A Letter from Pastor Letema

Praise the Lord Jesus!

Dear brethren, today I testify of the goodness of our LORD JESUS, the founder and finisher of my faith. Being able to share with you is a tremendous blessing and privilege. I give God all glory and honor and also want to bless the Lord Jesus who touched the president of FDM, pastor Craig Caster, who has been a blessing to me and my family by teaching us Godly principles that enable me to raise my children in the way of the Lord and be a godly husband who can lead and guide my family.

Life growing up

I am Letema Laizer born in Maasai tribe. I am married and I have two children. I was raised in a pastoralist family and polygamy family background. From my mother we are seven children and I am the third child from my mother and sixth child of my father. My father had more than six wives and each one has not less than five children. Growing up in the pastoralist life and polygamy background, I was raised in Maasai training and tradition, where boys are trained hard all their life to become a Maasai warrior in society. In this process of learning you are taught various techniques on how to become a father and leader. We learn that men are superior to women in many ways, so women are considered less worthy and treated as less valuable in my society. In growing up, I had seen the cruelty and heartlessness of our father towards our mother which always make me feel anger and bitterness toward him due to his actions again my mother. Later I realized why she was the only wife going through all this trauma – my father did not love her, which also led him to not love his children through her the same way he loved his children through the other wives.

In my heart I developed anger and outrage towards my father for not only not being a caring father but for also never loving us. Furthermore, I felt if I had a chance I would do anything to protect my mother who had always been mistreated harshly and also beaten, which lead to her having severe depression. I have learned this example from my mother – although she was treated harshly by our father she never left or abandoned us and always showed us love and care.

Learning to be a Godly husband and father

Before I got married I had prayed to God for a partner for life with whom I will share my life and love and raise children together in the way of the Lord. I thank God for his great favor and mercies upon my life and my family. He had seen my upbringing and seen my heart’s desire to be a good leader as Yahweh has created me in his image and his likeness. He saw it was not better for me to be alone and he made a helper who will be there to encourage, advise, love, respect and submit to me in all things. I also have a great role as a leader to love, guide and train my children in the manner and the way of the Lord Jesus together with my helper who is my wife.

In God answering my prayer, I was introduced to FDM. It has been my heart’s desire to study the Bible and develop a deep relationship with God by learning and abiding in God’s words and acting upon them as the way to grow in spiritual understanding. I was first introduced to FDM’s teaching by Dr. Jonathan King who taught us the discipleship in marriage. Later in the process, I helped with translation of the workbooks and I met with the president and founder of FDM, Pastor Craig Caster. God touched his heart and he decided to train me in all marriage as a ministry and parenting as a ministry materials which has been a great blessing in my life. These teachings greatly changed me as I understood more about God’s ways and depended on Him more. I learned what it means to be a family leader, how to love my wife as an extension of my own body and learned how my wife should submit in all things, but not taking that privilege for granted but listening more to God who gives us wisdom, understanding and knowledge on how to be a father and husband. Through FDM training I am learning to be the father of a God-fearing family and glorifying God through my marriage. This brings about much healing and restoration as I love my wife and children as a reflection of God’s love for us.