Mission Trip

This poor little blog of mine has been neglected lately but I plan to rectify that starting today!

Two weeks ago, I spent 5 days in Ishinomaki on a mission trip with our base chapel.  We took 15 people up to work in an area that was hit hard by the tsunami over the long Veterans day weekend.   This was my 2nd trip to this specific town {you can read about my first trip here} and unfortunately I think it will be my last.  The needs of the area are changing and they desperately need people who speak Japanese now which counts me out.  Over all I spent about 5 weeks in Tohoku and that area will always hold a very special place within my heart.

This trip we spent most of our time working on two projects.  Picking the tiny pieces of dry wall left in an apartment complex and putting up an enormous tent that the missionaries will use for storage.

While we were there a local fisherman donated some fresh fish, squid and crab to the missionaries so we had a BBQ our last night in town with everyone.

 rice, salad, grilled veggies and lots of grilled seafood, YUM!

After dinner, some ladies who are working on the Nozomi Project came by to sell us some of their jewelry.  

From their website

"Nozomi, translated 'hope' in Japanese, is a social enterprise organization striving to bring sustainable income, community, dignity and hope to the women in Ishinomaki, Japan by providing employment crafting unique jewelry products that can be commercially sold. Most of these women are single mothers and grandmothers who lost their livelihood when the tsunami crashed through half of their city in 2011."

We worked with some of these ladies on our 1st trip so it was great to see how much product they had created since we were last there.

We were able to purchase some of the pieces and we almost wiped them out.  I bought 3 pieces myself. 

The bracelet and necklace on the right were made by the lovely Yuri who happened to be there that night along with her daughter Moeka.

Yuri's story was shared with us later that evening and no one in the room had a dry eye when she was finished.  {some of my details may be a tad off here} She was with her daughter and 3 year old son when the sirens went off.  Her ex husband came by and took her son saying he would keep him safe and meet up with Yuri and Moeka once they were given the all clear.  That was the last time she ever saw her son.  She was holding him safe in her arms and let him go thinking he would be safe.  Unbeknownst to her, she was pregnant at the time of the tsunami with her new husband.  When her new son was born she was so overcome with grief that she couldn't bare to hold her newborn.  After months of working with the missionaries and the Nozomi project, she has started to overcome her grief and pain and it now a loving mother to her little boy. 

Yuri and her family are now a permanent fixture in my prayers.  If you are once who believes in the power of prayer, I ask you to pray for Yuri and the women of the Nozomi project.  These women have suffered more than most of us could imagine.  At this time, there jewelry is only available locally but as soon as it is available for purchase online y'all will be some of the 1st to know {I plan to do a giveaway and make an announcement as soon as I hear anything}.

Ishinomaki {part2}

Part 1

After a few days of fun it was time to get dirty!  We spent most of the week working on an apartment complex.

When we started on this room, there was about a foot of debris that needed to be sorted through {large pieces need to be seperated...more on that later} and put into bags to be taken to one of the many dumps in town.

We found lots of toys; stuffed animals, puzzle pieces, comic books, legos, etc. so we assumed the room belonged to a child.

We were later told the story of the family who used to live in this apartment.  They heard the warning sirens, had gathered a few necessities and were getting into their car when a neighbor told them that there was too much traffic and they would never make it out in time.  The family, and some of the neighbors, went by foot to a building that was tall enough to be out of harms way and rode out the tsunami there.  They are all now living safely in Sendai.  

We gave blood & sweat {no tears, but there were a few moments when that was a possibility!} to that room and had it almost ready for the professionals to redo it by the end of the week!

We started the next day looking like a chain gang {minus the orange jumpsuits} digging a ditch at the park so the landscapers could plant some trees/bushes

From there I went on a few dump runs.  At the work site, we'd load the truck with as much as it could hold then drive it to one of the many dumps in the area where it had to be separated into very specific piles

We paused for a brief minute to pose for a photo with a few of the workers at the wood dump site.

By the end of the week, we had turned this...

into this

                             

and this

into this

 

Our last day a few of us were blessed to work on a project that I am very excited about!  A group of local single mom's have started a project called Shards of Hope.  They are taking broken pieces of pottery found among the debris and turning it into beautiful jewelry.

learning a new {fun} skill

the pieces I made 

and all the pieces our group made

I had a great week with some amazing people and I can't wait to do it again in a few months!

Ishinomaki {part 1}

Last week I spent 6 days in Ishinomaki {a town in Tohoku, the area that was hit hardest by the tsunami last year} with a group of 14 people from our chapel.  This trip was very different from my experiences in Ofunato last year {o fu na to} but still incredibly important and life changing.  This trip we were working with a group of wonderful missionaries {B-1}, so a lot of the work we did was outreach and not so much hard, physical, labor.  I'm going to break my week up into two posts, one about the outreach work we did and one about the dirty work.

Our 1st day, we hosted an American style BBQ for some residents of the neighborhood.  We served ribs, chicken, corn, salad, beans and watermelon to about 70-100 people.

Day 2 we organized a carnival for the local kids club.  At the end of the day, one of the ladies in charge said she hadn't seen the children that happy since before the tsunami.  To us, it was the ultimate compliment.

We had lots of water games!

face/hand painting

a climbing wall {that was at the building we were using, so we took advantage of it!}

shave ice

tug-of-war

the Japanese mom's whooped the Americans at tug-of-war 

hoola hoops

and a few other events set up.

At the end of the day, the children presented us with decorated koma, or spin tops, as a thank you.

We traded the koma for candy =}

photo from the B-1 website

the girl in the blue here is the one who decorated my koma...you can't see it in the photo but I think it looks just like me ;-}

The missionaries provide free English lessons to kids in the neighborhood once a week and our last day in Ishinomaki, we had an opportunity to join in the English lesson.  We decided to incorporate some games into the lesson so we could have a little more fun with the kids before we left.

Part 2