ONE WEEK AGO....

one week ago today, the earthquake that rocked a nation struck without warning.
one week ago today, we were all living "ordinary" lives.
one week ago today, the world seemed normal.
today, that world no longer exists.
today, we live not knowing what might happen at any moment.
but today, we live completely surrendered to God's will. we must. we have no other choice but to trust. to hope. to fight on.

so much has happened in the past week....i'm not even sure how to make it concise enough for one blog post, but i'll do my best:

Saturday we had an emergency prayer meeting for Japan at the Student Center- students, staff and stinters. we were worried our huge annual student conference- CHANGE- would be cancelled due to the earthquake/tsunamis. in fact, the entire family of our Tokyo director lives in Sendai, and he desperately wanted to go help his family, but ended up decided to continue with the conference, knowing that it was needed even more during this chaotic time. however, due to more predicted earthquakes and radiation scares, many parents refused to let their children come to Tokyo/ transportation was too difficult so we had about 30 less students at the conference than had registered. Sunday, our church held a service even though the building had been damaged by the earthquake. during worship, they played the songs Everlasting God, How Great is Our God, and You are God- from the first line of Everlasting God, my eyes filled with tears...

Everlasting God:
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord/We will wait upon the Lord/We will wait upon the Lord/Our God, You reign forever/ Our hope, our Strong Deliverer/You are the everlasting God/The everlasting God/You do not faint You won't grow weary
You're the defender of the weak/You comfort those in need/You lift us up on wings like eagles...

i looked around and saw and saw a room filled with Japanese Christians, singing of hope, love, and of a God greater than earthquakes, greater than tsunamis, and greater than our fears. needless to say, it was a moving moment, and i cried all during worship. our pastor reminded us that while we are such frail beings, the Truth tells us we have no need to fear, because we are held in the hands of the Almighty God of the Universe. Hebrews 12:25-29 reminds us that we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and to that hope and truth we must cling to during times such as this.

Monday we arrived at the train station about 7:30 am to find that they were regulating the amount of people going into the station. it took us over an hour to get from the stairs leading into the station to the actual train platform. line around the block
the conference ended up starting about an hour and a half late due to transportation issues. it was held at the Yoyogi Youth Olympic Center (Yoyogi= a city within Tokyo prefecture). the theme of the conference was Fishers of Men/Make Love the Goal, and the image on all the flyers had ironically been the famous Tsunami painting. but it actually worked- tsunamis are powerful, and tsunamis can change the world. the conference is designed to show students how God can change them, and how they can change Japan. during the first meeting, they showed a video of pictures from other countries that all had encouraging messages for Japan or said simply Pray for Japan. it was so moving i once again started crying. i think it was just the realization that the world was finally taking an interest in Japan, that all over the world, millions of Christians were praying for a country that had never before seen so much attention. also it was just moving.Tuesday the students had classes and workshops all day- i filmed a couple of them, but they were in Japanese so i couldn't understand what was going on. that night we had a huge prayer session for Japan that was so amazingly powerful- i will never forget it. an auditorium filled with people on their knees, desperately crying out to God. i was on my knees sobbing, but had to dry my tears because at the end of the meeting, our dance team performed a dance to Joyful, Joyful from Sister Act 2.

Wednesday was the radiation scare. the US and Japanese news were releasing differing things, and everyone was confused and nervous. Wednesday afternoon, our team leaders sat us down and told us we, the STINTers, were being evacuated to Kyoto on Friday. KCCC was being sent to Korea. and all the Japanese staff were being advised to leave Tokyo for a week or so. maybe it was a combination of exhaustion, pent up anxiety and a long week, but i started sobbing (4 days in a row is a record for me- God really broke me this week). i was just so disappointed and frustrated. Wednesday was supposed to be our huge day of outreach, where all the students would go into the city and share the Gospel, and hopes were high, but due to the radiation scare it got cancelled. and now we were being evacuated, even though Tokyo is over 200 km away from the nuclear reactors and is in no danger. but after the meeting i skyped with my mom and she reminded me that this is STILL God's plan, that God still sees the big picture, and that His plans are still better than mine. that night our Tokyo director, Yoshitaka, gave a great message on how our job here in Japan is not to share the 4 Spiritual Laws, not to increase the number of students in Student Impact, but to LOVE. to take every opportunity to love the Japanese. Thursday morning we said our goodbyes and headed back to Mitaka, planning on having a day and a half or so to prepare for Kyoto. but as soon as we arrived, our leaders told us the plan had changed and we would be leaving in just a couple hours, so we had to run home and furiously pack. but we made it.

and now we're in Kyoto. i'm still not happy we're here, but i know it's God's plan right now. and i know He's got something for us. we're being forced to "be still and know that He is God" (Psalm 46:10) but i know it will be for the best. we're safe from any radiation, and hopefully will be able to return to Tokyo soon. in other Japan news, almost 7,000 have been reported dead and over 10,000 people are still missing - PLEASE KEEP PRAYING FOR JAPAN!

May the Lord save this nation.