January 31, 2012

Dear friends,
I pray that you have seen many blessings of the Lord this January. I am currently writing you from the newest stop on my journey here in Japan, Calvary Chapel Bible College Fuchu. The winter break has come to an end and today is my first day of the new “Spring” semester here at bible college, though at the current temperature here in Fuchu, it doesn’t feel exactly like a spring semester to me ^_^. This month has been full of blessings, both obvious and some that I did not clearly perceive as blessings at first.
One of the blessings I was able to meet with Tomoko’s family for the first time during new years. Tomoko is one of four siblings and I was able spend time with two of them as well as her Mom, Dad, and Aunt. The time we spent together was good, with much laughter and warm welcomes and I am greatly looking forward to the building of relationships with her family members from here on. Please continue to pray for us and for God’s guidance in how best to share our lives with them and be a blessing to them.
Another blessing was being given opportunity to lead and preach at Horizon. Pastor Rich from the international fellowship took his family to singapore for a little more than a week and during that time I was asked by him to both lead the Wednesday night bible study and also to give the message the following Sunday. The Wednesday night bible study was really exciting ^_^. Usually the Wednesday night bible study was for english speakers, a mix of foreigners and english speaking Japanese people. But on the Wednesday I was to lead the study, everyone one that came was Japanese and most were those that required translation. However God always has a purpose for all things and empowers us to meet the tasks that he sets before us. And this was no exception as the Spirit moved and empowered me to lead the group entirely in Japanese though all my notes were in English. The spirit moved in many ways that night and it was not limited to me. After our time in the word, others were lead by the spirit to share there testimonies and in the end, we all left in awe of the work of God in our hearts and lives. May all glory be His. Also the message on Sunday was a blessed time as well. I was lead to share from the book of Leviticus of all places. Though it may seem a strange place to study from, but God used the my study of the book of leviticus last semester in big ways to work on my heart. Though it is a thick book, it is so relevant to us in that it was God’s instruction to the people of israel on how to be His people, clean, holy, and set apart for Him. And more than this, it is the instruction book for the priesthood, which God has made us all through the cross of Jesus Christ. I was scheduled to teach again from this book the following Sunday, however, that is when things took a bad turn.
The Wednesday following the service. I began to come down with a fever with very few other symptoms. It increased steadily for four days until it was about 104 degrees and I couldn’t eat anything anymore. Ended up going to the hospital several times after, finding it was a some kind of stomach virus they couldn’t identify, and was put on antibiotics until the fever went away. But following the fever, sever stomach pains continued and did not stop until about five days ago. I am fine now. Though it kept me down and out for a while, God always has his purposes. He used the trial to refocus me on the work he had for me to do and to what he has called me to. It also brought Tomoko and I closer together than we have ever been before. In all trial, “testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:3-4). I deffinately feel a lot more mature than I was before ^_^.
So we got through it all and the semester has begun. And already, God has been giving Tomoko and I much opportunity to serve. The school here is located close to a christian daycare center and already I have been able to go over and serve there, play with the kids, etc. I look forward to many more opportunities to serve there in the two semesters to come here in Fuchu. Please pray for God to use this daycare center for his glory in this city.
Also, as I am currently the only student at CCBC Fuchu (the rest of the student are to come up from Okinawa half way through the semester), I have been given opportunity to serve at Horizon for my service hours at the school. I will be heading over to Machida every Saturday, serving at the Saturday night service there, staying over at my friend Hide’s house, and then serving the whole day in Machida at both the Japanese and English services. Also, opportunities are opening up for both Tomoko and I to start up the Shine Kids program again on Saturday afternoons and we hope to start in about three weeks ^_^! Please pray for Tomoko and I as we serve together. Things might get a little crazy with our schedule sometimes and there is no way that we can accomplish all that is before us under our own strength. However, God is the one who is opening up these opportunities and we know He is able to equip us with what we need to accomplish what He has for us.
Last bit of good news is that the date is set for our marriage ^_^! We are going to be holding the wedding in Machida on July 7th of this year. I wish I could invite you all to come, but it is a bit far. However, don’t worry. Our plan is to Honeymoon in Sonora (of all places! haha ^_~), so you will all get a chance to meet her. I will post the dates we will be in America as soon as I know them.
Because He lives,
Alex

Japan Newsletter - December 20, 2011

Dear Friends,
So good to be writing you this chilly december. I have finally returned to Tokyo from my studies in Okinawa. The semester ended well, though it got a little crazy towards the end with all the reports and finals, especially the ones I had to take in Japanese. But God is good, and his grace is abundant. Some how I finally made it to the end and left the day after the semester ended. Though I don't know what God has planned for me in the future, as I am going to begin my study in CCBC Tokyo, it is possible that it will be the last time I will ever see Okinawa. My time serving there was so very different from anything than I had ever experienced before. There were so many difficulties and so many times of failure. But God used my time there to really work on my heart. He used my failures to bring me deeper into a humbleness before Him and a submission to his service. He broke me of a lot of my pride that I really didn't even know that I had. Also He built me up in my prayer life and devotion time, especially during this last semester. There were so many things to think about and so much that I had been worrying about during this semester. I had worried about my future ministry, about my language abilities, and about people here in Tokyo that I was powerless to help while still in Okinawa. But God really spoke to me about lifting my concerns, worries, fears, and everything up in prayer. And to do it consistently.
It was so interesting. I remember at the last Men's retreat that I was able to attend in America, elder Paul from CC Sonora made the practical suggestion of writing a prayer list on a 3x5 card and praying through it every day during our devotions. A few months ago, I was flipping through a book and a 3x5 card fell out of it and onto the floor. As I was picking it up, suddenly all that Paul said that day came to my mind. So from that day I wrote out a prayer list on a 3x5 and have been praying through it in my daily devotion time ever since. And it has left me amazed how much daily consistent prayer changes life and ministry. That prayer list soon turned into a praise report card as God consistently answered every issue I was praying over in His way and for His glory. God is faithful, and prayer should be at the heart of our ministry.
There was something that Pastor Tommy said to me in Okinawa that really stuck in my head. He said that ministry is not about method. God shapes the man and then He shapes the ministry. It made a lot of sense to me. And even though He has a lot more shaping to do in me, I think he has been shaping me for the ministry that he will have for me in the future. I am so grateful for all that he has been doing in me and look forward to the things He is planning for me. He even blessed me in giving a huge part of my future to me during my stay here in Tokyo.
As I have written about before, I have been dating with a amazing woman of faith named Tomoko Aoki. She is a member of the Tokyo Horizon Chapel congregation and I have been friends with her for over two years now. We started dating at the beginning of this semester and communicated mostly through writing to one another during my time in Okinawa. It was a blessed time for both of us and God brought us closer to Him and closer together through those writings. By the end of the semester, God was speaking to me about her to me strongly though my devotions, times of prayer, and even words of prophecy given by members of the CC Okinawa Fellowship. He convicted me about her and gave me great peace for what He lead me to do upon my return to Tokyo. On the evening of December 15, I asked her to be my wife... And she said yes ^_^. We are engaged and hope, Lord willing, to be married December of next year, after I graduate bible college. Thank you all for you support and prayers about this. God willing, she will be able to accompany me on my next visit to America this summer and you all can meet her ^_^. Please pray that God would continue to guide us is this next step in our relationship together and that God would use us for His purpose as He has already begun to do.
Thank you for your prayers about meeting with Tomoko's coworkers. Since I have come to Tokyo, I have already been able to hang out with them on two different evenings with more times together planned. The times we have spent together have been blessed and they have been very accepting of Tomoko and my beliefs and we have been able to share a bit with them in our times together. Please continue to pray about our times together with Tomoko's coworkers as we build relationships with them and minister to them. Please pray for wisdom for Tomoko while she is working with these people and please pray for wisdom for me as I try to support my future wife in being salt and light in her workplace.
There is also another praise report which I have already referenced in the last post that happened last week in the Gospel Cafe. For those of you who aren't familiar, the Gospel Cafe is a cafe owned by members of the church here at Horizon and is both a functioning cafe and a outreach point to the community. I have been able to help out a couple times at the cafe since I have returned much in the same way I helped out before I left for Okinawa; waiting tables and talking with people. Last wednesday I was given the opportunity to speak with a younger man by the name of Kazu Yoshikawa. I had met him before at the cafe, but had not had the opportunity to speak much with him. Soon our conversation turned to Jesus and I was able to share with him. Through our conversation, God drew Kazu to himself and He accepted Jesus as his Savior. I have started meeting with him weekly to disciple him during my time here. We met together on Monday and it was a blessed time of questions and sharing. Please pray for Kazu, that he would grow in his new found faith and be protected from the attacks of the enemy. Also pray for my wisdom in the situation and for a special blessing for my Japanese as God disciples him through me.
I have more to tell, but I will have to save it for next time. I love you all. May you be blessed as God shapes you and shapes your ministry around you.

Much love in Him,
Alex

God is good.

Dear Friends,
More news to follow. But pray for Kazu Yoshikawa. He just accepted the salvation of Jesus Christ last night and can use all the prayer he can get as he starts his walk with Christ.

Thank you,
Alex

Japan Newsletter, November 13, 2011

Dear friends,
Thank you so much for your patience in waiting on my letter to you all. Midterms and the many reports that followed finally finished. But all in all this has been an exciting time for me here at the school.

My involvement in the translation ministry has been going strong. I have been given the opportunity to translate for devotions, messages, and have been able to continue in translating the men's discipleship every week. I was given the opportunity recently to share my testimony in Japanese in several churches that I have been sent to serve at since I wrote last. God has really blessed those times and it has been a great encouragement. I will be able to share my testimony in Japanese again next week at the youth event after church, so please pray for this as well. Also, last sunday, I was given the opportunity to teach the youth bible study. Usually it is given in English and translated into Japanese. But on the that day there was no one to translate, so I ended up translating myself into Japanese. I got a little tongue tied sometimes, but it was a lot of fun ^_^. Tonight I have the opportunity to translate again. But tonight will be the first time that I will be translating a message from Japanese to English, so I am really excited about it. But please continue to pray for my Japanese abilities, and also for my heart during translation. There have been a lot of blessed times during translation by the grace of God, but there has also been a lot of discouraging times that I have crashed and burned. Mostly they have been times when my flesh got in the way. Maybe 3 weeks ago I was given the opportunity to translate a message for the evening service. I prepared for many hours and thought that I had the material down, but looking back on it, it was really a work of my flesh, me trying to do things on my own. Little did I know that God would use it to teach me about my utter need of Him in all I do. I remember when I finally got up there, it was like all the Japanese was sucked out of my head. God gave me grace in letting me communicate a bare minimum of the message, but it was a horrible time. After I was done, I headed out to some backstreet and just cried. But the reason God tears us down sometimes is to rebuild us again with Him at the center. The Spirit ministered to me a lot during that time about humility, reminding me again that the gifts that God has given me are for His glory and not my own. God continues to teach me a lot about humility in translation, and I know that He still has a long way to take me. Like it says in Philippians 3:3 we are those who "worship by the spirit of God, who glory in Jesus Christ, and who put no confidence in the flesh..." But I am very excited for what lies ahead and have been blessed by being able to be used in this way so far. So again, please pray for my speaking abilities, that I man translate the words of God humbly, by His power, for the Japanese people here at CC Ginowan.

Also, there has been interesting developments in the children's outreach on Saturday's. The Kindergarten class has been blessed with students every week, however there has only been one regular student in the elementary outreach class, and that is the pastor's son. At first, this was a bit frustrating to me, but again, God was working in my heart to submit to what He wants to do. I started shifting the class over whenever it was just him from an English class to a Japanese class. He is at around the same level in Japanese as the kids I usually teach are in English, so it is really easy to shift it back and forth depending on who comes. And it has been a really great time. It is a lot of fun to teach him the Japanese and be able to support the Pastor of this church and his family in this way. We will keep praying and being patient on the Lord to bless us with other students, but until that time comes, we keep building up our little brother in this way.

Like I said, the end of the semester is only four weeks away, and I have begun to make plans for ministry during the winter break. I felt lead to return to Tokyo during the winter break to continue serving in the Tohoku disaster area and to serve in Tokyo Horizon Chapel as much as I can. I have been in contact with Pastor Rich, the new pastor of the English fellowship there as well as Pastor Watanabe and Pastor Jeremiah who is making preparations for his move to Kagoshima and the church planting he has been lead to do there. They are thinking and praying about how I can serve in the Church. It is very exciting to me. Another exciting door that has opened up for my time there is opportunity to spend time with my girlfriend Tomoko's co-workers. The company she works with is a tight knit office that do a lot of activities together and though they have not met me yet, I have already been invited to several activities. Everyone in the office knows that she is a christian and that I am a missionary, but praise God that they have been very accepting and welcoming. They have even invited us both to one of the co-workers weddings. Please pray for us both for the time we spend with them, that we would be lead by God in all these things.

But, there has been a new development in the college here. A new Calvary Chapel Bible College is starting up in Tokyo, a sister to this one. They have decided to make new arrangements for study this coming semester. The plan now is the half of the semester is going to be taught at the Tokyo campus and half here in the Okinawa campus. Since I am in going to be in the Tokyo during the time that the semester begins, I will be going straight from Machida to the Tokyo Campus in Fuchu. Please be praying for me in this new location, that God would continue to grow me and work through me in this new area. There are many exciting aspect to this new Campus, including being involved in a huge English School For Kids there which is very exciting for me.

I pray that you are all doing well and seeing the work God is doing in your lives daily. I thank you always for lifting my needs up in prayer.

Because He lives,
Alex Robinson

September 29, 2011

Dear friends,

How ya'll doin' ^_^? Things have been going well for me here. The college is in full swing and the semester is getting intense. But, praise God, even though there is a tone of work to do, I have been blessed to be able to minister in ways that I didn't really expect.

Firstly, at the school, we have been able to start a english outreach for children similar to what I used to do in Tokyo. There are two classes; elementary and kindergarten. Joanna, the pastor's wife is running the kindergarten kids, and I am teaching in the elementary age class. Currently, we have about three kids in the elementary and about six in the kindergarten and are teaching every Saturday morning. Please pray for growth and blessing in this ministry as we try to serve the kids of Ginowan city and there families.

Secondly, there has been opportunity to serve the kids on base as well. At the Kadena air force base here in Okinawa, there is a woman's discipleship that meets every tuesday morning. During that time, there is also child care provided for them that is sort of like a sunday school class for the kids. I have been blessed in being able to go many times to this and it has been very fun. It has been a while since I have been able to be involved in a sunday school for American kids. It is so interesting to be able to serve both the Japanese and the families of American Soldiers during my time here. But I am thankful that God has seen fit use me in this way. Please continue to pray for guidance in how best to serve the families of our soldiers over seas.

The translation ministry is going well also. It has even expanded. In addition to translating devotions once a week, I have also come to be able to translate weekly at the guys discipleship as well. This translation is still a bit difficult for me. There is so much for me still to learn. I mean sure, I can talk about regular stuff, but then when you get to things like camel's fur clothing and pits of vipers and all that, things get a little more complicated ^_^. (I was translating about John the baptist by the way) However, this has been a amazing experience for me in expanding my biblical as well as regular Japanese. I still have a long way to go, but I can see God using this to perfect my ability to preach in Japanese and go more in depth than I ever have before. So... Praise God ^_^. Please continue to pray for my language ability, the more that I learn, the better I understand that I have soooo far to go. This might take a lifetime ^_~.

Another fun thing we got to be involved in recently was a surfing outreach. There is a organization in Japan that ministers to Japanese Surfers, and the leader of the southern branch of that organization invited us to go out and minister to the surfers. We brought out food, guitars, cajons, sat on the beach, feeding surfers and beach goers and talking to them. It was a great time. Even got to talk with some people who had recently moved down here from Tokyo. They lived close to Takadanobaba which is about an hour away from where I used to live in Machida. Their kids are going to be enrolled in a international school soon, even though they don't speak english. I told them about out saturday school and gave them our number. Please pray that they would come and also that we can continue in these beach outreaches in the future.

Other than that, it has been business as usual. Rockin' the studies, late to bed, early to rise, running on coffee and the Holy Spirit ^_^. My devotion time has been good and have been growing. I have been learning a lot about prayer. Been a blessing.

Anyway, I am on my way to tutor homeschoolers at Calvary Chapel Okinawa now. I love you all and hope you are all well. Feel free to drop me a line sometime if you feel lead ^_~.

Because He lives,
Alex

Japan Newsletter August 26, 2011

Dear Friends,
It is good to be writing you all again. Wanted to give you all a update about all that has happened so far since my return to Japan. But firstly, I want to thank you all for my time in America. Being able to meet with you all, to share at the men's breakfast and at the sunday service as well as with the home fellowships was such a blessing and encouragement for me. So good to see all my old friends and to meet some new ones as well. To meet people that had never met me but knew me and had been praying for me through these blogs and the church was overwhelming to me about the grace of God in my life. That you all so much for your prayers, your support, your warm hearts, great conversations, and smiling faces. I will keep them in my heart as I enter into this new portion of my time in Japan.

Upon returning to Japan, I spent two weeks in Tokyo. Luckily, I was able to arrive in time for the Horizon Family Camp. A time for all the different branches of the Horizon Church in Machida where I served in the past to come together for a time of prayer, sharing, and encouragement with one another. To see the Japanese men and women I had worked with in Tokyo again and share with each other about what God was doing was so great. They were all shocked about the level that my Japanese had gotten reached even in the short time here in Okinawa. I guess all the time here being a intermediary between the Japanese and the American students coupled with the grace of God had a effect on my language skills.

Luckily, this semester will be filled with a lot more of this kind of activity. The staff here is shifting me into rotation as translator. I will be set to translate on tuesdays for the morning devotions as well as filling in here and there whenever it is needed. Even now, I am preparing to translate for the men's breakfast tomorrow and the message that will be given. Please pray for me. Even though I have assisted my friend Hide in translating messages in Tokyo, I have never taken lead translation of a message nor have I done direct translation as all the translation in Tokyo was simultaneously done over head sets. I am kind of nervous and I need God's help in these things.

Also, I am extremely excited to announce that there is going to be a shift in the school here in Japanese to American ratios. Whereas last semester, the predominant ethnicity at the school here was American, this semester there will be more Japanese students than American students. Which also means much more opportunity to speak with nationals and serve along side them during the semester which has always been my desire in ministry here. So exciting ^_^.

But with the increase of Japanese nationals, there is also an increase in Japanese only classes and a decrease in bilingual and english only classes. So much so that I have no option but to take to of my courses in Japanese this semester ^_^;;. This is also a first for me and it is a little bit intimidating, but I am going to do my best in this and hopefully God will use this semester to expand my Japanese tremendously.

Lastly, because of schedule change. I will be able to be involved in melt this semester, which is an English outreach at a local College. I was only able to attend this twice last semester, but I am really excited to be able to take part in this outreach weekly ^_^!

So anyway, lot's to be nervous and lot's to be excited about this semester in school. Please pray for me, for my language abilities, and for ways to serve and minister this semester to open up. Love you all and I will be writing you all soon.

Yours in our Lord,
Alex

Mmade it to the U.S.

Hey everyone,

Thank you for your prayers for my time in tokyo and the tohoku. It was a great time and I can't wait to share with you all about it. And I can't wait to do it in person as have made it to the U.S. I look forward to seeing you all sunday. See you then.