Biggest news today: Gilberts have a house in Ishinomaki! Actually it looks like they might have 2! They returned late to the Guest House saying they'd met with the owners of these houses, and briefly told us the highlights of the arrangements and of what needs to be done to get them ready to move in. We'll get to see them tomorrow.
One is an old house where the good news is that it's undamaged in the disaster, but the bad news is that nobody has lived there for 10 years so it needs top-to-bottom cleaning in the worst way. The other is a 3-yr old house that sustained first floor damage in the tsunami but Samaritan's Purse teams can do their "mud-out, clean-up" work on it, and then Gilberts can have a team come and finish up the interior.
This will be a HUGE step forward in their strategy, and in their capability to serve the people of Ishinomaki. Plus, after all these 10 months of commuting 90 minutes back and forth each day, and of living out of suitcases and boxes, they'll actually be able to settle in and unpack. We're all so excited for them.
Biggest joy today: Sylvia is here! She and Ralph completed their meetings up in Sapporo and flew down to Sendai. I met them at the airport in the early afternoon, and then we drove the coast road back to the Guest House.
Am including several photos of the airport area taken during the tsunami, and from the same location and angle taken 6 months later. Today, the Sendai Airport is virtually 100% operational, but the surrounding area is still completely devastated. It will be years before it is inhabitable again.
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| March, '11 Tsunami - Sendai airport just to the right |
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| Sept, '11 - Sendai airport just to the right |
This was Ralph's first time to see the consequences of the earthquake and tsunami. Now, one year later with so much of the debris cleaned up, some of the worst hit places don't seem quite as obvious anymore. I explained that it's like going back to the scene of a car wreck: the vehicles, the police, the fire trucks, the aid cars, etc. are gone, and all you can see are some skid marks and broken glass. You know something terrible has happened, but it's just not as obvious anymore.
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| March, '11 Tsunami - Sendai Airport |
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| Sept, '11 Aftermath - Sendai Airport |
We stopped for coffee (at Mr. Donuts - yea!) to chat through the schedule for these next few days, and to review our primary goals: to help Ralph gain a clear vision for Relief, Recovery, Renewal; to learn about Gilbert's vision & strategy (vis a vis other organization's work), and to think through plans for funding & future teams. Really looking forward to how these will all unfold in the next couple days.
Biggest improvement today: After years of faithful service, the stove and washer/dryer combo in this floor of the Guest House were replaced today! Both had been faltering, and the new ones, shipped over from the States, were replaced by Dale Little, an EFree missionary who virtually grew up on this spot. I helped him muscle the old appliances out of the way, and while I was out picking up Sylvia and Ralph, he and his wife Anne got the stove in - no easy job due to the narrow spacing - and then he and I finished up the washer/dryer install before and after supper together. Gilberts are so delighted, esp because all the noise and racket of doing laundry is now gone and they don't have to leave the room when the machine is running. Ahhh……
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| New washer/dryer on right, Mark at the new oven/stove |
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