Tsunami Diary Part 3

Tuesday 5 Apr
Go to volunteer centre and Mrs Hoshi the lady in charge thanks me profusely for helping and asks if WE can use any volunteers - obviously there is a glut! Do water duty at Kimigaoka and Shiomidai. Have chat with the guy in charge about church - he lives opposite the one in Shichigahama. Ask at International Centre if they need anything and they want air deodorizer and pork, phone this through to church member Mrs Tada. Go looking for 83 year Mrs Abe Mii who used to visit us a lot but of her house only the foundations remain and there is no sign of her at the Matsugahama evacuation Centre near her house. Get a puncture from a big nail and get it fixed. There is so much debris on the narrow roads.

Wednesday 6 Apr
Water is still off, we hope it is fixed soon. Do Ladies meeting at church and finish Romans. Mrs T gives a testimony about how she was so upset by the tsunami, tearful and unable to sleep at night and then when Joel prayed for her last Sunday she felt a sudden peace come over her and she hasnt been anxious since. The return to Shichigahama is very slow. Now that petrol is available traffic is back to normal but the roads are narrowed with debris and many traffic lights are still out. Deliver pork and deodoriser to International centre. Go to Kimigaoka and Shiomidai water points in the afternoon. Stop off at the huge rubbish tip and chat to a guy there. He seems stunned when I talk about the Creator and the tsunami. I regret not giving him a tract. He says that the tsunami was 18 m here and 23m further up the coast. 900 homes have been lost in Shichigahama. Go round to the Shichigahama Church but nobody is there - it’s state sounds pretty dismal (there are 7 members, one who was killed in the tsunami, the pastor is sick, and some other members are depressed). Find that our water has come back on! Spend some time getting our toilet flush fixed- maybe dirty water had blocked the valve.

Thurs 7 Apr
I try to cancel the car tax by phone but keep losing reception but the patient lady at the other end keeps phoning back until she gets all my details and I can cancel the car registration. Thank you Lord!
Kawauchi the welder comes and arranges to fix the gate. Ask OMFers for special prayer to be able to have Bible Studies in the evacuation centres. At 2332 there is really strong (7.4) quake. This is violent and scary. No electricity, again. I see this quake as answer to prayer for the 3 evac centres and I am sure many people in them are very upset. 2 houses at Takayama have been broken into. Is this rightists threatening us or just thieves?

Friday 8 Apr
Still no electricity all day which is tiresome. No generator either. May the Lord lead me pastorally like He led Gideon, challenging him, helping his weakness, not upbraiding him etc. Feel I really have to act as if God is answering those prayers for the evac centres, so go to the International Centre and set out books below a small notice saying who Jesus is. Give 10l petrol for their generator. Chat to a few people there. Have a nice long chat with Mrs Agatsuma who sleeps in her car with her dog. She and her husband lost her house, shop, business and café to the tsunami at Yoshidahama. Interest her in the US house kits which a friend of mine is planning to import. She says 1/2 the people want to rebuild while the others never want to return. She is a tough determined lady. Give her bible and she thanks me for 'the reading matter'. Go off to the Community Centre evac centre. Put out book table but don’t stay long. Go off to the Yoshidahama Evac centre and when I ask the guy at the desk what the needs are he says 'healing of the heart'. He invites me in. Very interesting time and I virtually preach to the 10 people there.- I am asked why did God send the tsunami, is this a trial? (no), a punishment? (no) but it is a warning to repent! God is now seeking you and Jesus loves sinners etc. Go to get bibles and then find I’m not allowed back in! This is disappointing and catches me off guard. Now it is over to God. Acts 4:30 “Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” I commit them to you! Apparently the last big tsunami was 870 AD - they know this from archaeology and mud deposits.

Sat 9 Apr
Electricity comes on! 2 Tim 1 - Don't be ashamed of 1. the gospel, 2. those who suffer for the gospel v8 or 3. the actual suffering itself v12. Go up to Int Centre. Give some muffins from Glenda to Mishima’s room - only Mrs Watanabe is there. She is chatty and says how she has seen Glenda reading while walking on the beach and once gave her an orange! There is a big clothes shop going on and my books have disappeared but not the notice. At the Community Centre there is another shop going on and everything has disappeared. Another chat with Agatsuma.

Sun 10 Apr
Go to flat with fridge etc. We have 31 adults in church, 3 visitors, so numbers are back to normal even though Oshima is still in Korea, Kuroda in Yokohama etc. Preach on Ps 115 in Japanese service. The only way to glorify Jesus is push ourselves down, like Paul! Warn against depression which renders us useless. We all hand out tracts between services. This is so important - to keep on evangelising and not to get sidetracked. Speak on Mark 4 - storm on the lake- in the English service. Take charcoal to Int Centre. They don’t want old clothes.

Mon 11 Apr
Visit 83 yrold Mrs Abe in Shiomidai Minami who is staying with relatives. She is pleased to see me and adores Glenda. She said she was visiting the hospital with a sore leg and thus was saved from the tsunami - I ask her who ordered that and she said Jesus (but she will not give up her shrines and ancestor worship). 2nd visit to the church here but no one is home. Volunteer team of 6 from Tokyo Bible college arrive at night when it is raining.

Tues 12 Apr
Go through to Bible Study at church, there are 5 and we do the wilderness judgements and Joshua as preparation for studying Judges. Get certificates from Ward Office. Earthquake (mag 6) on the way into Sendai - the car bounces up and down on the Hirose bridge. Walk with Glenda on the beach. Come back with more wood. No water from 10pm...Apparently they need to fix the waste water system!

Wed 13 Apr
Still feeling frustrated and at a loose end. Glenda goes off to Ladies Meeting. See a military crane so go and ask if they can lift my car out (so it can be scrapped) but they are still looking for missing people ie bodies. Talk to Mrs Kamata and her family who are watching this crane smash up her house’s 2nd floor which had washed 100m away from where it once stood. She built this house 4 years ago and still has to pay for the loan! Tell her about Phil’s US house kits. 78 dead and 15 missing. Go to prayer meeting and there are 6 men - we have a good time as we pray for breakthrough. Hear part of this blog will be published in Evangelicals Now.

Thurs 14 Apr
Warm day. Meet another Mrs Endo opposite where I am re-setting the paving stones. She said that 1/2 the people here are called Endo and they are all related (so it's a bit like a Welsh valley). Her house survived even though the wave came up to the top of the ground floor and was directly in it's path. Everything is filled with sand. Talk about God, the tsunami and repentance. She broadly agrees and says that Ishihara (the rightwing Tokyo governor who is a bit of a fruitcake) says that this was a judgement from heaven (hmm...if it really was the whole of Japan would have been wiped out, still it is interesting that he should say that). She stops short of believing. Apparently there was a small tsunami in 1960s but it didn't go over the seawall. 1 Sam. 14:36 - brave priest. Pray that God will set Japan free. A waste of a day spent in front of the computer.

Friday 15 Aprl
1 Sam 15 Saul was small in his own eyes - so he didn’t think what he did was important - was sent on a mission- yet flew upon the spoil- don’t be like him. AoG team help me re-erect some fences on the edge of the Takayama - these will cost a lot to fix. Feel great after a bucket shower. Do water duty at Ekiraku elementary school with 2 army guys. They use a water trailer pulled by an army truck - on each side there are 3 taps so really you need a team of six. So I spend 2 hours busily filling bottles for a long queue of people to the gratitude of soldiers. One bows like a safety pin afterwards and gives me his tinned coffee! These young guys are also part of the mission field.

Sat 16 Apr
Phone Mrs Kamata - she is no longer going to see my US house contact as arranged- she seemed to say it is too early and the municipality hasnt given permission to rebuild on low ground yet. Prepare sermon. Go to Kimigaoka Water point. Crowds of people. Very busy as I’m the only volunteer helping the army water trucks again - 3 taps to one guy. Long queues as the water trucks run out of water. Some are irritable with me! Most though are friendly. Meet one lady who says she had just moved back from Yokohama, when I witness to her she says that she used to come to church as a child at Takayama, not the first old person who has told me that. Maybe that seed sown will bare fruit. Again get on well with the soldiers. At Inter Centre meet Mr Sato, he is a fisherman and has lost his house, his boat, his business, car and 2 family members. What can I say? Only that the God who took everything away is the only hope to give back, and that I will pray to God for him. This was very inadequate.

Sun 17 Apr
Drive through Natori and Iwanuma coastal areas with Glenda. In Japanese service preach on the Meaning of the Cross (for our sins, as our example, to cope with suffering). 39 adults. Budget meeting goes well. Glenda's hearing aid sent by Dad in UK arrives! Ps 107 in English Service. God redeems but he upsets the status quo v32ff to do so. 'He turns the fruitful field into a salty waste': he has certainly done that here. (Some say it will be 10 years before rice can be planted again in the inundated areas). We are supposed to be awestruck by the storm even while it threatens our life (v24). Makiko the middle school teacher attends. Her school in Watari was flooded and 400 people were stranded on the 2nd floor for 2 days w/o food or water. To me it is noticeable that Christians are becoming more zealous and God-centred...

Mon 18 Apr
Mrs Aoki from the Water Board tells me that the water is now drinkable so the water distribution has finally ceased. So in the 38 days since the quake we had no running water for 30 days or electricity for 29 days. We have 39 volunteers in 2 huge teams staying at Takayama in 4 houses and I have to get the LP gas working in one of them.

Tues 19 Apr
Pouring with rain. After the Bible Study I am sitting at the Transport Office getting a scrap certificate for our old car. There is a 4 hour wait because so many cars were destroyed by the tsunami. Long and boring and they should have increased their capacity to cope with the numbers. 2 old women sit next to me and I overhear them, “Is he reading English?’, " No he is reading Japanese’, "it’s a bible" so I start talking to one of them and she used to go to Sunday School and was defensive when challenged but I told her straight. Cold and snowy in the evening.

Wed 20 Apr
1 Sam 30:6 David strengthened himself in the Lord. Glenda goes off to Ladies Meeting. Go to Endo the carpenter and he will have the AoG team from Thurs. He lost his house and everything in it. His large warehouse remains but his wood is covered with mud (in Japan carpenters build houses). Go to church prayer meeting.

Thurs 21 Apr
Spend all day cleaning off Endo’s wood with 3 of AoG team using two water jets.

Fri 22 Apr
Spend morning cleaning off Endo’s wood with the 9 of the AoG team. They are cheerful and bright and create a good impression, and old Endo is very buoyant, full of good humour and is obviously encouraged - a big change. The young athletic guy from Saitama who I did water duty with stops in the road to say goodbye. Go to International Centre and meet policeman and woman. They are friendly and talkative and I can chat about the Lord and give them bibles which they accept.

Sat 23 Apr
Prepare sermon, carry up timber. Pouring with rain all day and windy. Visit the Shichigahama church and again no one is there. Glenda and I go for a walk along the beach, but 3 police buses stop, policemen pour out and tell us a tsunami is coming. So we rush off the beach. They try to take us to the evacuation centre but we say we are going up to our cabin. Phone Wendy to warn her. We go to the cliff to look: there is no tsunami. We later find out that this is a storm surge warning. We can expect many false alarms now.