October 19, 2011

I began a message to you yesterday written on Jack’s computer entitled: NO Yates/Legacy Team Prayer Update This Week. BUT, a break helped me see things with a more positive attitude – so here goes preparing this on Jack’s computer without my usual program helps. My new computer semi-crashed yesterday – the 2nd time since I purchased it in May – which left me extremely frustrated. Once again, I encountered a damaging glitch, but I know from experience that when I return home from our coastal survey trip this weekend I can repair the problem. So our first two prayer requests this week: Pray that I will have the needed patience and ‘smarts’ to restore my computer to full working condition and secondly, find what leads to the problem SO I can avoid doing it again!

Our survey of Bible Schools on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya has had its ups and downs. Our first visit last Thursday was to a Bible School near the inland town of Voi. The ‘up’ part: The school is in intact and everything (beds, desk, books) are stored, ready for a new class. The ‘down’? There have been no classes in a while.

Our trip on to Mombasa last Thursday began uneventful, other than it was raining. We passed the road to Kaloleni that heads to the north coast and debated whether we should take it to decide if this route through the ‘real’ African countryside would be a good trip for volunteers heading to work on the north coast.* Due to the rain and uncertainty if construction on the road was completed, we took the regular option – actually, the only other option. Fifteen miles from Mombasa, traffic stopped and we could see for at least a mile and saw only stopped vehicles, most of them huge trucks. We were told a truck had flipped and no traffic was moving or would move for hours. So we backtracked and took the one alternative – the road we had passed earlier.

As I shared in the October 14^th Prayer Nudges from East Africa: “The first half of the 25 mile detour was smooth paved roads, then we encountered a barricade of dirt. A young man told us to go back and turn left at the first lane, go to the big tree and turn right onto the "express way" to the Mombasa north road. So we turned around, wiggled through a little village, spotted the big tree and ... well, our definition of an expressway is not a road that is either badly rutted with deep, wide crevices or one-lane-wide pavement with foot high jagged edges, or bits totally flooded! We made it safely although we may all refuse to enter the car today…”

We did get back in the car the next day and visited a graduate of the seminary program at Kenya Baptist Theological College at his Baptist church in Mtwapa, one of the many villages along the coastline. Later, I will share photos taken that day – an exciting view of how a church hall can be transformed into school rooms (girls on the left are in one 'room')with simple room dividers. This time, we heard of many Bible Schools doing well along the coast – even one which has multiplied and now holds multiple classes at another site.

On Sunday, we returned to this church for worship and as I explained in today’s Prayer Nudges from East Africa, before my computer crashed, I had spent much of Monday preparing a ‘Prayer Walk’ using photos taken of kids during that service which I planned to match verses to nudges you to prayers for our coastal kids – many who are live in areas with limited educational and medical opportunities. “BUT as I looked back at the photos, I realized that you don't need my help in discerning how to pray for our coastal kids!” To find the 18 ‘nudges to prayer’ photos taken in an East African village near the Indian Ocean in a Picasa Web Album, go to https://picasaweb.google.com/Bertndovu/Mombasa111016Kids?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCK3UhuC79Zahbw&feat=directlink and on Facebook, go to http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150484862025130.465609.685050129&type=1&l=cecd87026e OR for a quick view, it is the new slideshow below the Date/Time in Kenya (right side) of this blog.

We will return to Nairobi on Friday and we do need you to pray for safety as we travel as today’s local newspaper says there is still a ten mile traffic jam of trucks stuck on the Mombasa road since last week due to damage from the recent unseasonably heavy rains. We have had to readjust our schedule due to the rain and flooding and skip visiting some areas. Please join us also in praying for the people, churches, Bible Schools we have visited or will in the next two days. Praise God with us for how our Father is being glorified thanks to the work of many of his past and present committed servants. Join us in praying that we will use all we are learning to know exactly our Father’s plans/purpose for our involvement in His harvest field. BERT YATES

* Answer to the question about using the Kaloleni road for volunteers is a definite YES - but only after they complete the last half of the road, especially if it is raining! It is a great view of the real coastal countryside where little has changed in years!

October 11, 2011

Sometimes our prayer update seems to create itself and I’m simply the typist and the editor seeking to shorten the appearing thoughts, but I can’t get started today. I had added “as my mind is blank” to end the last sentence, but the truth is that my mind is so filled with things to remember/ things to do that it is hard to focus! One distraction is the piles scattered around our house, the result of unpacking from last week’s trip to western Kenya and packing for a 10 or more day trip to the coast which begins tomorrow – the reason for sending this week’s update early.

Once again we are traveling with our friends, Ron and Jan Langston, with the purpose of ‘gathering information’ on the Bible Schools of Kenya and discerning whether this is where God wants us investing more of our time and energies. Thanks for praying for us last week as we know that God was guiding and protecting us as we traveled through beautiful country and met with people eager to share their lives and dreams with us.

One such person is a young man who graduated in July from our seminary, Kenya Baptist Theological College. Willingstone is very eager to entrust all he has learned with reliable others of western Kenya who can teach others how to better know and serve our heavenly Father and be His ambassadors. Keeping up with this young man and his father, Hesbon, is going to be a challenge as Ron, Jan and Jack join them in teaching in new Bible Schools. I will be tagging along, but my job will continue to be sharing what God is doing and how He is allowing us to be His fellow workers.

On our trip home last week, we stopped at a pottery display near Kakamega. I was preparing to put my camera away as not all want their work photographed, but the potters eagerly welcomed us and our cameras to their workshops! You will spot photos taken that day in coming weeks as the stop provided many, many scenes to illustrate prayer nudges, including the photo used last Sunday (October 9^th) and in tomorrow’s Prayer Nudge from East Africa.

We continue to thank God for the many opportunities He gives us to relate to others who love and serve Him, such as assisting with a baby dedication at our church, as well as relating with those in need of our Good News, such as friends of other faiths who often talk to us about their relationship with God – relationships of which they are content, yet we know they could have so much more joy and peace if they accepted all of His gifts! I ask this week that you join us in praying that we continually grow in our ability to share our Father’s love and salvation. Join us in praying that when the task ahead of us seems overwhelming and like Moses (Exodus 3:11,12) we ask, “Who am I that I should” go or do …, that we remember that our being our Father’s ambassadors is not about who we are, but about who is with us, our Father who promises, “I will be with you.”

BERT YATES

October 4, 2011

My lap is my desk as I write this week’s update, sitting in the midst of a rain forest with butterflies fluttering everywhere (but never cooperating for a photo) and birds and monkeys competing with the usual afternoon thunder to out-squawk one another. Definitely one of those times when missionary life is fun! The internet strength within the Kakamega Forest is better than the past, but sill rather ‘iffy’ – so I’m writing this a day early to allow extra time for sending! (The internet is acting very iffy as I post this, so look later for the photos which I will post when we travel through a larger town tomorrow!)

Thank you also for praying for us and Ron and Jan Langston as we travelled yesterday to western Kenya to ‘gather information’ on Bible Schools of the area. Things are going well and we believe that we are seeing/ sensing/ experiencing what God wants included in future plans. We did have a safe journey, but keep praying as we return home tomorrow, visiting at least one more Bible School along the way, and as we travel to the coast to visit their Bible Schools next week. Continue praying for God’s guidance in all we do and for safety on Kenya’s obstacle-course roads! Our vehicle is in Nairobi at the moment awaiting work on the brakes which overheated on last week’s trip; thankfully the Langston’s car had working brakes when cows, a sheep, a pedestrian, and multiple oncoming vehicles tried to share our lane – the zebras stayed off the road yesterday!

We have no clue why, but we were delayed in leaving Nairobi yesterday as we encountered stalled traffic in our part of the city. To get to the western edge of Nairobi usually takes less than 15 minutes, but it took over an hour yesterday, which led to today’s (October 4th) Prayer Nudge from East Africa (http://easternafrica2011prayernudges.blogspot.com/ ) a follow-up of the story of a basket weaver that I shared in last week’s prayer update:

As we passed this morning, we watched a crafts lady place her ready-to-buy items on her 'sales floor' - a large piece of plastic. She then prepared a 'seat/work bench' from another piece of plastic next to the wall where she creates more items as she awaits customers along a busy road in an area of upper class houses. We had time to see all this as we were in a jam … But as we bemoaned the slow traffic, the lady looked happier than usual. I finally realized that the slow-down was in her favor as cars which usually zoomed-by had time to stop and not just smell the roses at the flower stall across the road (another makeshift shop), but have an extended view of her handiwork. Join me in praying today that as frustrations encroach on our schedules/ lives, we will use these to help us slow down and see the world around us and to sense opportunities to be ambassadors of our Father - opportunities we too often zoom past!

Do join us in praying that we will always be alert to the opportunities around us and sensitive to which of these God desires our response. We do encounter many things in need of help/assistance/etc., which can lead to our being overwhelmed, stressed and stretched. Please pray that we will always know when/ how/ where we should respond as our Father’s workers.

I guess I should add one more prayer item based on one of yesterday’s ‘I knew that, but…’ moments. As we entered the Kakamega Forest, we were explaining to the Langstons that the entry road we were taking was very different from the road on the opposite side of the forest and realized the explanation was simple: It is a totally different people group!

So before I search for the right place/ wind direction to send this message, please also pray for sensitivity and wisdom as we seek to strengthen and encourage East African Believers as we engage lostness together. BERT YATES