Dear Friends,
Please take a few minutes if you can to see a couple of videos:
1) A news report of the tsunami hitting Kamaishi City in northern Japan:
2) Relief work in Kamaishi City (starts with a video of Tom there last week):
Tom and nine others from here in Nagoya took a 4-1/2 day trip last week up north, primarily to Kamaishi City on the coast. They drove two truckloads full of supplies and a van of people to help. In Kamaishi they saw cars hanging from second-floor balconies and on the rooftops. The smell of death was all around, almost overwhelmingly. Dead bodies are continually being found, along with dead animals, dead fish washed in from the sea, etc. On one day when they were working at a house in the area, the police came and got another dead body from two doors down that had just been discovered.
The one church in the area has only 15 members. The members themselves are reeling from the disaster but doing all they can to help. The pastor's house was wiped out and he is living in one of the shelters. The church is still in tact and was the ONLY building in the area that had running water for several days after the earthquake and tsunami. They have gladly shared their "miracle water" with people from all over the area, along with food and other supplies that have been brought in to the church.
The team spread out. Tom and three others went to work helping Mrs. F, whose husband had been killed in the tsunami. She had been at her family business and had somehow been able to help her elderly mother to safety, with water lapping at their heels. Her husband was a few minutes away at home, where he, their home and neighborhood were all wiped out by the tsunami. Now she had no one to help go through the rubble that had been their family business. Tom and the others worked alongside her, salvaging what they could, ripping out rotting, destroyed flooring, etc. Three women went on the trip this time for the particular purpose of offering more emotional support to the victims. They had the opportunity to hug and cry with her, and the whole team prayed with her and offered physical labor support, which was very comforting to her. They even sang a song to her about God's love for her.
While some continued helping her the following day, Tom and others went on to help a couple in their mid 70's and their son who had fled to the 3rd floor of their home to escape the tsunami. (This home can be seen in both the videos above.) As the water continued to come higher and higher, they thought they would die, but they were able to go up into their closet, another step higher, and grab on to the bar at the top of the closet and hold on. They could look out the door and see three people hanging onto an antenna on top of a building across the way. Other buildings around them were being wiped out all the while. Their neighbors on both sides were killed and their homes were destroyed. Tom and the others helped them sort through the rubble and salvage what they could, particularly photographs and other things of sentimental value. The devastation is hard to get your mind around. They were also able to visit the hospital, also serving as an evacuation shelter, and deliver care packages to people there (including the elderly mother of Mrs. F., whom they helped the first day).
We asked the pastor there what else we could do to help; he said he would like help to take people to a public bath an hour away--a physical comfort and help, as well as an emotional encouragement and hope-builder. So another group from our church went after Tom and his group returned, primarily going to take people to get baths. A nurse and another young woman went along to help people in and out of baths who are not physically strong enough to do it for themselves. Another huge truckload of supplies went out as well. May God continue to help His Church be the arms of Christ during this time of excruciating pain and suffering for so many. And may the gospel bring hope that will never fail, that will never be wiped out or destroyed. Oh God, have mercy.
While relief efforts continue, so does God's work in Nagoya. A new missionary family, Michael, Cathalain, and Tobin Carter have just arrived to join our team. We are continuing with choir activities in the midst of things, and the LORD is blessing that as well. One particularly exciting development is that we started an introductory course to the Bible for choir members this week, led by Bruce Young, a veteran missionary to Japan who is back in Nagoya for about 5 weeks. We had a small group in our home this Tuesday, and there were great questions and discussion. Others are planning to come in the coming three weeks. Please pray for this great opportunity and for how the LORD will continue to lead in that.
Please pray too for us as some of the choir members will be singing at an evangelistic meeting called "Heart and Soul" this Sunday afternoon and hearing a gospel message from our MTW country leader, Dan Iverson. We trust the LORD will use this in their hearts for the sake of the gospel.
Please pray for clear leading from the LORD. We are very tired--missionaries, church members, etc.--but we are so thankful for the grace and strength to serve. We really need ongoing clarity in HOW to serve in the midst of such need. We want to continue to be led clearly by the LORD, not just responding in a knee-jerk way to the urgency of the need. God is so good and will surely continue to lead.
We will continue to trust the LORD to take care of the nuclear situation. He is God and is in charge, even in the midst of this broken, fallen world.
Thank you so much for sending us, for praying for us and for praying for the people of Japan. We are simply an extension of the many of you who have sent us. The Body of Christ is beautiful.
God bless you and keep you in His peace. In Christ's love,
Tom, Teresa, Ian & Liana Wilson
MTW Missionaries to Japan
Tax-Deductible Donations: Payable to Mission to the World • PO Box 116284, Atlanta, GA 30368-6284
(Account # 018228)
For disaster relief donations:
The account is 93993 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. You may give online: click here . Or you may send a check to:
Mission to the World
P.O. Box 116284
Atlanta, GA 30368-6284
(Please be sure to write Project # 93993 on the memo line. )
So, being the music fan, I had to take a closer look. Perhaps it is a real treasure.
Apparently Michael loves Lauren. So much! Probably everyone has been Michael or Lauren at least once. So, we are presented with a mystery. How did the shiny disc come to rest in my front yard? Was Lauren unappreciative of Michael or his taste in music? Was the disc flung in anger or simply left on top of the car, only to blow off at my house? Did Michael have a change of heart about the gift? Was it left there in hopes she would walk by and discover it? I do not know Michael nor Lauren. In any case, I hope Lauren was worthy of Michael's love and that he deserved her.
Amy finds a way to get under the disc.
And a way to get rid of it to a teammate.
Wade decides that the opponent needs a big-ole-hug.
Banpaku Kinen-Koen is Osaka Prefecture's Expo Park, where the World Exposition was held in 1970. It is a very large place, and only a quarter mile or so from where we lived. We enjoyed visiting again.
