Pointing Kenyans to Jesus
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
December 21, 2017
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I don’t know when you all will receive this newsletter but as I am writing it we are only four days away from Christmas. This may sound absurd, but I miss the snow like crazy. I love the snow – the beauty of it, the cold of it, the way it changes almost everything about your daily lives when you get a lot of it. I want to put on a heavy coat and gloves, trudge through the snow to my car, feel the bite of the cold on my face, scrape the ice off my window, hope my car starts, drive through the snow to a coffee house, see big flakes of snow falling from the sky, watch people tread carefully over a slippery parking lot and drink a hot cup of coffee while the snow piles up outside. This missionary truly misses the change of seasons. Changes of seasons mark the passage of time. Without them one day seems to run into another for me around here.
As you are, we are awaiting Christmas here in Kitale. It doesn’t look or feel much different than the rest of the year, except in one area – going to town gets crazy. It is chaos. I took Amy to town yesterday to help her buy a 5×7 picture frame. There were cars and people everywhere, glue boys and street people accosted us at every turn, I was grabbed and held by at least two different people who “wanted to greet me”, loud speakers blared music and advertisements from every corner and Amy received one marriage proposal. However, we could not find a single 5×7 frame anywhere in town.
Amy and Josiah are home from school for the holidays. As a result, I haven’t had time to do as much ministry tasks this month. We only have them home a total of three months out of the year. After this Christmas Amy only has one more Christmas in Kenya with us. After that she will be gone to the States and who knows when we will spend Christmas with her again. Josiah only has two Christmases left and then he too will follow Emily and Amy to the States. This is a very difficult aspect of missionary life for Julie and me. We see on Facebook the families gathering together for Christmas. We had to abandon that practice when we moved to Kenya ten years ago, but it becomes even more painful when we think that in just a couple of years none of our older children will be able to join us for Christmas. So, I’ve been trying to spend as much time with them as possible while they are home. I’ve played games with Josiah and drank coffee with Amy. Today we will decorate Christmas cookies and wrap presents. The time is short.
Time is short for the lost of this world too. Jesus came into this world two thousand years ago. We celebrate that birth during this season. He came to redeem. He came to save. He came to reconcile sinners to God. He came to offer Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. That is why we are here in Kenya. Not that we can do any of those things that Jesus came here to do. But we can point people to Jesus. We can say “Look at Him”. And that is what we are trying to do, to point more Kenyans to Jesus. May all of Kenya see the glory of Jesus this Christmas season.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
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Preparing to Move; Daughters Excited for New School!
Nathan and Carrie Radford serve the Lord in Kitale, Kenya. Their main ministries include indigenous church planting, a prison ministry, and a hospital ministry for mothers with premature babies.
November 30, 2017
Dear praying friends,
We hope this finds each of you doing well as we round out the year of 2017. Hard to believe we are on the verge of another new year, and another year where we can faithfully serve the Lord and use the opportunities that He gives us. What a privilege it is to serve Him. We hope each of you have a great upcoming Christmas holiday, and a happy upcoming 2018. This update will share current updates as well as prayer requests.
One major prayer request we have since we have returned is for safety while driving in Kitale. Since we have returned to Kitale, it seems the traffic here has become even more congested than when we left. The roads are narrow, and there is a large amount of traffic each day that passes through. Imagine bicycles to the side of the roads, cars who are impatient and want to overtake where there is no room, and motorcycles all over the place, also impatient and trying to overtake. We always take careful precautions when traveling here, and we would appreciate your prayers even more, for the Lord to watch over us as we go back and forth to town. Please pray for everyone else as well who uses the roads, for their safety. God has been so faithful to protect us and we continue to trust Him each day as we drive here.
Another big announcement that we have is that after prayer, and searching for the Lord’s will, we have decided to move to a safer area within the Kitale area. As many of you know, there was a large amount of unrest at our compound last term. The back fence was broken several times, our hedge was cut several times, a light was shone late at night in the compound, our electricity fuse was stolen so we would be in the dark, the gate was shaken off the hinges, etc. Our neighbors have also had security issues, and there were even other incidents near our place when we were on furlough, so we really feel it is time to get to a safer area in Kitale. Please pray for us as we pack up, try to keep track of things, and for the transition as we move. It is a huge job, but we feel it is really wise and prudent at this time to move, given all the unrest in our area. Please pray for my wife as she is very overwhelmed with trying to keep track of where things are, etc. We feel very at peace with this decision and we are trusting God. Psalm 32:8 says “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye.” It will be a very busy upcoming few weeks, and we would covet your prayers for us as we pack and go. God is in control and we trust Him for our safety.
Our daughters have been out of school for a few weeks and are anxious to get back into the swing of things in early January, Lord willing. This has been a good time for them to rest, spend time with us, and our daughter McKenna has been honing in on her drawing skills. She has been taking some art lessons (as well as Camille, our other daughter) and has been really improving and drawing beautifully. We are so thankful for the new school and the activities that it has given our daughters. This has been much needed in Kitale and a huge answer to prayer.
We wish you all a great Christmas holiday and time with your families. Please pray for all the missionaries on the field, as the holiday season is a difficult time for them. We appreciate each of you so much and thank the Lord for your prayers, sacrificial giving, and letters of encouragement. You are a huge blessing.
Serving in Kenya,
Nathan and Carrie Radford
P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya, East Africa
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
Read more
