1-Year Anniversary of Grace Harbor Church / Kumamoto Earthquake Update

1) Kumamoto Earthquake Relief

A 7.3 magnitude earthquake on April 16, preceded by a 6.5 earthquake on April 14 led to significant damage, 48 known deaths, and 93,874 people initially staying in 632 evacuation shelters in Kumamoto city (750 miles south of us in Tokyo).

That following Monday, April 18, I joined an initial relief & assessment team of 6 guys from Grace Harbor Church Tokyo and sister church Grace City Church Tokyo. Our primary mission was to deliver a 2-ton truck and a large van - both filled with supplies - 15 hour drive down to Hakata Christ Church in Fukuoka city (65 miles outside Kumamoto city). These vehicles had been used for years of ongoing relief work after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster, and will be useful for ongoing distribution of supplies.

A blown tire while the truck was being picked up from Oyumino Church in Chiba pushed our intended 6am departure back to 1pm, resulting in a 4am arrival time! Thankfully we had a rotation of 3 drivers per vehicle to keep the trip going. It was truly God's providence, though, as we were able to give the truck some needed maintenance and new tires in Tokyo before commissioning it for a new season of relief work down in Kumamoto area.

Local churches in the area were just barely beginning to coordinate and mobilize. Here is a photo of our group of 6 (in the middle) plus a number of local pastors and partners praying and sending us off the next morning as the first official trip of relief supplies sent into Kumamoto city by the newly formed "Kyushu Christian Disaster Relief Center".

2) 1-Year Anniversary for Grace Harbor Church!

On Easter Sunday we celebrated 1 full year of weekly public worship services as Grace Harbor Church Tokyo. (See a 90-sec video recap of Easter Service & Easter Party.) God has provided in so many ways over this past year. We are so thankful for:

Slow but steady growth in total worship attendance. (Adding new local non-Chrstian visitors as well as Christians who have recently moved to Tokyo and found us.)

A consistent presence of non-Christian Japanese families (about 30% of our total weekly attendance) regularly engaging with God's Word and God's people at GHC.

Three Japanese friends who professed faith in Christ and got baptized! (With others in process.)

God's sustaining provision for our Pastor Seima and his family during a difficult year with the spinal injury of their son Towa.

God's provision of sufficient volunteers to keep up with a demanding Sunday morning set-up and take-down routine (at the United Cinema's Lounge that we use for worship).

A month before our 1-year anniversary service, we held a vision meeting for Grace Harbor Church. I made a 2-min video to remind us all of the past year at GHC, and to anticipate the upcoming ministry year. Take a look and rejoice with us in what God is doing in Tokyo!

3) Kumamoto Evacuation Shelter Ministry

The distance to Kumamoto is too far for regular relief teams to drive from Tokyo. However, a second trip has already been made with 5 members flying down to support evacuation shelters. See fellow MTW missionary Roger Lowther's Blog documenting our initial trip plus his subsequent music ministry trip performing concerts for evacuees.

A few relevant details and prayer requests reported from that most recent relief team:

Kumamoto schools (most have been serving as temporary shelters) will be starting up again on May 9th, requiring evacuees to leave. Those who cannot return home will be moved to larger shelters. There are currently earthquakes about every 2 hours, so people are still fearful of returning to homes. Many are still sleeping in their cars at night.
Water is running in most areas, but water pipes broke contaminating the water supply - making it undrinkable for the foreseeable future. Food and water is being delivered to grocery stores but runs out quickly. Gasoline is available in most areas.
Quite a few older people have not been able to clean up their homes - needing help. This is one way the Kyushu Christian Disaster Relief Center will be serving the city and mobilizing volunteers.
The needs are greater in more rural areas, but access is limited. The Kyushu Christian Disaster Relief Center is sending out teams - but takes more than 2 hours each way to provide some basic supplies to these isolated areas.

4) Prayer Requests

Please pray for our family as we will be making an unexpected trip to the US during May & June for Sarah to have surgery. After 2 unsuccessful surgeries over the past 14 years, Sarah has continued to struggle with severe abdominal pain from endometriosis. It has gotten to the point now of significantly affecting her lifestyle and our capacity as a family to reach out to our community. After exploring a number of options, we decided for Sarah to have Excision Surgery for Endometriosis with a specialist in the US (followed by sufficient recovery time before retuning to Japan).
Please PRAY for the surgery to be effective, for God's grace in all the logistics, and for a speedy recovery to her former self! PRAY also that God would use our weakness and struggle with all this to be a opening to share of the living hope we have in Christ to our friends here in Tokyo.

Please PRAY for wisdom as we seek to form and solidify new evangelistic Bible Studies and Missional Communities at GHC. We are excited for new opportunities, but it takes a lot of logistical and emotional energy. PRAY for patience as well as cultural insight as we seek to accelerate the "slow" process of community formation.

Praise God for a great Kids Ministry outreach this past Spring Break. We had over 100 local kids attend various programs. We are now in the process of planning for upcoming Summer Kids Ministry activities. PRAY for our planning and preparations. PRAY that these activities would not just be fun for the kids but would also be a blessing and a bridge to relationship with their families as well.