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Tsunami
Relief: An Eyewitness Account
Editor’s
Note: Joshua Morey (Peninsula FMC, Redwood City, CA) is the
sole staff member in a pioneering effort by Athletes in Action Japan (Tokyo)
to equip and encourage athletes to use their platform to spread God’s
love. Morey, a baseball player, also hopes to break into Japanese professional
baseball — a basic part of life in Japan and, he says, “key
in drawing the Japanese to Christ.” Following December’s tsunami, Morey joined a relief effort coordinated by Thai Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC). Here is his story. Our team departed Bangkok the night of Jan. 7 for a miserable
12-hour bus ride to southern Thailand and an amazingly beautiful hour-and-a-half
boat trip. For the most part we couldn’t tell where the tsunami had
struck. Then we got to the island of Phra Tong. I had seen all these pictures on the Internet and TV of
the destruction, but nothing prepared me for what I saw that morning.
We turned a corner and … breathtaking mass destruction. Nobody in
our boats said a word as we anchored and waded to shore. The island was completely deserted except for a couple of
dogs. We were told that the villagers were afraid to come back because
of evil spirits. In fact, we initially had to pay men from the village
as hired help in order to get them back to the island. The villagers laughed
at us because we had no heavy machinery — telling us there was way
too much to be done. They thought we were a government organization, and
when they learned we were Christian volunteers they were amazed. By the
end of the trip you could see tears welling up as they thanked us.
It was cool to see the villagers’ emotional progress
during our time on the island. The first day they didn’t seem interested
in working at all, and I would often see them staring out at the ocean.
Most had lost at least one family member, and a couple of people I met
had lost everyone. I sensed that these people were paralyzed from losing loved
ones and didn’t know how to begin to rebuild. But slowly, as we helped
clean up the island, they began to join in — cutting down trees,
burying bottles, separating metal and removing debris so future volunteers
could build homes and a school.
The last day, I was working with two guys, Noong and Noo.
At lunchtime I grabbed Tip (Thai CCC) to translate for me, and I shared
my testimony and the gospel. Intrigued by the opportunity to know God
on a personal level, by the end of lunch Noong and Noo had decided to
accept Christ into their hearts! The rest of the day we had a ton of fun
working together, and I even saw them smile a few times — one of
the highlights of the trip for me. As I left, the last thing they told
me was to come back soon. (It’s my hope to do just that.) While I was hospitalized the following week [Morey was stricken
with a high fever], Noo called to see how I was doing. He told me he had
prayed for a house for his family, and the next day he got one in the
lottery. How awesome is that? He was so pumped up about how God had heard
his prayer! I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for him.
On our return trip we visited another island where we distributed fans and many accepted Christ. It was so cool to see how it looks when the Spirit has prepared people’s hearts so that after five minutes they’re ready to dedicate their lives to Christ. Prior Christian groups had sown the seeds — all we had to do was barely touch the fruit, and it fell. I can only pray that the Lord would move His Spirit like this in Japan.
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