July 30, 2008

Jack drove to our mission offices for his weekly office day this morning and I’m working at home – a great praise, not simply because I don’t enjoy being a chauffeur, but more importantly because Jack felt so constrained in not moving freely about for his work. He is still limited in the use of his right arm, but he is no longer in pain – an even greater praise! Thanks for your prayers as he dealt with the shoulder problems. Pray that strength will continue returning to the shoulder and he will wisely choose which activities are “good exercise” and which might delay healing – especially as he chooses which road trips to make.

God is answering your prayers for wisdom and sensitivity in my knowing His will as I work. I had planned to use my time yesterday in a needed home/office reshuffle, but once again I had no doubt that God wanted me to share the concerns He had put on my heart as prayer items. I know it was not a coincidence that Jack was spending time with the Baptist AIDS organization on the very day when the latest Kenyan research in the prevalence of AIDS hit our newspapers. So I accepted that God’s will and my plans were once again not the same, and I used my time to prepare the prayer item, “We had a very nice baptism…”

After sending the prayer updates, I learned that the Holy Spirit knew there was another need for the urgency of prayer related to this prayer update. On Sunday after the training of Deaf leaders and the baptism of several new Deaf Believers, one of the deaf leaders, Dorothy Atieno, was hit by a car as she returned home and is now in the hospital awaiting a metal plate on her thigh bone. Please pray for peace for this woman, her family and her friends. Pray also for healing and that she will receive proper medical care.

Jack returned from his time yesterday with the newest BARA staff excited about how God is using this organization. He shares this prayer item: “Thank God for Baptist AIDS Response Agency-Africa. BARA was selected by the Centre of Disease Control to manage the Umbrella group of Faith Based Organizations in Kenya which have programs dealing with AIDS. Because BARA will control the funding to the four Districts chosen, pray for wisdom for the decision makers and those who will facilitate the funding to go to the intended purposes. This money is from the United States Government who chose BARA over all other groups because of our integrity, purposes and realization of effectively reducing AIDS.” (VCT in the picture stands for Voluntary Counseling and Training.)

I will close with an update of the land grabbing saga beside our house. As I wrote last week, the developers were being shut down for a day by a new legal round, but they returned quickly and at the moment, I can hear people hacking trees, thankfully not the ones within feet of our house, but on the other side of the lane that borders the property. We are a little sleep-deprived as they continue working through the night sawing, hacking, hammering, grinding, moving stone blocks and digging with a backhoe. There is little doubt in anyone’s mind that this work is illegal as the area grabbed is a road, but the legal system in Kenya works slowly and is very affected by corruption. Pray that we and our upstairs neighbours, missionary co-workers, will stay positive and not become discouraged, Bert Yates

July 23, 2008

Jack’s text message from South Africa after his visit on Monday with the surgeon who did his shoulder replacement in April: “Good report … CAN DRIVE! No more therapy!” Later he shared that he must still take precautions during the next six months, but he is healing great – a TRUE PRAISE! Thanks for your prayers during the last few months. Our main prayer request now is for wisdom as Jack returns home today to his usual routine – especially as he travels around Kenya. Pray that he will be wise in planning his work for the next few months – both in which delayed work to do first and which trips will not stress his shoulder.

Thank you for praying for our “Mission Meeting” last week with co-workers from East Africa at the Brackenhurst Baptist International Conference Centre. It was a great week of being with old friends and making new ones. The weather was cold and wet the first two days, but then the sun returned and we thawed and dried out! Parents appreciated this as the kids – many who rarely have American play-mates – played together outside regardless of the weather! A highlight of the week was a tea for eleven friends who are retiring as we celebrated their many years of service – two have served 15 years, five for over 25 years each, two claim 32 years of service, and one couple have served 36 and 38 years (the wife first served as a Journeyman) – for a total of around 300 years! This doesn’t include three people who retired and left the field a few weeks ago – they each had served over 25 years. SO – our retirees this year represent more than 375 years of service on the mission field! In the picture, Jack and I are with Paul and Kathy Savage of Tanzania, who are retiring in the Fall – and yes, that is a cake in front of us! The lower picture is of "regular" poinsettias in our part of the world - this one is at Brackenhurst!

Did you know that another highlight of our annual mission meetings is a time for us to give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering? This year our group of 165 missionaries gave $20,509 to this offering and $15,000 more to the Annie Armstrong Offering and other mission projects! During our meeting we learned that our region has received extra funds from the Lottie Moon Offering. Thank you for your gifts – this means older cars and trucks can be replaced with needed more dependable vehicles and appropriate housing can be rented for personnel with special ministry needs.

In my last update I shared about an unsettled situation next to our house. Upon our return on Saturday, we learned that the plant sellers beside our home had been “paid off” and those who had grabbed the land, a road, had “won” in the latest court case. They are now working day and sometimes at night building something rather large beside our house! The words in quotes are likely the result of bribes – which still flow freely in Kenya! Pray that we will have the needed patience and wisdom as we face this situation. Pray also that Kenyan government officials will overcome the ongoing problems of corruption.

My last praise will make this longer, but I must share how God answered your prayers for my work as a prayer advocate. I had not planned to send prayer notices during our meeting, but I was asked to send prayer requests for Ben Entwistle, a very ill Missionary Kid from another mission organization. When I returned to my room on the first night of the meeting, I didn’t want to check my e-mails – I was cold and damp and only wanted a hot shower and a bed loaded with blankets. Yet, I felt “compelled” to check my messages – which I did and learned that Ben was much sicker and needed to be air-vac'd at once for a heart transplant – he was too sick to go to Europe or the States, so he would travel to South Africa. As I forwarded the message to my other prayer list, I again felt compelled to do more – to go and share this update immediately with friends of Ben and his family, who have long ties with Rift Valley Academy (our missionary boarding school). Many kids at our meeting had gone to RVA with Ben and a few of our missionaries had been at RVA with Ben’s father, Dan, in the late 70’s. So, I went back out to share the news, not because I wanted to, but because I “knew” that I should. Three of our missionaries, friends of Dan’s, immediately made the hour trip into Nairobi to visit with him at the hospital even though it was late at night. The next day we heard that Ben died in flight to South Africa. I also learned that Dan later told his friends that their visit had been his greatest gift of encouragement and joy during this time. My reaction: Praise that God had made His will so clear to me that I went against my desires and read the e-mail and then went to share the news with others SO they could obediently be used by our Father.

As you praise God with me for answering our prayers, also pray for strength for Ben’s family, who serve in medical missions in Mozambique and includes several younger siblings, one who graduated from RVA three days before Ben’s death. Pray for comfort for Ben’s former classmates and friends at RVA and his classmates at Union University where he had just completed his sophomore year. Bert Yates

July 9, 2008

As Jack meets with pastors, leaders and missionaries, I’m secluded in a tiny unused office with my laptop. I love seeing my missionary and Kenyan friends when I visit our mission offices, but I’m hoping this is my last round of chauffeuring Jack to his Wednesday “office” day. He will return to South Africa on Sunday, July 20th to see the surgeon (21st) who performed his shoulder replacement. Jack is still frustrated by his limitations and the shoulder is still sensitive, but he can already move the shoulder more than the surgeon had predicted and he can now rely on simple pain relievers, not the heavy duty stuff! Please pray with that the doctor’s report will be very positive and the he will recommend that Jack drive again – to be honest, Jack needs this for mental reasons more than physical ones!

I will not write next week while we attend a meeting of the IMB personnel from our section. I’m not looking forward to the cold at our conference centre – it was in the high 40’s when we awoke this morning and Brackenhurst is 3000 feet higher than Nairobi, so it will be even colder there. I know many of you envy this coolness, but we rely totally on layering of clothes and space heaters for heat in our part of the world! I am looking forward to being with friends from Southern Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and the DRC as well as Kenya. Pray that this time, which the kids love as it is their annual VBS times, will be a time of spiritual enrichment and affirmation as we meet, learn how to do our work (the new policy part!), share our work and pray together. Pray that as Jack and I visit with the many newer missionaries that we will be sensitive to opportunities for strengthening and encouraging them as we learn of their lives and work.

Later today I will prepare a separate prayer update for those on my other prayer list (Omba4Kenya) which covers all the work in Kenya, not just our personal Legacy Work, but I wanted to give you a bit of personal related information that I will not add to that update. I wrote last week’s Yates Update early as I had a meeting on Wednesday – which was good as I probably couldn’t have written a very intelligent update that morning. At about 9:30 Tuesday night, we heard loud noises and voices on the roadway beside our house. As the noise continued into the night, we learned that someone had “grabbed” the land beside our house and other houses on our street, which includes a road right-away beside a large “green” marshy area where no one is to develop. This space has been filled with plant vendors (each has a small square of land likely about the size of the smallest bathroom in your house on which he/she grows plants to sell) for the entire time we’ve been in Kenya. Developers had tried to grab the larger valley area several times, but this builder was trying to avoid the environmentalist groups who always stop the grabbing and build a new apartment complex along this narrow strip which in places is not even 20 yards wide. The loudness came from the grabbers putting up a perimeter fence of mabati (tin) sheets which meant they hammered the sheets up A-L-L NIGHT LONG! (Above picture is of a church made of new mabati sheets.)

I had thought of writing a special update to share this as our friends among the plant sellers needed prayer, but I was concerned that you would fear that we were in danger – and yes, it was an uncomfortable and unsettling time as we were told that we could no longer walk along the road beside our house which I normally do several times each week going to my discipling sessions and for grocery shopping, but we were never in danger. Thankfully, the national environmentalist groups came to our rescue and the court decided against the developer on Monday. The work continued on the property at a frenzied pace yesterday morning – UNTIL the builders took their lunch break and the local plant sellers arrived with sticks and knocked down the new fence. When I returned from a Bible study late yesterday afternoon, there were bicycles everywhere hauling off rolled-up mabati sheets, so some good came out of all of this – there will be many poor Kenyans with stronger roofs and walls tonight, and possibly even a few churches! Pray that this situation will stay calm and pray for Jack and me as we relate to the flower vendors as they return to claim their “spots” after what they define as at incidence of “corruption.” Our praise was that for the first time in weeks, we had heavy rains twice over the weekend which meant all the flowers were well-watered while their owners were not allowed in the area.

I will close by asking that you continue praying for Eunice, one of the young women I am discipling. Eunice’s (in gray sweatshirt) desire to minister to the young girls among Nairobi’s street children is growing and she needs prayer for a place to live more accessible for safety reasons to the city centre. Also pray with her as she seeks a job opportunity that would allow her to have flexible work hours and more quality time with the girls on the street. Once again – to be honest – it is things like this young professional’s zeal and eagerness to serve God which keeps us going when the bad and discouraging things happen! Thanks for you prayers, Bert

July 2, 2008

I am writing this on Tuesday night as tomorrow will be another full day. It is Jack’s office day at the mission office and as I’m still the family chauffeur, I will be going with him rather than staying at home writing to you. Jack has warned me that more pastors and leaders than usual scheduled time with him tomorrow. A constant prayer need for Jack is that he be a good listener as he meets with so many people. To be honest, usually there is not much he can do to help their situations, especially when they are in need of financial help – but we are learning that often their greatest need is simply to have someone listen and to receive some encouragement and affirmation, so pray that Jack will have the “ears” and “heart” to accomplish this.

Usually, while I’m waiting for Jack on his office day, I hide in a small office and work on my laptop, but tomorrow I will be meeting with the regional media team to help them work on some promotional materials and a prayer time for an upcoming meeting. Jack and I are finding more and more often these days, that we are asked to do things not so much for our “smarts” but for our “experience” – a polite way of saying our we’ve been around a lot longer than most of our missionaries! Pray that we will be approachable and sensitive to the needs of our newer co-workers. We are finding more and more opportunities for encouraging and affirming these younger couples, so pray that we will do this as you praise God with us for these opportunities.

Today was a full day as it included routine work as well as opening our home for a group of 18 volunteers to shower before returning to North Carolina tonight. Before I left this afternoon for my usual Bible study time with Eunice, I learned that most of them had not been able to take showers in the last few days due to water problems everywhere they went. I found it rather humorous when I returned home to learn that the last person to take a shower ran out of water! Hopefully the storage tank in the attic will refill before our showers tonight, but I can’t complain – after living in Nakuru where we often went 6 weeks without water and even though at our present house we often have extremely low water pressure, this is the first time in almost two years that we’ve not had water in our house.

My Bible study time this afternoon was shorter than usual. First the normal 5 to 10 minute ride to our church took 30 minutes – one of those Nairobi clogged afternoons! Then Eunice wanted to leave a few minutes early to say goodbye to her mentor in the Street Kids Ministry. Sandy Wilson and her husband, Philip, are flying out tonight for retirement after 26 years in Africa! I ended up driving Eunice and two others who have been involved in Sandy’s ministry and Philips work with university students to where the Wilsons were staying. When we arrived, the living room of their temporary home was full of university students and other young adults. As I looked around, I realized that Jack and I know almost all of these Christian young men and women and I realized that there will be a definite void in their lives with the Wilsons leaving. Pray for these young adults, all who have been discipled well, as they continue the Wilsons’ work without missionary assistance. Please join Jack and me in praying that we will find ways to strengthen and encourage these committed young Christians during this transition time.

Thanks again for the assurance we have of your prayers, Bert