Special View of Missionary Life

We had a great day yesterday sharing turkey and all sorts of goodies with our family, not once but twice!  So our thanks yesterday was for sharing the day with our kids and parents.

For a special view of missionary life, read a few of the stories shared when IMB missionaries from around our world where asked "what they do for Thanksgiving, what they miss most about Thanksgiving in the U.S. and how you can pray for them during the holidays".  The stories can be found at THANKSGIVING THROUGH THE EYES OF IMB MISSIONARIES-http://www.commissionstories.com/stories/view/thanksgiving-through-the-eyes-of-imb-missionaries1 .

November 27, 2013

One true joy of Stateside Assignment -
new creations from our granddaugther
to place on the fridge in our mission home.

During devotions yesterday I finally figured-out a puzzling quandary I always face during our Stateside Assignments (once called furlough): How I can truly love sharing with friends and Southern Baptist churches what God is doing among Sub-Saharan African Peoples and how others can join in His work, yet often end-up uncomfortable?

A joy of the last week - meeting with leaders
of NC Baptist Men, who send lots of men,
women and youth to partner with us! 

While reading Paul’s words to Philemon, I realized that when I use these verses to share our thanks, I quote Philemon 1:4-7 this way:

“I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love… Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you… have refreshed” our hearts.

We also enjoy opportunities
to visit mission fairs, such as
the one Sandy Branch Baptist
Church last Saturday...

Did you catch the word I always omit not once, but twice? The omitted word, which explains my recurring discomfort, is SAINTS! Trust me, Jack and I know that we are not SAINTS, thus when you begin thanking and praising us for what we do, we become uncomfortable.

As I read from Philemon this morning, I realized that as I receive your thanks, I must remember how truly blessed Jack and I are! Thanks to the financial, personnel and prayer support of Southern Baptists, we have been able to do work we love for more than 35 years. More accurately we've been able to continually see God at work and experience the joy of being a part of His work thanks to your support.

... which included another display that looked
very familiar - a table selling items crafted by
women in Rwanda, who are seeking
to help their families survive.

AND there is something Jack and I want you, our supporters to remember, once again words from Paul to his supporters. “I thank my God for all of you, I always pray with joy because of YOUR PARTNERSHIP in the gospel” (Philippians 1:4,5). We want you to remember that we are the ones who are blessed to work ‘full-time’ with the IMB in Kenya, but YOU ARE OUR PARTNERS is this work. Without you, without your financial and prayer support, without you sending short and long term workers to partner with us or coming yourself to work beside us, we could not do what we do!

A true joy of the week - the opportunity to share
what God is doing in Africa at Askewville Baptist
Church this past Sunday and the opportunity
to enjoy this 13 layer chocolate cake as we
shared lunch with church leaders!

Some of you may be asking at this point – BUT, you have shared many things this past year that can’t be described as moments of joy. What about those times? Yes, there are times that we are frustrated and discouraged, but God is always able to break through our un-saintly reactions and responses to these difficult times and give us His strength and bless us with peace (Psalm 29:11), and we are certain this occurs because you, our PARTNERS, have been praying and supporting us in other ways!

Remember that new Lottie Moon Christmas Offering/
SSAP Nudges to Action are posted daily at
https://www.facebook.com/LMCO.SSAPeoples.

I wish I could only share joy today, but we have one request in need of extra prayer support. Please join us in praying for peace and comfort for the wife, children, church members and friends of our friend in Kenya, Pastor Charles Baraza. Charles, who died on Monday while on a trip to the US with other Kenyan Baptists, was discipled as a youth by good friends, was a graduate of Mombasa Baptist High School and the Kenya Baptist Theological College, and as an adult he has been a valued and loved co-worker.

Did you know you can be a partner in Strategic Giving to reach

the nations by giving to the GLOBAL BIBLE FUND?

Information on this  and other IMB strategic projects, can be

found at  http://subsaharanafricanpeoples.imb.org/give . 

Thank you for praying for this need. Thank you also during this Thanksgiving season and the Lottie Moon Christmas season for strengthening and encouraging us as we partner in engaging lostness together! BERT YATES
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The special Lottie Moon Christmas Offering/ SSAP Nudges to Action page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/LMCO.SSAPeoples.
For more on ways to give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and the SSAPeoples Affinity Lottie Moon Challenge projects, visit http://subsaharanafricanpeoples.imb.org/give/.

A view shared for my African friends - geese spotted last week
roaming in the parking lot at a mall!

Real LMCO Stories from Real Missionaries!

Want to know how gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering are used to support the work in our Father's Harvest Field?  For real stories from real missionaries working among Sub-Saharan African Peoples, check out the daily Nudges to Action shared at Lottie Moon Christmas Offering: Sub-Saharan African Peoples.*
*https://www.facebook.com/LMCO.SSAPeoples.  

November 20, 2013

We are beginning to adjust to the cold weather of
winter in North Carolina!  We spotted not snow,
but frost crystals on our car window last week!

In Isaiah 26:8, God’s children promised to walk in the ways of the Lord’s laws and wait for him.  Why?  Because like today’s Believers, they told Him, “your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.”  Yet, as they promised to sing praises to their Lord, they admitted that, “We have not brought salvation to the earth… to people of the world” (18).  I may be taking this phrase out-of –context, but these words always leave me challenged!

Ways that the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering has and does
affect the work of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples Affinity
are shared at https://www.facebook.com/LMCO.SSAPeoples.

As I prepared to write this week’s update and read the promotional materials for the 2013 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering  (LMCO), I thought of these words recorded in Isaiah.  WHY?  BECAUSE this year’s theme is "Totally His … heart, hands, voice” (Matthew 22:36-39); BECAUSE  there are still not just people, but entire people groups in our world who do not know our Father’s name and his renown!

What a missionary does on STateSide
Assignment (STAS): Enjoy
sharing what God is doing where they work...

How many people and people groups are we talking about?  The International Mission Board’s answer is: “Out of the world’s 11,000-plus people groups, nearly 7,000 are considered yet unreached; they include more than half the world’s population. More than 3,000 unreached people groups are unengaged, having no church-planting strategy at all.” (What are the global needs?)

... and how others can join in the work in His Harvest
Field! We shared last Sunday at the Missions
Fair at First Baptist Church, Rocky Mount, NC.

Jack and I work in the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity, so I then queried the number of unreached people and people groups in our work area.  Fast Facts about Sub-Saharan Africa shares the answer: “2,826 people groups; 1,850 are unreached; around 862 million total population… in around 65 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa and around the world.”

What else do missionaries do while on STAS?
Enjoy coin collecting with their granddaughter!

Explore Priority Groups of Sub-Saharan Africa shares another heartbreaking number:  573 of the 1,850 unreached peoples in Sub-Saharan Africa, which includes 28,752,550 people, are not even ENGAGED or actively being reached by Believers sharing our Father’s Good News!

Visits to a nearby Krispy Kreme
are also a highlight of STAS...

Reading all of these facts, made the explanation offered in Frequently Asked Questions about this year’s Lottie Moon Christmas Offering theme even more urgent!  We must be "Totally His … heart, hands, voice.” We must live Matthew 22:16-19 and be “Totally committed to God, first to love Him, then love others. No less than all of our heart, soul and mind is what’s required of us as believers in Christ. All believers, all of the church, all Southern Baptists — totally His.”  (Jack suggested that I add this note:  totally His – ALL THE TIME!)

... soooooooo good!

Yes, Jack and I are a bit passionate about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.  WHY? BECAUSE without the gifts given to the LMCO and the Cooperative Program, as well as the awareness of the need for new short and long-term personnel and the nudges to prayer that comes during the LMCO promotion, we could not do what we know God has called us to do!   

Lots of links to LMCO information is found in today's
SSAPeoples Nudge to Action -
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sub-Saharan-African-Peoples/100173880060607

My intended short note has yet again turned into a long epistle, but Jack and I have been given the gift of serving our Father in His harvest field.  There are discouraging and painful moments, but the joy of knowing that people and people groups are being reached and responding to our Father’s love and salvation is… well, unless, you are ready to read a book-long explanation, I need to stop writing and hope I’ve already shared enough for you to hear our hearts!  Bert Yates

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IMB Connecting/2013 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering - http://www.imb.org/main/lottie-moon/default.asp

What are the global needs - http://www.imb.org/main/lottie-moon/details.asp?StoryID=11939&LanguageID=1709

Fast Facts about Sub-Saharan Africa - http://subsaharanafricanpeoples.imb.org/explore/view/fast-facts

Explore Priority Groups of Sub-Saharan Africa - http://subsaharanafricanpeoples.imb.org/explore/sub/priority-people-groups

Frequently Asked Questions/ LMCO - http://www.imb.org/main/lottie-moon/abouttheoffering.asp?PageNavID=109&faq=active#tabs

Sub-Saharan African Peoples Nudges to Action (Prayer/ Giving/ Serving) – http://easternafrica2012prayernudges.blogspot.com/
SSAP Nudges to Action are also share during the Lottie Moon 'season' at https://www.facebook.com/LMCO.SSAPeoples

November 13, 2013

We are loving all the colours of
a North Carolina fall!

Puddles of ice are outside our window this morning and we slept through a bit of a snow flurry last night, which makes us very thankful for the heat flowing into our hotel room this morning!  Thanks for praying for us as we helped 'man' the International Mission Board at the North Carolina Baptist State Convention which ended last night.  It was a great time of visiting with old friends and making new friends.  For me (Bert), this included meeting many people who have become good friends and prayer partners for our work and all the work among Sub-Saharan African Peoples via Facebook and the internet!

And we are definitely enjoying highways without potholes!

Adjustments are continuing:  Even though we are truly appreciating the warmth of indoor heating, our bodies are having to adjust and a huge bottle of intensive moisturising body lotion is on our to-buy list!  Toilets that flush without warning are also a bit  unsettling as we are more accustomed to toilets with no running water when travelling away from home! But no adjustments are needed to enjoying HOT doughnuts at Krispy Kreme, although we're still looking for a cup of coffee as good as Kenyan coffee!

Rosalind and Ralph Harrell

One of the joys of working at the NC Baptist convention was sharing lunch last Monday with the North Carolina IMB Emeritus group.  The luncheon speaker, a co-worker from South America, talked of the giant guiding footprints left by the workers before us on the mission field.  His thanks to them was very sincere, but was more so for Jack and me.

Zeb and Evelyn Moss

Among the group were two couples from North Carolina, who not only made our early transition to life and work in Kenya easy, but Ralph and Rosalind Harrell and Zeb and Evelyn Moss were active parts of the work Jack and I have the joy of continuing today at the college, in media and even in our church family.

One special joy of life on STAS:  Water pressure! A load is washed
and ready to dry at our mission house in half the time it takes to
fill the machine for the wash cycle in Nairobi!

Do continue praying for us as we adjust to life on Stateside Assignment.  Pray that we will connect with the people and churches who truly desire to learn about God's work among Sub-Saharan African Peoples and how they can join in His work.  BERT
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During our STAS, I will continue adding daily Nudges to Action for Sub-Saharan African Peoples, which can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sub-Saharan-African-Peoples/100173880060607, which included guidance shared on Monday of on how you can pray and donate towards the Typhoon Haiyan disaster in the Philippines.

November 10, 2013

Thanks for praying for us!  We finally slept (or more accurately stayed in bed) until the alarm clock buzzed at 6 this morning, so hopefully we will be less dinghy today.  After being more than a bit overwhelmed by buying a car so quickly, God led us to the perfect spot (one of those times when you're heading one way and remember another option as you pass it) to purchase exactly what we needed from a young Christian man God had waiting to help us! We've also had great visits with two of our kids and their family and will visit with our youngest today!

We're heading out in a few minutes for our first opportunities to share what God is up to among Sub-Saharan African Peoples (Bert) and at the Kenya Baptist Theological College (Jack) and how others can join in His work. Pray for us especially as we represent the International Mission Board (IMB) at the North Carolina Baptist State Convention this week.

I had a photo to share with you today of water rushing into the washing machine of the Temple Baptist Mission House, but posting it seemed very insignificant as I read of the typhoon that hit the Philippines on Friday.  Updated reports of how you can pray and help can be found the IMB Connecting website (http://www.imb.org/main/default.asp).  BERT

November 6, 2013

We're loving the colours of a NC autumn.

For the second morning straight, we awoke early and had breakfast before 4:30. By 6 this morning, we had the internet system purchased last night working in the mission house of Temple Baptist in Raleigh, NC., so I can  send a very, very short update today!

Welcome home...

We arrived on time and with all our luggage on Monday afternoon - a true praise! Thanks for praying. We've also survived our first visit to a grocery store and a Walmart, and yes, both were more than a bit overwhelming. It did help to be told that the Walmart was an extra big one, so we were not simply responding as culture-shocked missionaries!

... BABU and BIBI (Swahili/granddaddy and grandmama).

We've yet to arrange for transport or to locate my 'stored' coats and purchase Jack a warmer jacket - it is COLD here - so keep praying as we adjust to six months of life and work in the US during our Stateside Assignment (STAS).  Pray especially that we will be good ambassadors for the IMB and especially for our Father's work among Sub-Saharan African Peoples as we 'work' at the North Carolina Baptist Convention next week.

I'm enjoying watching the birds, especially as the
cardinals and blue jays, play outside our window!

And yes, do pray that we will adjust to living one-third of the way around the world. We wish there was a re-set button for our internal clocks which are a bit confused.  With the 8 hours time difference, our bodies are finding it confusing to be going to bed for the evening when we usually are arising for the day!  BERT
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During our STAS, I will continue adding daily Nudges to Action for Sub-Saharan African Peoples, which can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sub-Saharan-African-Peoples/100173880060607.