A Journal by Jared Chen Jie’an and Lin Shu Min (True Way PC)

Introduction

On 13 April 2012, the 8 members of the April 2012 EP Japan Tsunami Recovery Team arrived in Tokyo. Most of us came from different churches, and had only met previously at the pre-trip briefing and training sessions. Coupled with the initial unfamiliarity was the trepidation at not knowing what exactly we would do during the mission trip itself. While the trip briefing was as comprehensive as could have been arranged for, we still knew little of what the ten days would bring.

We had been told that our activities came under the umbrella of CRASH Japan, and that the majority of what we did in the course of the trip would be determined by the long-term volunteers who had been hard at work in Ichinoseki for the past months, some of them since the aftermath of the disaster in March 2011. We knew that much of our work would encompass spending time with the relocated survivors at mobile cafes conducted by the CRASH Japan staff and volunteers, and trying to make their days as comfortable as we could. We had prepared as much as we could in the circumstances, bringing local food for the survivors to sample, buying materials for handicrafts that we hoped to teach them, watching massage videos to prepare for physical therapy, and practising Japanese songs to hopefully sing to (and along with!) the survivors. While these all were seemingly diverse and unrelated activities, the focus of all these was our hope to be able to share the love of the Lord with the survivors. It was, we had hoped, a fertile field for the seeds of God’s Word to be planted.

However, we were told not to expect that everything would go as planned. We could not expect to be able to do or try out everything that we hoped to do. Also, a further problem was that only one member of our team was fluent in Japanese. The rest of us were faced with the prospect of not being able to communicate effectively with the survivors. As such, all we could do was place our trust in God and pray that, as His hands, we would be able to touch the hearts and lives of the tsunami survivors.

What we came to experience in the ten days of the trip was the amazing power of God’s love and blessings. Through serving the survivors in our own different ways, we learnt an important lesson: the true meaning of servitude. While we may not have done all that we set out to do, we believe that through the work that we did, both as part of the EP Missions Committee and on behalf of CRASH Japan, we were able to plant seeds that will one day grow to rival the Tree of Hope that stands in Kesunnuma.

Through this trip report, we hope to be able to provide some insights into some of the activities and events that struck us most vividly in our ten days.

Settling In

We began our journey to Ichinoseki, bleary-eyed from the overnight plane journey but filled with great anticipation. As the train continued further north towards Ichinoseki, the temperature continued dropping. However, the weather could not cool our excitement.

When we arrived at the Senmaya train station, we received a warm welcome from CRASH Japan volunteer Jesse, and Kazuma, a local resident who had come to know the CRASH Japan volunteers and had been assisting them in their efforts. Both of them were waiting to pick us up from the train station. We bundled up into the cars, and a short car ride later, we arrived at the CRASH Japan Ichinoseki Base Camp.

Base Camp sits alone, almost at the top of a steep hill. From the outside, Base Camp looks almost military. The building itself is grey and stark. Only three CRASH banners draped across the façade of the building and the surrounding fence hint at what goes on inside. This was to be our home for the next 10 days.

While the outside may have looked quiet, inside Base Camp proved to be far from it. The communal area is a warm hive of activities. It is at the communal area that we have breakfast together, conduct morning devotion at 8.30am, make plans for the day, have lunch together, debrief at 5.30pm, have dinner together, and have meaningful chats till late in the night.

As we entered the communal area, it turned out that two of the CRASH Japan staff/volunteers Nina and Kat were leaving for Heart for Hope. More volunteers were welcomed so three members of our team, Elder Foo Mun, Angeline and Michelle joined them, while the rest of us stayed behind and settled into Base Camp.

The Kasetsus

The next day, we hopped into the van (which we would come to know very well over the next 10 days) and went with Jesse to the kasetsus to send out publicity flyers. These flyers were for “Ricky’s Café”, the mobile cafés run by CRASH Japan for some of the many kasetsus in the region.

The first sight of the kasetsus was sobering. Rows upon rows of small, cramped-looking container style housing units stretched out neatly across the fenced off compound. Each unit housed a family of relocated residents from the regions that had been affected by the tsunami. It was troubling to realise that each of these families had lost so much, and were now forced to live in these tiny facilities. Even more painful to realise was that these were in fact the “lucky survivors”. Yet, as we were soon to find out, their resilience has bound them together as new communities.

The impact that CRASH Japan had made on these small communities became obvious to us as the kasetsu residents slowly filtered out of the houses, recognising Jesse and the CRASH van. They crowded around us, eager to say hi. They were curious to know where the previous volunteers were, and Jesse (and Michelle, our capable translator!) explained that we were a new team of volunteers who would be there for the next ten days. The kasetsus varied in sizes and layout, but we hoped to bring the same warmth and joy to all of them.

Scenes of the disaster

As we left the kasetsus, we drove through the towns where the survivors had once lived, Kesennuma and Rikuzentakata. Most of the two towns had been cleaned up of a majority of the rubble and debris in the one year since the tsunami and only vast, empty plots of land covered with the foundations of destroyed buildings remained. Standing there, it was difficult to imagine the terror, horror, and fear that one would have experienced when the tsunami struck. To be hundreds of metres inland, and yet to see a wall of water, houses, and even entire ships accelerating inexorably towards you must have been a devastating sight. We grieved for the tsunami victims and our respect for the tsunami survivors grew.

Later, we also saw the ruins of the local gymnasium and [elementary?] school. It was a chilling sight. Again, we came face to face with the unimaginable terrors that must have gripped the residents of those towns. These were sights that we would not soon forget.

The journey back was a quiet one.

Attending Service

As Sunday was a rest day for the base camp staff, we made our way to the Kesunnuma Bible Baptist Church to attend service. To our surprise, the eight of us in the EP team, together with Jesse, Jayson, and Pastor Takashi (a volunteer from America who had been born in Fukushima) almost outnumbered the entire congregation. While this may have been a depressing thought at first, it simply meant that the opportunity for growth in Kesunnuma and the region had yet to arrive at its potential. God has a wonderful plan for the Tohoku region and the rest of Japan that we hope we will one day be able to see come to fruition.

Ricky’s Café

After a restful weekend, the first of the cafés brought with it a flurry of activity. We were led by the very capable Jesse in setting up the café at the Sorimatsu-koen kasetsu. While we were somewhat unfamiliar at the beginning, we soon settled into our own individual roles. While we were initially worried at the fact that most of us would not have been able to converse with the survivors, we soon realised that God had answered our prayers and worries by providing ways for each one of us to contribute. While some of us interacted with the kasetsu residents and taught handicrafts to the obasans, others busied themselves in the kitchen preparing Singaporean snacks like laksa and bak gwa for the residents to taste. Everyone was able to contribute in their own way, and while some of us were not able to converse with the residents, it was not a problem as there was always other work to be done. We soon settled comfortably into these roles, which became par for the course at the following cafés.

However, our time there was soon over. The arrangements were such that we could only be at each kasetsu for a short period of a few hours each. Even so, we were glad to be able to bring those few hours of joy and laughter to the people of the kasetsus.

Going home

Before we knew it, it was time for us to leave.

The last sharing session was a sobering one. We each reflected upon how God had answered our team’s prayers and had showed us the way for each of us to contribute to the team and to reach out to the residents of the kasetsus despite our own shortcomings. Even so, we realised that each of us were only be able to contribute that much. While we had come to Japan with high hopes and aims of bringing restoration to the land, it was with that realisation that we came to understand that it is God, not man, who will be able to bring hope to the country. As His hands and His children, the best we can do is pray for the people who are still there, trying to make a difference and to plant a church in the region in His name.

Conclusion – A message of belief

The first official activity every morning at Base Camp is a time of devotion for all volunteers and staff. This time of worship and sharing was crucial in focussing our minds and hearts for the day’s work ahead. Through this time of devotion, we were able to better understand our purpose and the work that we were doing in Japan on behalf of the Lord.

As we prayed over how to best bring across the message of God’s love to people who had lost so much, we were reminded by one of our young team members of the story of Lazarus (John 11). It was a message and story that resounded greatly with the work that we were there for.

We were reminded that our Lord is not an uncaring God. He alone felt the pain and suffering of all the people whose lives were washed away in that one terrible day. While we may not understand why God has chosen to do certain things, we as Christians understand that He has a reason for everything. In John 11:37, the people asked why Jesus had been able to open the eyes of the blind man, and yet was unable to keep Lazarus from dying. They did not understand because they did not believe.

As believers, while we may not be able to comprehend God’s actions, we know that He has a plan, a plan that we will only be able to see if we continue to believe in Him. This is our blessing – that we are able to trust in and believe in the Lord our God. In the same way, we hope that we will one day be able to share this message of belief to the survivors in Japan. No matter how dire the circumstances, God has a reason, and He has a plan. He loves each and every one of us because we are His children. We are able to understand this because we believe in Him. This is the message that we hope one day, we will be able to share with all the people of Japan.

The story of Lazarus ends with Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. In the same way, Jesus can work miracles in Japan. While we realise that we may have only met a handful of the survivors, and even then, were only able to interact with them for a few hours, we were glad to have been a small part of the larger works that the Lord is carrying out in Japan. Even though we have returned from our trip, we must each remember to continue praying for the people in the Tohoku region and in Japan, because it is only through prayer that we can give them hope and love through the power of the Lord.