Wonderful to be writing you all again. Sorry for the delay, but I did not want to write you all until things were confirmed. We now have reserved our tickets, and the date says March 20, 2013. It's official, the Robinson family is going to be coming to America to visit you all on March 20th, 2013. I am very excited to see you all again and to introduce you all to my wife after all the delays that we experienced here. Thinking on it now, it has been almost 2 years since I have been back in Sonora. Think it is about time to put my feet on American soil again.
Thank you all for your prayers for my wife and baby. Both are doing just fine. Tomoko is now 17 weeks along in the pregnancy now. Her baby bump seems to be growing a little every day now and she is about at that period when lots of rest is essential. She has started to wrap up things at her job and soon will switch over to maternity leave. Please pray for us as we decide the next steps for my wife and I, whether she is to go back to work again or instead if she will be a full time mommy and be a part of the ministry at the church. oh, and for those of you who are asking, we are not sure if it is a boy or a girl yet ^_^
Things here have been moving quickly. It has been a little over a month since my graduation, but many opportunities are opening up. The biggest opportunity being that Horizon is wanting to start a all English preschool as a outreach to the community in Setagaya. And they have asked me to be the lead teacher. At first I was a little bit worried as I have not had any experience leading a preschool, but the more I pray about it, the more I feel like this is the next thing that He has for me. We are going to be starting from April, a little after I return from America. Please be praying for our preparations. We need more teachers as I am the only one so far. Also, please be praying about making your own trip out to visit. No Japanese ability needed, just teaching and playing with kids in English. You can check out the preschool on the web at www.shineip.jp.
.
From this next Tuesday, the next Semester of Shine Kids will be starting. God has been blessing us with more and more children, I think for this next semester, we will be getting about 15 children to start with, maybe more as the semester goes on. Please be praying for helpers for me. Things are starting to get so big that I cannot manage the entire Shine Kids program by myself anymore. God has blessed me with some really wonderful helpers, but I need more actual teachers, people that can help me plan out lessons and help lead the program. Please be praying for more workers here as God continues to bless the work that He started here.
Also please be praying for the Sunday school here at Horizon. I have been put in charge of the International children's program here. Also, as I am teaching at the Japanese service as well, I have been trying to work together with the Japanese teachers to make joint events for the children of both services. Again, mostly just a prayer for workers. There is a lot that we are hoping to do, including a VBS this summer, and a youth group for older children that is badly needed, but not enough people to do it all. Pray that God would be leading people to serve in these areas and that God would open the doors to the directions he wants us to go.
That is about all from here for now. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. I can't wait to see you all in March!!
Because He lives,
Alex
