June 4, 2008

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

There is much going on here in East Africa for us right now, some exciting, some stressful. As I write this, we have exactly one more night in Tanzania at the language school. Tomorrow we leave by bus to go to Dar es Salaam and from there we fly to Nairobi to meet up with Mike and Pam. We will spend four days in Nairobi before leaving for Kitale. The exciting part is being in Nairobi and Kitale. The stressful part is getting there - packing, saying goodbye, and traveling. I wonder if they have tarantulas in Kenya. I killed three outside our front door last week!

We have enjoyed our stay in Tanzania very much. We know much more of the language than when we arrived, but I think each of us would quickly say we don't know it well enough yet. It will require more time practicing and using the language before we are really any good at it. Four months just isn't enough time. Last week, however, I was able to preach at the church here on campus - in Swahili, of course. The first service probably had two hundred and fifty people and the second service had around three hundred and fifty. It wasn't a very deep sermon or very eloquent because it was in Swahili, but it was a good experience and six hundred people heard the gospel message from Romans 1:16. After our final written and oral exams this week, we had a graduation ceremony and as the President of the class, I appointed Julie to make our graduation speech. She did a great job. And Emily, although she was very nervous about our final tests, passed with flying colors with scores higher than the class average.

We will miss Tanzania very much. We have been able to make many friends here in just four months and touch the lives of many people. We are thankful to our Lord for the opportunities we have had here, especially the opportunities to share Christ and His love with people. We pray that our lives have impacted those we have come into contact with here even through the simple things we were able to do. Just yesterday we gave a Swahili Bible to the man who washed our clothes for the last four months. He had one already but it was tattered and torn with pages missing. He was thrilled to have a new one, and later when I went to pay him for our last load of laundry he was in his room reading it. We wish we could take about ten or twelve of these Tanzanians with us to Kenya. We will miss them.

We have a great many challenges ahead of us, beloved. I would be wrong to tell you I have no anxiety about the next few months. I do have some. However, I had anxiety before leaving the United States for Africa, yet God has not left us or forsaken us. He has strengthened us and worked on our behalf time and again and we have learned enough about Him to know He will continue to do it as we forge ahead in His name. Our great God loves us all very much and although He has not promised us an easy life or one free of pain or suffering, He has promised to be with us through the trials and to finish the work He has begun in us. Please pray for the arrival of our container all the way to Kitale. Also, please pray for our transition from Tanzania to Kenya. We love you all and thank you for all you do for us and all you mean to us.

May God's peace and joy be with you.

For the glory of God in East Africa,

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