Dan's Relief Effort Questions

31 March 2011

 Dear Phyllis,

Your son, Dan, just sent me a letter asking questions about the relief operation in Japan. Here is a copy of my letter to Dan.

 31 March 2011

Dear Dan,

 

You humble me by writing to me. You have asked some difficult questions which I do not feel I am in a position to accurately answer, but as a simple Christian  brother standing at the edge of an astronomic disaster area I am delighted to at least give you my observations.

1. At the outset how were you able to discern and confirm that God was extending this call for you to go to Japan?

That’s simple. If you were at the scene of a fire and you heard a child screaming from inside, what would you do? If you came to a scene of someone drowning in water and you were a strong swimmer what would you do? Anyone who wouldn’t run into a fire to save a child or dive into water to save another person; I wouldn’t want to shake their hand. I wouldn’t care to look at the face of someone so disgusting and cowardly as to not be willing to risk their own life to save others. When I heard of the need in Sendai and Neil Verwey called me from Ikoma asking me to come immediately; what am I supposed to do? That guidance is easy.

2.  How did the folks in Ikoma determine what and where help was needed in Tohoku and where you should go with your supplies?

Most of the stuff I took from Ikoma were things that Japan Mission got together themselves. Other missions and individuals in Ikoma heard that JM was sending a load up there and brought some more to add to the pile. I loaded all I could get on the truck – and then I had a serious overload – but still left about 1/3 sitting on the ground because it simply could not take any more. How did they know what to send? If you were in Ikoma what would you do? Use your own judgment. There was food, blankets, clothes, bathroom supplies, etc. One sister brought a box of children books because she heard that the children in refugee centers had nothing to do. That is all anybody has done. Some are right and some are wrong. Some can be used and some is superfluous.

3. How was Vermey (Verwey) involved in planning this project and enlisting your partnership?

I was a former member of Japan Mission and Neil and I have been close friends for many years. Like any organization, JM responded immediately when they saw what had happened in Sendai. What kind of a mission would it be if they were here and didn’t immediately move to do all they could? Anyone who didn’t move should honestly acknowledge that they are not really serving Christ, close their door, and go home. Neil didn’t have anyone in his organization who could go, but he knew me. He naturally called me and asked me to go as the mission representative. I was the only man available.

4. Would it be (or have been) possible for you to join with CRASH or some other group's relief efforts to put to good use your skills and abilities?

Tim Cole didn’t know I was on my way, but he called Neil before I got in Japan asking him how to get in touch with me. I called Tim as soon as I got to Ikoma. I had never heard of CRASH before but it seemed that Tim was working very closely with them. I had been in Sendai 22 years before then building Kakudai Senkyo Gakuin (Bible school). That, of course, gave me a close connection with that Bible school, and it looked like that was going to be a major base for CRASH. I told Tim about the Bible school, and told him that that was my first stop where I was going. I assumed when I got there I would be working hand in glove with CRASH in whatever they had going.

When I got to the Bible school, Nagai sensei knew all about CRASH and all that was going on, but the organization of what was going on seemed very non-tangible. Nagai sensei is an excellent brother. There is nothing wrong with his attitude but I was quite miffed at what I thought was a very irresponsible attitude until I knew a little more about his dilemma. I was komaru as I found nothing to do, and I told him the only person I knew that was more komaru than me was him. People were calling from all over and sending in tons of things to him, and there was no way he could use any of it. He had no distribution channel and knew very little about any needs. The first day I was there we took a load of things I had brought to a church in Sendai where he was good friends with the pastor. They seemed to be in good shape but the pastor told me he knew others that could use the things I brought.

 The next day Nagai sense told a senior brother to take me to Ishinomaki to see if they knew anyplace that could use me. I wrote about that in my last weeks letter. That was the most unreal thing I had ever seen. I called Tim Cole and told him relief work there was like selling bathing suits in a nudist colony. He laughed and said yes that is pretty much the way it is going. He said, “That is why they call it a disaster.” Tim gave me two other phone numbers of men to call to see if they had anything for me to do. I talked with both of these men, but they were more or less blank. One guy said he would call me if he knew of anything, but never called back. I was at the Bible school for over a week and had done next to nothing. I had seen others come and go with about the same success. One missionary had been born and raised in Japan and was highly aggressive. He had looked up locations of schools in Sendai and had gone directly to these schools that were being used as refugee centers, and had some success in finding people with need. But he wound up leaving what he had left in the warehouse I had been to previously in Ishinomaki, and he went on back to Tokyo.

The Bromans are very big people in Sendai. They are the missionaries that drive all over Japan putting up black signs in every village in Japan with short Bible verses. “Jesus saves.” “The Blood of Christ cleanses from sin.” “All sinners are going to hell” Etc. They have large facilities in Sendai and I heard that CRASH was working out of there. I also heard that Samaritan Purse had sent 90 tons of relief supplies that were sitting in a warehouse in Sendai. I called one of the numbers Tim had given me and talked with a man I had spoken with a few days before. He said there might be some need for me to haul a few things from that warehouse. I checked out of the Bible school (they thought I was going back to Ikoma); but drove into Sendai to the warehouse to meet this brother, Jim Grace. We did load up a huge load to take it to a yakuba (town hall) about 40 minutes from the warehouse. There were four other men from Kurume there, that had hauled a few things in their car.

 The warehouse, where I met Jim, seemed to be the epicenter of relief. That was where Samaritan Purse had sent their 90 tons of supplies. I talked with their top man, who had rented a 747 to fly that stuff to Japan. He seemed to be the top man with Samaritan Purse International. He said he had been in 100 other relief operations world wide. I talked with Samuel Broman who was doing excellent work taking teams up the Japan coast looking for desperate areas. I don’t know anyone more central in the relief operation that these men.

There was talk about a need to haul things down towards the nuclear Fukushima area that had been evacuated because of the radiation. Some people were reluctant to go down there because of the radiation. I said, “Sign me up! I’ll take it to the plant if they need it there.” I spent that night with a pastor working with Jim. I called him the next morning but he didn’t know of anything moving. The trip towards Fukushima had not yet materialized. I went back to the warehouse and the fellows from Kurume were taking one more load to the place where we had been the day before. But that was it. From there they were going on home to Tokyo. I took another max load with my kei truck with them to that town hall and left it there. If they were going home, what was the use of me staying there any longer?

From that Shichigahama town hall I drove straight to Saitama. I slept in my truck the first night in the parking lot of a close friend in Salado. I felt like I had been dipped in sin. I felt like the worse sinner out of hell. There were hundreds of thousands of desperate people in Sendai and I had just left there to go back to sunny Chiang Mai. I called Jim in Sendai the next morning and told him I would drive back to Sendai immediately if the was anything to do. Jim said it was a blank day for him and he didn’t recommend my coming. That morning I went to New Life League plant in Hatoyama where I had worked for ten years. I met some Mennonite brothers who had come from the states for relief work. They were from the same group I fellowship with in Chiang Mai and knew all about me. They were organizing relief work and had two men that I had previously met who were up in Sendai that day but were coming back that night. I slept here last night and am waiting to talk to them to see what they have going.

5.What would you do differently if you had this to do all over again?

What would you do? I have done everything I can think of. If I had it to do all over again I would do exactly what I have done. That has been the least I could do. Jesus said of Mary, “She has done what she could.” If we don’t do that, I don’t want to go to heaven. I don’t want to meet Mary if I don’t do what I can.

In a few hours I will talk with these Mennonite brothers and see what they have going. If there is anything to do I will drive back to Sendai. If not I will go back to Chiang Mai and resume several jobs that are waiting for me there. I am trying to get more Bibles into Laos and China. I have a further burden for the Muslims in west China and Pakistan.

My goal in life is to be a Christian terrorist. I feel God has raised up the Muslims terrorists to shame the Church of Christ for their cowardly attitude towards serving Jesus. If those fanatics are so committed to strap bombs on their bodies to go into market places to see how many they can kill;     How much more should we not strap a bomb of the love of God on our bodies and go to the most dangerous places to see how many we can save?!!!!!!!!!

And if we get killed in the process – so what!!! That is what we signed up for. Jesus didn’t think it was a very safe place on earth when He came here to give His life for us. It wasn’t a real safe mission for the apostles in the 1^st century to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Most of them got killed for doing so. Should we plead exemption and stay home?

Gomen nasai.

                              bill