JAPAN DISASTER RESPONSE MAY

Last month John joined a team from the Kokubunji Baptist church that did volunteer work in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture April 17-20. Pastor Nakano from the Crossroad church also joined the team. There has not been time to develop a video yet, but some pictures and video with English are at the church webpage http://homepage2.nifty.com/kbch/new/tohokusupport/tohokusupport.html. The trip was very successful in completing several projects. John and a short termer from America will also be joining a…

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Easter in Hard-hit Area

Churches in Kessenuma Miyagi Prefecture celebrated Easter yesterday. For these churches there was a need for resurrection of their facilities to be able to use the church again. http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/japans-christians-celebrate-easter-amid-disaster Some of these churches were helped by CRASH teams and some from the B1 network that missionary Jeff Chapman has been working with. See my previous post http://www.gospelrest.com/churches-shattered/ In Ishinomaki the city where John volunteered the nearest church to the neighborhood he worked had water up…

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John with Makoto Fujimura in Ishinomaki

On 04/18 John Mehn talked briefly with famous Japanese artist Makoto Fujimura during his visit to this work site in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. John and volunteer team member Roger Olson were removing the flooring to be able to clean out the mud that entered this house. There were other volunteers helping as well. John mentions to Makoto there were more deaths in Ishinomaki than in the Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe in 1995. Also that…

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Trip to Ishinomaki

PRAISE the Lord of Heaven that John Mehn and Pastor Nakano arrived safely in Sendai. They said the roads in Miyagi Prefecture were quite bad and driving them at night was scary but God brought them safely through. Today the Kokubunji Church Team is going to work in Ishinomaki City. The number of people killed or missing in this city alone equals the number killed in the Great Hanshin Earthquake. The Team has divided into…

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Joys and Sorrows of relief work

Joys and sorrows of disaster relief John Mehn and the men he worked alongside were able to take the flooring out of the Suzuki’s house. The house had been flooded so everything was saturated. The grandfather would wash off the wood and hope it would dry out so it could be put back. PRAY that the help they received would encourage them and that the words they heard will draw them to Jesus. Today they…

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John leaves for Ishinomaki today

I (John) leave today to head to Ishinomaki City in the hard-hit area to join a team which left on Thu. Would appreciate your prayers for strength, health, and a big heart. TODAY BACKUP TEAM LEAVES FOR ISHINOMAKI The relief team from the Kokubunji church arrived safely in Sendai Miyagi Prefecture on Thursday. They have been busy in several locations in Ishinomaki (see http://groups.google.com/group/Pray4Japan/browse_thread/thread/2c34f33bbdc99cba) working cleaning out houses and dealing with water damage from the…

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