Good to be writing you all again. The time has been really flying lately. It seems like just yesterday that the fall semester of Shine Kids began, and now we have reached the last week of this semester. Our last class is today.
It has been a great semester with a lot of new faces and new relationships started. After the explosion of the first week, almost everybody stayed in the program with a few adding along the way. We are finishing this week with 24 students all together, a really great group of kids. As a way to top off the semester, we invited all of the shine kids to come to the International Bazaar, a community outreach event that we had last Sunday to perform "Father Abraham" which they have been practicing all semester. It was a good time. Six of the kids came, with there Moms and Dads. The performance went great, and the families seemed to have a good time. One of the members of the church is a masseuse who was giving away free foot massages at the Bazaar and a few of the dads had a foot massage and were able to talk a while with him. Also there is a christian hula group here at the church that performed and a couple of the shine kids really liked it and wanted to get in contact with the teacher for lesson's. The next shine kids class, one of the shine kids came up to me and asked if there were some other events coming up because his dad said he could go. So praise God for that. It was good to see the shine kids and parents just talking and having a good time with the church members. The goal of shine kids has always been to bridge the gap between the church and the surrounding community. And I think little by little, the families of Machida are being more and more exposed to Christians and the church through shine kids, and there are more and more opportunities to talk and share with them than we have had before., so praise God for that. Please pray for me as I plan out the next semester and plan for the Shine Kids Christmas party. Along with the other children there are some special needs kids that have been attending the class and I feel very lacking in experience as to how best to teach them. So please pray for wisdom and guidance in understanding the best way to serve every child who comes to Shine Kids.
Also, this month was the HLS language school Masquerade party, a event for the students of the language school that is run out of the church. It is a dinner with games, but also members of the church come and a short bible message is given. We have recently moved from our old apartment in Yokohama to a apartment in Machida which is closer to the church so we can be more accessible and be able to invite more people from the church and outreaches to our house. But before we left, we invited our downstairs neighbor to come. We have been been sharing with her since we moved in and kept inviting her to church, but she never has. But this last time, she came! And we were able to talk with her and share a lot during that time. She comes to Machida a lot and talked with my wife about continuing to meet with her here. So please pray for the continued relationship, even though we live farther away.
Made a blog for the cafe as well. Please give it a look when you have the time. http://thecafesalem.blogspot.jp/
Thank you for praying for the Wednesday night fellowship as well. There continue to be blessings both during the English time at the cafe as well as the bible study. People from other churches have been coming and people even bringing unsaved friends from work. Please pray for the seeds that are being planted there, and that people would continue to come and hear about God during that time.
Please be praying for the Sunday School of the Japanese Service. I have been teaching at the Sunday School for about two years now, and it has been a really blessed. However, lately, for various reasons, with new babies and people graduating and schedules changing, we have been loosing a lot of the teachers. I remember when I started, there were five teachers on staff for the elementary school class alone. Now, we are down to two people including me. I feel that there has been a bit of discouragement among the staff, and I ask that you would please pray for us. Please pray for encouragement, for direction, and for new workers to help out with this ministry.
Sincerely,
Alex, Tomoko, and Daisy Robinson
P.S. Daisy went to an aquarium for the first time. She enjoyed it very much ^_^.
