This is the report given this a.m. here at the branch. Still haven’t heard from Pat and Dee. Have you? They are in the midst of teaching KMS so that may be the hitch. We didn’t have blackouts this week for the first time since the quake. Not sure what will happen next week.
And on the size of the tsunami: last night there was a report on the news by a bunch of scientists doing a study. They found that it covered many places over 20 meters and some as high as 30 meters, so I guess that first report was right. They showed coastal areas with high cliffs that were completely swamped! No trees or anything left. Unbelievable.
Report from the disaster area:
Three BC members and 3 brothers from the service department visited the three relief committee areas in the Tohoku region (North-Eastern Japan), Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures. The latest statistics show that so far 6 of our brothers and sisters are confirmed dead and 10 are still listed as missing.
Fukushima Prefecture:
The brothers visited two congregations in Fukushima of 45 and 59 publishers respectively. They report that there are plenty of supplies. They held meetings in the Kingdom Hall and the brothers and sisters being helped there were nicely clothed and told them that the donated clothing they were wearing was nicer than anything they had owned previously. They are very thankful to all the brothers and sisters in Japan who have sent relief supplies and clothing for the congregation. They are holding all the meetings and feel secure.
Next they visited Soma and Minami Soma, two towns hit very hard by the tsunami and near the damaged nuclear power plant. There are 145 publishers in the two congregations there. 7 brothers and sisters live within the 20 kilometer zone from the nuclear reactor and have had to evacuate from their homes following the government order. One sister passed the BC brother a note during his visit there. She said that the material aid they had received was wonderful, but even better was the spiritual care supplied by the branch and the congregation elders. The letters from the branch and the visits by the brothers, the fact that none of the meetings were canceled, but held, even under adverse circumstances, gave her peace of mind. All their literature was destroyed, but she is looking forward to calling to invite people to the Memorial and give comfort to the people in their territory. All the brothers and sisters in Namie congregation had to evacuate and are now meeting together with a congregation in Fukushima. All attended the meeting held there.
Next the brothers went to the relief committee headquarters in Koriyama City. The brothers on the committee are working very hard caring for the needs of all the brothers and sisters in the affected areas. (The pictures accompanying the report really highlighted the smiles of the brothers and sisters and their positive attitude.)
Miyagi Prefecture:
The BC brother met with 139 brothers and sisters at the Sendai relief committee headquarters. The committee is well organized and caring very well for the brothers in the area. They visited Kesenuma City, where the tsunami did a lot of damage; that is the city with the huge black and white ship thrown up on the land that you see in the news footage). It looked like a bombed- out war zone. There was an explosion after the tsunami that caused a fire, which accounted for a lot of the damage after the water receded. There is one sister still missing from this congregation. The KH is a mud packed mess.
The water marks are 2 meters high on the bulletin board. All the congregations met together with the brothers from the branch for a talk. 49 brothers and sisters are getting together for their meetings in a brother’s home. Right after the quake and tsunami, 25 brothers were living in the house with the family. There are now 9 still there and they still have no running water. When they met with the brothers in Shimamachi (Matsushima), they read the text in 1 It 6:7, 8 – “For we have brought nothing into the world, and neither can we carry anything out. 8 So, having sustenance and covering, we shall be content with these things.” The KH is unusable, but 100 brothers met there and stood the whole while listening to the talk the branch brothers gave. The brothers were able to meet the CO’s wife, who had been missing. She had been on a Bible study with another sister in Tagajo City when the tsunami warning went out. Her husband was unable to contact her because there was no phone service for the first few days after the quake.
The next day he set out with some young brothers to see if they could find her. When they got to the house where she was supposed to be on the study, it was destroyed, and there was no one in the surrounding area. He thought the worst. However, they decided to keep looking. They started up the hills in the surrounding area looking for possible shelters. It was such rough going the CO told the 20 year-old brother with him to go back and he would go on alone. (If you have seen the pictures of the aftermath of the tsunami you can imagine what it was like.) The young brother said “No way; I‘m staying with you.” They kept on and eventually saw a small clubhouse (Kominkan) on a hill ahead of them. When they got there, there were about 10 people there, including his wife. She said she was cold and scared, so she stayed in the car, but she recalled some scriptures and read them with the sister she was with, and they prayed. She told him she felt safe and as if she had dedicated her life to Jehovah all over again. She was so surprised to see her husband; she didn’t think he would have the time to look for her.
Sendai, where the whole coastline was swept away, has their SAD next weekend. The responsible brothers told the branch that they will hold the assembly as scheduled. The branch praised their excellent work in helping the brothers and sisters.
Iwate:
The branch brothers visited two cities — Ofuna and Rikuzen Takada that were hardest hit by the tsunami. There are 40 publishers in each congregation. None of the brothers in these congregations perished, but many lost their homes and some have missing family members. The Kingdom Halls are not usable. In Rikuzen Takada, an elder went to get his daughter from school. They went to the KH, but it had been swept away. He tried to visit the publishers, but the roads weren’t passable, and he was unable to visit them all. However, that night they decided to have the meeting. People had to walk to get there, but 16 people met at an elder’s home and they held the BS, TMS, and SM with flashlights during the power outage.
They haven’t missed any meetings since the disaster. One sister moved to the area only 3 months ago. She and her husband had to abandon their car and run to escape the tsunami. They reached a school on high ground. The wave took their car. An elder in that congregation brought futons and blankets to a family in a shelter. They were the first ones to receive any blankets to keep them warm, so the family kindly shared their blankets with others in the shelter – the sister ended up catching cold. One other sister is handicapped and lived alone in a city run apartment complex. She was very nervous, but the brothers visited her right away and young sisters stayed the night with her after the quake. The next night an elder and his wife stayed with her. She said she literally received the fulfillment of Isa. 32: 1, 2.
Today (Friday April 1) more brothers from the BC and service department headed for the Tohoku region. They are going to visit more cities and give talks to the brothers and assess the situation in those areas. The branch will continue to do whatever possible to assist the brothers in this disaster.
On a personal note. The young brother who sits next to me at the dining table is a 3-month temporary worker. He is just 19 years old and from Sendai. His family home was spared in the tsunami, but it was damaged and his father is not in the truth. He felt that he wanted to help out right away after the quake and tsunami, but the roads were not passable and the government was not letting anyone in. He finally was able to contact his parents by phone about 4 days after the quake. His father told him not to worry. Stay and finish his 3 months of Bethel service; there would be plenty to do when he came home. Today was his last day in Bethel and he is packing his car with goods to take to his family and the congregation. The road to Sendai opened up at the end of last week, just in time for him to drive home. When he asked what they need his father told him “everything.”
Mom said they have no fresh produce at all. All they are eating is rice and canned or instant food. Dad has offered his diesel engine truck to carry supplies to the brothers in the shelters and KHs. So, the table members are going out for fresh vegetables to give him to take home with him. Since we live in a relatively rural area, there are many small farms with vegetables that they sell right out of the fields. Tomorrow, we will see what we can find for him to take and he will leave on Sunday a.m. back to Sendai.
There are more experiences but they will have to wait for another time.
With love,
from Japan
