Love Within the Chaos

Although are plans have been disrupted from the earthquake, we are managing to rearrange and see some of our students and friends before leaving in 11 days! Fortunately on Tuesday we were able to have all of our English Club over (minus 1 :( ) for the final "Good-Bye" party. It was a low-key party with some of their favorite games and food, and the most important part of the party- our reminder to them of why we came to Japan- to show them Jesus' love for them and the life that He has to offer them. We said our good-byes, gave plenty of hugs, and shed tears, but we know that we will keep in touch with them, and we know that God will continue to work in their lives even after we are gone.


Meanwhile, in the rest of Japan, mass chaos has errupted with gasoline and food shortages due to closed transportation in most of Japan. We ventured out to the store today to buy some "DonTacos" (the Japanese equivalent to Dorritos) for a homestay that we're doing with one of our students tonight. That idea was quickly forgotten as we noticed the massive lines for food and the empty shelves. Here are some pictures to show just how bad it is even here in Hirosaki, quite far from the disaster-stricken areas.


This woman is not restocking the shelves. She is simply cleaning the empty shelves where once an entire aisle of "Cup Noodle" stood.


We're not sure if you can tell perfectly from the picture below, but almost all of the stores in Hirosaki are using only some of the available lights in order to save electricity. As you have probably read in the news, they have scheduled rolling blackouts to also save electricity. We actually think this energy-saving technique should be utilized all the time. It's quite nice walking through stores without being blinded by the glaring flourescent lights!

We'll continue to blog as things are updated here, and as we draw closer to our return to home.