The last one.

Hello everyone
The last few weeks have been full of adventures, but first things first.
I'm not sure why both the beginning and the end of this experience has been marked by death, but it has. One of the Samaritan's Purse staff members I knew (although not very well) passed away a few days ago without warning. Even though I never worked with him in person, he very obviously was a man of God and worked without any complaint. I ask for your prayers for his family and his fiancé. I cannot imagine what they are going through right now, but I'm sure it is incredibly difficult for them, since it's difficult even for me, even though I didn't know him very well. Our only consolation is that we will see him again in heaven, and we praise God for bringing Josiah to Himself before this tragedy occurred. 


This event has put a sobering touch on the last few eventful weeks. I've been through a typhoon, stuck in a Shinkansen (bullet train), stuck in the Minneapolis airport, stuck in an elevator, and a couple of other adventures over the last three weeks. While it's been fun and exciting, I need to remember that this is not the end of my ministry. There is no end to it. Everywhere I go and everything I do needs to be my ministry. In the last few weeks I've recognized some dreams that I have for my life, and I have realized that I absolutely cannot afford to put my ministry on hold for those dreams. I have to work towards my dreams while ministering to those around me. 


The time I spent in Japan taught me so much. I learned about serving those around me in the most simple ways and the most complex ways. I learned how to mud out a house, and how much bleach to use in which situation. I learned a few words in Japanese that I didn't know before, and a few phrases that got me through the time I was there. I learned how to use power tools! I learned that friends don't always come when you think you need them, but they usually come when you actually need them, when you really can't keep going without a friend. Above all, I learned that God uses any and every individual, team, or situation to do His will, whether we/they/he/she realize it or not. And that is such an encouragement to all of us. That even if we don't realize it, God is using our actions to work towards His will, even if we don't necessarily see it.


I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here, or how it all relates to Josiah's passing, but I do know this: I have been so blessed by the opportunity to be in Japan and to serve, and each one of you made it possible. I have received so much encouragement, prayer, and support than I've ever had in my life. And I realize now that none of that is going away just because I'm not in Japan anymore. I now have friends all over the US and Canada that I worked with, and many friends in Japan, especially up north, that I met while I was there. I know that God has already made beautiful things out of the dust, and He is continuing to do so, not just in northern Japan, but all over the world. 


One of my relatives gave me a hymnal when I saw her last week. She told me that while it seems like a strange book to give, she received one when she was 10 years old, and it was a great encouragement to her. I was flipping through it the other day and came upon a hymn called God, You Spin the Whirling Planets. I'm not sure how well-known this hymn is, but I was struck by the lyrics, which are as follows.

"God, You spin the whirling planets, 

     fill the seas and spread the plain,
         mold the mountains, fashion blossoms, 

            call forth sunshine, wind, and rain.
We, created in Your image, 

    would a true reflection be
        of Your justice, grace, and mercy 

            and the truth that makes us free.

You have called us to be faithful 

   in our life and ministry.
         we respond in grateful worship 

            joined in one community.
When we blur Your gracious image, 

    focus us and make us whole,
       healed and strengthened as Your people, 

           we move onward toward Your goal.

God, Your word is still creating, 

    calling us to life made new,
        now reveal to us fresh vistas 

            where there's work to dare and do.
Keep us clear of all distortion, 

    fashion us with loving care.
        thus, new creatures in Your image, 

           we'll proclaim Christ everywhere."   

                                Jane Parker Huber, 1978

And this is where I will leave you all. Thank you for your loving support of me over the last 5 months. I cannot begin to express my gratitude to my friends, family, and supporters. I pray that God has used my experiences written here on this blog to touch your life in ways you never imagined. I love you all dearly.

Blessings,

Chloe

PS. I do apologize if this blog post is a little scatter-brained. As I read it over, I feel like it doesn't make sense, but I'm not sure how else to express what I want to say. 

Hello again everyone!
What an incredible few weeks it has been.
When the "mega team" came up north, they picked me up on their first day of work. We started one house and was able to finish it in 7 days. We started three other houses and finished one, and almost finished a third house. One top of these four projects, we had several members of our team working on kitchen cabinets for the very first family that accepted Samaritans Purse's help, as well as a few doing gardening with a homeowner. We also did a cafe in Shintate (Dean's "neighborhood" that he works in almost exclusively), and sang some songs for the people there. We sang an English song, a Hawaiian song, and a Japanese song for them. The Japanese song was "Seek Ye First" translated into Japanese. We sang it last so that they could hear the message of the song and remember it.
This mega team was made up of people from Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnesota, Grace Fellowship in Hawaii, and a few extra members who have connections to people from those churches. It was Yas's last team, so we did a lot of sharing together at night after dinner. Despite the total amounting to 19 people on the team, we all became like a huge family living and working together for two weeks. It was a great time of fellowship and work in Ishinomaki. I gained an entire family in Hawaii, and many good friends on the team from Minnesota (plus rides to church if I so choose!).

The whole "block" plus mega team!

Our last day in the neighborhood was a Thursday, and we decided to have a "block party" since all of the houses we worked on were pretty much on one block. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, the neighbors brought fruit and other snacks, and we even had American mustard (Japanese mustard is very spicy and is nothing like what we have in America)! We were able to include many people that I've worked for in the last four months, as well as some new friends we worked for during the time the mega team was here.
One other super awesome thing happened with this team. On Sunday, as usual, we went to Abe san's church and had a wonderful meal there. Afterwards, before our customary tour of the damage, we went around to local houses and temporary housing and gave out some mini walkers to the elderly. While we were at the temporary housing units, some of the kids I have taught English to and done special events with recognized Nate and I and were excited to see us, so we began playing with them. Some of our team members joined us, and we had a great time of playing with the kids, even though it was short. After we played with the kids and finished giving out the mini walkers, we went on our normal tour of the damage with the team.  Later that evening, over dinner at the mall in Ishinomaki, one of the team members (from Chicago with connections to the MN team) named Makoto asked me if we could get things for the kids to play with. He said that while we were playing with the kids (we played one game the entire time we were with them), he asked one of them what other things they like to play. One of the boys said that they'd really like to play dodgeball, but they don't have any balls. Makoto really wanted to be able to give them something to play with, so we went to the store and bought a soccer ball, volleyball, dodgeball, hula hoop, soft baseball bat, frisbee, etc., plus some indoor games like Jango and Uno for the kids. Makoto stayed a few days after the rest of the team left so he could be there when we gave the toys to the kids. It was so fulfilling to see them that happy about things that we take for granted in America, like a ball with which to play dodgeball. We had such a fun time playing with the kids, and because it was my last time to see all of them, they all said thank you to me in English and hugged me. Only one of the kids really hugged me, since hugging in Japan is not very common, but it honestly broke my heart. She was crying when she hugged me, so then I started crying... It was very sad for me to have to say goodbye to the kids, but I told them that I want to come back next summer (2013) and that I hope to see them then. They were excited about that :)
The night before the mega team went back to Tokyo, they dropped me and another member of the team off at Grace Mission Tohoku. She and I have been staying here since then. She will be staying here for another two weeks and will continue to do mud outs and other ministry here in Ishinomaki (she was on one of my grandparents teams last summer, is Japanese, and lives in MN teaching Japanese at Macalester College). I am leaving here tomorrow, which will be very bittersweet for me. I have come to know and love the staff here, and many of the volunteers have touched my life in a very deep way, even if they do not realize it.
This week we've had crazy amount of volunteers staying here. We had teams from Arkansas, Georgia, Virginia, South Africa, Chiba/Saitama (prefectures in Japan), and Juilliard (yes, the one in New York City). I've mostly just been helping out around GMT, since I know how things work here and never really rested from all of that physical work the three weeks before (weeding, mud outs, etc.). We put on Cafes in the temporary housing and here at GMT with the Juilliard students (and grads) performing at each cafe. The people who came loved the music they played, and I did too :)
I'm heading back to Tokyo (then Chiba) tomorrow with the team from Arkansas. It will be really hard for me to leave Ishinomaki one last time, but I have faith that I will be back soon. God works in mysterious ways, and none of us can pretend to understand His timing. My heart is here in Ishinomaki. I want so badly to stay and help more, to make a difference since I know I can help, but right now God is calling me back to Boston for the summer, and then back to school in September. I'm not entirely sure why right now, but I'm praying I find out soon.


One last thought (I love doing this!):
For some reason, God has been putting the theme of love on my heart recently. These two verses have been floating in my head/have been shared with me recently and I wanted to share them with you all.
"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13
and,
"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12-14
I'm not sure right now why these two passages have been on my heart, but I'm wondering if any of my readers have any thoughts on them? They are both fairly well-known passages, but has anyone gleaned any special meaning for their lives from these? I'm trying to figure out what they mean for me, but I'd love to hear what they mean for you!


This will probably be my last blog post from Japan, so I want to thank you all for reading my blog, though I know I can get long sometimes - okay, most of the time! Thank you so much for your encouragement and support for me as I put a hold on my life back home and in school and came to Japan to serve God and the Japanese. I will never forget this adventure, or your help. May God bless you all.


Chloe Milhous


For more pictures of the mega team and my last week in Ishinomaki, here are links to my photos:

Mega Team: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150882813671234.409236.608216233&type=3&l=a0c5f4e160

Last week in Ishinomaki: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150895993056234.410568.608216233&type=3&l=ed4ede18dc

Writing from Ishinomaki once again...

My time in South Korea was productive, and it was fun to see some friends as well. I got back into Japan with no problems and didn't even need to show my proof of flight back home in June. Praise the Lord for his wonderful provisions!!!

After South Korea I headed to Iwaki, where this trip started for me back in July 2011. As my Dad aptly explained on Facebook for me, "Iwaki is where this whole adventure started for Chloe, when we went there last summer and visited a section of town devastated by the tsunami. That is where she started sensing that she needed to come back to japan and help out." Thanks, Dad!! In Iwaki, I helped with their daily projects in the community. I helped out with a cafe in the temporary housing units and then got a "temporary housing tour" from one of the staff members at the church. I also helped out around the church (which is also a volunteer housing center currently) cleaning up and talking with some of the volunteers. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures, but I'm planning to go back during my "travel week" for a day, and will hopefully get some pictures then. 

When I cam back from Iwaki, I stayed in Chiba for a few days because I was exhausted from traveling so much. On Sunday (the day after I cam back to Chiba) I shared my testimony at the Ellison's church, Chiba New Town Baptist Church. I shared about how I became a Christian and how I came to Japan, with Mary Lou translating for me. It was a privilege to share with them what God has been doing in my life, and a few people talked to me afterward about it, which was encouraging :)

On Wednesday I took the shinkansen (bullet train) to Sendai, then took an hour and a half bus ride up to Ishinomaki. Ms. H, who I will be working with very soon, had to go to a conference for a week, so instead of staying at her apartment, I've been staying at Watanoha Christian Church (Watanoha is a neighborhood in Ishinomaki). While staying here, I've been weeding, teaching English, and doing Samaritan's Purse mud outs. There is another girl staying here with me. Her name is Naomi, and she is also going to be living and working with Ms. H. She is Japanese and grew up south of Tokyo, but speaks English very well because she has been a student in Portland, Oregan for almost 5 years. Naomi and I get along very well, which has been a relief, because we were both a little worried about living with someone we didn't know. 

On Sunday, two teams from America will be coming to Ishinomaki, and I will work with them for the entire two weeks they are here, with a few possible recesses if Ms. H needs me for anything. I'm excited to get to know these two teams while they are here, and to see what kind of jobs we will be doing this time. With so many people (total = 17) we may very well be doing a number of different things each day!

It's strange to think that I only have three weeks left in Ishinomaki, and four left in Japan. I'm not entirely sure what to do with that information yet, but I'm working on it :)

One thing I'd like to share with you all. While I was in Iwaki, someone read James chapter 4 out loud to everyone. I caught up later, but one short section really stuck with me. James 4:13-15 says, "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.'"

While the idea itself is perhaps a little disheartening, I feel that I'm able to relate to this passage well. I had all of these plans for my life - where I was going to go, what I was going to do, etc. - but God had other plans and showed me that my plans for my life were not the best for me. 

This passage and revelation reminds me of the Casting Crowns song, "Who Am I". The chorus declares:

"I am a flower quickly fading

Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours"

What a powerful and comforting thought! Even though we are "mists that appear for a little while and then vanish," God cares so deeply about us that He listens to every word we say, and He helps us through every situation and every struggle.

Thanks for reading my blog. As my time in Japan comes to a close, my blogging may slow as well. Hopefully I will be able to write a "finishing up" post when I arrive back in Boston at the end of June.

God Bless,

Chloe

PS. If you want to see photos from my time in Ishinomaki this time, here is a link to what's happened so far: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150866661091234.407575.608216233&type=1&l=ec8dc70ec1

Hello!

After the Sylvan Way team left, Nate and I stayed in Ishinomaki. I stayed with Ms. H, and Nate stayed in a house specifically for Christian volunteers. There was a lady staying with Ms. H for one night who was there when I arrived, and we spent that night and the next day (Wednesday) together. She spoke some English so we talked a lot. We went to see some of the devastation because it was her first time to see it, and we talked to a man who said that his mother and father's home washed away in the tsunami. After we saw the devastation, we went to a fish market and bought some tuna, which we make maki with (the kind of sushi that has seaweed wrapped around it). Such a good dinner!

Fish market!

 On Thursday a team from Kokubunji Baptist Church came to Ishinomaki. It took them 13 hours to drive there, but they finally made it (usually it takes about 6 hours from Tokyo to Ishinomaki) around 1 in the afternoon. They were all really tired from traveling so we had a relaxing day just spending time together and getting settled. On Friday morning we drove to Minami Sanriku and helped mud out and build a Christian Center there. Our sensei's included a 17-year-old guy who had just become a Christian two months before. While the guys mudded out a gutter, the girls and I became 大工さん (carpenters) and helped put finishing wood on the walls.

Our Sensei's

Carpenters for a day!

Nate mudding out a gutter

After we had lunch, we went back to Ishinomaki and prepared for a kids program in the temporary housing units that we did later that day. For the kids program we made カラフルだんご (colorful dingo - dango are small pounded rice balls that usually come four on a stick with some kind of sauce on top) out of tofu and flavorings, like green tea and pumpkin. Then we played with the kids outside, which was really fun :) Here's a link to all of my pictures of it and of our time together afterwards: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150798461996234.403310.608216233&type=1&l=59757c4280
After the kids program it was raining hard, and then there were flood warnings. At 9 pm there was an evacuation of the place the guys were staying, so we ate a quick dinner, packed the guys up, and moved them to a church in a different neighborhood where they could sleep overnight. In the morning the evacuation was over and the sun was out, so we decided to proceed with our plans. The guys cleared out a park and planted sunflowers while the girls did some errands. For lunch we ate at a chinese restaurant, which was really good, and then we went to the temporary housing again for a homework help time, along with some playtime :) I did a short English lesson on food, and then we had a snack and helped the kids with homework. This past week was Golden Week so a lot of the kids didn't have too much homework, which meant that we got some more playtime in before it was time to leave :)
We left Ishinomaki at about 7:30 pm and drove straight through to Tokyo. Usually the drive is about 6 hours, but it took us closer to 8 hours this time. We arrived in Tokyo at 2:30 am Sunday morning. Half of the group went to their own home and half of us stayed at the church for a night. We all attended the church service a few hours later and then went our own ways. I was provided a place to stay last night and will stay with my Uncle who lives in Tokyo tonight, then will head back to Chiba to stay with Tom and Mary Lou again. On Friday I will be heading to South Korea for a few days for some business.

Please pray for the kids in temporary housing, that they will gain hope from the volunteers who come, and that they would see the love of Christ shining through us as we continue to work with them.
Please pray also for safety in traveling as I go to many different places in the next week and half.

Hello all,

The "bathroom"

Well, the Sylvan Way team will be on their way to Tokyo tomorrow morning, half of them via van and half of them via Shinkansen (bullet train). We had a very productive week and completely finished cleaning the house we started when we arrived in Ishinomaki. It is such a blessing to see a house go from dark, dirty, and depressing to bright, clean and encouraging in just a week and two days.

The floor before

Look at those clean floors!

The entire trip was uneventful (I mean this in the good way where no one got hurt) except for one event: Lutheran Brethren Missionary Dean Bengtson, who is basically our boss when we work on a house somehow fell about 5 or 6 feet down and ended up laying on his side, shoulder, and head in a hole. Many of us thought he had seriously injured himself, but it turned out he only dislocated his pinky! He obviously has some bruising, but he was well enough to come to work again the next day and do an outdoor cafe for the neighborhood.

On Sunday we attended Abe san's house church and had an incredible meal afterward, as always. Yas then took us to Minami Sanriku, which is one of the largest worst-hit areas in northern Japan. This was a new experience for the Sylvan Way team, and we all went home with a new understanding of what the tsunami did to these communities along the Pacific coast.

It was such a blessing to get to know the guys from Sylvan Way. I know that I will never forget them or the good times we had as we worked hard together.

Eric from the Sylvan Way team
is showing how we felt about our
Yakiniku lunch after we finished
the house! :)

I am staying in Ishinomaki now until June 15, and will be taking a few short trips to other locations during this time. While living here, I will be assisting Ms. H set up a children's ministry. Please pray for communication between us and for the ministry opportunities that we will come in contact with in the next two months.

Blessings to you all,

Chloe Milhous

What a long time it's been since I've written on this blog! So much has happened in the last few weeks. I cannot recount all of it, but here's a brief overview.

Mrs. T's septic tank, taken from inside

 After the Canadian team left, Nate and I, along with another man from the Canadian team who decided to stay longer, continued to work in Mrs. T's house. Nate and I found an old partially covered septic tank in Mrs. T's house. We spent three days cleaning it out with her. She was so grateful that she took us out to lunch twice and bought us bentos another day. She loved holding hands and hugging, so after every work day, we would gather in a circle, hold hands, and pray with her. If we forgot and started to leave before praying, she would say, "Aren't you going to pray with me??" and then we would pray and she would hug us when we were done. Mrs. T was such a blessing to me as a homeowner. To receive that kind of love and kindness while working is so encouraging and fulfilling. I didn't want to stop working for her because she is such a sweet lady, but alas, we finished work on Mrs. T's house and said goodbye.

The famous (or should
 I say infamous) field!

After we finished Mrs. T's house, we moved onto some odd jobs that Dean Bengtson (a Lutheran Brethren missionary that we as a mission work with when concerning relief work), had on hand. Some of the things we did included doing yard work at Dean's house (since he doesn't have time to do any himself - he's always in a different city an hour and a half away one way, doing relief work and building relationships, so we helped him get ready for spring), getting a roof ready for painting, sifting through dirt in a field to get out cell phone parts, and pulling trees out of a few people's yards, at their request. One thing I would like to point out is that the field we worked in has been worked on since the early summer, and it is the exact same field that my grandparents worked on when they were in Japan for two months last summer leading teams up north to do volunteer disaster relief. I am happy to announce that the field is completely clear of cell phone parts and of hedoro, or toxic mud, in this case specifically from the tsunami. That night I went with Craig and Yas to Tome where Nate and I stayed the first time we went up north. We visited the Samaritan's Purse Tome base, since we knew it would be closing soon, and got to see lots of familiar faces. Wayne (do you all remember him?) gave me a picture in a frame of Okaasan (the homeowner I worked for with a carpenter team) and the rest of the guys on the team that they had taken the day of the house's dedication. When I get home I will put that picture on the wall or on my desk to remind me to pray for Okaasan and her family's salvation. 

Me with some of my friends from
Samaritan's Purse Base Tome

The next day we worked with Grace Mission Tohoku (the place we were staying at) and did some of their jobs for a day. We sorted, packaged, and weighed wakame (a kind of seaweed) for an hour, then strung oyster shells on a rope for about two hours. The oyster farmers put the rope into the bay area and grow oysters on them. Come December, this locally owned business will harvest hundreds of delicious oysters which they then sell to a local processing plant.

After all of this, we all went back to our respective "bases" for a week to rest. I was able to see some beautiful cherry blossoms (sakura), even though they were at the very end of their blossoming and viewing time, and I gained a brother in the form of one of the Ellison's sons, Phil. He came to visit them and to see their new one in Chiba for three days. I also had the opportunity to meet with Don Wright, retired missionary to Japan, and current director of RJC (Reaching Japanese for Christ, an organization that my family, specifically my father, is very involved with) and talk with him about the things I've been experiencing as a volunteer here in Japan. I got to see Roy Peacock, pastor of Raging River Community Church in rural Washington state, who is a friend of mine. I was also able to spend some time with the Short family and have dinner with them before I went back up north. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces, as well as new faces, while I was in Chiba!

Now I'm back up north with a team of five men from Sylvan Way Baptist Church in Bremerton, WA, which is Yas's home church. Pastor Ric, his son Eric, and three other men from the church came to volunteer for two weeks. We are staying in Taiwa, a city just north of Sendai, and we commute 45-90 minutes one way to Ishinomaki every day. Right now, and very likely for the rest of the time this team is here, we are working and will continue to work on one house. It is Mr & Mrs A's dream home, and they built it four years ago (three when the tsunami hit). While they are not all that excited about living there again, since now there is almost nothing between the house and the ocean, they may not be able to live anywhere else due to financial reasons, so we are helping to mud out their home and help them feel some sort of hope about the situation. The house has barely been touched, except to clean out the first layer of mud right after the tsunami, so we are starting from scratch. Yesterday was our first day, and we got most of the ceiling out, as well as many of the walls. The house is well on its way to being rebuildable now, and hopefully the homeowners will be able to see that as we progress further each day.

After the team from Sylvan Way leaves and goes back to Tokyo, I will stay in Ishinomaki and live with Ms. H from Kokobunji Baptist Church in Tokyo. She is moving here and will be working on starting a children's ministry, which will include sports camps, crafts, Bible lessons, and fun and games as well. I will assist her in getting the children's ministry up and running, and will be staying with her until the end of my time in Japan.

I also have plans to visit Iwaki city, where this entire journey started for me last summer, for five days in the middle of May. I plan to arrive in Iwaki May 15 and depart May 20, after a church service there.

Please pray that Mr and Mrs A will see progress in the work that we do each day and will gain hope from the things we do, and that the Lord would provide safety for everybody for the next two weeks as we do physical labor, travel, and minister to those around us daily.

Please pray for my transition to living with Ms. H, as we don't know each other very well and language barriers could be very difficult. Also pray for the children's ministry I will be helping set up. It is a wonderful ministry that is desperately needed here, and the sooner it is up and running, the better.

Please pray for my trip to Iwaki, that I would not be a burden and would be able to effectively help their ministry.

Please pray for Okaasan and her family, that they would see the Lord's love and hope, and would surrender their lives to Him.

Hello again!
I know I've been pretty quiet for a while. Here's what's been going on for the last few weeks.
After I came back down to Tokyo, I stayed with a fellow missionary who lives there. A few days later, I moved to my Uncle's house in Tokyo, and stayed with him and his wife for two days. Then, I finally made it to Chiba, where the Ellisons had just moved into their new home there. I unpacked my two suitcases into drawers, which felt wonderful, and helped the Ellisons unpack and organize. I even got to put some flowers outside my window!
The neighborhood the Ellisons live in now is filled with kids. When we went around to the neighbors to introduce ourselves (a very old tradition in Japan), Mary Lou told all of the kids to teach me Japanese. We'll see how well things go with that! I'm looking forward to playing with the kids on our block, and learning some Japanese from them.

A view of Mt. Fuji from the lake

Last Wednesday, Nate, Tom, Mary Lou, and I drove for about four hours to Yamanakako, a town at the foot of Mt. Fuji with a large whale-shaped lake in the center. We went there for our missions Field Council, a meeting of all of the missionaries currently on the field (Japan, for us). Most of the time there was spent in business meetings, but Nate and I got to spend some time with a few missionary kids on the field. We went out on the lake (Yamanaka Lake) in paddle boats and had fun chasing each other around. After a walk partway around the lake, we got ice cream, and I tried the local specialty, sweet potato! It was very good, and definitely tasted like Japanese sweet potato, which is different from American sweet potato. If you'd like to see more pictures from Field Council, click on this link to see my album on Facebook. You don't have to have a Facebook account or even be my friend on Facebook to see them.
After Field Council, Nate and I, along with his dad, David, drove up north to Ishinomaki. This time we are staying at Grace City (run by Grace Mission) located in Ishinomaki, the city we often work in. It's nice to wake up a little later and to have some time to relax before work each morning. The past few days have been both busy and relaxing in many different ways.

The Short Family and I

When we arrived at Grace City, we came into the main house first to see where our rooms were going to be. I heard someone say, "Chloe?" as if they were amazed to see me, and I saw Randy Short! He and his family attended our church when I was a little girl. His oldest daughter, Cana, is the same age as me, so we played together a lot and share several childhood memories. It turns out that they were only up north for a few days, but had been volunteering here. They also live about 5 minutes away from where I just moved to in Chiba. I'm planning to visit them sometime when I get back to Chiba. I love crazy little connections like that!
On Saturday night, the same night we arrived, we went to the temporary housing units with Pastor Miho Hirata of Kokobunji Church in Tokyo. She is moving to Ishinomaki to start a Children's ministry called SOLA, sponsored by Kokobunji Church, especially directed towards kids who are living in temporary housing and/or were directly involved with the tsunami. At the temporary housing, we helped with a Chidren's study group where kids go after school for help on homework. Nate and I taught them parts of the body with the song, 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,' and then we helped the individual kids with their English homework. At one point, we tried to explain what cotton candy was to one of the girls who had gotten that flavor in a dum dum (little lollipops). That was a very fun and rewarding experience, not one I will soon forget.
On Sunday, Nate, his dad, and I went to the House of Prayer in Ishinomaki for church. The lay leader of this church is called Abe-san, and there is a pastor who comes sometimes to preach and give Abe-san direction. Since it was Palm Sunday, we had communion after the service. I thought they did it in a very cool way - We did the breaking of the bread and ate it, and then we ate the wonderful meal the church ladies had prepared for us. After we finished eating, we did the "cup" part of communion. They said that in the Bible, it says that Jesus broke the bread and ate it, they all had supper, and then they partook of the cup, and they wanted to recreate that scene a little bit for us. After we were all done, we left church and went on a drive to Minamisanriku, one of the hardest-hit areas on the coast. The weather was really strange, but we were still able to see much of the damage there. There is nothing left there. Some frames of buildings, but only the steel frames. It is heartbreaking to see. You can see some of my pictures from our drive there by clicking on this link. 
Today (Monday), we worked with a Converge team from Canada. It was their last day working, so we finished up in the house they were in, said some tearful goodbyes to the homeowner (I'll write more about her once I know more about her), and took off for a late lunch of Yakuniku (All you can eat meat barbecue). This restaurant was really cool: you pay one flat rate per person and all the meat is in a buffet-style. You get as much meat as you want, bring it to your table, and cook it right there. They also had sushi, cotton candy, ice cream, and dango, among others. After we finished eating, we all piled into two vans and took off for an onsen! This was a real hot spring in Ishinomaki, and was super nice. There were a bunch of different baths, including some with jets. There was also a really nice outside area, which I thought would be super cold, since it was kind of a cold day, but was actually just right. The cool temperature felt nice, and the hot bath was perfect. Usually I'm not a huge fan of public baths, but this one was really nice, and I'm even beginning to feel like it's not as bad as I always think it is. I wish I could have taken pictures of the inside of this place, just to show you all.
The rest of this week will be filled with working in different areas, but for now I'm going to sign off and go to bed. Thank you for your prayers and love for me as I continue to serve the Lord in the disaster zone.
More to come soon!

後でお会いしましょう！

See you later!

~Chloe