Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [July 2013]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Usually in my newsletters I speak mostly of the progress or needs of the ministry, or I speak to matters of the culture, or I give you general updates on how I think things are going. This month I feel compelled to take a slightly different turn and speak of things that touch me much more personally, both as a missionary and as a father. What has spawned this thinking and caused me to write as I am this month is that my oldest child, Emily, will graduate from high school in 10 days. It would be extremely difficult to explain the mixture of joy and sadness I feel just thinking about that fact. Joy, because of the great accomplishment she has achieved by graduating from a boarding school in Kenya. Sadness, because after I take her back to the States, in a couple of months I know I will leave her there, 8000 miles away, and return to Africa without the knowledge of when I will see her again. But this letter is not about me, it’s about her.
Emily is a very strong person. She draws strength from deep reserves that I cannot see. I am enormously proud of her. I believe that when I leave her in the States, her heart is prepared to fly straight and strong. But I want you to explore with me the tremendous amount of change this young lady will be going through over the next few months. 1. In 10 days she will graduate from Rift Valley Academy. She will leave all her friends as they scatter around the world, and it is likely she will never see any of them ever again. She will leave the campus where she has lived for most of the last four years and most likely never see it again. 2. In August she will leave the continent of Africa. She will leave her home, pets, and things behind with no knowledge of whether she will see these things again. She will leave the country and culture that has become familiar to her over the past 5 years. 3. She will enter into a culture which has become foreign to her, one in which she has not spent many of her formative years – Namely, the American culture. She is what is called a Third-Culture Kid. A Third Culture Kid is a child who was taken from their original culture (the American culture, to which they no longer relate) and moved to a new culture (the Kenyan culture, to which they never have related). Thus, because they no longer fit in to either culture, the original one or the new one, they form their own culture, a third one, which is different from all others. Third Culture Kids can find it very difficult to assimilate into either their original or host countries’ cultures, and they often find it difficult to adjust and get close to others. They can often seem emotionally aloof, though they don’t mean to. 4. She will probably have to find a job to help pay for college without any knowledge of American work culture. 5. She will have to learn to drive again (she obtained her driving license just a few days before we left to return to Kenya). 6. In January she will begin college in the States, breaking into that new university culture half way into the college year. Most of the incoming freshman will have already acclimated and formed new friendships by then. 7. A couple of months after starting college, her parents and siblings will leave her by herself and return to ministry in Africa, 8000 miles away (she may be looking forward to this but it will rip my own heart out).
I am writing this to help you contemplate the tremendous amount of change and challenges that a missionary kid, and in this case, my kid, Emily, faces. I’m not saying she feels this way, but I would be scared out of my skin to be facing these same challenges. I implore you, enter into prayer with me for Emily as she commences upon these new challenges and opportunities. Pray that God would shower her with His grace, that He would be with her every step of the way, that He would strengthen her with His love and faithfulness, and that she would thrive as she looks to Him in all things. And while you are praying for her, remember the other missionary kids that you know. I have two others (Amy and Josiah) and you probably know other MK’s as well. I can tell you from experience that the issue of their children is probably what worries missionaries on the field more than anything else in their lives. Pray with us, won’t you?
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [June 2013]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I would like to give you a short update on the churches and groups here in Kitale. The church in Shangalamwe is progressing OK, although I wish there were more members. Nathan and I have decided it is time that we start “pulling away” just a little and give the church the chance to minister on its own without our intervention. Maybe our presence there has prevented it from growing and maybe with us being absent a bit, the members will begin doing more of their responsibilities and reaching out more to the community and villages nearby. More and more we will have to place this church and its members into the hands of the Holy Spirit and pray that they follow His leading in place of ours.
In the past two months, four of the groups that Titus began have been organized into Baptist churches. Here are some of the data for these new churches:
- Kipsongo Baptist Church – Organized with 13 members, 2 believers baptized
- Kibomet Baptist Church – Organized with 80 members, 19 believers baptized
- Shanti Baptist Church – Organized with 17 members, 3 believers baptized
- Rafiki Baptist Church – Organized with 10 members, 2 believers baptized
By the way, Kipsongo, Kibomet, Shanti and Rafiki are named after the towns where the churches are located. One of the other groups has a desire to be organized into a church as well but we have decided that this group is not ready yet. This group meets in a village called Folklands. It has a problem with leadership. We are still evaluating the leadership and have deemed it not ready. This group also needs some more teaching about some Biblical issues before we feel like it will be ready. So, we have decided to wait on this group instead of organizing it into a New Testament Baptist church. Maybe the Lord will lead this group into becoming a church sometime in the future.
Two other new groups are also hopefully going to be started soon. One group is in the village of Shimo la Tewa. A couple members of the Kibomet church have been walking each week from Shimo. Now they want to start a new group in their own village. In their own words they said, “We want to change Shimo and win it back to Christ.” Those are exciting words and we pray that the Lord would empower them to do just that. The other new group would be in a town called Kimilili. It is about 45 minutes from where we live in Kitale. It also would come out of the Kibomet church as two members of that church moved to Kimilili and want to start a new group there. So, things are going well although we are not without our challenges and problems.
In closing, let me ask for prayer for safety for our family here in Kitale. We have had a rash of break-ins, armed hold-ups and even murders here in our small town. A police officer was murdered responding to a break in just a quarter of a mile from our house. He was shot six times by the group of thugs. I also heard just today of an armed robber of a bank in town yesterday in the middle of the day. The thugs are getting bolder and we do sense a bit of danger living here right now. Please continue to pray for our safety here in Kitale.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: Roger & Julie Tate in Kenya [May 2013]
April 26, 2013
When Dave asked us ladies to write the newsletter this month in honor of Mother’s Day, I struggled with what to say…because there is too much to say. So, let me share just a couple of joys and struggles that I face here in Kenya as a missionary woman/wife/mother.
One of my absolute favorite things about living on the mission field here in Kenya is being among a multitude of people groups and nationalities. In the States, I knew a few isolated people who were not native to our country; but, in Kenya, my family has had to learn to co-exist peacefully and respectfully with people of many diverse ethnic groups: South Korean, Pakistani, Norwegian, Icelandic, German, Swiss, Swedish, Jewish, French, English, Danish, Indian, Tanzanian, not to mention the different tribes of Kenya with their unique cultures. There is so much beauty in living among these different cultures, because it’s just a little taste of Heaven. Don’t get me wrong; I love America. I love our American heritage, and I want my children to treasure it as much as I do. But, America is not all there is in this world; we are really only a small portion of it. I am so thankful God has given Roger and I – and our children – the opportunity to learn to love the diversity of people and cultures God has put on the earth. I am also thankful for the occasion it brings to grow, stretch, be humbled, and learn to extend mercy and grace in the midst of many challenging differences. It’s amazing how people can be so alike and yet so different at the same time! One of my favorite memories was when all our friends here in Kitale gathered around to wish Emily well as she left to go to boarding school for 9th grade. In our cozy living room were people from 5 different countries – including our Muslim friends from Pakistan and our Jewish missionary friends from Israel…peacefully together in the same room.
There are also many challenges. It is difficult living in a culture where finding trust-worthy people is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. It is difficult sticking out like a sore thumb, being stared at, and being seen as a potential resource rather than as a real friend or even as a fellow human being. It’s difficult watching my children try to develop friendships only to have the Kenyan children bribe them and use them. It makes us all deeply thankful for the few real friendships they have. But the most difficult challenge for me right now is getting ready to send Emily off to college. Here in just a few months, we will leave for furlough as a family of five knowing that when we return, there will be only four of us. In the middle of July, Emily will graduate from high school and then will have only a few weeks at home with us. Those weeks will be filled with a lot of “lasts.” She may never be here again. She won’t come home for Christmas, Spring break, or summer break. She can’t come for weekend visits – she’ll be 8,000 miles away, and a round-trip ticket is over $1,000.00. Grandparents and other family and friends will be doing all the things for her that we, her parents, should be doing. We’ve already had some lasts: this past Christmas was likely the last Christmas she’ll have with us at home – the last time decorating the tree together, the last time taking silly family pictures in front of our own tree, never getting to hike on Mt. Elgon again, never staying at Hampton House in Nairobi together again, never again seeing people who have come to be like family to her, not having family game and movie night together…and it goes on. There is high likelihood of not getting to know her future husband well, not being able to spend time with grandchildren and getting to know them. So many things I don’t feel quite ready to sacrifice. Actually, I don’t feel ready at all. And she is only the first; this will be the path for all of my children. In fact, it will start almost as soon as we return to Kenya because Amy will then – Lord willing – begin attending Rift Valley Academy (another challenge in Kenya is schooling; Kenyan teachers cane children, beating them even over the head and shoulders with rods) which means she will be away from home 9 months out of every year. It is suddenly very clear to me the degree of sacrifice being a missionary will entail in this area, and my mother’s heart hurts.
But God…He is good. He is faithful, and He is true. He is my all –in-all and the treasure of my heart. He is my comfort and my stay. When all the props are stripped away – the malls, the entertainment, the distractions of Western living…I see all the more…He is my strong tower, and He is the Lover of my soul. He is the Lover of my children’s souls. Ultimately, it is He, and not I, who ensures their lives and their paths. This is an area you can really pray for us right now; all of us, Emily, Amy, and Josiah included. We’re all hurting a bit right now.
~Julie Tate
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [April 2013]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Life is hard. There are tears. There is pain.
I wasn’t planning on writing like this, this month. It seemed depressing (although I don’t intend it to be depressing). However, the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like God was confirming in my mind to write these things this month. Life is hard.
There is pain.
As I write this I am experiencing pain myself. Yesterday a car pulled out in front of me while I was riding home on my motorcycle. I hit the car and ended up rolling on the pavement. Now my neck hurts, my shoulder hurts, my back hurts, my knee hurts and my shin hurts. I have no major damage, just some aches and pains. The Kenyan people live with pain too. Malaria, typhoid, other debilitating diseases. Some even live with the pain of hunger or thirst. Others live with pain because they have no means with which to see a doctor.
There is grief and loss.
Who among us hasn’t lost a dear friend or loved one to our great enemy – Death? How long does that grief last? Often, a long time. Death is so prevalent in Kenya. The infant mortality rate is so much higher here. Young children die because of infectious diseases or lack of medical care. Parents leave children orphans because they both perish from AIDS. This month, a lady that lives next door to us nearly died because her husband wouldn’t spend the 2000 shillings (about $23) to take her to see the doctor. I gave him the money and she still lives today, but I seriously think he would have let her die. Funerals here bring me back to a stark reality too. It’s not sanitized like in the States. While you stand there the coffin is dropped into the ground and men refill the hole with dirt until it is all once again recovered and the mound stomped on to pack the dirt down.
There is betrayal.
I wish it wasn’t the case but there is much betrayal in Kenya. You can work with a person for years and then when he realizes he is not going to get from you what he wants, he turns on you and says all kinds of slander and lies about you. Yes, we are currently experiencing this as well. The closer the betrayer is to you, the more it hurts.
There is famine, drought, substance abuse, homeless children, murderous rioters, political scandals, and much more.
What can we say to all these things? Yes, life is hard everywhere, not just here, but also where you live. Does it not make us long for when Jesus returns? Does it not make us long for his presence? Revelation 21:3-4 says, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Today I am mindful that Jesus is returning and that day may be soon. I am looking forward to the day when “Death is swallowed up in victory.” I will pray for the coming of that day. Until then I will work for the salvation of American and Kenyan people.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [March 2013]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I’m doing something just a bit different this month. I’ve included a chart/picture that will hopefully give you a good idea of the happenings in Kitale and might clarify some of the thoughts in my head. More on that in a minute.
During my first term in Kenya, God began to show me that the traditional missionary approach (an approach I myself was following) was an approach that needed tweaking here in Kenya. If we were ever to get past the dependence and paternalism inherent in Kenyan Christianity and Kenyan churches we had to change our model. I didn’t want to go away from Biblical models. I, in fact, wanted to get closer to Biblical models. When we returned to Kenya after our first furlough we began to implement this new model. We started groups in people’s homes. We taught them simply from the Word of God. We trained local, lay leadership. We taught them self-governance and independence.
We taught them how to reproduce themselves without Western aid. Most of these groups slowly dwindled and faded until they had to fold. Only one of these groups became a struggling, small new church. Was it because the model was flawed that the groups dwindled and failed? No, I believe in this Biblical model now more than ever. I think what precipitated this group failure was the weekly presence of the white missionaries (Roger and Nathan) in the groups. The people would come to the meetings believing they would receive free handouts from us and when they realized they would not see their expectations fulfilled, they left and the groups faltered.
Now look at the chart/picture I have provided. I want to describe what is happening in this chart.
In one of the groups that we started was a young man by the name of Titus. Titus became very excited about the Biblical principles we were teaching and adhered firmly to and accepted our Biblical model for church planting. However, instead of us going with Titus and working directly with him in the village to start a new group, we taught and modeled for Titus the Biblical models, principles and teaching on church planting. Then we sent him out to do the work himself.
You can see from the chart the results of Titus’ work. First, he started a group in a village called Kipsongo. That group quickly grew to have about 30 members. From that one group, five other groups were started in five nearby villages: Kibomet, Shanti, Folkland, Matisi and Rafiki. One of those groups even began a new group in another nearby village called Bikeke. As you can see from the legend on the chart, all of these groups are progressing very well. The Kibomet group now has over 60 people attending the worship and Bible study every week. The most exciting part is what is becoming of these groups. We spent many weeks teaching Titus about what a church is (as opposed to just a Bible study group) and on how to organize and start a new church. Titus took these teachings and started teaching the Kipsongo and Kibomet groups on how to organize into a New Testament church. They are very close to being ready now to organize into New Testament churches. In a separate weekly session he has been teaching the leaders of the other groups the same Biblical teachings and principles.
All of this has been done without the presence of the white missionaries in the groups, a presence we have found can be damaging and preventative. We have been in much prayer about these happenings and believe God might be leading us to focus our church planting approach down a slightly different path (same Biblical model and principles just with a different path). Please be in prayer with us about these things.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [February 2013]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Hello, Beloved, and greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ our Savior. A friend of
mine often ends her Facebook posts with the acronym GIGATT. It means “God is good, all the time.” For years at my home church in Bellbrook, Ohio, my pastor would say from the pulpit, “God is good” and the congregation would spontaneously respond, “All the time.” And one of our beloved deacons would even add “Rain or shine.” You know, this statement is true even though sometimes you and I don’t always realize it or recognize it. God is good to His people in America. And he is good to His missionaries in Kenya. This paragraph is an aside and a freebie. No extra charge.
Now, unfortunately, because of extenuating circumstances, I don’t really have anything very interesting to report this month (Hopefully that last statement didn’t cause you to stop reading this update right here). Why is that, do you ask? Well, it’s because I have spent most of the last month in Nairobi, 350 kilometers away from home and ministry [Editor’s Note: about 218 miles]. In fact, even as I write this I am again at a guest house in Nairobi. The first reason I’ve spent so much time in Nairobi is, strangely enough, because of my dog. Back in December I ran over his leg and broke it clean through up near his hip. Since there were no vets in Kitale or even in Eldoret who could take care of such a major break, I had to take him to Nairobi to be fixed up. Since that initial trip to the vet I think I have come to Nairobi five more times just for the dog. Each trip takes at least 2-3 days.
The other thing that happened was that Julie was ill. We came to Nairobi for a few days so that she could see a good doctor and get some real tests done. We ended up staying for 14 days. While here in Nairobi we went from one doctor to the next, from one hospital to the next and from one test to the next. I think we were about to give up hope of finding the problem until one doctor actually discovered something. Julie was finally able to get some care. She had an outpatient surgical procedure at the Aga Khan hospital here in Nairobi and a few days later we were finally cleared to go back home. She is feeling some better now and hopefully will continue to feel better for a long time.
Now, let me look forward a few weeks. By the time you get my next newsletter update Kenya will have held it’s presidential and local elections. After the last elections Kenya was a blood bath and thousands of people were killed in rioting and tribal conflicts. We pray that the situation will be different this time, however, no one really knows what will happen. To prepare for these elections we have been stocking up on some necessary items: I bought 60 extra liters of diesel for the car, bought two extra bottles of cooking propane for the stove, stocked up on rice, beans, pasta, flour, etc, got some extra malaria medicine and have basically prepared for what the US embassy calls a “zombie apocalypse”. We will stay in Kitale through the elections and try and ride out any storm and violence that may arise. Please be in prayer for God’s protection in our lives, in the lives of other missionaries here in Kenya and for the Kenyan people and their country.
So, if you didn’t stop reading after my earlier statement above, I congratulate you by
saying that I do have some interesting thoughts and perspectives on my current and
future ministry direction here in Kenya that I would like to share. I haven’t formulated
them all or worked them all out in my head yet, however. My aim is to start sharing
them with you next month.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [January 2013]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Hello, Beloved, and greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior. I want to start this update by saying thank you for thoughts and prayers. I am saying this because we seem to especially need them right now because we feel like we are under attack. This attack isn’t from flesh and blood but from principalities and powers, from the rulers of the darkness of this age. These attacks are designed to discourage and depress us and cause us to doubt our reasons for being here in Kenya. I think we are facing spiritual, physical, financial and emotional attacks.
1) Spiritual. This is coming from the various ministries that we are working on. What we had hoped would not happen seems to be happening. Those who we had reached with the gospel and with the Word of God and thought were genuine might be turning out to be otherwise. In the Kanisa la Baptisti ya Shangalamwe (Baptist Church of Shangalamwe) the numbers have dwindled as members of the church begin to realize they will not be receiving gifts and money from the missionaries. They were faithful for a long time but many seem to have been faithful because they still held out hope for gifts. Now they know they will not get them and so have dropped off and we no longer see them. Others are still around but even they seem to hang around simply because they want things. For the first 6-8 months we had virtually no requests for things. Now, every other week we get requests and this month it has turned to down right begging and manipulating. We were told that God sent us to them so that we could take care of them. I can’t begin to tell you how discouraging this is to see those who we thought wanted Bread for their souls trading this in for bread for their stomachs (and it’s not as if they are in need of food either).
2) Physical. We can’t seem to get Julie healthy for any sustained period of time. She’ll feel good one day and rotten the next. She’s having a hard time eating. If she doesn’t have malaria, she has typhoid. If she doesn’t have typhoid, she has schiztosemiasis. We really don’t know what is ailing her. There are no good doctors here in Kitale. There are no good doctors in Eldoret (nearest bigger town about 1½ hours from Kitale). I’m not even sure there are good doctors in Nairobi. We’ve already been done there once for Julie to see the doctors and we will be going again next week.
3) Financial. It seems like one thing after another. First, I have to buy a new car. Then I have to pay Emily’s school fees. Then I run over the dog, breaking his leg and requiring him to have surgery in Nairobi. And that seems like just the start of it. Recently I feel like I’ve been wearing a path between Kitale and Eldoret and between Kitale and Nairobi for one reason or another. These trips have become very expensive (Especially Nairobi. It seems everything in Nairobi has doubled in price in the last couple of years). I’m not mentioning any of this to solicit financial support. I’m just keeping you all updated as to our condition and why I feel we are under attack.
4) Emotional. We just finished with the holiday season. We enjoyed being together and celebrating Christmas as a family but December is still one of the hardest months to be in Africa. It’s emotionally hard to be away from the States during the holidays. We miss the gatherings, the festivities, the holiday cheer.
I hope I don’t sound as if I’m whining. I’m not. I just want you all to be prayer partners with us and to know how much we need your thoughts and prayers right now. May God bless you all.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
Click here to donate to BFM.
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [December 2012]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This month I want to do something a little different and instead of talking directly
about the ministry I want to address something that will effect the lives of every Kenyan –The upcoming Kenyan presidential elections (and so, in a very real way, I WILL be addressing ministry because this event will not only effect the lives of every Kenyan, but our lives also and the ministry that we do here). I know that we just finished a presidential election in the States. And whether you like the results or not, I’ll bet none of you reading this worried, even for one moment, about losing your life because of the election process. Well, that isn’t the case here in Kenya. The last presidential election in Kenya in 2007 resulted in mass rioting, ethnic cleansing, tribal warfare, murders, looting, and crop burning. People were targeted, profiled and killed simply for being in the wrong tribe. Others ran to churches for refuge only to lose their lives when those churches were intentionally set on fire and burned to the ground. Thousands of people lost their lives, many of whom lived in Eldoret, a city not 50 miles from where we live in Kitale. This went on for months before things finally got settled down and the rioting and killings stopped.
Why am I mentioning this? Because we have another presidential election coming up
in March, 2013 and there is already tension in the air. Nobody is certain how things will
go and so we are beseeching your prayers.
Most of you probably don’t know this but I am the warden for the United States embassy here in the Kitale region. That means that I work with the embassy to distribute information and help the American expatriates in the Kitale region try and stay safe in Kenya. So, to help me in this position I attended a meeting at the US embassy to hear what they were saying concerning the upcoming elections. They related a number of problematic scenarios that could occur over the next couple of months that I would like to relate to you so you can be praying for us, for our ministry, and for the people of Kenya.
First, a change in the registration process here in Kenya is cause for concern. The new constitution made it available for Kenyans to register and vote within whatever district they wanted. That means that if a presidential candidate thinks he has a certain district locked up, he can send followers from that district to another district that he doesn’t have locked up. The bottom line is that people from other districts, who have no links or connections to Kitale whatsoever, could be bused to Kitale to register and vote. Having people in Kitale with no links or care of this place could bring unwanted abuses.
Second, the high court of Kenya is supposed to vote soon on whether two presidential candidates can even run for president. The problem with these two guys is that they were indicted by the ICC at the Hague for stirring up the people to riot and murder after the last presidential election. These guys are guilty of mass murder and yet are trying to run for president. Depending on the high courts decision, this could cause further rioting and problems.
Last, the elections take place in the first week of March. But since there are many candidates running and since they need 50% of the popular vote to win the election, there is a potential for a run-off or even several run-offs before one candidate gets elected. This means the election process could drag on for months with lots of uncertainty and tension. The embassy’s advice has been “prepare for the worst and hope for the best.” Hopefully the Kenyan people have learned from the last time that they don’t want a repeat performance of the rioting and murders of 2007. But when I ask Kenyans what they think will happen this time around, only about half of them feel comfortable and think things will go smoothly. I tell you all this because, again, I desire your prayers for our family and this country. May God receive glory in Kenya even throughout this entire process.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
Click here to donate to BFM.
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