Japan

Well, where do I start? I guess I will start by telling you about the dedications of the houses after we finished the work. For 2 weeks we had a team of 5 with 1 translator who also worked with us. On the 3rd week we were joined by a 6th team member who stayed with us for the remainder of the time. We were able to finish 4 houses and had dedications for 3 (they could not get the dedication set up for the 1st house that we completed before we had to leave). The last 2 dedications took place Saturday which was an incredible way to finish our time in Japan. These last 2 homeowners were next door to each other, so the dedications were done together. The Pastor in the area that Samaritan's Purse has helped to get established and finish a place to meet, does all of the dedication ceremonies for them. The ceremonies starts with the singing of Hymns and spiritual songs and then proceeds into a sermon in which the Pastor explains the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You can see a change in the expressions of the homeowners during this time when Pastor Suzuki gets to the part of their sin. He does not tip toe around any part of the Gospel, he hits it head on. I was very pleased when I heard how Pastor Suzuki handles this during the ceremony. In the first one that we were a part of the ceremony was not translated for us. We felt this was good because it was for the benefit of the homeowner and translating can take away from the moment. We did not want anything to hinder the Gospel message from reaching these people. Pastor Suzuki told them that their gods have done nothing for them but that our God, The living God, Creator of Heaven and earth, has sent us, the workers, they are called by our God to come here to rebuild your houses for you. This is how much God loves you.

I have not heard of any homeowners who have openly confessed Jesus as Savior but the seed has been planted. There is interest (some seems to be very close) as some are now attending the Church services. Please pray with me that the seeds planted will lead to a bountiful harvest by the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts.

The "Honor/Shame" is ingrained so deep in Japanese culture that there are 30,000 suicides that happen each year just because of shame that has come to them or their families for whatever reason. This number is expected to go up because of this disaster. In fact, I heard about a recent suicide that took place because a man had lost everything. He was living in temporary housing with no job and  no way of supporting himself through the winter, so he thought it was better to end his life. 

It has taken a while for Samaritan's Purse to break into the community. In this "Honor/Shame" Culture it is unheard of to be given something for free. So when Samaritan's Purse told the homeowners that they would pay to rebuild their homes, the homeowners didn't believe it. Even so, there have been some who have said yes to this offer and have found the offer to be true. These who took that leap are now telling their neighbors that the offer is true. The camp that I was at is up to 47 houses completed as of the time that I left. Their hope is to complete over 100 houses at that camp. They have 2 other camps that are working on houses in other communities, as well.

Samaritan's Purse is only allowed to be in the country for 1 year. This is up on March 10, 2012. They should complete the 300 total houses that they have set as their goal by this deadline. This is just a drop in the bucket, though, compared to the amount of rebuilding that needs to be done. It will take years for Japan to rebuild. One of the issues that they have is that the land has drop 120 centimeters (almost 4ft) because of the earthquake. Because of this, they have no idea what effect the tide will have on these areas at different times of the year. This is putting a hold on some of the rebuilding of the infrastructure that was totally destroyed.

This trip has really shown me that it truly takes the whole Body of Christ, the Church, to make disciples. We have been a part of taking the gospel to these people by working with our hands. This disaster has opened doors for the Gospel to go forth in a way that it hasn't before. The barriers of the Japanese people are coming down. God is changing the hearts of these people. I am so glad that I went. This is what God tells us to do. We, the Church, are commanded to "GO" and make disciples. We are all supposed to be working to spread God's fame to all the nations. This is to be our focus. Jesus says that the fields are white for harvest but the workers are few. This is true, I have seen it. I have seen missionaries struggling to do all that is on their plate and not doing the very thing they have been sent to the field to do because they have to pull back and do the support work that someone else in the Body is supposed to be doing for them. But these support people are sitting at home waiting for a special calling or concerned about putting food on the table for their family. God has said "GO"! The question is are you going to be obedient? Jesus says, "if you love me you will obey me." We don't have to have all the answers. God has all of the answers, we just need to trust Him with those and do as He commands us to do.

Gary