Epicenter Japan: Leadership in a Natural Disaster

LeAnn and I arrived in Japan in July 2009. I had served as a missionary from 1966 to 1969, when there were no stakes or wards and only one mission in Japan. Now there are nine stakes and two districts just in our mission. We soon discovered that serving as mission president and mission mom are relentless callings. There is always training, mentoring, or help needed for our 160 young missionaries.

The Great Tohoku Earthquake 

On Friday, 11 March 2011, we were holding a three-zone training conference at the Nakano church, next to the Tokyo Mission Home. We finished at 2:40 p.m. and were saying good-bye to the sixty missionaries who were attending from the Musashino, Tokyo, and Chiba stakes. At 2:46 we started to feel an earthquake. We rushed the missionaries out of the church onto a large grass field. Unlike the many previous quakes we have felt since coming to Japan, this one kept getting bigger. Instead of rocking and swaying like most quakes, it was comprised of hard jolts, almost like hitting an air pocket in a small airplane. There is a large apartment building next to the mission home, and we all thought it would tumble down. The earthquake lasted for nearly five minutes and was followed by numerous aftershocks, some of which were quite large, that continued for months. In the days after the earthquake, there were several each hour. 

I was surprised to learn that the epicenter was approximately 200 miles away, off the coast of Sendai. The earthquake registered 9 on the Richter Scale and was the biggest in Japan and one of the five largest ever. It caused considerable damage and the loss of many lives in the Tohoku region of Japan (Sendai mission area) and even in Tokyo.

Because of the magnitude, trains and other transportation stopped running immediately. It was obvious that the sixty missionaries would be staying at the mission home that evening. We started getting organized. I let them watch The Other Side of Heaven to calm their nerves, a once-in-a-mission exception to the no-movie rule. 

We were extremely concerned about the safety of our one hundred other missionaries. The assistants, a couple other missionaries, and I started contacting each of them. We split up the companionship list and started calling. The phone lines still worked, but they were jammed. Earlier this year the Presiding Bishopric’s Office (PBO) replaced the missionaries’ cell phones with new devices that have email capability, so we began sending emails. We got replies immediately. By that evening we had heard that all our missionaries were safe and there was only minor damage to a few of their apartments.

Once the earthquake hit, the Presiding Bishopric’s Office (the Area Presidency office) started contacting us by email to see if our missionaries were safe. We gave them updates every hour. Once we confirmed the safety of our missionaries, we emailed the missionaries’ parents, telling them their son or daughter was safe. We also sent a message to the missionaries again and told them to personally email their parents; stock up on food and water if possible; send us a damage report; be careful; and pray for the members, investigators, and residents of Japan.

I called the missionaries who were with us together in the chapel and talked to them about how blessed we were to be safe and gave them their room assignments for their night in the mission home. 
I assigned some missionaries to go to the store and buy breakfast food. They came back telling me the store shelves were empty, and they were able to buy only a few cartons of juice. We started scrounging to see what we could feed the missionaries for breakfast. There were twenty loaves of banana bread LeAnn had made to give as gifts. We found several cartons of muffins, snacks, and breads that had been purchased at Costco for upcoming meetings. We found juice in our food storage and a case of oranges. I was so grateful that LeAnn had prepared so well. At ten the next morning, the fully fed missionaries started back to their apartments. Because of intermittent train and bus schedules, it took some all day.

The next few days were marked by numerous aftershocks and revelations about the damaged nuclear reactors near Fukushima. We decided to move four sets of missionaries who were closest (approximately 100 kilometers away) to the reactors in with other missionaries in Tokyo. Because the trains weren’t running regularly, it was hard for some of them, but they were all in safer apartments by Sunday night, 13 March. 

The recurring aftershocks were making some of our missionaries quite uneasy. Two sisters called one night afraid to go to bed. There had been a major aftershock, and they were both hiding under desks. I talked with them for about an hour until they relaxed and were able to go to sleep. 

The Evacuation 

Five days after the earthquake, everything changed. Businesses and embassies were being evacuated. President Gary E. Stevenson, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy and Area President, and I had been talking every day since the earthquake, and he called at 3 a.m. on Wednesday with news that our missionaries were being evacuated. I immediately got dressed and contacted my assistants. Our missionaries would be reassigned to the Nagoya, Kobe, and Fukuoka missions; the Sendai missionaries would be going to the Hokkaido Mission. There was a conference call with all the Japan mission presidents scheduled at 10 that morning. By 8 a.m. the assistants and I had decided where to reassign our sisters and elders. 

We had all the missionaries come in to the mission home that day, Wednesday, 16 March, and we arranged for buses to move them to the other missions the next day. We rented 150 futons from two companies. At 8 p.m. and at 10 p.m. I spoke to the missionaries. We announced where each missionary would be going and why they were being evacuated. I did everything I could to make them feel safe. By 10 p.m. we were still missing eight companionships but kept in touch with them by telephone until they arrived. The last ones finally arrived at 12:30 a.m., having faced serious train and car problems. 

During the day we’d planned the details of the evacuation, which included:

1. The missionaries scheduled to go home in April and May would return home immediately.
2. Missionaries going to the new missions would be assigned companionships and given a telephone to take with them. 
3. We would feed them breakfast the next morning and give them snacks for their trips. Fortunately, the day after the earthquake, we’d stopped at Costco.
4. Before breakfast we would give them their passports at one table, confirm the telephone number and companionships at the next table, and record everyone who came through at a third table. 
5. The first bus would be boarding at 9:30 a.m., taking all missionaries going to the Fukuoka mission to a train station. A representative from the PBO would go with them to make sure there were no problems. The Nagoya and Kobe buses would leave at 10 a.m. and take the missionaries to their new missions. We told them to be packed and ready to leave at least thirty minutes before the buses came. We assigned one person on each bus to give us periodic calls and to let us know when they arrived.

We understood bathrooms and showers would be a problem, but at least we knew where all our missionaries were and that they were safe. Before I went to bed, I called Elder and Sister Hobbs, a senior couple in our mission, and asked them to come and help the Lewises, the office couple, the next day.

The morning went just as planned. The missionaries were extremely helpful. I was able to talk with them and say good-bye as they boarded the buses. We sent them all with cookies Sister Albrecht had made. By the end of the day, the only missionaries left were the fifteen scheduled to go home the next day and three couples. 

As each bus left I called the PBO and told them what time it departed. While the missionaries were traveling, I called the other mission presidents and told them briefly about their new missionaries. Then I interviewed the fifteen departing missionaries until about 6:30 p.m. 

After breakfast on Friday we held a final training session with the returning missionaries about their futures. Three PBO vans came to take them to the airport at 9 a.m. At 11:45 a.m. I got a call saying they had arrived at the airport. I also heard from each of them once they arrived home safely.

The only missionaries now left in the Japan Tokyo Mission were Elder Matias from Brazil, who was flying home on Saturday; Elder and Sister Lewis, who were flying to the United States until the missionaries were back in Tokyo; Elder and Sister Arnell, a military liaison couple, who were transferring to the Fukuoka mission; and Elder and Sister Hobbs. 

It’s amazing how fast a major city and mission can change. Tokyo went from being one of the world’s most vibrant and bright cities to a dark, crippled place without adequate fuel, power, or food. Our mission went from being the largest mission in Asia to just a handful of missionaries. 

The evacuation was one of the most difficult experiences I’ve had. The missionaries had become like our sons and daughters. We had counseled with them, loved them, taught them, and were their parents away from home—it was hard to let them go all at once.

North of our mission there was tremendous devastation. An estimated 26,000 people were either missing or dead. Billions of dollars of damage was caused. The church responded quickly and provided substantial aid, and in the first two months, more than 10,000 church volunteers helped with relief efforts. 

The Repatriation 

By mid-April there had been sufficient time to believe that a major meltdown or other catastrophic event would be avoided. Most of the gasoline, power, food, water, and infrastructure problems in Tokyo had been remedied. As a result, President Stevenson and I drafted proposals recommending the missionaries be brought back. This was approved by the Missionary Executive Committee, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the First Presidency. 

On 2 May our first sixty-seven missionaries returned. LeAnn and the Hobbses hung big welcome home signs. Sister Hobbs placed hearts with each missionary’s name on them on the mission office door. At 3 p.m. the first missionaries arrived from the Nagoya mission. Only a short time later, the rest of the Nagoya missionaries showed up, followed by the Kobe missionaries. Amid hollering and high fives, the missionaries disembarked to hugs from Sister Albrecht and me, Elder and Sister Hobbs, and the other missionaries. After carrying their luggage in, we fed them. Just as it was starting to get dark, the Fukuoka missionaries arrived. Again we embraced in hugs and exchanged high fives. The missionaries were so excited to be back together in Tokyo. Sister Albrecht and I were ecstatic. 

One set of sisters brought with them a DVD of the earthquake, tsunami, and the evacuation of our mission. We brought everyone together, spoke to them briefly, and then watched the DVD. Finally, at 10:30, we all went to bed.

After breakfast I interviewed three missionaries who had just arrived from the MTC. At 9 a.m. we convened a meeting with the missionaries. We all sang “O Give Me Back My Prophet Dear,” a song that has become special to our mission. Sister and Elder Hobbs and Sister Albrecht spoke first, and then I spoke. I told them how we decided who would come back first, what had happened since they’d left, what they needed to do now to capitalize on the missionary spirit, who they needed to thank, what they needed to do in case of another disaster, and how much we missed them. After closing the meeting, we gave each of them a Sister Albrecht trademark cookie, lots of hugs, and sent them out to their areas. We then spent two hours training the three new missionaries, and they were also off.

When the missionaries were evacuated, we gave the apartment keys to members so they could keep the apartments clean. Upon returning, almost all sets of missionaries found their places had not only been cleaned by the members but that the shelves had been stocked with food. The members couldn’t wait for them to return. The first week the sixty-seven missionaries were back, twenty-one people were committed for baptism. By the third week a total of forty-eight were committed.

On 26 May the remaining seventy-five evacuated missionaries, along with seventeen new missionaries from the MTC, arrived. Everything we did the first time was repeated. These missionaries were equally thrilled to be back, and it was equally thrilling to welcome them back. Seeing the missionaries return was the most emotional time of our mission. After they headed for their areas, we were exhausted. Being mission president has to be among the most draining—yet rewarding—experiences in life. 

To reunite the missionaries back into the Japan Tokyo Mission, we decided to take all 165 missionaries to give service where the destruction was the greatest. My group went to Tagajo, where we spent the day cleaning a Shinto Shrine (Jinja), which included taking care of their sacred artifacts, cleaning the buildings and the yard, and removing debris. Another group went to Higashi Matsushima, where they cleaned mud from homes, ditches, and other buildings. The work was hard but very rewarding. After completing our work, we toured some of the most devastated areas. It was a reverent time, walking among the ruins. Where houses had stood and children had played, only banged-up cars, boats, and debris remained.

One of the great miracles that occurred while the missionaries were gone was to see the members take responsibility for missionary work. Most stake presidents told me that the members now realize what they should have been doing all along. Only time will tell how much the hearts of the Japanese people have been changed because of these traumatic events. Looking back on the experience, I am so grateful to have been here and to be part of a church that cares deeply about people. From the very first day, missionary and member safety and providing the best aid possible was the focus of church leaders. President Stevenson worked with the General Authorities relentlessly to do everything possible to ease the pain of those who suffered and to ensure that each missionary and member was safe and cared for.

_

Article written by W. Steve Albrecht