Tohoku Ministry Trip, May 2011 
 

My roommate, Janet, and I went on a brief ministry trip up into the Tohoku area (Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures). Here's my report of what happened.

TEAM and PURPOSE

We had a team of nine people altogether: the Somers-Harris family (John, Rhonda, and their daughters Sarah and Mary), Derick Domae, and Brandon Nygaard from YWAM Tokyo; Janet Kao and myself from YWAM Narita, and Matthew from YWAM's US Rescuenet team. (Rescuenet is a disaster response ministry.) The purposes of our trip were: 1) to demonstrate God's love to the people affected by the Tohoku earthquake disaster by taking up some needed supplies and to serve in practical ways, 2) to also find opportunities to share the gospel in verbal or written form, 3) to search out opportunities for future YWAM outreach teams through networking with others and through our own observations. Although our team was sent out as a YWAM outreach team, our trip was planned in coordination with the organization CRASH (which stands for Christian Relief Assistance Support and Hope).

Monday, April 4 
 

After a somewhat hectic week of gathering together the food, water, gasoline, clothing, and donated supplies that we needed for the journey, we left Tokyo at around 9:00am on Monday, April 4. We drove almost 10 hours that day and arrived at the CRASH base in Tono City (Iwate Prefecture) just in time for dinner. (Tono City was relatively undamaged by the earthquake, but it's near some of the worst areas of tsunami destruction.) After dinner, fellowship, and a short planning session with the other missionaries and volunteers at the CRASH base, we went over to a nearby church, where the CRASH team had kindly arranged for us to spend the night.

Tuesday, April 5 
 

Five of us, including Janet and I, were sent to volunteer with teams organized by the Tono City government to help people clean up their houses. The houses closest to the ocean (or along the river) were completely wiped out by the tsunami. However, in neighborhoods a little farther out, the

houses were flooded but still left standing. We went by bus to an area called Otsuchi (near Kamaishi ) where people were cleaning up their housesand trying to get ready to move back in. We spent the day moving out water-soaked debris and digging out mud. It was dirty work, but really enjoyable to be with the people and feel like we were helping them in some small way.

On the bus, I was sitting next to a local man who was also volunteering his time. He told me a lot about what happened during the tsunami and the damage in the area. I mostly just tried to listen. He told me that his house had not been damaged, but he had lost a lot of friends and co-workers in the tsunami. At the end of the day, he gave me his business card and said, "Thank you so much! God bless you!" Since I had been praying before this trip that God would lead me to people He wanted me to witness to, I consider it my "assignment" now to continue to pray for this man and witness to him (by letter maybe?) as the Lord leads.

Many people expressed their appreciation to us--especially because we were foreigners who had come a long way to help them. (The Japanese people are really, really good at showing appreciation!) One older man came and shook hands with each one of us, bowing deeply as he did so. With tears in his eyes, he thanked us over and over for coming to help Japan! In each of these encounters, we tried to let people know that we are Christians, and the reason we had come is because of God's love for the Japanese people.

The other three people in our team were sent to help out at an evacuation center in another area. Their job was to help sort donated clothing, but they also had a good time of building relationships with the community leader and his family. They were able to share the Lord with them, and even left some comic-book Bible tracts for the children.

Wednesday, April 6 
 

We set out in the morning for Sendai City, in Miyagi Prefecture. Our contact there had arranged for us to stay at the rented space now serving as the Samaritan's Purse warehouse. We arrived there in the afternoon and had a time of rest and orientation for the next day. This turned out to be a good place for networking, too, since many different Christian groups, pastors, and missionaries were coming to Samaritan's Purse to pick up supplies to distribute. While we were "resting", we also helped to unload trucks bringing in new supplies.

Thursday, April 7 
 

Since Samaritan's Purse didn't need extra help this day, we decided to drive to the Ishinomaki area and join in an outreach planned by the Tokyo Baptist Church (or TBC for short.) The area of Ishinomaki was hard hit by the tsunami and many people lost their lives. Of the survivors, the ones living in evacuation centers are receiving food, medicine, and other help. However, the people still living in their own homes are having a hard time finding the basic necessities. Stores are not open and most of them lost their cars in the tsunami. The goal of this outreach was to give out household goods and some food to the people still living in their own homes.

We arrived in Ishinomaki early and spent time prayer walking the area. (The devastation here is almost beyond belief!) Once the TBC people arrived, we helped to unload their truck of supplies and get set up. People started lining up as soon as they saw the trucks arrive. By the time we were ready to start, there were probably close to 200 people already waiting. They were eager to receive almost anything that we had to give away, which included things like laundry soap, toothpaste, clothing, and underwear. The second phase was to give out fresh vegetables, meat, and bags of rice, which were also eagerly received. Each person who came through the line received a gospel tract.

Friday, April 8 
 

Our plan for this day was to visit the CRASH base near Sendai and then head back to Tokyo. Before leaving the warehouse, we found out that the CRASH base had been hit pretty hard by the earthquake the night before and was without gas or electricity. So, we took some bottled water and gas canisters (for cooking stoves) with us to give to them. After a short time at the CRASH base, we left for Tokyo. Janet and I finally arrived back home in Tomisato around 10:30pm.

Impressions 
 

I found this ministry trip to be both thought provoking and educational. I have to admit that I had never given much thought to the whole issue of disaster response until recently. I learned a lot through conversation with Matthew (from Rescuenet) and also from listening to the various staff of CRASH and Samaritan's Purse. I've also been learning about how disaster affects people, and pondering what this means in terms of how we should approach people with the gospel. My biggest questions are about what God is intending to accomplish through these events and how He wants us to respond. Finding the answers to these questions, as with everything, will require us to stay close to the Father and keep listening to Him.

My biggest impression right now is that both large scale relief organizations and small volunteer teams are important. The big groups will be better at saving lives, but the little groups will be the ones who can touch hearts. Once the physical needs are fulfilled, taking time to listen, to pray, to give comfort--these are the things that will open doors for the gospel. Jesus said that we should pray for more laborers for the harvest. To me that means that we need a lot of people each doing their little bit. Just like the boy who offered his loaves and fishes when Jesus fed the 5,000, all we can do is offer what we have and ask Jesus to multiply it--and that's when miracles will happen!

God is at work in Japan; much work remains to be done. Thank you for standing with me in prayer for this nation! Let's keep praying!