It’s been over a month since we last updated our blog. From that you can probably tell we have gotten “back to normal” a little in the since that we are slow at updating. I am sorry that the updates have not come quicker. Yet we have been busy doing what God and the church called us to do here in Japan so in that sense no excuse is probably needed, although I’m sure you all want to follow life here.
So actually as we look back at the blog it has been 7 weeks since we gave an update. To catch folks up, a few days after the last update we got the go ahead for the rural leaders training program to continue this year, albeit at a new/old location. We informed the 2011 participants that we would be beginning the program 1 month late, that is May 2nd, and the first 3 months of the program would be taking place at a place named Machida, near Tokyo. This is a new location for the program and at the same time THE OLD location of what was once called the SouthEast Asian Rural Leaders Course which is what ARI used to be called when it was at Tsurukawa Gakuin. As you can guess, after making the decision and confirming the use of the location, the next three weeks were spent getting ready to move and then set up on the new campus. This happened all while half of the staff continued to take care of the Tochigi campus, taking care of the farm, coordinating rebuilding efforts as well as monitoring and actively working at radiation decontamination of our fields. April 30th then came and we began to welcome each one of this year’s 20 participants. We had the pleasure of picking up the first 3 participants at Narita airport. Finally there was a sense coming that our training program would continue this year despite the damages that we have and continue to sustain. Each participant continued to arrive and on May 2nd, orientation began. Two weeks later, opening ceremonies and the dedication of our new farm shop were able to be held at the Tochigi campus. This year was especially joyous as this weekend was the first time many of the staff and participants would meet and it gave us hope that this year we could really do this program.
A week and a half into the training program we all headed back to the Tochigi campus for a few days to help with the rice planting and also to continue to get accustomed to the environment and people that we will one day be together with full time.
In the midst of all this we have had the pleasure to begin many new relationships and recreate old relationships in Tokyo. The two of us have especially had the chance to get to know some staff members and participants in the very intimate setting there in Machida. Relationships seemed to take months to build in the previous two years but this year these relationships with participants,staff and volunteers seem to grow very quickly. People’s walls seem to be naturally down as we realize our need to listen and trust one another. Especially since there are no Japanese volunteers helping us in Tokyo, Jonathan is reminded of the difficulties of being a foreigner who doesn’t understand the local culture and language and is spending much time forming that link between our participants and the outside world of Japan.
So we want to include two more things today, one is an update on the situtation of ARI itself and the disaster relief efforts going on in Japan. Secondly we’d like to share how we have seen God at work recently, ending with some prayer requests.
The situation at ARI is that we are now a divided school. Half of our staff are with the participants in Machida while the other half and several volunteers are taking care of the Tochigi campus. The training program is continuing, although the field work is highly condensed, classes are able to carry on. In Tochigi people are tired but continuing with the upkeeping of the farm and also with rebuilding efforts. I want to give a shout out to CRASH Japan and the UMC Cal-Nevada conference folks for all of their help in rebuilding and upkeeping thus far and thank you for your promise to work more in the future! In regards to that future work, we have been told that our main office building and Cafeteria building will need to be torn down and rebuilt. The Men’s dormitory is also so old that putting much money into seems to be a waste. That undertaking is coming in near 3 million dollars!!!! So there’s plenty of fund-raising to be done there. (We don’t know if you read but UMCOR has helped give the school a push by giving us $150000 in emergency relief, praise God and thank you church!) On top of that we have major repairs to be done to the womens dorm as well as a few of our animal pens and storage buildings. Include the extra costs for having our training in Tokyo and you can imagine that the bill continues to build. But again there has been offers of help, although I am sure much more is needed, and we know that if God wants this program to continue then the funds will be provided. Finally we continue to struggle with radiation. The area around the school in Tochigi has been declared a low contamination area. That means that there is no immediate threat to our health and even long term effects are not expected for “normally healthy adults”, but children need to be careful and we should be careful with our work outside. The grass in our area has been ruled unsafe for our animals to eat, but the vegetables seem to be ok. Although we have hope for the future the crisis still continues with the powerplant still not under control, i.e. spewing out radiation, which also means everything we are planting might not be safe when harvest comes. Although it’s sad to plant in these conditions we also see our work as a proclamation of the good news of God through Jesus Christ. We believe that the way the world is and the effects of human sin and “accidents” will not last forever. We believe that God will redeem creation one day and that we are called to work as if the Kingdom of God has come, knowing that one day Christ will bring it fully, that the groaning of creation will come to an end and everything will be new and redeemed.
In regards to the relief efforts in Japan, we ourselves have not been involved as much as we have been taking care of this years participants, but we know some. Efforts continue up north. More and more of the shelters are closing and people are having to continue with their lives in some fashion. Some have moved to other parts of Japan, some have began to settle in the area they evacuated to and others are still waiting to return home. Many Christian organizations are working hard to bring care for these misplaced people, put at near 100,000. ARI has been working with many of these ministries. The VIM program of the UMC is beginning to look at how it can help in the rebuilding efforts and Jonathan is beginning to work to bring those teams to ARI and up North, but waiting for the right timing as things still seem difficult up north with sites not yet able to host volunteers. Also ARI is looking at partnering with another Christian organization in giving evacuated farmers a chance to do some work at ARI, helping them to regain their sense of dignity as the disaster continues to unfold.
And in all of this we can say that God is working. The biggest miracle is the ability to have the training program in Machida this year. Our relationship with Tusrukawa Gakuin was not the best for years and as a staff member said, it is truly a miracle that we are being welcomed with so much love this year. God is bringing reconciliation among His people. Amidst the crises 20 participants received visas and were able to come safely here. Some walked for days to the nearest town to get transportation to an airport while others waited in neighboring countries for days to get a visa to come to Japan. We have heard testimonies of how people have been changed by this disaster and know that baptisms have happened as people seek to commit to following Jesus. Although the costs for rebuilding at ARI and in Japan are humongous we have been amazed by the sacrificial giving people around the world have given. We just heard that our graduates from Malaysia sent us over $4000. That’s coming from people in the “developing” world. It seems their love and understanding of sacrifice is very developed. One thing we haven’t been able to share much is that we began serving a new church in April of this year, the average attendance at worship was 5 people over the past year with only 3 on average since November of last year. Well at Easter, we had 30 people at worship with the majority being non-Christian, some coming to church for the first time in their lives. Praise God! Finally we see God at work through the work that is happening in Japan as churches are coming together across denominational, theological and other dividing lines to work for the furthering of God’s kingdom and the rebuilding of Japan.
Finally we ask that you would be in prayer for us.
- God would give Ari’s leadership wisdom as they make decisions about this year’s training program, rebuilding, and how best to make our environment safe and clean.
- Pray that this year’s 20 participants will learn much and have many experiences with God through Jesus Christ and that God would use us as His instruments.
- Pray for the health, future and salvation of the 100,000 refugees and the ongoing recovery work.
- Pray that God would bring revival to this country as a result of the work the church is doing. May people know their need for Jesus and may the church’s actions be a testimony as to the welcome of the love of God for the Japanese.
- Pray for Satomi and Jonathan. Pray that we would continue to be held in God’s arms, given strength. Pray for our future as we continue to serve and next year will need to decide where and how to continue ministry.
Enjoy the pictures!!!
