October 16, 2024

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

I would like to take an opportunity this month to focus on some opportunities that God has opened up for Julie recently. As you already know, our daughter Chloe is on the Autism spectrum, which presents many challenges in raising and rearing her and learning how to best deal with how her autism manifests itself – lack of executive functioning, emotional dysregulation, stimulation overload, meltdowns, and occasional violent outbursts. This has caused us to have to learn a lot about autism and neurodiversity, but, especially Julie has done a tremendous amount of research on the topic in the past few years. Julie herself is neurodiverse and it has taken many years for us to learn some aspects of how her mind works and interacts with the world as well. [“Neurodiversity is the idea that the human brain naturally varies in how it functions, and that these differences are normal and should be embraced. The term ‘neurodivergent’ describes someone whose brain processes, learns, or behaves differently from what is considered ‘typical.’” Most of us would thus be labeled neurotypical because our brains work and process in ways that we would consider “normal,” although that is probably a bad term to use because there probably is really no “normal.”].

Because of her growing knowledge and experience in autism and neurodiversity, Julie has had opportunities to speak and do presentations about the topic, specifically at RVA but also one-on-one with parents of autistic children at the Kijabe Hospital. There are many children in Kenya who are neurodiverse (as is true around the world) who need special ministry and care but who often fall through the cracks in families, schools, and churches because they don’t think, act, and behave “normally,” or neurotypically. These children need the love of Jesus and the love of His people and the ministry of His churches to make it in this world, which to them is strange and does not act or behave “normal.” So, Julie was tasked with speaking on the topic and helping people at RVA and Kijabe become more aware of the needs of these children and how they can better be ministered to and helped by people who love them and want to see them grow in the love of Christ. The first time she presented, it was very well received and people began seeing the need of knowing more about the need to minister to neurodiverse children. She was asked to speak again and expand upon her previous presentation. After the second presentation some people began pushing for her presentation to be mandatory for all RVA staff. She was then asked to do research on some past and present students and to present findings on how RVA can begin to better minister to these children.

In the meantime, as I have mentioned, she has met with parents of autistic children to offer some guidance and advice to struggling parents who don’t know what to do and don’t know where to go for help. As a parent of an autistic child myself, I can tell you that there are many times in life where I feel helpless, feel like pulling my hair out, feel like quitting and giving up, and feel completely alone in my parenting struggles. I feel isolated from God’s people and His churches and oftentimes face despair. Parents of autistic and neurodiverse children need the love of Jesus and the ministry of His churches as much as their children do. I think the work and ministry that Julie has been involved in is assisting children and families and will ultimately impact the Kingdom of Christ and bring glory and honor to the name of Jesus. Please pray that God would continue to use Julie in this way, for His Kingdom and for His glory.

Pray also that God would keep us safe in Kenya and safe on the roads. We have had a problem with very long delays in receiving work permits. This week I will have to file a second “temporary” extension for Julie’s work permit while we wait for her real work permit to be processed and approved. Without this we cannot stay in the country, so, this is actually a pretty big deal. Also, without going into much detail, Julie and I almost “bought the farm” driving to Nairobi yesterday. Driving in Kenya is always dangerous and the A104 highway (which we need to use in order to get anywhere) is considered one of the most dangerous roads in the world. We were on A104 when an incident occurred because of the reckless driving of another driver. Again, without going into detail, I thought we were dead and to this hour don’t really know how we are not dead. It took me a full ten seconds after the incident before I could breathe again and probably five minutes before my heart rate came back down to normal. I replay the incident in my mind and can only conclude that God protected us. Please pray that God keep us safe and ministering for His name in Kenya.

Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie & Chloe

CONTACT INFO

Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com

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.