Families Encouraging One Another
September 19, 2024
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We want to thank all those who support our ministry through your prayers and support. May God bless each of you.
The ministries are doing well. The ministry of Ubim has been blessed with new workers. They are doing great and enjoying the ministry. They are being a wonderful blessing.
They are planning a special day for children day in October. It is so wonderful to see young people getting involved.
We started a new thing at the Pedras Vivas Church where I pastor. We put the names of each family on a paper, then each family picks out a name to pray for during the week. This month we did this a little different. Two family names were picked out for them to pray for each other and get to have fellowship and know each other better. The families are really enjoying this. We pray that it well help them to encourage each other.
We are also planning baptism in the new baptistry.
We are encouraging the members to visit the people who live in the area they live in. Make friends and invite them to church. May God help us to reach out to more people. Since so many people live far from the church and many don’t have transportation, we want to start using the bus again. Pray with us that God will give us a driver willing to do this ministry.
Love in our Savior,
Odali and Kathy Barros
Contact Info:
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
Brasil, SA
odali_kathy@hotmail.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.
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Is this Place Cursed?
May 10, 2024
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
Is this place cursed?
Yes, I have actually been asking myself that question this month. You may recall that just last year around this time I was asking for prayers because the area was plagued by drought, we had no water, and all the crops were drying and dying. We even had forest fires that I saw from my kitchen window and wondered how long before I would have to evacuate. We prayed to God for months for rain and it finally came, but not in time to save all the crops. Once the rain started last year, it hasn’t really stopped raining. And now? Well, now we have so much everyday, heavy rain that the country is flooding. And I don’t mean just a little flooding here and there. I mean so much flooding that it has reached international news (you may have seen it). If you have watched any international news in the last few weeks, you may have heard of a place called Mai Mahiu. Mai Mahiu is a town down in the Rift Valley. I see this town down in the valley every time I look out my back porch. Early last week, in the middle of the night, a temporary dam caused by downed trees and debris broke and the backed-up water rushed like a torrent down the escarpment. This dam was only about one mile north of our house and a few hundred meters up the escarpment. I say this because it did not miss us by very much. It was very close. Anyway, the escaped water tore down the escarpment, wiping out everything in its path. It hit the valley floor, almost like a bomb, and the water continued to pour into the valley floor all night long. It destroyed everything – EVERYTHING – in its path and wiped out an entire square kilometer of land on the valley floor before it ran across the valley and disappeared somewhere on the other side. All the trees were uprooted, all the houses it hit were destroyed, and hundreds of sleeping people were buried in mud before they even knew what hit them. Over a hundred people were killed and many more were and are still missing. Now, when I look out over the valley from my back porch, I am no longer seeing forest fires, but I see the wiped-out area where the flood hit and the ugly brown path of mud the water traversed after it hit the valley floor. I can look through binoculars and see destroyed houses, half-buried and overturned cars and buses, and rescue workers looking for survivors. It is a terrible tragedy and most everybody from up here in Kijabe knows somebody who was affected, including Julie and me. And, the rain still didn’t stop. Water is running down all the streets, the ground is saturated to the point where crops cannot be planted, and the water in our tank is muddy-brown and not drinkable. Now we are pleading with God that the rain would stop before more devastation occurs. The following scenario is very strange it is difficult to accept: Pray to God for rain; pray for rain; pray for rain; pray for rain; pray for rain; finally get some rain; thank God for the rain; get more rain; get more rain; get more rain; flooding; flooding; flooding; pray to God to stop giving us rain. Are you getting the idea of why I’m asking myself if this place is cursed?
So, this place is NOT cursed. However, the people of Kenya DO live lives that are much more difficult than I can imagine. If it is frustrating for me to see and experience, I cannot begin to imagine how frustrating it must be for them. Despite tragedy, the faith of the believers here remains strong, though, and I am encouraged that the Christians here are leading the way by sharing and showing the love of Jesus. On the morning of the flood and mudslide in the valley, I was in a prayer meeting with some of my students at the college. We were praying for the victims of the mudslide in the valley when one of my students was overcome with grief and said: “I’ve prayed enough. I need to go down there and help those people. Why am I still up here when I can look down there and see that area covered in mud?” His comment left us all speechless. In a couple of days, these beloved students, these pastors and church leaders in training DID mobilize themselves into action. They got up early on their weekend day off, prepared food and clothing for flood victims, and hiked down into the valley to pray and help. I have provided a picture of a group of my students. They are gathered in a circle praying, kneeling in the mud, with downed trees and devastation all around them. Thank you, God, for this great group of people who love Jesus, love their fellow humans and neighbors, and want to show the love of Jesus to them. May they be an inspiration to all of us to do the same: love and trust You, love our neighbor, and share the love of Jesus with them in word and action.
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.
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Answered Prayer after 30+ Years!
April 21, 2023
I am writing this from Lexington, Kentucky. Mike and I are here taking care of some health issues. Our beautiful daughter, Monica, has been gracious to put up with us!
Some thirty years ago I started praying that God would open a door for us to be able to reach the deaf in our town. At the same time, I started nudging Mike. Finally, after all those years of praying and seeking years it has happened! I believe our church is the only one with this ministry in the state of Acre. There are 23 people who have finished the three courses (one year each). These courses were made possible through one of the women in our church who felt called to implant this new ministry. Tatyana had been the nursery leader for years. She trained another lady and team to take her place. Now a signing course for children has started. My granddaughter, Kayla, ten years old, is one of the students. Since we began last November, there have been at least six deaf people who have made a profession of faith. There are times when they “sing” along with the congregation. I found out recently that sign language in Brazil is different from in the US.
A couple of weeks before I came to the States a group of ladies from the women’s ministry asked to meet with me just to talk. They were curious about how I came to Cruzeiro do Sul. They wanted some input about raising children, being a missionary and pastor’s wife, among other things. I hope I was able to be of help. This is one of the many ways I get to participate and help out in the work here.
Not many people outside our church know this, but I am known at our church for giving the best hugs! Hugs are one of my favorite things. There is a group of children that come for a hug almost every service.
I arrived in the US just over two weeks ago. From what we have been hearing from many of the members of First Baptist things are going very well and souls continue to be saved.
Mike and I have no idea of how long his treatment will take, but we are anxious to get back home. I miss my church and kids/grandkids.
Love,
Beverly
CONTACT INFO
Mike & Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
69980 Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre
Brasil, SA
mdcreig@hotmail.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.
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Teaching Men in Taito about Prayer
July 5, 2022
Dear praying friends,
We hope this finds each of you doing well. We thank the Lord for each one of you, and your heart for missions. We could not do the work here in Kenya without you. This update will share current updates as well as prayer requests.
There has been much going on in the missionary community in Kitale since we have returned to Kenya. Several families have moved from Kitale to different parts of Kenya. While this is not easy, and these families were our good friends, we wish each of them well in this transitionary period. The westerners are few in Kitale now, so it is difficult, but we are trusting the Lord to provide other families in His timing and plan.
We have heard of interest from other missionaries coming to Kitale later in the year, and we are praying and trusting the Lord for His will during these transitionary times. Psalm 28:7 says “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise Him.” Please pray with us as we trust the Lord to provide families here in Kitale.
Another big prayer request now is for the presidential election scheduled for August 9th. Lord willing, we are going to be stocking up and buying extra supplies in case of any problems. The last few elections have gone peacefully, and we are trusting the Lord for the election this year. Kitale has a good safety record, as there are multiple tribes in this area and violence is rare. However, we are still taking precautions and seeking to stay as safe as we can. We will let you know how it is going in the coming weeks. Psalm 9:9 says “The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.” Amen. May we trust Him in the coming days and weeks, as He will protect us.
The family is doing well. Our daughters are continuing along well in their homeschooling studies, and my wife is doing a great job teaching them faithfully. Please pray for her, as she has a big responsibility with educating our children. Please also pray for us as parents, as we have a big responsibility as we raise them.
I (Nathan) am continuing in the discipleship studies in the village of Taito. I have recently been teaching on prayer and we have learned much about the subject. In Psalm 55:16-17, David says “As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice.” I challenged the men to begin to commit to prayer, and showed them many verses from the Word of God that show the importance of prayer in our daily lives. Please pray with me that the Lord would raise up men who would be discipled, trained, and then sent out to start churches in their respective villages. God is in control.
We again thank you so much for your heart for missions. Each of you are such a blessing to us.
Until next month,
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.
Read more
Praying in the Wilderness
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
What should you do when things are not going right? When you are struggling over a great many things? When you have a ministry in Kenya, but the ministry is not going where you want it to? When you are striving to make the gospel relevant in people’s lives, but no change is taking place? When you don’t know what to do next? Well, I don’t have the answers to these questions. But I do know one thing you can do – head out into the wilderness and pray. So, that’s exactly what a number of my missionary buddies and I did this past month.
Our closest wilderness is Mt. Elgon, so 6 of us piled into a couple of Land Rover’s and headed to the top. We were all needing time to reflect, to get out of civilization, to seek God, to find guidance and direction for our respective ministries, and to contemplate on where God is right now. A number of men in the Bible did this (to a much greater extent than we did), and I found it to be helpful. And so while I can’t speak of all the great things that are happening in Kenya, or the great progress that is being made in the ministry, or the great growth of the Chapel (things I wish I could write about), I can at least write that God is making progress in my own heart.
About a three-hour drive from Kitale, the peak of Mt. Elgon sits at approximately 14,000 feet. To get there you have to drive on roads and paths that don’t look much like roads and paths. It is adventurous, and I am not the most adventurous person in the world. We had to dig, push, pull, chop through fallen trees, work together, think, strategize, and trust. But in the end, we got there even though we had to drive through the forest at night to get back to our cabin. In the morning, before heading back to civilization, I got up before the sunrise and took my coffee out into a small field near where we had slept. I spent time with God and prayed – mostly by watching the sunrise, listening to the birds sing, and watching the zebras, water bucks, and impalas graze (my life is rarely this adventurous or exciting, really). I returned with renewed strength and determination to seek and serve God, and to love and serve His people.
Things I am learning that God kind of reiterated to me while I was on the mountain and that I can try and help the people that are around me learn too:
- Let God be God – Roger, don’t place your own expectations of what YOU THINK God should or shouldn’t do upon God. Don’t force God into your own image and get disappointed when He doesn’t do what you thought He should have.
- Trust God, and when you don’t know how or when you don’t understand God, trust Him anyway – Roger, it is very presumptuous of you to think that you can understand God or to figure out all His ways. And when He doesn’t seem to make sense, trust Him anyway.
- In quietness and rest shall be your strength (See Isaiah 30:15) – Roger, don’t always question, question, question but instead sometimes just be quiet. Don’t always run, run, run but sometimes just rest. Learn how to trust and rest in God in quietness and peace and joy.
- When God feels distant in your heart and when the love of God feels cold in your soul, God will oftentimes shower you in His love through the love of other people – Roger, remember those many people in Kenya and in the United States that stand with you, pray for you, challenge you, support you, cry with you, encourage you, lift you up, teach you, and carry you to Jesus when you can’t walk (See Luke 5:17-20). Remember, that this is God loving you.
Is God doing nothing? It sometimes seems like it. But, really, He is just doing HIS thing in HIS own time. Roger, can you rest in that?
Blessings to you all,
Roger, Julie & Chloe
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
Provision for a Real Need
October 21, 2020
Dear friends,
It was 2:00 pm on Monday when I heard the doorbell ring. I was not expecting anyone. Our four kids were studying at their desks. Raquel had gone out to take care of some things. Before I could get a glimpse of who was outside, Melissa said, “Who is it, Dad?” “I don’t know. Going to find out,” I responded. “Stay in your room while I check.” I looked through the window but did not recognize the person. I opened the door to speak to him, as he stood behind the main gate of our house (almost all houses in Sao Paulo are walled, gated, have barbed wire or an electric fence around the property perimeter wall, and often have multiple security cameras). He greeted me with a hopeful smile, “Good afternoon, sir. I am trying to find a way to feed my family. Do you have any yard work I could do for you? Any debris, or trash I can remove? Any aluminum cans or other recyclables? If you want me to, I can sweep your sidewalk and street. I can make it look really nice.” He was wearing a t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and flip-flops. He was pushing a shopping cart. Inside the cart were a broken tube TV, two bags of rice, and a bag of pinto beans.
My heart breaks every time I see someone in this situation at our door. (What if this was me in such extreme poverty? And how would Jesus respond?) It is a tough call to give food out of our home door because word gets around quickly and people from all over come asking for assistance. A few months ago, a man rang the doorbell at 10:00 pm asking for a bus pass, or a subway ticket with the explanation of a recently deceased aunt and that he needed to identify the body at the hospital morgue. (I assisted the first time, but the following week he came by again at 10 pm, with the same story). I still have mixed feelings when I am laying in bed, it is midnight, and I hear someone rummaging through our trash bags outside looking for food, or recyclables. Unfortunately, this happens all too often, and it has intensified since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. My prayer is always, “Lord, what can we do? Give me wisdom, to provide for a real need, not be scammed, protect my family, and still give people the opportunity to drink of the Living Water and eat of Your Bread so they may know You personally, and find fulfillment in Your sovereign provision for this life and for eternity.
I looked at the man as he held on to his cart and said, “I don’t have any money on me.” (We never keep money at home, or on us, for security reasons.) Before I could continue he replied, “Could you give me rice or milk if I pull out the weeds from this sidewalk gutter? I said, “Sure, go ahead.” I responded, ” I will be right back with something for your family.” I returned with a 2.2lb of canned black beans and meat stew we often serve at our table. “This is from my family to yours. I have something else… Would you mind listening to something important my family can share with you?” I proceeded to share the Gospel. He listened. When I finished talking about the resurrection, he glared through me and said, “Thank you,” and walked away with the items in his cart.
I pray the message will take hold in his heart.
Pray for us serve better, love more generously, for abundant provision, and wisdom from above.
Grateful always,
Judson and Raquel
Contact Info:
Jud & Raquel Hatcher
São Paulo, Brazil
judsonhatcher@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.
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The Lord Shall Fight for You
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.
November 5, 2019
Dear praying friends,
Another month has come and passed quickly, and we are now near the holiday season. We wish each of you a happy holiday season and upcoming time with your families. We are blessed this year to have my wife’s sister visit with us later this month, so this will help us during this time on the mission field. Please pray for her and her safety while she travels, as well as her return to America, Lord willing.
Please pray for me as I (Nathan) am continuing to disciple younger Kenyan men in the Word of God. I have been in the village of Wiyeta for a few months now and am thankful for the men that God has provided. They desire to learn the Word, and Lord willing, to go out and reach others. Today I began a lesson on prayer in which we looked at the importance of prayer, why should I pray, an example of a Biblical prayer (Colossians 1:3-13), and how to pray. This was just a basic overview on prayer and I plan to go deeper in the next couple of weeks. We studied Luke 18:1 which says, “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;” The idea is to persist in prayer – don’t give up. Trust God to answer in His way and His time. We also looked at the example of Jesus. Mark 1:35 says, “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” Jesus prayed early in the morning, went to a place with no distractions, and gave us a good example to follow. Please continue to pray for the men and their spiritual growth.
I recently taught at the Annex prison on Moses and the Red Sea, as well as the manna that God provided while the Israelites were in the desert. Although Pharaoh was trying to recapture the Israelites, God protected them and made a way when there was no way. Even when being pursued relentlessly, Moses trusted in God and told the Israelites to also believe God. Moses was encouraging the people to have courage and believe God in an impossible situation. Exodus 14:14 says “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” Do we have the same faith today to trust Him to fight for us? He will fight for us as we trust and follow Him. Please pray for the men that are coming and that even others would attend in the future.
The school will be closing for several weeks during the holiday season, so please be praying for our daughters at this time. They sometimes get bored and miss school, so please pray for them to have some activities during this break period. There is also another young girl their age here now in Kitale, so this helps as well. We trust in God’s provisions each day.
We wish each of you a wonderful Thanksgiving and upcoming Christmas. As I think of Thanksgiving, I am reminded of 1 Thessalonians 5:18, which says “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” God bless and we will keep you updated.
In Kenya,
Nathan & Carrie Radford
Nathan and Carrie Radford
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.
Read more
