Just before Christmas Yas Yoneda and John and Elaine Mehn went to Tohoku to visit families who have received Converge Worldwide help since the earthquake and tsunami. Here are the highlights from each of the team members.
Yas – The trip to the Ishinomaki city with John and Elaine to visit some 20 families stricken by the tsunami was a rewarding experience. We prepared to bring these dear friends a grand Christmas greeting with Elaine’s handmade ornaments, a box of Christmas cookies, a Christmas card, and a Bible. John and I know firsthand how hard “mudding” is and how important it is to do a thorough job, but we hardly saw a finished product until now. To see a house completely refurbished and sit down with the families in their warm living room made me realize all the hard work was worth the effort. I know it took a “village” to do the job and I wish each and every one of you could have experienced these grateful and welcoming families. Your hard work set the tone for sharing with them the gospel message. Thank you volunteers and thank you brothers and sisters who prayed for all of us. I suspect the dividends will continue to come in as we continue this important work of spreading God’s message of love and forgiveness.
Elaine – Over the months of John making trips to help in Ishinomaki I have heard lots of names but now I have faces and personalities to go with those names. Even though this was my first time to meet the people we visited, I felt like I had known them for years. Each of the ladies we talked with were people that I would love to have as my neighbors so we could sit and talk often. It was such a blessing to me to be able to bring hope to people who had lost so much but even more so to see smiles return. Yes, there is still much to do and the emotional pain will continue but in Christ we can have hope for a bright future.
John – We have shared about Mr. and Mrs. S. whose home and interior decorating business were nearly completely destroyed by the tsunami. He has to go to the hospital every other day for four hours of dialysis. Mr. S. invited us into his workroom that earlier we had helped to restore. Over coffee we talked for nearly an hour, exchanged our Christmas greetings and shared with him a Bible. He was very open to the gospel. He shared that he found the Buddhism that he was raised on was meaningless to him. I explained how Elaine and I both personally know how futile religion can be. I told him that we had met Jesus Christ personally and we hoped he would too. He was very intrigued by a personal relationship with God himself. Pray that God would continue to help them rebuild from this tragedy and also to know the God of Hope personally.