NorthEast Tokyo Outreach to Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, April 22-24, 2011

One NorthEast Tokyo team member went to Iwaki City to visit a church and to see its ministry for the earthquake and subsequent tsunami survivors. He went with a group of church volunteers to an emergency shelter in order to help with “foot washing.” Later, he helped organize boxes of items at the Global Mission Church which has used its building to warehouse disaster relief supplies. When bags of potatoes arrived, volunteers prepared them for cooking. Later that evening, along with a group, they went to another shelter where they made and handed out “strawberry candies” (strawberry on a chopstick dipped in melted sugar).

Disaster relief supplies arrive at a local church.

The team member saw depression, emptiness, and a looming boredom since the evacuees had nothing to do. Children were told to sit and behave and not make much noise at all. The only thing to do inside the shelters was to sleep and sleep a little more. They really need your prayers.