Relief Comes to Japan

In March of 2011 a tsunami hit Japan. Thousands were killed; there was also wide­spread destruc­tion to homes, busi­nesses and infra­struc­ture. WIM responded by set­ting up a fund to chan­nel money into the affected areas, part­ner­ing with our mis­sion­ary on the ground, Janine Geekie, and her team. A min­istry cen­ter in Iwaki (north east­ern Japan) helped coor­di­nate relief work. Janine and sev­eral mem­bers of the team from Tokyo went to help with dis­tri­b­u­tion of food, water and cloth­ing. They also helped with clean up and removal of debris.

I arrived in October with evan­ge­list Christoph Zurcher. Our goal was to preach the Gospel to the Japanese, espe­cially to those who had been affected by the tsunami. In the Iwaki area we held meet­ings at two schools, a reset­tle­ment com­mu­nity, a hotel with refugees and on the streets. Hundreds heard the Gospel; they seemed very open and will­ingly received New Testaments and prayer. I esti­mate at least 80% of the peo­ple we min­is­tered to had never heard the Gospel. The dis­as­ter has changed things. I believe now is the time to win Japan for Christ.