The start of what could be considered a miracle

Sunrise! It is going to be a good day!

Well... as I predicted this week proved to be the most challenging of them all. I left Kesennuma on Saturday after sleeping on the LECC Center floor because logistics had not been correctly handled leaving me no place to sleep in Kesennuma. Worked out pretty well actually because it resulted in me having the opportunity to camp out at the beach a couple days later.

I arrived in Tsuchiura on Saturday afternoon, where my Child hood best friend greeted me… Tomita San (the Church Secretary) we were able to grab a bit to eat that night and that was pretty great!! The plan was to have me attend church in Mito about 40 minutes away by train in the morning and then return for church in my hometown in the afternoon.

This portion of the Blog post is available upon request. Send me an email asking to see the four paragraphs that have been removed from here, for the time being, and I will be more than happy to provide it to you. My email is hieb.jah@gmail.com.

Camping on the beach. It was perfect!

So that is why at the end of the day I had a significant amount of weight on my shoulders. I knew full well that what I had been feeling for the last two months had just been confirmed. I knew that all my fears were closer to becoming true than I had expected. And in fact I felt terrible for telling people in Kesennuma that the Church was going to continue to be a support for them… when in fact I had no proof that there was any plan for this to actually happen.

Visited with two of my home church shut ins. I have a lot of memories involving these two!

But enough about that. I want to tell you about what gave me the biggest smile I had received in nearly two months. I was able to have lunch with Pastor Haga and his family after the church service. Pastor Haga was at the seminary when I was in grade school. I remember him always playing at recess with us. I considered him to be an ideal role model. And today it was evident that that was still the case.

Pastor Haga introduced me to his children. When he got to his youngest child he explained that he had been diagnosed with Autism a few years prior. My face lit up (awkward I know), what he followed with made me want to hug the guy. He explained that at first they though that this was a bad thing but as he grew older and they learned more they came to realize that their son had some really amazing talents particularly in regards to his memory. He explained that they began to start seeing the blessings of their son’s current diagnosis.

I should briefly explain why I was so excited about this. A few years back I worked with Jesus Cares Ministries. This was my first experience working with people diagnosed with a developmental/intellectual disability. Since then I attempted to learn more about Autism and Aspersers specifically as I had been assigned a few cases in my job as a case manager where my clients were diagnosed with Autism or Aspersers. I had had numerous negative experiences with parents ho did not have this same opinion that Pastor Haga and his wife did. Finally getting to meet some one that felt that their son’s disability was actually a blessing was like getting to have a little slice of heaven.

hard to beat this morning view.

Pastor Haga and I talked about some resources available to him, it turned out that he had already ordered some of the Jesus Cares materials and wanted to translate some of the stuff into Japanese!! What is crazy is that I had been working on this while I was up in Kesennuma! Although I didn’t get as far as I had liked and my purpose was a bit different it was a wonderful way to connect resources. Pastor Haga explained that in Japanese culture having a child with this diagnosis pretty much means you are being punished for a relative’s sin and that the appropriate care for the child is rarely done. Pastor Haga wants to change this. In fact he explained that he wants to make it a focus at the spring joint church festival/day/service. BOOM! That is what I am talking about!!! Pastor Haga wants to get the rest of the LECC church on board with recognizing the benefits of reaching out to those with disabilities.

We talk for about two hours on this topic and we only touched the surface. I wish I had had more time to talk about some of the things I have learned over the years. But in the mean time what I promised to do was to get as much of the information I have on Autism and Jesus cares materials sent over to Pastor Haga. But it can’t end there. We can’t just give him the stuff… it’s a lot of stuff. So I am hoping we can figure out a way to give some training to Pastor Haga about how to do a worship at the cross service and how to use the materials that are available.

Plum Blossoms

This is what had got me so excited that I couldn’t sit still on the train ride back to my hometown. So many ideas were going through my head. What went through my head the most was… what if I had never come to this service? God has such ridiculous ways of showing you that he has plans for you… it really shouldn’t be this extravagant. Honestly I did not need to travel across the world to get this information and get excited about it. But the fact that I was made it 100 times better.

In the last post I asked you to pray for the contacts made in Kesennuma. This post I need you to kick your prayer into double time.

Rather than just pray for the church in Japan I want you to pray “ Please give the leaders of the church in Japan the ability and willingness to work as a team with their church and to build communication with their congregation so that they are able to spread god’s message of hope with those affected by the Tsunami. Please give the members of the church in Japan the compassion and support for their leaders that is so desperately needed at this critical moment. Please if it be your will allow the young and the old members to work together and to recognize the value that each member brings to the table whether they are a man or woman and old or young. If it be your will let them work together to develop a plan to help those in need by using the gifts they have to the maximum glory possible.”

And second I need you to pray this:

Tanaka San and I, We had the best day one could ask for.

Lord if it be your will be with the Haga family as they approach the blessings that you have put in their path. Give them the motivation and the love that is so necessary for those that you have given this blessing to. If possible let us be able to support pastor Haga and his congregation as they explore the benefits and challenges of doing outreach to those with Disabilities. If it be your will bless the challenge of translating materials and learning how to successfully share your love with those who have a disability. The Haga family has a long road ahead of them. Give them the constant encouragement that they need and the will and the energy to fight every day for their son.

Don’t just pray for the church and for the Haga family. Get specific that is why I gave you details. You have what you need to really pray hard for them. Please do it. Then, after you pray, ask yourself if there is anything else that you can do. And then do that!

Last Night in K-Town!!!

So many things are going through my mind right now. It is my last night in Kesennuma tonight. It has been quite the roller coaster. So many things I want to do yet... I still feel like I should have two weeks left. This week has been an exceptional week though. It was as if God just kept sending blessing after blessing and then challenge after challenge. I would go to bed every night excited about the day and what was to come the following morning but then at the same time wake up every morning thinking... Ahhh crap what am I going to have to deal with today.

I have had a lot of first while here in Kesennuma... but some of my favorite memories have happened this week. On Monday I spent the day with two of my students going to see a World Heritage location called Hiraizumi? It’s a bunch of temples...most famous is the temple completely covered in gold and precious shells. The day proved to be a wonderful experience. We managed to lock the keys in the car, which was a fun challenge!!! I offered to use my wana be car-jacking skills but in the end we decided to let a gas station man do it... While waiting for the gas station dude we ate a Japanese snack... it was Devils tongue!!! This proved to be more difficult to eat than anything yet this whole trip. In fact I would eat the fish eyeballs over this again... On the way back to Kesennuma we had a wonderful discussion about death. Ms. Osawa and Mr. Takahashi were really wonderful to have a conversation with. I had the opportunity to tell them what Christianity teaches about what will happen after you die. The funny thing is they have asked me this question before... and I am sure they will continue to ask it again... What is important is that they keep asking...because that means they are thinking about it. That means that we need to keep listening... because you can't talk until you listen.

Once we got back I had a dinner party with the Lion Chaser at his home with his family. You wouldn't realize what a big deal this is unless you experienced Japanese culture. But this is huge. I remember only having dinner at a Japanese person's house a few select times when I was growing up. Dinner was at 6PM I didn't leave until 9:30PM. I had the opportunity to me the Lion Chaser's oldest son and as I expected I was very impressed. We had curry for dinner. Our conversation was just perfect the whole night. I brought a dinner party gift as would be expected. I introduced him to Guinness! We had talked about this a few days ago and he said that one day he would like to try it... long story short there is one store in Kesennuma that sells it and Ms. Osawa was the one that found it!!! I felt like we had been friends for years and we were just hanging out. They explained to me that I was the first non-Japanese person to ever step foot in their home. Not only was I in their home but also eating dinner in their home. They explained that they never expected this to happen. I feel truly blessed. That was a better pat on the back that I could have ever received. By the end of the night I was walking away with gifts for Andrea and tears in my eyes. It was the last time I was going to see them for what may very well be forever.

Tuesday I had my first class with a new student. Yuki San! I wish I had met him sooner as he seems to be a really interesting person. We decided to have class every morning at 9:00AM :/ this is kind of early for me over here in Japan. So I decided that since we were only going to have a few classes I was going to make breakfast for each class. We have had French toast and "eggs in a nest". Class has been awesome and I am really bummed out that I cannot continue teaching him.

Wednesday I met a very wonderful woman. She plays a Japanese instrument called the Koto. She is an old classmate of Ms. Sato who unexpectedly dropped by. She also happens to own the company that delivers the newspaper in the area. Did I mention she also makes a local newspaper that gets sent out twice a week to thousands of people in our area? And did I mention that when I found this out I obviously asked her what it would cost for me to get an add in here local paper for the LECC relief center? Well that all happened and guess what her answer was? "What do you want me to put? I'll do it for free! How many issues do you want it in there for?" I went to bed that night more upset than happy. I couldn't help but think, "how come this had to happen two days before I leave!!!! I want to develop this relationship!!!!! GRRRRRRRRR

The next day I had a wonderful breakfast with Yuki San! I was then quickly swept away by another Student who wanted to spend some time with me before I left. Mr. Takahashi and I went to the Onsen (hot spring). The whole getting naked in public wasn't an issues rather for me its always been having to sit there and just relax that I can't handle... I usually just want to be doing something... meeting a goal. It was a really great afternoon. However due to the Onsen being so far away I ended up canceling two appointments. But spending the time together was totally worth it. I saw more destruction then I ever imagined... I can't even explain to you the feeling I had when I saw some of those things. I was later told that Mr. Takahashi was really struggling with me leaving. Ms. Osawa explained that he thought of me an extra son. This made me happy but also very disappointed in myself for allowing this to happen as I was determined to not allow a strong relationship develop between me and another but rather between the LECC and another. Yet I know that Mr. Takahashi was a gift from God to help me and encourage me to keep going day after day here in Kesennuma. One day in about five years, Mr. Takahashi plans to take a trip either that is going to be a trip to some tropical island or to Wisconsin... where he wants to grill out... The tailgate had a big effect on him ;)

Later on Thursday afternoon I was serenaded by the Japanese Harp in a private-ish concert. You haven't been sung to until you have been sung the famous Japanese song "Sakura Sakura" by a professional Koto. It is probably a step below what I would think an Angel sounds like. I will never forget this experience. And to think she had only met me the day before. She explained that this rarely happens that she would do this but for some reason she had some spare time and just felt that it was a way to thank me... I am eternally grateful for that experience.

Thursday evening I attended toastmasters. This was a tough night for Ms. Osawa the club decided that because they were losing so many members at the end of the month they were going to make some very significant changes... It was sad news as Ms. Osawa and I had talked weeks ago about these changes and she had told me what her feelings were towards the changes. This will prove to be a challenge for her. My hope is that the volunteers to follow realize the value in attending this club and will become a support to Ms. Osawa and the others that participate in it.

After toastmasters ended I went out for a bite to eat with a couple of NICCO staff. I had the opportunity to meet them through Toastmasters and I am hoping that we can continue to develop a strong relationship. NICCO is a non-profit that does Community Development around the world. They currently have a branch in Kesennuma.

But before going with them I had to say good-bye to Ms. Osawa, I thought saying good-bye to my Fiancé sucked... but saying good bye to Ms. Osawa was something I hope I never have to do again. It was Ms. Osawa who was with out a doubt an Angel sent from God. With out her there is no way I would have made the connections I did. We hoped to see each other again but we both knew that it was a very slim chance that that would ever happen. She will never be forgotten.


Friday. My last day in Kesennuma. I checked out of my hotel pretty early. Said my good byes... being at that hotel was a blessing. I can't begin to explain to you what a support the staff are to the LECC Center... They don't really know they are but at the same time they do... ya know what I mean?
Yuki and I had our last class. We agreed that for the next week he would still do English studying and I would teach him through the use of Skype and over the phone. We wanted to make sure he stayed focus and having a week break may de-motivate him... so we are going to do that for a while. I then had lunch with a man by the name of Daniel Ross. He is an English teacher here in Kesennuma that I had met... that went really well and we discussed some ways that we can be supports for each other... he gave me some great resources to read about working in a team and facilitating communication!!!

My last class with Mr. Suzuki was memorable. We ate snacks until we couldn't... we described the snacks we were eating until we were sick of saying it was sweet or salty... Then we exchanged gifts. I gave him a cross-tied from rope. He gave me so much more. He gave me a music box that played a Japanese song titled "never give up on your dream". He wrote me a letter that I will never loose. What is also crazy is that I know where he got the music box from... I was at the store a few days prior... The music box is not something he could afford... It was exceptionally hard to say good-bye to Mr. Suzuki.

My evening ended with Mrs. Sato and her husband. Twice in one week I was invited into some ones house and had dinner... This has got to be a record! I am telling you this is not a normal thing for a foreigner to be invited into the home and then actually eat in their home... not after just two months and limited contact during that time. We had a great evening. We talked a lot... My only regret is not taking more time to get to know Mrs. Sato and her husband better. My hope is that the others to follow me will be able to make up for my failure to understand the needs of Mrs. Sato and her Husband and then respond to those needs appropriately.

I finished my last evening here in Kesennuma with going to the Temporary Restaurants by the Harbor to say good bye to those that I had gotten to know. I gave them all a card...and a picture of me (obviously), and a cross made from some rope... In case you are interested in why I gave them this I included a picture and a brief description.

 Black--- Sin
Red--- Jesus blood
Green ---- Life forever and ever... there is lots of green because Life in Heaven is the best!!!
Cross--- what Jesus did to give us that Life

It is a simple as it could be. It doesn't need to be complicated. I learned that through Jesus Cares Ministries. And man were they right. Ask Mr. Suzuki (if you ever see him) what the colors mean. He knows... he knows it better then the name of fruits and vegetables...and He sells Fruits and Vegetable for a living!

The following week is going to prove to bee the most challenging. The last seven weeks have only been God giving me the necessary research to be able to succeed this week. My first stop is my child hood home church and then later that week lots of other stuff that I will tell you about later.

Have a wonderful weekend every one. If it’s not too much to ask please remember the people here in your prayers this weekend. The center that many relied on for consistency and a support will be closed for a week and for some this will be difficult. Pray that they continue to attend class and meet with the new volunteer in April. Because one day... it might mean getting to see them in heaven. And that would be FREAKING SWEET!!!

Exodus 13 Part 3!!!

 

Part three of Exodus 13 was going to be an example of how we are implementing the concept of Empowering people here in Kesennuma. Many have asked me what the point of teach English is particularly in a situation where there are people that are still in need of basic needs and other such things. To be honest this is a completely legitimate question. The answer lies in the LECC Vision and Mission statement, which I am hoping, will be developed before I leave. And when it is I will share it with you so that the answer to the English class question is answered.

In the mean time here are two stories in reference to how we are Empowering people here in Kesennuma.

Mr. Suzuki on our last Friday afternoon class

The First is Mr. Suzuki. This man really has a lot of challenges in front of him. But he has proven to have more motivation than anyone I have ever met. He has been a true inspiration to me but to others here that are involved with the relief center. Mr. Suzuki came to me in my first week in Kesennuma. He explained that he wanted to learn English because he wanted to be able to get a job. Mr. Suzuki is in his 50’s and recognized that he needed something that set him apart from all the young people that were also looking for a job. He also reported that he was unable to do hard labor as he has some health problems hindering him. He needed English so that he could get an office job. When asked how often he wanted to study he said…every day. I took a deep breath and thought…what am I going to do every day for English class when I don’t have a single piece of teaching material and no Internet. God sure does have a sense of humor sometimes. I was positive he was just messing with me to have a lil fun. But two months later Mr. Suzuki and I have had class every day except for Mondays (My day off). We have had conversations about business, office work, religion, home life, health, happiness, sadness, American baseball (I did not do well with this convo as I am not a sports enthusiast like the rest of the males in my family), and everything in between. We even managed to get in some good reading and a lot of learning.

Mr. Suzuki doesn’t have a job yet. But he looks every day. Some days you can really tell he is frustrated with it… but he comes to class and he comes with an attitude ready to study, ready to change his life. This is where Empowering is an awesome thing to watch. You have someone or some organization doing the empowering and you then you see the one being empowered filled with motivation… It is something I rarely got to see in my past career… If the USA had parents in child welfare with motivation like this guy… there would be so many smiles you would have to move to Illinois to get away from them.

Any way, back to empowering. The relief center provides a service. We provide a way for this man to achieve his goal with out hand feeding him. We don’t just give him money or a job and call it quits. Nope, we help him. We provide something for free because he wants it and he uses it to reach his goal. He is the one doing all of the work. And when he finally gets a job where hopefully he can use his English he is going to have an unstoppable self-esteem. And one day he may remember some of the conversations we had…and then maybe… God willing he will find out what ever happened to the LECC and want to learn more about why they taught him English for free.

Mr. Suzuki also motivated others. You see I had more classes with him than all of my English students combined. But what put a smile on my face was the other day when Mrs. Sato said to us that she was inspired by Mr. Suzuki’s dedication to learn. She also felt that she had finally realized that it was ok to speak “broken English”. She realized that after all of these years of being afraid to talk because it might not be right was not necessary. Communication was what was important… it was speaking up even if it wasn’t exactly the right word. Because if you say the wrong word… you can always explain what you mean… but if you say nothing at all then you are as good as the rubble left by the Tsunami.

Mr. Satoshi on our last Wednesday evening class

Another example of the Center Empowering others could be Mr. Satoshi who wanted to learn better conversational English so that he could do his magic tricks in English and maybe one day be able to perform. English class acted only as a way for him to understand the things he was saying so that he could reach his personal goal. We didn’t do the Magic for him and we didn’t tell him what to say. One day Mr. Satoshi is going to come to the States… and after he goes to Vegas to see his dream magician he is going to cruise over to WI where he wants to experience a Wisconsin tailgate. I am pretty excited for that day to come!

Yuri is a new student. I just met him on St. Patty’s day. This guy is one pretty cool cat. The long and the short of it is that he wants to learn English so that one day he can go to Australia for a year and work. He also has motivation…in fact he comes to class every morning at 9:00AM. He walks in tired sees me just as tired and then we start by making breakfast. So far he has had French toast and “Eggs in a nest”. We have had some pretty great mornings so far!!!

Any who there are plenty of ways for us to mess up this Empowering gig but as long as we remember that we are only here to give support encouragement… we will continue to make a difference. In the end God will decide how things will proceed.

One last example of Empowerment for you! Empowerment doesn’t just happen for a short time and then once some one reaches their goal we check out to never be a support again. The best example I can give you of this is the mission field in Japan. Now I may be a bit off on this… and that is fine… I have no problem being wrong. But before any of you get “all crazy on me” please note that this is supported by some pretty legitimate Bible stories.

Missionaries came to Japan… quite a while ago. Their Mission? I don’t actually know… I have no clue where their mission and vision statement is but if they have one I really hope is conveys the message that they were here to provide the tools necessary for the Japanese to grow their church and then leave allowing the Japanese to use the gifts that were trained onto them as well as given to them as a blessing from God. But it doesn’t end there! Empowering doesn’t ever end!

As a case manager there was a very significant word that went in front of my title… it was “Ongoing”. This means that even after a goal is reached you keep providing support. Well that is what the LECC relief Center does. That is where we come in you see. We are the ongoing support. We come here to provide support to the local church so that they can continue to grow and develop and God willing achieve their Vision for the Church in Japan. I will give you specifics on how we do this in another blog but for now all you need to know is the Relief center fits into the Empower model.

Blessings on the end of your week!!

LECC Kesennuma's First Tailgate!

Soooooo March 18th was a great day! I had the wonderful pleasure of having Mika San from the Toky church come up to Kesennuma to help me have a little English only Tailgate party at the LECC center. Now I say English only because we decided that this fun little event would be for my English students and that it would be an opportunity to let them practice their english around others that were studying english... I don't like to always be so serious when learning so this was an excelent way to have a lot of fun and get in some good practice. Not to mention that every one got to learn about a Wisconsin custom that is dear to my heart...Tailgating. Now don't worry we didn't have an official WI tailgate with obsene amounts of miller lite and a game of Bags. We strictly stuck to food...awesome food. In honor of Andrea's favorite we had taco dip...lots of it! We had some pasta salad, some kebabs with my secret bbq sauce, and some yummy yummy grilled up potatoes. We had 10 people in all show up for our lil shindig! some of my students were unable to attend because of work.

Over all the day went really well here. Every one agreed that they hope that other volunteers do similar things!!! Just a heads up ;)

Any way here are some videos and pictures from the party!

This is Mika! She deserves the Volunteer of the year award. This woman had the experience and the ability to really make some positive changes. There is no doubt in my mind that she was a gift sent straight to the LECC from God. and I am not talking about her culinary skills... I'm talking about the fact that she play a huge role when it comes to the HILTON's marketing in Asian cultures... Seriously, if you haven't heard of her yet you are not in the know...get with the program!

Ms. Osawa, aka Jesse's protective Angel from God, indulging in some tailgate action!

The Taco dip struggled... the younger two understood that you were suppose to eat it with chips...everyone else thought it was a salad :/

Mr. Suzuki!!!! This guy comes to class 6 out of 7 days a week!!! 

He is my personal fruit and vegetable broker!

Mika San and Kaori San made these cookies for the party!!! Mika made the cookie and Kaori decorated the packages. They were a huge hit even though Mika took out half the sugar that was called for in the recipe...apparently Americans got their sweets wrong...

Mr. Osawa with her two students! Oh and of course Mr. Takahashi San

Look at our awesome grill!!!!! All of my students said that this was the first time they had ever been a part of something like this! They all hope they get to do it again!

So on these Kebabs we have green, yellow and orange bell peppers, onion, chicken, pineapple, and my secret bbq sauce (there are 9 ingredients)

The ladies felt that my wooden Kebab skewers were no good so they transffered them to metal ones. This was a good move.

The spread! yes that is pasta salad in a garbage bag... there is a video coming soon to explain it!!!

Lots of eating and lots of talking...mostly in English!

 

Ms. Osawa with two of her students

Mr. Suzuki and Mr. Takahashi

Ms. Sato, Ms. Yuki, and Ms. Marilou

The whole Crew!!! Now all we need is a Brewer game to go to!!!

One Year Later

Exodus 16 Part 2: Empower the people!

What is Empowerment?



When I decided to do this “quick and little” Exodus 16 series I managed to underestimate the wealth of knowledge regarding the topic of empowerment. In fact I feel like I have read so much about empowering people and the different types of empowerment that I may be starting to dream about it. EEEEK!! So I have learned plenty about this topic for the time being and rather than write a 300 page report on what I have learned I am going to break this down so that it only meets the needs of our specific situation here in Kesennuma, Japan…and maybe a little bit more than that.



There are many different ways to demonstrate and define empowerment. Empowerment can be found in business, social services, religion, and in this situation, people with a need. When I am talking about “this situation” I am referring to providing aide to people who have been affected by a natural disaster. When I am talking about aide I am defining it as providing for basic needs, not military aide from a safety threat other than a natural disaster.



In the past few years as a Case Manager in Milwaukee’s Child Welfare system I had the opportunity to be trained on empowerment within the first few weeks of being on the job. To be honest I don’t remember anything about that training. Everything I learned about empowerment came from being on the job and having people above me who demonstrated effective, and sometimes ineffective, empowerment. I use to explain it to my clients in this way, “One of my roles is to empower you.  Pretty much the way I look at it is that I am here to help move certain road blocks so that you can make the effort and decisions on your own to reach your own goals.”



Maybe you are wondering why empowerment is so important that I felt a post needed to be designated to it. When one empowers another to meet their goal or to make a decision it results in an educational opportunity that will have a much longer effect on the individual than if someone were to just meet the goal or make the decision for them.



I have always had amazing supervisors. From working at Starbucks, to behind the bar, to Jesus Cares, to Child Welfare. The supervisors in those programs empowered the people they were in charge of and because of that the benefits were immeasurable. Some allowed me to make decisions even if they knew it was wrong. Because of this I learned much more and I was able to defend my decision making in the future.



So how does this apply? We here at the LECC center are not able to rebuild the life of a Japanese person affected by the Tsunami. Despite not having the manpower and the monetary funds to rebuild a whole city, doing something like that would actually cause more harm than good. Rather, as a center we have to recognize how we can empower the people of Kesennuma. If we do this correctly the effect will last much longer and the relationships built will be much more fruitful. Just giving them a gift card or a new house does nothing but meet a basic need for a short time. Even giving them a blanket only meets a need for a short time until the hot and humid summer comes around. The amount that people learn and take away from a situation where things are just given to them is miniscule compared to the education received when they are empowered to reach their own goals.



At this point many of you are probably thinking, “I can’t believe he just dissed our quilt making”. Before you really develop a hatred for what I just said I urge you to continue reading and listen to the explanation. The LECC recognizes that we have to in some way meet needs and empower people.  First they recognized that there are many people that still need things like blankets and clothes. So they provide that to those people. This is generally what gets people in through the center door. This gives the volunteers an opportunity to make a good first impression as well as figure out if there is a way that we can make a second, third, fourth impression and in doing so build a relationship between that person and the Church here in Japan. That is not all. Providing for the basic need does have a connection to building English class participation. Many of my students had their first interaction with the center when they received a blanket. They may not have come here had it not been for their basic needs being met.





The LECC also identified an open market to provide English classes to people who may want to acquire employment or become more valuable to their company as a bilingual employee. The LECC also realized that this was a way that the center could have repeated interaction with people in the area. This is where we apply that bread and butter empowerment stuff. The volunteers help an individual remove roadblocks that are possibly preventing them from acquiring employment since the tsunami. This means that the person receiving the service has to make their own decisions to apply themselves and find their own motivation to succeed. It is them doing it we are just here to help along the way. While this empowerment stuff is going on you also have a volunteer having multiple interactions with the individual. This isn’t all that easy actually. It’s vital that the volunteers have positive interaction with the person and demonstrates Christian love during these interactions. This will eventually cause people to ask why the volunteer is the way they are, opening the door to talk about Christ. It is also difficult because it is vital that the volunteer does not build too strong of a relationship with the person. The relationship needs to be built with the LECC, not the volunteer. This is even more difficult because old Japanese culture doesn’t support this per say.



So here it is simply. LECC needs to get people to walk in the door. They provide free basic needs (blankets for warmth). Those people receive basic needs and then find out that they could also learn English. If they learn English they may be able to get a whole range of other jobs. If they learn English they could do some of the things they have always wanted…like reading a book about magic so that they could increase their trick portfolio. This works because there is a market need, primarily in the younger generation, to learn English. Jobs are scarce here so being bilingual is an excellent way to get yourself noticed at the job fairs. Understand, though, that many of my students would not be able to come to class if they were worried about their family being cold or not having warm clothing to wear. I have one student who doesn’t come to class when it gets extremely cold, not because he is worried about himself but rather because he is worried about his mother being alone in a very cold house. Making sure she had a warm quilt met that need, and now I am able to meet with him six days a week for class. He is learning English so that he can get a job.

Here is the other purpose of the center. It is not only to empower the people in Kesennuma but also to empower the LECC Church in Japan. What is happening up in Kesennuma is a ton of first impressions. To be honest the volunteers coming here should know about God, but more important than that they should be willing and excited to make the best possible Christian first impression. I am talking about a legitimate good first impression. When we do this we have the opportunity to create a base for the Japan church to start from. It is not the volunteer’s job to build strong relationships with these people. In fact if we did we would end up doing much more bad than good. Seriously we would. If you want to have a discussion about grief and loss and building/ending relationships my Skype name is “Jesse Hieb”. I would love to hear your argument supported by facts on how having someone build a relationship in two months with a victim of a natural disaster and then leaving them is good for the person and the organization you are representing.



Up here in Kesennuma we are identifying people and making first connections so that people of the church in Japan can be the ones to develop the relationship with them because they are the ones who are going to be here for much longer than us. For those of you familiar with cold calling you can think of us like that. We are the ones making the appointments… making the first contact so that someone else can make the “sale”.



Yes we are open to talking about God and spreading the news of His love is our primary goal, but we are working as part of a team here. And as volunteers this is our role in the team. There is much more to it than that but that is the general picture. I am sure there are many people that disagree with the use of funds for Humanitarian Aide and Relief. There always is. But once you understand how it works and what the vision and mission is I think you won’t have a problem with sending volunteers over to make first impressions.



I wanted to bring this all back to the Bible for you. Some of you may need this, for others maybe you get the point already..but keep reading. You might be surprised what you read. In Exodus 16 God gives us a great lesson in what empowering looks like in an aide and relief situation. In Exodus 16 the people of Israel are hungry. They had nothing to eat. So God gives them food. But He doesn’t just fill up their bags of food for them. No, actually He makes them go out and gather it. Maybe you are thinking…that's not empowering. But it is. It’s providing an opportunity for someone but requiring them to utilize personal motivation and decision-making to make efforts to meet their needs or goals. In this case the Israelites had to get up and get their food. If they decided not to then they went hungry. We adopt that same principal here when we make people come to our location. We provide the need but they have to put in the effort and motivation to come here to get the blankets or clothes.

Another example that was presented to me while doing my research was when Jesus left his disciples and gave them that command to go baptize a whole bunch of people… know what I am talking about? Before He left the earth Christ trained His disciples and gave them all of the tools they needed including the Holy Spirit. Christ empowered them by giving them the gifts and talents they needed to go and empower others to do the same thing. There is so much more to this whole empowering others thing but we are just going to end it there for now.

I’m going to end this post with this last thought. The anniversary of March 11, 2011 is just a few days away. It will mark one year since that devastating Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. In that time the Church in Japan has been busy. They have also had to deal with numerous other challenges. Empowering is not a one-time thing. It requires ongoing effort and support. Think about how you can help empower the Church in Japan so that they can bring the love of Christ to the victims here in Kesennuma and the whole country. They have the tools; the same ones that Christ gave to his disciples. But that doesn’t mean they don’t need your encouragement, prayers, and gifts.


Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Hey all of you sophisticated good-looking people!
 

The last couple of days have been fairly uneventful. I have been working hard to figure out a way to make the transition from volunteer to volunteer much easier and smoother. For starters I am taking the initiative to create a volunteer handbook for the center. This is going to include everything from how to make things work here at the center to where things like laundry facilities are. It is also going to include a list of community connections that have been made since being here. Prior to coming here I was able to talk with the Jaspersens but after about two volunteers information will get lost. This is one way we can attempt to prevent that from happening.

My peeps down at the temporary restaurant units have become a vital resource for information and I have been talking up the future volunteers so that they will be prepared to be as helpful to them as they were to me. This volunteer handbook is going to be one of the best ways to ensure that previously learned knowledge gets passed down. This is also key because some of the things took well over a month to learn and with some volunteers only being here a month we want to make sure they are as productive and efficient as possible!

Next up I purchased a sweet little calendar to keep track of English classes. This will more so be used for when there is a volunteer switch. At the end of March there will be a week where the center is closed. The plan will be to schedule all of the next volunteer’s English classes for at least that first week so that there are no issues with contacting students and trying to figure out times… This is what I like to call COMMUNICATION!!!!!

I am also developing a couple of different procedures so that we can collect contact information and use it effectively. There was a visitor book that people use to sign but it has been difficult to get people to sign it and sometimes even read it. This new procedure should fix that and by the time all of the volunteers have come and gone, God willing, there will be an extremely long list of people that volunteers have had contact with along with how that person wants to be contacted, if at all, who their first impression was with, and what kind of supplies they received. Doing this will provide the church in Japan a way to make additional contact so that they can build a stronger relationship with that person and God willing share the message of Christ love more extensively with them.

The next thing I am working on is additional clothing apparel with the LECC Logo on them. This was originally something that was done outside of the Aide and Relief committee. God has blessed the decision numerous times to have something like this. For example two days ago I was at the store doing some shopping when a man came up to me. He explained that he was a Christian too… I was utterly confused until he pointed to the LECC Logo on my fleece. He asked if I was a Christian and if I go to church on Sundays. I said yuppers!!!! We struggled through the rest of the conversation (in Japanese). In the end I gave him a flier that I had in my back pocket…that I had used for writing my grocery list on :/. Here is to hoping he calls someone!!! Anywho the fleeces with the logos on them have been a blessing time and time again. This is not something in the budget and so this is going to be a little side project. The Logo is digitized by a company in the Waukesha, WI area. We have about five more volunteers coming that I know of…most of which are women. And the only apparel here are these large men’s fleeces. If you have any ideas of how you can help out and get something here by the time the first female volunteer comes on March 27^th I would love to hear your ideas!!! My email is hieb.jah@gmail.com

I have had the opportunity to meet more individuals with Samaritan’s Purse and it sounds like they may be able to help one of my students with fixing the damage to his house! I also just made contact with an NGO here in Kesennuma. I am looking forward to getting to meet them again. At this point it sounds like they might be interested in doing some English class!!! There are six employees up here in Kesennuma. This may prove to be a great resource to learn about how volunteers can reach more people affected by the Tsunami as well as share the gospel. Also I just want to clarify that in no way is the LECC relief center joining with or collaborating with other church organizations. I am however making connections with organizations in the area because it is an opportunity not only to gather useful and needed information but also to be a “bridge to the Gospel” (I heard this was the key phrase in the WELS so I thought I would try to use it ;)

It is Friday tomorrow! And its going to be an awesome day!!