Hope for Japan

Allie and Grandma Mieko

After two weeks of feeling restricted to our home with Allie, we finally were able to make it down to Miho’s parents place in southern Yokohama yesterday. Grant went to his Japanese class in Tokyo and joined the rest of the family later that afternoon. On the way to school, it was interesting to see people lining up in front of Seiyu (owned by Wal-Mart) at least fifteen minutes before it opened. It was reminiscent of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. These people were waiting to get some water as soon as they could. Each day around 2pm when I get home from school, the aisles are empty of most drinks; most certainly water. On Thursday, thanks to our prayer meeting with Highrock, I was late for school and was able to go into Seiyu as it opened at 9am (I usually am on the train around 8:45). I bought my limit of three 2-liters of water and dragged them all the way to school on the train and home, as I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to secure some water.

Rations for Allie 🙂

With the radiation level in the Yokohama water going up the past few days (yesterday I finally began to dissipate and actually wasn’t detected), Miho’s mom felt very concerned for Allie. She ended up going out and tracking down all sorts of things we might possibly need. The sight, as you can see, is quite amazing. She must have spent a few hundred dollars getting stacks of diapers, a few tubs of formula, three 10-lb. bags of rice, and even hit up vending machines for water when the stores were empty! We felt incredibly loved by her sacrifice. Now, we are able to relax a bit more as we feel fairly well stocked with food, baby supplies, and water (even a fellow missionary family shared two bottles of water with us!).

Spending a day with Allie’s grandparents has been a true blessing. With Allie not sleeping well, we have not been able to get much done or chance to relax in the midst of everything. So, having somebody else cook and enjoy watching and playing with Allie has been invaluable for us.