The world, and certainly Japan, are still rolling in the aftermath of the largest earthquake to ever hit the small country on March 11, 2011.
The tsunami that quickly followed incurred even more damage on the northeastern coast, and caused unprecedented destruction.
Since then, Japan has been hit by many more aftershocks that continue to strike fear and anxiety into the hearts of the Japanese, and cause even more damage.
Today, April 7, another earthquake -with a magnitude of 7.1 (the largest aftershock since the earthquake on March 11th)- erupted just off of Japan's northeast coast. Another tsunami warning had been issued, but thankfully no tsunami arrived, and the damage caused by this most recent earthquake was minimal.
The death toll has risen to approximately 12,500, with 15,000 people still missing. Authorities are expecting the final death toll to reach 20,000 people.
160,000 are homeless, and are currently residing in temporary shelters.
Among all of this heartbreaking news is the continued threat of nuclear explosions within three of their nuclear reactors. Many Japanese families are being shuttled and quarantined to hopefully quash the spread of radiation, while all the while Japanese and American personnel are searching for victims of the quake and tsunami.
Please continue to pray for the Japanese, that the Lord would use this devastating time to bring more of his people to Him. Pray that they would not only receive worldly comfort, but the peace and comfort that only the Spirit of God can provide.
For more detailed information, and a timeline of the events since the earthquake, check out the New York Times article
here.
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Please pray for the people of Japan and all those affected by the massive earthquake and accompanying tsunami.
News stories here: 
By Suzanne Mauhar
It's been 65 months since our work here was established by divine fiat. Many people have come and gone and many lessons have been learned. As each month passes, we find ourselves in a block of adjustments. One month you have a lot of help and funding and another month you have very little. One week things go well and the next week you don't even seem to be organized properly. Navigating the mostly-uncharted has proven to be a great challenge. It has stretched us beyond our comfort and in many cases beyond our abilities.
However, despite our shortcomings, there have been great blessings. The natural diversity of the people we have had the privilege to work alongside of and to help has been tremendous. What a joy to represent the grace and mercy of God and to meet our eternal brothers and sisters in Christ before we gather in our final estate.
And so five years and five months later we are evaluating where we are and where we are going as we continue to persevere in establishing permanence. We invite your prayers during this process of examination and planning.
Years ago, we met a man who has a similar training ministry in North Carolina. He is in his mid-70’s and gave us some sage advice. Among his commentary were two things that stuck with us – first, a good work will take some time to establish and secondly, find the right people to work with. He said that it would be about five years before we would really know what we wanted to do and how to accomplish it. How prophetic and true.
There is much to do and few who are both willing and able. This is nothing new of course for we know that the fields have always been ready for the harvest and the workers scarce. We are excited about a family from Ohio who want to relocate here in order to be in that number of planters. We pray the LORD sees fit to make that happen.
Failure and disappointment are sometimes our greatest teachers. It is with a deeper sense of focus, commitment and sobriety that we move into 2011. Expect to see some changes as we retool and move ahead.
To be continued.
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