What a glorious moment

The Most Recent Trip... in Pictures

Our wonderful team, working hard. 

The Samartitan's Purse camp sleeping quarters...many interesting experiences there.

The dobo muck and oil spilled throughout the farm, with deposits of rotten potatoes, made for some very interesting smells and dirty butts.

Combing the field to remove debris that might catch and break Abe san's plowing machinery. Never have I been so proud of a square of straight clear dirt.

A quick trip to Minamisanriku, which is right near Tome. This town is so destroyed, that there are no plans to rebuild it. But places like Ishinomaki already have people wanting to rebuild their lives there, and a lot of clearing and rebuilding is needed there in order to make that possible.

Kimiko Isaya and her husband Isaya san, standing on part of their farm we helped clear. What a joyful, persistent couple. I'm so glad I got the chance to meet them.

Abe san's farm--a section he has cleared to test if he can still grow crops even with salt still mixed into the soil. There are beans and squash growing in his experiment plot, which is a sign of hope in front of the rest of his huge uncleared farm.

We helped to muck out houses in Shintate, Ishinomaki so that they could be restored and fixed to be livable again. These houses go through many steps with Sam. Purse before they are livable, but it is part of their 300 houses by Christmas plan.

It was so encouraging to see almost 50 volunteers pour onto the field the morning we left Tohoku to return to Tokyo. We showed them what we had been doing, gave them advice about the work, and said goodbye to all our newly acquired friends. It was hard to leave, but we knew we were leaving everything in many good hands.

Yeah... this sums up our team members.

Samaritans

Samaritan's Purse Tohoku Trip with CAJ Alumni

The Dates: 7/6-7/12.

The Location: Staying at Tome base and working in Shintate, Ishinomaki

The Organization: Samaritan's Purse

The Team: Amos Cole, Aaron Winter, Jordan Foxwell, Krysta Carrick, Ruth Fujino, Hikari Morimoto, and Sara Nozaki. Every member was a CAJ alumnus, and a great friend, and I really appreciated the strengths that each person brought to the trip. It gave me a very clear picture of the diversity of gifts in the body of Christ. Some people are strong workers, some are good at networking, some are good leaders, some are calm encouragers, and everyone works together for the glory of the kingdom of God. 

We bonded over ridiculous snoring and sleep talking during the night, a steaming van with no air conditioner during the day, some strange music playlists, navigation disasters, ominously empty rural train stations, tiring but fun work, interesting encounters with people, and the passion to give back to the country that has been home for all of us, and that we have all missed since being away at college.

The Mission: Clear Abe san's farm of plastic pieces from the nearby wrecked factory and oil, salt, and muck in the dirt so that he can farm once again. It was slow, smelly, and hot, but everyone worked hard, and we had some fun as well.

The Passage: Galatians 6:1-10...Carry each others burdens, Test your own actions without comparing to someone else, Share good things from the Word, Sow seeds that please the Spirit... “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people...” The S.P. Base camp director shared this with us one morning, and it was a challenge that resounded through the whole week.

The Moment to Remember: On 7/11, at 2:46 pm, exactly 4 months after the earthquake struck Japan, the nation had a moment of silence. At that time, our team was in the middle of clearing the farms of Abe san and Isaya san, who are neighbors. We took a break to gather in a circle and share a moment of silence with the Isaya family, but before that, our team huddled and prayed over the nation of the Japan, and the block in which we were working specifically. It was a powerful few minutes, in which the hearts of people across the country were simultaneously linked through the bonds of empathy and hope.

The New Friends: Besides growing closer to and making memories with the friends already on our team, we also were able to make many new friends during the trip, whether from sleeping in the huge room of cots with other teams, working with volunteers from various organizations and places during the day, or chatting with the owners of the houses where we were working. Kimiko Isaya was a very generous and compassionate women at one house where we were working, and kept trying to give us food and drinks, even though she had hardly anything to offer. She started crying a few times as she told us of her experiences and how much they had lost, and how grateful she was to us. We had a lot of fun working with her in her field and being able to bless and be blessed by Kimiko.  

Up

This week since getting back from the last Tohoku trip, I went with Jordan to meet with the head of Habitat for Humanity in Japan to see what kind of work they have been doing, and what help they need. They are sending weekend trips up North every few weeks and still trying to work out all of the strict Japanese building requirements so that they can begin more intensive house-building work around September. Let's hope they don't come across too many more obstacles, because there are hundreds of thousands who need homes right away.

I was also continuing to work with CRASH doing team coordination, taking people around Tokyo and making sure they got up to Tohoku, and documenting our most recent trip by writing an article and sorting through photos to be put on the website. It's kind of exciting to be doing media work with a relief organization like this, because it's the kind of thing I'd like to do in the future. As I sat in the headquarters typing my story on the laptop and editing other articles, I tried to keep a professional face on, but I kept thinking to myself "This is so cool!!" (yes, with 2 exclamation points).

BUT whenever I come back to Tokyo, my heart longs to be up in Tohoku with the affected people, in the affected area. So I'm going back up tomorrow, this time with about 8 CAJ alumni friends. We will be in Ishinomaki working with Samaritan's Purse for a week. I hope we can work out the details of this trip and really be a blessing to both the victims we are helping and the host organization with which we are working.

CRASH HQ Sendai Trip 6/22-6/26

Reflections from the CRASH HQ Trip Last week. 

(Photo Credit mostly to Pauline Wu)

Special thanks to my team members: Urs, Lalita, Jordan, and Pauline. I enjoyed working with you, laughing at our silliness, debriefing after tiring emotional days, and getting to know you all better. 

This was "Seaside Chapel" in Sendai. Now only the foundation and the cross remain. Those from the congregation who are still alive continue to meet in a cafe. CRASH has been working through this church and doing events, especially for child victims, in the Seaside Cafe. Makes you remember what the important parts of a church are...

This is the CRASH Sendai Morigo base camp which we stayed in. It was a group comprised of individuals from headquarters to observe the base camp procedures and experiment with sending individuals rather than only accepting teams. 

One of our work projects was at the house of Ouchi San, a farmer and volunteer fireman in Sendai, who shared a bit of his story with us. Ouchi san (the one in the middle with the helmet and apron) is a local hero, not only because he is known for growing the most delicious vegetables around, but also because on the day of the tsunami, he went towards the water, where there is an elementary school, to warn everyone to get to higher elevation. Then he drove back towards his house, racing the wave, but was swept away in his car. He managed to climb on top of his drifting truck and grab hold of a roof and hold on. It wasn't until four days later that Ouchi san was able to get news to his wife and daughters that he was safe, because they were at the school. He told us that the kids in the school had watched as people scrambled to get up into buildings but were swept away, and they wrote all over the walls things like "I don;t want to live, because I've seen too many people die." His wife and daughters now suffer from post-tsunami depression and the family is struggling to move on with their lives. Nevertheless, Ouchi san has high spirits and perseverance and, as one of the volunteers said, "sums up all that is good about the people of Japan." I barely even met the man, but I have so much respect for this new hero figure. He is not a Christian, but he accepts help from the church thankfully and allows us volunteers to pray for him. When we asked him what we could pray for, he said, "I already know you have been praying for me. But there are so many other people who are much worse off in my town." He went on to describe some people's predicaments, and then asked us to "pray for everyone." These are the people we are fighting for.

Ouchi San saved this puppy, Rui-chan, from drowning in the tsunami. It has a lot of problems now. It barked at us like crazy, so we asked Ouchi san if Rui disliked foreigners. Ouchi san replied. "He dislikes foreigners. He dislikes Japanese. He even dislikes me, his rescuer. The only one he likes is food. Food is like his girlfriend!" 

This is Ouchi San's farmland, which will take years to be rid of salt and trash, but he dreams of one day farming his famous vegetables again. The base operations leader was talking to him about how the rain coming down to cleanse his field of salt water was God's grace. 

The calander in Ouchi San's house is still on 3/11. He told us that's when time stopped for him, and nothing will ever be the same.

Our other work project was in Ishinomaki. We spent the day clearing out a house of it's mud, fish, and debris to rid it of stench, filling bags with shovel-fulls of rotten goodness-knows-what. 

The combination of strenuous labour, an overwhelming smell, and the view of destruction as far as the eye can see, made it a day none of us will forget. I've smelled a lot of rancorous things in my life, but this was the worst. 

One of my fellow volunteers called it a “little slice of Hell,” and I can't help but agree that it is hard to find God in a place like this. Nevertheless, through the experience, God has renewed my faith in a way that he never has before, and proven himself faithful, even loving, and very present in the heart of this muddy stench, reaching out to these depressed and melancholic people.

Through this trip, my passion to help in this relief effort has grown stronger. I returned to the CRASH office with new insight and motivation to be part of this operation to mend these people's lives and show them the hope they are so desperately searching for. There have been moments where I have been paralyzed by grief, uncertainty, or frustration, but I try to learn from these moments and move on, keeping the broader picture in mind. 

It was a great trip, and I made a lot of friends from all over the world who are volunteering at the base camp. What a beautiful picture of the body of Christ coming together. This is the church.

I just got back from a CRASH headquarters relief trip to Sendai, but before talking about that trip, I wanted to post some pictures from the trip before. Each trip is so good--but only makes a dent on what needs to be done. So as I make all these trips, it starts to become somewhat frustrating, and make me feel helpless. Nevertheless, I learn new things every time, and God is teaching me many things, especially humility and perseverance, and a new kind of faith in him. Sorry the uploading process made this movie pretty low quality, but you get the idea... 

Kids, Shovels, Boats, Rubble... Love in Action

 I just got back from helping to lead the CAJ Love in Action mission trip to Sendai. I'm pretty exhausted from it all, and I'm turning around to do another trip tomorrow—it never ends! But its encouraging to see progress being made.

During the trip we went to 3 different schools to lead games and English teaching with elementary and Middle School aged kids. Talking to the kids in these badly hit regions is not as visible progress as clearing out an entire field of rubble, but we allowed these kids who have been through so much a chance to just goof off, laugh, learn, and make new friends who cared about them, even though we didn't really know them. We hung out with hundreds of school children from various areas. This was my favourite part of the trip, because I freakin love those kids. I can't believe all the trauma that many of them have experienced at such an early age. And I also can't believe the remaining resiliency and even joy they are able to muster.

The school that I found the most tragic, and also had an amazing time at was in Minamisanriku. Go ahead and type Minamisanriku into google images or news right now. Now you know what I'm talking about? The town was—is—wiped out. The school remains, because it was on high ground, but around 10,000 people, over half the city population, was killed. The school looks out over a completely obliterated landscape. As we played in the gym, the windows presented an ominous view of a mass grave of water and debris. That is the reality for these children, many of whom have lost one or both parents, family members, and close friends. This is the truth they have to face as they rise up each morning and go to school. What could we possibly do to make anything better. What do I say when a little girl comes up to me and asks me what I think when I look out the window at the demolished city? After questions like “Do you like cherries? And What's your favourite colour?” this one catches me off guard. I don't have the Japanese vocabulary to communicate my sorrow for her, and her people. I Heck I don't have the English vocabulary for it! I want to be able to empathize, but it is beyond me to understand why it all happened, and why these sweet, funny school kids should be victims of such loss. So what cannot be communicated in our little bilingual conversation, I try to communicate through a hug, a smile, a silly ball game, or through writing a note or drawing for them on the scraps of paper they eagerly thrust in my face. I suppose this is what love in action and truth is about, when words and deeds are not enough. I'm just a tall foreigner who visited their school for a day to see a tiny fraction of what they have been dealing with for 3 months. What good can I do, except to make little Nako smile, even if just for a moment. What good can I do? I do know that I will be praying for the kids I met on this trip. Even though I barely know them or remember their names, I love them.

From that school we went on to visit the hinanjo (evacuation/relief center) in Minamisanriku. This was quite a switch of gears, because it was mainly elderly people rather then children, because elderly people get last priority in being moved from the evacuation center to temporary housing units. It was one big room with several people living in it, with their individual corners divided off with pieces of cardboard. As I walked through, I could see into all of their tiny homes, set up much like a group of homeless people in the station. It was fun to be able to talk with and encourage these people and have the chamber singers sing a beautiful Christian song in Japanese for them.

Beyond these trips to schools, the week-long trip involved a great amount of physical labour.

We worked at the Shichigahama volunteer center, mainly digging out ditches so water would no longer get trapped and flood the streets. It was pretty messy work—I'm glad I had boots—but it was also kind of fun, and a bit like a treasure hunt, because there was no knowing what objects you would find in each shovel-full of rubble. We had people working on the Takayama grounds, where many volunteers are being and will be housed. And we spent some time clearing rubble all along the shore. In addition, our family friend Hidemasa Endo san had his and his families' houses destroyed, with mountains of rubble all over his land. Our group helped him clear his land, including horrendous tangles of fishing nets, and pieces of the bath room, and all kinds of heavy, dirty loads. Hidemasa san also asked some of the guys to get his fishing-boat out of a tree and into the water, which they did, do he has his livelihood back! We also cleared the farm land of Hidemasa san's friend, so that he too could have his livelihood back. This was certainly the smelliest job, because layers of muck, debris and fish guts were being uncovered.

One of the highlights of this time was singing with, praying for, and talking with Hidemasa san. He was telling me about the losses experienced in Shichigaham—how the stretch of knocked out houses we had just driven past was where 10 people died, and how 5 were close family or friends to him. One of his friends was in the 2^nd story of his house during the tsunami and the water did not reach up to him, but he later found a car basically inside his house. He was so happy and thankful for our help, and it was a joy to be able to serve him.

This was a really great trip. The 40 highschoolers involved were able to jump right in to all sorts of service and everyone maintained fairly positive attitudes. It was an incredible time, but, yes, I am tired in many ways and must continue with CRASH. I'm hoping I myself don't CRASH at any point this week. Uh oh-I'm so tires I'm starting to make puns. Its time to stop. 

(Don't worry Pictures are coming).