April 27 2011

We are back at home in Nairobi for a few days, after an incredible time of “fellowship, sharing, learning, and praying” (April 25^th Prayer Nudge – sites listed below) with old friends and many, many new ones during last week’s East Africa Cluster Meeting. Thank you for joining Jack and me in praying that we would find ways to strengthen and encourage our co-workers were answered! God provided many openings for me to share my desire to assist colleagues in sharing their stories, their praises and needs. We also found many opportunities to use our seniority and experiences, the good and bad ones from the last 32 years as we talked with others, especially some of our newest co-workers.

Another blessing of our week-long meeting was having more than 80 East Africa Missionary Kids at our meeting! A special event was a baby dedication on Sunday morning for five of our little ones – a 15-months old niece, two 3-months old nieces and one 3-months old nephew, as well as one who celebrated his two week birthday last week – and yes, their parents had lots of offers for arms to hold these little ones during the week!

Being with all our MK’s last week was a good reminder of a ‘general prayer’ I should share more often – prayers for our missionary kids as they and their parents seek their best method of schooling. Do pray for many older kids who travel far from home to Rift Valley Academy, our missionary boarding school for those who don’t live in cities such as Nairobi. Pray also for the kids who attend local national schools – one youngster arrived at breakfast one morning with his backpack and announced, “I’m going to school today with teachers who speak English!” Usually this little one and his primary-aged brother attend school in their host country where another language is spoken! Pray also for the many parents and the kids, some in high school, who must rely upon home schooling!

As always one of the special highlights of our ‘mission meeting’ was the giving of service pins, with pins given on different nights for 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 years! During the morning service on Easter Sunday, 120 of the 400+ years of service recognized during the week were added as a couple working in Theological Education in Tanzania received their 30 year pins – after Jack and I received our 30 year pins! Yes, it was an honor, but to be honest it really doesn’t seem that we have been in Kenya for 32 years plus (we were on leave during our last meeting in ’09, thus the delay in receiving our pins).

Our meeting ended on Easter afternoon as we joined together as teams to pray for our work – Jack and I prayed with other couples from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda who serve on the Theological Education Team. Using our meeting theme, our prayer was that we would each use our gifts to enable our students, church members and pastors to share our Good News until “every tongue" in East Africa will "confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God OUR Father." (Philippians 2:11) We also thanked God for the volunteers who provided VBS, Bible Studies and lots of fun for our kids during the week and our supporters who gave the funds that paid for our meeting, lodging, travel, etc!

Now a short explanation of the being “back in Nairobi for a few days.” I will not be sending our usual Prayer Update next week and likely will send shortened updates during the remainder of May as we are heading to North Carolina for a much needed month of vacation! Pray that we will have quality time with our family and have many opportunities to share why after 32 years we are still not talking about retirement! BERT YATES

PS: Sorry, if any of you had to return to the blog to find today's post - yet another day of electricity taking a break!

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2011 PRAYER NUDGES FROM EAST AFRICA: http://easternafrica2011prayernudges.blogspot.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=351345&id=685050129&l=47f55a92ab

Easter 2011

Praising God on this Easter Day for His Son and His gift of Salvation and Eternal Life, our gift which He described in John 10:11: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep." (Photo is not of sheep, but a herd of goats being shepherded through an East African city, a familiar scene especially in coastal cities and towns.)

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Thank you for being a part of our work of Strengthening and Encouraging our IMB co-workers and East African brothers and sisters as we engage lostness together – and you are a part of our work as you support us through your prayers, sending co-workers and support through the Lottie Moon Offering and Cooperative Program. BERT and JACK YATES

April 19, 2011

Yes, you are receiving this a day early this week as we will leave this afternoon for a week-long meeting of our East Africa IMB coworkers. We are not looking forward to hours of sitting, but we are eager to be with old friends and make new ones. We are especially excited about hearing how God is at work in their areas and how we can support them in prayer and through our work! Which leads me to the theme of today’s Prayer Update – a shortened bit of my recent reply to an IMB writer preparing a story on “using Facebook and other social media strategies to share prayer requests and promote missions.”

My response began with a praise for the much stronger/faster/more affordable internet in our part of the world (still not the best, but SO MUCH BETTER than what we had in the past!) which allows sending frequent e-mail Prayer Letters to the USA, rather than the once/twice a year mailed-via-volunteers newsletters which was costly and difficult. I did not add our praise for staying in instant touch with our children – a true blessing for missionaries! A blessing that I was especially thankful for this past weekend when tornadoes hit our ‘home area’ in North Carolina where all three of our kids now live! We learned of the destruction and terror via internet news yesterday morning and thanks to e-mails and Facebook, we also learned immediately that our kids and other family members were safe and sound. Thankfully our son waited a day or two to tell us about spotting one of the tornadoes crossing the highway ¼ mile behind him on the highway. He said the policeman in the car beside his truck was also too busy speeding away out of danger to have any intentions of giving tickets at the moment!

Another blessing of the better internet was that during the Kenya’s post-election chaos after Christmas ’07, we were able to receive unedited news about the situation and let our families/friends know that we were safe. Most importantly, as I was then serving as the Prayer Advocate for Kenya, I was able to share up-to-date prayer requests from our Kenyan friends and churches. This is when I quickly learned to use blogs as a mission tool. (1)

I also shared my current goal as the Internet Connector for East Africa: To use blogs/ Facebook/ e-mail messages to share what God is doing in our part of the world. Why? Because I believe strongly that when people know how their prayer and personnel support, as well as their financial support through the Lottie Moon Offering and Cooperative Program is being used and blessed, they will respond with more prayer, greater involvement as volunteers/ coming as long-term personnel and continued financial support – which allows us to be more capable workers in our Father’s Harvest Field. A second motivation: I can freely share what God is doing in our part of the world and how they can join in His work via prayer, but many of my friends and co-workers live and work in restricted areas and they cannot freely share their stories, praises and prayer needs. So I desire to use our stories/ prayer items to guide others in supporting them. (2)

What I did not add, is my prayer request for this week: Pray that during our upcoming mission meeting, I will find ways to strengthen and encourage our co-workers as I help them find ways to share their stories, their praises and needs with prayer supporters. Another prayer request for this week requires admitting our seniority! Pray that Jack and I will be alert and responsive to opportunities for using our experiences, the good and bad ones from the last 32 years, to strengthen and encourage our newer co-workers. Thank you also for praying for me – the allergy/sinus problems had me back in a doctor’s office last Thursday morning, but the new round of medicine is succeeding and I’m finally working with energy again! BERT

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(1) For many of the blogs/ prayer walks/ past updates placed on the internet, go to: Yates-IMB-Kenya - http://bertandjackyates.blogspot.com

(2) For part of my current work, which includes the photos in today’s Prayer Update, go to: 2011 PRAYER NUDGES FROM EAST AFRICA: http://easternafrica2011prayernudges.blogspot.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=351345&id=685050129&l=47f55a92ab

April 13, 2011

This last week was a long one! I was still healing from cold/ allergy problems and Jack was recuperating from his trip the previous weekend – a good trip teaching Church Planting Methods in western Kenya, but with hours of teaching and long difficult drives, he was exhausted. We were also facing all the emotions that came with the death of our pastor’s wife, Wanja Muriithi. Plus I was a little homesick - as I always am this time of year when so many of my American friends meet at Ridgecrest for the annual North Carolina WMU Missions Extravaganza.

BUT on Monday, I posted this Prayer Update: "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement" (Philemon 7). I'm praising God today for the support and encouragement that I've felt in the last few days from my church family in Kenya and the prayer support of my friends in other places. If you ever doubt if your prayers can make a difference one third (or more) of the way around the world, please know the answer is YES! As our church journeyed through another Memorial Service/Burial of a second friend and pastor's wife of Parklands Baptist Church (Nairobi) in less than a month, we were encouraged, strengthened and found joy thanks to people around the world joining in God's work in our part of the world through prayer.

This last week was a treasured journey which taught us many things and came with many affirmations of God’s love and comfort! One treasured jewel from the week is a new appreciation of what it means to be a part of a true church family. I first experienced this as our Parklands Baptist/ Mombasa Road church family sent me messages, sharing information and praying for me. We experienced the joy of church family when my fever finally broke and we attended the Wednesday service (held each night after Wanja’s death, the Kenyan traditional way to plan funerals and support families and friends), at our mother church, Parklands Baptist. As we sang praise choruses with our family in English, Swahili and Kikuyu (Wanja’s mother tongue) I found myself smiling again and reclaiming the joy that can only come from being a part of God’s family. It was a time of being with sisters and brothers who shared our hearts – our love for our friend who had died, our love for our pastor and their daughters, and our recommitment as God’s children to bring honor and glory to Him even during difficult times.

I felt great pride as I stood with the WOMEN OF IMPACT family, the women of our church who have completed a multiplying discipleship program to enable and challenge each of us to carry out the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) – “to go and make disciples of all nations… and teaching them to obey everything” we have learned as Christian women. Our ‘job’ at Wanja’s Memorial and Burial Services was to escort the body into and from the services - a time that I thought would be filled with sorrow, but was a time of truly knowing what it meant to give and receive encouragement and strengthening from Christian sisters.

The joy of church family was felt again at last Sunday’s worship time at our less than a year old church on Mombasa Road. The service began without the usual excitement as most of us were exhausted after Friday’s Memorial Service and Saturday’s Burial Service in the Muriithi’s ‘homeplace’, which included a very stressful journey on under-construction roads and heavy traffic. But as we praised God together and sought to bring honor to Him, the atmosphere changed and there was a power in our rented sanctuary – a power that can only come from hearts praising God in unison!

We know that it was your prayers and the prayers of our WMU friends and Kenyan church family which strengthened and encouraged us last week and enabled us to strengthen and encourage others. Simply saying THANK YOU is not sufficient, but we are thankful for our prayer supporters -"Your love HAS GIVEN (us) great joy and encouragement" (Philemon 7) this week.

BERT YATES

* 2011 PRAYER NUDGES FROM EAST AFRICA: http://easternafrica2011prayernudges.blogspot.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=351345&id=685050129&l=47f55a92ab

April 6, 2011

Another week of HIGHS and LOWS. Jack shares the HIGHS in a partial report of his 5 day trip to western Kenya. I have heard Jack excitedly share story after story since his return on Monday, so I know it was hard for him to keep his report this short!

JACK’S REPORT: Fudumi was a step back in time for me. I was invited by Hesbon, the newly appointed Western Regional Coordinator for the Baptist Convention of Kenya , to teach Church Planting Methodology to the leadership of the newly revived Vihiga Baptist Association. At least four new churches have started in the last four months and a new sense of purpose prevails. It was exciting to be surrounded by young men and women who are active, obedient and faithful. A couple of our older Baptist leaders attended, but they were a small minority!

When Fudumi was built (dedicated in 1970) by the Baptist Mission it was the premier theological training centre for East Africa outside of Arusha, Tanzania. Over the years though, no missionaries lived nearby and often long periods of time elapsed with no one responsible for the place of the programs. Eventually all missionaries left the region and the property lapsed into a long period of decay and vandalism. Last year, the title deed of the property was transferred to the BCOK (always a lengthy process in our part of the world), but no one among the 20 associations in the Western Region was given responsibility for Fudumi.

Over the years, furniture was lost, most of the trees were cut down for someone’s personal profit and recently thieves began stealing the doors and fixtures and the toilets collapsed. Finally, Hesbon, who has a heart for making and training disciples, was appointed to the position of Western Province Coordinator. His first step: RESCUE FUDUMI! But he faced a major problem: NO FUNDS FOR THE RESCUE!

Now begins what I told him was a modern NEHEMIAH STORY! Hesbon looked around and spotted two resources: TWO MATURE TREES still remained on the property. Harvesting these trees provided materials and funds to re-fence the property and make it secure. He made bricks and rebuilt the toilets. He repaired the roof and cleaned the filth from the rooms.

And during last week’s training (April 1,2), I was able to join the “class” in replanting trees on the property. Over 1000 seedlings have now been replanted, all indigenous hardwoods. God’s response in part was constant rainfall during my stay! The blessings carried on into the classroom as students accepted responsibility to return in May for accountability reporting before I return in June to continue the training!

The great joy for Fudumi is that once again students will find a haven for study! A region-wide Bible School is scheduled for July. Somewhere in heaven Eric and Phyllis Clark, the first missionaries to this region, are smiling and giving thanks.

Our LOW this week is another great heartbreak which I shared in the 2011 PRAYER NUDGES FROM EAST AFRICA posted this last Sunday, April 3^rd:

I went to bed Saturday night with my mind filled with questions, most beginning with WHY? I had just learned of the unexpected death of a friend (Wanja Muriithi - another young mom, another pastor's wife of our church, this time the wife of our pastor at our new Mombasa Road campus. But then God flooded my mind with a gift, the song, "Zizilizo baraka zihesabu tu." I began counting my blessings and naming them one by one, remembering what God hast done... knowing this is what my friend would want us to do - Praise God for her life, for allowing her to be a coworker in His work! Join me today in praying for healing for the church family of the largest of our East African Baptist churches as we deal with the deaths of these two Godly women in less than a month. Pray also that their husbands, children, and church family will show the world that we are God's children who "give thanks to (him)... for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds" (Psalm 107:31) even during this difficult time. The photo with this Prayer Nudge? One personal blessing I remembered that night: I get to take photos of God's work (tea preparation at our seminary) and lead others to join in praising God for His wonderful deeds in our part of the world! (Added note: This picture held a surprise for me, ME on the left!)

Please join us in praising God for what He is doing in Western Kenya and for allowing us to be a part of this work and for you to be a part as well as you support us in prayer, sending personnel and finances. Pray also for us and our church family, especially our pastor, Wachira Muriithi, and his and Wanja’s two daughters, Sally and Joy. As some of you awaken in the US on Friday, exactly four weeks after attending the memorial service for our friend, Joy Mwangi*, our church family will attend Wanja’s Memorial Service at Parklands Baptist Church. Pray for strength as we seek to bring honor and glory to our Lord as we praise Him for Wanja’s life and her service to Him. BERT YATES

* For our Special Lottie Moon 2010 Story based on Joy’s life, go to: http://bertandjackyates.blogspot.com/2011/03/march-16-2011.html