Huge Earthquake in Japan

Thanks, brother. :wavey:

 

Please check out my son's thoughtful blog entry on the earthquake: http://paroikosmissionarykid.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-care-and-pray-for-japan.html

 

Much thanks to Jim1999 and abcgrad94 for the prayers.

My sister wrote me after the earthquake asking what the financial effects would be, in particular from the point of view of the missionary. That is a very complicated subject, but fortunately the Daily Yomiuri, the English version of the leading Japanese daily, has had some articles about that.

First of all, we missionaries bring our living and ministry expenses over from our home country, the States in our case. We do that twice monthly. This means that the dollar to yen exchange rate is very important to us. I optimistically told my sister that I thought the yen rate would rise and help us missionaries, but then that is impossible to predict. When I was in language school I talked to an economists who said they can tell you why the rate fluctuated after the fact, but can never predict it.

My wife brought over money today at 77.1 yen per dollar. That was after a sudden drop of about 5 yen because of the earthquake, a huge drop! We thought it would continue to fall, and it did temporarily to a new post-WW2 low, but surprisingly overnight it went back up three yen. At any rate, pray for missionaries in Japan. The yen going that low severely cramps our funds. Imagine taking a 5% pay cut. The truth is, it's gone down about 30 yen or so per dollar since we came over for this term in 2005. So we've moved to cheaper places twice since then just to keep solvent. It's not getting any easier.

In the larger national picture, the Japanese stock market has taken a huge beating. Toyota alone fell 7.4%. The Bank of Japan injected 15 trillion yen (182 million $) to keep the markets stable, but things are still fluctuating. Early estimates are that the clean up and restoration will run tens of billions of dollars. The government of Japan will be seriously hurting for a long time. I guess it's a good thing that tax day here is March 15.

Insurance is taking a huge hit, as you can easily guess. In the four prefectures hardest hit, there is 300 billion $ in insured property. One American insurance executive said, "We are in unprecedented territory when it comes to understanding the estimate of this earthquake."

Our church insurance agent came yesterday to renew us, and I got her talking and sat back and listened. She was upbeat as always, but the outlook is gloomy. She rather wanted to talk about her grandson, who works in Tokyo. He's somewhat of a mama's boy who has grandma call him at 6:00 every morning to wake him up. At any rate, he is back working, but only one third of his company's employees are back on the job. The problem is that with rolling blackouts and the like, the workers are not able to get to their companies because the trains are down half the time. This means that many companies in Tokyo are taking a huge hit in productivity.

Problems abound. Things look to get tight for us missionaries. But my God is able to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory. And "He owns the cattle on a thousand hills." We'll be well taken care of.

 

I have learned that the Baptist group hardest hit by this disaster is the Conservative Baptists. Here is a link that gives news about them: http://www.cbamerica.org/. I heard of that one pastor who is with this group named Sato had two daughters missing, but I found the church website in Japanese, and apparently they are okay. However, the whole family and many church members are in a refugee center.

As far as I know no independent Baptists have been injured or are missing, but that may change. We IBFs have few works in the area. Baptist Mid Missions is the most active in that area, and though I haven't heard directly about my old student Pastor Abeh yet, I believe I would have heard if he were in trouble. Pastor Takahashi, who runs the BMM camp in Fukushima, is okay with his wife and daughter.

One of our missionaries, Bro. Roberts, has actually bought a truck to go down to help, especially Pastor Sato and his people. We took up an offering Sunday at our church to send down two boxes of NTs for his future efforts.

Here is part of what Bro. Roberts wrote:

Brother Roberts is also planning to take in refugees in a small cabin next to his home. He and his family will be responsible for their food and living expenses. They are well experienced missionaries, zealous in soul winning. Here is his website: https://sites.google.com/site/robertsmissionaries/Home

Another friend who is preparing to take in refugees is Tom Tierney, director of the Japan Bible Home (http://www3.kannet.ne.jp/~biblehome/Bible Home.htm) and pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church. Tom and his wife Kazuko are planning to take in refugees. They feel they can handle 30 kids at the Bible home. Tom is a unique man, a former Green Beret and a rocket engineer who was the project engineer for the orbital engine of the space shuttle. He and his wife are people of compassion and evangelistic zeal, and I have no doubt some of those refugees will trust Christ.

 

I was totally shocked by the huge power of the tsunami, seeing various clips on Japanese TV. We've had tsunami here in Japan--they are not new. I remember about 25 years ago several surf fishermen were washed out to sea by one. But this one was absolutely huge.

Here is another website with a lot more information on the Conservative Baptists in the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster area: http://www.worldventure.com/Give/Support-Projects-Ministries/Projects/JAPAN-EARTHQUAKE.html

 

Thanks for this note, Gwen.

I read in today's newspaper an article about how the American Marines have been cleaning up the Sendai Airport and how the locals are grateful. One Marine said it looked like an archaeological dig, there was such a mess. Airplanes are now getting into that airport with relief supplies.

 

Thanks much for your prayers.

For you and others praying, here are some requests:

1. Pray for churches and pastors in the disaster area. One Japanese website lists about 140 churches badly damaged, including 44 Baptist churches.

2. Pray for believers we know in the disaster area: Mrs. Sato and little Hitoha, at a Christian kindergarten with other families; Pastor and Mrs. Takahashi and their grown daughter Hiromi, caretakers of a Baptist camp that is damaged, at a refugee shelter; Toshiaki, who I won to the Lord years ago, helping in Iwate Prefecture with the Japan Self Defense Forces; Pastor Abe and his church people in Fukushima Prefecture, who face many shortages. Pastor Abe is worried because he can't get sick folk in his church to the hospital. Pastor Abe was a student of mine in Bible School in Tokyo.

3. Pray for missionaries and pastors who have been going into the area with supplies, tracts and Bibles. Pastor Tajima will be checking on Baptist Mid Mission churches this week in Fukushima.

4. Pray for the "Fukushima 50," nuclear plant engineers and workers who are trying desperately to get the plants under control. One leading engineer is Sato Naoyoshi (last name first), who is a member along with several others at the Fukushima First Bible Baptist Church. One other Japanese on the crew has reportedly been saved.

5. Pray for my effort with our translation team members to get a pamphlet done of our new translation of John 1-3 with an invitation to believe in Christ added.

6. Pray for many Japanese hearts to be open to the Gospel through this disaster. In our church, we've gotten back in contact with Miss Shimobo (pron. she-moe-bow), who came to church several times last year. She came to church Sunday and is willing to go through a set of six lessons on the Gospel with us.

 

I'm amazed to see that it's been a whole week since I posted here. I've been wanting to every day, but things have been extremely busy as you can guess. I'm just on the periphery, a very small cog in a huge Christian effort, but every day I'm writing and answering many emails about the efforts being made, as well as talking on the phone. (Had a phone call this morning already.)

Today I want to address one thing that is being noted in the American media, and probably echoed by some of you. This is that folk are marveling that there is very little looting going on. Looting is actually a foreign concept here in Japan, and that is commendable.

It is not that they don't steal in Japan, it is that open theft is rare. So stealing here takes the form of scams, dishonest charges added by companies, extortion, etc. In other words, Japanese only steal when they think they won't get caught! Looting is open, public stealing when someone might recognize you and take your photo or report you. (After all, seemingly everyone in this country has a cell phone!) This country, even more so than other Asian countries, places a high priority on "saving face" and avoiding shame. When suspects are arrested, the police without fail cover their face when taking them to jail so they can "save face."

Another factor is that the American commentators who mention the lack of looting are just not taking into account the vastness and completeness of the destruction. In a disaster of this kind, the survivors are numb. They don't think of stealing, they think of survival! They think of getting away from the earthquake or the tsunami or the radioactivity, and what has happened to their loved ones and friends, not of material possessions. This earthquake may have been a 4 on the Richter here in Hokkaido, but I've been in a 5-6 in Yokohama, and believe me, you're not thinking of looting at a time like that!

Again, immediately after the earthqauke and tsunami, the damage to roads was so widespread that it was impossible for outsiders to get into the disaster area, even if they wanted to loot. After things began to settle down, the Self Defense Forces began to arrive and police began recovering enough to get things under control. So now, a special permit is needed just to drive into the earthquake area, with a large sign (about 10 inches wide) placed in your window.

One final factor in the lack of looting is, if you live in the disaster area, where would you get your loot? Eyewitnesses say the tsunami may have been as high as 50 feet, and missionary who has been down there wrote us that the tsunami reached 12 miles inland into some of the valleys, and he sent us a photo of a car resting on top of a three floor apartment, washed there by the tsunami. So there would be very little left to loot.

Is this clear as mud now? Because that's what you'd find if you went into the disaster area and looked for something to loot--lots of mud!

 

Today my wife and I visited two old people: Mr. Ueno, who is about 96 now (I'm not sure), and Mr. Habazaki, 62. Mr. Ueno is the father of one of our members, and was saved when I visited him in the hospital after he was already in his 90's. Mr. Habazaki was our most faithful member and my evangelism partner, saved 10 years ago through one of my tracts, but last year he had a stroke, and is now in a group home with dementia.

I'm so glad that neither of these men were down in the earthquake area. I read that something like 65% of the deaths in the disaster were old people who were caught in their collapsed houses, couldn't run from the tsunami, were stuck in a hospital, etc. The Japanese have an "aging society," since the average family only has 1.6 children, so this accounts for the huge percentage of old people suffering in the disaster.

The Confucian ethic of Japan means that old people are special here. They are respected. This is Biblical, too: "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD" (Lev. 19:32). Unfortunately, most of you Americans no longer seem to show respect for old people, as I have seen many times right here on the Baptist Board. You call them by their first name, mock them if you disagree with them, insult them. This does not please God.

Have you visited an elderly person lately? Have you showed honor to the old people you know? Mr. Ueno was a machine gunner in WW2, and may have killed many Americans. But he is my brother in Christ. When we visit him, I honor him by using the proper Japanese, and the equivalent of "Mr. Ueno," not his given name. And I shake hands with him, and he then grips my hand and won't let go until we leave. Love an old person today, won't you? It's Christian.

 

That's how I was raised. And "Yes Sir," and "Yes Maam" too.

One sweet story out of all of that was of one 16-year-old boy who stayed with and took care of his 86-year-old grandma in their ruined house until help came several days after the earthquake. He couldn't get her free, but brought her food and water from their refrigerator.