Sunday, 29 May 2011
Preaching point and relief centre
Praise God! We have been given the go-ahead to start a preaching point and relief centre in Arai Machi, east Sendai, an area hard-hit by the tsunami. We will start in a month's time and it will be staffed by church member Tadamitsu. OMF has agreed to release part of the Sendai Earthquake Relief Fund for this and the church voted 19 to 0 to proceed.
Saturday, 21 May 2011
Prayer Partner Letter May 2011
Dear Prayer Partners
Thank you for all your prayers, and expressions of support both financial and in other ways.
Please pray for,
1. Mr Sato, a fisherman who lost everything and is reading the bible
2. The Agatsuma family who also lost everything and say they want to come to church.
3. Four different Endo families with whom we have had significant contact.
4. The Aikawa family who spent the night of the tsunami in our house and who we see almost daily
5. The many people who have heard the gospel in Shichigahama and Sendai to believe.
6. That God do great and wonderful things.
7. As a church we have submitted a request to OMF to receive funds from the Sendai Earthquake Relief Fund to start a preaching point/relief centre at Arai Machi staffed by church member Tadamitsu Nishimura, that it would be granted in full.
8. Praise for the cooperation and zeal and love we have seem among church members.
9. For us to be spiritually alert and obedient.
10. For the Lovestrands who leave us for home assignment in US.
11. For Glenda's English class ladies to be converted.
12. For Christine writing AS levels in Hebron, India.
13. For Esther applying for a loan for UK university
And as last month please continue to pray for,
14. The Japanese church and the missionaries to speak the gospel with boldness.
15. God to truly convert many to faith in Christ and churches to be planted in these devastated coastal areas.
For a map of the inundated area and places mentioned in our diary see
http://rodthomas.drivehq.com/mission/Submerged_Sendai.htmll
For old and recent pics see
http://rodthomas.drivehq.com/mission/Tsunami_2011.htmll
For some thoughts concerning evangelism in a disaster area see
http://rodthomas.drivehq.com/mission/Evangelism_and_the_Tsunami.html
Here is our video of the 3rd (small) tsunami
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox-VRFJ6f8c
Thanks again
Thank you for all your prayers, and expressions of support both financial and in other ways.
Please pray for,
1. Mr Sato, a fisherman who lost everything and is reading the bible
2. The Agatsuma family who also lost everything and say they want to come to church.
3. Four different Endo families with whom we have had significant contact.
4. The Aikawa family who spent the night of the tsunami in our house and who we see almost daily
5. The many people who have heard the gospel in Shichigahama and Sendai to believe.
6. That God do great and wonderful things.
7. As a church we have submitted a request to OMF to receive funds from the Sendai Earthquake Relief Fund to start a preaching point/relief centre at Arai Machi staffed by church member Tadamitsu Nishimura, that it would be granted in full.
8. Praise for the cooperation and zeal and love we have seem among church members.
9. For us to be spiritually alert and obedient.
10. For the Lovestrands who leave us for home assignment in US.
11. For Glenda's English class ladies to be converted.
12. For Christine writing AS levels in Hebron, India.
13. For Esther applying for a loan for UK university
And as last month please continue to pray for,
14. The Japanese church and the missionaries to speak the gospel with boldness.
15. God to truly convert many to faith in Christ and churches to be planted in these devastated coastal areas.
For a map of the inundated area and places mentioned in our diary see
http://rodthomas.drivehq.com/mission/Submerged_Sendai.htmll
For old and recent pics see
http://rodthomas.drivehq.com/mission/Tsunami_2011.htmll
For some thoughts concerning evangelism in a disaster area see
http://rodthomas.drivehq.com/mission/Evangelism_and_the_Tsunami.html
Here is our video of the 3rd (small) tsunami
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox-VRFJ6f8c
Thanks again
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Tsunami Diary Part 4
Sun 24 Apr Easter
Stormy sea. Sunny. Good numbers at church (33 including Miss WhiteStone). Preach on resurrection in Japanese service and Ps 30 in English service.
Mon 25 Apr
Sunny followed by violent thunderstorm. Mr Takeuchi brings us his Honda Civic to borrow until we get another car. He comes with 4 other guys and they go to Shiogama to work there as volunteers. They have come all the way from Tokyo. We really appreciate the loan of his car! Go to International Centre which is being used as an evacuation centre. Talk to another Mrs Aizawa. Her house was destroyed at Gamo near Sendai harbour and she has come to visit her sister who lives here. Interest her in the US house kits. She had lived hear here when young and gone to church at Takayama and taken missionary kids for horse rides. Witness to her. Mr Sato the fisherman comes to see me, he is very friendly and almost hugs me, he accepts the bible and tracts and says he will treasure them. Pray that God will convert him. Meet Yasuko the old lady who got Glenda’s coat. She bows deeply. I give her a tract with my name and tel. Hear the telephones may be re-connected by the middle of May - but this turns out to be a rumour. There are photos of houses with maps saying ‘We are looking for the owner of this house’. International Centre staff say they would like pork.
Tues 26 Apr
Bible study at church (with 4). Stuck in traffic jam coming back. Take pork to International Centre. The welder comes to fix the Takayama gate. He’s a very friendly and uncomplicated guy and we chat for ages. Witness to him too.
Wed 27th Apr
Earthquake mg. 3. Old Mrs Endo comes to talk and she has started to plant vegetables in her garden which was under 7m of water during the tsunami! Glenda goes off to Ladies Meeting and English class. We meet the two Mrs Aikawas coming up to meet us. They bring a 5 kg bag of rice and some knitted neck warmers to say thank you for having them on the night of the tsunam. They will move back in to their house tomorrow. Prayer meeting.
Thurs 28th Apr
Visit Mr Agatsuma at yacht basin. Meet Mrs Suzuki: she has lost her seaweed processor machine (10 million yen). Her house is still standing but she is depressed and undecided about what to do, as it will cost so much to fix. Their car was also destroyed and tell her I will leave a bicycle outside next week. Sato the fisherman says he wants to study the bible which is great news. Earthquake mag 4.
Fri 29th Apr
Go to International Centre with Glenda. The workmen start to clear the roadside near the beach at Azukihama. The Endos come and talk.
Sat 30th Apr
Pastor Otomo from Shiogama Baptist Church visits. He has 70 members and they have been helping a kindergarten connected to a Buddhist temple to get cleaned up and this has given them an open door. He wants us to teach English there on Tuesdays but both Glenda and I are busy then.
Sun 1 May
Go to church. (30 adults). Joel speaks on judgement. Talk about Field Director’s visit next week with a committee we appoint for the task. We decide that our main need is land and buildings for a church. The conversation between services is about funeral flowers. Tadamitsu says that he would like carnivorous plants at his funeral because he enjoyed meat when he was alive! Speak on Ps 2 for English service. We have a good discussion on how to witness to people in the aftermath of the tsunami. Take 10 cabbages to the International Centre.
Mon 2 May
Take bicycle to Mrs Suzuki but she isnt there. Arrange for 6 Assemblies of God volunteer workers for Agatsuma and Endo. This is very worthwhile. While I am clearing wood from the beach carpark Kumiko Miura comes to talk who is grieving for her friend Kondo who worked in a dentist surgery in Shobutahama and died in the tsunami. She seems friendly and interested.
Tues 3 May
AoG team clears out the mud from the lower gate area at Takayama.
Wed 4 May
Go for walk with Glenda. Meet 77 yr old Mrs Aikawa who was coming to back to the International Centre because she missed her friends. She says it is boring being back home (which her son has cleaned up and made habitable!). She has brought each person there a banana! Talk to Sato in his room. It is encouraging that he reads his Bible, may he really have faith.
Thurs 5 May
2 Kings 5 Elisha just leaves Naaman to go off in rage and doesn’t intervene. Says to Gehazi ‘Was it a time to accept money?’… Note the danger of covetousness.
Some Christians are very disappointing. I take a huge team of 20 men to lift the Aizawa’s steel shed out of the ditch and they take one look and say “Impossible.. Too dangerous” and walk away. Not the same religion as David or Nehemiah or Paul! Walk with Glenda, and chat with an old lady who is going into temporary housing and worried about doing her own shopping from now on. In the evacuation centre all their meals were provided. Have a little Bible study with Sato on Lk 15 which encouraged me. Feel tired all day.
Fri 6 May
Same tiredness. 2 Kings 5 They call the prophet mad but still believe him and act on his words! Maybe people say the same about us but it doesn’t matter so long as they believe! Help a bit with a family by the harbour. Chat with Agatsuma. Prepare sermon. There were fewer casualties here because people had high ground they could easily escape to. It was different in Ishinomaki or Natori which were flat. Visit Shichigahama Church for the 5th time of trying: and at last meet Rev Oyama and pray with him.
Sat 7 May
Prepare Sermon. Visit Sato in International Centre and read Prodigal Son together.
Sun 8 May
Preach on John 15 Jesus the Vine. OMF Field Director talks with church committee. Take him around Arai Machi and Yuriage and Iwanuma. Meet church member Miho Onodera who is a Natori City councillor where she is introducing a music group to bystanders. I feel great regret when I see the devastation at Yuriage, We never tracted here even though we were the closest church. She tells me that theft was commonplace after the tsunami: many thieves stole from houses when the occupants had fled. So the media is quite wrong to praise the Japanese for honesty the way they do.
Mon 9 May
Wasted day - tired. Speak to an old but elegant lady called Ichikawa Mitsue who has come to encourage the people in the evacuation centres. Apparently she used to be a famous singer and she gives me some of her songs, and I give her a bible. Visit from De Wets.
Tues 10 May
Good talk with Suzuki Chiaki with Lovestrands - it seems that God is working in her life and go through the tract Two Ways to Live with her. She stays for bible study. Take plastic storage boxes to International Centre. Mrs Agatsuma says she will come to church one day. Apparently 400 temporary homes have been built and they will be moving everybody out of all the evacuation centres in 3 weeks.
Wed 11 May
Go for run. Glenda goes to Ladies meeting. Work from 9:30 to 3pm at Agatsuma’s yard clearing rubbish. A yacht owner Morita comes to help. Tell him about God. Go to Softbank and get iPhone 4 which is free with a 2-year contract, get haircut and suction hose from DIY. Talk with Tadamitsu and Joel about Wolfgang’s request for a proposal for funding for our church’s preaching point and use of relief funds, good time of prayer.
Thurs 12 May
Go for run. Heavy rain in the evening. Decide to buy the car which the Takeuchis have found for us.
Friday 13 May
Well nothing unlucky happened today! Glenda goes off to English Classes in pm. Take my black suit to Sato in the International Centre for so he can attend the funeral of his sister and neice. He is very grateful and I’m glad he felt free to ask.
Saturday 14 May
Chat to workmen who are clearing the beach carpark. Go out for Glenda’s birthday. Turn on gas for a team of relief workers
Sunday 15th May
35 adults and 5 children in church and preach on Luke 13:1-9 on repentance. How many more would have died if the announcement over the loudspeakers had been inaudible- an how the church must be a faithful watchman to Japan to warn of the coming judgement (Ezekiel 3). 15 of us hand out tracts around Nakada Chuo Park. The tsunami came near here but the motorway acted as a dike and prevented it pouring even further inland. People friendly.
Monday 16th May
The Takeuchi volunteer team of 5 come up for a very early breakfast at 0630! Do some of the car documentation with them. One of them is the daughter of Mrs Tamura my English teacher from Sapporo 24 years ago - it is a small world (esp for Christians in Japan)! 1Chr. 16:11 “Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually”. A good verse for these days. Old Endo comes and thanks me for the work we have done for him.
Tuesday 17th May
Meet the Chiba Grace church team again. Bible Study at church (only 3 come). Glenda has first day of teaching at Shokei University. Go tracting at Higashi Nakada for 2 hours. I feel this is very worthwhile. People are friendly but no meaningful conversations - pray for this. Get a Mobile Broadband. Now we have internet! Spend night in flat near the church.
Wed 18th May
There is a heap of tsunami rubbish near the church and the kind watchman there lets me take a bicycle wheel. Fold tracts and go off to hand them out at Higashi Nakada. Pray with Ladies meeting. Tracting again in the afternoon. Nichiren Buddhist man challenges me and we have a goodnatured argument. He thinks everything was made by the sun. He wont listen to anything I say so I say I’ll pray for him. ‘Lord open his eyes’. Write proposal for preaching point staffed by Tadamitsu. Two German men come into the church and I assume they are normal Christians but they are ‘prophets’ who think that the tsunami means God is punishing Japan who is going to send another tsunami. One of them has ‘The Wrath of God ‘in Japanese and Rom 1:18 on his T shirt. They can’t speak Japanese so they can’t explain this or point anyone to Christ, or I’m not sure even if they truly believe themselves. I don’t know what they hope to accomplish by coming to Japan and I fear they will just discourage people and make our job more difficult. When I point this out they start accusing me of being disobedient. They don’t have the means to evangelise nor the right attitude. Zeal for God is not enough. God is primarily glorified when sinners repent which they wont do unless Christ is preached. After 1 hr I ask them to leave. Have a good prayer meeting with Joel, Tadamitsu and Higashi. We are longing for even just one conversion which might be the start of an explosion.
Thurs 19th May
Endo comes with a load of gravel and fix the eroded road as best we can. Get ready house for the OMF relief team coming next week. 70 days since the tsunami and still the phones havent been connected!
Stormy sea. Sunny. Good numbers at church (33 including Miss WhiteStone). Preach on resurrection in Japanese service and Ps 30 in English service.
Mon 25 Apr
Sunny followed by violent thunderstorm. Mr Takeuchi brings us his Honda Civic to borrow until we get another car. He comes with 4 other guys and they go to Shiogama to work there as volunteers. They have come all the way from Tokyo. We really appreciate the loan of his car! Go to International Centre which is being used as an evacuation centre. Talk to another Mrs Aizawa. Her house was destroyed at Gamo near Sendai harbour and she has come to visit her sister who lives here. Interest her in the US house kits. She had lived hear here when young and gone to church at Takayama and taken missionary kids for horse rides. Witness to her. Mr Sato the fisherman comes to see me, he is very friendly and almost hugs me, he accepts the bible and tracts and says he will treasure them. Pray that God will convert him. Meet Yasuko the old lady who got Glenda’s coat. She bows deeply. I give her a tract with my name and tel. Hear the telephones may be re-connected by the middle of May - but this turns out to be a rumour. There are photos of houses with maps saying ‘We are looking for the owner of this house’. International Centre staff say they would like pork.
Tues 26 Apr
Bible study at church (with 4). Stuck in traffic jam coming back. Take pork to International Centre. The welder comes to fix the Takayama gate. He’s a very friendly and uncomplicated guy and we chat for ages. Witness to him too.
Wed 27th Apr
Earthquake mg. 3. Old Mrs Endo comes to talk and she has started to plant vegetables in her garden which was under 7m of water during the tsunami! Glenda goes off to Ladies Meeting and English class. We meet the two Mrs Aikawas coming up to meet us. They bring a 5 kg bag of rice and some knitted neck warmers to say thank you for having them on the night of the tsunam. They will move back in to their house tomorrow. Prayer meeting.
Thurs 28th Apr
Visit Mr Agatsuma at yacht basin. Meet Mrs Suzuki: she has lost her seaweed processor machine (10 million yen). Her house is still standing but she is depressed and undecided about what to do, as it will cost so much to fix. Their car was also destroyed and tell her I will leave a bicycle outside next week. Sato the fisherman says he wants to study the bible which is great news. Earthquake mag 4.
Fri 29th Apr
Go to International Centre with Glenda. The workmen start to clear the roadside near the beach at Azukihama. The Endos come and talk.
Sat 30th Apr
Pastor Otomo from Shiogama Baptist Church visits. He has 70 members and they have been helping a kindergarten connected to a Buddhist temple to get cleaned up and this has given them an open door. He wants us to teach English there on Tuesdays but both Glenda and I are busy then.
Sun 1 May
Go to church. (30 adults). Joel speaks on judgement. Talk about Field Director’s visit next week with a committee we appoint for the task. We decide that our main need is land and buildings for a church. The conversation between services is about funeral flowers. Tadamitsu says that he would like carnivorous plants at his funeral because he enjoyed meat when he was alive! Speak on Ps 2 for English service. We have a good discussion on how to witness to people in the aftermath of the tsunami. Take 10 cabbages to the International Centre.
Mon 2 May
Take bicycle to Mrs Suzuki but she isnt there. Arrange for 6 Assemblies of God volunteer workers for Agatsuma and Endo. This is very worthwhile. While I am clearing wood from the beach carpark Kumiko Miura comes to talk who is grieving for her friend Kondo who worked in a dentist surgery in Shobutahama and died in the tsunami. She seems friendly and interested.
Tues 3 May
AoG team clears out the mud from the lower gate area at Takayama.
Wed 4 May
Go for walk with Glenda. Meet 77 yr old Mrs Aikawa who was coming to back to the International Centre because she missed her friends. She says it is boring being back home (which her son has cleaned up and made habitable!). She has brought each person there a banana! Talk to Sato in his room. It is encouraging that he reads his Bible, may he really have faith.
Thurs 5 May
2 Kings 5 Elisha just leaves Naaman to go off in rage and doesn’t intervene. Says to Gehazi ‘Was it a time to accept money?’… Note the danger of covetousness.
Some Christians are very disappointing. I take a huge team of 20 men to lift the Aizawa’s steel shed out of the ditch and they take one look and say “Impossible.. Too dangerous” and walk away. Not the same religion as David or Nehemiah or Paul! Walk with Glenda, and chat with an old lady who is going into temporary housing and worried about doing her own shopping from now on. In the evacuation centre all their meals were provided. Have a little Bible study with Sato on Lk 15 which encouraged me. Feel tired all day.
Fri 6 May
Same tiredness. 2 Kings 5 They call the prophet mad but still believe him and act on his words! Maybe people say the same about us but it doesn’t matter so long as they believe! Help a bit with a family by the harbour. Chat with Agatsuma. Prepare sermon. There were fewer casualties here because people had high ground they could easily escape to. It was different in Ishinomaki or Natori which were flat. Visit Shichigahama Church for the 5th time of trying: and at last meet Rev Oyama and pray with him.
Sat 7 May
Prepare Sermon. Visit Sato in International Centre and read Prodigal Son together.
Sun 8 May
Preach on John 15 Jesus the Vine. OMF Field Director talks with church committee. Take him around Arai Machi and Yuriage and Iwanuma. Meet church member Miho Onodera who is a Natori City councillor where she is introducing a music group to bystanders. I feel great regret when I see the devastation at Yuriage, We never tracted here even though we were the closest church. She tells me that theft was commonplace after the tsunami: many thieves stole from houses when the occupants had fled. So the media is quite wrong to praise the Japanese for honesty the way they do.
Mon 9 May
Wasted day - tired. Speak to an old but elegant lady called Ichikawa Mitsue who has come to encourage the people in the evacuation centres. Apparently she used to be a famous singer and she gives me some of her songs, and I give her a bible. Visit from De Wets.
Tues 10 May
Good talk with Suzuki Chiaki with Lovestrands - it seems that God is working in her life and go through the tract Two Ways to Live with her. She stays for bible study. Take plastic storage boxes to International Centre. Mrs Agatsuma says she will come to church one day. Apparently 400 temporary homes have been built and they will be moving everybody out of all the evacuation centres in 3 weeks.
Wed 11 May
Go for run. Glenda goes to Ladies meeting. Work from 9:30 to 3pm at Agatsuma’s yard clearing rubbish. A yacht owner Morita comes to help. Tell him about God. Go to Softbank and get iPhone 4 which is free with a 2-year contract, get haircut and suction hose from DIY. Talk with Tadamitsu and Joel about Wolfgang’s request for a proposal for funding for our church’s preaching point and use of relief funds, good time of prayer.
Thurs 12 May
Go for run. Heavy rain in the evening. Decide to buy the car which the Takeuchis have found for us.
Friday 13 May
Well nothing unlucky happened today! Glenda goes off to English Classes in pm. Take my black suit to Sato in the International Centre for so he can attend the funeral of his sister and neice. He is very grateful and I’m glad he felt free to ask.
Saturday 14 May
Chat to workmen who are clearing the beach carpark. Go out for Glenda’s birthday. Turn on gas for a team of relief workers
Sunday 15th May
35 adults and 5 children in church and preach on Luke 13:1-9 on repentance. How many more would have died if the announcement over the loudspeakers had been inaudible- an how the church must be a faithful watchman to Japan to warn of the coming judgement (Ezekiel 3). 15 of us hand out tracts around Nakada Chuo Park. The tsunami came near here but the motorway acted as a dike and prevented it pouring even further inland. People friendly.
Monday 16th May
The Takeuchi volunteer team of 5 come up for a very early breakfast at 0630! Do some of the car documentation with them. One of them is the daughter of Mrs Tamura my English teacher from Sapporo 24 years ago - it is a small world (esp for Christians in Japan)! 1Chr. 16:11 “Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually”. A good verse for these days. Old Endo comes and thanks me for the work we have done for him.
Tuesday 17th May
Meet the Chiba Grace church team again. Bible Study at church (only 3 come). Glenda has first day of teaching at Shokei University. Go tracting at Higashi Nakada for 2 hours. I feel this is very worthwhile. People are friendly but no meaningful conversations - pray for this. Get a Mobile Broadband. Now we have internet! Spend night in flat near the church.
Wed 18th May
There is a heap of tsunami rubbish near the church and the kind watchman there lets me take a bicycle wheel. Fold tracts and go off to hand them out at Higashi Nakada. Pray with Ladies meeting. Tracting again in the afternoon. Nichiren Buddhist man challenges me and we have a goodnatured argument. He thinks everything was made by the sun. He wont listen to anything I say so I say I’ll pray for him. ‘Lord open his eyes’. Write proposal for preaching point staffed by Tadamitsu. Two German men come into the church and I assume they are normal Christians but they are ‘prophets’ who think that the tsunami means God is punishing Japan who is going to send another tsunami. One of them has ‘The Wrath of God ‘in Japanese and Rom 1:18 on his T shirt. They can’t speak Japanese so they can’t explain this or point anyone to Christ, or I’m not sure even if they truly believe themselves. I don’t know what they hope to accomplish by coming to Japan and I fear they will just discourage people and make our job more difficult. When I point this out they start accusing me of being disobedient. They don’t have the means to evangelise nor the right attitude. Zeal for God is not enough. God is primarily glorified when sinners repent which they wont do unless Christ is preached. After 1 hr I ask them to leave. Have a good prayer meeting with Joel, Tadamitsu and Higashi. We are longing for even just one conversion which might be the start of an explosion.
Thurs 19th May
Endo comes with a load of gravel and fix the eroded road as best we can. Get ready house for the OMF relief team coming next week. 70 days since the tsunami and still the phones havent been connected!
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