March 24, 2011

Dear Praying Friends,                                                              

Thank you for your faithfulness in pouring out your hearts for Japan.  God has and is continuing to answer prayer.  Remember the request for the wind direction to blow east?  The majority of the wind has been blowing east.  God rallied the churches in Sendai to provide trucks for the Samaritan Purse 747 to unload their precious cargo.  A SEND missionary located a group of people in Sendai with no supplies and he was able to get supplies to them.  Praise the Lord, but please keep on praying.

Keri and the kids flew out on March 22nd and landed in Seattle safely.  Keri said it was the smoothest customs experience yet.  Please continue for the kids as it was difficult to leave Japan so abruptly.  Please pray for us as we seek the Lord in our living and schooling options.

I checked in to the CRASH office to see what I could do to help with the situation up north.  It was great to see friends from some of our supporting churches, Erin K. and Jessica T.  It was great to see so many churches, missionaries, and Japanese working hard, side by side together, each one using their unique gifts to help in this situation.   CRASH desires to set up at least 5 main bases in Sendai, Ibaragi, Tochigi, South Iwate and North Iwate.  We have one solid base in Sendai.  Others are pending.  The Tochigi base is small and temporary.

I was recruited to join an assessment team. We are going to base ourselves in Nasu, Tochigi (small base).  From there, we will go into Fukushima.  There is word that there may be many isolated groups of people who are not yet supplied with food or water.  We are going to assess the situation and see if we can also find a place for another base.  Our team leader is Scott E.  He used to work in the same city as the nuclear plants.  Many of the church people worked at the plant.  Many of them are working hard through this nuclear/radiation crisis.  His heart is for the people of Fukushima.  He knows the area well and knows of villages not even listed on the map.  We will try to make it to some of these.  Another teammate is a Japanese,  Mitsuna “Matt” N., with the Navigator’s Returnee Ministry.  I’ve been wanting to meet Matt for a while because I’m burdened for the returnees (over 70% attrition rate for those who professed Christ overseas).  His ministry reaches out to these people.  He is bi-lingual.  The three of us will drive out Friday morning with my van and stay for 5 days.  Pray for safety, wisdom and guidance as we visit these small villages.  Pray that we could give an accurate assessment so that we can move forward to bring other teams into the area.  Pray that we can share the love of Jesus to those around us, not only by our words, but by our actions and love for one another.

Thank You!!!                                            

Love in Christ,  Richard (for Keri and the kids too)