Messages Item: Iwaki Branch Visit 29 May 2011
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For those of you who served in Iwaki, the closest mission city to the Fukushima Daiichi Reactor, 1973-75 RM Rob Carlson's visit documented below will hit home. Thanks to Rob for sharing his poignant experience and pictures with us who have worried about our members and friend who live in Iwaki:
On May 29, 2011 I visited the Iwaki Branch to attend church. I had been anxious to visit Iwaki as a sign that “we” (meaning all the former missionaries that served in Iwaki and the Japan Sendai Mission) have not forgotten them and that we continually have them in our thoughts and prayers.
I was thrilled, grateful and relieved that so many members were at church. As far as I know none of the members suffered significant direct personal injuries or damage to living quarters from the earthquake and resulting tsunami. Of course, they did have some damage to contents of homes. And, more importantly, the emotional toll continues to be high for many. I had one member tell me that they feel lethargic and have no desire to do anything – which is a perfectly normal reaction to such a traumatic event. Anything we can do to support and encourage them will yield great dividends in the lives of the members.
After the church meetings we had a “shokuji-kai” of curry rice made by the teenagers in the branch –it was good. I found it wonderful for the members to stay and mingle with each other; fellowshipping each other. I am including 3 photos that I took (more text below).
I presented a gift to the branch of a cherry bowl I had made from wood taken from a tree felled in a tornado in Northern Alabama. This particular piece of wood was not one that I had planned to make into a bowl – it was from the end of a log and had started to split before I could work on it. However, I set it aside in my garage and left it for about two years. Last fall I decided to see if I could fill in the cracks with epoxy and make a usable bowl from it. I am attaching a couple of photos of it (top and bottom). You will see that there are lots of cracks that have been filled, but the overall bowl is, if I may say so, beautiful. When I told the members the story of this bowl I said that Iwaki and Tohoku are somewhat like this bowl – they have been damaged, but still can recover and be made beautiful again. I also said that I consider this to be a gift from all of those missionaries who have served in Iwaki and the Japan Sendai Mission as a token of our love and concern for them and so that they will know that we have not forgotten them.
The full time missionaries have not returned to Iwaki yet and there are various opinions of how soon they will return (especially given that Iwaki is the closest church unit to the Fukushima Daiichi power plant). However, there is a missionary couple that has been temporarily assigned to serve in Iwaki on a part-time basis. Brother and Sister Wada are from Yokohama and had been serving as church service missionaries in the Tokyo area. However, they had been asked to go to Iwaki and assist in missionary work. While they stay in Iwaki they live in the missionary’s apartment, but also return to their home in Yokohama occasionally. They are wonderful people and have been visiting a lot of the resting members. I told them that before my next trip to Japan I will try to digitize and print all my photos from Iwaki (taken in 1974-1975) so that they can take these photos with them when they visit resting members to see if they can identify anybody. (My next trip will be on June 12 – and I only return from this trip on June 4th – so I have lots of work to do during the week I am home!) There will be a district conference in Koriyama on June 19 and I plan to attend it and give the photos to Wada kyodai.
The members are holding up well, though I noted some feelings of “abandonment” (my choice of word) that the missionaries are gone and that there is no indication of when they will return. Of course they understand the safety issues that led to the decision, but they really look forward to the return of the full-time missionaries to Iwaki. That will be a sign to them that things are becoming more normal (a new normal from before 3/11/2011, but a “normal” nonetheless).
That reminds me that I have not commented on the damage I saw – there was very little visible damage. I saw several dwellings that had blue tarps on them to cover roof damage. It looked like dwellings with clay shingle roofs were most susceptible to damage – the heavy shingles being dislodged. I did not see any homes or buildings that had collapsed and it was only as I was on the train from Tokyo and went along the coast that I could see damage from the tsunami – and most of it seems to have been cleaned up from Iwaki to the south. The radiation levels are reportedly not excessive (according to the figures that appear in newspapers each day); I had no concerns about being in Iwaki.
Being in Japan and having better access to news about the ongoing recovery efforts throughout Tohoku makes me realize how little is being reported in the U.S. media – it seems like the only thing we hear about are the problems at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. There is much, much more going on. There is also a lot being done by many people to relieve the burdens that so many people face. It is heart-warming and heart-rending at the same time.
Please keep these people – and also those throughout the Tohoku area in your prayers. If you have ways to do so, get hold of people living in the region and let them know of your concern for them. I feel that my visit to Iwaki was a good morale booster for the members – somebody from ”outside” was willing to come to Iwaki and be with them. All the people in Tohoku – and especially those along the Pacific coast areas – will need this type of moral support for a long time to come. I am very fortunate that my work brings me here frequently and allows me the opportunity to visit them.
I’m sorry this is so long, but I wanted to let you know how things are in Iwaki and that those members are striving to remain faithful under trying conditions.
Best regards,
Rob Carlson
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