On Friday, October 16, a seven-member team made up of MercyWorks staff and volunteers returned from a life-changing missions trip to Japan. Led by MercyWorks founder Debbie Lascelles, the team distributed Japanese Ear Bibles, prayed with and comforted tsunami survivors, cleared away debris and rubble, encouraged weary church workers and spent much time conducting prayer walks. The team stayed at the Global Missions Outreach in Iwaki City, a coastal city directly hit by the tsunami on March 11. Following the earthquake and tsunami, all the churches except two left the Iwaki City due to the nuclear radiation fallout. However, the Global Missions Chapel specifically sensed God wanted them to stay behind, and minister to the survivors of the disaster.
To date, they have facilitated over 10,000 Christian volunteers who came to help reach out to the survivors. At first, the volunteers were Christians from throughout Japan, as the area was off limits to foreigners. But recently, as the government has opened up the area to outsiders, people from around the world have come to help out, including the MercyWorks team from Texas.
MercyWorks founder Debbie Lascelles shared, “We have prayed a lot for Japan and wanted to send a team there ever since March 11. When it became possible for us to go, we knew the Lord was directing us to proceed. Our team took hundreds of Japanese Ear Bibles with us to share the Gospel with people hungry to learn that God loves them.”
The Ear Bibles served as an amazing tool that opened doors to share with the people. The Japanese people love creative new uses of technology, and when a few people start using something, many others quickly follow. The team had many “divine appointments” where it was clear that God had led them specifically to a person or family or small group to give away the Ear Bibles and share God’s love with them. One 63-year-old man, Hiroyuki Yuyama, had just returned to his home on the coast for the first time the week before the team arrived. Miraculously, his home was still standing, although all the other homes around him were destroyed. 
Hiroyuki had learned English from a British missionary when he was a child, and still had the Bible she had given him so many years ago. He was thrilled to receive a Japanese Ear Bible and wanted to know when the team would return. After they left, he called the MercyWorks team five minutes later by cell phone to find out when they would come back and visit again!
MercyWorks will continue reaching out to Japan as the people are hungry for Good News. One of the best ways to do this is to practically love the people and share God’s Word with them. As people return to the coast to see what remains of their homes, Japanese Christians from Global Missions Chapel are committed to moving to the coast and living among the people, helping them rebuild while sharing the Gospel. One such person is Ikarashi Yoshitaka, known as Ikapi. He and his wife had a baby daughter in January 2011. Her Japanese name means “God’s Love Wave.” Just two days after Ikapi and his wife dedicated Erina to the Lord, she died unexpectedly for no reason. Many miracles followed her death, and Ikapi and his wife are trusting God as they move to the coast to be among the first to live in a new community where they can share God’s love and redemption with those who have lost so much. We want to support our Japanese brothers and sisters in every way possible as they reach out. We invite you to join MercyWorks in praying and giving at this time to see Japan take her place among the nations who turn to the Lord.
