Today I once again made the long drive to Miyako city in Iwate. We left Tokyo around 1:30PM and got to Miyako at 10PM. This week we are here with a team from Wheaton College Graduate School. They have recently started up the Humanitarian Disaster Institute, the first faith-based academic disaster research center in the country and they are here to learn about the relief work and explore possibilities for further involvement. Co-directors Dr. Jamie Aten and Dr. David Boan have come with a doctoral graduate student and are accompanied by the director of Covenant World Relief, David Husby so fellow missionary and co-worker Tim Johnson and I are showing them some of the work here over the next few days. We will be in Miyako and Ofunato, areas where the 3-11 Iwate Church Network is deeply involved in the relief and recovery efforts.
It’s been over four months since my last trip to Tohoku so I’m eager to see how things are progressing and once again have a small part in this crucial ministry of compassion. Tomorrow we will be visiting the largest temporary housing complex in Miyako City where several hundred residents are living. They were all displaced when the tsunami destroyed over 1850 of the 2100 homes in the town of Taro on the northern edge of Miyako. I’ll probably have lots more to say after once again visiting this area that suffered almost complete destruction so please stay tuned. For now the only photos I have are of our dinner stop in Morioka City on the way up. The sushi was great!
