February 25, 2015

“What God had put in my heart to do.” Nehemiah 2:12

Monday's Nudge to Action for SSAPeoples was an
invitation to "Take the Missions Personality Quiz,"
found at http://stories.imb.org/asia/interactives/
view/where-should-you-take-a-mission-trip.
I got MALI!  Why don't you also take the quiz?

Sneak preview: This week’s verse will be used tomorrow (Thursday) in a post on my Facebook page, as I try a new way of sharing Bits of Our Hearts with you. Like you, Jack and I are busy, so why did I choose to add something to my daily to-do-list in addition to posting Nudges to Action for Sub-Saharan African Peoples? BECAUSE our doing “what God HAS put in OUR hearts to do” requires you and your support!

Photo taken over the weekend to share
with our kids who still have not
acclimated to freezing weather in the
US. Then decided NOT to remind them
of our great weather on the equator!

YES, we are OLD EXPERIENCED missionaries, but we still need strengthening and encouraging from you as we work towards “Strengthening and encouraging” African Believers and YOU “as we engage lostness together” (Quoted bit is our personal vision statement from Acts 14:22, Revelation 14:6). We need your prayers. We need co-workers, including volunteers at KBTC. We need financial support which provides us with a place to live, a car and gas to keep it going, and our salaries.

Knowing that you have lots of things in your heart, lots of things you care about, we know that if we want to be included in your heart and in how you use your time, energy and finances, we must share our hearts with you. We must share our desire to obey our Father and do what He has called us to do, specifically what He has put in our hearts to do.

Not sure of the name of this little critter,
but though it was beautiful, it was a bit to
scary to use as a future "Bit of Our Heart."

So today’s update is to introduce you to the new Bits of Our Hearts posts, which I began sharing this week on Facebook and have shared in posts you will spot below this one. These will be personal mini-stories sharing our hearts, our lives, what we see and experience, what we think about these things, what God is teaching us and what leads us to prayer. Knowing that many of you are not on Facebook, as of today I will repost these Bits from Our Hearts posts on this blog. And if you want to keep up with the Nudges to Action for Sub-Saharan African Peoples and what God is doing at the Kenya Baptist Theological College, simply click the tabs at the top of our Yates-IMB-Kenya&SSAP blog.

Now for our current prayer needs: Pray for strength and wisdom for Jack as he has lots of meetings; meetings which will affect the revival and ability for KBTC to equip and train Believers to “reflect the presence of God and become qualified and capable workers in our Father’s Harvest Field.”* I need prayers for perseverance as I deal with computer problems. I also need wisdom and sensitivity as I ‘chat’ with co-workers from across Sub-Saharan Africa. My prayer is that as I share their stories and nudge you and others to action for our peoples, I will strengthen and encourage my co-workers. 

I don't know whether to ask you to praise God with me for birds which
appear at my window as I work OR pray that I stay more focused!

I also pray that what I’m sharing today and will share in the future will make sense to you and entice you to continue joining in our Father’s work! Not because I want more readers on our blog or FB friends, but because we want you to share our joy of doing what God has put in our hearts to do!
BERT YATES

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*http://bertandjackyates.blogspot.com/2013_01_01_archive.html