Lifted Vision Ministry

From Nov. 11th -13th, a group of 12 of us from my church had the privilege to drive 6 hours away to provide disaster relief to the displaced people of Noto Peninsula! After a 7.5 magnitude earthquake shook and destroyed their homes and lives on January 1st, 2024, the people and city there are still recovering and trying to regain their lives, jobs, infrastructure and any sense of normalcy- almost one year later. The damage was atrocious and many families are still left without homes and the proper resources to conduct normal lives.
In this disaster stricken area, by the grace of God, we were able to meet the practical and spiritual needs of the people by providing hope, provision and sharing the light and love of Jesus Christ with the Japanese there that have yet to hear the gospel.

Our mission activities included:
-making over 250 lunch boxes of traditional and healthy foods from scratch to distribute to families and individuals (and staying up most nights until well over 1am to do so)
-using our new food truck to distribute soup and various tea and coffee services
-going door to door to the camps where people are currently staying, door knocking, and providing care packages of food, warm clothing, handmade winter hats and various other provisions
– daily Bible studies and prayer meetings

We drove to various places with our food truck, and distributed our meals to the people who desperately needed encouragement and Jesus’ love the most. Not only did we visit families at the government disaster relief houses, we also went to places where government and healthcare workers have been over-run and overworked due to the increased level of needs in the area (we visited nursing homes and county office buildings as well).

It was such a blessing to see the people being served face’s light up with joy as we provided them with the provisions. They were truly touched that we came from a long way away for their sakes, and definitely felt seen, loved and heard, in the name of Jesus. It was wonderful to hear the various conversations about Jesus and what Christianity is among our team as we ministered, and through our serving. The Japanese were genuinely curious about why we were doing what we were doing and this was an excellent opportunity to point them to Jesus Christ and introduce them to Christianity.

By the grace of God, He provided tremendously! Our team was exhausted, sleeping on the floor when we could, taking “shifts” to roll our rice rolls, but at the same time joyfully serving, vigorously praying and continually laughing together as we diligently worked unto the Lord. It was a blessed time of fellowship and through working unto the Lord, our team grew in love and hope ourselves. The Bible is true in all things but for our trip I truly was reminded that:

-Acts 20:35 NIV-
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

Please enjoy the pictures below of the fruit that God provided!
God Bless each and every single one of your who reads this!
Thank you for your love, care, attention for Japan and also for the work that you yourselves are also doing unto the Lord! Blessings!