Kendon Murrell [ Assistant English Teach with Mito city schools] writes: “Our team of 9 from Mito church heading out now to work in Ishinomaki this weekend! Prayers for safety, please!”
Sasha Ingle [missionary intern with the Mito church] writes: “It seems like the workers that have been organizing things and going up every week (Joel, Gaku, Hiroaki and Emiko) are starting to get through the most urgent organizational type stuff and getting systems up and running for processing volunteers, etc.. The English Bible Class ministry [with the Mito church] is up and running now in Mito (one of my main responsibilities), so I am hoping that I can go more often from now. I will be going with the group that is leaving this Sunday night, so hopefully I can also help to put up some kind of short reflection/report of the trip.”
Joel Osborne [missionary with the Mito church] writes: “Disaster relief has become a major part of my time and focus, now spending half of the week in Sendai/Ishinomaki and half of the week in Mito. The churches in Japan set up a nationwide committee of 10 members representing the nation’s churches which I co-chair with Shiro Obata. I will learn a lot from him and his experiences. The committee selected three young adults to work together with me in this effort: Gaku, Hiroaki and Emiko. Every week, we take groups of volunteers from the churches and partner together with Chad Huddleston and the B1/Asian Access network. For more information about this, please see the East Japan Relief blog. At the beginning of next month, we will post a report regarding the first two months of work (May/June) and then we hope to put up a monthly post with pictures and some of the information about our activities. I am amazed at how much good is coming out of something so bad. However, I also want to share that while the news of the tsunami and earthquake passed away a few months ago, it is still a very big reality for us and for so many people. The emotional toll is reeling and suicide rates are soaring.”