November 3, 2002  

Dear praying friends,

Greetings from Morogoro, Tanzania. I have now been at language school for three months. I only have one more month remaining before I return to Kitale and the ministries of Calvary Baptist Church. I am looking forward to returning, because I miss the people of Kitale so much and the work that God is doing there.

Please pray for me, that God would continue to help me with the few remaining lessons of Kiswahili. The final part of the course in Morogoro is very difficult, because you are required to put all of the areas of the language that have been studied into a comprehensive format. There will be two final examinations, one that is written, and another that is an oral examination. I will definitely need prayer for these two exams, because there has been a large amount of material that has been covered, and it is very difficult to remember each section of the language that we have studied. I would appreciate your prayers as I finish the course, as well as for safety in returning to Kenya on November 23rd.

Currently, our language school class is working on some interesting projects to get us more familiar with the language of Swahili. One project is that our class is required to lead a church service in Kiswahili. One will preach in Swahili, others will lead the singing, and others will read Scripture. It is a group effort, and each person is allowed to contribute to the project. Please pray for each of us, that God would help us in this project, and that it would be done for His glory. We will do this project in around two and a half weeks.

The second project is an individual effort. Each student is required to write a project in Swahili on a topic of their own choosing. Each Wednesday is reserved for work on this project, and our language school teachers assist us with any questions that we have, as well as provide any necessary revisions to our work. For my project, I have chosen to write about each of my three trips to the continent of Africa , and how God has lead and guided me with ministry here in Africa . I have really enjoyed writing for this project, and so far, I have been able to write six complete pages in Kiswahili. One of the challenges of the project is to say words in another way, because of my limited vocabulary. So far, I have studied around 1,500 words, but there are many more additional words to be learned in the future. I will need to set goals for additional language study, as well as increase my vocabulary, when I return to Kitale. The language school is only the beginning, where you receive the foundation of the language. You must continue to work and develop on your own in the language after language school.

Thank you so much to the many of you that have sent emails and letters during my time here in Morogoro. I enjoy reading each letter and email, and each of you have been such a blessing and encouragement to me. God bless you.

Sincerely,

Nathan Radford
Psalms 34