What's happened since the Great Tohoku Disaster?

Yesterday I gave you some links to secular news items. Today I give you some news from the Christian and missionary community.

There has been a large influx of missionaries into the disaster area. Here is a video from one such agency, interviewing survivors and hearing from missionaries and Christian workers in the area. You'll hear a Japanese word: kasetsus, this means "temporary accommodation", though how temporary they'll end up being, no one knows.

Here is one project begun by missionaries that we heard about at the women's retreat, a business that makes jewellery out of debris (smashed ceramic and glass). The project employs more than a dozen women who lost loved ones or houses or both during the earthquake/tsunami disaster. We heard one women's story at the retreat I went to last week. Heartbreaking: she lost her mum, her pregnant sister, and then her husband chucked her out of their house. She's been suicidal, but now, through the love of missionaries, she's come to faith in Christ. You can buy the jewellery they make through their website: http://nozomiproject.com/

CRASH, a local Christian relief group who has worked hard for the last two years in relief, and recovery. They have a number of videos on their Facebook page that will gives you a view of some of the Christian side of the recovery.

This is a short testimony in song and a thank you to all who've prayed and given since March 2011.

This video is of a former yakusa (Japanese-mafia) who helped in the recovery effort alongside Christians after the March 2011 disasters and as a result God changed his life. Great story!

I hope that you are inspired, blessed, encouraged, but especially that you'll pray for Japan today. Many were lost directly due to the earthquake and tsunami (about 30,000). More than 100,000 were displaced from their homes due to the nuclear disaster and most of those will probably never go back. Many more have been lost to suicide since March 2011, some directly due to the disaster, others less related, but the ongoing "slow tsunami" of despair continues to overtake this country.

• Pray for God's peace and presence in the midst of pain.

• Pray for hope that comes from knowing God.

• Pray that God would continue to raise up communities of believers that can bring Jesus into broken places.

• Japan is one of the least reached nations in the world, with less than 1% of its 125 million people claiming to be Christian. Pray for an amazing outpouring of God's spirit upon Japan.