First Baptist relief team headed to Japan

The First Baptist Church Brownsville Disaster Relief Team is headed to Japan Sunday afternoon to help with the earthquake and tsunami restoration.

The trained group of six is preparing for the trip by relying on faith and experience from previous disaster relief trips to Haiti, Chile and Mexico.

Japan continues to struggle to provide shelter for the tens of thousands that had to evacuate their homes because of the nuclear crisis. Many people continue to live in fear and are taking precautions such as wearing surgical masks and staying indoors to protect themselves from radiation. The food has also been affected and people have learned to live by the quote "When in doubt, throw it out," referring to the disposal of any nonperishable food touched by floodwater.

The First Baptist Relief Team will be distributing food and cleaning up rubble, among other things. Its mission is to help people in their time of need.

"This is an extension of what is being done in the church," Terry Roberts, the superintendent of the First Baptist School, said. "We have this international vision, which is to introduce them to the Lord."

The group is not taking any supplies and will be staying in a common room and sleeping on straw mats. Only one member of the group is fluent in Japanese. Former minister Elliot Irisawa will serve as translator, but the group will be provided additional translators when it gets to Japan.

The team is a little apprehensive about going, saying there is always a chance of getting diseases and that members will miss their families, but they are ready for the long trip across the Pacific.

"We might be knee-deep in mud, and who knows what’s in there," one group member said. "But we feel this is where we need to be. We believe it is God’s will to go."

They will first fly to Dallas, where they will catch a flight to Vancouver. From Vancouver, they will fly to Tokyo and then take a seven-hour bus ride to Sendai, Japan.

Fortunately, the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention and the Global Baptist Response groups are funding the trip, leaving the team only to purchase small items such as special clothing.

The First Baptist Church also helped out during past hurricanes, teaming up with the Red Cross to cook thousands of meals a day out of their two trailers, which have cooking facilities inside. They have plans on partnering with FEMA to build a disaster relief shelter on the southwest corner of their facility. The building would be built to withstand strong hurricanes and house 2,000 people; but decisions will not be made until the end of June.

smedrano@brownsvilleherald.com