May 2, 2013

Greetings to all our friends and family!

We pray you are all doing well! The missionary ladies were asked to write this month’s prayer letter to share some of our thoughts and insights as moms and wives on the missions field. To write all that’s on my mind would take too much space, so I will try to be concise!

Living on the missions field has its share of joys as well as times of struggle and heartache. One of the nicest things of living where we do is that we have a wonderful missionary community, especially with the Tates here as well. We support each other, cry with each other, care for each other and pray for each other. Nathan and Roger are a great team working to minister to the Kenyan people. They both bring different strengths to share with each other and learn from each other. Julie is like a sister to me and I treasure her. I’m so very thankful that we are able to all be here together.

As a mom raising our girls on the mission field, I’m very thankful that our girls will grow up with a large world view. They will have experience with other cultures (not just Kenyan culture, but insight into Indian and other European cultures as well) and flexibility to adapt to different circumstances. I pray they will develop hearts to serve the Lord and other people. I pray they will have thankful hearts for all the Lord has done for them.

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.

One of the biggest blessings I have personally is to be home with the girls and care for them. I started some homeschooling with McKenna this past year for preschool and am looking forward to ordering her kindergarten curriculum. I count it a huge privilege to homeschool both McKenna and Camille. My prayer is that I will be vigilant to use the opportunities the Lord gives for teaching and discipling both girls.

However, along with these many blessings also come some definite struggles and heartaches. For the girls to learn flexibility and adaptability means they have to experience great changes in their young lives. The missionary community here is always changing, people always coming and going. Sometimes there may be a family here with younger children for our girls to play with for a few months and then they leave and our girls are left without playmates again until someone new comes. The girls are always saying “hello” and “good bye,” which is difficult for little ones to understand. Most days they are home with me all day with little interaction, if any, with other kids their age. One of our biggest prayer requests is that families with young children would move to our area. But the Lord knows what we need, and especially what our girls need, so we trust in Him to provide. Not always an easy thing to do!

Another difficult thing for our girls (actually, our whole family!) is separation from family at home. Family at home misses the girls. They miss seeing the cute things the girls say and do, they miss the milestones the girls have here, birthdays, Christmases and other holiday celebrations. Our girls miss relationships with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. McKenna tells me almost daily that she misses family at home. And that breaks my heart. One thing that has helped with this is the opportunity to skype. It’s amazing how much technology has improved the lives of missionaries! We are very thankful for this service. But while it opens a window between our family here and family at home, it is just a brief window that closes when the session is done. We are really looking forward to furlough and being able to spend time with our families in the States.

Well, I could continue sharing my heart and thoughts for several more pages, but I must close for now. Thank you for allowing me to share with you some of my joys and struggles as a wife and mom here in Kenya. May the Lord bless each of you and your families as you serve Him wherever you are.

In Christ,
Carrie Radford

P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya
East Africa 30200

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