The OMF UK Blog

Report 51-52

Report 51 - Monday 6th February

I’m on board a flight bound for Hawaii. I will fly to Seattle from Honolulu and come back on the 24th. It’s a long trip of 18 days. Before I left I went to the Okutama town office to say farewell and thankyou for the past year here.

As always I was in a rush to pack and get to the airport in time for my flight. I am afraid this habit of mine might never change. I visited the town office, packed for my journey in 30 minutes, and then started driving to the airport. I foolishly used my Sat Nav and was very worried when I got stuck on the congested Tokyo roads. Then the light that indicated that the petrol level was low started flickering. I quickly applied for travel insurance on my PC when I was in the airport lobby.

After the Sunday service I did a final check of the draft of the serial of the Wandering Church.

6th Feb, 7:30 am, above Honolulu
Thanks to your prayers, my flight was not busy. I slept for about 3 hours and could use 3 seats. It’s 2am Japan time. Many of the passengers are surfers and they have been talking about sightseeing and where to eat and shop. It’s a bit strange travelling to Hawaii on my own like this but I should make the most of it. The sunrise I saw from the plane was beautiful. I think of the journeys many people have been taking since 11 March 2011. Everyone is doing their best including those of us in Tokyo. I would like to send words of encouragement to everyone especially my assistant pastor and his family, also my wife and my pet dog Papi who has lost weight and lives away from us.

I want to say “Well done” to us all. It’s been costly but we have survived. However life is given to us so that we can all live for a purpose. Jesus told us that a grain of wheat has to die in order to bear fruit. After losing everything we have come this far through hardship and with broken hearts, supporting each other and overcoming conflicts along the way. We haven’t given up.

“Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (Ps. 30:5) May we know this reality in our walk.

Tuesday 14 Feb. 11.30pm (On board the flight from Honolulu to Seattle)
I was given an upgrade at the gate - a spacious seat and a welcome drink. Two days ago someone who came to a meeting handed me a gift and said that she worked for an airline. She must be the one who has done this and has also got me more baggage allowance. Everyone I met for the first time on this trip in Hawaii has been good to me.

Today someone took me to Lanikai beach, which means ‘Heaven’s sea’. It looked like Utopia and was good enough to be chosen as the most beautiful beach in the US one year. I saw a dog walking on the beach with its owner and wondered whether a day like this would sometime come for me. I wished I could savour moments like this a little longer and felt bad for my beloved ones in Japan.

Big thanks to all those who were good to me in Hawaii.

Friday 17 Feb
It’s midnight Seattle time and it feels very cold coming from Hawaii. I seem to have left behind my winter polo neck shirt. Most of the clothes I packed were not used in Hawaii. I bought a jacket in a recycle shop in Honolulu. Perhaps because I lived on second hand clothes when opening boxes of relief goods, I have come to appreciate them.

I have been kept busy with work for the serial of the Wandering Church which is due to be published on 11 March 2012, commemorating the first anniversary of the disaster. It will be published in Korea too. I include here the Preface I wrote for the Korean version. Please do give words to those whom you know.

Preface to the Korean version of The Wandering Church
It’s been almost a year since the enormous earthquake and tsunami hit Japan and surprised the world. The earthquake, which was on a scale that only happens once in a thousand years, tore up many roads, caused landslides and crushed houses. Then the 15m high tsunami waves swept over the north east shores of Japan. Explosions at the nuclear power plant followed. Our church was thrown into the middle of all this as the church building is only 5km from the Fukushima First Nuclear Power Plant.

Overnight 70.000 residents had to evacuate as sirens echoed all through the area. Families were scattered and our church was closed. It was as if we were in a science fiction movie as we all made our desperate escape. The story in this book is a record of what actually happened to us, although it may seem unbelievable.

Surprisingly our church did not die. Sixty or seventy church members drove several hundred kilometers in 15 cars, a bus and a truck, crossing a mountain in a blizzard. We were able to get food and shared with one another. Although we lost our church building and left without a change of clothes, or any money, we continued our journey with prayer and tears, our eyes looking towards heaven. Four church members died as a result of the disaster. As of March 2012, nine members have been added through baptism. We have walked this long path day by day not knowing whether we felt sad or glad. I never could have imagined that days like these would come to us.

There have been strange and wonderful experiences. I have come to feel very close to Moses when he went through the Exodus, and to the believers of the early church who journeyed, sharing their resources because of persecution.

11 March was my birthday. My wife and I were attending a Seminary graduation. We decided to hire a bus and drove to Fukushima. We planned to bring 17 members of our church including the elderly, the sick and babies, who were at a rescue centre on a mountain. We headed for Fukushima where smoke from the nuclear plant explosion was still rising, fearing that we might not be able to get out of there alive. It was the start of our survival journey.

I hope readers of this Korean version will be able to hear the voices of actual witnesses of the disaster that have not been picked up by the media; the story of how God has been mercifully guiding us in this unbelievable present-day Exodus.

Fifty of us live at a Christian retreat centre run by German missionaries and 150 members are scattered all over Japan just like the believers in the Diaspora of the early church. Our church survived even though we have been stripped of our building, its organization and its activities.

This March we are making a new start as we plan to build an apartment block for the elderly members of our church. Our church building which was built only three years ago was closed due to the effects of radiation, as well as four other chapels. So a new church building, the fifth one since the beginning of our church, will go up in September 60km south of the restricted zone.

I am made aware how strong the church is, surviving not only persecution but also earthquake. She rises again even though she was beaten and scattered.

It is my great joy that this testimony of our survival through the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear explosion is being published in Korea. It gives me great strength to know that we have been watched even from overseas and that we are not alone nor forsaken. This book is a record of how one church in a rural area of Japan faced a sudden disaster, how she was beaten, scattered and crumbled, and how she looked up to God, started to walk again and experienced God working in her. Readers can read this story through the pastor’s diary, testimonies of church members who escaped the disaster, and the plans for the future.

May our Lord touch the hearts of all our Korean brothers and sisters who take this book in their hands.

Lastly, I would like to thank all those in Korea who offered prayers and support to us. We have lost many things but must consider ourselves blessed to have been helped by the kindness of so many people around the world.

Tuesday 14 Feb, Seattle, USA.

Report 52 – Feb 23rd More Dramatic than any other dramas

I am on board my flight home from Seattle. It has been a journey of 18 days. The last meeting was at Portland yesterday. The missionary who saw me off at the airport gave me a sudden hug which brought tears to my eyes. Something in me responded to the unexpected hug. Various emotions that had been suppressed since the disaster may have come to the surface whether they were sorrow, regret, pain or anguish. There are times when uncontrollable emotions hit me and I should watch out for it.

Am I going to find myself losing control over my emotions? It can’t last forever but I should be prepared for it and know how to deal with it or how to avoid it.

In Seattle I heard the story of a young woman whose address in Japan is very similar to mine. She returned to Japan just before I arrived in Seattle. I was told that she was in tears whenever the disaster was mentioned. I wondered where she would return to as both our home towns are in the restricted zone. My heart echoed hers.

How do people navigate through life after losing their loved ones and feeling pain that no one else seems to understand? How do they keep on going, dealing with their pain and sorrow? Even though the sorrowful scenery could not be put back to what it was before I would like us to play the beautiful music which only those of us who have experienced pain can serenade.

I think of the song that almost all of Japan sings at this time of year. My wife says that she hasn’t been able to sing it since March 11. It is called Furusato (My Hometown), and was written by Tatsuhiro Takano, a Christian born in 1914 and professor of Japanese Literature at Tokyo University. It is said that he wrote about a pilgrim who walked on earth aiming heavenward. In Furusato, he depicts the scene of one’s hometown. In the third verse he writes “we all go Home, completing what we came to this earth for”. The music was composed by Teiichi Okano, a Christian and assistant professor at Tokyo University of the Arts who led the choir at Hongo Central Church for 40 years. I would like to sing all the verses with the sincere hope of returning to my home town in Fukushima.

I am in Seattle, whose baseball team is the Mariners with Ichiro as one of the players. I read in the local paper that he is doing well and will be third best player this year. Even though Ichiro may not be as good as American players he always does his best. I should follow his example, always taking up the challenge, giving my all, and crossing national borders.

25th Feb, back at the retreat centre in Tokyo

Thanks to your prayers I am safely home. Soon after I arrived I went to visit a sister in hospital. She asked me in tears, “Why do we have to go our separate ways so soon?” It choked me up.

Next month we have to say good-bye. After arriving at Narita Airport I put “home” in my Sat Nav. My home town is in the restricted zone. Did I unconsciously want to go there so badly or was it just an automatic action? I was miserable when I noticed what I had done and made a U turn. I drove straight to the retreat centre in Tokyo imagining all the way how it was in my hometown.

Residents of Miyake Island were evacuated for a while, unable to go back home. How did they look after themselves? I would like to learn from them how they survived their prolonged days as evacuees.

We lived in a town together with our neighbours and never thought that would change. Why should we be scattered like this and have to continue living this abnormal life? Someone muttered that it had been an unbelievable year. Surely our lives have been more dramatic than any other dramas.

As we leave this retreat centre where there is scarcely any privacy I would like to have some kind of graduation ceremony. Both children and adults have done well here. Other church members have managed well, scattered in different parts of Japan. Yet others have prayed and waited for our church to be resurrected after she disappeared so suddenly.

5th March, above Taiwan

I will be in Taiwan for the next four days.

I apologize for not being able to update my blog until now.

Sapporo Winter Highlights

It’s finally spring. I know this because I can go outside without a coat, and there are crocuses blooming. I’ve woken up from hibernation… and realized that it’s been a very long time since my last blog post. So before we get to posting pictures of pretty flowers, here are some of the highlights from the winter.

If you’re interested in more winter-related pictures, visit our “winter” web album here.

We went cross country skiing in January with two of our colleagues.

Destination: frozen waterfall!

You can’t see them in the picture, but Keith is in fact on skis! I was excited…

Keith survived!

The roads on the way home were a little crazy.

My favorite of the snow candles were the owls.

This display was labeled 希望の丘 (hill of hope).

Mr. Walrus was my favorite part of Snow Festival. He was part of a sculpture of different sea animals.

Taj Mahal.

Tsugaru Castle

The green ones are tea flavored, and the others are salt caramel flavored.

Joy in Pain in Ministering to Needy People

Have you ever groaned inwardly when the phone rings yet again, and considered just ignoring it, or just sat down to enjoy some rest when the doorbell rings, and you consider pretending you are not at home. Some people are a joy to be with especially if you are an extrovert and are energised by being with people. However, not all missionaries are extroverts, and even for those that are, some of people that you minister to will eventually drain you of your mental energy. This is especially true when working among people who are marginalised within society.

As we seek to reach out with the love of Christ to working class people in Taiwan it is inevitable that we will meet those who are desperate for someone to pay attention to them. Whether it is single mothers, abused wives, men with alcohol problems or teenagers who are desperate for a sense of worth, our hope is that they will understand that behind our willingness to spend time with them is the reality that Jesus can fulfill that longing that they have to feel loved and valued. Many of the people we meet lack close support and friendships because they are unable to see the need for boundaries in relationships. Anyone who has shown interest in them in the past has quickly found themselves swamped by a constant demand for attention which has led to a breaking up of the relationship and more feelings of rejection. Now suddenly there is a missionary who is willing to listen, pray and help.

In the last year our Taiping team has been learning lessons about relationships. There is the joy of seeing a contact suddenly respond to prayer and show an interest in the gospel. There is also the pain of seeing someone that we have spent time with lose interest and drift back into their old lifestyle. There are feelings of guilt and frustration as we struggle with setting boundaries, not wishing to spend our entire evening on the phone dealing with someone’s minor crisis, but at the same time recognising that the credibility of our witness depends so often on our being willing to put the needs of others before our own comforts. Ajith Fernando in his book The Call to Joy and Pain says that the ability to live with the frustration of working with and identifying with people is “one of the most necessary qualifications for missionary service”.

As you pray for OMF missionaries in Taiwan, remember to ask God to give us the wisdom to know how to set appropriate boundaries in the relationships we develop with needy people. Ask God to give us the patience to deal with frustrations when contacts use us as an emotional crutch and yet fail to understand that they need to turn to God. Ask God to comfort us as we experience the pain of seeing those we have loved and cared for turning back to old ways. But above all, pray that we would experience the joy of seeing broken people restored and living in relationship with the God who called us into mission.

David Eastwood – Taiping Team

A New Team

As we go into the fourth year of the Hiragishi church plant, many changes lie ahead.  This will be our last year here as we move to a new role towards the end of this year.  Our former colleagues JP and Nora Koch have just gone back to Germany with baby Leo for home assignment, but plan to be back in Hiragishi early next year.  We had a student from the Bible College with us for the last church year (April to March) but she has now moved on to another church.  We are pleased though that we now have another student, Mr Sugimoto who will come here each week for the next year with his wife and baby girl.  And to complete the new lineup, we have just welcomed some new OMF colleagues, Richard and Catherine East along with their daughter Mari and baby Amy.  It’s great to have co-workers to help us here in what are still the early stages of this church start.  Richard has been in Japan before for some years but after marrying Catherine in the UK, returned a year ago as a couple with (at that time) baby Mari.  They worked at another church plant during this last year covering for missionaries who were on home assignment.  The dynamics of our Sunday service have changed as we now have three young children here as well as our two school-age boys.  Over the coming weeks we will have the opportunity to talk, pray and plan together with the Easts as we seek the Lord’s leading as to the future direction of the work here in Hiragishi.  Richard will become the leader of the church around the beginning of July.  We are looking forward to partnering with Richard and Catherine and excited to see how the church will begin to grow as the work of building on the foundation already laid continues.  We have just rented an office for the church in a central area right next to the subway station and have various ideas as to how that can be used beyond simply being a workplace for Richard (which it also is).  For us, as we have finished the double role of leading a church as well as OMF Hokkaido, we will hopefully have more time and energy to give to the church plant here and also to encourage and help the Easts as they settle in and develop their own thoughts and ideas.  We value your prayers for us as we work together in Hiragishi so that God may be glorified as this small church is built up. 

Cartoon character mascots in Japan

This is an interactive video at the Science Centre that  I visited on Thursday with the Grade 3 from CAJ.It is  about a very complex physics experiment being conducted  in Japan. But you can see that they’ve cute-ified it using a cartoon character.

We are able–Part 2

A number of years ago, while were attending an evening meeting in a little church somewhere north of Toronto, we stumbled across Kitty Sheffiled’s hymn, “Little Is Much When God In It”.

Since this was pre-Cyber Hymnal, it was with considerable difficulty that we tracked it down again. But it was worth the trouble! We have sung it many, many times since then.

Last month, while entertaining my grand children, I spent a lot of time on Cyber Hymnal. That’s when I discovered Kitty Sheffield’s other hymns (as documented in Lenten Blessings:  # 13 Cyber Hymnal .) Her little known hymn, We Are Well Able, struck a chord with me.

Elliot Family Sr. & Jr – April 2012

Although son Luke & family are slated for the July OMF Orientation course in Singapore, their support is not yet the requisite 90 percent, and Luke’s wife was feeling low. “Sometimes I feel like we’ll never get back to Japan!”

I wasn’t feeling low per se, but I felt I could certainly identify with Caleb and Joshua!

So in March  the grand children and I frequently entertained ourselves with rousing renditions of ‘We Are Well Able,” waxing  extra  rowdy on the chorus:

We are able to go up and take the country,
And possess the land from Jordan to the sea;
And, though giants tall be there our way to hinder,
God will surely give the victory.

This why the new logo for our prayer letters  reads,  “WE ARE ABLE,” flanked by Ebenezer ( “Thus far the LORD has helped us.” 1Samuel 7:12) and Jehovah Jireh (“The LORD Will Provide” Genesis 22:14.)

Easter Festival 2012

Last year we held the very first Hiragishi Izumi Church Easter Festival.  This followed on from our having gone to visit another church which has held a similar event every year towards the end of April in another part of Hokkaido.  Their event was very much outward-focused and for people in the neighbouring community.  Last time we held our event on a Sunday but this time, for various reasons, went for a Saturday.  The cold and damp weather of earlier in the week gave way to a warm, sunny day with no wind (it can be very windy at this time of year in Sapporo, as it was the day after the Festival).  Having been somewhat overwhelmed with unexpected numbers last year (and too few helpers) we were more prepared this time and had a good team of people to help, some from OMF, one from another church and indeed a group from Hong Kong who happened to be visiting for a few days and were glad to be there and help.  Many children who had been last year and at Christmas time came again.  We also had quite a number of new children, as well as quite a few parents (including one dad) and some older people from the community who came along.  One elderly lady had called a few days before and came quite a distance by bus and then walked to the venue.  She seemed to have a great time watching all the activity as well as indulging in the shortbread and white chocolate raspberry muffins on offer at the cafe corner.  We had various activities for the children, ranging from outdoor sporty things to slime-making to games.  There was food too, including the ever-popular mini-hot dogs.  Then in the middle part of the programme an OMF colleague from Brazil shared why he had come to Japan, told the Easter story and then did some hip hop dancing, after which he taught as one and we all joined in.  The event ended with the children all decorating an egg and taking home a bag of goodies, including a card with a simple Bible verse about Easter.  We trust that many were touched by the message of Easter and also experienced something of the life and hope we have in Jesus just by being there and being part of the Easter Festival.  We look to God to bring fruit from this kind of event.  Lorna hopes to follow up one young mother soon.  And the next day two of Alistair’s friends who had come also turned up at our afternoon worship service.  We trust that somehow God is working out his purposes through these times of interacting with people and will use the various conversations that took place to be stepping stones for people to move closer to Jesus, whether that be soon or even in years to come.

It takes a community to know an individual

I came across a new idea the other day. Totally-out-of-the-blue idea; an idea that I’ve never consciously considered before. That doesn’t happen to me very often. It was in preparing a Bible study for tomorrow that I found the following passage that gives a totally different angle on why being a part of a Christian fellowship is so important.

“C. S. Lewis was part of a famous circle of friends called the Inklings, which included J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of the Lord of the Rings, and also the author Charles Williams, who died unexpectedly after World War II. in his book The Four Loves, Lewis wrote a striking meditation on his death in an essay entitled “Friendship.”

In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles [Williams] is dead, I shall never again see Ronald’s [Tolkien’s] reaction to a specifically Charles joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him “to myself” now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald … In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious “nearness by resemblance” to heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed (which no man can number) increases the fruition which each of us has of God. For every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah’s vision are crying “Holy, Holy, Holy” to one another (Isaiah 6:3). The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall have.

A full, but fulfilling Friday

The writers working hard (the spare computer is mine). Yesterday was a full day. In the morning we finished off the second half of our one-day writers’ workshop. It went very well. Writers are generally a fairly solitary bunch, and it can be a lonely, discouraging pursuit. For writers who are also missionaries, there is little opportunity for spending time with other writers. However, hopefully we’re beginning to address that with these twice yearly workshops. One of the writers wrote this to us in an email last night:

I always knew writing was fun. But I had no idea it could be so much more fun. More than anything else you brought to us the value  of writing in a community of writers. And you certainly kindled a deeper joy for writing in our hearts.

Discussing how to make our writing better. Oh, I feel so encouraged. These workshops are my “baby” and God seems to be using them to help others in a variety of ways. Yay! One of the things God has placed on my heart is a desire, not just to encourage others with my own writing, but to get the stories of others out there too. And what better way to do that than to encourage and help other writers!

The biggest challenge with the workshops is that the participants expressed a desire that they be taught more about writing. Who me? I don’t feel qualified to do such a thing. I’ve never studied writing formally, I’ve not written a book and I don’t even have many published articles out there. How can I stand up in front of a group with any authority and say, ”This is how to write better.” I’ll have to think on this for a bit. Our next workshop is to be in autumn down in the Kansai area (containing Osaka and Kyoto), so I have a little bit of time to think.

 
Geoff and Carol Reilly with some yummy Japanese strawberries.

http://bit.ly/HXSUSO

from on the edge of ordinary http://bit.ly/HPDpPW

Nearly home

²⁸ Do you not know?    Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God,    the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary,    and his understanding no one can fathom.²⁹ He gives strength to the weary    and increases the power of the weak.³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,    and young men stumble and fall;³¹ but those who hope in the LORD    will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;    they will run and not grow weary,    they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40 NIV)