Tuesday AM updates from OPC Missionaries Woody and Laurie Lauer and Luke Cummings

Update on the Lauers from the OPC Foreign Missions Web Page:

This morning we again heard from OPC missionaries Woody and Laurie Lauer in Numazu, Japan:

Friday, March 11, 2:46 pm. Earthquake 9.0 followed by tsunami off the Tohoku coast. Whole towns on the coast virtually washed away. Thousands missing, over ten thousand confirmed dead. Telephone, electric, and gas lines destroyed amidst the snow and winter weather. Food, gasoline, kerosene, and necessities quickly became scarce. Devastation here exists on a scale difficult for any man to comprehend.

One week later following the example of Luke Cummings and friends, six volunteers using four trucks left Numazu early Friday, the 18th, to collect food and much-needed supplies in Yokohama and Tokyo. Arriving Saturday 8 am, the party rested at Megumi Church and met with Murray Uomoto, Cal Cummings, and Hideo Ogata (RCJ cooperating evangelist) to discuss the best way to distribute the goods in the name of Christ which had been so generously provided through the diaconal offerings of the OPC. Two homes and five churches later, the caravan had distributed all to pastors and church members who themselves are on the front-line of the disaster and able to share these gifts with members and seekers.

They are very thankful for these concrete gifts of love from the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. After arriving [back] in Numazu at 8 am Sunday morning, we praised God for safe travel. We are grateful to our volunteers: Mr. Iida, Kita Numazu church member, our son David and his wife Noriko and our son, Jonathan.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Mukasa, another member of Kita Numazu, was organizing a collection of more supplies from our members and seekers while we were gone. She herself drove a truck to Sendai, arriving at East Sendai RCJ on the 22nd, and returning safely early the next morning. Praise the Lord for such a faithful servant!

On Wednesday evening, the 23rd, as we studied Psalm 22 in prayer meeting; we considered God’s perfect foreshadowing of the suffering of the Christ to come through his servant David. Meditating on the excruciating agony which our Savior underwent, we were reminded that our sin had brought this upon him. We had to stop at verse 21 that night since time ran out. Immediately following the meeting, having gotten word from our Sendai missionaries of a continuing need, we rushed to complete preparations for a second trip to carry supplies on behalf of the OPC to missionaries and RCJ churches in the Sendai area.

Thursday A.M., the 24th, three trucks and six volunteers (including two pastors from the RCJ’s Eastern Presbytery, Kita Numazu member Mr. Oomizu, and [our] son Daniel) embarked for Sendai. Again, we praise God for the OPC diaconal aid which made the acquisition of relief goods possible. Friday morning, several pastors and missionaries gathered at Megumi church to collect goods for distribution as well as gasoline for their tanks. We had the privilege of distributing directly at East Sendai Church (planted by [OPC missionary] George Uomoto) and Watari again as well. We enjoyed fellowship at all three churches and were truly humbled by the joyful service to us by those who themselves have lost so much in earthly goods. We pray the Lord will use them all mightily to bring the good news to this vast region that the Living God, their Creator, calls them to obedience and has provided a Savior, his own Son, for their sins. His mercies endure forever.

Now, just over two weeks after the calamity, although Sendai (pop. 1 million) has largely restored electricity and phone lines, authorities predict restoration of natural gas service will take several months more. Food preparation (usually gas burning stoves), hot water, and home heating are all affected by this. Rationing of both kerosene (affecting the same) and gasoline make daily life a challenge. Food is relatively still in short supply although that is improving as well. Many coastal towns such as Watari, where the RCJ has a church and kindergarten, suffered significantly worse damage due to the tsunami and face much greater challenges.

In the daylight, this time we were able to see far more of the extent of the destruction. Mile after mile of devastation: on the right side of the highway, we saw winter fields of stubble awaiting spring planting, on the left side of the highway in what used to be farm fields lay cars, trucks, uprooted trees, flattened houses, and all manner of personal belongings strewn in the winter fields now covered in mud and water left behind by the tsunami. It was breath-taking. Words cannot describe the sight. What comes to mind? Who was riding in that truck when the tsunami came? Who was standing in that home or field? In what or whom did those now departed souls hope? God’s power has been declared to this idolatrous people. He is calling them to repentance. Will they listen as did the people of Nineveh? Will they heed his warning, believe in Him, and be saved from the final condemnation to come?

Please pray with us that the Japanese people will be comforted by the words of Psalm 22 which we look forward to studying this Wednesday in verses 23-28: “You who fear the LORD, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel. For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Neither has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He heard. From Thee comes my praise in the great assembly; I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations will worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the LORD’s, And He rules over the nations.”

Please give thanks for these things:

1. All RCJ church members in Tohoku are reported safe (although damage to homes and churches was incurred);
2. The response of the OPC, RCJ, RPCNA churches and the South African mission;
3. For the efforts of the RCJ’s “Emergency Response Headquarters” team as they seek to help the brothers up north.

Please pray for God’s mercy in these things:

1. Provision of necessities for those in shelters;
2. Safe resolution to the nuclear plant problems;
3. Widespread sharing of the gospel nation-wide and the comfort which only God can provide;
4. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the end that a vast number of Japanese come to know and love the Lord.

Grateful to belong to our God,
Woody and Laurie

Update from Luke Cummings from Cal and Edie Cummings FB Page

After unloading one truck at the Meiyukan, we headed further north to a peninsula within the Ishinomaki city limits called Oshika. Here we were able to distribute a 2 ton truck full of clothes as well as provide about 10 cooking stoves, some instant ramen, and hand warmers to an auto repair shop turned rescue shelter. They were housing 8 families there at the time as well as helping to deliver supplies to other shelters in the area.

We really got the sense of a strong community present at the Oshika auto repair shop. The owner of the shop was very organized and did well in delegating work to each member of the community. They had already built makeshift bathes and each person had had the chance to bathe 3 times since the tsunami. Any supplies which were delivered here were then evenly dispersed among other shelters in the same town.

Although the men here were going all out in working to bring back a stable lifestyle, one elderly man whom we had the chance to talk with, spoke into the reality of their situation. Since they were a seaside town, many of the men in the community were fisherman. Looking at the wreckage and destruction caused by the tsunami, he wasn’t extremely alarmed, knowing that in good time his town could be rebuilt. What brought to him the most anxiety was knowing that his way of life, fishing and living from the ocean, was now in the past. Due to the Nuclear disaster in Fukushima, he said that men in his generation would probably never be able to live the same lifestyle they had grown up with, the only lifestyle they knew.

Members of the community in Oshika are not the only ones facing this type of situation. Up and down the coast, fisherman are struck with anxiety and fear as to what the future holds for them. We must continue to pray for them. Pray that they will grasp the hope which is in God, and live in this hope

Link from a World Magazine article which features several OPC missionaries
http://www.worldmag.com/articles/17840

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Previous updates below

Sunday early AM updates from Cal Cummings, the Lauers, Kaz Yaegashis, and the Reformed Churches of Japan.

OPC Missionary Cal Cummings update from Sendai

On Wednesday, my sons Caleb and Luke and I drove up to Ishinomaki to contact and volunteer at several shelters, seeking to build ongoing relationships. What an unbelievable scene! I have never seen or imagined such massive destruction. The chaos of the deep seemed to have been vomited up everywhere. It was surreal chaos. A 30 ft. boat with a car in the passenger seat was plowed prow first into a building 15 feet above the ground. Boats in the street and cars in the water. Cars parked in the living room and the washing machine in the field out back. No surreal art gallery will ever surprise me again. Cars were jammed through the principal’s office window on the first floor of the refugee shelters. A foot of muck covered the playground of the elementary school. There were no sidewalks, for the streets were lined with debris of the gigantic sort, such as fire engines and trailer trucks. That is reality here.

Many parts of Ishinomaki have become a wasteland. The brackish waters have polluted the soil. Houses were swept completely off their foundations. Oh, the destruction. Incredible! This is what I saw 12 days after the earthquake/tsunami, and the Self-Defense forces had been working furiously to restore order. The power of the tsunami is beyond my imagination. It gave me pause to reflect that a tsunami is but a micro byte (or micro-something) compared to the omnipotence of God. It is that same almighty power that God unleashed to make the seas and the skies that he unleashes to save us from our sins. Awesome!

As the sun went down, darkness settled over the chaos. I was able to visit Pastor Shiratsu and his wife and son, who spend the night in the shelter after spending the daylight hours trying to clean up their house which had been flooded with two to three feet of water. They are confined to their room with five other family units in a 20 by 30-foot room. Each has about an eight foot square to sleep in. They are thankful to be alive and do look forward to continue their ministry among the people with whom they are sharing this hardship. “Learning to be content in whatever circumstances” was their testimony. God is with them in the shelter. Do pray for the thousands who are having to live in these difficult conditions. Some shelters are yet without running water or electricity. Pray that the health conditions might not deteriorate. Caleb and I helped get an older man from a stretcher into his niece’s car so that he could be out of the shelter and into a more stable condition.

Pray that the brackish waters will be tuned into the sweet fountain of God’s grace. Pray that the chaos of the deeps will be quieted by the almighty love of our Lord Jesus, who was willing to be forsaken so that we might not be forsaken. Pray that we will be faithful in these times to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. There are many fragile lives. Our dear little widow friend who lives behind us weeps every time I bring her a loaf of bread or some ingredients for soup. The little ojiisan who lives alone on the street behind us shed tears of thanks as I took him some meat and pickles that had been delivered to us from Tokyo. It was a privilege to share with both of them what we had received. I was also able to share with them of the greater Gift that lasts forever. We all are fragile, even if we do not admit it. Perhaps that is when we are most fragile. Pray for compassionate hearts that will be ready at all time to give an account of the hope that is within us.

We ate chicken ramen heated over a little gas bomb stove in the dark in a parking lot on the outskirts of Ishinomaki. Talk about darkness! We ran into road construction (not literally!) on the way home. Not many cars out. The toll roads are still open only to those who have received special permits as emergency vehicles.

We made it home in time to welcome another of the many after-shocks that continue throughout the day and night. Somehow our house has become a receiving center. A truck from Chiba arrived, unloaded and left. We now have a room full of clothing that we have the privilege of finding a home for. It is not as easy as it sounds, as many are rallying to send supplies and one day there may be a need, so the network responds and the next day they are inundated. I had a call from an unknown woman who came by to pick up some things that had been delivered here without my knowledge. She seemed to have identified what things she needed and left some as a donation. This then led to a conversation concerning the greatest Gift. The needs keep changing each day, so pray for wisdom to perceive and be ready to meet them. Wherever we are or wherever we go, people seem more willing to talk about their weakness and fears. Pray for wisdom. Pray as we work together with our brothers and sisters in the RCJ [Reformed Church in Japan] and other churches here.

To our knowledge all the members in the Reformed Churches of Japan are safe.

However, last night I learned six families from one Conservative Baptist church in Shiogama and Tagago have lost their homes. The CB pastor in Kesennuma lost his home and the church. However, he said we are going back. We want to claim Christ for Japan. He quoted from Zechariah 8 and reflected on the power of God to establish his kingdom. Pray for the people to the south of us near the contaminated area. They are becoming the forgotten people. As one of the young pastors that is working with the people in that area said, “It is in the danger zone, but the people without Christ are in an even more dangerous zone. I know where I am going if I die, but there are many in the danger area that need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Today we delivered the second load of goods from the OPC to individuals in need and churches that are reaching out into their communities in this time of great need. The first team of volunteers from among the RCJ is going to shelters and neighbors to share a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name. As the death toll rises, our heart continues to cry out to the Lord to show mercy and grace. We have been devastated. It is our privilege to weep with those who weep and to bring the hope of Christ in the midst of chaos. From out of the depths we cry to you, O Lord. Hear our cry.

Update from OPC missionaries Woody and Laurie Lauer

Just a quick update before we sleep. Tonight, we received the request from Sendai missionaries to go north tomorrow. I am leaving at 4:30 am Thursday, Japan time, with two believers to rent trucks an hour west of here. (Since this is moving season in Japan, truck rental is at a premium.) We will drive back while Woody is seeking the permits from the police to go north. Then we will drive north to Yokohoma Costco to buy items and pack the trucks, next on to Tohoku. This time, our fifteen-year-old son Daniel, Mr. Oomizu (a church member), Rev. Tateishi (whose son is pastor of East Sendai church), and Rev. Hayashi (whose father is pastor of Watari church) will join Woody and me to drive north and deliver the goods. We are grateful that Mr. Watanabe and Mr. Kurihara, also believers, will travel with us to Costco to buy goods and pack the trucks (last time it took us five hours to complete).

Please pray for our safety (trucks must be returned by Friday night), sweet fellowship with each other and the believers up north, and especially, that the Lord would prepare the hearts of the Japanese people to hear and believe the gospel as they receive supplies through the churches. Please convey our deepest gratitude to all our brothers in the OPC who are giving to our God on behalf of these people, that the love of the Lord would be poured out upon them. We are grateful for our Savior Jesus whose precious blood grants to us forgiveness of our sins and sweet fellowship with the only true and incomprehensible God.

Update from Kaz Yaegashi (Kaz is an ordained minister in the PCA, a member of the PCA’s Mississippi Valley Presbytery, and an associate missionary of the OPC Japan Mission):

Greetings in the precious Name of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Together with the Psalmist, I pray and confess, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth…. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Ps. 121:1, 46:1).

God spared the Yaegashis and the gospel work of the Yamagata Reformed Church. Our house and the church building are still in good shape (at least we think so) at present. The devastation of the Pacific coastal towns and cities has already come into your hearing and viewing through TV and internet. In Miyagai Prefecture alone, where two OPC families, the Cummingses and the Uomotos, labor whose houses providentially in God’s gracious plan were spared, it has been reported that the number of deaths will reach over 15,000 people. In the midst of the disaster, these two missionaries who live in Sendai, the prefectural capital, have been daily laboring in bringing relief to those staying at various evacuation centers near Sendai and who lost everything.
Their relief activities became possible just a day or two after the earthquake thanks to Luke Cummings’, the youngest son of the Cummings family, involvement in a volunteer group which had gotten a permit to drive on the expressway to bring food and hygienic goods from Tokyo to Sendai and then to those evacuation centers in the Sendai area.

Then, as soon as the Diaconal Committee of the OPC made a speedy decision to give financial aid through its Japan Mission for the disaster relief, the Rev. Woody Lauer, another OPC missionary working in Numazu, about 600 km south of Sendai, also obtained a permit to drive on the expressway. He then transported a few trucks full of food and necessary daily items to Sendai from Numazu. Woody’s son David and his wife joined in this transport of relief goods. Thus the OPC relief work has been in action since last week.

In Yamagata, where the earthquake did not do much noticeable damage, we were able to meet on the first Sunday after the great earthquake and we offered prayers and began thinking how we could be of help to those who are in desperate need. While unlike the other three missionaries I cannot participate in vigorous relief effort due to the shortage of gas and my limited strength, I was able to pull together the willingness of my church members and seekers to help the evacuees who fled to our city. About four thousand people have evacuated here from Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. People from Fukushima are those who were afraid of contamination of radiation because of the break-down of the four nuclear reactors in Fukushima.

Before the worship service this Sunday, March 20th, I met with the members of the steering committee of the church and decided to do two things: begin collecting donations for relief funds and ask members and seekers to bring items that are urgently needed for those who are at the evacuation center, sheltering more than one thousand people, in Yamagata City.

Thus we too began a relief mission this week. Because of the shortage of gas our people bring goods to the church every Sunday and I transport them to the evacuation center. I was able to take about $500 worth of items to the evacuation center this week. Please pray that I can continue going out there since it is pretty hard to get gas even in Yamagata. We get just three gallons or so after waiting in a long line for two hours. Lots of gasoline stations in Yamagata are closed indefinitely. As you can imagine if this is how it is here in Yamagata, the places of disaster are much worse in terms of transporting food and medical supplies. Today’s paper shows that at 33 evacuation centers located within the disaster area of the Northeastern District of Japan’s main island, on average, the need for food (three meals a day) is met only 20%, medical supply 60%, doctors’ presence 70%, and daily necessary items (toilet paper, diapers, soap, detergent, etc.) 50%.

We need your continuous help and prayers. While there was no serious damage to the houses and roads in Yamagata, since the Earthquake, life in general has become difficult materially and to some degree mentally/spiritually for people here. There is definitely a mission waiting for us to help people rebuild their lives not just materially but spiritually. Our prayers certainly are that people will find their true meaning of life in their one and only Creator and Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Then we have Christian brothers and sisters with whom we have worked for a long time who are now suffering from the disaster. There are at least two RCJ churches in the Sendai area that were damaged badly. One in particular is Ishinomaki Church, which was flooded and had structural damage. Pastor Shiratsu and his wife are staying at an evacuation center and they certainly need Christian care. There are also members who are still missing and others who had their houses damaged.

Under such strenuous circumstances, Katie and I have decided to ask the Mississippi Valley Presbytery’s MTW that our scheduled short furlough from the May 23rd till June 15th … be postponed indefinitely. I have consulted some on this matter with Mr. Mark Bube when he called …. The reasons for indefinite postponement of our furlough are:

1. Need of pastoral care of our own people in this difficult time;
2. Need of our church’s continuous diaconal ministry for those who are suffering in this great disaster;
3. Need to stand by with our brethren in the Northeastern Presbytery of the RCJ to help the churches and people who are suffering from the disaster;
4. The whole nation’s economy is getting chilled and it is affecting our life as my tent-making job for March and April is decreasing; in such circumstances it is difficult for us to plan a big overseas trip.

… I do not know how the Lord is going to use Katie and me during this time of trial for my country. But we know by faith God has a plan through these trials for His kingdom to be built here in Japan, for which the Lord has called us to join His army to reach that end. I remind myself of the truth taught by our Lord in Matthew 25:35-40, in James 2:14-17, and again in Matthew 16:26. And finally, our help comes from the Lord who created heaven and earth!

May the Lord grant us all to see his sovereign power and grace be sufficiently shown to the people of Japan who have not yet known their Savior. And through you and us working together with the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, may we demonstrate the fruit of love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, especially in a time of hardship like this.

Update from the Reformed Churches of Japan

Please continue to surround our missionaries’ labors with your prayers. We also received an updated report on conditions facing the various RCJ churches and chapels from the RCJ’s Diaconal Action Committee.