and YES, it was an incredible time of shouting for joy, worshiping with gladness, and acknowledging that our LORD IS GOD!Jack and I do have discouraging moments (actually lots), but there are more incredible highs as we see our heavenly Father at work and how he blesses those who desire to be his fellow workers! Unlike many missionaries, not only do we have the blessing of planting and watering the seeds (1 Corinthians 3:6-9) in East Africa, we are seeing the seeds of past missionaries and committed Africans grow and reproduce themselves in obedience to our Savior’s Great Commission!
We’ve see this in recent days as Jack teaches at Kenya Baptist Theological College. He returns home each day totally exhausted AND totally excited as he shares of his students’ commitment to being equipped servants of our Father. We experienced joy when a volunteer shared the highlight of her trip – She was excited about those who claimed our Savior’s salvation as a result of her testimony, but she was even more excited about her translator’s request to copy the volunteer’s actions and do the “witnessing” on the last day. Tears streamed down the volunteer’s face as she shared of the joy of the young woman who became “hooked” on witnessing as new Christians were born that day! We knew gladness as we hosted 10 volunteers at our house last night – all recent university graduates committed to carrying out the Great Commission. Their desire to go, make, and teach disciples is
truly worthy of “shouting for joy!”But the greatest joy this past week was being a part of the new church last Sunday. Church starts are always exciting, but my greatest joy came as I remembered the “testimonies” of those I was photographing. I spotted several who are the spiritual children of my former missionary colleagues and Kenyan sisters and brothers. I saw many friends who were discipled during their high school and university days thanks to missionaries (foreign and home) committed to ministering to students. I spotted a young man who acted as a missionary during his days as a student in an Asian country –
the same young man who had been in Jack’s RA group (mission’s group for boys) in the late 1970’s! I spotted the grandchildren of one of our first Kenyan Baptist pastors – The kids’ parents and grandparents were discipled by your Southern Baptist missionaries and now they are committed to making disciples of others – an incredible example of our Father’s faithfulness continuing “through all generations”! For a view of some of those photos and more information, including prayer guides, go to “His Faithfulness Continues” at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=252181&id=685050129&l=d00fb474e6 AND I also felt joy as it was shared last Sunday that people all over our world were praying for this new church – THANK YOU for being among those praying! Your investment of prayer, financial and personnel support is resulting in incredible returns – God is at work in Kenya! BERT YATES
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