Rain and Showers of Blessing
April 8, 2023
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
First, I want to give you a quick update on the drought situation here in Kenya since I have been speaking about it in the last couple of newsletters. I want to say, “Praise the Lord!” This past month we have been getting rainfall in good quantities and the Lord has blessed us with rain. I really wasn’t crying “wolf” in previous newsletters. Kenya does have yearly dry seasons, but this season was extraordinarily dry for a much longer period. We thank the Lord that we have received rain here in Kijabe but the crop and economic situation for many Kenyans is still dire. We need the rains to continue, and I still don’t know what the drought will mean for the crops this year. We are still very much dependent upon the Lord’s blessings.
Second, it seems like there is always some kind of catastrophe to be praying about here in Kenya. Now we are facing weekly tumultuous riots, mainly in Nairobi. We went through a stressful presidential election last year and now the candidate that lost (who has been running and losing for the last forty years) has called his people to riot in the capital until some of his demands are met. So, his people have obeyed and are rioting in and around Nairobi, burning things, hurting people, causing trouble, and preventing business. Oh, what can I say? I understand so little of Kenyan politics, but I can’t see how this is helping the Kenyan people. Please don’t lose patience with me but it seems I’m always asking you all to pray for peace in Kenya, and I’m doing it again now.
School is currently on break and the students are home resting, doing ministry, and spending time with family. With school being out I have had a couple of opportunities to speak at a couple of churches. The first church was by far the biggest church I have spoken at in Kenya. It probably had six to seven hundred people in it. That’s probably close to the largest congregation I have preached to in my life. The second church was a church that one of my students is a member of. He and his pastor invited me to come and preach. It was a considerably far drive and I got to see a large portion of Kenya that I had never seen before. My student told me that there were two services with about 300 people in each service, so I was expecting a fairly large town. After I arrived and checked into my guest house I went to “town” to see what it was like. Can I just say, there was nothing there. The whole town consisted of about ¼ mile of wooden shacks on either side of the road. It certainly wasn’t what I expected. But the student was correct, and I preached to two services of about three to four hundred people each. Simple, gospel messages that focus on Jesus and salvation to a total of about 1200-1400 people. What a privilege. Now, in the meantime, I am busy preparing classes for my students returning next term. I am looking forward to teaching them 1) General Epistles of the New Testament and 2) Church Planting.
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.
Read more
Fires in Kenya
March 9, 2023
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
Last month I mentioned the drought that is currently plaguing Kenya. We have now entered the time of the short rains, but it has not rained. Yes, it rained a couple of times but then stopped again. We have not received the rain we should be getting in the short rainy season and the situation is no better. The students are back on campus, but we are now having to truck in water from outside sources and fill our water tanks in that way. It is still extremely dry throughout the country and that leads to the adventure I don’t want to experience again, and I’ll recount in the next paragraph.
We live in the middle of the Kijabe forest, half-way down the escarpment into the Great Rift Valley. When I look up the escarpment, I only see forest. When I look down the escarpment, I only see forest. With no rain, the trees, leaves, and ground all dry up. The forest becomes a tinderbox. We have no-burn policies right now because of the threat of fire. But most Kenyans cook their daily meals over open fires just outside their front doors and burn their trash to dispose of it. Here in Kijabe, the wind also races up and down the escarpment at a furious pace sometimes. The scenario provides for many unwatched fires which can then lead to, you guessed it, forest fires. About two weeks ago I was at the school, looking out my office window when I saw smoke rolling off the next hill over. I went over to the classroom block for a better look and saw half the hillside covered in smoke. I knew it was not a good sign, but I went home and didn’t hear any more about it. Later that night, Julie looked out our kitchen window and said, “Is that a fire?” I looked out and up the hill, and sure enough, it was a large fire. It looked like it was about 150 yards up the hill. I immediately began thinking about what important things we needed to grab before jumping in the car and getting the blazes out of here. We began making some quick phone calls and found out that what, in the night looked like a couple hundred yards, was in reality on a ridge about a mile away. A bit more comforting, but not too comforting. I walked back up to the classroom block for a better look and saw that the entire ridge on the hill next to ours was engulfed in flames, with the nighttime wind whipping around like crazy. I watched it for a few minutes, not knowing in what direction it was going to go – down the hill, away from us, or towards us? We spent a couple of restless hours waiting to hear what direction the fire was going before we heard that it was currently heading in the opposite direction. We eventually went to bed and went to a somewhat restless sleep, knowing that people in the area were staying awake to keep an eye on things. As a person who has always had a small fear of fire, I really didn’t like that experience and don’t want to go through it again. PRAY FOR RAIN IN KENYA.
On a happier note, I always like to know I’m doing something or involved with something that is making a difference and doing some good. Sometimes in ministry it can be hard to rate if you are making the kind of difference you desire. Julie reminds me that long-term change is generational. It can take a long time to make real changes. I oftentimes wish it was more like constructing a building where you can watch the progress and see the growth. But sometimes you get little hints that what you are doing is making a difference, and sometimes it comes in unexpected ways. In this case, I needed to go up the hill to “the city” and go to the bank, but Julie had the car. So, I asked one of my students who owns a car for taxiing purposes to drive me to the bank and back. We got to talking while he was driving (as he was driving very fast, I might add). He comes from and grew up in a church that teaches a wealth and health gospel, where the pastor needs to be the example of receiving God’s blessings by being rich and prosperous, and where church leadership/pastorate is a lucrative job opportunity funded by unsuspecting church members. My student Samuel (pronounced Samwel in Kenya) confessed that is what he thought the ministry was all about. Now, however, he says that he has learned that ministry is not about that, that ministry is about teaching the Word of God, sharing the gospel of Jesus, loving people and helping them know about salvation and following Jesus, and equipping the church for discipleship and reaching the nations. Now he wants to return to his own village and take the true gospel of Jesus back to a people who go to church every week but never hear about the true gospel. Making a difference one life at a time, folks. PRAY THAT SAMUEL’S NEWLY FOUND CONVICTIONS WILL STICK AND PERSERVERE UNTIL HE REACHES HIS VILLAGE WITH THE LOVE OF JESUS.
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.
Read more
Praying for Rain in Kenya
February 10, 2023
Greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ,
I pray this newsletter finds you well. I’m sure that life in the United States is not without its challenges. We find ourselves with some challenges here in Kenya as well.
First, Kenya is currently suffering through a more than usually severe drought. Kenya usually has its annual rainy season and dry season. And during the dry season it is always, well, dry. It gets dusty, things turn brown, crops suffer, etc. But this year is the worst of my fifteen years in Kenya as there was basically no rainy season this year. People started talking about it months ago but now we are really starting to see the effects of it. People all over the country are really suffering from a lack of water. Here in Kijabe where we live there has been no rain and so we have no water. We are now rationing water – no laundry, no showers for a while (we are at least able to take “missionary” showers now), and no flushing toilets (until it is necessary). We don’t know how long this situation will last but it has gotten to the point where we have had to send all of our students home. They were already supposed to go home for mid-term break but we had to cancel classes early and send them home. They are scheduled to return late next week but this will only occur if the school is able to somehow get some water. Nobody around here really knows when that will be. This is not really the rainy season, but we could really use some rain. Please pray for rain.
Second, the drought is really beginning to effect Kenyans financially. I am seeing it mostly in students’ inability to pay school fees. Fees are usually paid when families sell crops or livestock and then they use the proceeds to pay bills. But right now, crops and livestock are not faring well and families are struggling to eat, let alone have extra for school fees. Last month I did mention a student, Milkah, who had been left in a bad spot and couldn’t pay her fees. I want to thank you all for praying for her as she was able to raise her fees, pay her bill, and return to class (except that class has been canceled and students sent home because of the drought).
In more happy news, we had our first visitors here to Kenya in a very long time. It was a joy to have Doug and Sharon Brook visit us for a few days. They are our dear friends from our home church in Ohio. I realized when I was introducing them to folks around here that Doug and Sharon are my “oldest” friends. I don’t mean oldest in age, but oldest meaning “longest standing friends”. Of all the friends in my life, Doug and Sharon have been around and stood in there the longest. I have been friends with Doug for 43 years and Sharon for 40. You probably can’t imagine how much we miss “home” sometimes. Having friends here brought a little bit of “United States Home” to our “Kenya Home”.
We are praying for you all, that you would know and love Jesus, that you would follow and serve Him, and that the Kingdom of Christ would grow in your neck of the woods, wherever you call home.
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.
Read more
