Monday, June 27, 2011

Tono Base Camp Day 4...

Well, although it's getting late and it's been an exhausting day, I thought I should update for the sake of keeping track of what's been going on and keeping all of you up to date too!

I'll be pretty honest and say that today was an extremely rough day for me. A number of factors piled up and caused a lot of emotional exhaustion today. I won't go in to details but I'll give you the gist...

This morning we were sent out to a different town than the one we went to on Saturday, and this place was a lot harder hit than where we were before. It was raining and we ended up only working until lunch time, but it was still a rough morning for me. We were removing debris from around a house. I just can't describe what it's like there... it's so hard to take in.

I sort of had a meltdown this afternoon... ok, maybe even two. I have decided that I can't handle doing the "front line" work anymore and will be doing other kinds of work like cleaning pictures that have been found. It's just too hard on my heart. I struggled a lot this afternoon, dealing with feelings of disappointment because I can't handle this kind of work the way everyone around me has been... but God sent me a timely e-mail from a co-worker that was written by Chuck Swindoll about 1 Corinthians 12 (spiritual gifts) I'm going to post it since it might just bless someone else too...

“Have you ever noticed how uniquely adapted each animal is to its environment and its way of life? On land, a duck waddles along ungainly on its webbed feet. In the water, it glides along smooth as glass. The rabbit runs with ease and great bursts of speed, but I’ve never seen one swimming laps. The squirrel climbs anything in sight but cannot fly (unless you count great airborne leaps from limb to limb), while the eagle soars to mountaintops.

What’s true of creatures in the forest is true of Christians in the family. God has not made us all the same. He never intended to. He planned that there be differences, unique capabilities, and variations in the Body. So concerned was He that we realize this, He spelled it out several times in His Word. I charge you to take the time to read 1 Corinthians 12 slowly and aloud. Those thirty-one verses tell us about His desires and designs.

The subject is commonly called “spiritual gifts,” and it is as helpful as any truth the believer can ever know.

God has placed you in His family and given you a certain mixture that makes you unique. No mixture is insignificant!

That mix pleases Him completely. Nobody else is exactly like you. That should bring you pleasure, too.

When you operate in your realm of capabilities, you will excel and the whole Body will benefit…and you will experience incredible satisfaction.

When others operate in their realm, then balance, unity, and health automatically occur in the Body. It’s amazing!

But when you compare…or force…or entertain expectations that reach beyond your or others’ God-given capabilities, then you can expect frustration, discouragement, mediocrity, and, in the long run, defeat.

If God made you a duck saint- you’re a duck, friend. Swim like mad but don’t get bent out of shape because you wobble when you run. Furthermore, if you’re an eagle saint, stop expecting squirrel saints to soar…or rabbit saints to build the same kind of nests you do.

Accept your spiritual species. Cultivate your capabilities. Stop comparing. Enjoy being you!”

Basically, it was an encouragement to me that just because I'm not "like everyone else" being able to do this intense kind of work doesn't mean that I'm without purpose here. God's given me some specific gifts for the time I'm here... I just have to figure out what they are and how to use them!

Again, thanks for praying for us and the people of Japan. We all need your prayers! Good Night :)

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Tono Base Camp Day 2 (re-posted!)

Sorry my blog didn't fully post yesterday... thankfully since it was acting weird I had copied it before I finished and I got it back just now :) So, here's the full report!

Well, we survived our 9 hour overnight bus ride up to Tono and met everyone at the base yesterday. It's a bit of a unique situation we're involved in up here because they're still figuring out leadership and roles, etc. so it's been interesting. We have some volunteer teams coming on Monday and some more later next week... when everyone's here, we'll have 32 people in this house... one shower, one bathroom! Should be fun! ;)

Yesterday was everyone's day off and we had a 2 1/2 hour staff meeting getting stuff straightened out. Then we had the afternoon off and I ended up sleeping all afternoon! (Guess I needed it because I still slept through the night after all that sleep- we've been pretty deprived of sleep lately between all the late nights getting ready to leave, the uncomfortable 10 hour plane ride, a 9 hour bus ride... etc) Then we had supper and devotions and went to bed)

Today we had our first day of volunteering in the effected area. This base is still working on finding partnerships with local churches (there aren't very many so it's been difficult) so we ended up going out with a local volunteer sending center. We got sent to an area where we basically shoveled dirt/mud/rocks/debris into bags to be taken away.

I must admit that it was incredibly hard to drive through all the affected areas. It's one thing to see it in pictures and videos, but it's absolutely heart wrenching to see it in real life. This actually happened. I feel like I can't even put my thoughts and feelings into words, but I'll try... for my own sake and for those of you who are reading this.

We drove by a lot of areas that the tsumani damaged. It's hard to fathom just how powerful it was. It's mind blowing. There's places where all that's left is foundations. There's piles and piles and piles of debris. Some sorted, some still left in the same place it landed in March. I can't imagine what this area looked like in March. Even now, 3 1/2 months after it happened, it's just... ugly. I've never experienced anything like this.

I was thinking about this experience compared to my first time being in Africa, seeing extreme poverty. I don't know if the two are even comparable, but this one has been way more emotional. It's so hard to think about how these places used to be cities. Just like the one we're living in right now. On March 10th, everything was just fine. March 11th changed everything. People are suddenly left homeless... with literally nothing but the clothes on their back. Everything... possibly even everyone... in their lives just gone. Just like that. gone.

As we were digging and shoveling today, we came across a lot of belongings. No idea where they've come from, damaged beyond repair. It broke my heart to see toys.. a messed up doll in particular... just laying there covered in dirt. Some little girl is left wondering where her favorite doll went.

One of the most overwhelming things is just how much work there is to do. Where do you even begin?! I felt like today we weren't really being very useful doing what we were doing, but I guess we just have to trust that every little bit helps.

I can't even use pictures to help me explain all of this because as a courtesy to survivors, we weren't allowed to take pictures, but I'm sure everyone has seen the pictures in the news already.

I am going to head off to bed now, continuing to process my thoughts and get some rest. Thanks for reading...

keep on praying. Japan needs hope!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Tono Base Camp Day 2...

Well, we survived our 9 hour overnight bus ride up to Tono and met everyone at the base yesterday. It's a bit of a unique situation we're involved in up here because they're still figuring out leadership and roles, etc. so it's been interesting. We have some volunteer teams coming on Monday and some more later next week... when everyone's here, we'll have 32 people in this house... one shower, one bathroom! Should be fun! ;)

Yesterday was everyone's day off and we had a 2 1/2 hour staff meeting getting stuff straightened out. Then we had the afternoon off and I ended up sleeping all afternoon! (Guess I needed it because I still slept through the night after all that sleep- we've been pretty deprived of sleep lately between all the late nights getting ready to leave, the uncomfortable 10 hour plane ride, a 9 hour bus ride... etc) Then we had supper and devotions and went to bed)

Today we had our first day of volunteering in the effected area. This base is still working on finding partnerships with local churches (there aren't very many so it's been difficult) so we ended up going out with a local volunteer sending center. We got sent to an area where we basically shoveled dirt/mud/rocks/debris into bags to be taken away.

I must admit that it was incredibly hard to drive through all the affected areas. It's one thing to see it in pictures and videos, but it's absolutely heart wrenching to see it in real life. This actually happened. I feel like I can't even put my thoughts and feelings into words, but I'll try... for my own sake and for those of you who are reading this.

We drove by a lot of areas that the tsumani damaged. It's hard to fathom just how powerful it was. It's mind blowing. There's places where all that's left is foundations. There's piles and piles and piles of debris. Some sorted, some still left in the same place it landed in March. I

Thursday, June 23, 2011

We made it!

Greetings from Japan!

We had a relatively painless trip and breezed through customs with all our luggage so we're thankful! We also made all of our train connections and made it to our overnight stop at a friends' house. (They are actually away so we've been able to just have some quiet time by ourselves catching up on our sleep!)

We got to the house around 5:30, settled in and ventured out to 7Eleven for some supper (yes, you can get meals at 7Eleven here!) and then we started watching tv but fell asleep around 7 or 8... then we decided that we should just go to bed... so we did! (and slept quite well!) Now we're just relaxing and will venture out in a little while to go back to the train station and make our way to the Crash headquarters... and from there, we don't know what things will look like. I think we might be taking the overnight bus to the base we'll be staying at, but we're not sure yet.

It feels so weird and yet so wonderful to be back again! Feels like home... sort of. We are both really looking forward to our time back in Yamaguchi at the end our our trip.

That's all for now... will update as we can!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

We're Off!!!

Greetings from Vancouver :)

We survived our crazy busy week and here we sit in the beautiful Vancouver airport (how nice is free wireless by the way?!) just waiting for our flight to Tokyo!

My classes are DONE!!! It's super nice to have that behind me now, but boy am I tired of writing papers now! I'm not cut out for school! :P

My brain sort of went blank as to what to write now... guess I'm running on too little sleep to think clearly! Basically I just wanted to say that we're on our way to Japan and getting pretty excited. We know it will be a very emotionally exhausting trip full of heartaches and also celebrations, so please pray for us. Neither one of us has done anything like this before, so it's all new for us.

We will have internet access, but I'm not sure how often we'll be able to write... if you want to be added to our prayer list, leave me a comment and I'll add you. We hope to send out at least one or two e-mails this month to let everyone know how things are going and how they can pray. Also, Bobby wrote a wonderful daily prayer calendar if you're looking for specific requests... You can find it here.

Thanks for praying... Happy first day of summer by the way :)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Heartsy...

Heartsy - Daily deals on fabulous handmade items, at least 50% off.
I've discovered this cool new website that someone called the "groupon for Etsy" and so far, I think it's pretty neat! I haven't spent a whole lot of time looking around yet, but I got a $5 credit just for signing up under someone's link to it so that already gives me a good impression!

I don't really know if it's American or not, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. If you sign up under my link (http://heartsy.me/users/123575/referral?c=plink), you'll get a $5 credit too!
Basically, it looks like certain Etsy pages/products go on sale every day through Heartsy so if you've had your eye on something for a while, who knows, maybe it'll go on sale!
I've never actually bought anything from Etsy, but everything I've seen is really neat! It's all homemade products. So, why not give it a try... it doesn't cost you anything to sign up and in fact, we'll both get a $5 credit! :)
Happy shopping!

** I discovered that apparently I don't get my $5 credit until I get 5 people to sign up, but you get your $5 credit immediately! (Just 2 more sign ups to go!!) ;)

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Have you ever had a friend that lived so far away that it made you ache inside just wishing you could be with them again??

I have a lot of friends like that, but today one in particular is making my heart ache!

I think I've written about her on here before, but in Japan, I have this SUPER amazing friend named Yumi... We met through our co-workers and she came to my English class. She helped me with my ethnography for CrossTraining and just ended up being a really close friend. She taught me so much and we had so much fun together.

I just got an e-mail from her (it's 3am in Japan!) and it made me miss her so much I go tears in my eyes! She is so full of life and energy and always smiling. I love being with her. Unfortunately she isn't a Christian yet and she really needs the Lord. She's come close to believing more than once, but her ties to Buddhism and family obligations are so strong she won't let go of that part of her life. Please pray for her!!

She made me laugh in her e-mail because she said recently she's been thinking of me because when she makes lunch, she's been burning things... she said she's become like me! :P

Today although it aches, thinking of her also brings me great joy because we will get to see her soon!! That's right, we're heading back to Japan... THIS MONTH! About 2 weeks ago, the idea of going to help out with relief work came to Bobby's mind and we've been praying about it since. At this point, we've been invited to come to Japan to work with an organization called CRASH. We still need to book tickets, but it looks like we'll be heading out around the 22nd and stay for about a month, and then spend a few days with our teammates and the church body in Yamaguchi before heading back home. We're so excited that God is allowing us to do this! There's still a lot of unknowns at this point... we don't know where we'll be working or what exactly we'll be doing and probably won't know until just before we leave, but we're ok with that! We are sort of in shock that this is happening!

Anyway, I'm supposed to be working on a paper right now as my time is ticking away to finish my courses so I need to get going! Thanks for praying for us!!

Saturday, June 4, 2011

any ideas...

Anyone have suggestions as to how to stay awake while reading a textbook on a bright sunny afternoon with a cool breeze blowing in through the windows??
Everything inside of me wants to just curl up on the couch and take a nap right now but I have SO much reading to do today!
Oh, and by the way, suggestions to take just a little cat nap won't do. I can't do cat naps... naps are 2-3 hour ordeals for me! :P
Maybe I need to invest in some glasses like these...