Since a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Japan’s Noto Peninsula in early January of this year, nearly 1,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have volunteered to help — donating at least 6,000 hours of their time to the Lord and their neighbors and traveling to the area almost weekly to serve.
Meanwhile, recent aftershocks have had residents tensed for a possible future disaster and they are prepared to evacuate at any time.
This month, Latter-day Saints from around Japan traveled to the area to take part in Light the World service efforts to help their neighbors. On Dec. 7, members of the Nagoya, Nagoya East, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe and the local Kanazawa stakes gathered at Ishizaki Nursery School in Nanao City, Ishikawa Prefecture, reported the Church’s Japan Newsroom.
There they split into groups with other organizations and community members to go out and serve. Some groups carefully removed belongings from homes that had been damaged by the earthquake. Others packaged food as Christmas gifts for 100 households, including 44 single-parent families.
Nagoya Japan East Stake President Hiroaki Sugimoto spoke to Japan Newsroom about how the effort helped the love and light of Christ reach those families, as the Light the World initiative invites. The volunteers smiled as they delivered the food and were greeted with smiles and gratitude in return, he said.
“Although the recovery of the disaster-stricken areas is still a long way off, I am grateful for the opportunity to work with many stakes and districts and with old friends within them,” President Sugimoto said. “I am also grateful for the other volunteer organizations whom I meet many times while I am there. I am grateful for this opportunity to feel the bonds that are strengthened by working together toward a common goal.”
An hour and a half drive away, the Kanasawa Japan Stake organized another service activity, where missionaries and Church members helped clean a home that had filled with mud.
Kanazawa Japan Stake President Tatsuya Yoshida said many people in his stake have continually given hours of their time to show their love for their neighbors after the disaster.
“I feel that this is what brings special power and blessings to the Kanazawa stake’s goal of ‘going to rescue in the name of Jesus Christ,’” he said, adding that without priesthood keys, they would just be a volunteer group.
“The suffering of those affected by the disaster is immeasurable, but I hope that the local people will feel the selfless love, find comfort, and one day come to know the Lord who is their Savior,” he said.
At the end of the day, the volunteers gathered back at Ishizaki Nursery School where Church members sang two Christmas songs — and all the volunteers from the different organizations joined in singing “Silent Night.”
