Dear Friends,It is good to be writing you all again. God continues His work in this part of the world and we are blessed to see what he has been doing every day.
Just recently got back from the International Service's spring retreat. It was a great time of fellowship and study. We had a total of 52 people come including kids and we really praise God for the time there.
We thank you so much for your prayers for Shine Kids. As we have been doing this ministry for over two years now, many of our students have been growing up and graduating to Elementary School. As such, we have started Elementary school classes from this semester and the classes we have been having have been great. Also a new addition is that as the moms have taken to staying on the first floor and talking while the kids are in class, we have started a moms tea time for them. We have been putting out tea and treats and my wife has been able to sit and talk with them. Also, some have shown interest in learning English from my wife as well. There have been many good times of sharing and good conversations and we praise God for the opportunity to take the next step in building relationships with the moms. Also the responses from the kids have been great to. Some of the kids talk about Shine Kids all the time at home. Last week, one of our new children cried because he didn't want to leave. And also God has been leading kids here as well. One our old students who is in Elementary school now and doesn't attend the club anymore came by and visited us. He showed up out of the blue and talked with us for a while. He told us about some problems he had been having at school and how his Mom had to work late. I think he just wanted to talk to someone. I praise God that He lead him to us as someone he could talk to. Please pray for him and also how best we can minister to him and his family as well as the other kids and families that come to Shine Kids.
Also the new Shine Kids club in Setagaya has been extremely blessed. We are running three classes now every Thursday and have 25 students coming every week. Kids from Kids Brown have been coming as well as kids from the Shine Kids club that we had before in Setagaya and it has been good to see them all again. As the three classes are back to back, there is not as much time for talking with the kids and the moms. Also my 2nd class of 15 kids is mostly 7 and 8 year old boys and managing the energy levels can be a little difficult at times. Please pray for wisdom as to how best to build relationships at the new Shine Kids. Also pray for patience and love for me for all the situations that come up.The Sunday school staff and I are also planning now for the VBS that is going to be happening in August. Through connections from the team that came to help last year, we found that a team from another church will be in Japan around that time and has volunteered to help out at the VBS! Praise the Lord. After seeing how powerfully, God worked through last years VBS, we are excited to see what he has planned this year. We hope to bring together the Japanese and International Sunday schools as well as the two Shine Kids clubs for this event. There is still a lot of preparation to do before August. So please pray for guidance and wisdom for us as we are planning the VBS. Above is a picture we took with the Japanese Sunday school.
Lastly, we would like to announce that we are going to be coming back to America after theShine Kids semester is over! We will be arriving in the states on June 23 and will be staying in Sonora until July 7. I am very excited to see you all again soon and also to introduce you all to my little girl, Daisy (seen here preparing for her trip in her red, white, and blues).
We pray for your blessing and that God would continue to reveal His glories daily to you.
See you in June,
Alex, Tomoko, and Daisy Robinson
