So, we've just wrapped up the first 2 week chunk of the 6 week summer in Tohoku. The team members arrived safely and ready to go on June 1st. We stayed in Narita for a few days to go over some training materials and got to explore Tokyo on Friday.
We took the bullet train up from Narita to Sendai on Saturday, and after some bus and car rides, we got to the karate dojo where we are staying. The dojo has been a "base-camp" for volunteers coming through the Be One (a house church network based in Osaka) and A2 networks. It's been really cool interacting and working with the different volunteers coming up. Communal living has brought some challenges, but overall, it's been a really cool community to be a part of.
On Sunday (the 5th), our main focus was a BBQ in the "Be One neighborhood." Be One is renting and renovating a house in a neighborhood that was hit pretty hard by the tsunami in Ishinomaki. We have been holding BBQs in different neighborhoods in Ishinomaki, but it was really nice to have an event in this neighborhood where we are trying to plant ourselves. It was great to spend time with the neighbors as they came out to enjoy the hot dogs, BBQ chicken, and vegetables we grilled up.
We did another BBQ and drop (food and dry good distribution) on Monday in the neighborhood we had been to the previous weekend. Once again, it was great to see the families come out and see some kids running around with a soccer ball during the BBQ.
Over the next few days, we did some manual labor, trying to clean out a park and some yards, but our main goal was to prepare for a bigger kids event we were planning for on Saturday (the 11th). We wanted to focus less on the food, and more on just getting out and being able to provide the kids with stuff to do and play with.
The event that Saturday was awesome!!!! We held it in the park near the Be One house (and next to an apartment complex). We handed out new clothes, made onigiri (rice ball) lunches for the kids, had a crafts "table," and bought a bunch of toys (balls, rackets, paddles, frisbees, bubbles, etc...) for them to play with. It was so much fun and so great to see everyone having fun together!!!
Sunday got off to a special start as we had the first worship "service" at the Be One house in Ishinomaki. It was an awesome time of worship, sharing, and fellowship with the volunteer teams working hard up here.
More to come soon.............
