A Walk in the Spring Sunshine

After the 10:00 am Service I went for a walk with my friend Sachiko. The sky was bright blue and it was a bit chilly. The spring flowers are really starting to bloom. I will be posting pictures on Picasa  and will run them to the right as a slide show. Remember that if you click on one of the slide shows it will take you to Picasa. To see other albums, click on the "my pictures" tab.

The OMF Japan web site is being updated frequently with prayer requests and stories from the past two weeks. To get there click on the link: omf.org/omf/japan/

Tomorrow a team will leave from Ichikawa taking a load of donated items to the earthquake area. Several churches have collected things like new underwear for people who have lost their homes and even if they have clothes don't have water to wash them.

Thursday, Earthquake+14

A jolt at 5:30 am (I think) got me up to turn the heater on in preparation for morning ablutions on a chilly morning. Several more throughout the morning as is usual these days. HoHum.                                                

Thursdays at the office we generally have a Prayer Meeting open to all OMFers in the area. Today we were twelve and spent time praying through Psalm 16, and telling things that had encouraged us in the past few days, as well as praying specifically for OMFers working directly with the relief effort. I really enjoyed hearing the voices of people praying in small groups rising in our own small symphony of praise.                                                                                 

On the table in the office lunch area today was a plastic box of sweets. Well, the remains - two to be exact - were left. I picked one up and it was quite heavy for it's size, and a bit squashy feeling. Even though I could read the letters on top of the small package, it didn't tell me what it was exactly. I did recognize the flower pictured - a strawberry blossom.

Further investigation revealed a whole strawberry totally encased in lovely, soft mochi. (see the December post about mochi if you're not sure what it is). It was very fragile and needed to be eaten immediately!

Another Rather Shaky Day

The day started with several rolling shakes that got most folk I know out of bed.  There have been others throughout the day, just light ones, but reminders that we are not in control. I'm glad I know the God who is.

I was able to help out at the Guest Home this morning as there was no power cut. Then I got the filing caught up in Serve Japan. So I have a certain feeling of accomplishment.

Our team in Aomori were planning to set up a kitchen to make and serve curry rice. They found an area where people are able to live in their homes, but aren't able to get food easily. The local shelter requests food for the number of people staying there, but not for those living nearby. Curry rice is a kind of Japanese comfort food to many. It tends to be milder and sweeter than Indian curry and is served with Japanese short grain rice.

Tomorrow is the regular Prayer Meeting at JHQ and it's my turn to lead. There are an overwhelming number of things to pray for, so I hope to help us to encourage each other and to be thankful.