Tokorozawa
Earthquake Update April 2011
Howzit everyone. I just got back from the Tohoku area last night and I thought I'd give an update
on the trip while stuff is still fresh on the brain. I know I'm not going to remember everything, but
I'll try to be as thorough as possible. I figure the longer I wait to write this down, the stories will
get more and more spectacular so I better hurry so these true tales don't become tall tales. You
know how that is. So get out your reading glasses, it's going to be a long one... or just read a
little at a time... and sorry for no pictures.
Day 1. Monday, April 4th.
We loaded up the van at 6 in the morning here in Tokorozawa. Pastor Bill Stonebraker from
Calvary Chapel Honolulu was there. So was Pastor Rich Rose from CC Fuchu in Tokyo and Mr.
Hirota, a father of one of the kids who attend the kindergarten there at CC Fuchu. As well as
myself. It didn't take too long, to load up our boxes in two mini vans. Logan came over to help
us load up too. Then we headed into Ayase, Tokyo to pick up Kiyomasa and Taeko Akashi
(Logos Christian Fellowship) and their stuff.
In no time we were headed up to the Tohoku Region. Everything fit in the vans... I didn't have to
strap anything to the roof rack. We made some magnetic signs for our cars saying we were
bringing in relief in hopes that they would treat us as official vehicles and allow us to ride on the
expressway without paying any tolls. It was worth a shot. And praise the Lord it worked. Just
some little blessings along the way.
After a quick stop on the way for lunch at a highway stop, and some light snow flurries, we made
it to Sendai City in Miyagi Prefecture around noon. We were going to stay at Kiyomasa's
parents house in West Sendai. Their house wasn't affected at all by the earthquake three weeks
ago and they were too way inland for any tsunami. Mr. and Mrs. Saito, Kiyo's parents were such
a joy. Sparkplugs for Jesus. So full of love for the Lord and so willing to share the Gospel with
people. Both of them received Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior about 8 years ago and
are quick to remind everyone that it's never too late to do so. He shared their experience the
past few weeks. He shared with us the stats on the tsunami. They had measured that in some
places the tsunami had reached heights of over 120 feet.
After rearranging some of our supplies, we headed northeast to a peninsula called
Shichigahama, about 20 miles, a 90 minute drive. We learned that essentially all the roads
would be opened, and that just that day gas stations were returning to normal. People were
regaining water, gas and electricity. The Saito's had some family friends who were in an
evacuation shelter there who wanted a few things. As we drove out of the city we began to see
the destruction. Mud, debris, smashed cars, fallen houses. Stuff you see on the news. We
arrived at the evac center and they let us go in and check things out. We went into one of the
rooms, probably about 7 or 8 families were in there. We proceeded to hand out some things,
blow up a couple of air mattresses for some of the older folks, and hand out some snacks and
gospel tracts. We had brought some stuff for the kids so we handed those out as well. Rich and
I made a few balloons. Fun... until they pop!
We began to hear many of the stories of what happened. What is there to say to them? There
was a gal in her late teens/early 20's who was reading one of the tracts so Kiyo approached her
and asked her about what she thought. She mentioned she was a Christian. She proceeded to
share her experience. She was at a public bath ready to go in when the original earthquake hit.
She quickly threw on a robe and ran outside to her car. As she was getting into her car people
were shouting about the tsunami. And as she looked up, there it was, before she could get in.
She was swept away before a stranger grabbed her and pulled her to safety. Praise the Lord for
His protection for her. As she's telling the story, her hands were shaking, I tried to picture the
scene in my head but couldn't even imagine how it all happened. What she felt, what she saw.
Again, what do you say? Kiyo prayed with her. The best medicine for sure.
After we left Shichigahama we headed a few miles west to Rifu and Tagajo. Kiyo's sister and
her family live in Rifu on higher ground so their home was safe from the tsunami. We arrived
there early evening, greeted by Kiyo's sister and middle school nephew. She shared her story
with us as well. She worked for Sony in Tagajo. As the earthquake hit, all the workers ran
outside to do a head count. Then as the tsunami was coming in, they all ran back inside.
Remember, they were a few miles inland. But the tsunami still came through, destroying the first
floors of the buildings, she and many others saw their cars washed away. She shared how it got
dark. They had to spend the night there, 200-300 of them. No one was hurt. They didn't have
food. No communication. She shared how throughout the night they could hear people outside
calling for help but couldn't see where they were as the tsunami pushed through. The next
morning, no help arrived so they all proceeded to walk home in knee-high, freezing, sea water.
Quite a story. We praise the Lord she was safe. We continue to pray for her and her family that
she may come to know the Lord in a personal way.
We headed home and from there and called it a night.
Day 2. Tuesday, April 5th.
Up at 6. Breakfast and devotions. Hirota-san, from Fuchu, is not a Christian, but he joined in.
We're praying that through this whole experience we would realize the need for a Savior. And
receive the grace given us. Jesus died on the cross for us and shed His blood so we can have
eternal life, a relationship with Him. Doesn't get easier than that. We're praying for Hirota-san
for sure.
We headed out around 8 am. This time Mr. and Mrs. Saito remained back so there was just the
six of us. We made plans to head up to Ishinomaki, 25m northeast along the coast. Ishinomaki
was hit really hard by the tsunami, and up until today they had the most casualties as well. Rich
had a family in the school with relatives that were in need of some things so we headed out there
to bring the supplies. As we headed up there, about an hour/halfway in, we decided to head into
one of the smaller towns along the way and see if they needed anything. We pulled into a small
convenience store in Higashi Matsushima city, in little town of about 800 homes called,
Ushiama. As Kiyo stuck his head into the empty store to see if anyone needed anything, an old
man came out to his truck and proceeded to lead us to a community evacuation center. As we
drive up to the building, we see a few Japanese Self Defense force trucks and some guys
dressed in camouflage. We see pockets of kids playing in the street so... we get out and start
playing. Rich is a kid magnet. The foreigner with the strawberry nose. Gifted for sure. Rich
and I start chatting with the kids. The rest of the gang go into the building. We offer whatever
we have. And it really wasn't accepted much. And frankly speaking, I don't blame them... a
bunch of foreigners coming in offering to help. But we just continued to chat and listen. We
heard some amazing stories. We heard from a teen mom, how her friend threw her two kids into
the car and tried to drive away from the tsunami. The next day the husband found the car, with
his family in it, dead. Tragic stories. Again, what do you say? So we listened.
We swapped fishing stories with some of the guys who work on the tuna boats. Eventually we
met the head of the center, Mr. Chiba. He reminded me of a friend in Molokai, Junior. Don't
know if you're reading this Junior, but I found your Japanese twin. We were instructed to register
with the government. Do things through all the former channels before we could help. And so
we continued to listen. And we heard more and more. We heard how this particular evac center
had essential needs, but otherwise were overlooked by the government. As we looked around
we could understand why. Many houses were standing, but were unlivable. About six feet of
water had roared right through taking out the bottom floors of structures. But the destruction was
nowhere near as bad as some of the other places that you see in the news. From where I was
standing, it was bad... but I guess compared to other towns not as bad. So we continued to chat
and listen. We learned that for three weeks they've been cleaning. No way to wash their
clothes. They had basic utilities... water, gas, and electricity... but no washing machines. So we
made a few phone calls and with the donations of many of you were able to secure 6 little
washing machines. It's such a blessing to be a part of the body of Christ. We thought of
shipping it up as we heard that the delivery trucks were now able to come, but Rich had called a
guy, Mr. Miwa, from his church who had a truck and he was willing to drive it all up the next day.
Again, praise the Lord for the family we have in Him. We continued to chat and listen. And the
Lord allowed us to find favor with the folks. There was another crew of guys from CC Okinawa,
CC Naha, CC Iwakuni and CC Kokubunji who had lots of relief supplies and were on their way to
Ishinomaki and we were able to hook up and they brought their blessings to share as well.
Jackets, underwear, gas stoves... you name it, they had it. Praise the Lord! Two huge vans full!
The folks were stoked to receive such blessings. I thank the Lord for all the fellas. I thank the
Lord for all His provision.
As we were getting ready to leave, we had heard that they had onigiri (rice balls) and miso soup
provided for them for meals every day, so we asked if we could bring some other meat and have
a BBQ the next day. We figured, hey why not eat something other than rice and soup. And,
hey, we know BBQ. And they gratefully accepted. We were excited. We made some calls
down to Mr. Miwa and he got together some frozen chickens, BBQ grills and other things we
needed. Around Sendai, things were slim pickings, so it was a blessing to have Miwa for sure to
drive some of those things up the next day. So we said our goodbyes... looking forward to
seeing them the next day.
In the afternoon we followed the Calvary Tohoku Relief gang up to Ishinomaki. You can read
lots of their updates and calvarytohokurelief.blogspot.com. They have been ministering up in
Ishinomaki for the past couple weeks. Ishinomaki was surreal, to say the least. Everything you
see on the news, we saw. Cars piled up. Mangled trees. Buildings flattened. The smell of mud
and sea water... for you Hawaii people, imagine the Ala Wai Canal in one nostril and Pearl
Harbor in the other. Ishinomaki has a big fish processing plant on the water and as the tsunami
came through it scattered frozen fish and seafood all around. The smell was incredible. We
were led to a supermarket where on the rooftop there was a parking lot. Up on the second floor,
folks had gathered and were living there. So we drove up there and handed out some supplies.
Continue to pray for those folks. For this town of Ishinomaki. For the relief work. Many people
are helping. Pray that through all of this the love of the Lord will be preeminent.
We split up in Ishinomaki from the other crew and headed back to Sendai to shop for stuff for the
BBQ. We pushed 8-10 baskets of stuff down the aisles. God a lot of looks. But we always get
a lot of looks anyway. ;)
Day 3. Wednesday, April 6th.
Early morning breakfast and devos again. Then we made a plan to try and get up north to
Onagawa, in the north part of Ishinomaki Bay. We figured we'd sing some worship songs at the
BBQ so the Saito's made a few phone calls and found a guitar we could use so we went to get it
along the way. Today we had the whole group, 8 of us. We drove to Shiogama on Matsuhima
Bay to get the guitar at a salt plant from a family acquaintance. You could see the water
damage here as well. Mr. Saito, on fire for Jesus, continued to share the Gospel with the
gentleman who lent us his guitar. Kiyo's parents used to own a karaoke restaurant/pub and so
they have all these people that they minister to.
So we continue up further north but the traffic was pretty bad. So we didn't make it to Onagawa.
We didn't want to be late to the Higashi Matsushima folks so we took a detour back into
Ishinomaki and headed for the waterfront. We drove around in the mangled chaos and looked
for folks who needed stuff. We dropped off a stove and gas to a hospital, and to people along
the way. We continued to pray for divine appointments and those in need. I can get a little
overwhelming seeing everything, wanting to help people... it's easy to get emotional, so we
asked the Lord to continue to guide our steps.
Then we proceeded back the the BBQ. Mr. Miwa was almost there and we met up with him on
the way. We drove all the stuff in and presented it to the evac center. The washing machines,
and other stuff. Then we proceeded to light up the grills. We had some 3 stooges moments,
Bill and I, trying to use gasoline to fast-start the Japanese coals. Come to find out, Mr. Chiba
was an owner of a yakitori stand. We could tell he was laughing at us inside as we were
prepping. Where are the fire starter and briquettes when you need them? Eventually we got it
all going. Everyone as pitching in. Someone had even donated a box of salmon. And the
grilling began. We thought dinner time was at 5:30, but by 4:45 the line had formed. We were
told about 200 people would come and eat, and it looked it. Fun stuff for sure. Nothing like
getting busy for the Lord. The other crew came back, Rick, Glenn, Masaru, Robert, Mike Silva
and his son Jacob. Also Maxx, Chihiro, Toki and a couple other kids from the L'abri Church in
Sendai where they were staying. They set up more clothes and goods. and the block party
began! Teriyaki chicken. Sausages. Grilled salmon. Cabbage salad. What a blessing from the
Lord to have this stuff to share. Great to be reminded of the entire body of Christ, here and
abroad, praying and supporting the Lord's work.
One side story. Yesterday, as we were driving around Bill had seen a Yamaha upright piano
upside-down, half buried in mud on the side of the road. He was wondering if it worked, so
today as we were setting up, we drove the truck to the piano, flipped it over, pounded some of
the keys and saw that it essentially worked, and then hauled it back to the evac center. As the
night went on, Mr. Chiba set up some lights around the piano and we worshiped the Lord with it.
I told the folks I only knew worship songs and they didn't mind at all, we played and sang. They
requested Amazing Grace. Mr. Saito even got up and danced as sang , "Lord, I Lift Your Name
On High" with the guitar. Definitely a Jesus moment. The scripture that came to mind was in
Isaiah 61.
Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To
preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty
to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the
acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for
mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of
righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” 4 And they shall rebuild the
old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the ruined cities, The
desolations of many generations. 5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, And the sons of
the foreigner Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. 6 But you shall be named the
priests of the LORD, They shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the
Gentiles, And in their glory you shall boast. 7 Instead of your shame you shall have double
honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they
shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs. 8 “For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate
robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, And will make with them an everlasting
covenant. 9 Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, And their offspring among
the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the posterity whom the
LORD has blessed.” 10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For
He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of
righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself
with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth its bud, As the garden causes the things that are
sown in it to spring forth, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth
before all the nations.
What was left for destruction and despair... this dirty, damaged piano... was used to glorify the
Lord of Heaven and Earth. What a picture of His amazing grace!
After all the people had eaten, we called the Japanese Self Defense Force guys over and they
ate as well, all 40 of them. There was enough food for everyone! Praise the Lord!
As the night winded down, Mr. Chiba and some of the other men joined in the cleaning and told
us that they would take care of the rest in the morning. And we asked if we could pray. So we
all joined hands, made a big circle and just prayed for them. We prayed for the Lord's strength
and blessing. Again, the reality is, we go home, they stay and clean and continue to deal with all
of this. This one night was in some ways a return to normalcy for some. Food and fellowship...
that is how the Lord did it.
We told them we look forward to being back. That if there were any needs at all to give us a
call. We are looking to plan more visits out here to just be with them to share the Love of Christ
and to help with whatever they need... cleaning, hauling, watching kids, whatever. The Lord led
us here and so we just want to be obedient so it looks like here is where we will be returning to
help. Remember them all in your prayers. Mr. Chiba. The folks in Ushiama, Higashi
Matsushima City. We know unless the Lord softens hearts to receive, all the strength and
strategy in the world won't matter. So we continue to pray.
Great night. Praise the Lord. Absolutely a God moment. The Holy Spirit was here today.
Day 4. Thursday, April 7th.
Last day before heading home. We're going to miss Kiyo's parents. Those are the kinds of folks
you'd just love to have in your church. We'll see them again soon, I'm sure.
In the morning we headed to Wakabayashi-ku in East Sendai to visit Yuko. Yuko used to be at
our church in Tokorozawa before moving to the Tohoku region to be closer to family a few years
ago. We heard soon after the earthquake that she was safe and we continued to stay in
contact. We were so looking forward to seeing her again and fellowshipping with her. She
shared with us her story. She was at the train station when everything went down. The she
couldn't return to her apartment because the tsunami was on it's way. Praise the Lord it didn't
reach her apartment, but came about 5 blocks from it. The airport near her was demolished. In
fact, it was in Wakabayashi-ku where, on the night of the tsunami, they found 200-300 dead
bodies. From her apartment we could see the surrounding areas. We thanked the Lord she was
safe and prayed that the Lord would continue to use her as salt and light in the area. So good to
see another sister. We hope to see her again very soon.
We headed out once again and on the way home we decided to do some grunt work. Kiyo's
folks and friends in Soma, Fukushima who had a farm that needed some work. The tsunami
came through and covered everything in salty, gray mud. So after buying a few supplies we
headed down there. As we approached, the devastation there was crazy. The ocean must have
been at least 3-4 miles away and you could see a straight shot there... mud and junk. Well we
arrived at the Takahashi's and proceeded to remove stuff from their storage barn. Lots of mud.
Fishing equipment. Farming equipment. It was like we were in our own episode of Dirty Jobs.
Kiyo and Rich removed all the tatami from inside the house. Bill and Hirota-san were beasts
when it came to taking out all kinds of debris in the dark mud. The time flew by and soon we
had to head out to get Bill to the airport. We said our goodbyes. We told them we'd like to come
back and help more, which we intend on doing, and we hit the road. The drive was a little longer
than we thought because we couldn't use the expressway because that would have passed us
right by the Nuclear plant. No way they would let us through there. So we drove around it.
Eventually we all returned home safely. I got home after midnight. Took a good shower and lay
down next to my wife in my bed. Nice.
Great trip. So blessed to see the Lord do His thing and allow us to come along for the ride. And
we continue to pray for the folks there. Again, we want to help, but more than that we want to
give hope. So that is what went on. I know it's kind of long. We know there are so many
helping. So many praying. So many in need. And our prayer is that the Lord simply leads, each
one of us individually. And when we as Christians are led that way, we all end up together.
Please continue to pray. For the folks in Ushiama, Higashi Matsushima. For those in
Shichigahama. For those in Ishinomaki. For those in Shiogama and Rifu and Tagajo. Pray for
Kiyo's family. Pray for Hirota-san and his family. Pray for all the groups helping. For Crash
Japan, (crashjapan.org). For Calvary Tohoku Relief (calvarytohokurelief.blogspot.com). For all
the other organizations reaching out to the community with physical and spiritual needs. On the
way home there was another big earthquake in the region. Some places power went out. Some
places had another tsunami warning... small one. People are frazzled. Pray that the seeds
planted, through love, Bibles, tracts, friendships will sprout much fruit for the Kingdom of God.
Til the last one's saved,
Aloha and God bless you,
Travis, Dawn, Erika and Evan Takamiya
Calvary Chapel Tokorozawa
www.calvarytokorozawa.com