Update from the OPC’s Disaster Response web site describing their overall situation in Japan; new prayer requests from Cal and Edie Cummings

An update on the OPC’s Japan Disaster Response Web Site

We give thanks in all of God’s good providences. The more we learn about the devastation of the earthquake and tsunami, the more we marvel at God’s goodness and grace in sparing those in Japan who we hold dear. All our missionaries and all those in our sister churches there, as far as we know, were spared loss of life. Two churches sustained significant if not total loss. But these are things that are replaceable…and there will be a time and season for that.

Regarding the OPC’s Disaster Response, we have set up a Japan Tsunami Relief Fund to which donations can be sent. This can be done through giving mailed into the office in Willow Grove or on-line at http://www.opc.org/donationsjapan.html.

Through the generosity of the church over the years, the Committee on Diaconal Ministries has been able to build up a healthy reserve from which to pull funds for such a time as this. So we do not have an emergency need for donations, but would like to replenish that reserve to support the continuing need that we see in Japan. Also, we desire to give the church the opportunity to respond financially to this disaster through the church where that “cup of cold water” will be given in the name of Christ.

At this immediate time, your gifts are being used to provide blankets, rice, ramen soup, toilet paper, fuel, and other basic necessities. These are being purchased in the Tokyo region and loaded up in rental trucks. Our missionaries have obtained permits to drive on the expressways, reserved exclusively for relief workers. The supplies are then being driven the 200 miles north to the Sendai area, where cold and even some snow has fallen. Upon arriving there, the supplies are being distributed, along with Bible and tracts, through church members in those areas.

This coming week we plan to wire money to the Yaegashis. They live in Yamagata which is about 30 miles inland from Sendai. Many refugees from Fukushima are being housed at the Sports Center here. There are multiple opportunities for the Yaegashi’s and their congregation to share the love of Christ in this region.

In God’s providence, we have 5 missionary families in Japan through whom to work. They are on the front lines and guide the Disaster Response work on the ground. Soon, we hope that they will also be guiding us in working more closely with and through the Reformed Church in Japan (RCJ). The RCJ’s Diaconal Action Committee (DAC) has established an “Emergency Response Headquarters” and is currently urging their denomination to “pray earnestly and cooperate in this endeavor”. We hope to do the same.

More Prayer Requests from Cal and Edie Cumming FB page

My heart is tooo sad. This morning before going to church I called my friend Chie (she is a new Christian in my international ladies Bible study) to ask if they had found her husband’s parents. Her parents lived right by the ocean here in Natori. They found her father-in-law’s body but haven’t found her mother-in-law yet. They fear she may have been swept away by the tsunami, also. When I heard the news I couldn’t stop crying. My heart aches for her family. She is trying to trust God in all this but is struggling with many questions. Would you please pray for the Tamada family? Her husband and his parents are not believers.

Also, I cannot reach my wonderful Korean Christian friend Suk He. I’ve called several times, emailed, but no answer. She is also in my Bible study. Please pray she will be found.

Could you also pray for my friend and student Naoe, a midwife who lived in Ishinomaki. As you know that town was hit veryyy hard by the quake and tsunami. I can’t reach her or her doctor husband and am wondering if she is safe.

Please pray for another dear Nigerian Christian friend, Eunice, and her family who I also cannot reach. I don’t know if her husband and 2 children are safe. She was part of our Bible study group, too.

All day the hymn When Peace Like a River has been going through my mind. I couldn’t remember the 3rd stanza but when I got to church this morning they were singing it! When peace like a river attendeth my soul. when sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my lot thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. May God grant me the peace that passes all understanding as I commit these dear, precious friends into His loving hands. Would you please pray with me?

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Previous updates below

Update Saturday Noon. Report from Murray Uomoto in Sendai and a note concerning Wood Lauer
The following report comes from Murray Uomoto, member of the OPC team at Sendai by way of Garry Hoogerhyde, Jr. (HT to Garry)

Dear Family, Friends, Praying Bros. and Sisters,

Praise the Lord for water!

Warm greetings from a crisp Sendai nighttime. I hasten to write a line or two. I don’t know FB tech. So I hope this will fit.

We need to get a few winks in before OPC missionary in Shizuoka Pref., SW of Tokyo, Woody Lauer, rolls in with a convoy of 4 2 ton flatbed trucks loaded up at the Yokohama Costco and in Tokyo at a food shelter run by an Evangelical org. We already have a young Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) friend attending Megumi Chapel, Monica from the Seattle/Kirkland area, staying with us. Woody’s group has 5 people including Woody’s wife, Laurie, their eldest son David and wife Noriko, and a Mr. Iida recently baptized.

One or part of a truck will unload here in our cramped Japanese one story house. So
Sunday, when I lead the service and speak from Jn 12 about Isaiah seeing the glory of Christ in his famous vision of Isaiah 6, depending on how much of the foodstuffs and goods we are able to distribute by then–we may be holding service amidst boxes and crates.

We are praying for the most evangelistic way to distribute the supplies and pray we can get the goods in the hands of believers, pastors, seekers, and needy neighborhood folk with which we have or will have ongoing relationships with. Some of the trucks may be unloading at shelters, etc.

Izumi-ku (ward) is inland mostly so our area was not hardest hit. But people have had block walls topple, parts of inside walls, too, and many have lost lots of dishes and glassware.

The Reformed churches have had some damage. Kita Nakayama Chapel built by our own hands in 1989 has serious cracks apparently in the concrete step area leading to the front door which will not close so folk had to enter by the back door.

The Ishinomaki Chapel founded around 1960 by my father and OPC missionary Heber McIlwaine, sounds like it received structural damage by the tsunami being only a little ways from the coast, like maybe about a km. They also had about half a meter of water on the first fl. Pastor Shiratsu and wife and maybe son are staying at nearby Hebita Elem. School for the time being. Their shelter had only enough rations for about one rice ball plus a small bowl of soup per person per day. Their younger daughter Kieko, a social studies teacher at Shokei Gakuin HS (Baptist run) frantically alerted friend Hiroko living maybe in NJ on Facebook who alerted Tsuruko who alerted OPC missionary Cal Cummings who was able to send visiting 4th and youngest son Luke with a vanload of goods to the rescue which was much appreciated by the Shiratsus and those with them there.

Lines, lines, lines. I waited 2 hrs, Wed. morning in line, with Monica-san just ahead of me. We had to wait only 2 hrs in slightly snowing weather and were within about the first 20 at the local small Winmart suupaa (supermarket). They allowed each to fill a shopping basket which was wonderful. The gent in line right behind me told of waiting hours at Yamaya food store and being allowed to buy one pack of ramen noodles, the other day. He waited 5 hrs at Winmart from 8 to 1 the previous morn.

What we all need is gasoline and kerosene. A lad passing by Fri. morn said he waited 6 hrs in Shiogama City on coast and still did not get any gasoline. But we hear of Idemitsu tanker ships now docked in Shiogama and tank lorries being sent from around the country.

PTL, we have water as of Fri. morn. Hallelujah! Seeker, Mr. Ohyama, says that Yamanotera 3 chome (district) still does not have water. What a great feeling to finally be able to wash dishes instead of covering plates with Saran wrap before putting food on them–so we need not wash them–and to be able to flush the toilet freely instead of melting snow in buckets and in the microwave which takes tons of time I found out. Coworker, Pastor Ogata, has so thoughtfully been hauling water from his son Shinya’s home north 7 km. to our home in containers and in disposable garbabe bags.
We hear rumors that city gas may take from 1 to 3 mos to come on. But we have health, food, shelter, and Internet connections.

PTL, the Lord has provided so wonderfully for the Newtons whose hand made home in Yamamoto-cho Town in south Miyagi Prefecture was washed away by the tidal wave. They are staying in a recently vacated 6 bedroom, 3 bathroom home of another missionary, the Wickerts, in Izumi Village, near Kita Nakayama Chapel in NW Sendai. Mark and Diana Jabusch and 2 HS kids also are staying there as their rental home was uninhabitable. Arthur Newton and Mark Jabusch lead the Sendai English Fellowship now meeting at the Mitsukoshi Dept. Store. They used to meet at the Futsukamachi Baptist Church downtown.

I am very sorry I have hardly had time to sit down or read mail. Thank you very much, everyone for your concern and prayers.

Pastor Yoshioka’s (Sendai Canaan Church in SW Sendai) wife and 2 small kids have evacuated to his wife’s hometown of Kobe, I believe, and Pastor Yoshida’s (Sendai Church) wife and 3 kids have evacuated to elsewhere, probably due to concerns over radiation, now. Sendai is about probably about 120 km (about 80 mi.) from the thermo nuclear plant that is melting down in parts, in the Iwaki area of Fukushima on the coast. March is the end of the school year time which made it convenient for kids to be evacuated for awhile.

We have not had gasoline nor time to check up on friends too far away, but it sounds like most are doing alright though likely suffering damage to house or belongings.

THE FOLLOWING UPDATE IS FROM THE OPC DISASTER RELIEF FB PAGE

At 9:30 p.m. in Japan (8:30 am EDT) Woody’s team was about to make their 6th relief drop of the day. After that, they’re heading all the way home, a drive that will take several hours. Woody has had only about three hours of sleep in the past 36 hours. Please keep him and his crew in your prayers over the next several hours especially! Thank the Lord for their labors of love in Christ!

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Previous updates below

Updates Friday 10:00PM

In my phone call with Katie last night, she said that she walked to the local grocery store to see if she could get flour to make bread. To her dismay, it was totally closed. It had stayed open because it had a few items available, but everything is gone now.

She then WALKED to downtown Yamagata (about 45 minutes one way I think) to see if she could find food. (I asked why she didn’t ride her bike, and she said that the snow was too deep.) So we were comforted with the fact that I had been able to have food shipped to her from Kobe, south of Tokyo. Through the generosity of many wonderful people, I was able to order food on the “express ship” list that was scheduled to be there in 5-7 days and I also ordered cases of food that would take a month to get to her but the express shipments would hold them over.

This morning I had an e-mail from the food company saying that they were sorry but they could not ship to Yamagata at this time. Being a bit on the stubborn side, I replied asking if there was any way to get it there if I paid extra shipping charges. I haven’t heard back.

Editor’s Note: Kaz, a Japanese National, is ordained in the PCA and a missionary sent by Mississippi Valley Presbytery, who provide a significant amount of his support. He is an ‘Associate’ Missionary with the OPC (since he is from a different denomination), but is a full member of the OPC Japan Mission and all support and funding is channeled through the OPC Mission Board.

From Edie Cummings on her FB page:

Brief update: Praise God our son Caleb arrived safely yesterday and has already gone up to Sendai with 2 suitcases full of medical supplies given him by the hospital where he works as an EMT. The boys were taking 2 truckloads up. Please pray for everyone’s safety as they travel through Fukushima ken where the nuclear reactor is located. We all have to wear masks and be well covered.

One more immediate prayer request: Please pray our son Daniel, an ER doctor, can get connected with Samaritan’s Purse before he comes to Japan on April 1. this is the same organization he and his dear wife want to go with to Angola sometime in the fall. While you’re praying for that would you also pray they can raise prayer and financial support for that mission trip to Africa. Wish I could hug you all for your encouraging prayers and notes. May the God who reigns over ALL the nations bless you all abundantly!

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Previous updates below

5:00PM Friday Update from Stephen Lauer, son of OPC missionaries in Japan, with an update and prayer requests.

I just spoke with my parents, OPC missionaries Woody and Laurie Lauer (in Numazu, Japan, Southwest of Tokyo). They asked me to write on their behalf asking for your prayers.

The Lauers have been able to borrow and rent four large trucks and obtain the necessary permits in order to drive them North to the Sendai area which was affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Along with Woody and Laurie, David and Noriko Lauer (son and daughter-in-law of the Lauers) and a member of the Numazu church (where Woody serves as pastor) have stopped in Tokyo and purchased enough food and supplies to fill the trucks. Food is getting very scarce in some areas of the Northeast. They now hope to start driving North, and will probably be driving through the night.
They are not able to bring any more help along with them due to the nature of the permits, as the government is trying to keep the number of people going into the disaster area to a minimum (i.e. every person is another mouth to feed, etc, if they get stuck up North).

As they head out please keep the following points in your prayers:

· Please pray for safety during the drive, in particular as they were only able to get five drivers for four large trucks.
· Pray for good weather as it has been snowing.
· Pray for the local churches. They hope that some of the supplies can be given to the local churches to be passed out in the neighborhoods around the churches.
· Pray for the spread of the Gospel as it is shared along with the supplies and food. They are also bringing Bibles and Gospel tracts to pass out.
· Pray for wisdom and guidance from above. They don’t know how long the trip will take until they get up there, and there is much that they will need to find out when they actually arrive and can better assess the situation. Pray that the food and supplies would be distributed where they are most needed. The Japanese government has been very slow in providing accurate information and organization for the relief effort. Our missionaries
· Pray that they will have enough gasoline. They are taking tanks of gas with them, and plan on taking enough, but gas is scarce up North in the disaster zone.

Abraham’s story is the Lauers’ story, which is also ours. His promises are their promises, which are also ours: “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” We are pilgrims, even foreigners (whether in Japan or the USA), who by faith lay hold of the eternal city, which “He has prepared… for them.” (Heb. 11). While in this world, Christ calls us to feed, clothe, and quench the thirst of even the least of our brethren (Matt. 25). Their lives and our lives are bound up in Christ’s life! By serving our brothers and sisters in Japan, we serve Christ.

Please join the OPC Disaster Response Ministry by visiting their website: http://www.opc.org/donationsjapan.html Contact Mr. David Nakhla for further questions about how to help: [email protected]

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Previous posts below

8:00AM Friday
Update from Edie Cummings, wife of OPC Missionary Cal Cummings, about having to leave the area.

My heart is breaking. I had to leave Sendai this morning because the US embassy is urging Americans who live anywhere nearby the nuclear reactor to evacuate.

I hated to leave behind Cal, Luke (Caleb arrives today), our dear neighbors, and friends but I had to for several reasons:

1. We don’t have enough gasoline to get around except for emergencies.

2. All I could do is bake whole wheat bread and give it to the neighbors and church friends but I was running out of propane gas (I baked TONS of loaves of whole wheat bread and gave them away. There is NO bread anywhere in the Natori area. Actually all the stores are closed in Natori and basic supplies are hard to find since everyone stood in line for hours the few days after the earthquake to buy anything and everything available)

3. Esther, Annette, and Priscila are all expecting babies in April and May and I wanted to get back to help them with the children (is that too selfish?) So after praying with Cal, Luke and the boys I quickly threw a few clothes and books in together and came back to Tokyo with Justin Dunkle.

Before I got in the car, my neighbor Mrs. Itoh and her son came out and gave me a biggg hug and we cried together. I told her to trust the one, true, living God to provide for her and take of her family and Lord willing, we would meet again. We have witnessed to her and the family ever since we moved to Natori and can only pray God will use this trial to bring them to faith. Would you please pray with us for the Itoh family? She has 13 people staying with them in her house because her relatives had to escape the nuclear reactor since they lived too close to it.

This morning the boys took supplies to Watari, another coastal town desperately in need (what place isn’t?) Yesterday Cal got in contact with another of our pastor friends who has a Christian kindergarten where Cal and I have a children’s Bible club. Mr. Hayashi told Cal what things the evacuees in the local elementary school need so the guys dropped off things there and went to 3 other towns on the coast.

Oh, a really incredible, miraculous thing happened that pastor Hayashi related to Cal. He said they had taken the kindergarten children to the beach the afternoon of the earthquake. When they felt the quake they quickly ran to the buses and sped away to higher ground! Praise God they outran the tsunami and God kept those dear, precious children safe!

I think I mentioned yesterday about our pastor friend, wife and son staying in a shelter in Ishinomaki. The boys were able to reach him and gave him the boxes of food and other goods his daughter had prepared for them (it took her days and hours of waiting in line to gather food from many, many stores). The sad thing, though, is that none of the shelters would take their cup ramen. They had no gas, no water, no way to heat the water. The guys got back to our house late, tired and exhausted.

By the way, please pray for my friend and student Naoe, a midwife. She and her husband have a clinic in Ishinomaki. I have tried several times to call her but can’t get through. No one has been able to reach her. I’m not sure if she and her husband are safe or not. She is another dear friend I have shared the gospel with many times but no response.

Our small Japanese house is being used as a base for some supplies. Cal was able to give our neighbors cup ramen, my bread and a few other things today. They were extremely grateful as they are running low on food. Cal also took some food (the boys had left bagels, rolls, bananas, oranges, soup, consommé, batteries, diapers, etc. in our house to distribute) to one of our elderly pastor and his wife today. Pastor Tsudo and Cal took more supplies to Okino elementary school (also near the ocean and near where we used to have a cooking and Bible class). They were thrilled to receive the food and supplies. He said the only things they didn’t want were the Skippy peanut butter and spaghetti sauce!

Thank you for your continued prayers for this country and our precious Japanese friends. Please pray for wisdom to know where to go, enough food and other supplies to take, relationships with neighbors, victims, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, to the glory of God the Father.”

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Previous updates below:

Update Thursday 9:30AM. A new story was posted from the Reformed Presbyterian Church Japan mission. They are working closely with the OPC. It has news from Cal Cumming.

We will post all future info from the RPC at this OPC location. Here is the link to that new story: bit.ly/g1BBMr
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Update Tuesday 8:00AM. OPC sets up special fund to support relief work in Japan

The Diaconal Committee of the OPC has set up a disaster response fund to help with the needs in Japan, and other nations as they arise! www.opc.org/donationsjapan.html
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Luke Cummings is the son of OPC Missionaries Cal and Edie Cummings. He gave this interview to the BBC. Includes great video

Luke Cummings lives in Tokyo but spent some of his childhood in Sendai, one of the areas worst affected by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

He and other members of his local church were given government permission to drive to Sendai to help with the rescue effort in the city.

He gave BBC News his first hand account of what he experienced when he arrived in Sendai to help with the relief effort.

Video Link: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12735874

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Earlier Updates Follow:

The following email was sent by missionaries Woody and Laurie Lauer, OPC missionaries who are serving in Kita Numazu, Japan concerning missionaries Murray and Tsuruko Uomoto who had not been in regular contact since the quake. The message includes an update on Cal and Edie Cummings and their family.

Dear Friends,

After three days of trying, we finally got Murray and Tsuruko’s phone to ring today. After calling it repeatedly and letting it ring many times, we finally connected with them about 3 hours ago.

Electricity had just been restored for them for the first time about 5 pm. Here in Numazu and around the nation unaffected areas are having 3 hour scheduled power shutoffs daily (starting today) so as to be able to send power north where nuclear reactors have been shut down and insufficient electricity is available, even once power lines are restored. Gas and water, however, are still unavailable.

Murray and Tsuruko are still without water service, but Pastor Ogata, the Japanese minister who works as a cooperating evangelist with our mission at Megumi Chapel along with Cal and Murray, has begun bringing bottles of water to the Uomotos from further north where his son lives, and where there is running water. He reported that
gasoline is hard to find and limited to 5 liters when available.

Murray said that their facilities (church-manse combined) sustained minimal damage; they have only noticed cracks in the concrete and stucco having fallen off the side of the rental unit next door where a church member lives. He thinks their house/church may now be slightly tilted.

As we talked, Murray was attempting to restart their DSL modem–without success. For the time being they have no E-mail. (The Yaegashis, on the other hand, now have both power and internet service restored.) Murray asks for prayer for the Newtons, another missionary family who lived in Fukushima prefecture, south of Sendai. Their house and car were washed away in the tsunami, though they themselves escaped unharmed. As I previously reported, Pastor and Mrs. Shiratsu of the Ishinomaki RCJ on a penninsula, just up the coast from Sendai, also escaped before the tsunami, but their church building and manse were severely damaged.

Murray also reported that Luke Cummings, the youngest son of Cal and Edie, was able to get permits needed to deliver a car full of supplies to Cal and Edie, no small feat given the unavailability of gasoline in much of the Tohoku region. We still have not been able to reach the Cummings personally.

We give thanks that the OPC Diaconal Affairs Committee has offered assistance to our missionaries and RCJ brethren who have suffered loss or injury in this disaster. It is the mission’s intent to use any offerings given for immediate relief emergency needs and to save the rest until a thorough evaluation of losses among Tohoku brethren can
be assessed. It appears though at this point that at minimum, the Ishinomaki building will be a total loss.

Thank you all for your prayers and join us in thanking God for sparing the lives of so many of his people.

Sincerely in Christ,

Woody Lauer, OPC missionary at Kita Numazu RCJ

Previously requested prayer concerns:

1. For the well being of the saints in the Tohoku churches, many of whom are out of contact with their pastors.
2. For the success of rescue efforts
3. Give thanks that Pastor Tateishi of East Sendai Church drove to Ishinomaki and made contact with Pastor and Mrs. Shiratsu. They are well, but the church building (a congregation established through OPCJM outreach) has been seriously damaged by the tsunami water.
4. Pray for faithfulness in preaching the gospel by all the churches at this time, for open hearts, and for faithfulness that every Christian would confess the goodness and mercy of God at a time when many might doubt it.

[Editor’s note: One or more original URLs (links) referenced in this article are no longer valid; those links have been removed.]