Thank you for being patient and allowing me to have enough time to recover from my major accident. I was planning on releasing our “end-of-the-year” report much sooner, but many unpredictable things took place which prevented me from releasing it on time.

However, here we are, and now is the time to look back and report everything that took place in the past 9 months or so. But before I write about personal details, I would like to give a bullet-point report just to give you an idea of what God has allowed us to accomplish as a body of believers here in Tokyo.

- Since we moved here to Tokyo to begin our work the average attendance in our church community has doubled.
- We have grown enough that we have elected 4 deacons. Until now, the community had no established leadership aside from me as the pastor.
- There are several people who have come to know Christ through our community that are being discipled.
- We are already planning on doubling the number of our services, and also talking about starting a new community in the next few years.
- We strategically reduced the number of our church programs, and people in our church are spending more time with each other as result.
- We are starting five community gatherings in Tokyo and Kanagawa prefectures, which allows us to influence believers throughout the week who live up to two hours away.
- In the past six months, about 10% of our church members have strategically moved much closer to the church and our community so that they can be more effective in their service to one another.
- We are starting a new ministry for young mothers, equipping them to be able to intentionally minister to others from their homes.
- We had two funerals and one wedding in the past 12 months.
- We had two interns from the US during the summer, and, Lord willing, they will be married and back with us in the near future.
- After the earthquake last year, we have led a movement of love inspired by Christ, which distributed over 210 tons worth of relief and food items.
We have partnered with over 17 churches, medical organizations, local businesses, and the U.S. Navy to provide those goods to those who were affected by the earthquakes and the tsunamis. Our community served as the headquarters in Tokyo to accomplish this.
- Through our combined effort to give sacrificially and expediently right after the disasters struck Northern Japan, we were used instrumentally to save over 70 human lives. In one situation, when our food truck arrived, one facility which hosted about 45 bedridden elderly patients only had 10 cartons of milk left in the kitchen for everyone.
- We have rented 17 large trucks to distribute items to those who could not receive care from the government programs in the affected area.
- Some of the churches that we have helped in the tsunami affected areas have doubled in size since our partnership.
- We have purchased and donated a fork-lift to a reliable Christian ministry serving the city which experienced the disaster most severely.

Well, we could keep writing, but the majority of what we feel like we are accomplishing cannot be measured with numbers and units. While we are glad to see that God has been blessing our effort in measurable ways, the majority of what we are witnessing is intangible, such as God’s people making Christ-oriented choices, loving God’s family sacrificially and selflessly, trusting in God through some of the most difficult circumstances, and genuinely repenting from their self-centered lifestyle, just to mention a few. There are more than a handful of people who are passing up job promotions because they want to spend more time with God’s family. This means forfeiting financial security as they spend less hours working, and more hours investing in their church community. We are seeing willful sinners repenting and asking the church to accept them again. We are seeing people who are giving sacrificially when they are barely making it according to the city’s living standard. We are also seeing people who are willing to pay more rent and live further away from their workplace so that they can live closer to other believers in our church.

It brings unspeakable joy to witness these things happen before our eyes, because these things are results of God’s Spirit moving freely among our church people. I am astonished at the faith and the love that they have for our God and for one another. We are simply excited to be surrounded by people who are making these decisions of faith based on their understanding of what it means to be united with Christ, redeemed by grace, and loved by our God who is for us.

The very first wedding I officiated in Tokyo!

Now, let me spend some time reporting what we have been doing since the earthquake last year. While we used to update our ministry site more regularly, we had to switch to doing most of our ministry related correspondences through Facebook and personal emails. So, for some, you have not heard from us in a while, for which we apologize.

Back in June, I was hit by a speeding 500cc motorcycle that evidently did not check both ways when making a turn. It destroyed my fairly new road bicycle, along with the right half of my body. My shin was split vertically, sustaining multiple fractures, my pelvis shattered, my thigh bone disfigured, and my right hand unusable for months. As result, I was hospitalized for nearly five months, and went through multiple surgeries performed by some of the best doctors in the city. Thankfully, I did not sustain any brain or internal organ damage. I still have many titanium bolts, plates, and artificial bones inside of my body as I type this letter.

While my body was useless for many weeks after the first surgery, the demand for our ministry did not slow down. I preached sermons from my hospital bed, wrote new church resources with my left hand on my smartphone, and met with the summer interns almost daily during the visiting hours next to my bed. It wasn’t easy not being able to move or walk for weeks, but thankfully my mind was clear and did not question God’s goodness or his intentions throughout the entire duration of my ordeal. While the accident definitely slowed me down and also took away my freedom to serve as I would have liked, just like Apostle Paul during his house arrest, it did not affect our vision for the Gospel or our commitment to serve God and his family to the best of our abilities.

Amy was especially helpful and patient during this time, taking care of the interns, visiting me almost daily, and taking care of the house by herself. I contribute all of these “victories” to God who is unquestionably good at all times, and to the prayers that were offered to God on behalf of our ministry and us. God’s life giving and renewing power, which was demonstrated when he resurrected his Son from the dead, was at work in us and it made us more committed to his cause of building a new community of people who are united with Christ and live to fulfill his purpose and plan.

Amy as a bride's maid!

Although I still cannot serve as actively or as energetically as I used to, by God’s grace our ministry is picking up more momentum than ever before. In order to compensate for my lack of ability to run things as I used to, I am focusing on encouraging and training leaders who can replace me more than before. I am preaching the importance of being united as God’s family in order to fulfill God’s plan that He has for us.

Younger people at our church. Many of them are new people since we began our work in Tokyo.

As a result, more people are involved in personal ministries and interested in taking more responsibilities in our community. For at least the past two months, we have new visitors attending our services regularly. We are thankful that our growth comes from those who are still new to Christianity and not people from other churches.

Once I have more energy, I hope to share our renewed perspective on our community that we are committed to building and multiplying here in Tokyo. Meanwhile, I want to encourage you to pray for us and continue to support us, because we are finally starting to reap the first batch of fruits from the seeds that we have been sowing for the past two years.

Here are some of the things which you can pray about for us and our ministry:

While God’s grace is strong, my physical and mental strengths are significantly weaker since the accident. Because of stress and trauma from the accident, combined with months of physical inactivity and running from one responsibility to the next without a break after being released from the hospital, my body has not been functioning properly. According to my doctor, my body has been pushed beyond its limits, resulting in numerous hormones inside of my body being out of whack (of course he used more medically eloquent expressions to explain my condition). Consequently, I suffer from mild depression, lack of energy, decreased ability to handle stress, muscular weakness, increased allergies, frequent sighing, and other undesirable symptoms. Many days, I feel like I am swimming through a pool of mud.

While I am trying to reduce my stress level by delegating more responsibilities to others, there is a limit on how much you can entrust spiritually important things to people who are still in the process of being trained and taught before it becomes a circus. In order to maintain our current growth and momentum I regularly spend 8 hours a day planning, training, preparing, and pastoring the various aspects of the church. And when I am done, I have no energy left to be proactive or creative (which contributes to not being able to update our ministry site for such a long time). As regrettable as it may be, once I take care of the high-importance, high-urgency needs, I just don’t have anything left in me to take care of other high-importance, moderately urgent needs.

I am content with my weakness as I serve in my capacity, but our ministry suffers from my new condition. I need more energy to handle my previous work load in order to be responsible. We also need other workers who can lead the community with more vigor if we want to maintain our growth. So, please pray that God will provide or continue to grow new leaders who are mature both in their thinking and living for the sake of community’s direction and its spiritual health.

Please pray for our brand new board members (deacons) who are given the responsibility to serve our community. I might be one of the few blessed pastors who cannot wait to be at our board meeting. We normally spend about three hours each time, repenting, praying, and planning for our future. I am so excited to be part of it, because everyone on the team deeply understands the purpose of our calling in Christ. So, every time we meet, we are discussing how we can transmit the passion we have to see the purpose of our salvation being materialized throughout our community. Please pray for wisdom and understanding so that God’s intention for the church can be more visible in Tokyo through our leadership team.

Also, please pray for Amy as she continues her language school. It is very difficult for her to balance fulltime language training and other responsibilities at home.

Also, I lost my mother and my grandmother during the past 12 months. Amy also lost her grandmother, an uncle, and an aunt during the same time frame. All these deaths, as glorious as they may be in Christ, combined with my accident and huge natural disasters that struck Japan can add a lot of emotional and mental stress. We are always comforted in Christ, but it takes a long time for finite humans to process some of these events and their implications. I personally did not have any time to process my mother’s death and to mourn for her properly. Please pray for the right time to slow down so that our souls can catch up to our busy activity-driven lives.

Lastly, please pray for newer sources of income. Currently, the Japanese Yen is very strong against the US dollar. As a result, the value of the support we get from the US is significantly less than what it used to be. We are making all kinds of sacrifices, just as many of you are doing in the US, but in order to have a vibrant ministry we have to focus beyond our daily needs. Our church community is giving beyond their ability, but it will decrease the stress level if people who have been blessed financially during these difficult times can chip in to balance the current disparity. If you have been thinking about supporting us or have committed to support us in the past and never took the step to actually doing it, this would be an opportune time to partner with us. We are not asking for additional funds to be comfortable, but rather so that together we can sow more seeds of the Gospel in a land that has been spiritually infertile for many, many centuries. Click here to find out how you can give generously and wisely to truly make a difference in Japan.

Well, thanks for reading this rather lengthy update. I hope you have been informed and blessed. I will try to do a better job updating more frequently as my health and energy levels return to me. However, if you want the latest update, please send us personal emails or get hold of us via Facebook. Thank you so much for your prayers and support.

Let me give you the latest update on what God has been doing through our effort in the last week. Since so many exciting things have been happening just in that short amount of time, I will try to go back to the beginning of last week.

- Photo Report can be seen by following this link.

As we have started to raise donations and clothing from our church website, we were contacted from many churches and individuals all over Japan. What originally started out as a small community effort ended up as a multi-church project, involving over sixteen churches in Tokyo. Not to mention, several secular companies and hospitals that aided us and many people who live locally who read or saw what we were doing.

Before we knew it, our entire church was filled with nursing items which were requested from the churches and care facility in Miyagi and the US NAVY. However, under these circumstances, it is easy to gather items, but very difficult to transport them, especially when there is a nationwide gas shortage.

Our original plan to transport them to the Yokosuka Naval Base was frustrated because of the government recommendation for the immediate evacuation of all US military personnel. While the initial panic didn’t last that long, it made our communication with them very difficult as people were not answering phone calls and emails. There were days when we did not hear anything from them, and we were concerned because those were the days when people’s lives were at the highest risk, and also our church building was already packed and we did not know whether they could be taken to the right place before Sunday.

But God is good all the time and He was orchestrating a better plan for us without us knowing. Finally, on Tuesday, I was able to get hold of a gentleman named Mark from the NAVY who was in charge of transporting goods to the Naval base. It was God’s goodness at work because he is also a believer in Christ and once he knew what we were doing, he recommended us to another Christian ministry, called Every Nation, which was specifically focusing on transporting food items to places where our government would not aid.

Although I never heard of this ministry before, I called them up and shared about our project to assist an elderly care facility in Miyagi. We quickly agreed that our facility qualified as one of those places where they wanted to help, and we recognized that we had the same passion to be used by God to provide both physical and spiritual reliefs. We were both excited in the Lord about this opportunity. We quickly arranged the pickup date, and thanked God for His sovereign goodness.

However, back in our church, we were facing another great issue that we did not anticipate. Originally, we planned to collect 3,600 cans of nutritious food and about 1,200 boxes of drinks. However, the food shortage in Tokyo ended up being more severe than we expected and by Wednesday, we only had 400 cans of food and 200 boxes of drinks. The truck was supposed to pick up the supplies on Friday and these people in Miyagi were counting on us for food to survive. We did everything we could do at that time, and all we could do was to pray and ask God to provide for those people with or without us.

That evening a representative from Every Nation ministry called me and said they had one of their trucks about one hour away from the care facility in Miyagi. He wanted to see if they could send the driver to the facility after his delivery to make sure that the roads were decent enough to make the delivery on Friday. I quickly contacted the pastor who was in the area and made the arrangement. However, I still did not know how God was going to come through this time, as we were only able to collect 15% of what we promised. I kept pacing around the house feeling restless not knowing what to do about the food items.

Then, about an hour later, I received a phone call from the driver, Mr. Hosoi, who was on his way to the facility. When I talked to him, he somewhat apologetically asked me, “By the way, the last facility I was planning on dropping off the items received a supply from somewhere else. I have about 1,000 kg of food left in my truck. Can your people use that food for something?” When I heard those words, it literally sent shivers up my spines. Without any hesitation, I told him yes, and called the pastor back. Although it was already late that night, the truck arrived and the pastor’s wife and a few others from the facility came to receive the food. It was one of those George-Muller-moments that only God could have orchestrated.

The next day, Mark from the Navy called and he said he would make sure that his trucks would arrive on Saturday and everything would be gone before Sunday. Also, Every Nation said due to their inability to acquire another truck, they had to postpone the pick up until Saturday morning. Now, that those people in Miyagi had some food, having another day to collect more items was a blessing to us.

On Friday, I called the pastor in Miyagi and told him of the situation. He proceeded to tell me that they had just received special permission from the government for their church vehicle to be used as an emergency supply transportation vehicle. He was then able to get some gas to check other churches and facilities in the area. He said that as he drove to other care facilities, he discovered that there were others that were in worse conditions than his without having any running water or electricity. They had decided to share the food they had with them which meant all the food they received a few days ago was gone by that evening. I told him that the food was going to be on it’s way the next day and to do their best to keep people safe.

Saturday came and we received a phone call from Every Nation saying that there was a truck problem and they would be a few hours late. While we kept sorting through items, Mark and his crew from the NAVY arrived. Before we knew it, we had completely packed two of their trucks and we still had 70 % of the items left inside of the church. While we were discussing what we should do, Every Nation showed up with a huge moving truck to pick up the food items for the elderly care facility. There was still the issue of the 70% still needing to get to the base. God is so good and we figured out that the Every Nation truck was heading to Yokosuka to pick up more items. The location was only 15 minutes away from the Naval base so they would be able to take most of what was left and drop it off at the base before going to pick up more food. We once again rejoiced in God’s orchestration. If the truck had arrived as originally planned, it would have left for Yokosuka before the Navy arrived. Once we decided what we were going to do, the Navy sailors also helped us load up the truck from Every Nation. We packed up the entire truck and we still had one small room full of items left so Mark and his wife decided to come back later that evening.

By Saturday night, everything we had was gone. The food we collected was on its way to Miyagi, six tons of clothing, blankets, and other supplies were being sent to the affected areas by the Navy. Then I talked to the care facility president on Monday, and he told me that finally some of the stores are opening up in the area so everything we did really helped them to survive through that week. Again, I reminded him that it was not us. It was God who took care of them, and He used many churches together to make it happen. We were both excited to see how God orchestrated all the events and people to unite various churches in Tokyo to make a lasting impact in the lives of those in Miyagi.

While we are genuinely excited that everything worked out in the end, we need to also understand that this is only the beginning of the long restoration process. While the attention of many in the world has already shifted from those who were affected by the Tsunami to the war on Libya or the radiation scare, we want to remind people that Japan is experiencing a once in a century opportunity for Christians to leave a positive impact if we work together. We need all the support we can get to make that happen.

Currently, while we will continue to gather specific donations from people to assist those in Miyagi, we believe that we are coming out of emergency mode. So, we are no longer making short-term relief decisions at the expense of long-term development. We will start strategizing to foster progress at the infrastructural level of a community, and this is where we need to invest most of our time and our resources.

We are also carefully listening to local pastors and their churches to see what they really need, instead of assuming what those things ought to be from Tokyo. We are making realistic and effective plans by conversing and building relationships with them.

We also believe that it would be most effective for the overall progress of the Gospel movement in those areas if we lead from behind. What I mean by this is that while we continue to be involved in providing spiritual and physical reliefs, the local churches must be the heroes. So, instead of us taking a week off to go up there to distribute evangelistic tracks and free food, we believe that it would be best if we empower like-minded pastors and churches who went through the same afflictions, so that they can show Christ-like compassion and earn the right to share the good news of God’s love. In other words, we don’t want to go up there to solve their problems, but to serve them so that people can see the authenticity of our message through the empowered actions of the local leaders.

Additionally, we are providing spiritual counseling at our church in Tokyo to those who need comfort and wisdom from God’s Word. Also, God has been opening up doors for me to share His Word to various audiences in Tokyo area to encourage faith in Christ. As one example, God has presented me with an opportunity to address the believers from Fukushima First Baptist Church, a local congregation located only three miles away from the famous nuclear plants in Fukushima, who have evacuated to a Christian retreat center in Okutama, Tokyo. Please pray that God’s Word will run swiftly among those who need to be reminded of the living hope which we possess in Christ Jesus (Psalm 147:15).

Please continue to pray for our work because while we are in mission for the glory of God and the good of the Japanese people, we are still rooted in Tokyo, and we must maintain our stability and our regular work in the city. Please pray for wisdom so that we will continue to see our situation from God’s perspective. Also, please pray for additional workers who are competent and passionate about serving in Tokyo with us. There is so much we need to be doing but without partners, what we can do is so limited. And, finally, if you believe that our strategy to strengthen God’s work in Japan is valid and effective, please prayerfully support our ministry. While we are excited and grateful for the many onetime gifts to assist our relief efforts, the real battle is long term. We are in need of generous supporters who find joy in regularly partnering with realistic and effective ministries that strive to make known the glorious Gospel to those who have not heard it before. Please continue to spread awareness of what is happening, and please don’t let media distract you and make you forget about real people who are facing real challenges in Japan. Please help us to help them so that we can share the joy of people discovering the greatest treasure in the person of Jesus Christ.

Kazu & Amy

＊Special Thanks to our friend Julie for taking photographs to show you what it was like to be there.

You can see us on the news (click the following link). Joscelyn Moes (YFMZ-TV) did an excellent job reporting our work in Japan. Please spread the news so that more people can be exposed to the needs of Japanese people today.

If you feel led to donate to to our cause, please visit the following link, and reference the “Japan Emergency Aid Project” in your gift. 100% of your donation will directly be sent to us so that we can use them to purchase more food and essential items to those who have lost everything. We also need people who can support our on going effort by becoming regular givers. If you have been thinking about supporting foreign Christ-centered mission workers, please visit this link and follow the instruction. Our work in Tokyo is totally depended on God’s provision through generous partners like you. Please pray about it and let’s partner together so that we can bring lasting hope to those in Japan.

Our friend Julie Johnson from the US Navy visited our church this Sunday and took pictures of our service and the following relief drive.

You can view the entire album by following this link.

Here is a story that I want to share with you from today’s events. There is a gentleman named, Mr. Kawana, who has been visiting our church for the last few weeks. He comes from a rather typical Japanese background where he was never exposed to the Bible or met someone who confessed to be a Christian until recently. His employer, who serves as one of our church leaders, befriended him and asked him to check out our church so that he can see what it is all about. Without knowing anything about Christianity, he attended my mother’s funeral service and today’s post-tsunami service. After helping us out with sorting out the donated items, he came up to me and said after carefully witnessing the eternal hope which we possess in Christ and the love for one another which we demonstrate by actions, he wants to buy his first Bible and become a Christian. I am overjoyed at how God has used our Christ-centered preaching and our Gospel-driven community lifestyle to impress this man so much that he was willing to repent from the worldview he grew up with his entire life and be willing to embrace Christ as his Savior. Please pray for him as we are starting a Bible study together within the next few weeks as soon as things slow down a bit.

There are few more things for which I want you to pray. First, we have decided to partner with an elderly care facility in Miyagi prefecture which is owned by Kurigoma Kogen Baptist Church. Currently the facility cares for 70 elderly people, many of them Christians. However, after the tsunami, they have been stranded with 50 social workers who worked there. They only have enough food for 8 more days, and they are quickly running out of supplies to care for the bed-ridden adults. It is our goal to provide ten days worth of food and medical and hygiene supplies before that deadline, no pun intended. Providing food for 120 people who are stranded is very difficult for us right now, not because of the incurring expense, but due to the citywide shortage of any kind of canned food in Tokyo. Yet, we are trying to come up with 3,600 cans of food in the next three days. Also, we want to provide 1,200 boxes of vegetable juices and many boxes of adult diapers and wipes, and such. Unless God provides them for us, we do not know how we can do what we need to do. We chose to partner with them not only because they are Christians, but because they cannot escape even if they wanted to. And currently without our help, they are not sure how they can sustain those people with special needs once their supply runs dry. I know what it is like to take care of someone who must depend on others to simply live. They are at the mercy of care takers. And the care takers can only take care of them as long as they have food and supplies for them. Please pray that God would provide about $6,000 worth of food and supplies that we need to raise to keep them alive. Moreover, please pray that God will allow us to find enough food in Tokyo to meet the demand. And finally please pray that God will provide means for us to get those supplies to where they are stranded, which we cannot approach due to blocked roads and government restrictions.

Also, pray for Julie and her husband Lee Johnson. She and her husband were only married a few months ago, and Lee is on USS McCampbell trying to help the affected areas in the northern Japan. Pray for physical and spiritual and emotional strength for both of them as they are doing their best to serve God with us in spite of these difficult circumstances.

We also received at least 20 times more donations than we originally expected which is great but now we have new challenges of transporting them to the Yokosuka Naval Base. Currently the gas price is $7.50 /gallon and many gas stations are only selling a couple of gallons at a time. We have over 4 tons worth of items that we need to transport during this week. But unless God opens new doors, we do not have the means to transport all of them.

There are more challenges ahead of us that we need to tackle urgently. Please pray for wisdom and open doors so that God will allow us to overcome them for His glory and the lives of those that still need to be saved.

Endangered people. Pray for those that are stranded or stuck somewhere. Pray that search and rescue teams would reach them so that they may be given a chance to hear the Gospel in the future, if God wills .

Relief workers. Pray for more workers. Pray for skilled workers. Pray for their strength and safety. Some are working in areas where there are still aftershocks and nuclear danger. Pray for their mental and emotional health. Pray for Christian workers so that their faith in action can shine as bright light of hope in Christ.

Assessment teams are needed to successfully gather information regarding the status of churches and communities hit on the coast. This information will be the starting point for many organizations, including our own work.

Japanese leaders. Pray for wisdom and discernment as they coordinate the country’s efforts and connect needy churches with ministries and churches that are able to assist.

Resources. Pray for food, water, blankets, gasoline, and other supplies to reach those in need. In Tokyo, we have been out of bread, milk, eggs, meat, instant foods, and rice for days.

Energy rationing. The greater Tokyo area has begun energy rationing via rolling blackouts. This may be due to the shutting down of the two Fukushima nuclear plants. This is going to bring hardship on many people and obstruct communication.

Wisdom and discernment. Pray for guidance for all the aid organizations and churches as they consider how they can best serve people.

Faith. Pray that believers everywhere would trust in the Lord, especially during these times. Pray for Japanese Christians so that they would turn to God for comfort and peace, instead of fear and worries. Pray that they will turn to God’s Word for guidance and direction, so that their faith in God’s promises and character will allow them to be stable.

Road restoration. Pray for roads to be fixed so that those who have been stranded without food and fuels can be brought to safer refugee sites. We are preparing to have 15~20 people at our church from Fukushima who have been affected by the potential nuclear meltdown. We are also seeking for ways to transport food for 70 elderly Christians and 50 social workers who are stranded in a Christian elderly care facility in Miyagi. They only have 9 days worth of food left, and we if don’t make the trip, they are not sure how they would survive. But unless God uses people to fix those roads, we cannot help them and they cannot be helped.

Donations. Pray that people around the world would be generous and not abandon those who have both physical and spiritual needs in Japan. Once out of emergency mode, we need to start making decisions based on long-term development and restoration of damaged Christian communities. Without needing to say, feeding, transporting, and caring for potentially 20 people daily for a month or more becomes very taxing financially for small churches like ours. Don’t let your love for earthly wealth and comfort rob you the opportunity to be used by God to accomplish His will on this planet. We have been kept on this planet to love one another. One of the most selfless acts of Christ-driven love is to give financial gifts to enrich the lives of those who cannot repay. We are already here to do the work, but without donations, our work will be significantly limited.

Excerpted from a blog post by Tom Kim of Churches Helping Churches, revised and updated and personalized by Kazuaki Kato

Special Request.I never though it would come down to this but for precautionary measure, we would appreciate it if some of you can start sending us iodine pills for us and our church. If we accept the refugees, we would have 70 members that we would need to protect from potential radiation exposure.  Obviously, we are not suicidal and we believe that we can serve the country of Japan better being alive than dead, so we would evacuate from Tokyo before it is too late. But as long as we are being careful and wise, we want to keep helping people in the city in whatever way possible.

Since our last update, we have made several additional progresses in our effort to bring hope. First, earlier this morning, we have agreed to partner with the US NAVY to collect and distribute basic items to the people in the affected areas, ranging from baby bottles to clothing/blankets. We will focus on collecting items that are needed and once we gather enough of them, we will take them to the Yokosuka Naval Base so that they can ship them directly to the affected areas. We will be promoting this clothing donation drive to other local churches in the area and also to our neighborhood community so please pray that people would act selflessly in order to be a blessing and an encouragement to others in need.

Secondly, we have contacted a top leader of one of the biggest Baptist denominations in the areas that were hit by the tsunami and radiation. And we have agreed to open up our church building to host Christian refugees from those areas. While we are still waiting to hear from them about the details, we need to be ready to transform our church to a place where we can house as many as twenty people. Your generous donation will be exchanged to Japanese Yen immediately to provide bedding and food for those people who have lost everything. Currently the biggest issue is the lack of gasoline to transport those people to us. In case they are unable to escape to Tokyo, we will donate a large part of our funds to a group of trusted pastors and allow them to use it as they see fit to help those in the areas. Please keep praying that your generous giving and our effort to use them effectively would bring hope to this country.

Currently, we are advised to where a facial mask to avoid radiation when walking outside. Japan suspended operations to prevent a stricken nuclear plant from melting down Wednesday after a surge in radiation made it too dangerous for workers to remain at the facility. If the containment at the nuclear power plant damaged by the earthquake fails, a potential radiation plume from a full core meltdown could reach Tokyo by nightfall. In such a scenario, there is not much we can do to escape from it. But we will remain in the city as long as possible to provide stability and spiritual assurance to those in our community. We will leave the city when everyone in our community is able to leave with us. This will also require a large funding to pull off, so please be generous in giving so that if this happens (and we hope it doesn’t), we can evacuate the city before it is too late.

We also have two members of our church community who have been deployed to the affected sites. Mr. Harada, who is a faithful attender of our church, is being deployed to the nuclear site, and Mr. Hagiwara is being deployed to Miyagi. Please pray for their protection, but more importantly that God would use them to bring hope to others and that their own faith will be strengthened through their experience.

Furthermore, many prominent mission boards are pulling out their missionaries and pastors from Japan. We do not disagree with their decision to protect their missionaries, but we are also saddened by many confused Japanese Christians who are left behind without spiritual leadership and assurance at a time like this when they are most needed. Please pray that many Japanese pastors and leaders will be strengthened to lead Christians in this country during this time. Also, pray for non-Japanese missionaries who choose to stay with their members in Japan. Please pray that God will provide them with strength and wisdom needed to stabilize believers across the country and help them to become single-minded believers who endure various trials of faith so that they can demonstrate the love of God selflessly wherever they have been placed by God’s sovereignty.

You can use our PayPal widget which you can find on the left of this page or directly send your check to our mission board FIM and make sure you designate it to us on the check somewhere. Any non-regular gift we receive will be used to assist our effort to provide both physical and spiritual needs of those who have been affected by the disasters.

If you are unclear on how to donate or have further questions, please feel free to contact me via email (kazu@fimtokyo.com).

Kazu and Amy

Dear friends,

A tide of bodies washed up along Japan’s coastline Monday, overwhelming crematoriums, exhausting supplies of body bags and adding to the spiraling humanitarian, economic and nuclear crisis after the massive earthquake and tsunami.

Millions of people faced a fourth night without water, food or heating in near-freezing temperatures along the northeast coast devastated by Friday’s disasters. Meanwhile, a third reactor at a nuclear power plant lost its cooling capacity and its fuel rods were fully exposed, raising fears of a meltdown. The stock market plunged over the likelihood of huge losses by Japanese industries including big names such as Toyota and Honda.

On the coastline of Miyagi prefecture, which took the full force of the tsunami, a Japanese police official said 1,000 bodies were found scattered across the coastline. Kyodo, the Japanese news agency, reported that 2,000 bodies washed up on two shorelines in Miyagi.

I am extremely excited to see so many of you who are eager to help out those people who have lost their family members and most of their earthly possessions due to the earthquake and tsunami. As we have been placed in the center of Tokyo by God’s sovereignty, we are also eager to be used by God to bring healing and hope, both physically and spiritually to the people in Japan.

It goes without saying our goal would be to respond to the current crisis in a Christ-like manner so that we can help our fellow humankind and ultimately allow them to see God and His truth through the way we extend our compassion. As many churches and Christians have different expectations of what that should look like, I have decided to inform you what we are capable and incapable of doing during these difficult times. Not everyone may agree with the approach that we are planning on taking, but I will say we are making important decisions urgently based on reliable facts and wisdom so that our limited time and financial resources, not to mention your sacrificial giving, will not be wasted. We would like you to trust our discernment and our assessment of the current situation based on the fact that we actually live here and have firsthand knowledge of what people are experiencing in our area.

So, before I explain our plan of action, I need to share what we are incapable of doing. This may disappoint some of you, but we cannot get closer to where people are being deprived of food and water at this time. This has nothing to do with our desire, but to do with the decision of the government. Currently more than 50,000 Japan Self-Defense Force soldiers have been deployed and many doctors and nurses, international rescue teams, the US military have also joined their effort to bring relief. Moreover, we have been informed that due to the extent of devastation and the potential secondary dangers from large scale aftershocks and instable building structures, civilians are told not to help without the approval of the authority. We want to rescue people but not end up being rescued ourselves.

Furthermore, since Tokyo is somewhat distant from the actual center of the damage, even if we were permitted to go up there, it would be unwise for us to do so. First, if well intended people rush to the areas, we will create a greater food and water shortage for those who are already there. Secondly, we will use up limited gas and other natural resources the workers need to complete their jobs. Thirdly, we will contribute to further traffic/transportation chaos. And, fourthly, it would be an unwise way for us to use our limited funds that have been donated by generous people like you. Hypothetically, if a church provides $1,000 for us to use, and if we rent a van, and recruit four or five other volunteers to travel with us, that alone will cost about $800 and the actual money we can spend on people would be unjustifiable.

So, here are some of the things that we are planning on doing to make a difference.

First of all, we are getting in touch with pastors and churches around Miyagi area where the disaster struck the hardest and see if we can help out the Christians there by providing food, water, and clothing. Paul said to the Galatians that, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (6:10). While it is still difficult to get in touch with those people in those affected areas due to lack of electricity and cell towers, we are utilizing Facebook and other means to get in touch with them. The majority of the support which we will receive will be used to provide them with these necessities. Our plan is to send boxes of water and dry food as soon as possible, but if it cannot be done (due to delivery companies not providing services to those areas) we will have to arrange a mutual meeting point to hand them directly into their hands. However, based on the condition of the roads, our plan-B might not even work. In that case, you can count on us to be creative somehow and help people before it is too late. We would like to spend a few thousand dollars to provide drinking water to those people so that through the demonstration of Christian love and their generosity, they would also be able to share the message of the living water which Christ provides.

Next, and more locally, we are providing physical and spiritual relief to those people in Tokyo who have been affected by the tragedy in one way or another. We have sent a letter to everyone who is on our church devotional subscription list, offering prayers and physical assistance to those who are in need or know others in need. So far we have received a few messages from people who have missing friends and family members. Your generous support will allow us to meet their needs as we can mobilize more people to be with them and comfort them.

We are also going to invest a limited amount of funds to upgrade our technological equipment to increase the quality of tools and resources we want to distribute through our media ministry. We believe that there are many people, both Christians and non-Christians, who are plagued with spiritual questions and concerns due to these events. The best way to provide hope to these people is to give comfort and answers from the Bible. And the best way to accomplish this is not to stand on the street corners, shouting our lungs out, but using social media and other means to spread them as widely as possible. We also want to present them in a professional way so that more people would be inclined to share them with others who are troubled.

While we are serious about meeting the physical needs of those in the affected areas now, we are also aware that we need to start focusing on long term issues as well. Many Japanese Christians are realizing the fragility of human life and how their wealth which they accumulated and rely on for security can be taken away in a moment. We need to continue to disciple and encourage these people so that they can be strong in their faith, in which will directly result in them sharing the Gospel with conviction. I believe many people are very interested in Japanese people right now because of the media attention it is getting, but as things are eventually going to be restored, many will stop thinking about them, just as many of us do not think and pray for all the southeastern Asian countries that were hit by tsunamis that took over 250,000 lives about seven years ago. If you truly care about the Japanese people and their spiritual needs, I highly encourage you to become our regular giver, as we are committed to spread the hope of Christ through continually loving them not only with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth (cf. 1John 3:18 ).

At the end, if you would like to contribute to make a difference in Japan through us and our ministry, I encourage you to do it with confidence that every donation that is sent to us will be used to assist people with both physical and spiritual needs. We will always strive to be both socially conscious and biblically driven. We are committed to be faithful and wise stewards of God’s resources and we desire to use all of them to bring people to understand, believe, and to enjoy Christ as their Lord and Savior. If you feel uncomfortable with our strategy to respond to the needs of people in Japan, please consider giving to any other relief efforts that are known to be trustworthy. However, if you feel like donating to our ministry can bring realistic benefits to the people in Japan both physically and spiritually, and short term and long term, please give generously so that we can have more freedom to serve and love people in need generously. Every donation you entrust us with will be used directly to help Bible believing Christians and churches in the affected area or be used to strengthen the effectiveness of the spiritual relief that we will continue to provide for the coming years. Please pray that though our effort, those believers who receive our resources will be encouraged and use them wisely to share the Gospel to those who are in need.

“And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” Matt 10:42

” Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.” Proverbs 19:17