Update on March 15th

We have received more messages and calls from many of you! We realized so many people that we don’t even know are praying for us and supporting us.  Words can’t express how thankful we are!  Your prayers and encouragement mean the world to us!

Many people prayed for my grandparents.  God answered our prayers, and my grandparents and aunts are safe.  They were staying at my grandparent’s house which is  on a hill and everything around them was flooded.  They saw the tsunami washing the city away and my aunt said she can’t even describe what she had seen.  My grandfather requires dialysis so he had to go to the hospital.  Since they could not take him there, my aunt went down the hill to ask for help.  She walked in water to get to the nearest hospital.  Thankfully, they were able to send a truck to get him.  The phone service in the entire city is down so my aunt decided to come back to our city to let us know that they are all safe.  She was able to find a person who was willing to give her an one hour ride home (most of the way, Japanese people have been very helpful and polite).  She is taking my cousin to go back to my grandparents’ place in a few days to bring them to our city.  We will be asking them to take some food and water so that they can give them to the people in that area who don’t have anything.  Please pray that the roads to go up the hill will be open by then.

Power was restored last night so we were able to stay in a warm house.  We are very thankful for this, but still heartbroken for those who don’t have anything.  Many temporary shelters do not have power so people there are still staying in a cold place.  We were up most of the night watching the news, and we are very concerned about the explosions of the nuclear power plants.  They are located in Fukushima prefecture (like a state) which is south of us.  The Japanese government is telling people in that area to evacuate.  As of now, we have not been told to evacuate.  We also called the US Embassy in Tokyo and they said they are not telling Americans in this area to evacuate as of now.  However, it is obvious that threat of radiation contamination is very serious and we are doing everything we can do to protect ourselves and help others to understand the seriousness of this situation.  Many people are panicked and they don’t know what to do.

Since we can’t evacuate to the south or north without a car or public transportation, we are staying home today and tomorrow (or until we know it is safe).  Our car is almost out of gasoline.  We went to all the gas stations around here but none of them had gas.  Their workers didn’t even know when they would have some.   Major highways are closed to the public and only emergency vehicles are allowed to use them.  Most of the train systems in northern Japan are shut down.  At this point, we have no way to get out of this city.  So we will do our best to help others in need while we do what we can do to take care of our health.

Since we have been advised to stay home today, we are trying to make it productive.  Our house is still a mess since we haven’t had a chance to clean without power.  The boxes that were stacked up are everywhere in one of the rooms.  We have some plants, picture frames, books, and decorations that fell from the shelves, and there are also some broken glasses.  We are also trying to clean water damage in the house.

My friend in Canada asked me to help her friend who supervises English teachers from other countries.  She has not been able to make sure if all of them are okay.  Since I have internet and cell phone service, I hope to help her locate these teachers.  I can’t even imagine how terrified they are without knowing enough Japanese to understand what is going on.  I know many of them want to evacuate or fly home but they can’t go to the international airport at this point.  Please pray I can minister to them during this time.  If you know anyone from other countries who are still missing, please e-mail us.  I will do our best to contact the local government officials/schools/shelters to find out if they have any information.

While the Japanese army, aid from other countries (we are SO thankful), and volunteers work very hard to take care of the people on the coastline (they are working nonstop- please pray for them), we will do our best take care of the people here who need help.  There are still so many people at the temporary shelters.  I saw an old man on a street who was on his way home from the shelter.  I tried to comfort him and encourage him, but what he said really encouraged me.  He said, “What I went through is nothing compared to those who lost family and everything else.”

We met a family who evacuated from Arahama town that was washed away by the tsunami.  They have some relatives in our neighborhood.  Their house was destroyed and they lost everything.  The only clothes that two girls have are their school uniforms.  We offered clothes that we have.  We are trying to find out what else they need.

We are also trying to help people around our church.  Our church is located in the suburb of Sendai and most of the houses are okay.  However, they still don’t have power (it means no heat!) and water.  When we went to church on Sunday, we saw our dear friend who came with her four kids.  Her husband is in the Japanese army and has not come home since last Friday.  She can’t stay in line to buy food because she can’t leave her kids at her house due to severe aftershocks.  They have been staying in a house without heat and the kids don’t even have water to drink.  She was very optimistic and said they would be okay, but we have been thinking of them and praying for them all the time.  We haven’t been able to reach them by phone since Sunday.  As soon as we get gas, we are going to deliver food and water, and we will invite them to stay with us until power and water are back.

There are some of the situations locally.  There are so many others in need, but we are starting with what we can.  All the stores around here have nothing, but we will be in line as soon as they have something.

We just heard from Cindy, Director of GCPN (our sending organization).  She called us to let us know that they would do anything to help us (we are working on the emergency evacuation plan with them).  Our pastor sent a special message to all the church members asking them to pray for us.  We are SO thankful for FBCA and GCPN, and also for all the other churches and organizations that are helping us and praying for us.  There is so much to be done and we can’t do this alone.   Let’s partner together and let His light shine in this dark place.