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Dear Friends 23 April I went to shopping to get some items for my student today. Sendai railroad station was crowded with people. I was stopped by Mr. Shiraishi, a graduate of my college. He is working as a teacher of Kesennuma Koyo High School. Kesennuma is the town which was devastated by tsunami. This seaside high school had the terrible damage. We talked to each other about our experiences from the earthquake. He saved his life swimming in the tsunami. I asked him whether Mr. Takeda, one of the teachers of his high school is safe. I have been worring about Mr. Takeda because he was one of my students. I have a special memory of him. Because he failed my class for two years in a row, he had to kept beeing the junior in college. Eventually he got my class and participated in my seminar. He enjoyed the life of my laboratory and graduated from the college. After graduated, he became a teacher of the high school above. I remember the day he visited me together with his students. I was invited to his wedding. We send season's greetings cards to each other every year. After tsunami, I called him. But the machine replyed me as "This dial number is not available now". Mr. Shiraishi told me that Mr.Takeda is fine. Easter Sunday comes tomorrow. My student came back to life befor Easter. It was the day before yesterday. I was stopped by Mr.D who lives next to Sendai church. He owns a warehouse company. You can easily imagine that his company had the terrible damage. After the earthquake, we confirmed of the safety of ourselves by emails. But that was the first time we saw each other after the earthquake. I came running up to him and gave him a firm handshake. We exchanged greetings, asked if each family were OK and talked everything about our experiences. Much words overflowed from our mouths. Probably that was because we are the sufferers. He became exactly the neighbor for me. Jesus said "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much" Luke 16:10 (New International Version, c2011) Who do you think are the people trusted with very little? What the verry little means? People in the devastated area need human and financial support. Our church began to do the support project. First of all, we must be the neighbor for one next to us. Shinji Nagashima
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