Tohoku Trip 3 Post #2

We were planning BBQ and the weather was not cooperating –  it rained all night. We had devotions,  set out early and arrived to pick up Akifumi who would be joining us for the day.  Aki is in the middle of this picture right next to Kosuke.  (Aki and Kosuke met each other for the first time last summer when they both attended TBC’s Camp 45) For the past two months Aki has been visiting this village with his mother to look for his missing relatives and only a couple of weeks ago finally located two of them.

The weather cleared up wonderfully for the rest of the day.

Our plan was to involve as many of the local people as possible.

In this picture the ladies all joined in to help with the rice and the salad.  Notice the outside toilets that the people are still using as they do not yet have any running water.

Let me now introduce you to one awesome high school boy.  This lad gets up 30 minutes early EVERY morning and volunteers to clean all of the toilets you see in the last picture.  This is one aspect of Japanese culture that I really like.

Well, with a bit of help and a lot of fun we got the fire going and began to cook the chicken.  It actually became quite hot by the fire but nothing deterred us and the goal was achieved.

Friendships were made –  the chicken tasted so good.

Making the fire was dirty work for some but over all it seemed that they enjoyed every minute of it.

The local young folks were excited to be able to share a meal with us that actually had meat in  it.

One of the apartment buildings had just been renovated about the time of the earthquake and would soon be occupied by folks who were staying in the evacuation centres.  These were the apartments that we had been making kitchen kits for.

Louie was also on the Camp 45  mission trip to Taiwan with Kosuke and Akifumi and had spent a lot of time with him there.  So today was a wonderful time for the three of them to spend together.

When all the food was eaten we talked for awhile and then took this group photo.  It is amazing how friendships can be formed or deepened by sharing a meal together.

As his custom was Mr. Oikawa sat us down and talked together with us as a team.  We took this opportunity to pray for him and the community.  DTS leader David felt he would like to come back and do this again another time.

Mr. Oikawa also cooked some fresh fish for us that they had recently.  It seemed the correct way to eat them is head first then work your way down to  the tail .

Here is Derick demonstrating the right technique.