Life in Kitale
April 29, 2022
Greetings from Kenya!
I pray this update finds everyone doing well. This is Carrie writing this month for the annual missionary wives’ prayer letter. I hope the weather is getting warmer for all of you. I’m sure you’re ready for nicer weather after the winter months. Here in Kenya, we are finishing dry season and entering rainy season. The dry season was long this year and especially hot (up to 90 degrees and no air conditioning anywhere). Everything became very dry and dusty and lack of water was a concern. But thankfully, the rains have started and things are beginning to turn green again and the temperatures are cooling down a bit.
Currently there is a fuel shortage in the country. The suppliers are trying to increase the price, but the government is refusing to pay it, so there is a stalemate. The government is working to get the suppliers to lower the cost, but it’s taking a while to do it. There have been reports of people waiting in lines at the gas stations for up to 8 hours to get just a bit of gas for their vehicles. This is really affecting the livelihoods of people such as taxi drivers and piki=pikis (motorbike taxis). In addition, there are fewer supply trucks to bring goods, such as food, from Nairobi to Kitale. We’ve had extremely limited milk for the past couple weeks, and the price of goods is also increasing rapidly, which causes a huge burden on all families and businesses here. The people are struggling to buy the food they need for their families. Please pray that the fuel situation gets resolved quickly and that prices reduce for the people of this country.
Homeschooling continues to go well. The girls really enjoy their classes and are doing a great job working diligently. We’ve been doing some PE activities as a family, such as morning exercise, which has been really nice. Cami enjoys learning to cook and Kenna has taken some drawing classes online, which has been a huge blessing. We’ve gotten a new kitten who is an endless delight for the girls. He’s a snuggly little guy and such a blessing for us.
Please pray for the girls as they are needing friends. We had a family with some girls their ages here, but they’ve moved to another part of Kenya. This has been a big loss for our girls as they were close and played a lot together. There have been a lot of changes in our community with families leaving and we’re all struggling with it to some extent. Please pray for us as a family. Missions can be so difficult with all the goodbyes we say. There are very few “wazungus” (westerners) left in our town. Please pray for strength and for new families to come.
Thank you all for the encouragement you send and the prayers you say on our behalf. We appreciate them more than you know. Each of you is a blessing to us and we’re thankful for you. God bless you all as you head into the summer months.
In Christ,
Nathan and Carrie Radford
Contact Info:
Nathan and Carrie Radford
naterad[at]yahoo.com
P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya
East Africa 30200
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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Waiting on Passport Renewals
October 5, 2021
Dear praying friends,
Another month has come and gone, and we are now into the latter months of 2021. While there have been so many challenges this past year with the coronavirus pandemic, it still seems the year has gone quickly. This month holds two important dates for our family, with me (Nathan) turning one year older on the 21st, and my wife and I celebrating our 17th anniversary on the 16th. What a blessing my wife has been to me over the years, and may God give us many more years together to serve on the mission field.
Please continue to pray for Kenya at this challenging time of coronavirus. Things are continuing, but in a limited capacity. My understanding is that religious gatherings can still meet, but at 30% capacity of what they were meeting at. So, there are still obvious restrictions. I am sure you still have to wear masks in public, as well as sanitizing as you go around town. Please pray for all missionaries and servants in Kenya at the present time, that the Lord would watch over them and protect them. As we go out and come in, wherever we are, God is watching over us. Isn’t that wonderful? Psalm 121:8 says, “The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” Amen. May we trust God as we go out and come in, even with the challenges of this pandemic.
My wife is staying busy with homeschooling our daughters. She is doing well this year and our daughters are both doing well. They are absorbing the materials well and progressing in their studies. Our daughter McKenna is doing a new math program and is catching on quickly. Camille is also doing well, and of course I am thankful for my faithful wife for investing so much time and energy in teaching them and preparing them well in their studies.
We are nearing the end of our time of furlough and would ask that you would pray for us. I (Nathan) still plan to share, preach, and present the ministries in Kenya as God opens the doors. We are still waiting on our passports to be renewed, so this is a big prayer request at this time. Our paperwork has been submitted and we are waiting for the renewals. God is in control and we trust in His timing. We are waiting on the Lord and seeking His will.
I will close with Lamentations 3:25, which says “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.” In our times of waiting in our lives, may we seek Him with our whole hearts. He is good and faithful. May God bless each of you for your heart for missions. We will keep you updated.
Blessings,
Nathan and Carrie Radford
Contact Info:
Nathan and Carrie Radford
naterad[at]yahoo.com
Furlough Address
1126 Smith Street
Milton, WV 25541
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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Numbering Our Days
August 2, 2021
Dear praying friends,
Another month has come and gone, and we are now heading to the end of summer and school is almost starting up again. Where has the time gone? The summer months are definitely busy, and time passes so quickly. May we make the best use of the time that God gives each each day, as we will never get time back once it is gone. Time is truly a gift from God. Psalm 90:12 says “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Amen.
Please continue to pray for Kenya and the struggles of coronavirus. Our understanding is that public gatherings and meetings have been closed for the past several weeks, and this is likely to continue if the coronavirus cases continue to rise. Neighboring Uganda has also been hit with the coronavirus, and much of Africa. It seems just like when things start to get better, then cases start to break out again and many things are either locked down or shut down.
We know that God is in control of all these things and we trust Him during these challenging times. I like the statement “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future.” May we trust God during these difficult times, all over the world. This pandemic has really stretched our faith and taught us to trust God more. God frequently tests our faith to see if we will falter or trust Him during the uncertainties of life. May we trust Him more than ever before.
Please pray for me (Nathan) as I am continuing to travel and report during our time of furlough. I am thankful that our vehicle has done well throughout all the traveling and I would ask that you would pray it would do well throughout the duration of my time reporting in the States. So many of you have been so kind, friendly, inquired about the ministry, etc.
This means so much to us. We truly do appreciate each of you and God will bless you for your heart for missions. I am reminded of Isaiah 6:8, which says “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” We thank each of you for your mindfulness of missions, either by praying, sacrificially giving, or going personally to see what God is doing all around the world.
Please continue to pray for my wife as she is educating our daughters. She does a great job at homeschooling and has her degree in education. She is an excellent teacher but there are certainly more challenges in the coming years as high school is approaching. Please pray for her for wisdom, guidance, and direction as she does the best she can to educate our daughters. I am truly blessed to have a wife who has served faithfully in Kenya alongside me. She is truly a blessing and helpmeet.
We will be sure to keep you updated. Until next month, may God bless you all.
Nathan and Carrie Radford
Contact Info:
Nathan and Carrie Radford
naterad[at]yahoo.com
Furlough Address
1126 Smith Street
Milton, WV 25541
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
Homeschooling & Raising Chloe
April 9, 2021
Beloved Brothers and Sisters,
I can’t believe another year has come and gone…it reminds me of the phrase in the Bible, “…and it came to pass….” Just like many other euphemisms — “what goes up must come down,” and “what goes around comes around”— it is also true that all things which come will also pass. Sometimes we feel stuck in current circumstances, but that’s only our limited perspective. As the Alpha and Omega, God sees the beginning from the end. Not only do all things have a set time, they have set purposes as well.
Milimani Christian Homeschool Community’s time has passed. This was both a relief and something I grieved deeply. People here in Kenya who know me well know that I poured 150% of myself into MCHC. I loved (and still love) the children and the teachers deeply, and I found great joy in helping all of them academically and spiritually. I loved discipling the teachers, not only in teacher training and opening their hearts and minds to children with learning challenges and differences, but also in their walk with the Lord. I loved talking about and demonstrating the love of Jesus to children from different walks of life – children from Christian homes, nominal Christian homes, and even a Hindu home. I loved watching children who were bitter bullies blossom into caring friends. I loved watching our neuro-diverse children find joy and confidence in a learning environment that treasured them and helped them find their strengths without belittling their challenges. I loved watching children learn to accept one another’s differences while finding their commonalities, even among different ethnic backgrounds. I can’t begin to tell you what a joy it was. I don’t understand why it had to end the way it did; I can only say that it was a good and beautiful thing, and I trust God will continue to use that time in the lives of the people who were touched by it.
Having said that, it seems obvious that in the passing of MCHC, God had another great adventure planned…homeschooling and raising Chloe. Homeschooling and raising children are not new to me. Doing it for Chloe, however, is unlike anything we’ve ever done. Not only are we parenting and working with her academics, I find myself in the position of being her ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) therapist, her OT (Occupational Therapist), her emotional co-regulator (teaching her to regulate her own emotions by doing it physically with her), her advocate (and our own), and even a researcher to understand her and what she needs. This is more daunting than MCHC ever was, but everything I learned at MCHC, I am now applying at home. In fact, without my experience at MCHC, I would be quite ill-equipped. This is beautiful to me. You see, God is never doing only one thing at a time in any one circumstance. One of the things He was using MCHC for in my own life was training me to teach my own very special needs child. All this has pushed Roger and me beyond the limits of anything we feel capable of doing…or surviving. We’re learning more about ourselves and our own hearts than we want to know, but even that is beautiful to me (usually…).
We can often feel stuck in our challenges, but from time-to-time God reminds me to step back and see all the struggles that have come…and have now passed. There is so much hope and growth. Chloe’s academics have really taken-off in her homeschooling environment. A friend of mine from the US with a Master’s degree in Special Education is here and has done some evaluations with Chloe. She’s told me that Chloe is actually quite intellectually gifted. She loves to read, her math facts are like muscle memory (when she’s relaxed and can access them), she has an amazing memory both verbally and visually, and she loves music and cooking. In fact, she just loves learning and has a super cute sense of fun and humor to boot. I am so thankful to have her in an environment that won’t squash that.
She does have challenges though, and I would ask you to pray for us as we research and find help for her in these areas. Autism often comes with other issues…a lack of ability to regulate her emotions (thus the scars up and down my arms), difficulty with social communication despite an extensive vocabulary, and severe anxiety due to sensory processing disorder and nervous system overload creating flight or fight reactions (usually fight…). In Chloe’s case, her neuro-developmental psychologist has told us she also has attachment insecurities and food insecurities (from babyhood before she came to us), as well as dysgraphia, mild dyslexia, and dyspraxia. This a condition in which the communication between Chloe’s brain and her muscles gets mixed up causing fine and gross motor skill difficulties. Basically, her muscles don’t know how to do what her brain tells them to do. This also affects her speech.
I really appreciate your love and prayers for our family. Please continue to pray for our kids in the US as well: Emily and Igor, Amy, and Josiah. It’s hard to be “stuck” in Kenya with no hope of being able to see them anytime in the near future. We miss them terribly, and though we love the gift of being able to have video calls with them once a week, it’s just not the same as a hug.
In Christ,
Julie Tate
CONTACT INFO
Roger & Julie Tate
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
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
Fine Tuning Presentation and Praying for Next Term
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.
Dear praying friends,
Another month has come and gone, and we are now into the month of March. Time passes so quickly and the weather of spring is already beginning to start in the state of West Virginia. We had a cold spell for several days this past month and our electricity even went out several times. We are thankful for the nice, sunny weather that is coming ahead.
I (Nathan) have been in the process of contacting churches to speak for furlough. I worked hard on my missions dvd this past month, got it finished, and am waiting for the final copies to arrive soon. I have also been working on my missions presentation, so it has been a busy past month. Our new prayer cards are also finished, so I am thankful for all the accomplishments of the past few weeks. Please pray for me as I am working on fine tuning my missions presentation, and that God would receive all the glory. Please also pray that churches will begin to open up and get back to some normalcy after all the challenging months of coronavirus. God is in control.
My wife Carrie has been busy with homeschooling our daughters. She is doing a great job, although it can be overwhelming at times. Education is no small matter, and she wants to ensure that she is doing her best and that our daughters are getting schooling materials that will prepare them well for high school and university. Please pray for her for strength, wisdom, and guidance as she prepares for each year.
Kenya is still getting hit with the coronavirus. I saw also that Tanzania, which is right next to Kenya, is also seeing a surge in its cases. They are many medical challenges all over Africa at the moment, so would you please pray for the continent of Africa in general? That the doctors, nurses, and medical facilities would not be overwhelmed, that a treatment/vaccine would come quickly, and that those who have contracted the virus would be recovering and healing. Hopefully things will start to get back to normal in the coming months.
Please also pray for the young men that I hope to train in our next term. Please pray that God would lead me to the right men for ministry, those that are hungry for the Word of God, have a servant spirit, and desire to see others discipled and churches started. Matthew 4:4 says But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Amen. May we be hungry for the Word of God, and allow it to feed us each day spiritually. Also, consider Matthew 23:11 “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” A servant spirit is something I desire in my students, and I am trusting God to lead me to these men in His plan.
We will be sure to keep you updated. Thanks so much for your prayer support, letters of encouragement, sacrificial giving, and interest in the work of God in Kitale, Kenya. You each are such a blessing.
Until next month,
Nathan & Carrie Radford
Contact Info:
Nathan and Carrie Radford
1126 Smith Street
Milton, WV 25541
naterad@yahoo.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
Preparing DVD on Furlough
January 1, 2021
Dear praying friends,
Happy 2021! Hard to believe that another year has passed so quickly. I (Nathan) am sure many of us are wanting to get 2020 over, as it was a very challenging year with the coronavirus. It was certainly an unprecedented year, and one of the most challenging in my lifetime. I am sure many of you can say the same. With all the restrictions, lockdowns, etc. it was difficult, but God saw us through, and He will see us through 2021 as well. He is so faithful. Psalm 33:4 says “For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth.” Amen.
In all of the challenges of this past year, I am comforted by many passages of the Scriptures, and have found many encouraging verses we can cling to in Psalm 34. I will mention just a few. Psalm 34:4 says “I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” What an encouraging verse, with all the fears and distresses we faced this past year.
Also, Psalm 34:19, which says “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” I could mention others, but these are a couple of my favorites. I would encourage you to read Psalm 34 completely through to find many promises from our faithful God in these challenging times. May we trust Him and His promises in the year ahead. D.L.Moody said “God never made a promise that was too good to be true.”
Our daughters are currently on break from their schooling and have worked hard in their studies. My wife has done a great job homeschooling them and they are really enjoying it. Of course, there are challenges with homeschooling, but my wife has done fine and has her degree in education, so she is well qualified. Please pray for her and our daughters, as they learn together. Life is truly all about learning. There are new things to be learned all the time, and we need His grace and help through it all.
Kenya has continued to get hit hard with the coronavirus. There are over 96,000 cases at the current time, so you can imagine that the health facilities, doctors, and nurses are getting overwhelmed. How they need us to remember them in prayer at this challenging time, as well as the missionaries that are currently serving in Kenya. Please pray for all involved in this difficult situation. Prayer changes things. Hopefully there will be a treatment in the near future, all over the world, so people get the help they need at this time.
I will very soon be working on my missions DVD, so I appreciate your prayers for that. There is always so much to do with it and it is a lot of work, but I am glad to be receiving help at this time with it. Please pray for me and the helpful man that I will be working with, that we will be efficient, get our work done in a timely manner, and develop a good missions DVD from our last term in Kenya.
I will be scheduling churches in the near future, so please be in prayer for this as well. I know there will be different challenges with coronavirus this furlough, so I am trusting the Lord for this. We are pleased with our housing situation in Milton, WV and God truly provided this for us. We have never lived in Milton, so pray for us with our adjustments to the area. We will trust God day by day, as you all do as well.
We will be sure to keep you updated on our furlough. We appreciate each of you so much for your letters, emails of encouragement, prayer support, and sacrificial giving. We could not do this without you. You are each a great blessing to us. Please note our new mailing address below.
Blessings,
Nathan and Carrie Radford
Contact Info:
Nathan and Carrie Radford
1126 Smith Street
Milton, WV 25541
naterad@yahoo.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
God Has Provided Furlough Housing
December 5, 2020
Dear praying friends,
We are now at the end of 2020, and just one month away from a new year. What a challenging and chaotic year this past year has been, with the coronavirus. Since our arrival back into America, we still see the effects of the coronavirus with the mask wearing, sanitizing, social distancing, and staying away from large groups of people. Our prayer is that a treatment will become readily available soon and things will return to some sense of normalcy. God is in control of it all, and we are doing our best to stay healthy at this challenging time.
Please be in prayer for Kenya at this time with the coronavirus. Our understanding from what we are reading and hearing is that the cases have increased recently, and the government is doing measures that were previously taken, such as an early curfew and banning large gatherings, in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. Please be in prayer for those in Kenya at this time, for their safety and health as they work with the people there.
We are in the process of adjustments to America. We did a three-year term this past term, and our adjustments have taken longer. Please be in prayer for all of us, that we would be well adjusted and rested. We have been going through something known as “reverse culture shock,” where you are in the process of adjusting to another culture. We are pretty much adjusted to this point and we thank the Lord for His help with this.
I (Nathan) will soon be working on my missions dvd, and we need to get our prayer cards done, and the other normal activities of furlough. My wife is staying busy homeschooling our daughters and she has done a great job at it. Our daughters enjoy homeschooling very much, and our daughter McKenna has done very well in her science studies. Please pray for my wife, for wisdom and understanding for how to guide them with their educations. Also, for daily strength as many challenges come through the school year.
The Lord has provided housing for us in Milton, WV. We are so thankful and we also thank each of you who wrote to help us in any way with this. Housing is always one of the big stresses of furlough, and we are so thankful for this provision.
We wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. 2021 may have some of the samechallenges as 2020, but God will be faithful, as He always has been. How we can trust Him with our lives and futures. Proverbs 16:3 says “Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.” Also, Proverbs 3:5-6, which says “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”
May we commit our works to the Lord, in anticipation of the new year, and may we not lean on our own understanding, but trust Him to direct our paths. Have a great upcoming Christmas holiday. I will close with Matthew 1:21, which says “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save his people from their sins.”
We will be sure to keep you updated.
Blessings,
Nathan and Carrie Radford
Contact Info:
Nathan and Carrie Radford
315 College Street
Youngsville, PA 16371
naterad@yahoo.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
Prayer Requests for Furlough
Dear praying friends,
Another month has come and gone and we are now nearly at the end of 2020. Where has the year gone? As I look back, it seems to have flown by. 2020 was such a stressful and challenging year, with the coronavirus. I am sure it was for many of you all in the States as well. God was so faithful, and kept us safe and healthy. This update will share current updates as well as give our plans for our time of furlough.
We praise the Lord that we are all safe and sound on American soil at this time. We are looking forward to our time of furlough and seeing many of you all. This time of coronavirus was challenging to say the least. It seemed the cases were always a concern, and which parts of Kenya there were impacting.
The cases were climbing as the year went on, even in Kitale. We were very vigilant and did our best to take all the safety precautions, such as staying out of town as much as possible, avoiding large crowds, wearing face masks in public, sanitizing whenever in town, etc. We praise the Lord that none in our family contracted the virus and we are praying for those still in Kitale, as well as around the world, for their safety and health.
Please continue to pray for Kenya and the spread of the virus. The government has extended the curfew hours until January, as well as closing all big political gatherings, in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. Also, there are issues with children being in school, and an effort to help in that situation. Our prayer is that a vaccine will be developed soon and the fear of the virus would be reduced, as a treatment becomes available.
Please pray for me as I (Nathan) have much to do in the days ahead. I need to work on our family prayer card, getting our mission dvd done, and trying to secure housing in WV. At this time we don’t have housing in WV, so would you please pray with us that God would provide it soon, at a reasonable price? Furlough is always expensive and our prayer is that God would provide good housing for us in WV at an affordable price.
Please pray for my wife Carrie as she continues to homeschool our daughters. My wife loves homeschooling and does a great job at it. Her education is in teaching, so this is exactly what she is trained for. God has blessed me so much having her with me all these years on the mission field.
In regards to the uncertainty in the days ahead with the virus, I am reminded of a famous quote “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future.” Amen. Also, a few verses to encourage us: Psalm 112:7 “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.” Finally, Psalm 62:7 “In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.” May we trust Him in these uncertain days, knowing He will be with us, and faithful each step of the way.
Serving in Kenya,
Nathan and Carrie Radford
Contact Info:
Nathan and Carrie Radford
315 College Street
Youngsville, PA 16371
naterad@yahoo.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
