As the new year begins we continue visiting the disaster areas.  God has blessed us with some wonderful friends who live in the temporary housing.  They are like our family.  We enjoy spending time with them!  There is one temporary housing in Ishinomaki where we have been visiting for a while.  It’s the place where we have taken many volunteer teams with us.  We were able to build close relationships with many of the residents and they always welcome us warmly.  Recently, our pastor asked us if the church could start helping them regularly.  After visiting them with the pastor and his wife and having a meeting with the leaders of this housing unit, we both agreed it would be great if the church members could start visiting them.  The leaders of this temporary housing have been so good to us and we just love them so much!

We took several members in January and we all had a wonderful time.  We all met in the gathering room and enjoyed our time together.  The residents were very open and shared their stories (which is a blessing because it usually takes so long to earn their trust).  We all had fun talking, having tea, and singing!  Two old ladies showed us the Japanese traditional dance.  One of them was a lady with Parkinson’s and she usually sits in the corner and listens as others talk.  We were all surprised to see her stand up and dance!  And she was smiling and having a great time!  That made all of us smile!

Singing time!

Luke helped us to put the oranges in the bags.

Michael shoveled the snow (and ice) with other men.

We also visited one of the preschools to deliver some gifts for the students and teachers.

Aren’t they precious?

Of course, Luke had so much fun!

This is another temporary housing that all the Baptist churches in our city have been helping every month.  It has been great serving with other believers.

Delivering fresh vegetables.

Pretty flower pots that were given to each family with a hand written card.

Making candy leis together.

Group photo after the fellowship.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support for those in the disaster areas.  It has been such a cold winter and many of them have told us they are so cold in their temporary housing units.  Please pray they will stay healthy during this winter.  Also, please pray their needs are met.  The fact that you still remember them means a lot to us.

Ever since we visited Oshika Peninsula for the first time in May of 2011, it has become a special place.  It’s the area where so many people lost their lives, family members, houses, and everything they owned (You can watch the youtube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT6TP1uck_4).  As we met people who were living in the temporary shelter at that time and built relationships over the past year and half, God placed these people in our heart and we have been visiting them regularly.

So we were so glad that we could take the FBCA team to this special place to meet the people we love.

At first, we visited our dear friend, Miyuki.  Her husband owns a fishing company and they lost most of their ships.  But they have continued their fishing business and trying to rebuild their home. She has been open to listen to the Gospel and she has put the poster with the scriptures that we had given her on their entrance wall.  She cried as we prayed with her and we pray God will continue to work in her heart.

With Miyuki.

Then we went to Oshika Preschool.  It was our first time to visit them in the new building.  Their school was destroyed by the tsunami so they were meeting in the community center for a year and half.  When we visited them, they were having a special festival.

It was great to see these happy kids!

We made the puppets with them!

After visiting the preschool, we went to our friend, Emi’s house.  She recently built a new house.  You may remember reading about her before, but she is the one who lost her husband and her father-in-law in the tsunami.  And this year, she has lost three of her family members including her father.  Needless to say, she has been going through a difficult time.  But she always welcomes us with a big smile and keeps thanking us for coming.  This time, she invited all of us to her new beautiful house and served delicious fruit and sweets.  It was great to hear about her plans to make her house a bed and breakfast place where people can come and stay.  We look forward to staying with her someday.  We prayed with her before we left and we could tell she was crying.  We know she is still hurting.  Please keep her and her little daughter in your prayers.

With Emi.

We stopped at Mrs. Hiratsuka’s (from the temporary housing we had visited the day before) brother’s temporary housing to deliver fruit and vegetables.  This time, we visited each door (20 units) and handed them in person.  People were so appreciative.  The FBCA team members mastered how to say “hello”, “here they are”, “thank you”, and “see you” in Japanese!

With Mrs. Hiratsuka’s brother.

On our way home, we went to Matsushima that is one of the most famous places in Japan.  The team got to see one of the national treasures.

Can’t you tell they were super excited?

It was a very memorable day.  We pray and hope we will be able to take more friends to Oshika Peninsula in the future!