A tale of two farmers
Dave Barkman grew up helping harvest wheat in Kansas and Oklahoma.
Mr. Suda’s fields are full of wakame, an edible seaweed grown in Japan.
It took a tsunami to bring these two farmers together.
The March 2011 natural disaster devastated 600 miles of Japanese coast, wiping away fishing villages like Mr. Suda’s on the Oshika Peninsula.
Soon after the tsunami, SEND started contributing relief supplies. Recognizing that serving the devastated communities would be a long-term project, SEND missionaries Dave and Eileen Barkman moved into the disaster-affected area. They got connected with a Japanese pastor who has poured his life into reaching the residents of the peninsula’s fishing villages, and they began leading volunteer teams to help with cleanup and rebuilding efforts.
And that’s where they met the Sudas. The Suda family is the oldest in the village; their ancestors moved there 400 years ago. Mr. Suda farms two crops — oysters and wakame. Oysters take three years to grow, but wakame can be harvested after just 10 months. With the villagers destitute after the tsunami, their homes and tools swept away by the sea, showing the love of Jesus has meant helping sow and harvest the crops.
Dave Barkman blanches wakame on the harbor. Helping with the seaweed harvest is a tangible way to serve the fishing communities on the Oshika Peninsula.
Wakame grows off of a 10-meter rope that has been strung with wakame spore. After 10 months hung in the sea, it has grown from tiny spores on snippets of string to 2- to 4-meter-long plants. The rope with the plants is pulled onto the deck of a boat. On the pier, the stem and leaves are chopped off from the root and put through a hot water bath. Then they are bagged, brined and pressed. Teams of women sort through the leaves, trimming out any bad bits. Then the leaves are boxed and sent to wholesalers who pay $250 for 15 kilograms. Japanese families eat wakame in soups and salads.
“This really is farming,” Dave said. “But compared to what I experienced in my younger days, it’s totally different.”
People who live on the remote peninsula can travel more than an hour to the nearest grocery store.
It’s also making a difference. By the time the Barkmans met her, Mrs. Suda had already made a faith decision for Jesus, but Mr. Suda was rather grouchy.
“Everyone would kind of act like they were busy when they saw him coming,” Dave said. “But he took a liking to me. I was able to sit down and talk with him. He speaks a very rough fisherman’s language. But for some reason, we could still communicate.
“The work reminded me so much of days doing farm work in Kansas. Even though the setting and crop were so totally different, I think it was on that level that I could connect with Mr. Suda. We share the same appreciation for nature and work.
“One day, I was trying to explain to a group of the locals why we’re in Japan, what a missionary does, that we share the love of Christ because of what he’s done for us, that he’s promised us true life.
“Mr. Suda suddenly interjected: ‘But what does the Bible say about marriage?’ That was a sore point, a felt need. The theological stuff didn’t connect with him. He wanted to know the practical. He wanted to know about marriage.”
Praying with the Sudas.
Now Mr. Suda, too, has begun to believe in Jesus. He and his wife are learning what it means to follow him.
Mr. Suda’s faith story is just one of many on the peninsula. Pastor Kishinami has started numerous evening Bible studies in temporary homes and work sheds. A skilled story-teller, he shares the gospel and its practical implications for the lives of the fishermen’s families. He’s seen about 90 people take faith steps toward Jesus.
SEND now has a fulltime presence on the peninsula, too. SEND missionaries Mitsuo and Akiko Fujishima, who grew up in Japan and know the local dialect, recently moved there. They spend their days visiting people in temporary housing, hosting Bible studies, doing follow-up work, and helping with oyster and wakame processing. They report that the witness of the Christians who have come to work in the villages has helped a Korean lady (married to one of the fishermen) develop into a passionate Christian who just led her elderly Japanese mother-in-law to the Lord!
“It is difficult for new believers to deal with the deeply rooted traditions of ancestor worship and other idolatrous practices,” Dave said. “However, we are starting to see the power of the gospel to change lives, marriages and community relationships. Christ is building his church in the fishing villages of Oshika Peninsula.”
Additional Posts
Choosing a Missions Organization: Why SEND International Stands Out “Why should I be a missionary through SEND International?” Jenna, a new missionary in Eastern Europe, shared with us what she appreciates about working with SEND. The highlights for her are: - Devotion to prayer - Diligence in communication - Commitment to development - Intentionality in accountability Prayer “Back in September of 2022, the Lord reconnected me with SEND after I had met them a year prior at the Moody Bible Institute. However, before he would sign me up for anything, my Missions Coach encouraged me to pray. He said something to the effect of, "I know that you've been praying on your own for a long time. But as the Church, we are not called to walk alone. So, you and I won't talk for about a month unless you have questions. I want you to go pray with 5 or 6 others from your church about where God is calling you." That October, more than 10 friends prayed with me and we saw God answer as He directed me to Romania. From February 2024 to November 2025, I had the pleasure of being a part of team meetings in Romania with my SEND colleagues. Our meetings were four hours long, two for prayer and two for business. This has been the minimum for our team. There are also prayer meetings with the local churches we partner with, among smaller groups within our team, of course prayer with many of you across the pond, including those at our US office. The organization was built, has been sustained, and continues to run on prayer. This is my favorite thing about SEND. Communication As I mentioned above, we have a two hour block for business / ministry details in each of our meetings. This provides consistency across our team which works alongside three different churches and in a variety of ministries. It also helps us to communicate about the need for change or growth, alongside what is working well. In addition, my team director also meets with each of us, allowing us to communicate needs, considerations, and prayer requests. I've also enjoyed getting to work with SEND workers outside of my immediate region . We receive emails with the minutes from the Europe leadership team, Friday communications from our international director, and information regarding projects that affect our work among the unreached. In December of 2024, our international director at the time wrote a note to my parents for the first Christmas that I was gone. If nothing else had convinced my mom yet, this did. He took the time to care for me, but also to care well for the parents that were sending me (What it meant to my dad and mom for him to do this well has been one of the greatest ways I've been supported.). I also have some pretty wonderful regional directors. These people have prayed alongside us (while also serving in their own countries of service), they have taken time to come visit and encourage our team, and they have also taken the time to encourage the people in our churches. Development SEND has provided much in the area of development and care (spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally). At our regional conference (every three years), there have been medical check ups available, counseling options, and time for connecting with others on the field with similar experience. At our conference last October, I connected with a missionary who served overseas for many years, and is now serving on the administrative side of SEND. She has met with me since then for mentorship and has also invested much of her time recently in preparing a retreat for the singles across Europe. Accountability Over the years I have read and heard amazing stories of how God has worked through missionaries. God has done great things and great things He is still doing! However, people who have committed their lives to the Lord in this way are not “super Christians”. We are still humans with the same struggle against flesh that others have . A major challenge is in being isolated -- living in areas with little to no presence of other believers to sharpen them can cause many difficulties. SEND has been a great resource in this area too. Through my team, I have an accountability partner that I meet with monthly. When my regional director came to visit, he and his wife spent a day with me and asked intentional questions about how I lead, handle conflict, and how I am growing in general as a Christian. In addition, my teammates share their wisdom with me on a regular basis. These things and more have assured me that SEND International is a highly valuable organization and I'm excited to partner with them in service to, for, and with our great God! Interested in being sent by SEND?
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