that remain untouched. I heard on Friday that people have until October 1 to decide if they want the government to demolish their house. If they wait until after October 1, it becomes the responsibility of the homeowner to repair or destroy it. We have heard many times from homeowners how they had no hope of rebuilding until we did the mudout of the house removing all the rubble, taking down ceilings and walls and removing all the mud from under the floors as necessary. It is impossible to understand how overwhelming it must be to walk back to your house and see it in that condition assuming it survived the tsunami.
We had the opportunity yesterday afternoon to distribute home kits to residents of temporary housing here in Sumita. One of our cleaning staff lives there so when we gave her a home kit two weeks ago news spread throughout the neighborhood very rapidly. I contacted our Sendai office and they sent up another 17 home kits so we would be able to share one with each residence.
Most of the people living there are from the Rikuzentakata area which has neighborhoods where there is absolutely nothing left except the street pavement. We spent some time after distributing the kits having tea with several of the residents hearing their stories and chatting with them. Mr. Sasaki, a man 40 or so years old, shared that he has lost both his parents during the tsunami. He showed us some photos from one of the magazines that he had at his residence. One series of photos showed his house as the tsunami approached and then it being completely engulfed as the wave crashed over his house and all the other structures in the neighborhood. On the next page of the magazine was a picture of him the following day standing amidst the rubble looking for his house. He never found it or anything from it. He is incredibly upbeat and positive about the future even though he has lost everything.
My other “tea party” was at an elderly woman’s residence. Obaasan (grandmother), as she preferred to be called, is 88 years old and lost her son and daughter in the tsunami. She is a great lady and quite funny actually. She is having trouble seeing and hearing so conversations were difficult but we still had a great time with her. We put together a small shelf unit that she had ordered which was still in the box. She fed us chestnuts, sweet potatoes, some kind of yellow pickles and of course tea! Her grandson works at a nearby hotel and lives with her. We asked her where they both sleep since there was only one small area to sleep. She pointed to where she was sitting and said she sleeps there since she is small and doesn’t take up much space!
We left there offering up our services for anything she might need in the future. The community is up on a hill above the main part of town and she walks down the hill pushing a cart to do her shopping. We gave her Ayami’s phone number so she could call Ayami if she wanted or needed a ride. Of course we wrote it in LARGE print so she would be able to read it. She then tucked the note away with her medicines. I told Ayami that she may have been promoted to being her Doctor!!! Ayami is a “new driver” so when Mimi offered Ayami’s services I told Mimi it may be best if Obaasan didn’t take her glasses along when Ayami drives!
We continue to share the Word with those who do not know God. He has blessed us so with our relationships. Please keep us in your prayers for safety as well. There have been numerous earthquakes this week. None did any more than just shaking the ground. Let’s hope and pray it remains that way. So, it goes here in Japan. God bless you wherever you are in the world!
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