Rice and Jesus at Mama Njuguna’s
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
January 29, 2017
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Rice and Jesus at Mama Njuguna’s.
That previous statement might need a little explanation. Mama Njuguna’s is the restaurant at which I like to eat lunch in town. With that short sentence you now know what the “Mama Njuguna’s” in the above statement means. Mama’s isn’t really much of a place. You’d probably call it a dive. It’s rustic, dirty, made out of iron sheets and I sometimes share my space with mice. But the food is good and really cheap. I can usually eat my entire lunch for 50 shillings (about 50 cents). At Mama Njuguna’s I can get chai (tea), chapati (flat-bread), and cabbage and potatoes. But mostly I can get rice. Beans and rice; Ndengu (green grams) and rice; Githeri (beans and corn) and rice. Now you know where the “Rice” in the above statement comes from. The only thing left to explain is the “Jesus” in the above statement.
I try to eat at Mama’s 3-5 times a week (again, because it is so cheap and convenient). That makes me a regular at Mama’s. [But I am also very much a novelty. Mama’s being located on a back alley in town it doesn’t get frequented by many Wazungu (Swahili term for “White People”). In fact, I am the only one that has EVER frequented Mama’s in the entire history of its existence. The son of Mama Njuguna once told me how special a customer I was because I made the establishment international. Now, Mama’s may be a dive but it is a really happening place. It is always very busy with people always coming and going. So there are lots of customers and lots of workers constantly running around. The seats are wooden, no backed benches, and the tables are cut low so you have to bend way over to eat. I am usually packed into a bench with customers pushing in at both my left and right elbows. This is where the “Jesus” in the above statement comes in. With me being a novelty and the only white guy that has ever been in this place I inevitably get asked the question by someone at my right or left these questions in succession: “Who are you and what’s your name?“; “How long have you been here?“; “What do you do here?“. It’s almost always those questions in that order. So, guess how I get to respond. “I’m from the United States and my name is Rogers” (Yes, I have to say Rogers instead of Roger. For some reason they can understand and say Rogers but Roger is unintelligible and unrepeatable to most Kenyans). “I’ve been here for nine years now.” “And I’m here as a missionary doing work for the Kingdom of Jesus.” The following conversation always revolves around Jesus.
Sometimes I get to tell them why I would give up my life in the States to preach the Kingdom of Jesus in a foreign land. Sometimes they ask me for money. Sometimes I get to share a part of the gospel with them. Sometimes they have some project they want me to support. Sometimes they are Muslim. Sometimes they are “pastors” looking for support. Sometimes I encourage them in their faith. Sometimes they encourage me. But almost always we talk about Jesus. And being a regular at Mama’s, I know all the workers and get to hear about their day. Mash and Dan, the managers, never fail to tell me that they went to church last Sunday. I also get to show the love of Jesus to all the servers: Betty, Sonny, Margaret, Maurall, Mercy, Shiro, Ingrid and others. I’ve even met Mama a time or two.
Maybe your headline would read “Burgers and Jesus at McDonald’s” or “Coffee and Jesus at Starbucks” or “Donuts and Jesus at Krispy Kreme”. Beloved, never be ashamed to talk about Jesus, no matter where you might be.
Now you understand the meaning of “Rice and Jesus at Mama Njuguna’s”. I think that has a nice ring to it. And it’s not as unsanitary as “Mice and Jesus at Mama Njuguna’s”.
Please pray for me as I prepare for another trip up into the bush, to the village of Kasei in west Pokot, a long, long way from home both physically and emotionally. I am developing a series of messages entitled “Learning to Follow Jesus from the Life of Daniel”. I will be spending five days in Kasei for a seminar there. I hope to encourage the existing believers as well as lead unbelievers into a new relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Until next month, beloved.
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
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Stones Turned to People in Pokot Town
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
October 26, 2016
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
For the past many months, I have been praying for an opening back into the land of the Pokot people. The way had been closed to me for a long time but God may have opened a way back.
The Pokot people live north of Kitale. I don’t want to call them primitive, because they aren’t. But these people certainly live “off the map” and “off the grid” in a land that is very hot and very dry. Oppressive even. This month I took my tent, my sleeping bag and my backpack and took the 7-hour drive over dirt roads (aka – paths) to the Pokot town of Kasei. I spent 5 days there talking and walking with Daniel Loyelel and with many of Daniel’s people. Daniel is a 47-year-old pastor of a Baptist church in Kasei. Daniel was saved and baptized under the ministry of a pioneering Baptist missionary to Pokot back in the 1980s. When the missionary left, Daniel decided to take up the call to his own people and plant a Baptist church in Kasei. He had no building and no money so he decided to place 60 stones on the ground under a tree for people to sit on while he preached the gospel. But nobody came. The next week, again, nobody came to hear the gospel. So Daniel began to pray, “Lord, turn these stones to people” and continued that prayer. In a couple of weeks, he had 10 people under the tree listening to the gospel.
Downtown Kasei
Now, Daniel’s church under a tree has a semi-permanent mud building to worship in and 200 men, women and children worshiping in it. But even beyond that Daniel and his people have seen the need to send the gospel to the rest of his people. They have sent their own men across the nearby mountains and have started a number of other Baptist churches in other villages. They are truly carrying on the great commission there from Kasei. Given Daniel’s start under the tree I am reminded of John the Baptist’s words to the Pharisees, “God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones” (Matthew 3:9) and Peter’s message to the pilgrims of the Dispersion, “You also, as LIVING stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5), and also God’s message to the Israelites of His power to “take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). What a great and awesome God we serve who can “turn stones to people”. To walk and talk with some of these folks and discuss their changed lives and their glorious Savior was a joy.
Let me briefly share a few entertaining stories of my trip.
Story #1: My new Pokot name. So, I was given a Pokot name from some of the Pokot people. My new name is Limakou. It means “a bull with spots on his head”. When I asked why they had given me that name all I got in return was chuckles and laughter.
Story #2: The coffee experience. I had taken with me some instant coffee in the off chance I might have an opportunity to enjoy some caffeine. So my new Pokot friends heated some water over a fire and asked if they could drink coffee with me as they had never tasted coffee before. I enjoyed my instant coffee from a rusting tin mug but my Pokot friends didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I did. They kept sticking out their tongues and frowning after each sip. Then they would add more water and sugar in an attempt to dilute and sweeten their nasty drink. I guess coffee is an acquired taste and the Pokot haven’t acquired it yet.
Story #3: The jimmy-rigged vehicle. Some friends of mine from Kitale graciously agreed to drive me to Kasei in their Land Rover. We were 4 hours out into the “bush” when the vehicle broke down. The missionary way of repairing vehicles out in the bush can be quite comical. It took twisty ties, binding wire and lots of electrical tape and sweat but two hours later we were back on our way.
Story #4: The ride home. My ride home from Kasei was in a public vehicle shuttle. It left Kasai at 2:30am. I was so tightly packed into the shuttle with other people that I couldn’t move. The driver drove and bounced us over the path faster than a whirlwind. The person behind me vomited 7 times. The 3 chickens in the back squawked the whole time. The drive blared the radio the entire trip on WKMC, the home of Africa’s greatest hits. Every song sounded exactly the same to me – Thunderous beat, repetitive rifts, indecipherable lyrics. Oh, well, at least I made it home safely.
Now that I’m back home the challenge will be to see if I can work with the people of Kasei. I want to help them in their ministering and their walk with Jesus but I also don’t want to get in their way. They would like for me to return and teach them in various Biblical seminars. They also begged me to bring Julie and Chloe with me but I just don’t see how that could be accomplished. I will pray and ask God to show me what he would like me to do and if the way is open.
Until next month, beloved.
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!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [April 2016]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
March 30, 2016
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Julie and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary this month. It is hard to imagine that now over 1/3 of those 24 years has been spent ministering and living in Africa. I never would have thought that we would spend our lives living and ministering here but God directs our paths in the ways He wants us to go. There have been hundreds of times I thought I couldn’t make it living here, that I couldn’t continue any longer, that it was time to return to the States, that I’d had enough. I am so thankful for the loving, Godly, beautiful wife of 24 years that God has given to me. I definitely couldn’t have made it here without her. In fact, I don’t think I could have made it through life at all without her. But, of course, God knew all of that too and that must have been why He put us together. I know that our marriage doesn’t always exemplify the relationship between Jesus and his churches as Paul explains in Ephesians 5 but that fault probably lies with me and we do pray that our marriage would bring Him glory. Thanks for sticking with this lousy missionary man for 24 years, Julie. I sure do love you!
And it’s a good thing she loves me too because our anniversary day wasn’t the most romantic of days. We spent the entire day in the immigration department in Nairobi working on travel documents for Chloe. It was stifling hot. We got shuffled around from window to window. We dealt with a lot of unhelpful and antagonistic people. We were stymied in almost every way. We had paperwork stolen from us from workers in the department. We had nothing to eat or drink. But we did see God change the hearts of resistant people and did see Him change things in ways that only He can change them. Chloe was a trooper throughout the entire day. She didn’t cry or “lose it” until we got back to the guest house. We eventually left the immigration department at the end of the day without the documents we went for but we are still in hopes of receiving them soon. Please be in prayer about this with us. (After we calmed down from the horrendous day we were at least able to go to a nice restaurant in Nairobi to celebrate our anniversary).
I am praying hard about getting back up to Pokot region and ministering again to the Pokot people who live out in “the bush”. God has put these people on my heart but He has also seemed to close all doors to me into this region. I have been waiting for doors to open back up. I have been asking God if I should be trying to open some of these closed doors myself in order to get this ministry going again. I don’t want to get ahead of where God wants me and I certainly can’t minister up there without His power, His Spirit and His blessing but I’m wondering how much He wants me to step out on faith and do some things before He begins to open some of those doors again. It can be difficult knowing God’s will and how to follow it. So, yes, you can pray about this with me as well.
Working with Kefa and Matilda and the group that meets in their house has continued to be a joy even if we have not seen the growth in the group that we wish. One of the things that I enjoy the most is the discussions we always get to have before the Bible study begins (The group always starts late. That’s Kenyan culture. No hurry in Africa). We get to talk about various life issues that have nothing to do with the Bible lesson we have prepared but are relevant to the lives of the people. I enjoy it because we get to apply the Bible and the life and teachings of Jesus directly to their lives where they live each day. I get to say over and over again, “Hmm, what does the Bible say about that”? or “Hmm, what does Jesus say about that”? or “Hmm, what does God think about that”? Yes, I enjoy that!
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [October 2015]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
September 28, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Hello Friends. I am in an especially happy mood right now as I sit down to write this update. As you know, we have been wanting to adopt Chloe since she came to live with us last October. We just celebrated Chloe’s first birthday back on September 17th but unfortunately the Kenyan government’s moratorium on foreign adoptions is still in place. Thus, in the meantime, because we are not able to proceed with formal adoption plans, we thought it a good idea to obtain some more legal and permanent recognition of our status with her. So, for the past few months we have been in the courts here in Kitale trying to obtain legal guardianship for Chloe. This isn’t adoption, but it is an extremely important legal proceeding for us. In granting us guardianship the court would in essence be recognizing us as her legal parents and no one would be able to take her from us without a court order from the same court granting us guardianship. In other words, it legally places her in our family and gives us legal parental rights to her. However, up to today we have faced many delays and postponements in this legal process. Countless times we have thought we would receive the ruling only to be delayed again. We’ve jumped through all the hoops only to be postponed again. Today, finally, we have received the ruling from the court – We have been granted legal guardianship of Chloe! We are thanking God for this ruling and for placing Chloe into our family and now pray that the government will open up the adoption process to us as well. She is a precious blessing to us and in light of the recent and horrible discoveries about Planned Parenthood we are blessed and pleased to be able to care for and love one of God’s “little ones”. Lord, help each of us to be as concerned as you are about your “little ones” and all those in this world who are weak and helpless.
In other news, I also just finished teaching a week long class at a local Bible college just outside of town here in Kitale. The class I taught was hermeneutics (or, how to interpret Scripture). The class was all day, every day from Monday to Friday with the final exam on Saturday morning. I was excited about being invited to teach this class at the Bible college because one of the best ways to see the Kingdom of Christ grow and spread here in Kenya is to help, teach and disciple the pastors of the country—and what better topic to teach them but how to properly interpret God’s Word. I found out how important it was to teach my students this topic as throughout the week I found out that their favorite method of interpreting the Scriptures was to allegorize the text (ie, replacing the original, intended meaning of the author with fanciful and imaginative substitute meanings). It was a grueling and tiring week but my eleven students were very bright and I grew to appreciate them all very much.
Finally, I want to give you my latest Pokot news. In my last newsletter update I reported my desire to visit a certain remote village in the bush in Pokot and to take the gospel of Jesus there to those isolated people. Since my last report I was actually able to meet with my contact and we had solidified my plans with actual dates and an itinerary. However, later that very day all my plans came crashing to the ground. I will not go into all the details but let me just say that it was obvious that God himself was closing all the doors for me to make this trip. We can have our own plans but ultimately God is in control and when He shuts the doors it is wise that we not try to force them back open. In fact, it appears that God has completely shut the ministry doors to Pokot to me, at least for the time being. I still desire to minister and share the gospel with these remote people and we will see how God opens things up and allows me to minister there, but for now I have no immediate plans to go. This makes me very sad but I comfort myself with the knowledge that the Apostle Paul also had certain ministry plans and had intentions on going to certain cities when God suddenly directed him to another city and gave him alternative plans. Again, I will try and trust in God and do all that He asks me to do. In the meantime I will pray for an opening up of the ministry back in Pokot.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [September 2015]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
August 26, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
NO! This report is not morbid. Although at times it might sound like it is and it does touch on some serious subjects. But I think you will want to read the whole thing anyway.
A few days ago I was praying out in the back shamba (a corn field, for lack of a better term) where I like to go to and pray uninterrupted. One of the things I was praying about, a subject I often pray about, was a certain Pokot village in the bush that I want to visit. Now, most everywhere in the Pokot region is “out there” and “off the map”, and the area I usually go to is even more “out there” and “off the map” but this village that I intend to visit is…well…really out there. From where I usually go we will have to take a long motorcycle ride until the path ends and then we will have to walk (who knows how long) over a mountain to the unreached people that live there. According to my contact, these people are “still wearing their skins”, which I understood to mean they were walking around naked but have now come to know means they still wear animal skins for clothing. While I was praying about going to this village I saw a “vision” (now, don’t freak out on me, I’ll explain that in a minute). What I saw in my head as I prayed was a series of pictures/thoughts/scenes and in these scenes I saw myself walking on the trail over the mountain to this village. Later in the scenes I saw myself getting violently sick, unable to walk, unable to get out of the bush and, ultimately, dying out in the wild. Now, listen. I don’t think these were visions from God. They may have been no more than hidden fears coming out of my own head, of my own making. I think I was just seeing something that my mind sees as a real possibility. But the scenes were real, the outcome of the scenes is a possibility and the fear real. Whether these scenes are from God or my own mind, by attempting to go to this village, this is a real possibility that I must face. Does it mean I still want to go? Nnnnnnnnn, Yes.
Let me clear some things up before I continue. (1) I don’t want to die in Pokot. I want to continue living, serving God and loving my family. (2) I don’t plan on dying in Pokot. I don’t take these scenes as a prophecy of my death and I’m not preparing to go up there and die. (3) It is not likely that I will die in Pokot. There are dangers and I need to be careful but, again, it’s probably not going to happen. (4) While it is not likely it IS still possible to die in Pokot and thus (5) I will take every precaution that I can to NOT die in Pokot. But I still want to go because these people need to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation offered to them through His death for us on the Cross. They need to know how to follow Him, love Him, obey Him and glorify Him. If I don’t go will they ever hear?
After having faced the “vision”, I continued praying and as a result I learned many things. These lessons I do believe came from God. I learned that: (1) Life is short. How long do I have left in life? 40 years? 30 years? 20? Less? I can spend what time God has left for me or I can waste it. (2) I can die in a nursing home. That is fine. I can die in my bed at home. That is fine. But I DON’T want to look back and wish I hadn’t squandered my life in luxurious and safe living. (3) It would be OK to die in the bush. It might be better than dying in my bed at home. (4) I have no guarantee of tomorrow. No one lives forever. I could die in a car accident here in Kitale easier than I could die in the bush. But I would rather die in the bush than in a car accident going into town to get ice cream. (5) Hardship is good. Comfort is misleading. Hardship toughens my spiritual muscles. Comfort lulls me to spiritual sleep. (6) Just because I could or might or should die out on a trip to Pokot doesn’t mean I shouldn’t go. So go I must.
So, why am I writing about this and in this manner? For two reasons. First, I, myself, needed to go through this particular thought process. I, myself, needed to face the decisions and the possibilities. I, myself, needed to decide again whether I would walk with Jesus on the road He is on or not or whether I would hold all the good gifts He has given me in this life with a closed-fist, white-knuckled hand. Second, I figured that if I need to go through that particular thought process, then maybe some of you probably need to do it too. I certainly don’t know what any of you are facing or will face in the near future in your walk with Jesus. Let us set our minds together on glorifying Him by walking on the path with Him that He is walking.
I will keep you posted on any Pokot trips that I have planned. I keep trying to get back up there to that village but all my plans keep falling through. At this point God is blocking the path. I am waiting until He opens the door back up and sends me back in.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [August 2015]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
July 28, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In many of my monthly reports I oftentimes ask you to pray for us and our ministry here in Kenya. This month I want to relate to you the items that I, myself, am fervently praying for concerning our Kenyan ministry. That way you can join me and send your prayers up with mine for the things we are working on here.
First and foremost (ie, the main priority of our ministering here in Kenya), is the starting and forming of new New Testament churches here in the city (town) of Kitale where we live. We are currently working with a new group that meets in the house of Kefa and Matilda and we have been working with this group for a few months. It has has its ebbs and flows, its many visitors who have come for a week or two and then left. The ones who have remained appear solid and seem like they want to really serve the Lord and see the work grow. This is how I am praying for this group: That they might grow spiritually and know Jesus and follow Him on the same road He is walking, that they might reach out to their village with the love and gospel of Jesus Christ, that they might mature enough to be organized into a church, that they would stand on the Word of God instead of on the whims of man, that they would be the hands and feet of Jesus to the villages around them, that they would be led and strengthened in all things by the Holy Spirit, depending upon Him for all things, instead of the missionaries.
Roger and Blessed
For your enjoyment I have included a humorous picture of me and a little girl named Blessed who attends the meetings. Blessed is an orphaned girl who has been taken in by Kefa and Matilda (something which is very unusual in this culture) and I think she has taken a liking to me. Anyway, please don’t look at the picture and think that Roger has lost his mind. Let me explain. I have been teaching the last couple of weeks on the wise use of offerings and on how the early churches used the collections they took up. I showed them that most of the times the early churches in the NT took up collections, the money was used to help the poor and needy or to send missionaries along on their way. As an illustration, I decided that I would act out a conversation between a husband and wife on offerings and giving and how they would like to see a church utilizing the money they donated. To make the illustration memorable to my audience, I purchased some hair in town and whenever I was talking as “the wife” I put the hair on, moved to an adjacent seat and talked in a high, falsetto voice. Then, when I talked as “the husband”, I removed the hair, moved back to my seat and talked in my normal voice. The “conversation” proceeded in this way until my point was made. Blessed got a kick out of me wearing this hair and later put it on herself. Then I put the hair back on myself and snapped the picture you see. I think it’s funny and cute. Julie thinks I look like a hippie and a druggie.
The second item that I am fervently praying about is my ministry up in “the bush” with the Pokot people. I have been praying a lot about this but it seems that at the time God has put things on hold. I think God has things only on a temporary hold and I believe He will once again soon open things back up for me to be able to get back to some of these remote people and villages and spread the gospel and the kingdom of Christ there. The man I work with up there wants us to visit a very remote village behind the mountains where the people still wear animal skins for clothes and have never heard about Jesus before. I pray that we will be able to reach this village, that we will have boldness to preach about God’s love and salvation, that the village would trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior and that a congregation of Jesus would be started in that place.
The last ministry item that I am specifically and fervently praying about concerns a small, local Bible college located here in our town. I have been invited to teach a class at this college and have accepted the invitation. The class I will be teaching is hermeneutics (How to interpret the Bible). This is an extremely important subject in Kenya as many of the pastors, teachers and leaders in the churches know very little about properly interpreting the Bible and end up teaching anything and everything except what the Bible actually teaches. I am thrilled to be able to teach on this topic and hopefully help some of these local, Kenyan pastors teach their people from the Bible in a profitable way. I pray that God would lead me in my own study, that the students would grasp the concepts of Bible interpretation, that they would learn to love God’s Word and want to teach its life giving principles to others, and as a result that many people would hear God’s Word, that they would be saved, and grow to maturity as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [February 2015]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
February 5, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Wow! What an exciting month we’ve had here in Kenya. It’s been exciting because it has revolved around the visit of Pastor Darrell Messer and his dear wife Shirley. Just in case you didn’t know, Pastor Messer is one of the directors of BFM, but he also just happens to be my own pastor from my own church back in Bellbrook, Ohio. When my family moved to Ohio and started attending Emmanuel Baptist Church in Bellbrook back in 1980, Pastor Messer was already the pastor there; he and Shirley have been there ever since then. So needless to say, these people are very dear to my heart. They have been trying to get here to Kenya for a few years, but their plans up to now have always been thwarted. But, they arrived here in Kenya two weeks ago, and now as I write this report we are on the eve of them returning to Nairobi to catch a flight to France where they will visit BFM missionary John Hatcher.
We’ve packed a lot into the past two weeks. After a couple of days in Nairobi allowing them to catch up from jet-lag and allowing us to worship on Sunday in English, we headed home to Kitale. Their first morning in Kitale gave them a rude welcome to missionary life in Kenya as I looked at the water tank and, behold, NO WATER! While Pastor and I scrambled around town trying to jimmy up some way of getting water, I had visions of severe water rationing and what it might look like to our guests if we couldn’t take showers or flush the toilet for two weeks. Welcome to Kenya, Pastor and Shirley! Fortunately by early in the afternoon the water supply was flowing again and I could put that worry behind us for a while. Although the morning plans got trashed because of the lack of water, we were able to tour Kitale in the afternoon – walking through the market with its mounds of second hand clothes, piles of stinking fish, blaring music and stares from the Kenyan people who were not used to seeing that many Americans in one place. In the days to come we visited some of our Kenyan friends in their homes, and spent a day at In-Step Children’s Home as well as getting to see the ministries we are involved in. Here are some of our activities for the week: On Thursday, Pastor and I did some evangelism in town and started up a new Basic Christianity class for which we did get one student to attend. On Friday we attended one of our classes which one of our students taught. We have been trying to teach him how to effectively teach the Word of God. On Saturday we went to a new group that Nathan and I started which meets in the home of Kefa and Matilda. We had 27 people attend the group that morning where we sang, worshipped God and studied God’s Word together. Saturday afternoon we went to the prison where Nathan ministers. We were able to meet his men and hear them sing to us, and then we watched as Nathan taught them from the Word of God. Sunday found us worshipping with Pastor Kirui at Bethel Baptist Church and then fellowshipping together with the other Kitale missionaries later in the afternoon. Throughout the week Pastor and I ate lunch at my favorite dive of a restaurant in town, Mama Chiku’s. I think Pastor has found a new favorite place to eat. I had a hard time convincing anyone else to join us there though.
Pastor Darrell Messer preaching out in the bush to the Pokot people to the “church under the tree”.
The highlight of the trip for me though, was when Pastor, Josiah and I were able to head up into the Kenyan bush and visit the Pokot people. The temperatures were oppressive, we slept in tents, ate rice and goat every day, and got filthy from the dust. But we preached a few times from the Word of God, encouraged the local ministers, met some new people, and showed the Jesus Film a couple of times – the result of which was that a number of people professed faith in Christ. Pastor was even asked to help a local pastor with some baptisms. We went to the river, dug out a shallow spot in which the baptisms could take place, and did the baptisms. Thirty feet away were two dead crocodiles floating in the water. They had been killed by the locals some time earlier. It made me keep looking around to see if there were any other critters swimming around that we needed to be aware of.
We love Pastor and Shirley and have thoroughly enjoyed their visit. We will be sorry to see them go. Blessings to you both, Pastor and Shirley!
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
Read more
Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [November 2014]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
November 5, 2014
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I did something this month I never really expected to do; I made my first solo trip into the African bush. And I survived! Let me tell you, it is a lot more stressful and “weighty” to go by yourself, be the only one responsible for your life and health, and be the only one taking care of everything. It’s a lot more taxing, nerve-racking, and challenging when it’s just you and the stuff you can carry in your backpack on your back; when the mere exposure to the elements (the fierce sun and brackish water) can kill you; when you only personally know one person within a hundred mile radius (and you don’t know him very well); when no one you will be going to see speaks any English or even Swahili except that one person you know; when you don’t know what you will be eating for the next four days; when you have no idea what to expect; when your surroundings are straight out of a National Geographic magazine. But like I said, I survived, and now I can even write about it.
My main ministry has been and will continue to be our church planting ministry here in the town of Kitale. But just a couple hundred miles north of Kitale are villages of people that have never even heard the name of Jesus Christ before and where the message of the gospel has never been proclaimed. Is it worth it to put yourself through some dangers, through some risk, through some stress, and through some discomfort to be able to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with such people? I hope our answer is “Yes!”
My trip started from Kitale by boarding a shuttle (public van for transportation) to Makutano. From there I boarded another shuttle with 7 seats in it. The driver managed to stuff 17 people into that shuttle made for 7. He drove us down the long escarpment and into the bush. From there I jumped on the back of a 125cc motorcycle for another 1½ hour drive further into the bush, through narrow paths, over rocks, past camels, and through multiple 100 foot wide river beds (some completely dried up and some that still had water). I finally arrived at Benson’s compound where I stayed for the next four days. Benson is the Pokot pastor I went to visit. His compound consisted of a small hut to sleep in, a small hut for cooking in, a small hut to store food in, and a goat corral. Every night I was there, people emerged from out of the bush to gather at Benson’s compound for a time of worship. These 2-2½ hour worship times included singing, testimonies and me preaching the Word of God. We also had a Sunday morning worship service at the church (no building, just a large tree under which we sat on wooden planks propped up off the ground with rocks). This service was 5 straight hours of singing, testimonies, Roger preaching…singing, testimonies, Roger preaching.
These are the Pokot members of the evangelistic team! (L to R: Petro, Benson, James, Christina, __, and Salome)
The highlight of the trip for me was the all-day Saturday evangelistic circuit we made. The evangelism team was made up of three Pokot men, three Pokot women and myself. We walked 5 miles through the steaming hot bush to the village Benson had chosen for us to share the gospel in. There we began “hut to hut” evangelism with each hut being about a 10 minute walk from the last. At each hut where we stopped, we sang songs, and I preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each stop probably averaged about 30 minutes. This was not a completely unreached area but none of the people we visited were Christians. I enjoyed watching one of the older Pokot men on our evangelism team. Petro (his English name) never spoke during the public evangelism and sharing of the gospel; but while others were speaking or singing, or while I was preaching, he would look for people wandering around on the paths outside of the compound, grab them by the arm, and drag them over to hear the message. If a child got up to wander off, he would track them down and bring them back to make sure they heard about Jesus. While follow-up will have to be made to ensure that the conversions are real, I was thrilled when some Pokot people at different compounds trusted in Christ as their Savior; 4 at one compound, 3 at another, and 2 more at yet another. After we were finished with our evangelism tour, we walked the 5 miles back to Benson’s compound. The fierce sun beat down upon us the whole day. By the time we returned, I was so exhausted that I fell into a chair and immediately fell fast asleep, slumped over but still sitting in the chair. When I awoke, still groggy from my slumber, I found all the other Pokot team members had found grassy, shady places to lie down and sleep. I rejoiced the next morning when two of the women who trusted in Christ had walked the five miles to Benson’s “church tree” for the Sunday morning marathon worship.
Now that I’ve returned to Kitale, I have to decide how I will proceed with this Pokot ministry. There are totally unreached villages tucked up in the hills that Benson wants him and me to visit. These people have most likely never seen a white man, never seen a book, never heard of Jesus, are probably involved in witchcraft and animistic or spirit worship, and may wear animal skins for clothes. I would love to reach these people and share the gospel of Jesus with them. But, honestly, beloved, most of the trip was physically and mentally exhausting. Was it miserable? Yes. Was it rewarding? Yes. Does God have future ministry plans for me up there? Pray with me as I seek His face and His will in this matter and see how He would have me minister to His dear lost children in Pokot.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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