The rebuilding process in the disaster zone is still on going and new challenges and opportunities continue to arise along the way. At the end of September a big typhoon blew over most of Japan and caused more water damage to houses in the disaster zone. With the ground level having sunk a few inches, flooding occurred in many places. Some people we had helped clean out their homes and replace flooring had to repeat the same process after water emerged into their first floor! But the strong will and determination of the locals to push on and work towards revival is all the more present.

In the areas our church has worked in around Ishinomaki, most families have either cleaned out their house and moved back in, are still waiting for a carpenter to come fix up their house or have moved into temporary housing due to their house being completely destroyed. People are now faced with the challenge being left without a community. It is our vision to help foster communities which existed before the tsunami as well as work with new born communities. We have found that there are about 8 other churches which ended up doing ministry in the same small neighborhood of Watanoha in Ishinomaki. Events are being held each week in the same neighborhood to give friends and families the opportunity to congregate and spend time with eachother. These people have been separated due to their house having either been damaged or completely destroyed. Thus their is movement from churches in helping repair houses to bring people back into their own community.

Within the past couple of months our base has been used by various church organizations to hold events which have brought together a large amount of people from the Watanoha community. The opportunity to hang out and fellowship with friends and family has appeared to be a huge blessing as many locals have begun to express their gratitude concerning this. Praise the lord as one man who is a ward chief in the area became a christian last month at a thanksgiving event held at our place!

Our base has also been used to house volunteers of various organizations coming up to help repair houses, distribute goods, cook food for people in temporary housing etc. Our warehouse has also been a huge blessing as it has room to hold lots of equipment. In the months leading up to winter many people have used our warehouse to store goods for the winter which were in turn distributed to people in the Watanoha community. The Kamizoku base has been a huge blessing!

Please pray for us as we continue to ask God for guidance in our ministry to the communities in Watanoha and other areas of Ishinomaki. Please specifically pray for us as we are deciding how we might better use the Kamizoku base in helping Watanoha develop as a community both physically and emotionally.

I will try to post updates more periodically from now on!

Hisa and KJ up in Ishinomaki sunburnt after a long day of yard work

On Thursday, the 16th, KJ finished up his 6 week service trip with us and returned to the States. He worked so hard to love others, selflessly serving very one including us. We want to thank God for all that He has done through KJ.

Thankfully, KJ is seeking to return to Japan as a long-term missionary as soon as he can, hopefully in the very near future. He wants to work with us and live in Ishinomaki! Please pray for all his preparations (support raising, visas, language school, etc).

Everyone in Ishinomaki (and in Tokyo) hopes to see you soon!

Praying up @ our Base

Last Sunday, we had a prayer meeting with Tohoku Aid and B1 Team at our base in Ishinomaki. In April and in June they had held large-scale prayer meetings down in Osaka, called Hope for Tohoku, where people shared their experiences of serving and prayed for the Tohoku region and the people that they were ministering to. This time they decided to have the Hope for Tohoku up here at our base.

We got to hear from many of the community leaders and friends that their teams had helped and pray for them and this community. It was a powerful time of seeing how God has worked with the view to see what we should do from here on out. Some of the points that were brought up from the local leaders were: care for the hearts of the next generation–the kids, don’t forget about us and you have been a blessing to this community.

We had over 65 people attended this prayer meeting, worshiping and praying together. Most of the Japanese people from the community were not believers, but they still said, “make sure to invite us next time.”

Thank you Chad and everyone who put so much work into this!

A group of teens praying for the event

On Friday, a team from TBC’s (Tokyo Baptist Church) youth came up and did a festival with a concert and gospel presentation. All 40 of the youth were passionate about loving others. The set up a rock concert in our office with a crazy sound system and their talented band. Outside they had different stations where people could eat, drink, get massages, talk, play with water guns, etc.

It was a honor to have them here and get to know some of their team members.  They served almost 200 meals to people in the community and many people heard the gospel presentation. We were able to meet many new people and build new relationships with people living close to our base. We thank God for the TBC team!

God bless!

Mr. Abe helping us unload!

Last week, we received shipment of 230 water servers. Cambro a company in the U.S. donated these for people affected by the disaster. It was a lot of water coolers to unload! KJ and I saw the truck and could not imagine how the two of us would unload the entire shipment. One of our neighbors, Mr. Abe came out and helped us unload all of them!

We have been talking to other Christian organizations, volunteer groups, local schools and sports teams and government officials to see where these can best be used. They are really nice 5 gallon insulated (for both hot and cold beverages) servers.

Thank you so much Jim Skeely from Cambro
and Mr. Kobana from epic-co for everything!

Last week we went for an afternoon hike with Kaito, a local high school student who we have been hanging out with (I’m still in the process of writing up his story). The mountain is only a ten minute drive from our office. We had a great time hiking with and sharing with Kaito.

It is about a hour and a half hike up to this historic location. Though details are sketchy, from artifacts found in the area, it is understood that the mountain top was made into a military facility/stronghold during ancient through medieval times, with a castle and everything. Today it is only a flat open field on top of a mountain with a view looking over the bay, the Pacific Ocean and Ishinomaki.

Thank you Kaito!

Caleb, Meissa, Katia and Gideon hanging out at our base

A few nights ago we had our friends from Osaka, the B-1 Network Tohoku Aid Team, headed up by Chad and Jennifer Huddleston, over for a bbq. Their church has been up here since the beginning tirelessly loving and serving people. In fact, they renovated a house near our office and are working out of it. It was a wonderful time of fellowship. God is working through their ministry as well and we really value their friendship.

Three of Chad’s kids were up here with them as well and we had fun time running around and playing with them.

Yesterday we finally got to play tennis with Mr. Miyamoto. We had been talking about it since we met him almost 4 months ago. Tomo-chan, Mr. Miyamoto’s oldest daughter was in town so she came out and played with us as well. We had such a great time hanging out with them and playing tennis.

Now you may ask, “why post about playing tennis!?” Well, we value relationships and we enjoy having fun. We want to continue to love and further the relationships that God has given us up here.

Everyone at the tennis courts were so nice to us. They just opened back up a month or so ago. I have never ever played tennis right next to rubble and debris. It was a great time with great friends. Mr. Miyamoto even though he is in his late 50′s kicked our butts. We hope to play again very soon!

check out the location of the tennis courts

Enjoy!

KJ pics

Art workshop for kids

Theater for hope

In the mud with KJ and CVC Team

Onagawa and beyond

BBQ, Fireworks and Festival

Backyard fun!?

You guys forgot the "e"!? oh wait...joy to japan!

Last night, Kaito brought over a bunch of fireworks and we invited the Togashi family over for dinner and fireworks. All of the adults were into the fireworks just as much as the kids. We had a great time playing and sharing with our friends.

A few of us wrote out “JOY” with our sprinklers. We need so much more joy in our lives! We want the people up here to experience the joy of Lord.

Psalm 118:24 – “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”