Headed Back to Some Trouble in Kenya
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
August 27, 2019
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I am again sitting in Emily’s living room while I write this update. However, I am now at the end of my Stateside trip to take Amy to school. I fly back to Kenya tomorrow afternoon, beginning my long journey back to Julie and back to Kitale. I have been a month in the States now, getting done the things I came to do and enjoying time with my family and church.
Amy is now at Cedarville University. I am thankful to the University for the International / Missionary Kid orientation they provided for Amy. Amy and I were able to spend a few days on campus getting familiar with everything before the rest of the incoming freshman arrived. This helped Amy and the other third culture kids acclimate much easier and helped them start making friends earlier as well. I will be sad tomorrow when I leave as I will now be leaving both Emily and Amy on this side of the world.
I will be returning to some trouble on the Kenyan side of the world. In my absence some troubles have arisen at the Upper Room Baptist Chapel. The problem isn’t with any of my people. All my people have stayed and continued worshiping together in my absence. The problem comes from other Christians who are not acting too much like Jesus. The situation is thus: Another church moved into our building directly across the hall from the door to our Chapel. That means their door is no more than 4 feet away from our door. On top of this they have installed large speakers and amplifiers in their room and pointed them at the door and towards our chapel. When my people arrived at the Chapel on that first Sunday the music from the other church was already booming so loudly that the Chapel was vibrating. My people could not hear each other no matter how loudly they spoke or yelled at each other. They went to speak to the pastor of the other church and see if anything could be done about the noise. The other pastor and church refused to do anything about the music and continued to blast my people out of the building. My Chapel people did not want a confrontation with the other church and wanted to be Christ-like. They decided to take chairs outside and they met under a Mango tree for which I strongly commend them. We were hoping the problem would correct itself, but the problem has actually continued as is for the past three weeks. My landlord is aware of the problem but has not taken action yet to correct it. As a result, this will be one of the first items I will have to address as soon as I return. Since the first moment I heard that this was going on I truly believed it was an attack from Satan. I have not become discouraged about it at all yet and truly feel that it is a little test to see how we will handle the difficulty and whether we will trust God with the problem or not. We will be praying for a quick and amicable resolution and one in which God will receive all the glory.
Next newsletter will be from Kenya once again.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in Kenya,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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Challenges in São Paulo, God’s Faithfulness Through It All
Jud and Raquel Hatcher serve the Lord in São Paulo, Brazil. They are part of the “SeedFactory” church planting initiative, which is a movement to plant churches in all 26 Brazilian capitals. Since 2006, 43 churches have been started in 5 states.
São Paulo, 8 of April of 2019
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
It’s with joy I write to you. God has done great things in our lives and around us. Since we arrived in São Paulo, on July 20, 2016 (almost 3 years ago), we have faced difficult challenges. But God is faithful and has given us wisdom in every step of the way. We thank you for your prayers and love demonstrated towards us in so many ways. Without you supporting our ministry, it wouldn’t be possible.
I want to share, even if in a nutshell, a little bit of our routine. When we first arrived, we were involved in starting/ministering at an English-speaking church and a Spanish-speaking church. Both were connected to a Portuguese-speaking church. Both churches were growing fast, and we were happy to be serving in that capacity. But God had other plans for us. Frustrated efforts in church plants in homes were discouraging. Through a turn of events, He redirected us to the other side of town. In the beginning, it was not easy. It was an unexpected change for all of us. There were questions in my mind at that time but never doubts about God’s faithfulness and love for us. As a wife, I learned I need to be prepared to follow my husband’s lead, and trust God. I think, this attitude of readiness (like Sarah – who had to pick up everything she had and follow her husband Abraham to a place where she did not know) was for me, the most difficult challenge as a missionary.
In August, we complete one year since the move. With God’s grace, we started two new churches. One meets on Saturdays – Hope Church. We have children’s church at 4:30 pm (they live in a very poor community, and they come by themselves bringing along their baby siblings; their ages average from 1-year-old to 13), and at 6:30 pm we have an open service to reach mainly adults. Another church meets on Sundays – Imagine Baptist Church. We have an English service at 5:00 pm and a Portuguese service at 6:30 pm. This church is an urbanized, more middle-class neighborhood. Jud is also mentoring a team of leaders from another Baptist church during the week (it is part of the network of churches Jud has started in São Paulo). But I stay home during the week. It is a tremendous joy to have the privilege to tell the good news of Jesus Christ to little ones, young and old. It’s an honor to serve Him.
Our children are very involved in both ministries – Hope and Imagine. They help us with children’s ministry on Saturdays, and in different ways on Sundays. It is priceless to see our daughters and son involved in church planting. I know the seed will grow in their hearts and be fruitful. They are a blessing to us. Sarah just turned 14 years old. Laura will be 13 in July, Benjamin is 11, and Melissa is 7 years old. They are attending an American Christian School. We are very happy. When we came to São Paulo, we brought material for me to home school them. Well, it didn’t work. So, they went to a public secular school. It was a mistake. Finally, we took a huge step of faith, and we registered them at Pan American Christian Academy, a well-known school for its strong biblical foundation and Christian worldview. They follow the US school calendar. With so many school changes, our kids had to adjust to the new school, which follows both curriculums: American and Brazilian. In other words, they have more disciplines in order to get both diplomas when they graduate. And 90% of their classes are in English.
During the week, I volunteer a few hours a week at our kids’ school. I also help families as a psychologist during the week. Next month, I’ll be guest speaking at a meeting for people who are thinking about becoming foster care parents, and families that already have a child under their care. This event is led by a Christian organization which has several ministry fronts in São Paulo. I also participate in a weekly, small group Bible study. It’s a blessing to study the Word of God with sisters in Christ. We are doing True Woman 201 – Interior Design – Ten Elements of Biblical Womanhood. It’s fantastic. I highly recommend.
There are so many other things I could share, but I need to save it for another opportunity. So, I will end with prayer requests:
1. For our ministries – that people can be saved
2. For our children – spiritual growth and studies
3. Our health, but especially for Laura who had her left eardrum ruptured and lost 90% of her hearing (the doctor in Brazil declared it as permanent hearing loss).
We are so thankful for each one of you. May God bless you with His spiritual blessings.
In Christ’s love,
Raquel Hatcher
Judson & Raquel Hatcher
(859) 544-9040
judsonhatcher@gmail.com
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