Headed out with a full truck and van and some crackers for communion. Convenience store should have some grape juice. Drove through the tunnel to the area east of the river where damage seems particularly intensified. (Picture the tsunami rushing over a neighborhood sandwiched between the river and the steep hills. Hedged in, the force of the water is compressed as it rises and swirls around in the streets and buildings before reversing its path of destruction back to the sea.) Before revisiting the apartment blocks we went to a nearby park. The team saw this park a month ago while trying to find a contact in Ishinomaki. Remember that the suffering immediately after the tsunami was compounded by bitter cold and snow for the next few days? On the BeOne-Tohoku-Picasa web site I found a picture of this same park they took in March when it was covered in snow.
In the park today we found several cars jammed between the trees, a wooden chair hanging from a tree branch 20 feet in the air, but the most wrenching were a bag of family photo albums and a marionette puppet that Kashiwa San found and picked up.
We had a very moving time of prayer for the city and the people, that they might know the love of Christ and be freed from fear of spirits. In a stroke of genius, I had forgotten to bring the paper cups (they probably would have blown away in the cold, dusty wind anyway) so after we broke bread, we each drank from the carton of juice trusting God to protect us from sharing germs.
On to the apartments. Over a month later and 200 families have no electricity, running water, or working toilets. Social worker and Army team were taking surveys with the neighborhood leaders, so we gave them a few minutes to finish. We had so many things to hand out that it took 2 tarps plus a produce area, and it took 20 minutes to lay everything out. In spite of the cold wind people waited patiently in line. We spent the better part of 2 hours there, and believe it or not, all that remained from those two vehicles, were some boxes of clothes, rice, onions, apples, and some carrots.
Beth talked to a woman she knew from earlier visits who was crying. In the tsunami one of her twin nephews had come through alive but the other was missing. Just prior to today’s visit they had identified the body of the other 3-year-old, found a distance away and only recognizable by his clothing.
To give Gavin and Kashiwa San a good sendoff for their long drive we went out to a somewhat traditional restaurant where you take your shoes off and they give you the warm towels. I thought my yaki aji (grilled mackerel) was a dead ringer for the fish left on the ground at the park by the tsunami. What do you think?
Later in the evening Corey Shields and Tim Turner arrive with a van of food and toilet paper, etc. from Tokyo.
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