"When the oceans rise and thunders roar, I will soar with you above the storm. Father you are King above the flood, I will be still know you are God."
There was a stillness that phermeated the place when we drove through the barren and destroyed landscape. We were on the road heading towards Kessenuma, in Miyagi, from Shinomaki, and the only life we could see were the workers moving to clear the debris from the destruction of the tsunami. And the occasional person looking for personal belongings to salvage; fragments from his past, from the remnants of his home.
It was the 3rd day of the trip and we were on our way to answer the call of Pastor Minegeshi from Kessenuma First Bible Baptist Church, whose church at been wiped out by the tsunami. Mr Abe, the owner of a print shop had kindly offered his shop, which withstood the force of the tsunami, as a place for worship. But first, there was the mammoth task of cleaning it.
The enthusiastic team wasted no time in digging out black mud, debris, heavy equipment and even dead fish from the shop once we arrived. I tried not to think of the impossibility of cleaning out all the debris, but decided to take one step, or shovel, at a time.
Losing his printing business of 40 years was a huge blow to Mr Abe, who now has no source of income. He thanked us for our work with his simple invitation to tea – it was dusk and we sat on groundsheets under the surreal candlelight and passed biscuits and hot cups of milo around – it was a humbling yet heart-wrenching moment, to know that this was all he had to offer, in his sincere act of gratitude to us. He was hesitant in asking us to pray for him at first, but was emboldened after our first prayer to ask for a second.
He shared his desire to rebuild his business. And then inspired us with his faith to honour God even in his darkest hour – by wanting to build an altar, just like how the first thing Noah did after the flood was to build an altar. We had a church service at that very place the next day – we had actually cleaned up the shop in time for it.
During the church service at Mr Abe’s shop, we noticed an elderly lady clutching a framed photo of someone throughout the session. We later found out that her brother’s body had just been found the day before, and that his birthday was today. She was touched by Pastor Caleb’s sermon, a rousing and much needed reminder to the people to remain faithful and strong despite their circumstances. He reminded, “Instead of staying at home, let us go out and help our neighbours who are also in need.” We prayed for her, with the help of our translator.
The worship session had less than 30 people attending; it was dark and cramped; we were all sitting on groundsheets and it was cold; but spirits were high. Pastor Christina and the team led in a Hokkien and then Japanese version of ‘Chin Jia Ho’, a song of encouragement which I believed uplifted the hearts of those present, and there was clapping and much joy as we worshipped. We are always blessed by the Japanese hospitality – lunch was provided by them later, with whatever simple rations they had.
It was in these high spirits that we went forth to reach out to the community, to distribute the rations that we had transported over, with the help of Japanese pastors who drove many hours with us to this town. There was such synergy in our teamwork as we unloaded, unpacked and allocated the food to the distribution tables. It was a strong team and without much discussion, everyone took their places to help where they could.
It was a lesson of self before others from the Japanese. It came to a point where we were running out of time and wanted to distribute the food more quickly, but to our surprise, even in their need, the Japanese politely declined our offers to give more rations after the instruction to just take 5 items.
Moments with different individuals convinced me that there are many emotional needs on the ground, all needing someone to reach out to them. Prior to the trip, we had little expectations as the programme was vague and we wondered how we could help in a foreign land, with our language barriers. In the first day of our cleaning up in Ishinomaki, we serendipitously met Tomoki, an elderly woman who lived alone with a cat. She had been leaving in muddy and wet conditions the past 3 weeks since the tsunami, and her living room carpet was still soaking wet. After cleaning, our Japanese translator prayed for her. To our surprise, she burst out crying and hugged us tightly repeatedly, thanking us profusely. She was afraid and alone, and had no one to turn to since the tsunami.
Another group, led by Pastor Christina, had also similar encounters. After their clean-up at a high school on the first day, they met a man who shared with them that he had lost his sister in the tsunami, giving them opportunity to pray for him and to minister healing and God’s love in his life.
Everything happens for a purpose, and I believe the divine timing of the salvation in our group will bring forth greater fruit in Japan. Kei, our translator friend who had accompanied us throughout, decided to accept Christ on the last day! It is only one of the many blessings that we have encountered throughout the trip.
I would like to give thanks for everything that was provided – the accommodation with warm showers, the testimonies that I saw, the connections made between team members, the people and needs we encountered, and the dynamic leadership from our pastors who inspires the team to give their all, and more.
The question people asked me before I went on the trip was: How much help can you give in your short stay there? The question I chose to ask was: How can I help in any way possible? I believe that if our presence can contribute to encouraging the faith of, and give hope to even one person, it would be worth the while. Pastor Caleb reminded us of the familiar story of the boy who tried saving the countless numbers of starfishes on the beach by throwing each one back to the sea. He was asked: “What difference can you make?” His answer, after throwing another starfish back: “It made a difference to this one.”