Video Japan

 Flash back to November and Bruce's time in Japan. One of the men on the team Bruce worked with, Billy Jackson, has made a video which you can find on you-tube. It's about 5 minutes long but it gives a participant's perspective of the destruction and rebuilding of the Tsunami. You can watch the video here.

Final Dispatch from the land of the Rising Sun

Good Friends,

 

    I am writing this last dispatch from a hotel room in Tokyo. We left Tome base this morning with a grand send off from those continuing the home rebuilding work. Rode the bullet train at an incredible rate of speed and here I am just a few hours from flying back home tomorrow. I have got to say, when you are standing in the train station, patiently waiting and out of nowhere comes a bullet train at close to 200 mph and without slowing down, screams past, just a few feet from where you are standing, its amazing ! 

 

 

    If you have any feeling of wanting to participate in this rebuilding work in Japan, I want to encourage you to follow through. Contact Samaritan's Purse  to apply and plan for a life changing experience. Workers are divided into two work efforts: those who "mud out and dissassemble damaged wall and floor assemblies and those who replace the damaged materials. The carpentry is fairly fundamental and only an average level of skill is required. If you can commit to a month or more, housing, food and transportation are paid for by SP. Your only expenses will be spending money. Air Fare for a shorter committment is about $1500. This opportunity will probably end in March.

 

 

Our coworkers here have come from many locations in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Singapore, etc.. All types of people from all points on the compass have gathered here with a singular focus, to share the love of God to those hurting from the natural disasters that occurred here. It is a true Christian community environment where there is joy in the sacrifice of leaving home to providing homes for those without. 

 

 

I have been honored to have helped complete two home repairs in the two weeks I have been here. We have held dedication ceremonies for both homes as well.

 At the dedications the family and relations are present, as well as SP carpenters and staff. The local Pastor, David Suzuki and his wife lead the event with some hymn singing, scripture reading, a Bible presentation and a very clear gospel message based on John 3:16. 

 

Bear in mind that typically there is zero understanding of the Christian faith, only a Bhuddist belief system that seems to be only marginally practiced. He tells a story of a Japanese woman who risked her life to return into her burning home to retrieve and rescue her Bhuddist god (there are thousands of different ones). She arrived at a shelter with this idol and a worker asked her about it. She said that her god was the only thing she rescued from the fire and then carried it to the shelter with her. The worker replied by stating that the Christian God doesn't need to be rescued or carried, in times of tragedy the One True God rescues and carries us.

 

 

    So, let's talk construction. It is vely vely different...  

 

 

 

 

The floor system starts with a stem wall foundation and 4x4 floor girders laid out about 3' apart. Over these girders are laid 2x2 joists about every 19" apart. 1" foam insulation is cut and fit between these 2x2's. 1/2" plywood is used for subfloor. 

 

 

The walls are kind of a hybrid system of timberframing and mobile home framing.The strength comes from a frame of 5x5 posts and then infilled between with 1x2's running horizontally. 

 

 

The exterior is some sort of stucco or imitation brick product. The interior, between the 5x5's is done either in drywall covered with wall paper or luan mahogany plywood.The roof system is an insane mixture of lumber sizes, joinery and ornate metal. 

 

 

Common features in every home is an abundance of sliding doors (both sides slide in both directions - how clever), a sunken entry area where shoes are removed, two side by side rooms surrounded by sliding soji screens, multiple funky sized storage closets and a Bhudda shrine spot. The room sizes are laid out based on the tatami sleeping matt (about 1 meter by 2 meters - 3' x 6'). All room widths and lengths match up to multiples of the size of these matts. The sheets of drywall and plywood are also the size of these matts. All of our measuring is done in metric and precision cuts within 1mm is essential. Pretty challenging when the house has been racked by the tsunami.

 

 

    So, I hope these email updates have been interesting to you. I have felt like what I had to offer to the effort here has been a good fit and well worth the challenge of getting here. Along with assisting with the work here ,my desire has been to bring you along with me as much as possible, so that you have a better understanding of the Japanese culture and their very real physical and spiritual needs. Yes, financially they are a very successful people, but as we have discovered in America, money can't protect you from physical or spiritual harm. Only the currency of heaven can do that.

 

Arrigato gozaimasu and sayonara for now,

(Thank-you and good-bye)

Bruce

 

p.s. I have included a couple extra pictures that testify to the destructive force of the tsunami.

 

The first picture is simply of a row of pine trees that are between the town of Ishinomaki and the beach. We were told that the tsunami wave was seen coming over these trees as it entered the town.

 

The second picture is a mountain of debris collected from the town which is being sorted and recycled.

Biblical Proportions

 the latest update from Bruce!

Ohayou gozaimasu !

So here is a brief overview of the damage caused by the March earthquake and tsunami:

"A total of 196,559 buildings were destroyed or damaged. Around 27,000 people were killed. More than 460,000 were made homeless and sought refuge in shelters. This included 150,000 in Miyagi Prefecture, 47,000 in Iwate Prefecture and 130,000 in Fukushima Prefecture. In the first three days after the disaster Japan’s Self Defense Forces (the Japanese military) rescued 66,000 people, many of them stranded on hilltops, rooftops and among debris. Because reaching them by land was so difficult many had to wait to be retrieved by helicopter, which could carry only a few people at a time. Thousands of others evacuated their homes due to the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant."

The Homes that workers from this base are working on are in the Miyagi Prefecture. Every corner you turn in the town of Ishinomaki has signs of what took place here. Damaged,unlivable homes and vacant lots are everywhere. I watched as a small excavator on one site stirred up the soil while others sifted through the soil to find any valuables that may still be on site after a home was removed. Once this step is done, the soil is neatly graded and then lime is hand sprinkled over the whole site to neutralize the effect on the soil that the salt water had.

Regardless of current appearance, it certainly is much better than right after the tsunami. Yesterday, at lunch, the homeowner of the house we just completed today sat down and told us about her survival experience. She said that when they felt the quake they knew it was different than the usual quake and should leave their house. Apparently many others were already on the road, heading to the hills. Her family made it to the hill behind the town in time to escape the wave.

(A comparable distance scenario would be to picture being downtown Bellingham and having to get up to the top of Alabama hill as quickly as possible)

She said that most of the people who were fleeing and who didn't make it were in vehicles and trapped in massive traffic jams rather than on bicycle. After staying at a relatives home in the mountains for a few days, they made their way back home to find that all roads were full of debris, their house was still standing but surrounded by and full of debris. She said that the bodies of victims were everywhere. Neighbors homes on two sides were gone and all 6 people had died.

It is very impressive to consider how much work has been done so far just clearing the streets. There is a mountain of debris down on the waterfront which all came from the street cleanup. Currently intentional demolition and repair is the name of the game. Standing in the street in front of our project home I can turn and look in any direction and see excavators at work and hear the sound of jackhammers and concrete saws.

Another thing visible from the jobsite is a significant row of pine trees (40' tall) between us and the seashore about a mile away. I was told that the tsunami wave came over those trees on its way into town.

Samaritan's Purse came in right after the disaster with boxes of survival items and handed them out. They have only been given until March of 2012 to stay and do their rebuilding work. My hunch is that deadline will change because of the positive impact they are having in the lives of many Japanese by the repair work they are sponsoring. 110 homes have been rebuilt so far out of 300. This interaction between SP and the Japanese has had other interesting effects on the locals here.
1) The custom of each family looking out only for itself is being confronted
2) The "shame" of receiving hand-outs is being challenged
3) Interaction with foreigners , in their homes, on a daily basis, is causing a breakdown of the Japanese isolation tendency.

Some other post tsunami stories:

I met a fisherman at church on Sunday who had his home rebuilt by SP and was there because he wanted to get to know the God that brought his fishing boat back. His boat was swept away by the wave and he and others spent days looking for it before giving up. Then one day, he looked out to the harbor, where his boat used to be parked and there it was, sitting where it should be. He said, only God could have made this happen ! I need to know this God !

Another woman who's home is being repaired simply stated that she wanted the joy and hope that she was witnessing in the workers on her home. She asked "How do I get this ? ". She was at church on Sunday also.

Another family that was fleeing the tsunami was swept away in their car but it floated along well enough that it eventually floated over to a building where they were able to climb out of the car into the building and be saved.

We just started our second home today and the homeowner seemed to be a very intimidating and stand-offish person. So at lunch we asked if he and his wife would share their tsunami survival story. He has a business of harvesting seaweed and processing it at his facility in a warehouse behind his house. He was processing some seaweed when the earthquake hit and it shook this 10-ton machine off its foundation. He decided to ride his bike down to the harbor to check on his boats but before he got there he was confronted with water in the street about a foot deep and growing. It got too deep to ride his bike and he fell off and swam to a carport, grabbed a support post and climbed up onto the carport roof. He spent 3-hours stranded up there during which time a life vest from one of his boats came drifting by and he was able to snag it with a stick. He said it had to be God who brought his own life vest to him when he needed one.

Later an old man in a boat drifted by and he got in his boat and they floated to a school building, kicked out a window and spent the night in there. Because it was very cold and snowing, they tore up the carpets and put pieces over the windows and doors to keep the room warm. The next morning he found his way back home and climbed down debris piles to get into his home where he searched everywhere for his wife, expecting to find that she had died. She wasn't there because she had already escaped to higher ground. This couple lost there entire business and their home. And now, in the name of Christ, they are getting their home back, free of charge. Since sharing their story, this couple has been more comfortable with us and us with them.

So what is this all about ? Why the earthquake and tsunami ? Did God allow it ? Did he allow it as a way of beginning something new here in Japan ? Often it takes tragedy to jolt us out of our comfort zone and into a place where we are open to options. Like leaving our old gods behind in favor of The God. The God who really does exist and want to participate in life with us. God is using us as part of his change agent as we fix these houses. We are a link in a chain of events that God is orchestrating to save Japanese people from continuing to be spiritually dead. Miracles are happening everyday here. Please keep praying.

Sore dewa,

Bruce

Bruce (3rd from left) surrounded by other men on the team.

Made in Japan

 ~~Another delightful update from my favorite missionary carpenter~~

Konnichiwa Friends,

Its Sunday evening. We took the day off. This morning I walked down the road through a quaint little village along a river and then back through a farming area.It was very quiet, as if even here they have the custom of shutting down on Sunday. 

Later, a couple from the Billy Graham evangelistic association came to the base and led us in worship and spoke about how our very identity changes when we enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Especially, we are rescued from living as orphans abused by the enemy, into adoption by God Himself and given the names of Son and Daughter.

You would all like/ love Japan and the Japanese people. Unlike common U.S. perception, there is a lot of open space, mountains, trees and rivers. The cities are no more crowded than ours, they are certainly cleaner and safer, and everything you need is readily available. 

Even McDonald's  where I had a spicy Korean Barbeque Burger tonite. McDonalds even has a parking lot for bikes 

 because so many people ride them since gas is $8 per gallon and cars are not cheap since the government says you have to get rid of your old car once it is 5-10 years old. Funny thing about the bikes is that even though they are so technologically advanced in other areas, all their bikes are your basic one speed with the basket on the front model.

I thought I bought some gum today at a 7-11.... it turned out to be cough drops.

This afternoon we visited a small church that has recently been established in the neighborhood where we are doing home repairs. It is in a donated apartment of about 500 square feet. We sang some hymns in both Japanese and English and the Pastor spoke on casting our cares and anxieties on Jesus whom we can trust as being present and as being more capable than ourselves. 

As an illustration he referred to someone he knew who was still living in a shelter and chose to commit suicide rather than face the prospect of rebuilding their life. (suicide is one of the main causes of death here, even prior to the earthquake and tsunami). This is certainly a relevant message for these traumatized people who are far from recovered, as winter is closing in. 

As the Pastor was speaking, a small elderly man sitting in front of me broke down in tears. I found out afterward that just this week his home was taken down because it was too damaged to repair. (no such thing as homeowners insurance here). Others in attendance included two families who have had their homes repaired by Samaritan's Purse volunteers. Pray that the love they are receiving through the home repairs will ultimately lead them to the source of love, Jesus Christ.

 

If you want to find where our team is doing home rebuilds, go to Map Quest and type in Ishinomaki, Japan. It is a small fishing community on the North East coast, a bit North of Sendai and Fukashima.

If you want to see more pictures than I can attach check out: www.somissions.com

and

http://servantphotographer.blogspot.com/2011/10/our-weekend-in-japan-and-start-of-new.html

This blogger is Billy Jackson and he is a very energetic 20 something member of our team here.

I am sure the next 6-days of work will fly by. I will try to write to you another time before leaving on Sunday for Tokyo and flying to Seattle on Monday.

Please continue to pray for the people of Japan. In spite of their outward appearance of success, they have a spiritual bankruptcy. Sure you could say that Bhudda seems to be working for them and if it works for them then just leave them alone. But in the spiritual realm, and it does exist, there are only two forces: Satan and God. Left without God's protection, we are no match for Satan. He will do whatever it takes to keep us from God, even set us up with financial prosperity. These people, like most Americans, lack a true awareness of their spiritual dilema and what can be done about it. May their spiritual eyes be opened, wide.

Blessings,

Bruce 

More Pictures from Japan

 Today's email from Bruce included these photos but also an unmentioned prayer request. I can tell he is tired and perhaps struggling a bit with some of the techno-challenges of trying to keep us (me) satisfied with updates.

He said when he uploaded these photos from a walk he took through the village, it somehow deleted all the previous photos he had taken since he left home. He was (is) majorly bummed!!!

 I leave these photos of the village to your interpretation as he did not provide details other than it was a lovely walk through a small village nearby, located by a large river. Well, hey, that actually sounds pretty detailed if you ask me.

Photo

hard  at  work  in  Japan

Update from Japan

 My inbox was blessed with a detailed email from Bruce this morning. I share with you both humbled and proud, of the ministry God has called him to.

Konichiwa from Tome Japan !

Thank-you to all you who have stepped up to support the recovery of the Japanese people from the earthquake and tsunami that occured here in March. And thank-you all for supporting my travel here through prayer and finances. Your contributions are directly helping families resume their lives while hearing the gospel, perhaps for the first time.

It has been sensory overload for the last 3-days. Its crazy that we live in such a day that one morning we can walk out the front door of our home in a community of 300 people and that same evening be walking the streets of a city of 9 million people on the other side of the globe. Its an odd feeling to be the minority, the one that doesn't fit in and is dependent on the grace of strangers to help find the way.

Fortunately, the Japanese are incredibly hospitable and helpful. Walk into a 7/11 store (and they are everywhere here) and the clerk jumps to her feet to verbally welcome you with a smile and a bow. Stop at an intersection at night and the car facing yours will turn off their headlights so you won't be bothered by their bright lights in your face. Try to tip anyone at a hotel, restaurant, airport and they will politely refuse. 

The Samaritan's Purse base I am working out of is in Tome which is a 2 hour bullet train ride (at 187 mph) north of Tokyo and then another hour taxi ride. This base is set up in an old sewing factory with barracks type sleeping and a dining hall, flushing port-a-johns and japanese style showers set up outside. There are two other SP bases set up in other places around here.The food is a great variety of authentic japanese cuisine.

There about 60 volunteers working out of this base (Americans, Japanese, Malaysians) and there are two more SP bases set up elsewhere. Each base is staffed with an impressive array of logistics coordinators and team leaders. At 7, after breakfast and devotions, we are dispatched in 6-7 man teams to our various home rebuild projects.


I am part of a group of very impressive men from Steppin out missions (www.somissions.com)  ( http://servantphotographer.blogspot.com/2011/10/our-weekend-in-japan-and-start-of-new.html) Check out these sites for some more photos.) We are working on a traditional Japanese style home (curve roof, ornate interior woodwork) in a fishing village named Ishinomaki that had water up to the first floor ceiling. Another team went in ahead of us and removed all the mud, flooring and wall surfaces. Our job is reinsulating and sheathing the floors and installing drywall and mahogany paneling to the walls. Final details (wall paper, door replacement, etc) will be handled by Japanese  carpenters. All of this work is being done for free to 300 homes. So far 110 homes have been completed.

Our home sits in an area where the scraped clean ground bears witness to where many other homes once stood. Other homes and apartments sit as hollowed out shells, representing the lives of the families that once lived in them. The sound of excavators and jackhammers continues all day as businesses, warehouses and houses deemed unsafe are demolished. Trucks heaped with demolished cars pass by on a regular basis. A literal mountain of debris is down the road and in the process of being sifted through and recycled.

Every home built in Japan comes complete with a built-in shinto/ bhuddist shrine as we might commonly have a built-in fireplace. This shrine is meant to honor Bhudda, the Kami gods and deceased ancestors. On the job before the one I started on, the homeowners chose to have the  shrine discarded as the repair work took place. In another home the single mother accepted Jesus as Lord because of the kindness she was shown in the name of God. We are 2-days from finishing with this current home and have been working around the shrine waiting to see what this homeowner family will decide about it's place in their lives. Pray for them.

I have heard a couple tsunami survivor stories. One family was rushing to leave their home when the mother went back upstairs to retrieve something only to have the rest of the family swept away while they waited for her to return. She is plagued with guilt. Another family was struck while their daughter was away at school and it took 8-days for them to determine that their daugter was ok. I am certain that everyone I see in the community has a heartbreaking tale to tell. No one is exempt from contemplating the issues of life and death and what can be trusted. There is opportunity like no other for these hurting people to hear and consider the Truth of Christ as superior to the truth of Bhudda. Please pray for the few Christian Pastors here as they continue to reach out after we volunteers have returned home.

Well it lights-out time. Our team has voted to work tomorrow/ saturday..

Blessings,

Bruce

He Writes!

 I had email from Bruce this afternoon where it is Early Friday morning in his world. I am happy to share his words with you here and ask for your continued prayers over the work and ministry he is involved in. 

Konnichiwa honey !

This email has to be short and sweet.

my computer will not pickup the signal like everyone elses so I am borrowing wes's while everyone else is having worship on the other side of our tarp divider wall in the barracks.

Yesterday we continued work that the others started a couple days ago about an hours ride into the tsunami zone. I hung drywall japanese style and saw many neighborhoods where homes were randomly either totally destroyed and removed or still standing, vacant with gaping holes through the walls. The sound of excavators and jackhammers is commonplace. There was a pile of collected debris that is like a small mountain.

I wish I could send some pictures but this computer is borrowed. The camera batteries ran out again yesterday anyway. I was dead meat yesterday by 3 because of jet lag. went to bed at 730 and slept all night. today should be better. The guys I am working with and have otherwise met are all simple folks (handymen, etc.) who are here because God called them. Gary is moving to england after this to be maintenance man for a ministry. Dave is staying here 3 months and has spent the last few years volunteering wherever natural disasters have struck.

Gotta go. Pray for healing of Japanese hearts through Jesus Christ!

And for an internet connection of my own !

Bruce (in green shirt) at the work site in Japan. I was able to access this picture from one of the other guys there working in the Tsunami Zone.