I will get pictures of the group and the high school to share with you. Later in the day, we will travel on to a game park for a much needed mini-vacation (2 nights)!As I left church yesterday, I realized that my experiences of the morning were a great example of the opportunities we have to strengthen and encourage Kenyan Christians and our fellow missionaries as we engage lostness together. It also shares how your prayers are being answered and how you can continue praying! We attend the 8:30 worship service which is followed by Bible studies during the 10:30-11:30 break – Yes, our worship services last a minimum of two hours! I do my “church” Bible study during the week, rather than Sunday morning as the between services period is a key time to meet visitors to the church and Kenyan friends.
As I walked out of the sanctuary yesterday, I talked with a friend, Moses, who was discipled by our former missionaries ministering on our university campuses and now works full time as a campus minister. We talked of the time I share with a recent graduate, Sheila, who now assists Moses and of my working with a few more of his female students. Kristin, a new Journeyman (the IMB two year program for recent college graduates), was waiting for me outside hoping to meet potential Kenyan friends. As soon as I joined her outside, the two young women that I wanted her to meet, Everlyne (a recent college graduate now doing master’s studies at a local seminary) and Eunice (the young student/full-time employee/worker with street kids), both walked up! We had made no arrangements for this – it was God’s work and an answer to your “general” prayers! As the three talked as old friends and discussed meeting during the week, two Gujarat church members came to share about their upcoming Gujarati Gospel Music Concert so I can help enlist prayer support. As we talked, Mwiti, who is involved in student ministries in central Africa arrived to talk with me. He needed help finding more Bible study materials for use in the Congo. One of his comments was amazing – “We really need French materials, but can use Kiswahili books, especially Bibles.” Would you believe that Jack was recently given a case of Gideon Kiswahili New Testaments? These were quickly transferred from the back of our car to the excited man! Tabitha, a young Kenyan woman returning to Rwanda next month as a “missionary” to women and students, then stopped me. She wants to develop a prayer blog before she leaves – which we arranged. I then walked towards our car knowing that Jack would soon finish Bible study (one he finds extremely exciting as after years of struggles of beginning a men’s Bible study, this class is led by not one, but ten strong young Kenyan Christian men). Tom stopped me to inquire if I had found a source for a Braille Bible for a group of blind Christian girls he met on a mission trip to Tanzania – but so far my answer is “no”. Then, for the first time in weeks I spotted Irene, who has been looking for a job. Her greeting: “I never imagined that God would just put a job in my lap.” Rather than getting a job at the many places where she had applied, her daughter’s special needs school, asked her to become their administrative assistant and run the school so the headmistress can have more time in the classroom. This job is within walking distance of her home, plus the school fees of her daughter, who has 
Downs Syndrome, are now waived – way above and beyond our prayer requests! She shared that the school needs volunteers – and yes, before the day was out, two of our missionaries, a nurse and a special-ed teacher, asked “How soon can you take us to meet your friend so we can begin!”I could write another long update on Jack’s many phone calls which I overheard as I was writing this morning. In a few hours he advised/counselled/encouraged, even rebuked a little, Kenyans and missionaries working with BARA (the Baptist Aids Response Agency), the Kenya Baptist Theological College, and the Baptist Convention of Kenya. He also talked with others about a water project, a Bible Study writer’s conference, and many other things. We never know what opportunities for joining God in his work will arise next – which means we need your prayer coverage! Thank you for the assurance we have that one of the ways you join our Father is his work is through your prayers for us. Bert Yates
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