I am grateful for all of your prayers.
This is a long overdue report form Iwaki.
As of the 19th of August, all of the publically operated evacuation shelters inside of Iwaki city have closed.
So now there is a rush to build temporary housing around different parts of Iwaki city.
Recently when we visited the temporary housing we took some fresh vegetable with us. We knocked on peoples doors and called out, “We brought vegetables!” There was cabbage, kabocha squash, eggplant, potatoes and onions. At any rate the grocery store is too far away to walk to and so daily needs such as vegetables were gladly welcomed at the Chuo Dai temporary housing site.
Some folks had us in and offered us tea but usually we just met the people at their front doors and handed over the vegetables.
The housewives gladly accepted the vegetables but some of the single men did not take any vegetables saying that it would be more helpful to receive prepared dishes instead.
We also had some children excitedly run out to greet us and be disappointed when they peeked in our bags only to see vegetables. I think we will bring some candy along next time.
We listened to many of the newcomers’ stories and were surprised that even though they are from the same city as us, they told us things that we had never heard before. Much of it was personal information so I cannot directly share it but I can say that the majority of the people we spoke with lost family members in the disaster.
Recently some of our church members have been going on house calls with me which is very helpful. It is much better going together as a church.
Please pray that we can continue to make visits to the temporary housing sites. We hope that we can be an encouragement to them, be it ever so small.
This is a long overdue report form Iwaki.
As of the 19th of August, all of the publically operated evacuation shelters inside of Iwaki city have closed.
So now there is a rush to build temporary housing around different parts of Iwaki city.
Recently when we visited the temporary housing we took some fresh vegetable with us. We knocked on peoples doors and called out, “We brought vegetables!” There was cabbage, kabocha squash, eggplant, potatoes and onions. At any rate the grocery store is too far away to walk to and so daily needs such as vegetables were gladly welcomed at the Chuo Dai temporary housing site.
Some folks had us in and offered us tea but usually we just met the people at their front doors and handed over the vegetables.
The housewives gladly accepted the vegetables but some of the single men did not take any vegetables saying that it would be more helpful to receive prepared dishes instead.
We also had some children excitedly run out to greet us and be disappointed when they peeked in our bags only to see vegetables. I think we will bring some candy along next time.
We listened to many of the newcomers’ stories and were surprised that even though they are from the same city as us, they told us things that we had never heard before. Much of it was personal information so I cannot directly share it but I can say that the majority of the people we spoke with lost family members in the disaster.
Recently some of our church members have been going on house calls with me which is very helpful. It is much better going together as a church.
Please pray that we can continue to make visits to the temporary housing sites. We hope that we can be an encouragement to them, be it ever so small.
