Dear Journal-Praying friends,

I haven’t written for a few days, not because I had nothing to say but because I’ve been helping translate a web page into English that some of you might be interested in seeing.  Those of you who are familiar with Japan or have served here will particularly be interested.  It’s not quite ready yet but will be the next time I write.  In addition I thought I’d share the link to the English version of NHK TV broadcast.  I’ve been glued to this on my computer recently. Here is the link:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nhk-world-tv#utm_campaign=fupcoming&utm_source=3&utm_medium=news-breaking-news

Some Good News Last Week

Although I was fairly miserable with lower back problems, I still attended the graduation ceremony for Kanto Gakuin Kindergarten.  It was so wonderful and simply delightful.  There were a lot of surprises and the children were charming.  I was given a front row seat so could not concentrate on taking good pictures. So I gave the camera to someone to take pictures for me.  They tried very hard, I’m sure, but most pictures are just too dark for you to realize how wonderful it was.  All the children were dressed in quite formal attire, with a few girls dressed in kimono.  Goodness!  A little early to introduce adulthood but, why not!  You only graduate from kindergarten once!  Did I say that?? The parents were also dressed in formal black with accents of bright color.  Later I will be getting some pictures taken by a professional photographer.  I hope to share them with you again.  It was truly a pleasant diversion from the job of gleaning information on the earthquake and tsunami for public consumption. That same afternoon I had a Board of Directors meeting, with a one hour study session for auditors preceding it; a boring end for a delightful day.

I limped back that Thursday evening and realized that I really need to figure out a way to get some medical attention. The additional problem of how to get there without having to walk was stumping me.  If I went to the doctor’s office at the hospital where I had had my first exam with the back problem I could park in their parking lot.  But from there, it is still a long uncomfortable walk.  I really wanted to try out a small Orthopedic Clinic a few blocks from my apartment.  I didn’t know if there was parking there or not. The solution was rather simple, ride my bicycle.  It has been sitting getting rusty for 2 years.  My balance was not up to par and is the reason I had started back to do training at the athletic club.  But since I had a lengthy cold, busy schedule, then increased back problems, I stopped training.  With my back as painful as it is, was this wise?  I tried it out, riding around in circles in front of my house….no pain!  Wow!  What a surprise!  As long as I didn’t dismount and have to mount again? I ended up riding about 50 yards at a time, dismounting, walking over the barrier (hill, big bumps) and made it to the clinic.  I was sooooo happy because it was so simple and relatively painless.
Since then I have gone for three treatments and am making progress.  On one trip, I rode down to a vegetable store and found eggs, milk, and tofu as well as a variety of fruits and vegetables. No more shopping at the supermarket for awhile.

 

On the “war” front, I’ve been able to talk to many friends up in the Tohoku district.  One conversation that left an impression on me was with Toru Abe, the manager of the business office at Shokei University.  He lives in Rifu which suffered relatively little damage.  For the first few days, he stayed on campus which is about a 26 kilometer distance from Rifu.  There were 100 students at the school at that time of the earthquake.  Twenty were able to make their way home while the rest stayed for a few more days until they could contact someone to receive them.  Each teacher, whether high school or college has what we might understand as a homeroom.  The teachers immediately began trying to contact their charges. Currently, approximately 97% have been contacted.  Nearly all the students are from Tohoku and many from the outlying districts.  A number of students lost their homes and a few have lost their families.  Others are still in evacution centers with no place to go. Is it a part of the duties of teachers in the US to go find the students in their class in case of a disaster?

The next problem is college graduation. The high school graduation took place March 1st and did not present a problem. However, college graduation should have taken place this week.  You only graduate from college once, right?  But delaying the ceremony would be impossible. The students who can will come to school on the 24th and pick up their certificates.  But most of the student can’t.  So, the teachers will once again go looking for them and hand the certificates to them personally.  In some case, this will mean going to evacuation centers or towns that have been devastated to find the students. Tell me what we can learn from them?

Toru said that after the 3rd day he was really feeling like he needed to get home.  He drove as far as the high school only to realize that he wouldn’t make it to Rifu because he was almost out of gas.  So he struck out and walked from the high school in mid-Sendai to his home in Rifu.  He hiked for three hours.  Because there still are no trains, he can’t return to the college and is stuck at home.

My friend Kiyomi is extremely frustrated.  She works at a nursing home in Sendai.  Because she can’t get gas she walks two hours to work and two hours back each day.
Gasoline cannot be shipped north because the train tracks are not in service. Pray for people like Toru and Kiyomi who faired well in the crisis and are attempting to help others but cannot without gasoline. It is times like these when the rubber hits the road that our faith gets tested to its limits.

Good news: The Japan Baptist Union Website in English for this emergency is up and ready to be viewed.  Note, that it will probably only make sense to people who have been to Japan as a missionary, staff person or volunteer. But for anyone it will give the sense of the scope of the task a head.  Here is the link:

https://sites.google.com/site/crisistohoku2011/home 

“Happy” reading!

Your servant in Christ, Roberta