At Adventure's End

Somehow, it was a long summer and a short one for me.  I've seen a lot and learned a lot of invaluable things in Japan and it's not an exaggeration to call the experience "life changing."  This post will be mostly about things that I've learned and will be a bit rambling.

The first thing I have learned is just how generous my family, friends, and church are.   There wasn't much time between when I asked for help fundraising and when I left for Japan, but people quickly donated money, even many who were hurting financially.  In fact,  more money was sent than what I needed!  I am so thankful to God and to those who helped me pay for this mission!  For those of you who are reading, thank you!

I also was able to finally get to know Japan, the country that I had studied for years.  First, I confirmed a sneaking suspicion that I've had for a while:  that Japanese people are people and that you cannot completely peg someone just from what country they grew up in.

I saw firsthand how desperately Japan needs the Gospel.  The Japanese know absolutely nothing about Jesus or God.  Their worldview is different to the point where things that seem incredibly obvious to me would never occur to them (and the other way around).  And while America has its own host of problems, Japan is in serious pain.  Unfortunately, the number of missionaries in Japan are decreasing, especially since the earthquake.  Which is really unfortunate because I think that the earthquake has caused Japan to become more open than it has been in centuries.

It's a bit strange for me to think about it, but I've seen things that most people haven't or ever will.  I've seen an entire city wiped out, and met people who have lost their houses, friends, and family.  From this, I think I've learned to be more sensitive towards other people's suffering, and also to realize that the bad things in my life could be a lot worse.  I've also learned that I need to listen to others more and speak less (my Japanese listening ability is better than my speaking, which helped me do that).

While in Japan, I was able to make a lot of friends and connections.  I'm glad to have met each one of them and I really hope to see them again (many of them I know I'll meet the other side of eternity, but I also want to meet them again here).  I've met so many amazing people who are giving their time and money to serve the Lord, and I'm so glad to know them.

Most of all, I've learned that Japan is a wonderful place to be and I can't wait to go back someday!

Thank you for reading this blog.  Even though I'm back home, I'll try and update it every once in a while!

Working in Nara

After returning to Tokyo, I had a few days to relax before packing up and heading to Nara Prefecture.  While I was still planning my trip, I made a request to go to the city of Osaka in the western area of Japan (Tokyo is in the east for those of you who don't know Japanese geography).  The reason was so that I could visit a church there that I've been paying attention to for a while (which is a story in an of itself).  The nearest Converge missionaries were the Chapmans in Ikoma city, Nara.

Getting down there meant that I was able to take the Nozomi bullet train (aka the shinkansen) down to Kyoto before taking some more trains to Nara.  The shinkansen was really nice, actually.  It was like an airplane ride with more legroom.

Nozomi bullet train

Surprisingly, I was able to navigate the trains all the way from Kyoto to Nara, which is a big deal considering my talent at getting lost.  It was there that I was picked up by Jeff Chapman and his daughter Anna., and they took me to their home where I met Jeff's son Caleb.  Things were a bit crazy at the Chapman house then, since they had just sent their oldest daughter Rachel to college in the US and Jeff's  wife Barb was also in the States.  Poor Jeff had a lot on his plate, so I'm glad I was able to help him with some of it.

My main job was to work on tracts.  Jeff had ordered 10,000 tracts about Ayako Miura, one of the most famous Japanese Christian authors and I needed to stamp the address of the house they would have church in on each of them (which was, incidentally, the place I stayed for those two weeks).  Mrs. Chapman had already stamped around 1000 tracts, so I ended up stamping over 9000.  It was tedious and boring work, but there was a TV where I was staying and I found a few interesting shows I could watch while working.

Ikoma

The Chapmans are using tracts as a change in strategy.  For years they've been trying to develop relationships and introduce the Gospel later, and that approach has had frustratingly little to show for it, for various reasons.  So now they're going to try and spread the net wide across Ikoma.  To be honest, I'm not totally sure how effective it will be, since Japanese people are generally not at all receptive towards that kind of evangelism, but hopefully God will use it.

The two weeks I stayed in Nara were really great.  The Chapmans were very hospitable and we were even able to take some time off from working and went to see the city a bit.  Nara was originally the capital of Japan and has a lot of old temples and shrines.  It's also famous for its deer, which are very common in the city.  We first went to Nara Park where tons of deer hung around.  They're tame and only get aggressive if they think you're hiding food.

We also went to Toudaiji a huge Buddhist temple and the largest wooden structure in the world.  Ironically, I was only able to take pictures of the gate in front of the temple before the battery on the camera died.  Inside the huge building was a huge statue of Buddha with other statues of his guardians.  I guess I've always thought that praying to statues and man-made things was mostly a thing of the past (I figured that nowadays idolatry was towards things like money or power), but there were plenty of people praying and offering incense.  I was able to see what kind of hurdles the Gospel has to go through in Japan, and how desperately the Japanese need Christ.

The gate to the temple.  I'm glad that my God does not need a temple.

My stay in Nara seemed to end before it began, and after two weeks, I was back on the bullet train to Tokyo.  I stayed at the Mehn's house one last night before going to Narita airport, Los Angeles, Los Vegas, and then finally arriving home.  I'll write more about my overall thoughts in my next post here.  Thanks for reading!

Rebuilding Ishinomaki

Hello, everyone!  I know that it's been a while since I've posted, and I'm sorry.  Like I said in my last post, my internet situation for the last two weeks of my trip made it so that I couldn't really do a long post or anything.  And even though I've been back since Sunday evening, I've been fighting a losing battle with jetlag, so I've been forgetting to update this blog.  I really am sorry!

My second trip to Ishinomaki passed quickly even though it was longer than my first one (ten days as opposed to seven).  I worked in the same area, so I was able to see a lot of people I had met from the first time and develop some friendships more.

The operation in Shintate had grown considerably since I had been there before.  The main task that Dean wanted people to work on was a field owned by a man named Mr. Abe (different from any Mr. Abe that I've mentioned before.  It's a really common name in the area).  He had grown vegetables in his field, but the tsunami had flooded it with salt water and oil.  And to make things worse, there was a factory right next door that made cell phone parts, which were strewn all across and even buried underneath the field.  It was such a mess that the Abes had given up hope of restoring it, which was especially sad because it had been passed down from Mrs. Abe's father.  Such a job would require a lot of people.

So God provided a lot of people.  With the group I was with, nearly fifty volunteers showed up the first day to work on that field.  It was amazing how much that many people can get done and I think that the Abes were really impressed with the work.  First, we had to clear off all the salt that had solidified on the surface, which was basically the top two inches of ground.  Then we had to dig down about a foot and sift through the dirt to find any glass, plastic, metal, or oil deposits.  It was long and tedious, but it got done.  The worst part of it was fighting the Japanese summer back.  Of course, I'm used to bone-dry Colorado, where any sweat quickly evaporates.  In Japan, though, summers are horribly hot and horribly humid.  Each day, I would completely sweat through my shirt, have it dry over lunch, and then sweat through it again.  By Friday, it was hot enough to be dangerous and we had people taking breaks often.  Thankfully, Dean had bought some stand-up tents that we could work under to keep out a lot of the heat.

That Sunday our group prayerwalked in Shintate, just like the first trip.  This time, we went to the very edge of the neighborhood.  I was really surprised to see that just a few blocks away from where I had been working, almost every house was abandoned.  Out of almost one hundred houses, only one in that side of town had residents.  Sadly, there were some houses that had been looted after their owners either abandoned them or died in the tsunami.

In Japan, having flavored shaved ice is a traditional summertime treat.  That Monday, to give the community a bit of a break from the sameness of recovery life and to bring some cheer back to Shintate, we set up some tents and prepared for a big shaved ice party!  We also had a singer, one of Mr. Abe's (the man who is like a pastor but isn't one) former students, who came to sing and share the gospel.  It was absolutely fantastic and over one hundred people showed up.  For a short time, I could see what the city was like before the disaster.

Having been to Shintate for two trips, I had developed a lot of attachment to the area and the people there.  I will never forget my time working there and someday I will go back to see how things have changed.  Please pray for the people there, that they would be healed from the suffering that they have experienced and that God would open their hearts to the Gospel.

The City That Disappeared

Hello again, everyone!  I'm back from my second trip as a volunteer worker in Ishinomaki.  While I was there, I realized that I had forgotten something very important in my last blog post.  Honestly, I'm kind of ashamed and baffled that I forgot it since it can only be described as unforgettable (although, I was pretty rushed when I was writing my last post).

On the day that I left Ishinomaki for my first trip, we took a detour with Andrew, the man who runs the Samaritan's Purse base, to an evacuation center in a city called Minami Sanriku so that we could bring them fresh vegetables and clothes.

Minami Sanriku is one of the cities that, after the earthquake and tsunami, has been essentially wiped off the map.  Seeing this utter destruction was very hard and pictures alone can't convey the seriousness of it.  It looked like a war had happened there.

I went back to Minami Sanriku on my second trip, which I returned from last week.  By now, a number of people have moved out of the evacuation center (really just the local middle school's gymnasium) and into temporary housing facilities.  We delivered fresh produce and some meat to the roughly 50 families living there (again, this was Andrew's idea).  It wasn't much, but I think that they really appreciated it.  Afterwards, we went to the same evacuation center and sang some hymns (in Japanese) to the people staying there.  With virtually no Christian population there, not one of them had a clue what we were singing about, but I think that it was a comfort for them.  At the very least, it was something to break up the boredom of the day.

I'm writing about Minami Sanriku partially to convey the seriousness of the situation here in Japan and partially to help get over it myself.  Going there was upsetting for me, and I think that posting these pictures and telling people about it can help me.  Thank you for reading!  My ability to access the internet is a bit shaky right now, so this may be my last post until I return to the US.

 The evacuation center

This fishing boat is in a ditch half way up the mountainside

Ishinomaki Day 6 and Beyond

After such an eventful day on Sunday, the next day passed like a blur, so this post will be short.  I spent time sweeping the mud off of a sidewalk before the entire team got together to go all-out in mudding out a man's house.  We worked for at least four hours shoveling and hauling mud out and not much else.  But we got a lot done and were glad to put in a good day's work.

The day after that, we packed up and left for the eight hour ride back.  That also passed like a blur and before we knew it, we were back in Tokyo where I promptly went to sleep.  Going to Touhoku was really an amazing experience.  It's been exciting, depressing, and exhausting.  It wasn't what I would call "fun," but it was definitely a good thing to have done and I wouldn't want to have spent my summer any other way.

It's been about a month since I got back, and I'm currently doing the last minute preparations for another team.  The teams keep getting bigger with sixteen people for this one.  I'll be in the same area but probably doing different things.  The Mehns are going to America, so I'll be the only one who has had experience with this there.  I'll be gone for the next ten days.  I hope this trip will be as memorable as the first one!  Thank you for reading!

Ishinomaki Day 5

My fifth day was a Sunday, so we decided not to do physical work.  Even though I didn't pick up a shovel or even put on my boots that day, it was the most memorable and rewarding of all the time I spent working in Ishinomaki.

First, we went to Mr. Abe's church, Ishinomaki House of Prayer (Mr. Abe is the man in the video I posted earlier).  The church has about seven members, all of them elderly except for Mr. Abe's son.  Technically, the church doesn't have a pastor: Mr. Abe does everything a pastor does except preach, so he denies that he is one.  For the sermon, they listened to a recording of another preacher.  Afterwards, we had lunch and, in typical Japanese style, they were extremely gracious hosts.

After lunch, a non-Christian couple showed up.  We had been told that they had lost a son in the tsunami.  I don't think I've ever seen anyone quite like these two.  They looked totally hollow, like shells of the people they were.  They didn't talk, except for basic greetings.  One of the church members talked a little bit about her daughter, who also died in the tsunami.  She talked about how, even though she missed her daughter terribly and it hurt so much, that because they were both Christians, they would see each other again.  Towards the end, she was crying and I was having a hard time not doing the same.

Afterwards, we returned to Shintate and did prayerwalking.  Prayerwalking is exactly what it sounds like:  we would go to a person's house and pray for them.  We also prayed for Shintate in general: for physical healing and rebuilding and for a spiritual awakening and interest in the Gospel.

We split into two groups to pray since Dr. Mehn and Monica were going to deliver a box of clothes to a woman in the neighborhood, Mrs. Iseya.  After a while, my group went back to Mrs. Iseya's house to regroup.  Mr. and Mrs. Iseya, Dr. Mehn, and Monica were all standing outside and when they saw us approach, Mrs. Iseya ran up to me, grabbed my hands and bowed lower than I've ever seen a Japanese person bow.  She went to each of the team members and did this, constantly telling us thank you.  It was a bit surreal, since most Japanese people I've met are fairly reserved and those up north even more so.  But Mrs. Iseya was downright giddy!  She looked like she was holding back tears.  It's a bit difficult to describe in words, but this experience was had a huge impact on me.  It was like seeing the fruit of the work that we had put into the neighborhood finally come out.  That box of clothes was only about $50, but it made such a difference.

It seemed like after that, we ran into a lot of thankful people.  We stopped by the house of Mrs. Komatsu, which we had mudded out, and she happened to be around and thanked us.  We also went to another neighborhood called Watanoha (which means something like "where the waves cross over."  Sadly, that's very accurate), where a team from a Brazilian-Japanese church was working.  This team had worked like machines on one house, completely removing the ruined walls and mudding out the floor in one day.  The couple that lived in the house were very happy, and even thanked our team even though we hadn't worked on it.

When we got back to base, we were really encouraged and touched by what we had been through that day.  And with two days without physical work, we were ready to put in one last hard, long day before going back to Tokyo.

Ishinomaki Day 4

For my fourth day, we took a break from the relief work.  I was on a trip to Yamagata within my trip to Ishinomaki within my trip to Japan.  I felt like I was in the movie Inception.  It was really nice to relax and see northern Japan outside of the disaster zone.  Of course, the effects of the earthquake could still be seen.  Yamagata is usually a bustling city full of people, but when I was there it was practically empty.

 The main bit of sightseeing that we did was at the nearby Kaminoyama Castle.  Actually, the real castle was torn down a long time ago, and the one we visited was a reconstruction with a museum on the inside.  This isn't that surprising: there aren't that many true castles left in Japan (I hope to visit one of them when I go to the Kansai region later this month).  Still, I really liked it.  For some reason, I love the architecture of older Japanese buildings like castles, temples, and shrines.

 There was a bonsai festival going on that day

The tour was really fun!  We got to see a lot of historical artifacts from the area and learned some about how the castle fit into Japan's history.  By the end, we were well-rested and ready to head back to the Samaritan's Purse base.

Ishinomaki Day 3

Once again, people kept snoring, meaning that I was on my third day without a good night's sleep.  I was feeling really worn out, but I knew that I would be getting a break soon, so I tried to work as hard as I could.

That was my first day "mudding out" a house.  When the tsunami flooded houses, it brought lots and lots of mud with it.  This mud was mixed with lots of oil and probably lots of bacteria, too.  This concoction would go under the floorboards of houses and settle down, forming a layer of mud and compacted oil.  It stank and gave off a general feeling of "this stuff is bad."  Our job was to rip up the floorboards of a room and scoop all that junk out.  And the support beams underneath the floor made moving around really tedious.

I helped mud out two rooms from a woman's house.  She had called the city for help in cleaning, but hadn't heard back for months.  Luckily, she knew Mr. Abe, who was working with us.  To be honest, I don't remember much from that day other than it was hot, uncomfortable, hard, yet boring work and by the time I was done, I was really discouraged about just how far away people still are from recovering.  I was really relieved when my team came by early.

You see, Dr. Mehn knew that this kind of work would tire us out and that going for a week with no break wasn't feasible.  So he planned for us to have a bit of a break in the middle with some sightseeing.  We returned to the base early, cleaned ourselves up, and headed to a hotel.  Finally, I was able to get a good night's rest.

Ishinomaki Day 2

Like the first, my second night at the Samaritan's Purse base did not go well.  People who shall remain anonymous spent the night snoring very loudly.  At least they got a lot of rest.  With my lack of sleep and the soreness from the day before, I was not exactly in the best shape for working hard.  Thankfully, today was a bit lighter on work than the day before. 

That's because the relief volunteers would be holding a barbeque for the neighborhood of Shintate!  Pastor Dean had planned on only inviting a few families that they had helped, and were expecting about 70 people total, including us workers.  Somehow, though, word got out and over 90 people came!  Initially, we were afraid of running out of food, but thankfully some acquaintances of Dr. Mehn's brought some extra meat that we could cook.  Also, Nick (who I mentioned in my previous post) worked in the restaurant business for a while and knew how to spread the food out to make it last.  It ended up as a fish-and-loaves situation, because there was a fairly large amount left afterwords!

Before allowing the people to eat, Dean gave a speech about who we all were, that we were Christians, that we love the people of Shintate, and that God loves them also.  And that if any of them needed help, that we would gladly do so.  The response was enormous.  Dean and his team had spent many weeks trying to earn the trust of Shintate, and this seemed to be the payoff.  Before, people had been hesitant to accept help (this has a lot to do with the Japanese mindset), but, last I heard, there aren't enough workers to keep up with the requests!

After the barbeque, I helped clear out a few more bushes from Mr. Sugiyama's garden.  I also started a bit on clearing garbage and debris from a Mr. Andou's backyard.  If I understand it correctly, he was hesitant to let people clear it, and I think he was just frustrated and discouraged by how bad it was (and it was bad).  But after the BBQ, he allowed us in.  He said that all the volunteer's work had given him hope (the United Japan team that had cleared his neighbor's backyard had really done an amazing job.  I wish I had pictures).

When we were done with work, Dr. Mehn decided to take us to the city harbor to really see the damage done by the tsunami.  It still amazes me that it was able to flood houses in Shintate, at least a mile away from the ocean, but the areas closer to the sea were just devastated.  Here are a few pictures.  Keep in mind that this is three months after the disaster.

 A pile of metal debris that had been collected

 This is typically the kind of damage that houses got if they were not swept away.  The inside was definitely flooded.

 A residential area

 A typical Japanese cemetery with debris

 A lot of the smaller debris was already taken away, but the larger stuff is still lying around

There used to be a building here.  All that's left now is the foundation.

It's impossible to describe the scope of the effected area.  It is predicted to take three years just to clear all the debris.  Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it took even longer.  It was at this point that the sheer enormity of the disaster hit me.

Ishinomaki Day 1

Each day at the Samaritan's Purse base started early to fit in as much work as possible.  I hadn't slept well because the night was colder than I expected.  By 8AM, we had left for the area of Shintate, Ishinomaki and got our first real look at the disaster area.  I didn't bring my camera with me because we were cautioned not to take pictures.  Past teams from other relief groups had spent a long time gaining the trust of this neighborhood.  Taking pictures might make the people living there feel like victims, and we definitely did not want to offend.  However, here is a Youtube video of the area by Mr. Abe (whose church I went to that Sunday) from sometime in April.  People have been working really hard to clean up and the main street in the video was completely clean by the time we arrived.  It's an unlisted video, so I can't embed it, but here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mvl106xfxE

There were three groups working in the area with us: Pastor Dean, an acquaintance of Dr. Mehn, lead the overall operation; Samaritan's Purse; and Japan United, an organization made after the disaster by some Japanese churches.  Together, we went to work.

Although the roads had been cleared, there was still a lot of debris in people's yards.  For instance, the trailer from a semi somehow managed to get in between two houses without destroying them (and Japanese houses are close together!).  It's now stuck and will be really hard to get out.  It was strange seeing the destruction, but I had been bracing myself for a while.  It wouldn't be until after the trip that the emotional stress would get to me, actually.

Anyways, the first job I was given was to help clear the yard of an elderly gentleman named Mr. Sugiyama.  The leader of the Japan United team, Nick, explained that Mr. Sugiyama had allowed them to use his water supply, and they wanted to repay him.  He also talked about how Mr. Sugiyama had tried to save an elderly couple in the house across the road, but they ended up underestimating the power of the tsunami and were killed in their house.

Mr. Sugiyama's yard was mostly a large garden with a number of trees and bushes.  The tsunami had killed almost all of the bushes and a few of the trees, so I, along with my teammate Aaron and Nick, started pulling them up.  I have done landscaping once in my life, and that was probably the hardest physical work I had ever done up until I pulled out trees from Mr. Sugiyama's yard.  That first day was absolutely brutal.

Thankfully, Mr. Sugiyama would come out every once in a while and offer us coffee or soda.  My partner Aaron is a boisterous, amiable Hawaiian man, and would often try and engage Mr. Sugiyama in conversation, even if his Japanese needed more work.

Even though I didn't take pictures, Nick did.  There are even a few with me in them on his blog at http://unitedjapan.blogspot.com/.

The first day ended with me being tired, sore, and still a few more trees left to pull.  But I felt good to have put in a day's work, and Mr. Sugiyama seemed to appreciate what we did.  I was a bit worried, though.  The week had only just started and I was already exhausted!

Ishinomaki Day 0

I'm sorry I haven't updated in such a long time.  Even though I returned to Tokyo last week, between my normal responsibilities here, some sightseeing, the internet going out, and just plain procrastination, I haven't gotten to this blog until now.

Our team of seven left early Monday, May 30 for the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture.  We were told that Ishinomaki had been hit especially hard by the tsunami: almost 20% of all the deaths caused by the disaster were in that city alone.  One middle school had 74 of its 108 students die.  And in the area that we were working in, there are no churches at all.

The eight hour drive was a bit of an adventure.  One of the major roads was closed, so we had to drive through the city of Sendai instead of going on the highway.  There was a truck that crashed in the middle of a tunnel we went through. And at one of the rest stops, I saw some Japanese girls trying badly to hide their laughter as I failed at using chopsticks.

 The scenery was very pretty, though.

Eventually, though, we ended up arriving safely at the Samaritan's Purse base in Tome City, about a half-hour's drive from where we would work.

 

My home away from home away from home

It was actually very comfortable.  I had assumed that we would be roughing it in an evacuation center, but this place had cots, showers, running water, and even a cook!  Exhausted after being in a car the whole day, we ate and went to bed early.  The next day would start bright and early.

I'll devote one blog post to each day of my trip, so the next one will detail my first day working.  Thanks for reading!

Heading Off To Touhoku

It's been a very long week, but it doesn't feel like a whole lot got done.  It was mostly getting ready to head up to the Ishinomaki, the area that we'll be working in for the next week or so.  Last Monday and Tuesday was just typing up orientation materials for the rest of the team that just arrived here on Saturday.

On Wednesday, I helped a bit with a sort-of daycare at the church nearby.  All the children that showed up were little Japanese girls 4th grade and under.  We played a kanji game and even though I won, I think they were going easy on me.  One of the little girls obviously hadn't learned proper Japanese etiquette and commented on how my nose is big (which is actually the common stereotype of foreigners in Japan, and true in my case).  I also think she said something like she thought all foreigners had blue eyes.

Two people also helped at the daycare: Mr. Suzuki and Mrs. Ishi.  Neither of them are Christians, but Mr. Suzuki's wife is a member of the church and Mrs. Ishi's mother-in-law was also before she died, so they're both connected to the church.  The pastor at the church, Pastor Kano, hopes that them helping will let them hear the gospel.

On Thursday, I went to the elderly English lesson.  I learned that Mr. Moriyama, the Buddhist monk I mentioned before, has a deaf daughter.  It seems that he's trying to find some kind of answers for why she is deaf.

Please pray for Mr. Moriyama, Mr. Suzuki, and Mrs. Ishi.  Ask that God would open their hearts to his Word.

Yesterday (Saturday), two women from Wisconsin and a man from Hawaii arrived.  Those three, two others that will come soon, Dr. Mehn, and I will make up the team that will head to Ishinomake tomorrow.  I'll be there for eight days, so I won't be updating here for a bit.  Expect a picture dump when I arrive!

Many Updates

Wow, has it almost been a week since I arrived here?  Each day passes so quickly.  Here's what I've been up to:

On Wednesday, another guy named Chase came to stay with the Mehns too.  He's my age and from Texas.

On Thursday, I went to a nearby church to help with an English lesson that they have there.  I was told I would be working with children, so imagine my surprise when the class turns out to be three elderly Japanese gentlemen!  There was a bit of a mix up in what I was told.  Apparently, I'll be doing the kid's class on Wednesdays and the elder's class on Thursday.  Still, I knew I needed to be flexible on this trip, and the class went well.  It's funny how there are things you never notice about the language that you speak.  They were very confused about the phrase "come over" as in "come over and visit."  Does anyone know where the "over" comes from?

One of the men is actually a Buddhist monk, which surprised me because the lessons are explicitly Christian: they use hymns and Bible verses to practice their English.  He actually really enjoys singing the hymns.  At least he's being exposed to the Word!  Please pray that the Gospel would be able to penetrate into his heart.

On Friday, I got to meet Mr. Mehn in person and Phil, another guy staying here for a while.  They were up in the disaster area earlier in the week.  Phil took Chase and me to the world famous fish market in Tsukiji.  I tried some genuine Japanese sushi, but since I'm allergic to fish, I couldn't sample much.  Then we went to the Electric Town, Akihabara, also known as Geek Town.  It's a bit...unusual, but we had fun.  I got to travel around and get used to the train system.

I took pictures, but I'm still trying to get Alison's camera to work with the computer.  I'm just not that good with computers.  I'll post more updates soon!  Thanks for reading!

Adventure - Day 1

Whew.  Well, I'm here in Japan, and I actually made it in one piece.  Since this is my first time out of the country (a little while in Canada doesn't count), getting here was quite the adventure.

I got up at the ungodly hour of 4:15 AM to get to DIA by 6.  Getting through baggage check-in and security was simple and I got onto the plane to Los Angeles without any trouble.  I would have taken pictures of the flight over the mountains, but I was asleep almost immediately after boarding.

The real problems started when I got off in LA.  I knew I had to go from the terminal I was in to the international terminal, but I am amazingly talented at getting lost.  I spent 45 minutes wandering around before getting directions and walking a long ways to where I needed to be.  Thankfully, everything went quickly after that.  I got through security and made it to my 11 hour flight to Narita Airport in Tokyo.

The flight was pretty uneventful outside of being really long.  At least I got my own choice of in-flight movies.  When I got to Narita Airport, I was really surprised at how quickly I got through.  They didn't even check my stuff at customs.  I didn't have anything to report to them, but I figured that they would at least go through it.  How do they catch anyone actually bringing in illegal stuff?

Next, I got my money exchanged, got the cell phone I'm renting, and got the bus ticket to the Machida Station, where Mrs. Mehn would meet me.  I was really dehydrated by then, so I decided to get something from the vending machines (and what I learned in class is true: there are vending machines EVERYWHERE here).  I had the choice of Coke, water, and cold green tea.  I figured that I should be like the locals, so I got the green tea in a bottle.

It smelled like an old sock and tasted even worse.  You know how Southern tea is ridiculously sweet?  Well, this was like the inverse.  This was so bitter that it actually sucked the sugar out of me.  I ended up accidentally leaving it on the bus (it seriously was an accident, I was really tired by then), and I don't regret it.

By the time I was on the three-hour bus ride to Machida, the jet-lag caught up to me.  I remember waking up a lot, but never actually falling asleep.  Finally, though, I got off the bus and met Mrs. Mehn.  We took a second bus to their home where I basically went to bed immediately.

And now here I am.  I've wanted to come here to Japan for so long that it's kind of surreal to actually be here.  Right now, Dr. Mehn and another guest named Phil are up north helping repair a damaged family-run hotel.  He'll be back later this week.  Until then, I just have to sit tight and wait.  I'll give an update a little later this week.  Bye!

Don't Waste Your Life

I bet you didn't know John Piper liked rap.  ;-)

Welcome to my blog!  I'm Ian, and this is where I'll be talking about my missions trip to Japan.  If you're here, you probably know me personally, so I won't give a long introduction (at least, not now).  The name "Pillar Held Firm" comes from Psalms 75:3: "When the earth and all its people quake, it is I [God] who hold its pillars firm."  It's very comforting that even if the earth shakes like in the monstrous 9.0 Touhoku earthquake, that God is the one in control.  And if we are rooted in him, he will hold us firm.

So, Japan.  Since you have an internet connection, you already know plenty about the earthquake and following tsunami that hit the eastern coast of the country in March 11.  For about a month previous to that, I was communicating with the Mehns, the missionaries in Tokyo that my church supports.  Things were moving pretty well, and I even got approval from my church's missions team.

Two days later, the earthquake hit.

At first, my plans seemed to hit a dead end.  Then, over the course of the next weeks, things actually fell into place better than before.  Now I'll be heading to Tokyo in one week to work on relief for the victims of the earthquake.  I''m not totally sure what I'll be doing, but I'll make sure to let you know here.

Eventually I'll go into detail on the reasons why I wanted to go to Japan in the first place, but for now the above movie puts it well.  I realized a long time ago that only things that are eternal matter.  With my current plans, I could easily complete engineering school, find a really nice job, and live a comfortable upper-middle class American life.  And there's nothing inherently wrong with that.  But if that's all I want for my life, then it's all been a waste.  Eventually all the money, houses, cars, politics, video games, etc. will crumble to dust, and all that will be left are things that are eternal: God and people.  So I want my focus in life to be those things that will last forever, and I hope that God will use this trip for his glory and to bring people to him.  Because if I can do just one thing to impact eternity for him, then my life will not have been wasted.

And I refuse to waste my life.