On Solid Ground

My sister's email that is lovely to share.

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello! We send you our greetings and love. It truly has been a crazy, scary, horrible, and yet unbelievable, amazing two weeks of our lives. God truly has been with us during this time. I don't know where to begin for the stories are many. I was home alone when the quake occured and it was a very long 5 minutes.Then the earth continously moved and quaked for one solid hour. After that, there were aftershocks consistently, and continue to occur. Masato was working near the ocean and then had to help people move up to the mountain to avoid the tsunami. He finally met me at church Friday night aroung 8:00 pm. We spent that night in the church, and then Saturday afternoon, returned to our apartment to gather a few clothes, emergency food, bank books, and headed to the small town where I used to work. We were there until last week Thursday afternoon. Thursday morning we drove to a small airport in Ibaraki prefecture near the town called Mito. we
orginially had tickets to fly to Sapporo, Hokkaido (northern island of Japan) for sunday, but by the grace of God we canceled those tickets and bought tickets for Friday. Since Friday the 18th, we have been staying at Christ for The Nations Japan outside Sapporo, in the town called Ishikari. People here have been wonderful; feeding us, giving us a place to stay, showing us where to go shopping, helping me figure out bus schedules and subway systems. Hokkaido is safe, I am told, by everyone here, and even the US Embassy in Sapporo. According to the US Embassy, Hokkaido is clear of all radiation and aftershocks. Hokkaido has plenty of food, gas, clean water. I am connected with the US Embassy in Tokyo, and almost daily get notices from the Embassy informing people around the 50 mile area and now in Tokyo to be careful of water, radiation. We were checkeed for radiation after arriving in Sapporo and were told that we were ok. People normally range
between 50 and 100. We ranged between 110 and 150. I asked what number we have to start being concerened. That number is 10,000. So, we have very very very little exposure.

What We Lost:
we are thankful that we are alive, that we are together, and that we are not harmed. We left our home with about three-four days worth of clothes. I also grabbed our bank books, my passports, health card, two flashlights (dad taught me to be prepared), emergency food, our bibles, and some bottled water. We left our home, and all of our belongings. I do have to admit it is a bit easier to get dressed in the morning!

Our Plans for the Future:
The current plan is stay in Hokkaido for awhile. Masato will be attending Christ for The Nations Bible School. One year ago Masato started the second year of his job, knowing that it would end this year (2011) in March. As a result of that information we have been praying for the next direction. As December and january came, we had the sense that God was leading him to go to Bible School. At the beginning of March, he came to this school for three days. He had peace and was 80% certain that he was going to go to Bible school. He didn't know if he was going to start in April or in September. So, even though to you, this news may come as a shock that Masato is now going to attend bible school, this has been something that we have been praying and thinking about for the past few months. He will also start looking for part time work.

As for me, I have two job interviews tomorrow, Friday March 25th. One is part time work teaching English, and one is a potential voice recording work.

We are even blessed to have friends from our church in Iwaki attending school here in Sapporo. He protected us up to this point (the stories are endless) and I know that He will continue to provide for us in the days and weeks to come.

What Next:
we do know that Masato will be starting Bible school. I don't want to go back to Iwaki. The earth is still shaking, the nuclear power plant situation is not yet clear, and the US Embassy still has a 50 mile limit around the power plant. Gasoline, Food, and water are still major problems in Iwaki, even though many of our friends have started to return to Iwaki and have started work. Masato thinks that one trip back is needed. He thingks that he needs to fill out paperwork for his job, clean out the apartment, and pick up the car that is sitting in the airport and bring it back to Hokkadio. He is not too excited about going back in the near future because of the current situation in Iwaki and what US Embassy's restrictions are. So for him, when to go back and do this is a very big question and probably a weight on his mind. He also wants to see his family. They live in Onahama (the fishing port very near Iwaki and damaged by the tsunami)and have
decided to stay where they are.

Ways To Help:
One way is to please pray for us. we are still processing all that has happened. We do have needs: transportation, financial, healing, and others that we are not sure that we have right now.

words of encouragement are always welcome! Email, facebook, letters/postcards are welcome. I have enjoyed your emails/postings and hearing about daily life stuff is great! (thank you Dad for your email the other day about simple every day life. I really appreciated that)

Some of you have asked if you can send money. Yes, you can. we humbly say thank you. I am not sure the easiest way to send money from the states to Japan. i have always done it the other way. If you are interested in sending us money, please let me know and I will contact you personally with our bank information.


Our Mailing Address is as follows:
Christ for the Nations Japan Bible School
c/o Masato and Debbie Tanaka
Hanakawa kita 6-5-157
Ishikari, 061-3216 Japan

If you have any questions, please let me know and I will do my best to answer them. We both love you. We thank you for all of your prayers, concerns, and love.
God willing, we would love to come to the States to see all of your beautiful faces,
Love,
Debbie and Masato