This is an update from Pastor Yoshiya Kondo in Iwate prefecture, Japan, who has been serving and ministering in the disaster area since the tsunami.
Visited an evacuation shelter in Otsuchi town. The average age of the evacuees is apparently high. I listened to their story. “All the young ones got swallowed up by the tsunami when they went back toward the ocean (trying to rescue the people who were left behind)…”
When they come to themselves after being in so much shock and tension, what weighs heavily on their minds is the worries for future. Rebuilding the town…? The reality is: who could possibly be the ones to rebuild it? It’s not just the support and rescue needed now. It is needed that in the 10, 20 years to come, the Church serves these communities, brings the gospel, and be the ones to rebuild the town. But then I face the reality that there are so few churches in the area. I pray that there will be churches in Iwate that will be the ones to help rebuild the town. That the prayers and thoughts will not be temporary but be continued, and that new ministries will spring up from among them. I pray that from the bottom of my heart. (by Pastor Yoshiya Kondo in Morioka city, Iwate)