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Friday, June 29, 2012

IN MITO

Hello again!
This is Ben in Mito, Japan.  I just finished doing some relief work in Ishinomaki, an area that was very hard hit by the 3.11 earthquake and tsunami. The things that I saw there were unimaginable.  Thousands of people lost everything.     Now they are living in temporary housing that is cramped and doesn't foster a sense of community.  These people are in a very bad situation even though more than a year has gone by since their homes and businesses were swept into the sea.  My research here is aimed at finding the best possible intersection of financial and social cost after a terrible disaster like this.  I am truly saddened by what I have seen and will be doing everything I can to help these people heal.  One of our most powerful weapons is prayer, and I urge all those reading this to take some time and pray for the people of the Tohoku region of Japan.  

     I am now switching gears and heading to Shizuoka to meet up with a missionary from my home church and possibly climb Mt. Fuji.  After that, I will meet up with the AFC team in Bangkok.  

     REMEMBER JAPAN IN YOUR PRAYERS!  Also as the AFC team departs on July 3, Remember us as well.  

Ben

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Tokyo for the week

I have arrived in Tokyo.  I have arranged to meet a minister of the Ochanomizu Church of Christ at a subway station and he is going to take me to the church in the morning!  Some members of the church even offered to let me stay at their house for the rest of the week! It's looking good here.  See you all in Bangkok and I'll keep you updated on the happenings in Asia!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

It has begun!

Hello Team (and world),
     This is Ben.  I am in Bangkok, Thailand stopping by the 10 million person city on my way to a 36 million person city, Tokyo.  The flight is nice, but long.... maybe about 22 hours of flying.  I think I have uncovered the secret to hitting the ground running and getting over jetlag while still on the plane.  I will post tomorrow to tell you if I truly am healed, but this is what I did.   On the 10 hour flight to Moscow: slept 6 hours.  On the 10 hour flight from Moscow to Singapore: sleep 5 hours.  Don't sleep after that and then make sure to stay up all day when you get here. Its 11:54 pm right now, and I can say that I'm truly tired, which means I might be on track to get over jetlag tomorrow.  Anyways, I don't have any pics to post, so I will leave you with this to chew on;  I felt truly served today by the church members in Bangkok.  They were right there when I got off the plane and helped me stay awake all day by keeping me entertained.  They helped me get my lost bag back, took me to a mega mall for dinner and a movie, and got a massage with me. (ok... that one might not have been that hard)  I want us to strive to have that kind of servant heart when we get here.   We should strive to out serve everyone we meet, although it will be very hard with such gracious hosts.  See you all in Bangkok.  

BEN 

Jenica Tolleson

Hi everyone! I am writing my personal post a little late, but better late then never:) This is my second time in Thailand and we are going to all of the same places as last year in 2011. (Minus going to Malaysia for 5 days for the Asian Mission Forum). It has been great so far and time has flown by! Today was our first Sunday to attend church in Kranuan. It was so great to see all of the youth group and to see all of the families from last year. They all recognized me too! lol but lets be real... how many blonde American girls in the past year have visited this particular church? Not many, if any lol. So of course they remembered me and how could I forget them. I hope you are enjoying reading our blog and the updated post:)) Thank you all so much for your prayers. God has been faithful and so good to us on our journey and experiences. I can't wait to see what all He has in store for the next 41 days:)
P.S. The picture above is of some of the youth kids in Kranuan.

Blessings to all of you,
Jenica