The Tates have served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

In times of unrest and trials in America and in Kenya, what do we do? The best that I can offer is to trust God and pray, knowing that God sees all and that he knows our plight and that he is for us.

While you all in America are going through turmoil, we in Kenya (myself and the Kenyan people) are learning to trust and pray too. For a long time, Kenyans have lived with political unrest, government and police oppression and mistrust, and economic disaster. They also need to be directed to trust God and pray.

I have had one lady and her daughter that has recently started attending our worship services at the Chapel.  She has had no work lately because of the changes that have occurred as a result of Covid. Her daughter was supposed to go back to school this month because the government has reopened schools after a 10 month Covid hiatus (that’s right, the schools have been completely closed for 10 months). Unfortunately, her daughter did not have everything she needed in order for her to return to school.  After our services at the Chapel the lady would approach me and begin this rehearsed speech: “I am sorry we were late this morning. My daughter delayed me because she was crying. She doesn’t have everything she needs to return to school. I don’t have a job and I don’t have any money. How can she return to school without the things she needs? Covid has really been hard on us. I don’t know what to do. What am I going to do? Do you have any suggestions?” This is the cultural way of asking for a handout without explicitly asking for a handout.  I told her I was sorry, that times really were hard, that Covid has effected many people but that God is still in control and that we should pray that God help her with the things she needed. This only caused her to repeat her speech again, which she repeated many times during this conversation.  Each time I told her I would pray for her (I can’t actually give her the money she is asking for because of the many, many problems it would cause not only with her but also with the rest of the Chapel members and with the overall health of the Chapel). When she returned to worship this week (which I didn’t think she would) she was rejoicing in the fact that she not only was able to purchase her daughter’s necessities, but she also landed a job that would bring her some steady income. She told me it was all because I prayed for her and blessed her and that God must really listen to me and how thankful she was that I had blessed her. Of course, at this point I had more lessons for her that she needed to learn in order to dispel the myth of my magical praying powers.

May God bless my Kenyan people and my American people with his presence, his Spirit, his love, his grace, and his mercy. 

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.