by
Website Editor
| Apr 17, 2011
As I leave Japan, I take with me many terrible images of a devastated country and many good memories of the people with whom I worked.
The spirit of the Japanese people is truly remarkable. While it has been a month since the disaster, the pain isn’t gone. Multiple aftershocks rock the affected area every day. The nuclear threat is ongoing.
Nevertheless, people continue to carry out their daily lives—shopping, going to work, attending school. In the tsunami zone, they are hard at work clearing out debris and beginning the rebuilding process.
The dedication of the Christian missionaries and volunteers who are responding is inspiring. Traveling through nuclear radiation zones, sleeping in buildings shaking with aftershocks, shoveling out homes filled with mud. Conditions on the ground are tough. No showers. Cold meals. Intermittent electricity.
The people serving with CRASH are really incredible people. Many are 2nd generation missionaries. Their parents served here in Japan. Now they do. They are fluent in Japanese. They know the culture. They love their adopted country.
The CRASH office is a mix of Japanese Christians and foreign missionaries. It buzzes with activity. Despite the seriousness of the challenges, there’s lots of laughter and good-natured joking. Almost every sentence is a mix of Japanese and English. That’s because almost everyone is comfortable in both languages.
What unites them is their love for the people of Japan and their desire to demonstrate the love of Jesus to them at this difficult hour.
Please pray with me for the people of Japan. They continue to face many difficult challenges. And, please pray as well for the dedicated, talented people who are working so hard to help the people of Japan in this difficult time.
Thank you for your support of our work in Japan and thanks for your prayers.
Bas