Celebrating

Freedom's calling, chains are falling,

Hope is dawning bright and true.

Day is breaking; night is quaking,

God is making all things new!

- "Jesus Saves"

Blessed Easter!

When students go missing...

Koriyama, I've heard, has higher radiation levels than Fukushima. In both of these areas, schools are not letting children outside for recess. In Koriyama especially, however, the families seem worried for their children's health and are not letting the kids be out and about very much.

Can you imagine being a 4-year-old boy, kept indoors for over a month while waiting for radiation to clear? The kids aren't so happy about it all.

Partly because of this, we all tramped outside to wish a family farewell from English classes yesterday afternoon (seize any opportunity to get some air!), and the boys decided to run races around the block for a bit. The mothers and I were still chatting, and because the boys would run around the block and come back to us, the moms decided to allow them a few minutes of running free before we all had to come back indoors again.

Long story short, running around the block led to all of us scouring the neighborhood for an hour or so, realizing that the boys had gone missing. As the minutes and streets went by, my thoughts changed from, "They're probably just around this corner..." to "Wow...God, please help us find these boys. Please keep them safe!" to "God, they could be anywhere!! Please guide my steps..."

I should comment that I get lost in this neighborhood OFTEN, and at the time of the last prayer, I didn't really know where I was even...but my eyes spied a small alley, jutting off of the main road I was walking on...that alley led to another, curving around a corner...and to another...and brightly-colored playground equipment came into view. And there were our two small, dark-headed boys, calling to each other and romping together, relishing their freedom and enjoying time with friends.

Whew. Thank you, God.

I called to them and they came running, asking first whether everyone was mad at them and then asking how I had found them. "I prayed...and I found you. God helped me." The answer was the truth. The boys then asked if I'd been to that park before. "Nope, never...now, who knows how to get back to church?" was my answer and question. One boy paused in the street and looked at me thoughtfully. "When you prayed, did God answer right away?"

Yeah. Yeah, God answered pretty quickly when I asked Him to guide my steps.

The boys and I both paused then--all of us, I think, struck by very tangible God-presence and the miracle of answered prayer.

We made the phone call back to the others, letting them know the lost had been found. And then we prayed and talked our way back to the church. There were hugs and scoldings and reassurings and tears...and then we trooped in for a prayer of thanks and evening Bible study.

I'm thankful for a living God, who is not just part of a book or story...but who hears and sees and answers.

New opportunities

I was expecting this blog to give an update regarding relief efforts, donations, students, etc. I expected to come back to Japan and do some volunteering, visit the evacuation stations around the city, and join others in prayer. I expected to keep praying for more students, more opportunities for relationships, more connections in the community...

I wasn't expecting to almost double our teaching hours. I wasn't expecting to start spending 75% of my time teaching with a different English company. I wasn't expecting to be emailing information about open job positions to other Christians, asking if they want to come teach in Fukushima.

Apparently, a few new things are being set into motion.

Because Fukushima City falls within the evacuation zone the USA has placed around the nuclear power plant, many English teachers have left the city. Schools and businesses all over the city have experienced shifts in personnel, and two English companies have contacted us to see if we could help connect them with teachers or teach some of their classes ourselves. As of the last 48 hours or so, Cindy and I will be teaching at the two churches (Fukushima and Koriyama) and three other places. I'm not sure how many more students that puts us in contact with--but I know that it's a rather large number! While my eyebrows are still up in the air a little over the changes in schedule and location and teaching this means for us, it's exciting to see new opportunities spring into existence--literally overnight!

Please pray for relationships of blessing and quick wisdom for new classes, and for God's provision and guidance in filling the open teaching positions here! And, as I'm reflecting about hopping on my bicycle and heading to the new school, can you pray that I end up finding these new locations and classrooms over these next few days? :)

Wondering what doors will open next...

Love,

Haidee

Dark uncertainties and sun-lit blossoms

April 12th, en route to Fukushima...

Four different earthquakes/aftershocks have already interrupted my travel. The first two led to a late arrival into Narita airport and the decision to either set out with darkness, rain, and half-working trains or hole up in a hotel for the night and try trains or buses the next day. The darkness and decision was eerily similar to the night I left Fukushima several weeks ago, not knowing how far transportation would get me or where I would stay. There I was--same darkness, same miserable feelings of cold and confusion...

But I awoke this morning, after the blessing of finding a cheap nearby hotel, to the sunrise and cherry blossoms gently swaying in the breeze--dainty pink petals decorating what had been, three weeks ago, bare brown. And it struck me again that darkness and dread do not--will not--last forever. And it's good.

...I'm currently on a train. I still don't know when my train will move or when it will stop, when alarms will sound and the earth will shake...I do know that this is the slowest ride I've ever experienced from the airport into Tokyo. :) And I look at the thinly-masked anxiety on the faces around me and know that dread and uncertainty are real things. BUT...through the window the sunlight streams in, and pockets of pink blossoms are everywhere throughout the city...and I am making a conscious decision to remember that more real and certain is God's creative grace and abundant provision.

A month ago, right before this whole earth-shaking journey started, I began a list of thanksgivings...will you let me continue it now? It seems appropriate timing...and a way to think of "whatever is true, noble, right, lovely, admirable..." (Phil. 4)...

I'm thankful for:

- the beauty of blossoms in sunlight, safe flights, hours of sleep in a warm location, trains moving this morning...

- so many conversations, questions, prayers, gifts, and other encouragement from friends and family in America

- meeting my new niece, hugs from grandparents and others...

- unabashed smiles of joy from my brother and his bride on their wedding day

- walks among quiet birches, mugs of coffee, and shelves of old books

- games of boggle, good-natured family competition, laughing 'til the tears come

- the unique grace and mystery of love

...and now I can add that I'm thankful for bags finally set down on the floor of my apartment, sleep on my own futon, morning coffee with Cindy, and the opportunities (yet unknown) with students today... :)

Love,

Haidee

A bus and a decision

Even as I sit here and type this down, it seems like a hard decision: one early bus to catch a flight back to America for my brother's wedding, or staying with my community in Japan in solidarity and support.



I had bought a plane ticket months ago for March 26th, excited about coming back to the States to visit people and celebrate the wedding with family and friends. But with so many people leaving Fukushima and other transportation unavailable, I learned on Friday afternoon (last week) that the most feasible option for me to make the wedding would be to hop on the embassy evacuation bus a week early--because we were within the American evacuation zone and I was an American citizen, I totally fit the requirements for getting a seat in the bus. I wrestled with God about giving me what seemed like hard options (leave Cindy and my Japanese friends alone during this time or miss my family and the wedding), but in the end, surprising even myself, I became part of the group of American evacuees. I wish that I could capture some of their stories...wish that I could sum this up for you all in language that would do it justice. But maybe the best I can share is just some notes I scribbled sitting on the bus pulling away from Sendai and starting the journey to the airport.

March 19th

I have questioned this decision to leave Fukushima so many times in the last 12 hours. A good chunk of me still feels like I am running out on those who I should be helping--leaving Cindy and the Nomura's in the middle of Fukushima City. Who knew that yesterday would involve searching for transportation, searching my heart for pride, and searching for God's answers? And then a random 15-minute packing job, running to be one of the last allowed on the bus to Sendai, 2 hours of searching in cold, dark, unknown and unfriendly streets. Then a surprising homestay with church fellowship, prayer, a shower, food, and water. Running to a morning bus, waiting...waiting...and waiting.

I know God has me in the right place. There have been too many connections already that I should have missed but instead received--catching that first bus, a place to stay for the night, etc.

I'm on an American embassy evacuation bus with other US citizens leaving Fukushima. Most people would say we are all running scared, but after only a few hours with these people, I disagree. They are also among the wounded and hurt--tears and questions and stories all falling, running together out of hearts...American hearts. These people want to leave even less than I do, and the lines for food and water and the many needs maybe smack each of us in the face. I wonder if everyone here on this bus feels the discrepancy of living in two worlds--leaving so many dear people suffering here and heading towards dear, worried people over in the States.

So many tears, and so many stories. People who have survived for days while waiting for tsunami water to go down. People who still don't know where loved ones are. People who don't know where they are going. The man next to me has his Bible open to the book of Psalms, while those behind me softly curse between sobs. Please, Lord--please help.

It was good for me to have 24+ hours with this group of Americans, as we wrestled with the "Why, God?" question together and mourned for Japan. It was also eye-opening--Fukushima City had earthquake damage, but is far from the tsunami damage, and hearing eye-witness accounts of the tsunami made my heart ache for the people there.

And now I'm in Minnesota...typing on a borrowed laptop at my family's kitchen table. Thinking of what this last week has been and meant and of people in Japan and America and "my" evacuated Americans who somehow became very special to me. This is hard.

And I'm glad that God is real, and that prayer works, and that life is more than I can see. I'm glad that in the midst of death and need, I know that God's life-giving victory is already set and established. And isn't this God's grace in the midst of a sinful world that a week with an earthquake and tsunami and radiation questions also holds a wedding and life and new hope for a couple setting out together?

I'll head back to Japan at the same time I was planning to before the earthquake hit. And until that point and after that point, I'll be praying--along with so many of you--for God's life and grace to show brilliantly there.

A quick Koriyama update...

Today we left the apartment around 9:30am, arrived at Koriyama church (usually an hour and a half drive) at 1:30pm, and spent the afternoon cleaning up. Part of the long transportation time was because we opted to take the bus all the way to Koriyama station (an hour's walk away from the church). The walk gave us some perspective regarding the damage in Koriyama, and it also was a good opportunity for several photos (to be linked on Cindy's facebook page soon...). Even though Koriyama is south of Fukushima, it seemed like there was a little more damage--a lot of broken glass, etc. The sidewalks were also a little creative, in their dips and hills...

Thursday is our weekly "Koriyama" day of classes and Bible study, and this was the first time we'd been to the church since the earthquake. After seeing the rest of the city, we weren't so sure what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised to find that a church member had already done some stacking of fallen books, etc. Here was our task for the day: the kitchen.

Thankfully, the water in Koriyama was running, and in a few hours it looked like this...

None of the mothers or kids came for classes today. With the world-wide news on the power plants and radiation, we're not sure who is going to be coming out or not. However, we did hear that all of our Koriyama families are safe! :)

It feels good to organize and clean--to do something practical in the midst of the damage. I can't believe that tomorrow is a week from the quake! (On a side note, we've been told that water will be coming on tomorrow--yay!) As the time ticks on, it becomes clearer and clearer that we can't just "pick up and go back to normal." Though the Koriyama kitchen is clean, it is missing several dishes, etc. Other people throughout the country, even as they get in touch with water, food, and electricity, are still missing homes...friends...family members. These hurts run deep.

God heals. I believe that. And I know that God cleans, because the Bible is full of the story of forgiveness and love...

That's what we need here.

But even in the face of so many huge needs...I am thankful for a clean Koriyama kitchen...and more opportunities to use it in the future!

Donation information...

Cindy just got the go-ahead to post this information on her blog, and I'm offering the link here for anyone else wanting to check it out!

http://truthstrand.blogspot.com/2011/03/where-to-give-money-for-japan-relief.html

Also, even as I'm typing I'm receiving many of your comments and words of prayer. What grace!! Thank you!

Blessings,

Haidee