I'm ready to get to Japan and help, too.
We are all saddened by the damage and destruction following the earthquake last Friday. I remember thinking shortly after the shaking stopped, "Wow, that was a really long quake, but at least it wasn't very strong." I remember how surprised I was when told that the quake had actually taken place a over 200 kilometers away. Then there was the time we were sitting in the lobby of the retreat center where we were and saw the disturbing images we have all been watching on the news for the first time. It was horrible to see houses and boats being washed across areas that were towns minutes before. 
After spending some time beginning to digest the magnitude of the destruction, I was filled with a desire to help. My wife and I were scheduled to fly back to the States Tuesday morning, but we found ourselves seriously desiring to stay. Leaving felt like fleeing. I am not saying that people shouldn't be careful in Japan right now or that it is not a good decision for some foreigners to return home. But as we continued to see the pain and destruction we wanted to do something about it. We wanted to be a part of the churches immediate response and to be able to share Christ's love in the midst of all the pain.
We came to the conclusion that we need to go home and regroup. Now we are working with other A2 leadership to figure out what A2's longer term response to the tsunami will be. Currently we have staff working with CRASH (the organization that is coordinating much of the Christian response to the disaster), other full time staff is in route to the area to help asses damage and set up a relief base, and other staff is helping to figure out what capacity we actually have to take teams to help with the recovery effort in the coming months.
I thank you in advance for your patience and want to assure you that we are working hard to be able to offer opportunities in the near future for people to go to Japan and help with the clean-up and rebuilding of that part of the country as we share Christ's love. Our prayer first is that God would quickly bring an end to the suffering around this event. We are hopeful that God will redeem this horrible event for his glory. I can't wait to get back to Japan and help and will let you know how you can be involved as soon as those decisions have been made.
Thanks again for your patience and please spend some time on the forum discussing your experience, prayers, and hopes related to Japan and the tsunami.
Robert
