Sendai News Update and Prayer Topics, Japan

  • by WMD
  • Mar 23, 2011
  • 947 reads

Thank you for your prayer support for Sendai. Except for the center of the city and downtown Sendai, the areas which were near the sea were extremely damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. Nationwide, 47 million people who were evacuated are suffering due to a lack of food, water, and gas. In addition, because the transportation system was devastated, the relief supplies have not been able to transfer properly to the needy people. In fact, the government knew a natural disaster was coming and prepared the country, however, the problem was that the earthquake and tsunami were far beyond the expectation of the experts.

 

Sendai, which is equal in latitude with Seoul, South Korea, is a small city with a population of 1 million. It is a tourist city with fine and lush forests and a famous sea called, “Matsushima,” which is the place where people wish to spend their life after retirement in Japan. My wife and I first came to Sendai in 1998 as researchers at Tohoku University.  After finishing my PhD studies, I have been working for 6 years at Akita, which is 300 km away from Sendai, and my contract will end this month. We received a green card last year and have been staying at Sendai for the sake of our growing students. My wife, M. Mi-Hyeon, has been working as a doctoral researcher at Tohoku University after finishing her PhD studies, and there she volunteered to teach a Korean language class and is also serving the one-to-one ministry.  

 

Before the earthquake, our family with our three daughters, Ayako (Middle school-2), Esther (Middle school-1), and Gang-Eun (Elementary school-2) were staying at Akita for spring break, and M. Mi-Hyeon was commuting from Akita to Sendai in order to serve the Sunday worship service and one-to-one ministry. When the earthquake happened, she had not yet gone to Sendai, so she was safe. For two days, the electricity and public water systems were down in Akita, but now we are okay except for food and gas problems. We plan to go back to Sendai at the end of March if the situation is better.

  

So far, our Bible students are safe and they all went back to their hometowns. I pray God may continue to protect us from the radioactivity and aftershocks. May God also comfort those who lost families and loved ones. Please pray for me and my wife to continue to serve the work of God at Sendai. Thank you for your prayer support and love for Japan and my family.

 

By M. Sung-Jin in Sendai

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