Dear Family and Friends,
This will be my final blog from Japan. Thank you for taking this journey with Molly, Josh and me. We have so appreciated everyone's help and prayers and encouragement as we have made this journey.
Yesterday we had a fantastic last work day at the Masu house! Our supervisor, Dean, was able to stay with our group the entire day for the final intensive push to complete this house. Dean pulled the whole Avocado Team from the other house to the Masu house and was able to recruit another team of 6 Californians to assist us, so we had 18 for the final effort. It was a bit crowded, but WE DID IT! We were able to finish all of the mudding and final clean-up. We power-washed the house and sprayed the entire site down with bleach. The "bleach sprayers" were followed by an army of workers with buckets of bleach and scrub brushes who scrubbed down every inch of wood-work with bleach. After sitting for and hour (the house not us...we moved all of the many tools and supplies back to storage) we again power-washed to remove the bleach and then wiped the good wood-work (window frames and door frames, etc) off so it wouldn't be stained. The only thing not completely finished was the small toilet closet. It still needs all of the paneling ripped out and a little clean-up.
We finished all of the work before 5:00 PM, but it took us another full hour to leave. Mr and Mrs Masu, and the neighbors who brought us snacks and drinks for the entire 2 weeks, had many good-byes to make. There was a lot of hand-shaking and hugging! Mr Masu and I exchanged business cards (which is a social norm in Japan) and they asked if my family would please come back to see them when their house was completely finished. It was hard to say good-bye!
When we returned (very late) to Camp Morigo, we were treated to a speech from a Japanese Senator who has worked with Samaritan's Purse. He profusely thanked Samaritan's Purse for blessing his country and asked us to stay for another 20 years. He said that he hoped many of his country-men would become "Japanese Samaritans"! Amen to that!
Our entire team ended a hard work week with a trip to the onsen (bath-house). Several had gone to the onsen for the previous two nights, but it was my first experience. Very relaxing! The water is hot, very hot, way too hot, "you have got to be kidding" hot, or ice-cold. You spend your time cycling between different areas which also include a sauna (way too hot) and a steam room ("you have got to be kidding" hot). Some places you spend mere moments (I could bear the ice-water for all of 90 seconds but Josh could sit in it for 20 minutes) and some places you almost fell asleep as they relaxed you. If you did need to fall asleep, they also had a sleeping hut where you could stretch out on a heated floor and rest. After over an hour in the onsen, we all had ice cream and headed back to Morigo, tired but very content.
And that is the end of our time in Ishinomaki.
Today we will do some touristy stuff and return to Tokyo. Tomorrow, the Cheese Team will board a train (ALONE) for Narito Airport and begin the long trip back to Wisconsin. We will never forget Samaritan's Purse, the Masus, the friends we have made, or the Japanese people. We feel so blessed to have been so richly provided for and allowed to serve the Kingdom. We will continue to pray for the Japanese people and ask that you continue to pray too.
God bless!
As always, we love you all.
Pastor Gary
