May 6, 2008

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Only one month of language school remains for Julie, Emily, and me. Time is going by so fast and I don't know the language well enough yet. I find Swahili easy to read and understand, but to hear and understand is extremely difficult for me. Julie and Emily are much better at hearing Swahili than I am. I love the language, I just pray that given enough time we will learn how to use it effectively to present the gospel to Kenyans.

Not a whole lot has been happening around here that you would call "exciting", although we continue to learn a great deal about the people and culture here as we interact with them day in and day out. I did climb a mountain yesterday. It was exciting to see the beautiful country of Tanzania that our loving God created. My guide was a twenty-year-old Tanzanian man (one of our Swahili teachers) who forgot that I am a thirty-eight year old American. He walked too fast and too far for this follower and I am very sore today. We had a great time, though.

Julie, Emily and I have to do a research project in Swahili for our class. I'm doing my research on "Beliefs on Origins of Swahili Speaking People". What I'm finding out is that evolutionary beliefs have permeated this culture as well as ours. When I ask them what they were taught at home about where the earth came from and where people came from they generally respond, "Nothing." When I ask them what they were taught at school I usually get, "Men and women are animals and have come from monkeys." When I ask where monkeys come from, nine times out of ten the response is, "I don't know and neither do my teachers." Fortunately, so far at least, when I ask them what they are taught at church they tell me that the churches teach them that God created the earth and mankind as well. Beloved, there is so much work to be done in this part of the world. So many people who don't know Jesus and so many who claim to know Him but don't know anything about His Word. We have so much to do and pray about. Please join us in this pursuit.

We were reminded this week that we are just guests in this country. Some friends of ours from Norway who are studying Swahili here just had a run-in with the immigration office. It seems they had some supposed problems with their passports. It actually came to the point where the Husband/Father of the family was detained and had his passport withheld from him as he was being investigated for criminal activity. He's no criminal and just wants to share the gospel with an unreached people group (the Datoga tribe). It just goes to show us how dependent we are on God and Him working for us and on our behalf. Apart from Him we can do nothing. I'm glad the flip side is true too, though: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Please pray for us as we plan on finishing language school study on Friday, June 6th and leaving Tanzania and flying to Kenya on Monday, June 9th. In Kenya we will meet up with Mike and Pam in Nairobi before our journey to Kitale.

May God's peace and joy be with you.

For the glory of God in East Africa,

Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)