Sunday Afternoon Walk

My friend Sachiko and I went for a walk after church. The picture here is the only sign we saw of damage from the earthquake. There will be a new set of pictures running in the slide show (as soon as I can get it changed) of other things we saw as we walked down to and then along the river, to Satomi Park and Junsai Park. Everywhere we saw people walking and enjoying the early spring weather. Sachiko commented that the conversations of people we passed were centered on the earthquake.

Several people let me know today about the Samaritan's Purse delivery of food etc. for Sendai. I was really happy to know that they had coordinated with CRASH the Christian organization that OMF is partnering with in the relief effort on this end for delivery to evacuation centers, especially ones the government hadn't gotten to yet. The main problem so far is not that there is no food, but that it's difficult to get food from collection depots around Sendai into the area evacuation centers. Sendai was able yesterday to receive a supply ship at their port.

Read a report from one of our missionaries in Sendai who seems to be having the time of his life ministering and witnessing to Japanese people.

Read one comment that it would be good if people in developed countries made sure that missionaries who are already serving here were fully supported before just donating willy nilly to the general 'cause'.

Two OMFers doing some scouting along the coast to see where we should send a team, got government permission to get gas and to travel on the expressway rather than the back roads. It really pays to have people on the ground who know how things work here and follow accepted cultural procedures. Doing it the Japanese way is important for getting things done and being accepted.

Remember that if you want to look at the pictures more closely, click on the slide show and when you get to Picasa you have lots of options. You can even comment there if you like.


  

My Day Off

Saturdays are usually my day off. As I wrote yesterday, I thought I would stay in bed during the scheduled early morning power cut. I woke just before 6 and decided to make a pot of hot water to put in the thermos, and check my emails and get the latest news. The latest news was that the power cut was canceled. So I stayed up.

I used to think I was a pretty flexible person. This last week has really put a strain on my ability to flex. Almost every day I started out with a plan or an idea about what I would do or what I thought would happen and every evening would find me doing something totally different or thinking about totally different things.

So I spent my day off being quiet, sort of gathering energy for the week to come. The earth was fairly quiet too till around 7 pm when we had a bit of a shake. Tomorrow will be church. Ms. S. my old friend plans to be there too. She's not a believer, but believes some things - she says listening to hymns has a healing effect.

A New Normal

So many major and minor adjustments in the past week are gradually adding up to a new way of coping with my world in Japan.

Since the power outages have become fairly standard at once a day, first I find out what time the day's outage will be and start planning from there. I think it's brilliant that tomorrow's schedule says Group 2's slot is 6:20 to 10:00 am so since it's Saturday I guess I might as well stay in bed till I can turn the heat on. Of course if the sun shines tomorrow morning that will heat the place up and I can have another session sitting with the sun coming though the window on my feet while I do some hand sewing mixed with some reading and thinking and praying. As soon as the power is restored I need to start a batch of bread in the bread maker and a load of laundry. After that the schedule is open.

I was able to get coffee filters at the store today. I also went to the bank for some cash and to the Dr.'s office to get prescriptions for my regular meds. I got my carry on bag down from the top shelf and started putting in some things for "just in case". At the Guest home I cleaned and made up two rooms to be ready for guests on the weekend.

Our message from the Crisis Management Team contained the following, reiterating the reasons for the decision not to call for members to evacuate:

· The Japanese government is not seeing the need to evacuate people beyond the 30 km radius around the nuclear reactor plant.


· The British and American Embassies have sent a number of bulletins but while recommending that people consider moving they have not ordered citizens in the regions to leave.


· We want to stand together with the Japanese at this crucial time.

Later in the day our Field director let us know that in the event we need to move away from the Tokyo area, another mission with facilities near Osaka has offered OMF a place for 40+ people to stay.

I got several messages today from friends asking for an update here in Jyojia's Japan Journal. Honestly I had no idea some of you were following. I have a visit counter installed, but without comments I really haven't a clue who is reading. Please consider leaving a short comment from time to time; it really makes  it easier for me to write.

"The Big One" one week later

Apologies for letting this blog go for a few days.

Living in Tokyo at this time, like working with two-year-old children is a bit like being nibbled to death by ducks.

I am so happy to get emails and Facebook posts from people everywhere, but I feel compelled to respond to each. The difficulty is that we are also facing daily power cuts, which means no Internet connection. I have also been keeping up with as much of my regular work as possible, and at the same time I'm trying to be ready for possible eventualities such as the possibility of being advised to evacuate.

If I am advised to leave Tokyo, I would ask to go to Hokkaido for a time rather than to the US or another country. I think that if I returned to Florida, I might no be able to return here to work.

We're due for a power cut soon, so I'll let this go for now.

?

I've decided that wondering, "What else could happen?" is probably a bad idea. Today, there is unsettling news from the damaged power station at Fukushima. News media are at both ends of the spectrum on this one. Who or what do you believe? It emphasizes the range of possibilities.

As with most things, I look for the conservative side of the middle, trying to separate the possible from the probable. Searching for a sensible line of thinking that is neither radical nor blase. I invite you to do the same.

Another day - a new set of circumstances

I woke this morning to news of planned rolling black outs to conserve electrical power. Everything was organized with lists of places affected and the times. The Osu area of Ichikawa city where I live was scheduled to be blacked out from 9:20 to 12 :20 and again from 3:00pm for three hours. I came to the office to see if there was anything I could do. We had our usual time for prayer a little later, hoping to coordinate with the blackout. However, the power has not gone off and it is now nearing noon. So, I did some of the work that I usually do for Serve Japan. Alison came by on her way looking for some specific items to buy at the stores, only to find that the stores are mostly closed or out of significant amounts of important things.


This reminds me in some ways of an approaching hurricane. Or of the aftermath when you lose power or are expecting to lose power. And yet it is different. Everyone is waiting to hear what is happening with the nuclear power station in Fukushima, and speculating as people do. Will there be an explosion, will it release significant radioactive material. Will dangerous dust clouds blow around? Will the wind blow out to sea, toward Tokyo, where? What do you do in case of any of these scenarios?

Our Medical Advisor is trying to keep on top of giving us the best advice, and the Japanese Government has prepared ahead of time for some of the eventualities.

I would urge all of my praying friends to continue to pray for the situation in Japan. Please do not become desensitized by the repetitions of pictures and reports on the news. A nation is held in thrall of the unfolding events. God is still on the throne and doesn't miss a thing.

Sunday Update

It sounds like people everywhere have seen lots of images of Japan in the past few days. One thing you need to remember is that not all of Japan looks like that. In my town, Ichikawa, everything looks the same as it did a week ago. Church was much the same with the addition of a collection point for monetary donations for relief efforts and prayers during the service specifically addressing the distressing circumstances.

I have heard some amazing stories about friends and acquaintances. One man who works in Tokyo picked up his 12 year old daughter who is is in school in the city as well. Trains were not running, so the two of them walked home. I don't know how far, but it took most of 8 hours to accomplish. A mom and dad drove into Tokyo to rescue their two kids who were stranded at school. On the way back they got to the river that divides Ichikawa from Tokyo. Dad and son decided to get out and walk; they got home at about 12:30 am. Mom and daughter made it home with the car after 4:00 am.

Today I saw the local JR train line running. Most activities are continuing as usual. I noticed again at my local market that food was rather scarce in some departments. I wonder now if deliveries were just totally disrupted on Friday and stores have had to make do with what they had.

If we had only had the earthquake, the relief effort would have had mostly consisted of clean-up. With the tsunami so much more is needed. Here "in country" OMF as I mentioned yesterday is partnering with a group called CRASH for coordination of activities.
From the OMF website http://www.omf.org/omf/japan   

OMF workers will be helping with relief efforts in the Sendai region to provide whatever assistance they are able to give to the people in the area. OMF will also be supporting the work of other Christian agencies in Japan that are reaching out to help those affected by the earthquake and tsunami.


The Sendai Earthquake Relief Fund, an OMF Japan project, has been created to channel funds for this effort. Anyone wishing to contribute to this project may do so through the OMF office in their country. (Working through your local OMF office is faster, less expensive and less complicated than arranging international bank transfers to Japan). Please quote project number L60500.

In the States you can make donations to this fund by check or credit card. For more information call 1-800-422-5330.