A high school assistant principal, an artist, a business woman, and an engineering student made up the first Converge Worldwide disaster response team. Workers were based at the Samaritan’s Purse’s Tone base and worked with missionary Dean Bengston and Mr. Abe of the Ishinomaki House of Prayer in the Shintate neighborhood of Ishinomaki City. Team members have taken out walls, floors and removed mud from homes affected by the tsunami. Also the team cleaned yards, streets, and gardens throughout the neighborhood. The team also had an American Barbecue which fed nearly 100 in this neighborhood. Important supplies were also distributed to residents and also those in an evacuation shelter. The team worshipped at Mr. Abe’s church and also prayer walked though several areas in Ishinomaki.
The following video is from early work in the Shintate neighborhood working on the Mr. and Mrs. N’s house. There is an interview of Mr. Abe. The street that is shown in the video was cleared just a few weeks ago. John worked with Roger Olson in mid April, who interpreted for Mr. Abe in this video. Continue to pray that more volunteer work will result in people knowing Christ. The video is a bit long but Mr. Abe, an award winning Chemistry teacher, explains the affect of the earthquake and tsunami on the people of Ishinomaki and the role you can play in this neighborhood’s recovery.