How Great is Our God

I just realized that it’s been almost a month since my last post! Sorry for not keeping you all updated on what’s going on with my life and with what’s happening in Japan recently. It’s been super busy lately at Shichigahama and I’ve been so exhausted everyday that I didn’t get around to updating my blog. I was back in Tohoku for about three weeks after my Korea trip where God continued to do amazing things. I’m now in Osaka and I’m heading home for the holidays in about a week! I can’t wait to see all my family and friends! Since I can’t remember everything that has happened over the past few weeks, I want to talk about some of the highlights and the overall work that has been going on in the revival of Northeastern Japan.

When I got back from Korea, I was switched from a carpentry crew over to a mudout crew because of the lack of volunteers who are coming to help Samaritan’s Purse in the recovery effort. The owner of the first house I had the opportunity to work on was a lady named Kohata san. Somehow, despite not receiving any prior training on the mudout side I was asked to lead a group of ten people from Singapore. Throughout the week, Kohata san never missed a chance to sit down and have tea with us, whether it was during our break times, lunch time, or after we’d finished for the day. She was very kind, but didn’t really say much to us unless we initiated the conversation. On Friday, I told her that it would be the last day for the Singaporeans to work since they were heading home the next day. I couldn’t believe it when she started weeping in front of all of us. Sometimes it can be so hard to tell if you’re actually having an impact on someone, but it was a great confirmation that even when we can’ see it, God is working on people’s hearts. The conversation finally opened up and we were able to ask her if she had heard the story of Jesus Christ. Since she had never heard of him, we shared the condensed version of how he loved us so much that he died for our sins on a cross. We also asked her about what her beliefs were on God, but she said she didn’t have any and she said she didn’t know how the earth was created. I promised to bring her a Japanese Bible so that she could know the answers to these questions. It amazes me that there are still people in Japan who have never heard the name of Jesus and it motivates me to continue to spread the gospel in this lost nation.

God has also blessed us with a blossoming relationship with another homeowner, an older man named Abe san. For the past several weeks, we have been working on repairing his house, his son’s house, and his mother’s house with our mudout as well as carpentry crews. I had the opportunity to lead a mudout crew and work on his house. On the last day we were there, Abe san asked us why we had come from all over the world to help the people of Tohoku. We explained that the sole reason we were there because the love of Jesus Christ was in our hearts. Perhaps the most memorable part of my time in Japan came when Abe san told us that he also thought he could feel Jesus slowly coming into his heart. Our God is so amazing that someone who doesn’t even know the story of Jesus and hasn’t entered into a relationship with him can’t help but feel his love. The same week, I was working on a different house leading a crew of local volunteers. Every morning we pray before we start, but for whatever reason I forgot to open in prayer. As I walked off to start tearing out a wall, one of the volunteers stopped me and asked me if I would ask God to keep us safe. He said that if I prayed to my God, he would protect us from injury. How great is our God that even people who don’t have a personal relationship with him know that he is real, alive, and a powerful God?

A few weeks ago, Samaritan’s Purse asked me to come back to Shichigahama until March and I’ve been wrestling with God ever since over whether or not I should stay. I feel like I’m being crushed by the weight of this decision and every time I feel at peace one way or the other Satan finds a way to shove me down and make me doubt. I keep hoping and praying for an answer from God, but I haven’t felt been able to hear his voice. Please be praying for discernment and wisdom with my decision as well as strength to follow his will regardless of the sacrifices either way. And please, continue praying for the Tohoku region of Japan as God is doing incredible things in the lives of these people. Thank you all so much for your support and love.

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11

Weekend in Korea

I’m really tired, but I have a special request from my mom to make a post about my trip to Korea so I’m writing this for her haha. I can’t remember if I mentioned this or not in an earlier post, but I had to get out the country once while I’m in Japan so that my visa wouldn’t expire on me. Since Korea is the closet country to Japan, my parents bought me a plane ticket to go and I stayed with the family of one of my dad’s business partners. Although I was only there for about 3 days, which isn’t very long at all, I feel like I got to experience a good amount of the culture because I had the opportunity to stay with a Korean family.
First of all, the food was amazing. I ate a ton of kimchi including everyday for breakfast along with all sorts of Korean dishes like bibinbas, yakiniku, and bulgogi. One night at a restaurant the Lees took me too, the waitress brought out a huge plate of food with all sorts of vegetables on it. On the side, there were whole, uncooked green peppers so I asked Mr. Lee if they were hot. He said they were pretty hot so I shouldn’t eat them whole, but I decided to show off and do it anyways. The first few seconds were alright. I got it down no problem and it didn’t really seem that hot. Then it suddenly hit me really hard. I would say my eyes started watering, but it was more like the tears started gushing down my face. The funny thing was I was trying to laugh to pretend like I was okay, but it hurt so bad that I couldn’t even smile. At first I thought the tears were because of the pepper flushing our my sinus, but then I realized that it might have been because the burning pain in my mouth was so intense. The Lees though it was hilarious, but I was miserable for about 20 minutes and I couldn’t eat anything for the rest of the meal.

Seoul Skyline

The family also took me sightseeing all around the Seoul area. On Saturday, the older daughter and her friends took me to karaoke, a board game cafe, and a Korean movie theater. Fortunately they spoke really good English so we had a great time. Sunday they took me to the downtown Seoul area, where they had me try all sorts of food from street vendors so that I could experience true Korean food and they took me to all sorts of Korean stores. Overall, I got the impression that Korea is a mix between Asian and Western Cultures. I felt like it was somewhere in between Japan and the U.S.  The education system from what I picked up sounded really intense as it normally is in Asia, but at the same time I heard that people look down on you if you can’t speak English there. They also have a huge mix of restaurants that you see both in Japan and America. They had Mr. Donuts and Dunkin Donuts, which I thought was funny. The roads are also a lot bigger than they are in Japan and almost everyone lived in apartments there. I didn’t see a single house the whole time I was there.

The Korean family I stayed with while I was visiting, the Lees, were amazing. I feel like they taught me what true hospitality should look like. Not only did they let me stay with them, but they made me feel like their son while I was with them. First of all, they wouldn’t let me pay for anything, not even the meals where I ate out. They also gave me spending money and told me to buy myself a souvenir from Korea. Of course I didn’t because I feel bad spending other people’s money, but they were so generous. On my last night there, both the parents insisted on each buying me a gift so I got a Korean wallet, which is really cool, and a bunch of necklaces to give away. I’ve never felt so welcome in someone’s home before and I’m so grateful for the opportunity I had to learn from them. It also made me think about the impact we as Christians could have if we treated people that well. The Lee family aren’t believers so how much more should we as followers of Christ make an effort to love people, especially guests in our homes.

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40

A Little Time Off

Last Friday night, I took the bullet train from Sendai down to Ueda, my hometown. For my birthday on Saturday, two of my closest Japanese friends, Chikage and Yuki took me to Matsumoto, which is one of the biggest cities in the Nagano prefecture, but also where my dad went to college and where my sister was born. In the morning, we went to a place that had all sorts of different bikes you could ride. Some you had to move forward by jumping up and down. Others you had to open and close your legs. There were bikes that moved side ways. Bikes you had to lay down on. There were all sorts of crazy bikes. The best part was that we were the only adults there, but we definitely had way more fun than all the little kids combined. I was drenched in sweat by the end of it. For lunch we went to an Italian buffet, but it was definitely Japanized, if that’s a word, because it seemed like they had more Japanese food than Italian food. That night I met up with Hide, my best friend from Japanese school, seeing him for the first time in five years. We went to Jam Live, a youth event at a local church, which was basically an open mic night.

The bike park

Italian buffet

Seeing Hide again

I heard from Hide that the high school state volleyball tournament was on Sunday morning and that a lot of my old friends would be playing in it so I decided to go with him. It was great seeing all the guys I used to play with. That night, Chikage’s family threw a big birthday party for me and invited lots of my old friends to celebrate. We had taco rive and taco yaki, which is kind of like octopus bread balls. I also got to play silent football for the first time since leaving Japan and had an amazing night with all my friends.

Me and Taku, my volleyball friend

Me and Hide cooking Takoyaki

The whole group

Monday was my old people day. Since Chikage had to work, I hung out with her parents who are retired. First we played mallet golf, which is like golf but you use a metal mallet to hit a big croquet ball and for some reason as fun as it is only old people play. I had a huge comeback on the back nine, but unfortunately I still lost to Aoki san. Afterwards we went to Tantanmen, our family’s favorite ramen shop in Ueda. To finish off our time together, we went to a Japanese onsen or natural spring, which is full of old naked people. Later that night, I went to a Younglife Ueda meeting and got to share all about what outreach looks within Younglife.

Malett golf with the Aokis

Tantanmen spicy ramen

Younglife Ueda meeting

After spending the morning beating up on some old guys in badminton, I took the bus down to Tokyo. I stayed with my Japanese grandparents the Satos and got to see all sorts of friends while I was there including three of my friends from elementary school, one of my older brother’s best friends from Japan, and an American guy from Ueda who I hadn’t seen since we left.

This is for mom

The Sato family

Elementary school friends

Last night, I made it to Korea, but it’s a miracle that I did. I have to leave the country so that my visa doesn’t expire in May and since South Korea is the closest country I ended up coming here. I’m pretty sure I got on the wrong train from Tokyo to go to the airport because I was supposed to get there over two hours early and I ended up getting there with about 45 minutes till my flight took off. Plus I hadn’t heard anything from the Korean family I was staying with and I forgot to charge my phone so it died. Normally I’m pretty optimistic and carefree, but I definitely did not think I was going to make my flight and it was a really stressful experience. God was good though and it only took me about 15 minutes to get to my gate even though I had to check in, go through customs, security, take a train over to my gate, and pick up a gift on the way. It was a huge relief when I made it onto that plane.

Cool building in Seoul

Taking some time off from working at the SP base was definitely a necessary thing. As much as I want to help, I think I was getting a little burned out because it gets to be so exhausting after a while. I’ve realized that God can work through me more when I’m well rested and refreshed in a shorter time than he can over a longer period where I’m completely burned out. I’m looking forward to my time in Korea, but I’m also excited to get back to Tohoku and finish strong. Please be praying that I could finish well in my last month in Japan!!!

“Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31

 

Hope for Japan

The Sato family has been such a blessing to us as our relationship with them continues to grow. A few nights ago, they invited all of us from Samaritan’s Purse over for dinner. I wondered if they really knew what they were getting themselves into since there are over 20 of us and Japanese houses aren’t really known for being particularly large. When we arrived, there were tables and tables of food laid out for us. There was freshly caught fish, all sorts of fried vegetables and tempura, miso soup, white rice, melon, and Japanese persimmon from a tree in their backyard. I loved everything we ate, but most of all I was excited about the tremendous culture exposure I could never experience back home.

The only negative part of the night was the rude welcome I received from their 11 year old son. After the meal, they lead us outside to a shed a little ways from their house. I was really excited when I saw that they had a game room with a ping pong table in it. At first I watched for a while, while everyone else played noticing that no one was very good. Then Sato-san’s 5th grade grandson came out with his own ping pong paddle in a case and everything. I watched him play for a little bit and he looked pretty good, but I figured I could take him since he was just a kid. Since I play tennis, I’m pretty decent at ping pong so I challenged him to a match thinking I could show off my skills. Yup, he beat me. A little 11 year old Japanese kid beat me. He takes lessons and it was in three sets but still… Sometimes it’s amazing how God works though, even through a seemingly unimportant game of ping pong because afterwards, he invited me to come play with him and his friends sometime at the community center. I haven’t been yet, but I’m excited for the opportunity to meet more people in Shichigahama, especially kids.

The Whole Group

The Satos also threw a barbecue for us yesterday in order to thank us for all the work we’ve done in restoring their home. The coolest part was that everyone from the community chipped in to show their gratitude whether it was bringing tents, the barbecue pits, or the food. In the morning, it was pouring rain and it looked like they had picked a terrible day. I got picked to help set up, probably because I’m a lousy carpenter and I speak Japanese, in the pouring rain. I drove all over town with Sato-san who’s a fisherman picking up equipment for the barbecue.

Setting up for the barbecue in the pouring rain

When we were at one home getting the grills, the wife, Mrs. Sakamoto, came out to greet us. When she saw that I was soaking wet, she ran inside and brought out a towel along with hot green tea so that I wouldn’t catch a cold. While we were loading the grills into the truck, she started talking to me about the March disaster. She said that she hadn’t directly been affected by the tsunami, but told me that one of her daughters had lost her house and the other one had to run for her life. At this point I had stopped working and I could see that she was fighting back her tears. She struggled to tell me how grateful she was for what we were doing as she bowed her head over and over again. All I wanted to do was give her a huge hug and cry with her, but I didn’t have the courage to in front of her husband and Sato-san. Please be praying for Mrs. Sakamoto and that God would give me the opportunity to connect with her again even though we’re not doing any work on her house.

The Crazy Canadians

Afterwards, we returned to the barbecue and the weather almost completely cleared. First, we had a home dedication, which unfortunately I missed because someone had to cook the food. After the ceremony, we partook of another enormous Japanese feast which included crab brought in that morning, miso shiso rice, crab brain soup, yakitori or chicked kebabs, yakisoba noodles, and sake to top it all off, which I didn’t drink even though apparently I could have since they told me I looked like I was about 23. All the Canadians thought it was disgusting that the Japanese ate every part of the crab, including the shell, and the Japanese got mad at the Canadians for wasting the crabs and only eating the meat. As soon as we finished and got ready to go home, it started raining again. It was pretty cool how God had cleared the weather for a couple hours just for us.

Cooking with Brian and Sato-san

At the beginning of this week, we started working on a lady’s house, also Mrs. Sato, who we happened to meet because she was a delivery lady and she had brought some packages to the SP base. Everyday, she would come home for a couple hours during her lunch break and to be completely honest, I didn’t particularly care for her. I had the attitude that since we were volunteers doing all the work for free, everyone should be grateful, but she complained a lot about the work we were doing, even though all of it was being done by professional Canadian carpenters. On Thursday, the day before we finished her house, God taught me a great lesson about loving people no matter what because we never know what they’re going through. She opened up to me about her family, how her husband had left and about how she had took work long hours as a delivery lady to support herself and her two sons. For seven months after the tsunami, she had done nothing to her house because she couldn’t afford to take time off and she didn’t have the money. She told me that even after all the work we had done, she didn’t have enough money to completely finish it, but thanks to Samaritan’s Purse at least now she had hope. When she said that, I realized that all of us at SP are in Japan to bring hope to the Japanese people. Not just a hope that their homes will be restored, but real, unfailing, everlasting hope in Jesus Christ.

The crab brain soup that the Japanese loved

Today, we went to a Community Revival Festival in an area where Samaritan’s Purse had rebuilt a large number of homes. None of us knew it beforehand, but apparently we were the special guests. Craig, the assistant construction manager who is only 23 and speaks no Japanese, was asked to give a speech. We all lined up in front of everyone at the festival with NHK, basically the Japanese equivalent of a Fox News or CNN, filming us. The leader of this community, whose house we had restored, introduced us to my surprise by outlining the story of the Good Samaritan and telling everyone that we were a Christian organization in Japan with the purpose of helping anyone and everyone who needed help, regardless of religious affiliation. After the speech which was translated by our Japanese interpreter, he asked us to pray for their community. Nobuki, our interpreter explained that the God we pray to is a God who answers our prayers then proceeded to pray for them. Once again God provided us with an incredible opportunity to plant seeds in the lives of the Japanese people. I love how the name of the event was the Community Revival Festival because we’re in Japan to bring revival to this land.

The Barbecue

Despite my exhaustion, I had an incredible week. God continues to blow my mind with just how amazing he is in providing us with opportunities to share the love we have with the people of this nation. The best part is that I know that this is just the beginning. The tip of the iceberg. I don’t know how God’s going to work through us in the future to impact this nation, but I know that I’m excited about it! Please be praying that the seeds we’ve planted would continue to be watered and that the Lord would continue to give us opportunities to plant more seeds!

“And we^[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:2, 5

Mudding Out

I’ve been in Shichigahama for about five days now. It’s weird right as I started writing this we had a little earthquake and everything started shaking. The first week, I worked on the Sato’s home with a group of carpenters from the U.S. and Canada. One thing I’ve been really surprised about is how many Canadians there are here. About 14 out of the 15 or so volunteers here are from Canada and they’re a really fun group. Other than that the staff is probably about a third Canadian, a third American, and a third Japanese. I’ve learned a ton about carpentry and building stuff from working with them for the last several days. The work is really tough though, we work from about 8 in the morning to 5 in the evening everyday so we all come home exhausted.

Sato-san's house was the first one I got to work on and see completed

On Thursday, I got to sit in on a meeting with a couple about Samaritan’s Purse fixing up their house. I was surprised how open the homeowner was as he openly shared his situation with us. He was dying of lung cancer, but he couldn’t do anything about it because his heart was failing at the same time. The doctors said that he wouldn’t survive surgery to remove the tumor so there’s nothing he can do, but wait until either the cancer kills him or his heart gives out. Sitting there listening to his story, I realized how much I take every day of my life for granted when I don’t even know how long I have left either. After the meeting, God gave us an opportunity to pray for this man’s health. We were able to explain to the couple that we were a Christian group who was in Japan to spread the love of Christ to the Japanese because he first loved us. Before we prayed for his healing, the translator (I wasn’t translating for this meeting) explained that our God was a God who answered our prayers and that we believed he would be healed if we could pray for him. He allowed us to lay hands on him and we prayed in the name of Jesus Christ he would be healed. I could feel it in my body that he was being healed and I truly believe that in the future these people will come to know Christ because of it.

The boat that ended up on the roof

On Friday, after having a rough morning stuck at the base doing some translating, our cook Satomi and I decided to go out and visit some of the work sites nearby. As we were walking along the coast to have lunch, we met some local fishermen who said they were about to go out to catch some mackerel. Unfortunately they didn’t invite us to go out with them, but they did say that we could come watch them reel in the fish sometime. I didn’t catch everything they said because of their heavy Tohoku and accents and fishing lingo, but they talked to us for about an hour. We sat on the dock listening to their stories about the tsunami in March. These fishermen were the first people I’ve heard joking and laughing about it, which seemed a little strange to me. The captain said the disaster didn’t really change anything for him even though he’d lost his home. His friend disagreed and said that it changed everything. They told us how as soon as the earthquake hit, they took their families and got on the boat as soon as they could. They all knew the tsunami was coming because Shichigahama is in a cove and they watched on TV as it hit Kesen-Numa about a half hour before. On their way out to sea, they had to go over several huge waves around 50 feet each by their estimates, before making it to safety. After 3 days with little food or water, they returned home to the devastation. One of their smaller boats they had left back at the dock was sitting on top of the three-story fish processing plant. The old dock where they kept their boat was completely gone.

Japanese Fishermen

My favorite part of being here at the SP base in Shichigahama is the relationships I’ve already been able to build with the locals. One old man in particular has been particularly friendly to me. His name is Suzuki-san (he’s not related to the Suzuki-san I met before) and he lives next door to one of the homes that we just completed. All we did for him was rap some parts of his house with plastic so the rain and snow don’t come in, but he’s been so grateful. The first time I went to Suzuki-san’s house for coffee was on Wednesday when he came over to the work site and invited me and Brian, one of the staff members, to come over. We went over when we had a little break and he talked to us for about an hour about anything from his experiences in World War II to his story of the tsunami. I also found out that his last house had been swept away by a tsunami back in 1960, which is why he build his new house of concrete. He joked that if another tsunami came, he wouldn’t even run away because if he had already survived two in his lifetime he could survive another. As he talked and I translated, I thought of the story in the Bible about the wise and foolish builders in Matthew 7 with how he built his house of concrete and everyone else built their homes of wood. When I went to his home again for coffee the next day, there were about 5 Canadians and Brian sitting in the living room next to he and his wife with no way to communicate except through hand signals and gestures. I looked over and my name, which I’m not sure how he knew, was written on the calendar on the wall. He told me he had been waiting for me to come and laughed about how he and Brian were learning to communicate without using words. He told me that he was going to live fifty more years, at which point he would be 137 years old, in order to come visit all of us in North America. He also told Brian and I that he wanted to take us to an Onsen or public bath resort a few hours away. On Friday, the day that I wasn’t at the work site because I was needed for a translating job, I got a phone call from Brian saying that he had invited a big group of us over for coffee again at 3 and that I was needed to translate.  Me, Brian, and 7 or 8 Canadians all crammed into his living room with him and his wife. He told me that he didn’t see Brian and I at the work site in the morning so he walked all around the neighborhood trying to find us. I tried to hide it, but I teared up when he said that his greatest joy everyday was talking to us while we were over for coffee. The Canadians wanted to take a picture so I asked if they could, but he took it as them getting ready to leave. He practically begged us to stay longer and I realized he must be lonely. After about a half hour, the carpenters had to get back to work, but I could see the sadness in his eyes so I told him I would stay a little longer. He told me about how he used to know everyone in their neighborhood, but now they had all left after the tsunami. He said he comes back to his old house everyday, which isn’t in liveable condition, but it’s in good enough shape to hang out in, just to wait for us to come over everyday. After a couple hours, I finally left, but promised him I would come back to visit soon.

I assumed we would get Saturday off, but apparently there was a house we had to clean up before a certain day. All the volunteers were going sightseeing so us staff guys had to do this mud-out on our own. Up to this point, I’d only been working on rebuilding houses instead of tearing them apart so I had been looking forward to doing this. It was a lot more work than I thought, but getting to work with a fun group of guys who joked around, sang songs, and laughed through it all made a huge difference. At one point, I got really frustrated because it felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. Then I thought of the analogy of how God “mud’s out” all the junk from our lives. If God’s willing to do that for me, then I should be joyful about doing it for someone else. My favorite part was crawling through the tunnels under the floor boards in complete darkness, pulling out clumps of dirt from underneath. We were supposed to be done by noon, but it ended up being a full day’s work by the time we finished around 3 in the afternoon. I was so exhausted from all the work we’d been doing and waking up around 6:30 every morning was taking it’s toll. Needless to say, I was ready to relax and watch some football for the weekend only if it was for one day.

My first mud-out

Please be praying for God to give me strength to carry on through my exhaustion and that he would continue to open doors for relationships with the locals!

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” 1 John 5:14-15

Shichigahama

Not much has been going on with me lately, which is why I haven’t updated my blog. After being in Sendai for about a month, I decided to move up to the Samaritan’s Purse base camp in Shichigahama. I just moved in today and I’m super excited to start this part of my journey. I’ll be working on a mud-out crew as well as doing some translating when needed. What I’m most excited about is getting to build relationships with the locals here and be a part of helping restore their homes.

Lately I’ve been studying the story of Nehemiah. The first thing I’ve learned is that God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Whether its Nehemiah who was a cup bearer or all the SP people here from all sorts of backgrounds, he uses us just as we are. I also realized that when you’re doing God’s work, you’re always going to be attacked by the enemy who wants you to give up. I’ve really felt under attack lately so if you could be praying for me with that it would be great. Lastly, when followers of Christ work together in unity for a common purse, anything is possible. Nehemiah and the Jews were rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem in 52 days. In our case, we’re trying to rebuild a certain number of homes.

Please keep me in your prayers as I start this new chapter of my adventure!!!

“The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding.” Nehemiah 2:20

 

Pray Big

Sorry that I haven’t updated the blog in a while. I guess it’s been a fairly uneventful few days compared to the past couple weeks. On Thursday I got to go up to the Sumita base camp in Iwate, the prefecture located above Miyagi where I am right now. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to go out with any of the crews, but I did hear some incredibly exciting stories. One in particular stood out to me.

Iwate Prefecture

As the Samaritan’s Purse crews went out to work everyday muding out houses, there was a middle-aged crane operator who always worked alongside them, clearing out the rubble. He was a Japanese man who had been a crane operator for a long time. After a short while working with the SP volunteers, he couldn’t help, but notice the joy in their hearts as they freely gave their time and efforts to help the people of Japan. One day, he couldn’t contain his curiosity anymore. He approached one of the translators on the site and struck up a conversation. He wanted to know why they were so happy doing the work they were doing. He’d seen so many other volunteers come in who complained about the hard work and the terrible stenches, but he never saw or heard any negativity from the SP volunteers. The next morning, as the Samaritan’s Purse team wrapped up their prayer to start off the day, the same man came rushing over.  To his dismay, he had missed the prayer which he had hoped to be a part of, despite not even knowing what it was about. When he found out that the crew would be finishing off the day with another prayer, he returned to his day’s work. At the end of the day, the crane operator was in the circle, holding hands with the other Samaritan’s Purse volunteers, participating in their prayer. He still didn’t know entirely what it was about, but I have no doubt that he will soon give his life to Christ and play a part in spreading the love of Jesus to Iwate.

Sumita Base Camp

After leaving the base camp in Sumita, I asked the chaplains if we could drive along the coast to see more of the devastation. We drove through a city known as Kessen-Numa where the Sumita group was working and saw more destruction than in any of the other cities. It reminded me of a ghost town in the way that it was completely abandoned. When I got home, I wanted to see if I had been in any of the cities that I had seen get crushed by the tsunami in all the videos I had found. As a watched the video of the tsunami hitting Kessen-Numa, I didn’t know how to respond. I had just been there only an hour before and yet the city in the video seemed so distant and surreal.

The first time I really got emotional since witnessing all this first-hand was on the way home from Sumita. Up until then, it all seemed so far away. I was sleeping in the back seat, but the chaplains saw a bridge that was completely taken out by the wave and decided to check out the wreckage. After I got out of the car, I walked over to the ocean trying to visualize what it must have been like when the tsunami came out of this now beautifully serene bay. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an orange object sitting on a slab of concrete off to my right. As I got closer, I realized that it was a little girl’s lunchbox. Her name was Kokoro, which means heart in English. I don’t know what it was about finding that in the ruins, but for the first time since being in Japan, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Maybe the fact that I don’t know if that little girl survived the tsunami or not and if she did what she’s going through today, but it really got to me.

Kokoro-chan's Bento Box

The chaplains wanted to go back to the okonomiyaki or pancake place as they call it so we all went on Thursday night. We got to hear more about the owners lives as Christians in Japan and encourage them in their faith. The son, who works at the family restaurant is a special-ed teacher at a local junior high and loves on children with special needs because of his love for Jesus. It made me think we need more people like him in our society in order to make a difference in the world.

Me and the Okonomiyaki Restaurant Owners

On Saturday I had nothing planned on my day off so I asked the chaplains if they wanted to go to the Sendai Castle with me. They wanted to go so we took off in the van with no clue how to get there. My roommates had told me all about the legendary one-eyed samurai who built the castle so I was really excited. We got a little bit lost, but eventually found the site. The only problem was, there was no castle. Turns out it was just the ruins of a castle which in all honesty, were pretty lame. The samurai looked pretty cool though from what I saw of him in pictures and statues.

Date Masamune

Yesterday I got to be a part of the first Sendai Jesus Lifehouse Church meeting ever. We met in a Starbucks with about 15 of us and talked about what the church would look like as well as what God had been teaching us. I can’t wait to see how God’s gonna use the youth and this church to change Sendai for his glory in the near future!

The first Jesus Lifehouse Church Sendai meeting in Starbucks

Over the past few days, God has really been encouraging me and teaching me a ton. All these people around me keep talking about this amazing revival that’s going to sweep through Japan and around the world. At first I had a hard time believing it because it seems so impossible in a place like Japan, but hearing so many people say the same thing, I’m starting to believe it too. I’ve heard about all these incredible miracles happening, things I don’t think I really believed in my heart were possible, even as a Christian. We just need more Christ-followers who are gonna boldly stand up and proclaim the gospel to the nations! You and I can be those people no matter how unqualified we are!!! The things he’s gonna do with Japan and around the world through you and me are ridiculous, please keep praying for this nation!!! And please pray BIG, BOLD prayers!!! Love you guys!

The City of Sendai

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

The Sun Always Shines After the Rain

Yesterday morning we listened to a presentation on radiation at the Samaritan’s Purse office in Sendai. I was really surprised to hear about all the precautions we should still be taking over six months after the accident. Since Miyagi, the prefecture where I’m living for the next three months, is right above Fukushima where the nuclear power plant accident took place, we have to be aware of the current situation. Please don’t worry about me since we’re far enough away to where we don’t get heavy doses of radiation, but it still gets carried through the wind and rain. The thing I was most surprised to hear was how poorly the Japanese government has handled the whole situation. They keep raising the acceptable dosage of radiation to where it’s over double the international level and they’re dishonest about the current situation.

Morning in Sendai

Anyways, after the presentation we went back up to Ishinomaki where we visited several more construction sites. One of the sites was a place where a church is being built because a local condominium owner said that if they fixed the condos up, he would give them one to use as a church. It’s crazy how God always provides.

Ishinomaki

Today we’re back in Shichigahama on the beach and tomorrow we head for Sumita, the only Samaritan’s Purse base camp I haven’t visited yet. It’s amazing how beautiful it is here now that it’s not raining. Last week when we were here the typhoon was going through, but today was incredible. I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen, I wish my camera could capture how awesome God really is. At the same time it was a weird feeling sitting there looking out at God’s creation, knowing that only six months ago a giant tsunami that took tens of thousands of lives had come from the same beautiful ocean that I was looking out over.

View from Shichigahama base camp

While I was at one of the work sites today, I decided to take a walk and take some more pictures of my surroundings since the chaplain wouldn’t let me do any work. On my way back, I met the funniest old Japanese lady, Suzuki-san, who was so filled with joy despite everything that has happened to her in the past several months. She kept talking about how kawaii or adorable I was, which I’m not really sure is a good thing, and asking me why I didn’t have a girlfriend. My favorite part was when she started reciting the alphabet in English, or at least trying to cause she kind of skipped around when she didn’t know how it went, and dancing to it, which I never knew an alphabet dance existed. She then invited the chaplain and me in for tea where she gave us each a vitamin drink and some home grown tomatoes. We learned that her and all of her family were miraculously protected from the wave despite living in one of the hardest hit areas in the country. Afterwards, when we asked her if we could pray with her, she took us to a room with a little shrine and lit some incense and candles. When we told her that we prayed to Jesus, she quickly put them out and joined us to pray. She was very grateful for our prayers as well as our service and told us we were welcome to come back to her house anytime.

Suzuki-san

After leaving Suzuki-san’s house, I decided to walk home to the SP base since it was only about a ten minute walk. I wanted to take some pictures of the surrounding area. On my way home I saw either a boat or a huge piece of wood stuck in some trees about 500 yards from the ocean. Since I was amazed at how such a huge piece of wood was carried so far from the ocean, I decided to take a picture of it. When I looked at the picture I had taken, I noticed a small rainbow in the bottom right-hand corner. It reminded me of God’s promise to us through the rainbow, especially after what happened with the tsunami six months ago. The sun ALWAYS shines after the rain.

Check out the rainbow in the corner!

Upon returning to the SP base, we found out that a homeowner had given one of the workers a flounder and eight crabs. Since all the staff had to leave and go to a meeting, I was on my own for cleaning the crabs, even though I’d never done it before. I did get crab meat down my shirt, but it was totally worth having the best and only crab alfredo I’ve ever had. Afterwards, I got to lead worship for all the staff and the chaplains had a sermon. There’s a lot of turmoil going on at Shichigahama right now so I think the staff were really blessed by it.

Dinner!!!

As I said before, tomorrow we head north to Sumita. I’ve heard the wreckage there is by far the worst so I plan on taking lots of pictures. Oh and please be praying that God would grant me boldness to share the gospel and that he would soften the hearts of the Japanese people to receive his message.

Shichigahama Sunset

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13

The Japanese Yodeler with a touch of Gospel Workshop

Yesterday was a great day. For some strange reason the Japanese decided to make the fall equinox a holiday, but I was okay with it. In the morning, Mrs. Grabowski and I took the bus then the subway to downtown Sendai. About a week ago, I found a huge outdoor mall so I thought she would enjoy getting to see it.It was her first time using Japanese public transportation and if you’ve never tried it it’s definitely a cultural experience.

Japanese Train

Since neither one of us was that hungry yet when we got there, we decided to see the mall before we ate. After walking around for a couple hours and covering several miles because this mall was so big, we finally found a kaitenzushi or rotating sushi-train restaurant. Even though I lived in Japan for twelve years, I had never been to one of these restaurants so I figured I had to try it while I was here. We didn’t get anything too weird, just some raw salmon, tuna and squid. The squid was definitely a bad choice though. Texture-wise it was kind of like chewing on a plastic toy…

Kaitenzushi

Afterwards, we were heading home when a I saw a sign out of the corner of my eye. Obviously I was curious when I saw that there was a Sendai Octoberfest going on. This might sound bad, but the chaplain wanted to check it out so I had no choice but to go in. I have to admit I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Everyone was drinking $17 beers and there was a band yodeling on stage. My favorite part was that the yodeler was a little Japanese guy and the rest of the band were Germans. He was really good too! I videotaped some of it, but you’ll have to check it out on facebook because it’s not letting me upload it to my blog…

Sendai Octoberfest

For dinner, I decided to take the chaplains out for another Japanese meal. Okonomiyaki is almost like a pancake, but has egg, noodles, meat, and all sorts of vegetables in it and since I had seen a restaurant near to our house, I thought it would be a good choice. Little did I know that God was leading us there on that night. The place was really cool. They made our food right in front of us and we got to eat it off the grill. It was probably my favorite meal I’ve had so far in Japan. Afterwards, we were chatting with the family who owned the restaurant when one of them noticed the Billy Graham shirts the chaplains were wearing and got really excited. I figured that if they knew who Billy Graham was in Japan then they must be Christians so I asked them. Sure enough everyone in their family was a believer! Not only that, but their friends from church were also eating dinner there! As rare as Christians are in Japan I couldn’t believe it. The chaplains then proceeded to give them crosses from the Billy Graham library and they couldn’t believe it. They were so happy.

Pineapple Donuts

I had also been speaking English, and some Japanese when she couldn’t get her point across, to the lady sitting next to me. She was super friendly and tried really hard to speak to me in English even though she knew I could speak Japanese. The best part was, when i told her I was in college, she started trying to set me up with her daughter. Apparently we’re going to the yakiniku or grilled meat restaurant where she works tomorrow night… She asked me about what we were doing in Sendai so I got to tell her about BGEA, Samaritan’s Purse, and how we were Christians. The chaplains happened to have a pamphlet on the story of Christ so I told her that if she was interested, she could read it and that it would be good practice for her English.

At the end, we all gathered in the center of the restaurant and prayed for the business, the Christians that were in the restaurant, all those who weren’t saved in the restaurant, and for a revival in Japan.  Outside we prayed again that the Lord would bless that restaurant and it was obvious he was because all night long people had been pouring in waiting to be seated.

About a week ago, the guys at the BGEA office had decided it would be fun to take a little trip down to Fukushima, south of Sendai, to go to what I thought was a gospel concert. Somehow I must have misheard because when we got down there I found out that it was a gospel workshop instead. Gospel music has apparently become huge in Japan over the last couple years because of Sister Act and Sister Act 2 among both Christians and non-Christians. We went because we thought it would be a good opportunity to advertise for the Franklin Graham Festival of Hope in March. When I went in to the church where it was being held, I looked around and saw all the guys sitting in the middle section so I decided to be a tenor for the day… Four hours later, we had learned two gospel songs, which was fun, but I was ready to go home. I videotaped some of it, but you’ll have to check it out on facebook again because I can’t upload it here.

Gospel Workshop Time

Two things I never thought I would do while I was in Japan were pray in the middle of a Japanese restaurant and sit in on a gospel workshop, but it amazes me how God works! He is good! Be praying for a revival in the nation of Japan! Something tells me it’s coming soon!!!

Inside the church

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14

Tohoku Typhoon

The day after going to Ishinomaki and witnessing the devastation there, the chaplains and I traveled to the Samaritan’s Purse base camp in Shichigahama. After being in the disaster area the day before, I thought I’d seen the worst of it, but I was dead wrong. Located on a peninsula that sticks out of Northern Japan, most of Shichigahama was below sea level so it didn’t stand a chance when the tsunami hit. All you could see were hundreds of foundations in every direction with no evidence that there were ever any homes there. I didn’t even take any pictures because there was nothing left to photograph. As I stood there frozen, struggling to take it all in, I noticed the beautiful beach and Pacific Ocean in the background. I was seeing the ocean for the first time in Japan and somehow I didn’t care.

When we arrived at the base camp, an old log cabin located on a cliff overlooking the sea, I was invited to go to a house that Samaritan’s Purse was working on to do some construction and I decided I wanted to go. We drove for a few minutes to the house and I noticed it was one of only about three homes still standing in what I could see used to be a busy neighborhood. I looked up at the ceiling and saw from the waterline that the water had been about six inches away from the ceiling in a room I estimated to be at least ten feet from top to bottom.

In the house, I helped rip up the floorboards, tear down drywall, and translate when someone needed to speak to the homeowners. Unfortunately I didn’t get to hear their story besides the fact that they ran for their lives when the tsunami came, but we did get to pray with them twice over the course of the day.

That night, the typhoon started to come in. At first we didn’t think much of it since they’re pretty common in Japan, but the more we heard, the more worried we got. Although we had planned to travel further north to Sumita base camp the next day, the heavy rain prevented us from doing so. Instead, we headed home to Sendai to weather the storm. After three full days without a single break from the rain, it finally stopped just a few hours ago.

On the way up to Tome base camp today, I couldn’t believe the incredible flooding caused by yesterday’s typhoon. Telephone poles were half underwater. River levels had risen to only a few feet below the roads. Fields where they used to grow rice now looked like lakes. All I could thing about was how hard it must be for the people who had lost their homes only six months ago and were finally trying to put their lives back together to have to deal with this now.

On a brighter note Samaritan’s Purse had it’s first home dedication today in Shichigahama. Unfortunately the chaplains and I weren’t able to make it up for the ceremony, but I heard from a friend that they prayed with the homeowner, spoke to her about the gospel, and had a time of celebration. She was moved to tears because her home was restored by the hard work of the volunteers after over six very long and emotional months.

Back in Sendai, we went to the nicest mall I’ve ever been to for dinner. I ate beef tongue, a delicacy in Northeastern Japan, along with my beef tonge soup and cow tail. I gotta say as a whole it wasn’t my favorite meal, but I had to try all of it at least once while I was in Japan. When in Rome.

Anyways thanks for reading if you made it this far and please keep praying for Japan especially with all the flooding that’s going on in the aftermath of the typhoon.

Shichigahama Beach

“The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Psalm 23