Worldwide Family Activity Report - Special Issue on the Kobe Earthquake
FAR012c - GP
April 1995 by The Family, Zurich, Switzerland

The Family
Making a Difference!

Relief and Rays of Hope
AFTER THE KOBE EARTHQUAKE!

Part 1a
Picking Up the Pieces!

         After one of the worst earthquakes in Japan's history rocked Kobe in the early morning of January 17th, about 50 Family members from all over Japan traveled to Kobe to help in the relief operation. As they attended to people's physical needs, they also had opportunity to share the hope of the gospel with many. This installment of the Family volunteers' story focuses on people who have been helped through their counseling work.

Little is much if God is in it!
         We began by doing what little we could, and the Lord helped our initial efforts to snowball into a large-scale, effective operation. We have seen the verse, `Give and it shall be given unto you' (Luke 6:38), fulfilled quite literally. Take, for example, our first food line: all we had were bread rolls, but as we gave those out to the needy, the Lord supplied through miraculous ways until we had truckload after truckload of a wide variety of nutritious food to distribute! The same thing happened with tents, cooking gas, and other basic items.
         This same principle has also applied to our spiritual ministry. We went into this situation trying to do all that we could to help the people physically, since that was such an urgent need and that is what nearly everyone expected and appreciated the most. But having done our best at that, the Lord made it possible for us to spend more time on what is really most important and will have the greatest, lasting results--helping people spiritually. When Jesus walked this earth, He fed the multitudes and ministered to their physical needs, but He also taught them about the things of God, the real values.--And it was the things He taught them that endured and changed the world. In that respect, our work here is much like His.

Feeding the spiritually hungry
         Eight days into our relief project, American-born Family member, Sandy, commented: "I think this has been the busiest week of my life. It's been very taxing, but also exciting and rewarding. I've been a missionary in Japan for the last 21 years, but I've never seen the Japanese so desperate, so needy or so receptive to the gospel. For years, it's been my prayer to be able to reach more Japanese in a deep way, to show them God's love and to help them come to know Him in a real and personal way. This tragedy, awful as it is, has a silver lining; it's causing many people to turn to Him in their hour of great need.
         "Sometimes I have to stop and get away from it all for a few minutes because the pain and anguish that I see on people's faces is so great. But then some stranger with a desperate, urgent need comes along and reminds me of the job at hand. Even though it's been over ten days since the big quake, people still come into our tent daily saying they haven't eaten hardly anything since it happened and they have no place to stay.
"        I talked with one man today who had lost his wife and children in the earthquake. Since most of the shelters are full, he has been sleeping here and there--one night in one shelter, one night in another, and sometimes out in the open. He was crying as he told me his story, and when we gave him some hot soup to drink he broke down and wept again. The poor man was so emotionally distraught that I spent several hours listening to him and comforting him. I prayed with him to be free from the fears and nightmares that have plagued him since the quake, and he received Jesus as his Savior."

* * *

         A few people who, like the vast majority of Japanese, are Buddhists or Shintoists have come to us with Bibles in hand, asking us to teach them about Christianity. We have organized a little Bible study group and put up a sign inviting everyone else who is interested to come for a little class each morning. Already, several people have received the Lord after attending these informal meetings.

A sample, not a sermon
         "Living and working so closely with the many other volunteers who are helping us really keeps us on our toes," Family member Lynn explains. "Most of them knew very little about Christianity until they met us, and it is clear that they are taking their lessons more from what we do than what we say. It's like the story about how the missionary explorer Dr. David Livingstone influenced Henry Morton Stanley, the journalist who sought him out in deepest Africa, just by his personal example, his daily life. These volunteers respect us for our dedication and our love for them and the earthquake victims, but they still don't quite understand that it is our faith that helps us love others and remain positive in such trying circumstances. However, day by day, our example is having an effect on them. Some of them have even started giving us hugs, which is very unusual for the rather formal Japanese. New workers join us daily, so all day, every day, we are reminded that these sweet people will only come to know Jesus as they see His love reflected in us.
         "Some of the volunteers now join us for a short devotional reading and prayer each morning. These readings include basic Bible passages such as 1 Corinthians 13 ("the love chapter") and the story of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). They easily relate to the Bible when shown how it applies directly to our work here. One co-worker clearly got the point and summed it up by saying, "Anybody can give out food, but we should be giving love."

Lives touched by God's love
Drawing from various Family publications, a Japanese Family member compiled a short tract on the theme of "comfort in time of trouble." Entitled "Dawn Is Near," this leaflet has already given new hope to many people, including Yasuko, a 49-year-old single woman who said, "When I read the simple words, `You are not alone,' it made me cry!" She then went on to explain to Lynn that she has lived alone for the past 23 years. Twice she had been so overwhelmed by loneliness that she had tried to commit suicide. When the earthquake ruined the company she worked for, she lost her job--and with it her only source of companionship. "I haven't talked from my heart like this with anyone in thirty years," she said. Lynn introduced her to Joy, and when Joy gave her a hug, Yasuko started crying again. "It's okay," she said. "They are tears of happiness. Finally I have found real friends! My loneliness is over!"

* * *

         The need is still very great, and there's always much more to be done than we could possibly do, so we pray each day that the Lord will help us accomplish the most important things. We plan our time as best we can, but we never know what turns our day will take or who we will meet next. For example, Eryk tells of a 70-year-old grandmother he met while he was out on a bicycle team distributing food: "She asked us to help her move her belongings--nearly all of which were too heavy for her to lift--out of her condemned house. We agreed, of course, but it turned out to be a lot of stuff. After a while, we felt like we really should be on our way, as we needed to get food around to quite a few other people. This lady seemed to really need and appreciate our help, however, so we decided to stay and finished the job. As we continued working, she explained that her husband, one of her children and four of her grandchildren had all died in the earthquake. She thanked us again and again for our help, and as we were about to leave, she covered her eyes and started crying. We comforted her about the loss of her family by explaining a few basic verses from the Bible, and she prayed with us to receive Jesus. We also gave her the phone number of the Family home in Osaka (our emergency relief and counseling hotline) and encouraged her to call if she needed any more help."

* * *

         Some of the other volunteers are just as spiritually needy as the earthquake victims. Lynn tells of one volunteer who is a college student. "She came to work with us after her mother saw a TV news clip about our work and encouraged her to join in the project. As I was explaining to her that we all need God's love to do this job right, she began to tell me the most personal things about herself. She was raped a few years ago, and had not yet completely overcome the trauma. After I showed her some verses from the Bible and explained to her that Jesus could take away her fears, she prayed to receive Him as her Savior. Having been helped through a personal crisis of her own, this dear girl understood right away that we are soul doctors. She saw that we have God's love and words in us, and that makes us different from other volunteer groups."

* * *

         Tommy tells of a man who came to the camp one day: "When I meet people for the first time, I often ask them if their house survived the quake. This is usually a good opener, but when I asked this man about his house, he burst into tears. It so happened that when his house collapsed, he survived, but his wife and child did not. He had had very little to eat for the past ten days, and when he asked other relief organizations for help, he was told that they were too busy.
         "When he saw the food that we offered and our concern for him, he broke down and wept. He later prayed to receive Jesus into his heart, and kept saying over and over, `I'm not going to disappoint you or let you down. One of these days I will do something to repay you.'
         "He had contacted a friend in a neighboring city who agreed to take him in, so I offered to help him get his few belongings to the station. When it came time to buy his ticket, however, I saw that he only had a few coins. `Since I have no money, I was going to walk to my destination. I was too ashamed to tell you,' he confessed. I gave him money for his ticket and told him that he could come back to us if he ever needed help again.
         "As we went together to his train, we met a lady in her 70's. She asked if we had any okayu (soft, watery rice), as that is the only food her 80-year-old husband can eat. I explained that we had other food at our nearby camp, but no okayu. The man with me piped up and offered her the only food that he had for his journey, which happened to be a bowl of okayu. Then he turned to me and said, `You helped me, so now I must help others.'"

         (To be continued.)


Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family