Tuesday the 5th

It’s been a few days since I’ve had a chance to update.  I got in last
night (Monday) after a 6 hr drive from Tokyo with 400 liters of water
and a generator.  The water was from CRASH for the Shichigahama folks
in refugee housing.  I was also able to take a couple boxes of cup
noodles.  The generator was procured from a store near Mark’s place,
the fourth place we had tried.  No one had them and they were not sure
when they would get any as they thought the generators would be sent
to the Tohoku.
Sunday was a good day as well.  I went to church with Mark and Mary
Esther.  I ended up staying until 4 pm talking with the folks there.
Good sign language practice for this Sat and Sun.  Back at M&ME’s I
was alone so I spent some time prepping for next Sunday.  I’m glad I
brought both the Japanese-English and the English-Japanese
dictionaries.  I should have brought a magnifying glass to read the
furigana on the side of the kanji in the Japanese Bible.  In the
evening after M&ME came home I was able to help Mark put up a ceiling
fan in their new place.
That brings me back to today.  Today we started cleaning out a store
that we have been parking at to go out into the surrounding
neighborhoods.  For those who know the area its Bikkuri Ichi, a store
that M&ME have shopped at while spending time at Takayama.  My
favorite part was cleaning out the walk-in freezer for storing meat.
After more than three weeks it had a definite odor.  I decided to toss
my gloves after that particular chore was finished.  There is still
more mud to muck out, as well as a kitchen I assume is for employees
to remove furniture, debris, etc. so we will be going back again
tomorrow.  Today’s group was largely made up of college students from
the Kanto area KGK group.  (KGK is the Japanese version of
InterVarsity  Christian Fellowship as opposed the KGB as one of the
other workers kept calling them).
We got back to the church at 5 pm.  Then I took the water and food to
the Shichigahama shelter/hdqr.  with Pastor Otomo.  They were
appreciative. That is probably the last water they will need as water
is being restored to the shelter.  (Still hasn’t come to Tak yet).  It
strikes me as somewhat ironic that I deposited 400 liters of water and
then spent the evening with the Steri-Pen my brother Tom gave me
making sure the tap water I got from the hose outside the church is
sterilized and drinkable. Thats all for now. - Bruce