A Report from Koriyama’s Pastor Toyomi Sanga 8/27

《Koriyama GCS Activity Diary 8/27》
This morning while I was out shopping someone delivered 10 lunch packs of "mushroom rice balls" and 20 "sweet cream puffs" addressed to "Everyone at GCS(Grace Community Service)".

They were brought by the "M" family; a couple that we helped this week. Their home which used to be in the Odaka neighborhood of Minami Soma city was completely washed away by the tsunami.

The husband cheerfully said, "Well, everything was washed clean away. Ain’t nothing we can do ‘bout the stuff we lost. But you all have been a real big help by giving us stuff."

"There’s just the two of us left but you all have been a big help for sure," he said with a hearty, memorable laugh.

The rice balls were delivered early this morning from Minami Soma city.
It is a 2 and a half hour trip one way.
He called ahead and said over the phone, "Ya know the Sangas've gotta lot of young'ns (I guess he means our volunteers) and I bet they could eat all of these up and so I brung'em to you all!"

When I returned to the church I saw the big bag full of rice balls and cream puffs, all of them "Made in Minami Soma♡"
"These were all made at a store in Minami Soma!!!" I thought to myself and was overcome with tears. It was really moving to eat those moist delicious rice balls!

Thank you Jesus!

A Diary Entry from Koriyama’s Pastor Toyomi Sanga 8/26

8/26/2011　≪Children’s Clothing Present Day≫

Starting yesterday and ending tomorrow the 27^th we are holding a three day “Children’s Clothing Present Day”. Of the families that we have helped so far, we contacted those who have children, specifically elementary age and younger, and invited them to come and choose from a number of brand new summer clothes.

The cooperating churches include one church from the Osaka area and two churches from the Tokyo area. The church leaders in each church call on their members to buy brand new children’s clothes and then they packaged them up and sent them to us.
Around 11AM we had to mothers come to the church, and by 3PM that day there had been eleven parents as well as their fifteen children come to the church.

Among them were many people that we had not seen for a while and so there was the joy of reunions as well as time spent catching on everyone's current situations.

A number of mothers said, "Wow, I have no idea how to thank you for all of this."

Moving from the shelter to temporary housing, children scattered around in various schools... parents are in very difficult situations. Many are families that must remain in Koriyama city regardless of the relatively high radiation levels. These are the type of people that I hope I can give a little joy too. I pray that today's  brief reunions and catch up sessions will help do that.

From the bottom of my own heart and on behalf of the many disaster victims I would like to thank the three churches, both pastors and members, who provided the clothes as well as the many volunteers who recently came to Koriyama and helped with various relief work such as organizing and cleaning (applying floor wax).

 

A Report From Pastor Ito of Izumi Fukuin Chapel (8/25)

Praise the Lord.
Thank you for all of your support and prayers.

At this point five and a half months have passed since the disaster and signs of rebuilding such as the removal if mud and debris, the installation of temporary housing and stores as well as various forms of construction can be seen.
But if you look through the eyes of the victims, their living standards are far from being restored and they live in a reality of pain and hardship.

There are innumerable accounts of people who are struggling to recover from the loss of family and loved ones, others whose workplaces were destroyed and are now jobless, others who lost close friends and are daily thinking of committing suicide and others who despaired their future prospects and were barely saved from attempting suicide.

There are many people who with finally moving into their own temporary housing unit have found that they are anxious from the lack of knowing what the future will hold. There is also the problem of many lonely elderly who are finding it difficult to settle into their new neighborhood and so they withdraw into themselves and are beginning to show the signs of depression.

The most important rebuilding, the rebuilding of the victim’s spirits, has yet to make any progress.

Of all of our rescue and relief activities, this is the greatest issue that we have been charged with. I truly believe that now it the time for Christians to stand up. It is the time that we must add spiritually rehabilitating evangelism to our rescue and relief work. The only ones who can stand with the disaster victims and cry, laugh, and share in their pain and sorrow are Christians who are filled with the love of the saving Lord Jesus. We must be seeking the Lord for ministers who will pray for the lost, speak the Word to them, and who will in love, risk their own lives for their healing and salvation.

 

Matthew 9:36-38  ³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸ Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

 

I ask that you would pray for our future “spiritual rebuilding activities”, in other words evangelism. Please also pray for ministers to be raised up who can come to the disaster area and work alongside us as we minister to the disaster victims.

On the 21^st there was a gospel concert put on by the organization Praise Station in the city of Sendai. 3 disaster victims from the Akai neighborhood in Higashi Matsushima city attended and our team transported them to the concert and provided a meal for them.
The photo is a shot from our evening meal before the concert. At the concert they all clapped their hands, shouted Hallelujah, listened intently to the message and returned home with hearts full of the joy and love of Jesus.

A Report from Koriyama’s Pastor Toyomi Sanga 8/17

《An Activity Report from Koriyama Grace Community Service》

On August the 31^st at 5PM “Pick Palette Fukushima”, the prefecture’s largest evacuation shelter, will close.

Last Sunday morning, my husband and I went to “Hall A” at Pick Palette and confirmed the statement.

Koriyama Grace Community Service began relief work on March 20^th with “Kids Corner”→ “Mother Support”→ then began Relief Phase 2 with the “Life Starter Kit” program. Through this program we have helped over 100 families and it is scheduled to finish at the end of next week. (Now as we look towards winter, please pray that we are provided with various heating devices!)

Starting in mid August we will begin Relief Phase 3, “Food Box”, which entails delivering food to temporary housing sites in our city as well as the cities of Iwaki, Shirakawa, Sukagawa, Fukushima, Nihonmatsu, Aizu Wakamatsu and the town of Inawashiro.

The majority of the disaster victims are now living in temporary housing or in rented apartments and their daily lives are becoming more and more difficult. They have to pay for utilities themselves and since it has been difficult to find work, most of their money is spent on that alone.

“At least give them food!” is the motto we are starting with. The Relief Phase 3 “Food Box” (1 box≈¥3,000) will be distributed by our church staff and then in August by volunteers from the Tokyo area.

Last week we went to the “N” family who are renting a place in Minami Soma and to the “I” family who are living in temporary housing in the town of Asakawa in Ishikawa county.
Today there is a severe weather warning for central Fukushima prefecture so we will deliver to places in the southern part of the prefecture.
We will take some food, bicycles (provided by the US Assemblies of God Missionaries) and some electric fans to the “I” family living in temporary housing in Shirokawa (Their house in Sukagawa was destroyed in the earthquake. The wife has glass fragments in her eye and parts of her body and the husband is physically disabled.), also to Ms. “M” who is Shirokawa (From previous blog post; her house in Tomioka was washed away by the tsunami and now her family members are living scattered around.), and to Ms. “K” in Kagamiishi.


5 months have passed in the blink of an eye and now we are beginning to deal with a new means of relief.
We can only buy and deliver things within a city.
Going out in different directions we can only make 2 to 3 deliveries a day. It is inefficient but we have to go to each individual family and find out their situation.
Most of the people that we have visited say that they are living in an area that they don’t know and they spend all day indoors because they have no friends or acquaintances nearby.
On deliveries our staff members are often invited in for a cup of green tea.

Of course, at some homes they merely hand over the food at the front door and then leave.

But up to now through the “Life Starter Kit” program we have gotten to know these hundred some families and we pray that we will be able to encourage them a little with a smile and strengthen our relationship with them as we go.
I would be very grateful if you would continue to pray

← Closure notice for the “Pick Palette Fukushima” evacuation shelter

A Diary Entry from Koriyama’s Pastor Toyomi Sanga 8/24

≪Diary  Together≫　8/24

“Merely with a change in the temperature you can wake up so totally refreshed.”

For the past few days I have woken up every morning feeling so different♪
Maybe it is because my stomach is too empty ((((＾＾；

Today we have started back with our full time relief work. Over the next two weeks we are planning on interviewing and shopping for 20 families as a part of our “Life Starter Kit” program.

Noon. A young mother, Ms. “K” came carrying her 6 month old baby. So that she could fill out the registration forms I held the baby for a while. The baby stared at me for a moment and started whimpering, followed by heartrending sobs as she reached out for her young mother.

“We are always together so I don’t think that she is used to other people yet,” said the mom.
“Yeah probably…by any chance was “Y” (the baby girl’s name) one month old when the earthquake hit?” I asked.
“Yeah, she had just had her one month exam on the 10^th of March.”
She shared that immediately after the quake they evacuated from the town of Tomioka to her husband’s hometown in Ibaraki prefecture.

It turns out that this young mother is the daughter of Ms. “M” who we were going to do shopping for that afternoon.

Ms. “M” is an evacuee from the town of Tomioka.
She has three grown daughters.

On the day of the disaster, Ms. “M’s” eldest daughter had a day off work and was at home with her husband and their younger 5 month old boy. Their home was in a brand new housing development near the ocean. They were all lost in the tsunami. Their older 4 year old son, “H”, was safe at pre-school.

Ms. “M” is raising her 4 year old grandson all on her own. Her husband is on a long term work assignment at the nuclear power plant in Kariwa, Niigata.

When I ask her, “How is “H” sleeping? What about his eating?”
She responds with tears in her eyes, “That boy…it’s strange but since that day he hasn’t once uttered the words ‘mama’ or ‘papa’. Maybe he is still too young to understand what happened?”

With the blaringly loud background music playing, Ms. “M” and I stood looking at each other in the checkout line of the appliance store.

“He sleeps fine at night, but every once in a while he’ll suddenly grow restless and cry out.”

“He eats… but just a little bit at a time,” says the young grandmother as she wipes the tears away with the back of her hand.

“Oh my! I guess that since he is still so young he doesn’t know how to properly express his shock and sorrow. Maybe it will just take time,” was I all that I could say.
I was doing my best to remember the proper method for dealing with PTSD in children, but I couldn’t recall much. I could only cry out, Oh God! What should I say?

We finished checking out and in the parking lot I asked, “Do you mind if I go on ahead to the church? I need to meet a staff member.” “We can go together,” said Ms. “M” and gave me a ride.

When we arrived at the church one of our young male staff members was running around the church playing with “H”.
He raced up to his grandmother and said, “Talk some more KaKa (his special name for his grandmother)! I want to play some more with my new big brother (our staff member). Come on, talk some more please!”

I had Ms. “M” and Ms. “K” choose some children’s summer clothes that were provided by 3 churches in other parts of Japan. They were brand new items with the tags still on them. “Really, it’s ok for us to have these… Thank you!” said Ms. “M” as she struggled to find words to say.

“K” held up a t-shirt and showed “H” saying, “Hey, how about this! Your mommy liked this Cars movie (Disney)! Remember?!”

He shot back, “I don’t know! I don’t need it!”
“Come’ on big brother! Let’s play together!” he said as he ran off.

When it was time for them to head home “M” and “K” stood up then “H” ran over saying, “Please! I want to play a little more. Pleaseeee!”

His grandmother responded, “Ok.”

Then I told him, “Your new big brother has to go to work soon, 10 more minutes, okay?” With that he seemed to understand.
When we told him that his 10 minutes were up, he quietly walked over to his grandmother.
I half expected him to start whining some more but…


I would like to give him more time to play together.
I would like to give him more time to run around and play.

I wanted to spend more time together, crying with the grandmother.
I wanted to tell the grandmother, “Your doing a great job, hang in there!”
But I didn’t.
I wanted to wrap my arms around her.
But I wasn’t able to.

I wanted to say to “K”, who lost her big sister, brother-in-law and baby nephew, “That must have been terrible for you.”

That evening I climbed up the steps to our second floor and went into to the bathroom and there in the laundry basket were a pair of my son’s socks and his jersey that were covered in mud.

“What!? These are completely black!” is all I said as I put the socks and jersey in the sink to pre-soak.

“H’s” mother can’t wash her son’s muddy, stinky socks for him.
She will never know what it is like to worry about her son’s after school activities, or his growing appetite, or see him shoot up in height, or hear how his voice begins to change as he calls her “mom”.

…I started crying. I should be thankful for all of this mud.

We are together with them in the happy times… We are together with them in the sad times…

I promised to meet with “M” and “K” again some time in the middle of September.

A report from Pastor Fuyuki Okuda of Iwaki Assembly Church 8/23

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.

A Diary Entry from Koriyama’s Pastor Toyomi Sanga 8/17

《Diary 　Here drink this》　　８/１７

Recently my eyes have been bleary.
Recently my son has been growing taller, getting tan and eating voraciously.
Recently the pain in my right elbow will not go away.
Recently I have been consistently blessed by my daughter.

When I think about it, I have to say that I am getting older.

But it’s a lot of fun. I don’t know why but it seems like recently things have become more enjoyable.
Starting at the end of March and going now for the past 5 months my emotions have been running full bore providing relief ministry to the victims of the earthquake and nuclear disaster here in Fukushima prefecture.
But recently I have noticed that the pace has let up a little and I am having fun, feeling more on the up and up.

At the beginning of August we started our summer school session and we also had an elderly couple unexpectedly show up at church. They are Mr. and Mrs. “N” who we had been able to help in the middle of July with our “Life Starter Kit” program.

They came carrying 2 boxes of Lipovitan D energy drink.
As they wiped sweat from their brows they handed me the boxes and said, “Hey Sangas , you guys have gotta be tired!” “We don’t wanna impose but here drink this, it’ll pep ya’ll up!” It was all I could do to fight back tears.

“What!? I can’t take this from you guys…” I said.
They smiled and said, “Now come on! You guys have been workin’ so hard and we are indebted to ya’ll.”

To be honest, when I was buying their relief items at the local Nittori furniture store, I got into an argument with the store clerk. The clerk had blown the older couple off when they were explaining about their situation and treated them arrogantly. Even as they tried to politely explain the clerk became more and more irritated with them.

I was very annoyed with the clerk and thought to myself, this couple is elderly, is it really that much trouble to hear them out?

When doing relief work you encounter a plethora of situations.
After shopping with them, the “N’s” returned with me to the church and smiled and said, “I’m really sorry that we put you through so much.”
I was disappointed with own inadequacy and the fact that I had put the “N’s” through a stressful situation.
It was 2 weeks after that when the “N’s” came bearing the Lipovitan D.


Today as we were finishing the summer school and seeing the children off, a lady came walking towards the church.

She is an acquaintance of one of our staff members Ms. "K", and she first came to do deal with some personal problems. That was when the CRASH ministry was doing free massages at the Pick Palette Fukushima evacuation shelter.
Because of a particular illness she, Ms. "I", had a very hard time in the evacuation shelters, especially with using the temporary baths that the military had set up so Ms. "K" invited her to come and use the bath in her own home.

"Sure enough, even though it is someone else's house, using a proper bath is much more relaxing,” said Ms. “I”.

It has been a while since she has come to the church.
She was carrying one bag full of sweets and another bag which was beautifully wrapped with a ribbon around it. They were presents for Ms. "K" and for another staff member, Ms. "R", who had been an encouragement to her.

When I think about how each of them, amidst their various circumstances, kindly brought Lipovitan D, sweets and pretty packages I get all choked up.

The “N’s” who had brought the Lipovitan D and laughingly said, “Now come on!”…had their home swept away in the tsunami.

I asked God, "Was I able to make you smile today? Did I choose fun and enjoyable things?"
I felt Him respond to me with a big smile on His face.

A Report from Koriyama’s Pastor Toyomi Sanga 8/17

Around the beginning of July a number of mothers asked us, “Are you going to have the summer school this year at the church? Can you pull it off?”
“Of course! Of course, we will have summer school this year!” we responded, and with that we registered 29 elementary school students and 6 junior high school students.

With the help of volunteers from the Tokyo area district of the JAG as well as our church’s staff members and ladies ministry, we pulled together and answered the needs of the community! And we pray that we can continue to answers those needs! The school session started on the 2nd of August and tomorrow will mark the 9th and final day.
Four of the mothers, who are all non-Christians, even came and asked, “Is there anything we can do to help?” So we had them help out in the kitchen.

In the heat we studied with the children, chatted, laughed, ate, did crafts, danced and sang, in other words played. We even had a number of children who joined us half way through who really wanted to attend but didn’t hear about the summer school until after it had started.

We are being revived here in Koriyama♡

A Report From Pastor Ito of Izumi Fukuin Chapel (8/15)

Praise the Lord!

I am so thankful to the Lord’s leading and blessing as well as for everyone’s prayers and loving encouragement which has helped us to make it this far with our relief and rebuilding work in the Akai neighborhood of Higashi Matsushima city.

Listening to the suggestion of the locals in Akai, we marked the 5 month remembrance of the disaster by having a “Super Rebuilding Festival” on Saturday the 13th. It was organized by the Akai municipal office in cooperation with our JAG relief team and Teen Challenge.

This time we had numerous JAG churches (7 total: Hachioji, Fujizawa, Shinohara, Niigata, Soka, Yokota and Izumi) as well as Teen Challenge come and minister.

The JAG provided t-shirts with a cross printed on them and we wore these as we worked alongside the local municipal organization members; united together with the common purpose of celebrating the rebuilding process. Seeing everyone working together was such a declaration of the glory of God!
　

At the start of the festival, everyone in attendance joined together to thank the Living God for His guidance thus far in the rebuilding process as well as ask for His continued blessing over the remaining work.

In the “Rocket Ship Park”, which was used as the festival grounds, the Arakawa Municipality and the JAG setup various refreshment tents as well as a special stage which held performances of karaoke, worship, traditional Japanese dancing, poetry recitations, and a human video from the Hachioji Challenge Missions Kid’s ministry. Everyone had a great time celebrating the rebuilding of the neighborhood.


I am certain that we are seeing the beginning of God’s revival on this earth thanks to everyone’s tears, prayers and sacrificial love. Starting in September we are hoping that the relief center will be able to organize a similar festival like meal distribution once every month. Please pray for the opening of our new relief center.

A Report From Pastor Ito of Izumi Fukuin Chapel (8/14)

5 months have passed since the disaster.
We truly appreciate everyone's prayers and support thus far.

In the areas hit by the tsunami you can see progress in the rebuilding efforts through things such as the rubble has been cleared away, the mud has been dug out, many temporary residences have been erected as well as temporary buildings that are used for businesses.

But if you spent just a moment with the victims of the disaster you will be astonished to see that the "rebuilding" of their hearts has not progressed at all. They have flash backs to the images of seeing many people swept away by the tsunami, many still have wounded hearts unable to get back on their feet again after the shock and despair of having loved ones taken from them, as well as the constant thoughts of death resulting from the disaster. From this point on we recognize the necessity to provide "emotional" and "spiritual" relief, in other words evangelism, alongside the "physical" relief efforts.
　


From Monday the 8th of August to Saturday the 13th a team composed of one church member and four pastors came from the Okinawa district to offer some timely support. In Rikuzen Takada city and Higashi Matsushima city they were able to interact directly with the disaster victims praying to the Lord for their comfort and encouragement. The Lord's presence and healing power was there. Praise the Lord!
　


More and more we need to be involved in this type of emotional and spiritual relief work. I would appreciate if you would pray for our future relief and outreach activities as well as for the anointing over everyone who ministers.
　

I would like to give a heartfelt thanks to the pastors from Okinawa who on Thursday (11th) and Friday (12th) made the rounds visiting the 5 JAG churches in Fukushima prefecture as well as the churches in the Sendai area.


I give all the glory to God!

A report from Pastor Ito of Izumi Fukuin Chapel 8/7

Praise the Lord.

Thank you for your support and prayers.

On Saturday the 6^th of August, at the Arakawa public park in the Akai neighborhood of Higashi Matsushima city, we were able to distribute electric fans to all 150 households in that area. The local civic leader went through the trouble of printing up vouchers and passing them out to each household, so the whole distribution went very smoothly.

These fans were gifts from the brothers and sisters of the US Assemblies of God. I am also thankful to them for helping us to pass out over 300 bicycles in the area.

In order to further increase our rebuilding efforts in the Akai neighborhood, especially the spiritual rebuilding, we plan to get even closer to the people in the area.

On Saturday the 13^th there will be the reconstruction festival. I am believing for the Lord to do amazing works. Please pray that we will be able to share the love of Jesus and His abundant grace to many, and above all that each minister would be empowered by the Holy Spirit as they serve.

A diary entry from Koriyama’s Pastor Toyomi Sanga 8/6

《Diary  I was speechless》　Saturday 8/6

Today has been hot even from the morning.
It has been over two weeks, but we have finally had a few days of blue skies.

This afternoon I will be interviewing some disaster victims and shopping for relief  items,　so this morning I did 3 loads of  laundry.

Since it was so hot that you could melt, I hung the laundry out to dry filling up the veranda with clothes. My kids and a boy from our church said that they wanted to go and see a movie so I drive them to the train station. I happened to glance back towards the direction of the church and noticed a dark cloud rolling in.

“Hummm. I wonder if it will be ok?”I thought to myself  as a finished my shopping and headed home. I was just turning onto the road that the church is on and it began raining.
Well that’s it! The church and the whole neighborhood were washed by the squall... as well as my laundry. (T▽T)

“Ahh!”I yelled as I ran around in a hurry. “Lord, give me strength!” I cried, threw the half wet laundry in the washer, wolfed down a sandwich and headed off to the afternoon interviews.

That afternoon I met with Mr. and Mrs. “S” who had evacuated to Fukushima city where the wife was living with her husband’s parents. They had evacuated from the town of Okuma in Futaba county with their ten year old son and 10 month old daughter. Her husband must live separately at his workplace’s employ dormitory.

I gave them the standard explanation of our services and then took a drink of barley tea as Mrs. “S” began to speak.

“The other day we were able to go back and see our house for the first time.”

“Really, you were able to go, huh.” I said.

“Yeah. We went but all of the windows were smashed out and our electronics and appliances had been stolen.”

“What!?”I replied.

“It was a new house built 6 months ago. When we evacuated the most we were able to take was my son’s video game system. But...the refrigerator, clothes washer, television, computer, everything...”

I was speechless.

“The minivan that we bought 2 years ago was swept away in the tsunami so we are getting by with a used car that we bought.”

“Oh my, really,” is all I could say.

“Our home was one of many homes in a new development. Most of the surrounding homes had their windows smashed out, it was a mess,”said Mr. “S”.

The wife then said,“Because we are living with relatives and not in a rented property we cannot apply for the 6 appliance relief set that the Red Cross is offering. But if we were able to find an apartment to rent we would have nothing so your assistance would be extremely helpful.”

The 10 month old girl stared at me the whole time smiling.

The 10 year old boy sat expressionless with his chin in his hands.

Again, I was speechless.

“A bicycle... can you ride a bike?” I abruptly asked the boy. His face immediately lit up.

“Yeah, yeah I can ride!!”He brightened up and leaned forward.
“He loves riding bikes. His was sitting in front of our house... But since it had been sitting outside all that time it was covered in rust and we were not able to bring it back with us,” said his mother.

I said to him, “We have a boy’s bicycle here if you would like to take it home with you.” He grinned from ear to ear.

He leaned over to his mother and said in a hardly audible voice, “Really? They will even give us a bicycle?”
“Yes. Everyone is helping us,” she replied to him.

From then on he just started at me in amazement like I was something from outer space.

I am sure that there are many reasons.
But I just want to say to those thieves, “Why?”
What about the police investigation? Were they not able to do anything?
What about the media, isn’t this a big issue? Or maybe they all forgot?
Is the radioactive beef problem a more sensational story?
Or are the radiation levels bigger news?

I don’t know.

This is my prayer.

That  the 10 year old boy will make many friends in his new school, that he will enjoy riding his bicycle and when he becomes sad and cries that he will be able to have a good night sleep. No matter what problem or sorrow there is, I pray that he meets Jesus who can give him the strength to overcome all things.

A report from Pastor Fuyuki Okuda of Iwaki Assembly Church 8/6

Thank you for your constant prayers.
This is a report for Saturday 8/6/2011 from Iwaki Assembly Church.

１．Visiting the temporary housing site for evacuees from Hironocho

Today 7 people came from the C.R.A.S.H Japan base in Hitachi and went with me to the temporary housing site where evacuees from Hironocho are living. (This site is being administered by Hironocho city services and not by Iwaki city)

I had just received a card of encouragement from the “Muscat Angel” of Shinnakano Christ church and too that along with me.

The people in the Hironocho temporary housing were preparing to return to their homes in Hironocho and so in order for them to transport things to their homes I offer my car for an  so that things could be moved back to their homes.

Since Hironocho is near the #2 Fukushima nuclear power plant and many of the people have jobs that are connected to the power plant, I was carefully not say anything critical of the nuclear plant.

Many cannot work their fields or do the work that they are used to doing and so they are upset and do not have the motivation to even clean up their homes and but them back in order.

２．Cleaning the sanctuary

Today the C.R.A.S.H. team also kindly helped to clean our sanctuary. Usually for radioactive contamination, the dirt and gravel on the property, as well as the external walls and windows are cleaned but they we extremely thoughtful and cleaned not only the inside of the sanctuary but also the outsides of the windows. There are still some windows where it seems that radioactive material is building up on the outside and so we will need to be carful and take that into account as part of our regular cleaning routine.
　
３．A baby was born

The wife of a family who we had met in the past at an evacuation shelter was pregnant and gave birth in June. Today I visited them in their home for the first times since the birth of their child. Before leaving they allowed me to pray a prayer of blessing over them.

That is all. Thank you for all of your prayers.

A report from Pastor Fuyuki Okuda of Iwaki Assembly Church 8/5

１．Visiting temporary housing sites with members of C.R.A.S.H. Japan

Today we were blessed to have missionary Andy and 8 others people come from the C.R.A.S.H. Japan base in Hitachi. They helped us go and minister emotional relief to people in the temporary housing sites.

We set up a tent in the parking lot of the "Takaku #1 Temporary Housing Site" and provided drinks and snacks to anyone who wanted them.

I listened to one gentleman share about how he was able to save himself from the tsunami but watched his wife be swept away and drowned before his very eyes. I also heard from someone else who was battered by the tsunami, breaking 3 ribs and a leg but was eventually saved. We listened to many people share their various stories.

We were amazed by the numerous tales of those who had been to the edge of life and death but returned to tell the tale. We realized that even among the residents of the same housing site there is a difference between those who had evacuated from the tsunami and those who had evacuated from the nuclear disaster.

２．Playing "Strike Out" with the children

Since there are many children there we brought a cotton candy machine to make cotton candy, but unfortunately there was no power source. We attempted to use our car battery but it was not quite enough power so we had to pass on the cotton candy this time. Instead we lined the kids up and they had a great time playing "Strike Out"

 

★Problems with the temporary housing units

Since there is little space between the ground and the floor of the housing unit there seems to be a lot of moisture and humidity coming up from the ground. Many have said that their futon bedding is always damp and even if you use a room de-humidifier it quickly fills up with water.

Many are saying that they could really use de-humidifiers for every room in their house. Also, with the recent scorchingly hot days the prefabricated housing tends to heat up very quickly and many have said that they would like to have air conditioners for each room.

However, when the people move out of the temporary houses they will be returned to Fukushima prefecture. This means that they are not allowed to punch holes in the wall and so therefore they cannot add more air conditioning units.

Also, there are numerous complaints of defects in the residences such as roof leaks and damaged window sashes.

That is all. Thank you for all of your prayers today.

A report from Pastor Ito of Izumi Fukuin Chapel 8/4 (part 2)

Praise the Lord.

With the support and prayers of everyone we were able to hold the first house church meeting in the Akai neighborhood in Higashi Matsushima city on Tuesday the 2nd. We held the meeting in the house of Mr. “S” who is the district welfare officer and has always been cooperative in our food distributions.

The first floor of Mr. "S's" house was destroyed by the tsunami but through the ministry of JAG volunteers it was completely restored.

From the very start of our relief work they invited our team into their home and gave us tea and snacks and recently they have even been providing meals for our relief center staff members.

For this first meeting they not only provided a comfortable meeting place and delicious snacks but they also put out the word to the people in the area gathering in 10 people plus our 6 member team making for a gathering of 16 people!

The message was led by JAG executive committee pastor Hiramatsu and was based on the scripture in Acts 16:31 which reads, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” It was an easy to understand message of Jesus' wonderful salvation in which he shared the testimony of his family's experience in the Kobe earthquake.

We were also greatly blessed to have the musically gifted "O" family, who came as volunteers from the Shinohara church, minister in special song. We began at one o'clock in the afternoon and continued on until four. Hallelujah!

I would really appreciate it if you would pray that we can continue to hold these types of gatherings in the Akai neighborhood of Higashi Matsushima, that there would be many salvations and baptism as a result of the meetings, and that these people would eventually be attendees at the future Higashi Matsushima Relief Center (Outreach Center ⇒ church). I am thankful for everyone’s prayers and support.