Back in California

After leaving Kesennuma, I got to go to Mito and see one of my favorite families on the planet, the Hagas. Then I spent time in Tokyo again with the amazing congregation there.

I’ve been back in California for two weeks now, and Sarah has been back for about six. We’re not going to take down the blog, but we’re going to stop posting here.  We were so very privileged to spend time in prayer in Kesennuma, this summer. We both miss the English students, neighbors, and friends very much, but we hope that we will see them again someday! Someone we got to see recently might look a little familiar…

Pastor Wordell told me something that gave me great comfort when I was leaving Kesennuma, as I was sad to leave especially those who have gathered for Saturday Bible-english class… He reminded me that Paul had to leave every city he spent time at. Paul had to write the amazing letters that make up most of the New Testament… because he wasn’t physically there!

I feel a little unqualified to quote the Apostle Paul as if my feelings mirror his, but I hope that anyone reading this in Kesennuma can take comfort from his letters as I do!

I thank my God every time I remember you.  

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,  being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.  God can testifyhow I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (Philipians 1:3-11)

Youchen -> Youchen

Today we went and did a program at Nistuki-youchen, a preschool down the street.

It was funny, because that’s the way Kate and I started our time together here, (by reading a “Pete the Cat” book to a bunch of kids) and on the one hand, it feels like yesterday, and on the other hand it feels like 10 years ago. 

Common feeling this summer.

Of course, I had a ton of fun pretending to be a monkey and a lion, doing psudo-yoga with the kids too. I love their excited little faces and enthusiastic high-fives (called “Touch!” here). I’m just so thankful for every moment (and the moments are now few) that I have left in Kesennuma :-)

Birthdays and Vascular Surgery

Imagine your birthday.

Most days, we may not decide a week ahead of time what we’re going to have for desert, but on our Birthdays, we know.

For me, it’s usually chocolate cake with white fluffy frosting.

One of the sweetest, most gregarious people I know in Kesennuma’s birthday lands on March 11^th.  I can’t imagine what that would be like…to plan your 59th birthday and have it be swept away – to have that day be given such a sad meaning.

Imagine suturing a vein during a vascular surgery.

Ok, I can’t imagine that either. But I can assume that it would take quite a bit of concentration, finesse, and steadiness.

Imagine being a vascular surgeon on 3-11-2011, performing surgery as the quake hits Sendai.  We met the vascular surgeon who graciously showed us the video of his surgury that day. He earnestly wanted to show us what it was like – how it had felt to be there. He and his team were heroes: they finished the surgery through the aftershocks.

After showing us the video, he told us about his son, born a couple months after the Earthquake/Tsunami/Nuclear Disaster. He used one of the kanji for ocean “Umi no ‘Mi’” in his son’s name.  He hopes that his son will grow up to help the Tohoku area, and is grateful that his baby son has no memory of the disaster.

This hope, this naming, reminds me of the way that people have named their children throughout the years – always yearning that the next generation will fix the problems of the last.

After the great fall of humanity away from God, Eve named her son, “Cain,” hoping that he would be the “offspring” that would crush the head of Satan.

Instead Cain, born of sinful man and woman, and led into jealousy, became a murderer. And yet people kept hoping.

800 years after Isaiah predicted the coming of “Immanuel – God with us,” a young Jewish virgin called Mary named her miraculous son “Jesus.” This wasn’t an unusual name back then – many little boys were called “Yeshua” which means “He saves,” or “He delivers” or “He rescues.”

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” – Matthew 1:21

“He saves” really saved us. Out of all the little boys in the world that have been named in hope for thousands of years, this one lived, died and rose for us. He died for everyone here in Tohoku.  He loves them.

Happy 4th of July!

Kate and I threw a bangin’ July 4th party today.

Record attendance for a LECC center event: 15

There were so many connections made:

Love your Neighbor

Recently, a friend that works at a non-profit in Kesennuma reminded me –

“we’re doing art therapy for kids here in Kesennuma in the same way that they do for refugee kids in the Middle East. It’s the same shock (PTSD) everywhere.”  

Moses class has really hammered “Love God, Love your Neighbor” home for me. I praise God that for this time, in this place, we can be “neighbors” in Kesennuma.

When I leave Kesennuma a few weeks from now, I hope that I remember that I’m a neighbor  – because we’re all fragile humans, dealing with life, death and stress on an unpredictable and fallen planet. Let us love!

Distance (Trip to Tokyo)

I’ve been away from Kesennuma for a couple of days and there is some relief I’ve found in distance. Tokyo is awesome. Rode a boat and climbed trees in Yokohama. For the first time this summer, didn’t have a twinge of fear or sorrow when I looked out over the water. With the Miyazakis, I ate about 14 plates full of Chinese food over the course of a three hour long meal. I’ve had the privilege of hanging out with sweet folks who have known me since I was two years old.

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Worship here in Tokyo (I rejoiced with those who said to me ‘Let us go up to the house of the LORD!’) has also made me realize how seeing the power of nature in Kesennuma has humbled my attitude toward God. Psalm 46 (“though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”) and Job 38 (“here is where your proud waves halt”) during the service in Tokyo both brought me to my knees before an almighty God in a way that before Kesennuma, just wouldn’t have happened.

Below is a clip of the lovely ladies of Aganai singing during after-church Choir practice. Please, please ignore my terrible camera work! (What was I thinking on the third verse???)

Tell the World

Check out the sweet new sign (based on the parable of the sower and the seed) that Kate Lynn Hieb made for the center!

Listen to what Joshua told the people of God in Joshua 3:5:

Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow, the LORD will do AMAZING things among you!“

BE ENCOURAGED and HAVE A GREAT WEDNESDAY. :-) 

Matthew 24:35

Blank Splotches

I wish I could just post one of the pictures I saw today. It would be easier than trying to describe them. 

We cleaned gritty, salty, dirty photographs today.  750,000 family photos were lost in the Tsunami. We went through a few hundred. It was surreal, looking through other peoples’ lives, not sure if they made it.

The weirdest part for me was that I thought we’d be cleaning off the photographs and making them more visible. Instead, as we gently rubbed the grit off, the bacteria that needed to be removed had often eaten the color off the prints, meaning that when we removed the bacteria, sometimes we removed the original ink, leaving blank spots.

Sometimes, the pale blank splotch looked artsy, like when they framed a face. Other times, a picture of two siblings was whittled to just one, or the photo was left almost entirely blank, or with a rusty ghost stain.

Cleaning the dirt and what smelled like sewage off of photos of old family members used as objects of worship in family shrines was particularly strange. There were pictures that had been honored for generations, but the old ink was particularly prone to washing away.  It seemed like one entire pail of pictures was scrubbed white.  Knowing that contact with the water would wash away an image forever, sometimes I would pause and ask “Should I clean this one?” The answer was always “Yes, we should try – if not then the bacteria might spread to the other pictures.” Kate and I would show each other particularly sweet pictures before we wiped them – pictures of little girls with their dads, grandmas, wedding shots, kids posing with their siblings – just in case no one could ever see the picture again.

I pray that some of those pictures will find their way back to their families and give them hope.

Each of the photos reminded me that that nothing on this earth lasts forever. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Psalm 18:6

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. – Romans 8:26

May my prayer be set before you like incense; 
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. – Psalm 141:2