What is needed most? That depends on who you are.
The Nagoya team had relief goods to deliver. Having heard about the Ofunato church, they arrived cheerfully, arms loaded with goodies, only to discover we were in no way ready to become a depot. It’s still pretty grubby in the church, and there’s a lot of construction stuff and tools strewn around. So, they cheerfully trucked it up to the City Office. It is needed.
Meanwhile, the Nagano team (Okuyama, Koumura, Mizikusa, Satoh and Ishikawa) were burning through jobs at a great rate.
Concentrating on outside work, they finished clearing away the crushed storage shed, raked, de-mudded and leveled the space around the building, cleaned a park, and helped the neighbors. They need help.
Inside, the Pastor and members of the Kita Kami Baptist church were preparing for drywalling. One is a retired electrician; he checked the wiring for problems, and rigged a temporary fix to allow the generator to electrify the wiring. We needed electricity.
We also needed toilets. Armin Messer cleaned one in a local park; it was operable- except for the 4 inches of mud. Ofunato member Ms. Kumagai checked with the water department and determined we could use the sewers. Another member, Mrs. Nimura, cleaned the shower and toilet room; the Nagano team cleaned the toilet, I installed it, and Armin closed the room in with drywall. A toilet for us, and one for the neighborhood.
As the nearest public toilet is a 10 minute drive, they were definitely needed!
It has been a long day. But, a lot of needed stuff got done.
One step at a time.
John Elliot
March 31
Laurie and a friend (another missionary) are going down Friday to deliver relief goods and bring John home for the weekend. Praying for good conversations as we deliver them.
