Crash Command Center: DAY 1 (in progress)

I'm currently in the Crash Command Center, which is packed to capacity with a ton of people working their butts off to see the people in Tohoku taken care of. ITS SOOOO GOOD TO BE HERE!! I feel so much better being here than being in Mie. It feels so right.

What may day has looked like:

Awesome bullet train ride, cuddled up with God and took a really nice nap, and saw beautiful Mt. Fuji covered with snow out the window! God always spoils me with amazing beauty whenever I think I am about to "sacrifice" for Him. :)

Met up with my dear friend Chika at Shinjuku Station and headed over to the Command Center in Higashikurume. We have had a great time catching up, encouraging each other, praying for each other, and crying together.

We roll into the command center, and they have us working within 5 minutes. Chika has been doing translation all day, and I fell into a semi-leadership position in the volunteer coordination department. We're sending out another team of 6 Japanese nationals tomorrow morning, and moving a bunch of supplies, as well as sending in some member from a deaf church in the near future, because there is a group of deaf people at the Sendai evacuation center waiting for them. I have been processing a TON of emails, and helping to devise strategies and plans of actions to manage the influx of requests to volunteer. We're going to have different people coming in to volunteer each day, and because I am here for two weeks, I get to be in charge of them in my little area of the process.

My chances of getting to go to Ground Zero look like -500% right now. But I think its ok, cause I'm actually being really useful here. Getting to draw on a lot of previous work and school experience to make this happen. And they are trying to send in as many nationals as they can to do the relief work, for stints of two weeks at a time, so I'm out on both accounts. (so those of you who are worried about me, be UNworried, cause I'm not going anywhere near the power plant).

Tokyo feels a bit empty, with power outages and closed stores and the like, people are just out and about less. BUT it feels really normal! Everyone is just working really hard to take care of what needs to be taken care of. All of the nuclear freak out feels like such hype now that I am here! No, I haven't melted yet, and no, I am not going to have cancer from this, the levels here are super super negligible.

I got to see a bunch of friends today at the center!!! Nobuko, my translator from when I was in YWAM in 2005, Kevin, my friend from my church in LA who just flew in to help, Paul Nethercott, who works very closely with the Biola film department making films in Japan, and is currently our press manager.

There was a 6.1 quake off of the coast of Fukushima about 30 mins ago. We felt it pretty good here, and their was a brief tsunami warning, but it was taken away rather quickly. PRAISE GOD!!

Prayer requests:
#1 For the people in Tohoku.
#2 For the teams going out
#3 For the nuclear power plant to get resolved. The guy in charge is a Christian, so pray for him!!
#4 The earth to calm down! Earth quakes, weather, etc.
#5 That God would bless and direct the work we do here at Crash.
#6 I'm going to be working 11 hours a day, for the next 11 days, so for stamina and clarity of though! And for my body, cause I will be on a computer most of these hours, and you all know my back sucks...