Body in Action

They recognized me today at Homac....and I have a date to go back on Saturday. I'm hoping Akikosan can go with me so we can really understand each other. One lady told me today she wants a new American friend and gave me her name and number. ::grin::  She offered to write my shopping list in Japanese...but then I wouldn't be able to read it...but they could go and get things for me off the shelf.

They had 42 more containers for Y498 in TOWADA...and Susane and Mary headed off to buy them. This is WELL under the prices of any others in town. They told me they'd have 80 on Saturday. I appreciated this gentleman using TWO phones in his search.

Today PWOC met in the parking lot to go out. Several women purchased items for their own kits which they donated. Others helped me assemble more items for the ones I was shopping for. I've become a pro at finding things in the store.

You are NEVER to young to catch the giving bug....

The ladies suggested lunch at the mall and then finishing off at a 100 yen store. What a great idea. Missed meals yesterday. Yum. Most had 15 min after lunch but Ruth and I started shopping for next week...found the mother lode of fry pans and stock pots at Jusco. LOL

Back at the chapel many folks showed up to help unload. What a nice boost in our lagging energy reserves. Here I discover that Calvary Baptist, a local church, has given us enough Japanese Bibles to meet our need for this week and next week. We're working on more for after that. God is good...I love His body working together.

We have enough items to get 50 kits assembled tomorrow and out the door this week. YES. Several are still bringing in donations and we expect some more monetary gifts. We'll continue as long as God supplies and leads.  I think the cut off for accepting funds is April 29th.

I am busy this week creating a system. Once the system is created, others will be able to step in and do more of the work. That's my prayer. I know I can't keep up this pace indefinitely...but the body working together can do great things. Huah!  I have created labels and such for tomorrow. Thursday, we'll fine tune directions and procedures for our delivery volunteers and we'll see how this goes next week.  My goal is for one or two "others" to know the system so well that this can carry on for the weeks when I'm stateside hugging on our older kids. They need to see us.

I need to get someone to write up IN JAPANESE what I'm doing so I can tell others. Ladies suggested I get a t-shirt that says "I'm going to Miyako City" to wear to stop the hostile stares from other shoppers as I buy cart after cart of merchandise.  Anyway, I AM going to have someone write up what I'm doing so I can show the managers....

Funny today - I was trying to say "I am taking this to Miyako City" and evidently, told one and all..."I AM Miyako City." ::snort:: AND in the Daiso they insisted on giving me gifts when they realized where it was all going....strange "art plants" and votive candles.

Need to get go as I need to prepare for assembly day and Retreat Team meeting tomorrow!

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Hoarding?

Japan has anti-hording laws. I stretched the limit today.  The chapel has been asked to provide 50 Transition Home Kits per week to families displaced by the Great Easter Japan Quake of 2011. You can see a sample of the list here (though we no longer have to provide the electrical).  This is one of our current mission outreaches. 


Many have brought completed kits to the chapel. Some have donated funds to purchase and deliver kits.  Today, Annette and I headed out as I had a lot of shopping to do.  At Homac we ended up with 7 cart loads and a big stack of plastic tubs. As we left each cart in the front and grabbed another one we received stranger and stranger looks. The manager was called. We kept shopping.  I was blessed to be able to call Simon, an American who has lived in Japan for decades. He talked to the manager/cashier and explained that all I was buying was going to Miyako City and that I had enough money in my bank to cover the charge. 


They called 3 cashiers and another man to help sort and load all of this. 

Annette wondered if it would all fit in the little Joy...um...nope. We called the Chapel and Mike joined us with our big van. 

Michael headed off to unload the van at the chapel. We went to the next store. We bought as many more items as we could find. Near the end of this store, Tara and son joined us.  

We went to one more store and then Tara suggested she take the remainder of our list and head of alone. We dropped off more thing at the chapel. Annette went home to fix dinner. I headed home to collect kids and head back to base for Youth Group and Bible study. 


When I arrived home our farmer's wife had brought these gorgeous flowers over....what a great pick me up! 

Tomorrow, I  head out again. PWOC is doing a group shopping trip for those who like to shop in groups or may be intimidated to purchase off base.  


For this one week, we will meet our goal.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Beauty and the Beast

Part of the Misawa Human Video team performed today in Chapel.  Jared was in this one. This was before Michael preached on Redemption and John 8 - the "woman" caught in adultery. I really loved how the youth's human video illustrated the sermon so well.


Earlier this month the other part of the video team led into a sermon with "Go Light Your World."  I love it when the kids are an integral part of the worship experience, vs. "Aw, how cute the youth are doing something" which doesn't tie in with the rest of the service.

Well done, team!

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

The Chapel Did It!

Misawa Helps is the name of the local volunteer clean up drives. "Have You Done It?" is the catch phrase, we have a big tally board on the main drag of the base (beats the DUI board that was there LOL), and there is even an AFN commercial. 

You must be 16 or go with an adult. Jared's trips have been with this program. I've not been able to "do it," as Arielle hasn't been comfortable watching the children for an entire day alone.

Today the chapel reserved seats on the buses. We actually had a chapel clean up day planned for Sunday, but the trip was cancelled and we moved to join with the trip for today. Jared needed a break. I went.  It's exhausting, back breaking, COLD, rewarding.....Today's mission was to our local beach.  The beaches are still littered with tangled masses of debris.  Our job was to take pieces of boats, nets, anchors, ropes, tarps, sails, tin etc out of trees, drag them to the road where the equipment can get in...and make piles of salvageable, burnable etc.

Three on the left are PWOC Ladies....Shining at Operation Tomadachi

Erika was one of my Tokyo traveling partners. We admitted we enjoyed ourselves today much more than our days of shopping and waiting in Tokyo. 

Michael in the middle....

Ruth and I

We were ready for a break. Akikosan came on this trip. It was fun to work with her all day....

I cannot tell you the number of piles of nets like this that had to be untangled and moved. 

Tired at the end of the day, but we had to go see the ocean (we'd been working on the other side of the seawall all day). 

The Whole Group

Somewhere during the day I decided to go to the onsen when I got home.  I was too cold and tired to go....but I soaked in a hot tub, got the sand and grit out of my eyes, ears and mouth and feel human again. LOL 

We'll do it again....maybe not as a chapel...but as a family.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Shikata Ga Nai

Michael got home at 10:30 last night - full day of chapel ministry, planning disaster relief etc. I had been thinking a lot yesterday about the fact that I was "supposed to be in TX" and had chosen to cancel the ticket as I didn't feel right leaving the children.

Around 11:00 p.m. I signed off Facebook and we headed to bed....

Then the earth shook! And I mean rolled a while, then SHOOK up and down, and rolled some more.  Umm....I was on the toilet this time....and I could hear things rattling and crashing...and Mike yelling to the kids, "Stay put, don't go downstairs".....I decided if the house was going to fall apart I did not want to be on the throne when it happened. The power went out...I staggered to the recliner at the top of our stairs and waited it out while watching the rest of the family in doorways....the phones went out...we covered the fridge and freezer....checked our home for damage...checked homes in the neighborhood, calmed children,  and went to sleep.

It was a 7.4 earthquake. We went out to get in the car to hear the AFN news....and could see lots of folks heading for the base and the loudspeakers warning of a tsunami. Michael finds it quite funny that he KNEW for the briefest of seconds I was considering heading down to the beach. In fact, I was near the car when he came back from checking the neighborhood and he said, "Absolutely not..."..... I innocently said, "Whhhhhaaaattt?"

We awoke this a.m. still without power. I took Jared in to the chapel for an event. I spent a couple of hours trying to make phone calls to the states.

We settled in for another round of camping at home...but the power is now back on.  We live within 50 miles of a reactor. It was NOT damaged in the "great earthquake," but when these hit, they shut down the reactors and then slowly bring them back online. When they shut it down, we have no power.

Not much else to share...I had just quit the vertigo thing  I seem to have when the earth is moving under my feet every few hours. The last few days had been quiet. Some think we may have another big one in a couple days as that is the pattern of March 11th....I thought it quite funny to go to the EFAC (where they provide phones) and see the long lines in the Cafe that adjoins it....seems when an earthquake hits Misawa we head for coffee and pizza.

Which reminds me, Mike has just called to say he's bringing pizza and company home for dinner. I'm off.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Fellowship, Friendship and Funnies!

MOPS play date this a.m. - 20 still around. Small but powerfully fun and needed. 


Then we met a friend at Homac and helped her buy the Japanese laundry poles. We took advantage of the opportunity to buy dirt, more planters, and some plants.

Many hours of this day were spent in working out the ever-changing details of how this Transition Home Kit effort is going to work. It's coming together well.  I'm starting to really love the analogy of the man throwing starfish back into the ocean. When told the job was hopeless and wouldn't make a difference he said, "to the one I just threw in it matters."  I keep thinking about that....

Tonight, Akikosan offered to come with us on the first trip to deliver home kits. This is very good. She told me, "De'Etta San, I can read a Japanese map."  My "adventures" have made me an international legend. ::snort:: She also told me that what had been translated online as "rice bowls" read "Condoleesa Rice"....not sure how THAT happened but we had a good laugh about three of them being in the kit.  She is going over the list.

Prayers are appreciated...we're weary....but not weary in doing good.


Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Monday's Trip to Miyako City

Last week the chapel had funded a trip of veggies down to Miyako City. The gentleman who had organized that trip ended up taking a couple of more trips down. Various Christians on base simply gave him money to buy more veggies at wholesale to take on down. 


Monday Jared left early to go help load other donations into the vehicles. I met them to drive on town to the Produce Warehouse in Hachinohe. Nolan came with me. We loaded vehicles. Jared had to be here for human video practice, but Nolan was able to ride along to Miyako with the men. He got home about 10:00 p.m. 


Here are a few photos...and yes, I AM proud of my guys. 

Monday's packing crew

Here are some shots for Miyako City area....stunning really. 

New houses weren't spared

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...