September 10, 2018

Email September 10, 2018 – Elder Jackson Kunzler Burton

Earthquake! Hey Everyone!

                  This was a crazy week! As you might have heard, there was a pretty big earthquake in Hokkaido on Thursday morning! 6.7 on the Richter scale I think. It was the first earthquake I've ever felt, so it was scary but kind of cool to experience. It was nice having a Japanese companion, he's been in a few earthquakes so he didn't freak out or anything which made it less scary. Pretty much all the power in Hokkaido went out but we got ours back that afternoon so it wasn't bad. Some people had to wait a few days which is hard, especially food-wise, a lot of people have electric stoves. Besides that there wasn't too much damage. In our apartment the big heater in our sleeping room fell down pretty close to my head which was scary. And it was on, so it started burning the floor so we had to call the fire department because it was too hot and heavy for my companion and I to lift. But everything turned out fine, they got it taken care of and the manager of the apartment came and took it out so there's no danger now. The steeple of our church building also partially fell down. That was the worst damage I heard about in Ebetsu. God protected us and the rest of the missionaries in Hokkaido, I'm really grateful. Because there wasn't much damage where we are there wasn't much service we were able to do, but we made onigiris and brought them around to members because most of them didn't have warm food. It was a good chance to make sure everyone was alright and build better relationships with the members. The place worst affected by the earthquake was a town a little ways away where there were some huge landslides; a lot of people were buried in their houses and about 40 people died which is so sad. There's rumors that there might be another big earthquake soon but I've heard a lot of different things so I don't really know. There's been quite a few small aftershocks. It's a little scary having the possibility of another one coming but I know God is in control and He has the power to make good come from even the seemingly worst circumstances. The morning after the earthquake we were walking around seeing of there was anything we could do to help and we ran into an investigator we haven't been able to contact in a while and had a good conversation with him. I know a lot of other missionaries had cool experiences as well.

                  In other news, we went to a farm today for district activity, we got to see goats and horses and rabbits it was fun. It kind of shows how quickly Japan can recover from an earthquake, just a few days later everyone is going to work and we're playing with goats haha. I hope everyone at home is safe and well! I appreciate all the prayers, they really make a difference! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Burton