Fall Fun and Christmas Events

Hi Everyone,
I hope you all had a great Christmas season and a very happy new year. The time here has been a lot of fun.

We finished up our Fall semester of Shine Kids on the 8th of December. This semester marked our tenth semester since we restarted Shine Kids after after I returned from Okinawa. And we were blessed to have all our old students with us this semester plus a few new faces. Above we see the kids learning their new song for this semester which they would perform at the Horizon Cafe and Bazaar the week after this picture was taken. All the kids had a great time this Semester and are looking forward to the winter semester of Shine Kids starting on the 19th of this month. Please pray that God would open up hearts more and more through this program and especially that the relationships we build through the program would lead to a deeper and deeper connection to God and his people.

Thank you for praying for the Shine English Language School as well. We have been blessed to have 24 students regularly attending classes on a weekly or bi weekly basis during this fall and winter season. God has been blessing the ministry so much that we thought it would be good make special events and times to get together with all of our students from this ministry and bless them by cooking a meal for them all. We keep it very casual and have the students come whenever they like between our starting and ending time, eat as much as they like, and leave whenever they want. We then started inviting members our church to help out with the cooking and serving as well as having some come just as guests to hang out and talk with our students. All of our students really like the events and we see this as a new opportunity to get people from our community to hang out with people in the church in a casual setting. The conversations I have overheard and taken part in during these event are awesome and God is at work in it. Seen here are pictures from our last Pancake Breakfast we had last month. Please pray for us as we continue this new form of outreach.

In addition, we were able to have our Horizon picnic during this fall as well. We invited the Japanese and English services from both Setagaya and Machida as well as the Shine Kids to come and have a picnic with games and even a pinata that I scraped together myself. It was a great time of
fellowship and even though we were unable to get the Shine Kids Members to come out with us this time, we are going to continue to do outdoor events this coming year. Lord willing, the more of these events we do, the more our Shine Kids and Shine ELS students will come out to join us and hang out with members of the church. Please pray for us as we plan for having new sporting events this year and other activities to get everyone together.


This Christmas season was also a blast with many opportunities. We started off the month with our Kids Christmas parties in both Machida and Setagaya with games , cake, crafts, and of course the Christmas message. Here you see the kids making their craft. We were blessed to have a lot of helpers from our college group. We also had our annual Christmas program and Candle Light Christmas eve service. Like last year we were able to hit the streets of Machida before the event to hand out flyers. We also went around asking people what they think about Christmas and what Christmas means to them, and sharing about what it really means. It was a blessed time and blessed events, and in everything we got to share the hope to be found in Christmas.

We are looking forward to seeing you all at the end of March of this year when our family comes back to visit Sonora and we look forward to having the Epic Japan Team this Summer. We are praying that you would have a very blessed new year.

Sincerely,
Alex, Tomoko, Daisy, and Caleb Robinson










P.S. Our son, Caleb Alexander Robinson was born on September 9, 2015. He is a very happy baby and smiles a lot. Please pray for his blessing and our wisdom as we start out life as a family of four.

VBS 2015!!!

Hello Everyone,
I want to say sorry ahead of time as this blog is going to be a little picture heavy.

Soon after my last blog, the team from Anaheim arrived in Tokyo.
The first full day that they were here, they worked alongside Daniel and I and the rest of the Japanese members to finish decorating the church for the VBS the following day.

It was a blast to see the Japanese members and the Anaheim team working together to get everything done. Everyone really jumped in and when everything was said and done, the place looked great.



Then, the next day, the VBS began. Thank you for your prayers as many kids came to the event. We all met together in the beginning of the program, learn some English, sang some song, did a little skit (seen on the top left) and then split up into groups for the different activities.

We had a really amazing message time prepared by our friends Daichi, Hayato and Nobu. As the theme for this year's VBS was science, they used science experiments to help illustrate their messages. The first day they taught about the wind and how powerful it is even though you don't see it. The did a experiment showing the use of fans to balance over a tightrope and told the kids about how powerful God is even though we cannot see Him. The Second day they showed how Jesus makes us clean, using an experiment with liquids that change color. The kids loved it!

We also had a lot of fun making crafts prepared by Chikami, one of the Sunday school teachers here at the church. On the first day we made ice cream in a bag by shaking it like crazy. The second day we made a kaleidoscope. The kids had a great time writing their names with the stickers.

The kids had a great time with the game time and experiment time as well that the Anaheim team lead. The had fun with the wheel momentum experiments, the team explaining again that it was a force that you could not see, but could feel and moved you.



Over all, it was a great VBS. I was blessed to see all the Shine kids there just experiencing God's love through the Japanese and American Christian leaders at the event. I know that there were seeds planted and we will continue to pray that those seeds will grow and blossom in the years to come. It was a very encouraging time for me as well, to see everything that we have been preparing for be blessed by God is such a big way. I look forward to all that God is going to do through this year's VBS. And can't wait to see what God will do through next year's team as well (wink wink EPIC! Lord willing.) Please be praying as we continue to minister to the kids and families in the wake of the VBS.

The next week, the Anaheim team, along with Daniel and myself, repainted the Sunday school room which was in bad need some repairs and a new coat of paint. We worked all morning on it and got it done in time to do a little sightseeing.

The next day was the day of our three day Horizon Family Camp. The Anaheim team lead the kids program for the three day, while I translated along side them. I was even given the opportunity to share at one of the devotional times which was a real privilege. It was a great time of fellowship as well, staying up late, hanging out with the Anaheim team and the Japanese college kids.

On the day we got back from the camp, I bid farewell to the Anaheim team as they would be flying
out the next day. We will miss them and hope that they come back soon. They were a huge encouragement and a blessing to spend time with

We spent the weekend with Daniel and even got to introduce him to Tomoko's family as they were all getting together that Saturday. He talked computers with my programmer brother-in-law and spoke English with my other brother-in-law who is studying it in college and they enjoyed their time with him very much.

Then, this last Monday morning, we said goodbye to our friend Daniel Britt as he caught the 7:00 bus to Narita Airport. He spent four weeks with us and hung in their through a bit of a crazy schedule. We were blessed to have him serve with us in all the different events and are thankful for his willingness to jump into a lot of different roles while he was here. The college students and kids he taught will miss him, not to mention my little girl Daisy who is crazy about her Uncle Daniel.
Thank you for sending him to us.

Well, I think that is all for now. Please be praying for us as the doctors say that our little boy could be born at any time now.  Thank you always for you prayer and support. We love you and are praying for you guys.

Blessings,
Alex, Tomoko, Daisy, and Baby Robinson

VBS Promotional Video #2

This is the second VBS promotional video that Daniel and I put together. It was a lot of fun!

Summer Events and Welcome Guests

Dear Friends,

It is good to be writing you all again. Here we are experiencing a very hot and humid Japanese Summer. And it is typhoon season as well. We already had one last week and we hear tell that two more are on the way. But despite the weather, we are still very blessed to be here in the land of the rising sun.

The Shine Kids program has wrapped up for the summer and the Shine English Language school finished just last Friday. Thank you all so much for praying for students for the two English Programs. The Machida Shine Kids semester finished with about 10 students when we started with 5 this semester. And the Shine English Language school now has 20 students that are taking lessons every week or every other week. And now that the two programs are on summer break, we are gearing up for the series of summer events here at Horizon.

Already we have had one Shine Kids summer program in Setagaya that was a great time. We had one student that we have not seen in two years come by with four of her friends. It was a blessing to see her again and to meet her friends. They will be coming to our Setagaya program again next week, so please pray for a blessed time.

Also, we have been blessed to have our friend Daniel Britt finally arrive in Tokyo. He has only been here for a few days but already have put him to work, helping out with our Shine Kids Machida Summer Program which finished up  today. And tomorrow, he will be teaching five English lessons at the Shine English language School Summer Event! He has been a big help already and will a blessing to have around in the weeks to come.

Next week, Daniel and I are going to go on the church retreat and helping out for three days with the kids program there. And then the next week a group of 12 will be coming out from Anaheim for the VBS event. The staff here are all working feverishly to get done with everything before their arrival. Please be praying for attendance for the VBS which has been a little slower coming in this year than it has been in the past. Pray for 50 kids to

come each day and for God to bless the event. Also pray that God would give us wisdom in getting the word out to people to come. 

Our International Fellowship Pastor, Pastor Rich and his family has headed back to America for a summer vacation. So, we at the International Fellowship are going to be blessed to have some guest speakers come and share at our service. Even I will be able to share a message a couple times next month as well. Please pray for this time, that God would bless this time of guest speakers and that Pastor Rich and his family would have a refreshing time stateside. 

I think that is all for now. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. We love you all and are praying for your. And please know that for those who would like to come and visit us like our friend Daniel , our doors are always open to you! We would love to have you!

Blessings,

Alex, Tomoko, Daisy, and Baby Robinson

Shine English Language School Opens!

Dear Family,
It is good to be writing you.
Firstly, I wanted to thank you all again for the time that we spent in America. It was a difficult time for us when my mom passed away. However, the way that God brought our friends, family and church alongside us during our time there and the countless acts of mercy and grace that we received through the people there were a great comfort to us. There is no way that we can begin to show our gratitude to you all. All we can say is that we love you all very much and we experienced God's love through you.

As soon as we returned from America, the Shine Kids Semester started. It was great to see all the kids again. While we were gone we received emails from all the parents of the Shine Kids sharing their condolences and their assurance that they would be waiting for us to return. When we got back and started Shine Kids again, all the kids came back and brought friends. We are having a great semester so far, even making some new additions to the program. But I feel that through all that has happened, God has strengthened the relationship between us and the kids and moms we are ministering to. And we are so grateful to God for what He is doing in the Shine Kids Ministry.

Upon our return, the Shine English Language School also opened for the first time. Immediately, God brought in new students and little by little the week is filling up with classes. Since we got back, we gave 11 trial lessons and all of the students want to continue on a regular basis. We have 7 more people that signed up for trial lessons this week. Please pray for these students to continue. So far the classes have been great and the conversation times have been blessed. Please pray that God would use this new type of class to open doors to deeper relationships and more opportunities to share about Him.

We have started our preparations for the VBS this summer. The name of our VBS is going to be Discovery Labs. It will be a science theme, sort of discovering God through His creation. We are blessed to be having a team of 12 from the Anaheim Free Methodist Church coming to help us with the VBS. Having Daniel Britt here as well, that makes the number of Americans helping out 13 which is awesome. Please pray for helpers from the Japanese side as well. Last year we had many Japanese volunteers and staff. This year some of our staff have moved away and others started new jobs which makes them unable to commit large amounts of time to prep for the VBS. Please pray that God would provide new Japanese helpers and all the staff we need for this year's VBS.

I believe that is all the news for now. Thank you all for your prayers and support. We miss you all greatly.

Blessings,
Alex, Tomoko, Daisy, and Baby Boy Robinson

P.S. At our last trip to the doctor, we found out that we are going to be having a baby boy. Daisy is excited about her little brother. She is practicing with the baby carrier with her baby doll.

House Cleaning and Shine English Language School

Hi Everyone,

Greetings from us all here in Tokyo. I hope you all enjoyed the video above. I know it is a little late for Christmas plays, but I just wanted to show you part of our Christmas VBS from last year that I didn't get a chance to post. It was a great time! All of the Shine Kids and Sunday School kids came as well as members from the English and Japanese Fellowships and the college and junior high groups. We had a lot of old members of shine kids show up as well. The parents too chose to hang out, see the program, and hear the bible stories which was a blessing. Please pray for the seeds planted at the VBS Christmas and for the hearts of kids and parents.

From January 20,  the Shine Kids Winter Semester started. All of our students from last semester in Setagaya are with us again with a new student joining us. In Machida, we are blessed to have two new students this semester as well. But a real blessing lately has been with the mothers that are joining us. My wife has been having a lot of opportunities to talk and share with the mom's and even the new members have been sharing a lot as well. The time that the shine mothers have together is almost becoming a event unto itself. And actually we are now planning together with Pastor Watanabe's wife Yoshie to have a women's craft time next month with the Japanese service mothers at the same time the Shine Kids moms are here. Please pray for this opportunity for the Japanese Christian women to talk and share with the Shine Kids moms. Pray for friendships to be made and seeds planted.

Last time I wrote to you all, I talked about wanting to broaden the Shine Kids program by starting a new program from April teaching one-on-one classes and group classes to kids and adults as well. Well, God has been opening a lot of doors in this area and I am blessed to announce that starting in April we will be opening the Shine English Language School.

This is the new logo for the program. (Thank you Misa Katou for the design!) And though we are starting from April, we already have students signing up for classes. We hope to also get some of the members of the English service involved as well. Please be praying for many students to sign up for the program and for God to use the Shine English Language School to touch the lives of more and more people in Machida and Setagaya.

Thank you for continuing to pray for our Wednesday night English time and Bible study. More and more people are coming to English time and God is leading many of them to come to the bible study afterwards. The conversations there have been great, many lasting long after the bible study is over. I honestly don't often see Japanese people so curious and open to talking about Jesus and I know God is working in a special way, opening hearts during this time. PTL! Pray for those non Christians that are coming to the bible study, that they keep coming back and that they would all believe in Jesus. Please pray for Shane (owner of the cafe) who will be leading the study through the book of Joshua and pray for me when I am translating.

Tomorrow, the English fellowship members and I are going to be helping out at a special event for the Homeless ministry that is being lead by Pastor Okutsu. There will a special guest singer who will be performing and giving a testimony. Please pray for God to use the event to minister to the homeless here in Tokyo.

Also, please be praying for my friend Daniel Britt. God has been leading him to come out and serve here at Tokyo Horizon Chapel for four weeks this summer and he is now preparing to come. We all can't wait to have him serve with us! In the summer we need so much help with our outreach events and it will be a blessing to have him. Please be praying that God would provide him with everything he needs to get here and for his heart's preparation as well.

Last, but certainly not least, our family has a special announcement. This coming September, we will be a family of four! Yes, we are going to be having another baby. The due date is September 3rd! Please pray for us as we get ready for this new blessing that God has given us. Thank you always for your prayers, love, and support.

Love,

 Alex, Tomoko, Daisy, and Baby

Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone,
Glad to be able to write you all again after the finish of a blessed Shine Kids Fall Semester. Thank you all for your prayers for new students as we had 8 new students between the Setagaya and Machida campuses. Well, 9 if you include my little girl Daisy dancing with the rest of the Shine Kids. The time we spent together was great and the time my wife spent with the Shine Kids moms was blessed as well.
Two weeks after the Shine Kids Semester ended, we had our annual International Bazaar after the Japanese church service on Sunday. Some of the Shine Kids were able to come by and perform the song and dance that we were practicing this semester and play games with the other Sunday school kids. I also was able to meet some of the dads of the Shine Kids that I had never met before which is always great. Pray for vision for making more community events like this.

Please be praying for us as we make our preparations for next years Shine Kids. I have been feeling lead to make changes to the program. Starting from next April, Lord willing, we want to begin teaching one-on-one classes in addition to the regular Shine Kids and to be open Tuesday through Friday .  Also we want to start opening up the classes to older students. Up to this point, our program has been ministering to kindergarten and early elementary aged kids. But we want to start reaching out to junior high and maybe even high school aged kids.  Please pray that God will open the doors to where we are supposed to go, and close the doors to where we shouldn't.

Thank you for praying for our kids event in October. The VBS Mini (which is what we ended up calling it) was a great time. Many kids from the Shine Kids as well as kids from the from the Japanese and English service came. The helpers also were a very mixed group, some coming from the college fellowship, some from the English and Japanese services, and even some of the junior high group kids helped out with the event. It was a three hour program with the theme of Noah's ark. We sang kids worship songs, had an English lesson and games about animals, had a Bible story time, as well as a craft (We made a huge balloon out of cut up garbage bags that kids could walk around in!) and lunch.  It was such a blessed time in fact, that we have decided we are going to be having a VBS Mini event every three months. The next VBS Mini is going to be December 6th, the VBS Christmas, and we already have 19 kids from the Shine Kids Program signed up. Please pray for more kids to sign up and for helpers.

Also please be praying for the Cafe Salem. As lately the customers have been fewer and fewer and as some volunteers have had to step back from work at the cafe, the church staff has been praying about what direction the cafe should take next and what changes should be made. Currently the cafe has been closed for two weeks and will be opening up later this month only for reservations for a while. Again, please pray for guidance and wisdom for the staff as decisions are made about what to do next.

Thank you for your prayers for the Wednesday night English Cafe time and International Bible study that I have been leading. We have people coming every week for the English time and many opportunities to share the Gospel. Please pray for the seeds that have already been planted through the English Cafe time to grow. As for the Bible study, we finally made it through the book of Deuteronomy. Now, before we head into the book of Joshua, we are taking a break to do some special focused studies. Pastor Rich taught a 5 week study on Biblical prophesy that I was blessed to translate for. And now I am teaching a 7 week course on Apologetics. Recently we have been covering world religions, what they believe, and questions that we can ask them. We have been blessed to have a few new faces at the bible study including catholic and non-christian guests. Please pray for more and more people to come to the bible study and that it will be used by God for whatever he wants to do. Also please pray for Shane and Akari (the couple in the picture above) who run the Gospel Cafe. Pray that God would bless the cafe and provide them with everything they need.

Thank you for praying for the mother's meeting that my wife has been leading. They have been
meeting together for a time of prayer and sharing once a month and they are all going out together for fellowship often. It has been a great time for the new moms in our church to encourage one another and talk about what it is to be a Godly wife and mom. Please pray for more women to be added to the fellowship as it has had such a visible effect on all the moms in the group. Also God has been putting it on my wife's heart to do a women's event in the near future which is badly needed in the church. Pray for God to reveal the timing to my wife about this.

Please also be praying for the Christmas season, there are a lot of events in December including
Christmas concerts and programs. Please be praying for those bringing family members and co-workers to these events and that God would bless the time and conversations.

Thank you always for your prayers and support.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sincerely,
Alex, Tomoko, and Daisy Robinson





P.S. Daisy will be 1 1/2 years old this month. She is running around like crazy now and is talking all the time. She also loves dancing around and reading books with us. Her favorite word right now is, "No!". So please pray for patience for us ^_~.