Name:Jonathan Country:United States State:California Birthday:7/15/1982 Gender:Male
Interests:Missions, Japan, Anime, Baseball, Sports, Asian Cinema, Expertise:random useless information expert, used to be really good at push-ups Occupation:Missionary Appointee Industry:Christian Ministry
Sunday December 6, 2009, around 6pm Aquila Joe Robison was born in Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan.
7 pounds 8 ounces, 20 inches, 10 fingers 10 toes.
Aquila was a New Testament character who shows up five times, along with his wife Prisc(ill)a. He was the original 'tent maker' missionary. The name also is Latin, and means 'Eagle'. Joe (or Jo with a long o), is a lesser used reading of the Japanese character for quiet. My (Jon's) grandmother's name is Shizuko, which means 'Quiet Child' and uses the same kanji (静).
Maki and Baby are resting and will be coming home from the hospital on Sunday, as 1 week stays are standard here in Japan. Thank you all for your prayers and words of encouragement!
As promised, here is this week's blog entry. Took me quite a while to put together this gem of a video for you, so I hope you enjoy.
The above video shows action from a few thursdays ago. Each Thursday I get to attend afternoon Bible Study and lunch, and once a month we have MKK group. MKK stands for the names of the 3 guys who attend, Ma-Kun Keitaro, and Kagaya. Ma-kun didn't show up this time, Keitaro is the one playing slipper ping pong with me and Kagaya is jamming with Sakuma Sensei. We have a short Bible study and then a time of fellowship, because with the small number of Christians in Japan, they don't have a lot of opportunities to just have fun together.
In other news, I organized my office yesterday and put up my Christmas tree, I'll have to get a picture of that because I'm pretty proud of it. When I was so young that I only had 1 brother and 1 sister we had a miniature Christmas tree for our room and only the small presents would go there like NES games. I'll try to get the big tree up soon.
Maki is feeling much better this week. Thank you all for your prayers. She has her strength back after spending almost a month in bed, also she's safe to give birth anytime. She says we're having shrimp tonight because she wants to make sure she eats it before going to the hospital.
This week I have some message preparation to do, among other miscellaneous things. I'm doing the Jr./Sr. High Christmas Party message in Japanese next Saturday and my once per month Jr./Sr. High Sunday School message falls on the next morning, which I think is convenient because I can expound on the Christmas message of the previous evening. Still, easier said than done when it's not in English. Prayers are appreciated. Planning to make (Japanese) Tuesdays my update day for this blog, to make all of your Mondays a more bearable experience. God bless,
I've decided to start up the blog again, try to keep you all updated as to the (Jon and Maki) Robisons in Japan. And since this is the first entry I thought I'd go big with some pictures. Let's start with what has been a big part of my life lately.
Maki was in the hospital for 3 weeks on an IV to prevent a premature birth. She has been home the past 2 weeks and can now give birth safely at any time. The due date is December 20th. But let's back up a little...
I graduated from Kichijoji Language School in September, having spent 2 years and completed the Advanced 2 Japanese course. Yay!
Back to the pregnancy, Maki and I are getting ready. But back to missionary-related material. Also since September I've been interning at Tama Plaza Christ Church in Yokohama. Pastor Sakuma has been showing me the ropes...of church work. When you say 'showing me the ropes' what follows? of? in? at? when it comes to? Anyway, I've been working with the junior/senior high school groups, ladies group (since Japanese churches have a high percentage of women I was told that the ladies group in any church is important to understand for church workers in Japan). Here is a picture of me preparing for the Jr./Sr. High Christmas party.
hooray for $5 santa suits! Meanwhile, Maki is resting at home, waiting to welcome our little monster.
Here is my missionary schedule this week, if you would like to keep it in your prayers. Thursday, Nov 26: leading a Thanksgiving (my theme choice) Bible Study for Tama Plaza Ladies group Friday, Nov 27: SEND Evangelism Council meeting, lesson with Japanese Tutor. Saturday, Nov 28: SEND Thanksgiving Dinner at Okutama Bible Chalet (in the mountains) Sunday, Nov 29: attend Jr./Sr. High Sunday School, Worship service at Tama Plaza Christ Church Monday, Nov 30: Day off Tuesday, Dec 1: NEXT BLOG ENTRY!
It has been too long and for that I apologize. I've got lots of news for you so I may not even need to use chapters, I'll just keep it short and sweet.
Language School update:
I've completed another term at Kichijoji Language School, and will begin my 8th 10 week term in the beginning of July, where I'll do a refresher on the odd numbered chapters in the advanced book, as well as reading and writing. I'm also preparing to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 2, for the second time, I took Level 2 last December and failed, but looking to go at it again. The test is split into a grammar/vocabulary section, a listening section, and a reading comprehension section. Last time I passed the first two. This time Im looking to pass the whole thing. The Test is July 5th, please pray that it goes well.
Ministry Update:
I was privileged to be the Speaker at camp 2 of Joy Bible Camp at Okutama Bible Chalet this Summer. OBC is the camp run by SEND, and JBC is the English language children's camp directed at kids from the international school. Our theme was 'In Touch' with Colossians 2:6-7 being our theme verses. I gave 8 20-30 minute talks on how we, as believers can walk with Jesus. We looked at examples from Jesus life and also I tried to relate to my target audience (9-12 year olds) with a few life experiences of my own. Response was mixed, but overall I was pleased that some kids were paying attention, and I heard that a little girl went home and decided to give her life to Christ. Praise the Lord for that! My camp name this year was Dr. Spaceman. I found it really funny that, when teaching the kids the counselors and camp director would start by saying 'remember what Spaceman said...' Who listens to a guy named Spaceman? It's ridiculous. It's...foolishness. And that's exactly why it was perfect. Who could possibly get the glory from such a situation other than Jesus? I'm not even sure that anyone else would hire a guy named Spaceman for that kind of job. Just my little tangent. Thanks for your prayers.
Partnership Program:
Maki and I had a chance to visit the church where we will be serving starting this September, Tama Plaza Christ Church in Yokohama. Everyone was friendly and we were comfortable in no time fellowshipping there. My assignment there will be to work with youth from middle school to college and careers age. I'll be responsible for giving a devotional in Japanese once a month for the Jr. High/HS group. Please pray for the transition from full-time language student to language user to go well. And pray that God blesses Tama Plaza Church and that Maki and I can be a blessing even as We have already begun being blessed there.
Church Softball:
Maki was able to find a softball field that is available every Sunday night, and, along with a group of guys at Tachikawa Church, we've been enjoying a good manly time of fellowship. I've been able to get to know some of the men at Tachikawa church better through softball, and we have guys looking to make it a more regular time so that friends can be invited for future fun and fellowship. Pray that God uses this opportunity as he sees fit.
Family Update:
Jon's older brother David was married on to Maki's little sister (this is legal in both countries) on April 30th of this year. It was wonderful to see all of Jon's family here in Japan (Jon sometimes like to write in the third person for clarification, sometimes because he thinks it very manly) for the wedding. David and Tomo are now back in California raising support to come back to Japan with SEND as missionaries. Jon also had a chance to visit relatives in Okinawa for 4 days after seeing off most of the family back to the airport. Truly a blessed time seeing where his (my) grandmother is from, meeting her brother and other relatives. Maki did not make the trip this time because she is pregnant. That's not the way I intended to make that announcement but Maki and Jon are expecting their first child to arrive around December 20th of this year. Please pray for continued growth, good health, and a heart for God. Pray for Maki and Jon as parents, and also, for David and Tomo, as they begin their married lives together.
Well, that's all for now folks, longer than I (Jon) expected but largely without the fluffy blog fodder. Come to think of it, I think it would be a good idea to post this on the blog. I will. Shalom ya'll!
Sorry gang, I guess this is the first post of 2009. I've been trying to think of ways to get updates to ya'll in the most efficient way possible, and obviously updating Xanga hasn't been part of that strategy so far. At any rate, I think I'll keep this up until I can set up a blog that works better, and if/when that happens you will all be the first to know. I say 'all' because it appears that I've had footprints this week despite the obvious dry spell. But for those of you looking for life and ministry updates, here's what I have since last time, utilizing the easy to scan bullet format.
* Finishing another 10 week round of language school, only one more before we look at a partnership program (like an internship) with a Japanese pastor. I'm looking forward to working with a church near Kawasaki (close to Tokyo), focusing on youth ministry, ages ranging from middle school to the college and careers groups.
* Enjoying basic conversation with both Japanese and fellow language students. I've been spending more time talking with people in the office at my language school, as I've also volunteered to be a group leader in the upcoming school field trip, as well as put together a team which created the school's new hata, or banner/battle flag. In the latter case I didn't do any of the actual art work, just worked more as a go between for the school and shy art students.
* I've done two interviews in the past two weeks or so, one in Japanese, one in English. The Japanese one was taped and heavily edited, if used at all. I don't have a radio so I haven't checked, but I've heard it's a popular radio program. They were just talking to language students about their favorite dives/haunts in Tokyo, as well as their impressions of the Japanese, proving that they are as narcissistic as any of us. The more I look at myself and societies in general that more I find that to be true, people love hearing about themselves, talking about themselves, etc. It's something I try to remind myself not to do, especially when I meet new people...but then here I am blogging about myself for all ya'll. The second interview was for some sort of Money TV show, where I was asked about how the high yen prices are hurting me as a foreigner in Tokyo. I kept it short and to the point. In retrospect I realize that, as I was on a day trip with a friend I wasn't dressed to impress, and may have ended up on TV with my signature sweatshirt, ballcap and jeans combination. Sorry mom.
* Looking ahead to this summer I've been asked to be the speaker at a five day children's bible camp. I'm humbled to be asked, but another part of me realizes that there was a shortage of available, affordable (free) speakers available. Even so, I've worked as a counselor before at the same camp and love working with children so I think it will be a blast. Please pray that I can put together 8 30 or so minute messages that get the message of 'staying in touch with God' across without terribly boring them. I think they're mostly 11 and 12 year olds. This will be done in English.
I imagine a lot of this will be in my upcoming newsletter, which will look drastically different from my newsletters in the past. I'm aiming for more of a personal approach to the reader, that is, more easily scannable, while not sacrificing content for you readers who enjoy my prose and witty banter. I suppose that's all for now, Thank you all for your prayers, thank you all for your support. We serve a great God, and I'm blessed to be working for him, alongside all of you.
