4.0 Earthquake (Jishin)

Today was spent encouraging the saints here and helping them host a BBQ for volunteers from YWAM and IMB (International Missions Board). It was a low key, yet busy day and it was a lot of fun. God is so kind to have brought us all together to encourage each other, and it was nice to be able to bless the native workers here. They never get a break and are constantly surrounded by the pain and by how much work there is to do.

  

We also got to go visit another Baptist church called Taitomi Church. It's about 10 minutes from where we are staying (Yoshioka Baptist). We joined in on a youth service and got to play with the children, and then went upstairs to eat. That was when the earth started shaking. Took me a few seconds to realize that it was an earthquake and not a train. 

It was a weird sensation, but not a big deal at all. Aftershocks of the March 11 earthquake happen all the time here (they had another one the day we landed, but we were too far south to feel it). Sad to think that this is common for people, because I know that some have PTSD and the small quakes are very hard to push through. Thankfully, it was not so at the church and we all laughed it off and talked about how cool it was to have shared that experience. 

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This is a Chris Tomlin song translated to Japanese (for you Katiesan)

Today we met a man named Michael married to a Japanese woman. They were just allowed to come back here from Korea after being forced to evacuate after the earthquake/tsunami. He was relieved to be home, and was kind enough to share his story of the earthquake. So sad to hear, and it must have been frightening. We also met a married couple who are from Texas and are Colorado State alumni...just goes to show you that this world is not as big as we think it is (and that God has a sense of humor in putting people together like that with those connections).

     

Tomorrow, we will have church and I am unsure what else we will be doing. Monday however, we will be doing manual labor. It's been nice to get to do a bit of everything here. Continue to pray for our unity fruitfulness, as well as Nao and Hidotoshi's salvations. Thank you.