Missions and Outreach

The six River City team members have returned from an amazing missions trip to Japan to help in the relief efforts. We are humbled and blessed to have served the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami of March 11th. The people of Japan have suffered much but are very gracious.

If you live close to San Antonio join our team this Friday evening the 30th for a time of celebration and reporting on our trip. We’ll meet at the River City Community Church Redland campus (Adult Study Room A) at 7:00 PM.

(written by Jerry) Yes, we’ve left the base camp in Tono City in Iwate Prefecture, driven to Tokyo, and spent the evening in Komagome with friends. The drive was long but the blessings were great.

During the past two weeks we’ve worked in the tsunami disaster area of northern Japan…some removing debris from a church, from an office, from fields; some serving people living in temporary housing with hot and cold drinks, snacks, games, listening, playing with children, praying with those who have lost everything (homes, businesses, cars, and family members); some distributing food, clothing and supplies to survivors; some cleaning and sorting photos found so the owners can hopefully reclaim these precious memories; some walking or driving and praying for the restoration of this land, for the people who survived, for the thousands of volunteers, for the churches, and for the many who need to know Jesus in Japan.

We’ve forged friendships with other volunteers from Japan, California, Hawaii, and around the world working together to bless the survivors of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.

Thank you to all who have made this possible, either by releasing us to serve, or providing funds, or praying for us. You have blessed us beyond measure.

Today marks the end of our ministry in Japan for this season. But it is only the beginning of what God will be doing in this country. We return to America full of stories, full of blessing, full of a desire to see the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami restored to fullness of life.

God bless you, God bless the thousands of volunteers, and God bless the people of Japan.

As we were cleaning out a small office building, one man showed me how he felt very lucky because he walked into the lower floor of his building and found these papers in the mud and rubble. His building is owned by a group of local businessmen who pooled their money for the investment. The first column lists the name of the business, and the second column lists the president of those companies. He felt lucky because most of these men were washed away with the Tsunami, and this will help him to remember his friends.

These children joined us for hot cocoa and light snacks, then brought their parents out to meet us. The father of the two older children, and mother of the two younger ones wanted to know why foreigners would come so far just to play with a few children on a wet and dreary day. As a culture, the Japanese do not show emotion, but these parents were visibly moved by this simple act of love.

(written by Bo Bowman) Today I was part of the team that helped to clean family photos. The night before when I found that was my assignment for the day I had some misgivings. As usual the Lord had plans for me that I didn’t fully understand.  As I cleaned the photos I would pray over the photo for the family or person in the photo.

During the day families and individuals would come in and look for their photos. To see the joy on their faces when they walked out with their photos was worth the time spent cleaning them. I am still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the scope of this destruction.

This day was our sabbath…a day to rest, refresh, and renew…attended a Japanese Christian church…had real Japanese food at a living history village from the Edo (early 1,800′s) period. A few games in the evening, group devotions, and prayer…and we called it a day. Only one earthquake today.

(written by Billy Carlisle) I know a lot of Christians. I’m not just talking about the nominal Christians who occasionally listen to a radio or TV preacher. I’m talking about stalwart men and women of deep faith and profound commitment to Jesus Christ who live their lives as shining examples of God’s grace an mercy. I probably know over 1,000 who would also admit knowing who I am. If I made acquaintance with that number of Japanese Christians, it would be no exaggeration to claim a mutual friend between every other Christian in Japan. Think about that for a moment.

The house where we are staying is hosting many groups and individuals from all over the world. 15 nationalities have slept on the tatami floors in this house over the last 4 months. Last week, I’m told there was a team from Korea, another from South Africa, an individual from Switzerland, and a number of citizens from other parts of Japan who came to help with the relief effort in the Iwate prefecture. Four different languages (5 if you count Afrikaans), and vastly disparate cultures would under normal circumstances create high tension in such tight quarters. These are not normal circumstances. There is a strong sense of purpose among those who come here to work, a purpose that transcends language and cultural barriers, and meets people at the point of their need. With intimate knowledge of the people, culture and language, the American missionaries who are now directing the teams coming and going every few days are uniquely qualified to coordinate these short-term teams.

Churches in Japan are very small by American standards; they struggle to break the 30 member mark. A team of 10 Japanese pastors from Western Japan joined us this week. They traveled 7-10 hours over (and under) the mountains to minister to the victims of the Tsunami. They only spent 3 days with us, but their pastoral experience, spiritual maturity, and compassion for the people of Japan could not have provided a better foundation for the rest of our mission here. As we talked to them over the course of their short stay here, Jerry and Robin discovered connections to their churches, and identified mutual friends. I met a lady who said she had been to San Antonio several years ago, visiting her sister and brother-in-law, Sam. Later, as I was telling Jerry about her, he knew immediately who I was talking about, and had close ties to Sam and his sister-in-law. For that matter, our missionary hosts also had close ties with them.

It has been six months since the earthquake and tsunami. There has been an incredible amount of work accomplished in the ensuing period, but at a fresh glance, it seems that the work has barely begun. The victims are living in some of the neatest, and cleanest little prefab apartments you have ever seen. The accommodations, though modest, seem more than adequate. I have not seen evidence of problems in getting food and water to the victims and relief workers. The basic needs have been met, but these people are largely homeless, and stand on the edge of hopelessness. Their homes, businesses, and personal belongings have all been ripped, shredded and emulsified intractably with those of their fellow citizens. The small things that we are doing here are immensely important, and the timing critical. For a culture whose sense of community is so integral to their identity, we can have no greater mutual friend than Jesus.

(written by Robin Schroeder) Psalm 46 tells us that even though the earth is shaken and the mountains fall into the sea the Lord is still our fortress and our strength. As we are still and know that He is God, He will be exalted. We are in a place where we have seen the earth shaken and things being washed out to the sea. Our prayer is that we will be a gentle witness of the greatness of God to the people we meet.

We drive through beautiful mountains, unbelievably gorgeous pastoral scenes and then turn a corner to see only destruction. Buildings are wiped out, houses washed away, cars smashed, boats up high…the contrast is shocking!

One of the major goals of CRASH is to bring healing to hurting hearts through the Mobile Cafes. With tents, tables, snacks and a variety of drinks both hot and cold and a book table where people can take Christian books for free, people can sit around and talk. Each day is a different experience.

One time Jerry and I were talking with two older ladies as they shared their experience of the tsunami. After the earthquake one lady carried her elderly mother on her back up to the second floor. Then she ran up and down the stairs many, many times taking up her mom’s medicine, rice cooker, hot pot, everything her mother would need to take care of her. Then her mother urged her to check on her own children and grandchildren so she went out to do that. Then the tsunami hit and although this lady was safe her mother was washed away and they never found her body. All her family living in a neighboring city was all washed away. The other lady didn’t say much, but what she said was heavy…her husband was washed away and she is now a widow. Story after story of the sorrows!

Today a lady told me that all 8 members of her family were safe but they lost everything. Older men said they were young they were taught to climb the mountain to safety when a tsunami hit and. The younger people have been trained to go to the community center and many didn’t survive. It made me think that we go to the Rock and we are safe; others follow the crowd to destruction.

It is wonderful watching the team bond with the Japanese and the loving care they each are giving. Each of has had incredible experiences meeting someone that really touches our hearts. Japan is home to me and it feels totally natural to be here, yet it is great to see with the fresh eyes of the team. Each member tries to communicate as best they can and the people respond to the love they sense. We all need prayer in being able to communicate. Today I finally pulled out my electronic dictionary because I just didn’t understand what a man was trying to tell me. He was so impressed that I had used the dictionary to make sure I understood him. We are all finding ways to communicate love and grace.

(written by Kristin Sedate) Today we were tearing down the ceiling and pulling out the moldy walls in an office building; it is so enjoyable working alongside the Japanese people. But Kristen Alarcon and I were the only girls at the site amongst about 20 men who had chainsaws and crowbars and lots of enthusiasm for demolition so it quickly became apparent that we were not integrally needed for a short time and that it might actually be safer if we were not “in the way” for a bit. So I suggested she and I go for a prayer walk around a few blocks until it was time for us to help with picking up all the fallen debris in the office building. We told our leader where we were going and then we were off. We came across an abandoned building (most all the buildings near the sea in Kamaishi are still abandoned as they are in the process of rebuilding from the tsunami) that had a 2nd floor balcony and we decided to go up to the 2nd floor to be able to look out over the city and possibly the sea. When we got into the building, we quickly realized it was a school of some sort and while the bottom floor was completely washed out, the 2nd floor still had children’s names and birthdates, and decorations on the wall.

The natural thought that followed upon realizing we were in a school, was the painful possibility that we were standing in a place where children had been hurt or even killed by the tsunami. We could tell from the water destruction and water marks on the wall, that the tsunami wave had come in very hard and very high and that young children would not have stood a chance if they had been there. Kristen and I prayed over the school and for the children and parents and walked on with heavy hearts. As we returned back to work, I felt led to ask one of the young Christian men, who was working with us from the local church, about the school because I could not rest until I found out the fate of those children.

I pointed to the building and asked him if it had been a school and he answered me, “Ah, yes, Kindergarten School.” And then he immediately followed that with, “And the principal of the school was a member of our church.” I gulped and repeated, “WAS?” (I thought if the principal was a “was” then the children must have not made it out either). When he heard my question and saw the sadness on my face, he realized his English mistake and quickly said, “No, no, the principal IS a member of our church…and he saved the lives of 60 children. He got ALL the kindergartners to higher ground!” I was so excited to hear this great testimony of God’s mercy that I wanted to jump up and down and run through the streets whooping and hollering, but I abstained (due to Daniel Espinoza’s great training in cultural sensitivity). 

But I was filled with hope that for all the stories of death and sadness in the area, that were stories of heroism and survival, too. I loved that a Christian principal, one of maybe only 24 Christians in a town of 40,000, had the opportunity to save young lives, and perhaps make an impact on the Buddhist or Shintoist parents of those children. Maybe the parents, or those 60 children themselves as they grow up, will have the thoughts that there is a One True God, Creator of all the Earth, who was watching over them that day of the tsunami and that He continues to see them and care about them and that He longs to have a personal relationship with them. I pray that each of those kindergartners will realize that God created them for a great purpose and that they already have a wonderful testimony of God’s love and mercy. 60 young people on fire for Christ could change a city … the city of Kamaishi … forever. This is what hope looks like.

Our first work day, I was assigned to a team that was to tear down walls in a woman’s house so a carpenter could come in and start to rebuild it. The smell of mold was pretty overwhelming as soon as we stepped inside. We would take off layers just to see how bad it was underneath. We had to rip out insulation as well.  That left a huge mess all over the floor that we had to shovel out.

Hammering away at those walls and ripping them apart with pry bars and crow bars, God really spoke to me that this is much like the work that has to be done in our hearts. Sometimes things that are happening to us can feel like they’re tearing us apart. Sometimes things are ripped out of our lives and the things that are happening to us can even seem violent at times. But really, all the gunk and things that are keeping us from God need to be cleaned out before He can come in and rebuild and we can start to heal.

The more we would tear away at the walls, the more stuff we would find. Our hearts are the same way. When God starts to work in our lives and shine His light, more and more is revealed that needs to be dealt with and cleaned out so we can be more like Him. Sometimes the violent clearing out can leave a huge mess that then needs to be cleaned up. But the end result of getting all of that waterlogged, mold-ridden, harmful stuff (just as the sin in us) can make us sick and even lead to death is so beautiful. It felt better in there and really smelled better.

I pray that even something as destructive as this Tsunami can have this healing effect. I pray that it will be a clearing out and washing away to make room for Jesus to come into the hearts of the many Japanese that don’t know Him. Even though it’s left so much that needs to be cleaned up and cleared out, through all of this He can come in and the end result will be beautiful.

Kristen Alarcon