Back In Japan

Hey everyone!

I am very happy to report to you all that I am back in Japan and have arrived safely in Tokyo even though the airline gave me a little misinformation and I arrived not at 10:3o am but instead at 10:30 pm causing me to sprint with my suitcases to the bus stop to catch the last bus to Machida which arrived at that location at 1 am. But that is beside the point ^_^. The point is that I am now here. And as such, the time has come to figure out all that is going to be happening while I am here. I am very much looking forward to my time here in tokyo. As soon as I arrived I sat down with the staff here and have a lot of great stuff for me to do while I am here. The christmas season is a great time to outreach to friends and family for the Japanese people and as such there are a ton of events that I have been asked to be a part of during my stay. Already, I got to help out at the ladies elegant christmas women's outreach which was a great time with a great turn out. A good portion of the people there had never even been to a church before. So we praise God for the seeds He allowed us to plant and continue to pray for the growth of them.

Anyway, there will be a lot of these type of events and I will report on them as they come. On a side note though... all this fun without time for recovery from jetlag has left me with a bad cold, so if you could please pray for me to recover quickly as I am going to be baking countless cookies for our christmas children's outreach in Machida and Setagaya on Friday and this being wednesday and I still feel really bad... I am a bit worried. So your prayers would be appreciated.

Lastly, I am going to be changing up the format of my communication with you all back in America a bit. I really do like the monthly blogs that I put up on this web page as a way of giving you a linear picture of all that is happening here. However, words, no matter how much I love them, have the tendency of being a little impersonal. I mean, if communication is 70% how you look when you say something, 20% how you sound, I am only communicating within the limited remaining 10%. And that is a problem. I found it a problem with my prayer team as well and as such I create a vlog (a video blog) for them. So, starting from now I am going to create a vlog for you all. Whereas the written blog will be a linear condensed version of the month, the vlog will be a none linear compilation of fragments and portions of my time here, (ministries, activities, everyday life, etc...). I have not set up the vlog yet, so please be patient with me, but hopefully it will be up by the end of the month with this month's video and at that time, I will get the name of the site to you guys.

Anyway, that is all for now. I love you guys and want to thank you guys for being a part of my refreshment and encouragement while I was back in America. The time there was amazing. When I first got to America, I started into the book of Ezekiel which was pretty evident if you heard me when I spoke at CC Sonora. My journey though the book was a very powerful one for me, dealing with the sovereignty of God over all things, including me and all that happens to me. And at the end, God encouraged me with His vision for Japan. There have been many times in Japan that I have felt so very dry. Though there are about million people in Japan that know Jesus, the vast majority of the country doesn't and as such it tends to feel sometimes like you are walking through and endless desert wilderness filled with the dead. As such, because of my lack of faith or possibly my forgetfulness of all the God has done, I would lose hope from time to time. But then I get towards the end of the book and I read this,

(Ezekiel 37:1-10) "The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which [was] full of bones. And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, [there were] very many in the open valley; and, lo, [they were] very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but [there was] no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. o I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army."

Now I fully understand that the Lord was speaking of the house of Israel in this passage. However. I know that what God can do for one people, he ca do for another. That he loves Japan as much as much as America as much as Israel as much as ... etc... And I know that the description given by God in Romans 4:7 is just as true today as when it was written that He is the "God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." I truly believe this is the will of God for this country. The dead will live in Japan and those that are not ( like me - a sinner) as though they were (a holy priesthood) in this country. I can't wait ^_^!

Alex

Coming Home!!

Dear friends,
This is Alex again writing you at the very end of what was a whirlwind of a summer. Alot of great things happened. God was as always at working in so many different ways. Whether it was in the Wednesday Night Bible study I was allowed to lead during the summer, or the shine kids special event in Setagaya, or when I was asked to give messages at the various services, or the new music outreach that was started, or the growth of the other ministries here, it all was blessed by God.

I would like to tell you all about it in more detail in this letter, but I am not going to. Because I would rather tell you all in person. That's right, I am going to be coming home!! I was preparing for my journey to my new location in Okinawa. However, I recieved a call from my family two weeks ago that they are going to be selling my family home and require my help in the process. Not the best of excuses to come back to America, but hey, I have been missing you all so very much and look forward to the opportunity that this will give me to spend time with you all ^_^!

So here are my plans. I am going to be returning to America on the 2nd of September. I will be spending roughly four months with my family and with you all. Then I will be flying back to Tokyo for the month of December to finish all the paperwork I need to change locations. And finally will be heading out to the Bible college and the location of my new ministry on December 31. I would relish your prayers in all these endevours and am grateful for your prayers thus far. They got me through quite a full summer.

So, my friends. I will see you two Sundays from now. I love you all so much and can't wait to be able to fellowship with my brothers and sisters from Sonora again.

Yours in our Lord with all sincerity,
Alex J. Robinson ><>

Photos

Dear Friends,
Up to this point I have been loading all the photo's from my time here onto my facebook account. However several of my friends who do not use facebook have asked me to start a gallery in another location that they could have access. Therefore, I have started a flickr account for just this reason. I have uploaded alot of recent photos there with prayer requests in the desriptions beneath the photos. Sort of a photo prayer journal if you will. Anyway please check out the site. It's http://www.flickr.com/photos/holdingoutlove/. Because flickr allows only a limited amount of photos to be uploaded every month, I will continue to post new pictures monthly as I work my way through my photo library.

Thanks,
Alex

Japan Newsletter - May 31, 2010

Dear friends,

I am sorry for this time of silence from me. It was a difficult time for me for a while. I was really struggling with God about something and alot of work had to be done in my heart before I could finally be brought to a place of submission before Him about it. And now that I am on the other side of all this, I really want to share what has been happening with you all.

For the last few months, I have been searching for God's will about my ministry in this country. Up to this point, I have been serving in the ministries that others have been called to. It has been an amazing experience for me to help with those ministries, and God has done alot of work through it. But I still have been thirsty for God's specific purpose for me here, the reason He brought me to Japan. So I went to the bible in search of God's answer for me. In my searching of the scriptures, God lead me to Luke 2: 41-52. There we read about Jesus' visit to the temple as a young man. We aren't really given alot of information about Jesus before the beginning of His ministry. We know about His birth, his infant blessing at the temple, and this second time He went to the temple when He was about twelve of thirteen. The time in Jewish culture when the boy became a man. And we find Him in this time doing what? Asking questions and listening the the answers, studying the scriptures. And then verse 52 sums up the next eighteen years of His Life by saying "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and Men". For eighteen years. And then I started to understand. He was preparing for His ministry. Increasing in Wisdom, growing in favor with God and His relationship to the Father. For a ministry that lasted three years Jesus prepared and equipped Himself for eighteen. In that time, God spoke to me. He made me to understand that He had a ministry for me in the future and that this was not a time for me to wait for it but a time for me to be equipped for it. And that I could not be prepared for it in this place. In that time He told me that I needed to go to bible college. More specifically to the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Okinawa, Japan. There I could study the bible, study Japanese, be discipled, and be given the opportunity maintain the ministry towards the Japanese people to whom I feel called.

But at the time I rebeled against the idea. I was angry with God. He had brought me out of my home and away from my family and placed me here. And now that this place had become my home and this church body my family, He wanted me to leave. So I ignored Him and tried not to think about it. But everyday, God was working in my heart and finally brought me to a place of submission to Him again. I said to Him that I would listen. But I asked Him for a sign. Then, about a week ago, Pastor Hirano here at the church told me that if I was looking for my life's ministry here in Japan, I needed to build up my foundations, and he said that I couldn't find what I needed here at this church. Then the same day, without knowing what Hirano had said. Jeremiah had coffee with me and told me that three months ago, He had been thinking about me and what I would do when He leaves here and heads to Kagoshima and praying, and God brought Okinawa to his mind.

I feel like I understand God's heart for me now. I have dedicated myself to being His tool in this country for the rest of my life. But I am still a dull and crude tool. I want to be sharpened. I want to be refined. I want be of the most use that I can be to Him in this place. I want to be equipped for my ministry. And I feel as though the bible college there is the best for me and what God wants for me. So, God willing, I wish to start there this September. I have already contacted the director of the school, Pastor Tommy Ruiz, (who I have served with previously for a short time) and he said that they will be pleased to have me and sent me the application.

Also I have spoken to the missions board there, and they are supportive as well about this new direction of my ministry. It is deffinately going to be a different place to minister in. The culture of Tokyo and Okinawa is very different. Almost like comparing New York to Hawaii. But I hear the people are kind and like to talk alot so it feels like it is going to be an interesting place to minister, outreach, and learn. Please be praying for me about the langauge situation though. I have, through the grace of God, become fairly good at speaking Japanese here in Tokyo. But, even though what I am learning is the national dialect that everyone all over Japan understands, it is not the dialect that is spoken all over Japan. Don't get me wrong, it is not like China or India in which every region has practically a different language. But every prefecture is just a little different in how they express themselves, and for someone to whom Japanese is a second langauge it can be difficult. Like someone learning english in California and then going to Texas. So please be praying for me. But I am not too worried. God provided for my language abilities here and I know He will continue to bless me where He is leading.

So anyway, I will be heading down to Okinawa at the end of August this year. I thank you all for your support and prayers during this amazing chapter of my ministry here in Tokyo. I look forward to continuing in service along with you all in this new and exciting chapter that is to come on the island of Okinawa. Please continue to pray for the country of Japan. That the seeds being planted by the believers here would yield a bountiful harvest through the work of the Holy Spirit here.

Yours in our Lord with all sincerity,
Alex J. Robinson ><>

February 23, 2010

Hey Everyone,
Great to be writing you all again ^_^! Lot's of interesting stuff has been happening around these parts and I am glad that things have calmed down enough for me to tell you guys about them.

Firstly, we have the Shine kids program. Actually, this month in Setagaya we had a very good problem, if there is such a thing. We actually got too many kindergarteners in one class. We had about 12 student at one time. Five 5 year olds, five 3 year olds, and two 4 year olds. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that this is beyond my limit. The class got really crazy and we barely made it through. I guess it was kinda my fault for not planning ahead for the abundance God was going to give me. But then again, since I only have one helper in Setagaya, I can't really see how I could have prepared. But anyway, I had to actually make two seperate classes. One for the beginners, and one for the children who have been with me since last year. And since then things have been running smoothly. Praise God. Sadly, because of that one crazy day some of the visitors didn't return. However there was one case in which God brought back one person in a interesting way. The child of one of the visitors (who wasn't going to come back) started singing one of the English Shine Kids songs perfectly. Amazed that the child had learn something in English so quickly, the mother brought him back last friday. For me, this was clearly a work of God and I praise Him for it. God has also been blessing the Shine Kids in Machida and we have seven new students this semester as well as two new helpers. This is wonderful. Please continue to pray for God to bless these ministries and also to bring helpers to us that speak english in accordance with His will.

My time teaching sunday school has been interesting as well. Firstly I have a praise report. Back in 2007, before I even became a missionary for Calvary Chapel Sonora, I took a short term trip here for about three months. During that time, we did a little a one week English program in Setagaya. During that time, a little girl named Miu came as well as her family. I recently found out that God used this as a starting point for that family and they began to seek God. Since then the mother and father have accepted Jesus and have in the last two months been coming to the English service in Setagaya. And I have had the honor of teaching Miu in Sunday school ^_^! I am left in wonder of the amazing work the God does in peoples live and how he uses the work he has for us to change the world. This has really encouraged me to continue planting seeds of the gospel here in Japan, even if I cannot see if or when they will bloom. The growing and blooming is God's work. He only asks me to plant the seeds and trust. I love having Hide as a roomate. I remember one time, when I really felt like all the stuff I was doing didn't seem like it was making a difference, he said, "The people from the church who taught me english never saw the fruit of what they did. It wasn't until five years later when my life had gone down the drain that I thought of what they had said and I went looking for Jesus." I guess that is just kind of the way it goes around here. You just keep planting the seeds and praise God when He lets you reap the harvest. Awesome ^_^. Anyway, we continue to do interesting stuff in the sunday schools. Lately they have be learning a bunch of evangelistic skits as a part of class. I started just doing it for fun and so they could preform for the church. But actually I have been praying about taking them out onto the streets and having them perform them there. I think it will be the youngest street evangelism the church has ever done. But then again, I always tell them that God uses everyone that believes in Him to change the world around them. So we'll see ^_^.

Lastly, we have big news that directly concerns you all. On March 25 of this year, we are going to be having a homestay in the town of Sonora. We are going to bringing members from the church here as well as people from our various English outreaches to Sonora and having them stay with families from the church there ^_^! There are actually two main reasons for this trip; evangelism and encouragement. The group will be mixed. Those from the outreaches are not christian. For them, this trip is the culmination of the work God has been doing through us for these people. They have come to trust us through the building of relationships with them. So much so, that they have trusted themselves to us for a trip to America. This is for the most part a huge breakthrough. For these people, the purpose of the trip is to experience the love of Jesus through the members of our church and for what has been planted in there hearts to be nutured through the work God will do when we are in Sonora. For those christians coming on the trip, the purpose is encouragement. Being a christian in Japan is a lonely prospect. There are very few of us here and that can become very discouraging. But I think spending time with their brothers and sisters overseas, to be loved on and fellowshiped with by our church, could be used by God to lift their heads a bit. Anyway, if you are interested in having someone stay in your house for the seven days we are there, please email me at onwingsofnewhope@yahoo.com or get in contact with my prayer team (Justin Flores, Ron Alison, Bob Wilson, Scott O'Brien, Ken Burns, Heather Sparks, and Lindsey Cook) for more information. Also we have a special need of the use of a eight person van for the seven day period we are there. If you are able to offer the use of such a van, firstly God bless you ^_^. Secondly please get in contact with us as soon as possible. Thank you.

Because He lives and loves,
Alex J. Robinson ><>

Japan Newsletter- Dec 29, 2009

Hello dear friends,

It is wonderful to be writing you all again. This Christmas season has been a very full time for me. Then again, it always is here at Horizon Chapel. We had many large events recently and not one of them was disappointing. In fact, all were filled with the fruit of God's labours here and were all so very encouraging to me.

Firstly, there was our big Christmas program on the 23rd. We had invited our shine kids to attend and also to perform in the program. Also we invited the Horizon Language School students. And so many of them came! It was great. They were able to listen to christmas songs and plays, and in the end the gospel was preached. Just a great feeling to see the work God has me doing open up opportunities for people to hear about Him. The funny thing about the night for me though was that in the program, the various groups and fellowships each did some kind of performance in the program. And because I am invloved with so many of them, I performed with quite a few of them which had me going on and off the stage all night. Which wouldn't really be a problem if all the different groups didn't have distinct outfits for their performances. So along with jumping on and off the stage, I also was always running to the bathroom to change between sets ^_^. Anyway, it was a great night. Lots happened and I am excited to see what fruits come of it.

Another big event was our Lady's Elegant Christmas. It is an outreach to the women we minister to in our various programs, English classes, and fellwoships, as well as an oportunity for women in our church to invite their friends to a church event. It was really kind of a hectic day. I was on the cooking team, which accounted for most of the hustle and bustle I experienced. Lot of cooking and soups and baking and this is burned and this needs salt. But it was fun in its own way and it was really worth it considering all the great things I got to see that night. Some mother's from my Shine Kids program in Setagaya came with their children which was just a huge thrill for me. They have been attending more and more church events and have in turn been hearing more and more about Jesus. Please pray for their hearts and that the seeds that are being planted would bloom. I know it is going to take alot of time but I am excited for how things are growing.

And then there were alot of other smaller events like the candle light christmas eve service, and the Funky Friday Bonen Kai (end of year party), that were really blessings and saw some people that have been searching and we haven't seen in a while return to us. Pray that those who have returned to us would remain and continue to search for God with us and that our relationships would be blessed.

But anyway, I am on the other side of all these things now and I praise God for the blessings He gave to me this christmas. Now I am able to look forward to some good times with friends and loved ones before I ramp up for the new year. I am so ready for what God has for me next! HYAAAH ^_^!!!

Yours in our Lord with all sincerity,
Alex J. Robinson.

Japan Newsletter Nov 17, 2009

Dear Friends,
I apologies for my tardiness in writing this letter. My return to this place has been full of blessing, encouragement, new developements, difficulties, battling, failure, and countless diplays of God's love towards me. And in the midst of all that has been happening, putting pen to paper or fingures to keyboard has been an issue. To be truthful to you I am feeling a bit road weary. Like I am covered with traveling dirt. But I thank you for your time, that you care enough to spend it on reading this. So I will try my best to relate to you my experiences as clearly as I possibley can.

Firstly, the gospel cafe is being blessed. I don't remember how much I told you about it. But it is a small cafe not far from here that was started by members of this church. As the name suggests, the purpose of the cafe is to be a point of outreach, serving people, talking with people, etc. There are alot of lonely people in Japan, looking for somewhere safe to go and kind people offering good company. I think that is what they find at the cafe. My time there has always been amazing, but even more so lately. It seems like not a day goes by when I serve there that I don't have a two to three hour conversation with someone. Naturally, this is something I crave when I am here. Just being able to talk and love on the people God has made so dear to me. Also, Akari (who runs the cafe with her husband), has made alot of good friendships with the owners of shops close to us. And she dicovered that most of the shops needed one kind of help or another but could not afford it. So lately, along with volunteering at the cafe, I have been working shoulder to shoulder with these local shop owners, offering them whatever service I can offer for free. It has been an amazing time for me and spending time with them has been wonderful. But also, there are needs at the cafe. Even though ministry is strong, the buisness side of the cafe isn't going so well. Please pray that God will provide what we need. It is going to be the only way we we will make it.

The Shine Kids Program that I run in Setagaya has been blessed as well. I thought that maybe their would be difficulties in restarting the classes, but their were none. Everyone who came in the first place returned and then even more came. So many that we are seeking better ways of running the classes so that we can best teach the kids and not loose them in the crowd. But it is really a great problem to have. And the relationships are being blessed as well. There is a closeness and a trust that just wasn't there before. And it was made very evident to me when we invited the children and their families to a church festival we had last Saturday. We had invited them to such things before, however the response was minimal. But on Saturday, six of my children came, along with their mothers, their fathers (whom I had never met before), and their brothers and sisters. The church is becoming a place of love and safety to them, and I and the church family, their family. Though their is a long way to go and many obstacles in the way, God is leading in the right direction, gently. Unfortunately, I really don't feel the same way about Machida's shine kids. But maybe it's a personal thing. I don't know, it just seems like in Setagaya, the relationships where built up between me and the families, and that it where it started from. In Machida, these where all people Jeremiah knew through his children's schooling, and I came in long after. So it seems like I am always playing catch up, and it is difficult. Pray for me in this. With Jeremiah leaving so soon, and me taking over the ministry in his place, I need God's help greatly...

...Recently God has been speaking to me alot. I don't know why, but we have been a lot closer lately, I have been able to hear His voice more clearly and He has been speaking to me alot. About the right now, but also he has been speaking to me alot about my future. No dates or anything, but He has been talking to me about what's coming down the line. Truthfully, I don't think I have ever experienced this kind of thing before. He has spoken to me alot about what I should do, but He only revealed to me a little at a time. Maybe because that was all I could handle. And then to have so much revealed to me... It was amazing and wonderous and I am still in awe of what He has done... but... I am scared to death. Not so much because He is speaking to me, but because of what He wants me to become. And in fact, what I struggled with was as to why He revealed it to me now, at this time. I am still not exactly sure, but I believe it's because He wants me to know that I still have a long way to go before I am a man that is ready for what He has for me. That I should begin to persue Him now with fervor that He would grow me into something more.

I have to go. I am sorry if this has been a bit unclear. But I am still a bit confused. Please pray for me. I love you. I miss you.

Alex