Jimba Moving

I ran down to Gede on Thursday January 22 and visited with Juma for a few hours. It was so good to see him. I went by his little computer shop that he has to visit. I was able to bring back a used laptop for him from the states thanks to the Beckers at our church. We have given Juma several different electronics and a couple used computers and he has turned them into a business that provides for his needs. He could use a few more to continue to grow his business. Lord willing this summer our groups will be able to bring a few used laptops or desktops over. Anyhow he was grateful for the laptop.
    Juma's wife Mercy and their daughter Neema were there also and are doing great. Mercy is expecting another baby in May so pray for her and Juma as they prepare for another little one. Juma and I talked quite a bit about him attending the Magangani church and about the possibility of starting a new church near where he is living. He has been attending Magangani  but I think that his presence has made Alfonse feel a little threatened and challenged. I do not think Juma has purposefully made him feel that way but it seems that is what has happened. Juma said that he has tried not to take any responsibilities but just attend because he felt that it was affecting his relationship with Alfonse. I encouraged him that he was doing the right thing.
    We spent some time talking about starting a new Bible study near where he is living. Juma has tremendous potential and Mercy is right there with him. Of all the men we work with Juma and his wife are the only husband and wife that seem to work well together in ministry and want to work together. I told him that he was blessed to have a wife that was willing and able to minister along side him. Pray for the area Kanani and Juma as he prays about the Lords will. I encouraged him that for now he could come to Malindi and serve with us. We have plenty to do and we would use him and Mercy as much as they want to be used.
    If Juma does decide to start a new work in Kanani then I plan to try and lead the Malindi church to be his sending church and to help him. I believe he will do a good work with some encouragement and help. It was a great visit. Juma also asked when we would start classes back up and I told him next month. I love when there is a hunger, it motivates me and encourages me to dig and prepare material for the guys.
    When I left Juma's I passed by Daniel's place but he was not home. His daughter said he had gone to the fields to work. I left a message to have Daniel let me know if I could come by on Friday to greet him. I went back to Malindi and spent a little time replying to some emails and studying for Sunday. Then it was time to head out for Thursday night Bible study. I got a message on the way to the church from Godfrey asking me to teach for him because he was not able to make it.
    We got to the church and there was no one and it stayed that way until about a quarter after five. I started to just do a devotion in English but then we had a few others join us so I switched back to Swahili and we ended up with a good group. After Bible study several of the church members loaded up with us and I dropped them off with Kenya and Sadie to go into the hospital to see Benson's Baby Victor who has pneumonia. Please pray for him he’s only a week or so old. The kids and I went on to Shukarani to eat and Kenya and Sadie joined us later. 
    Friday I spent the day visiting with the Jimba and Magangani churches. First I went with Daniel to the Jimba church and met up with Emanuel and Harold. I was surprised to see that they have moved near the road to the plot they told me they were getting before we left to go to the States for the holidays. They rebuilt the building and it is 80% done and is built better than it was at the other location. We talked about how the church was doing and about their plans to start a new work in Mida with some contacts that Harold had. It was a great, encouraging visit. We ate lunch at Emanuel’s house. It was good to have some Minnows cooked in coconut milk with Ugali of course.
    When I dropped Daniel off at his house I spoke to his wife a little about teaching Sunday school and working with Kenya on materials. She got excited and I hope that we can move forward with her, she has so much talent. Please continue to pray for Daniel’s wife that the Lord will be able to use her in a great way. I am glad that after the difficult time we had with Jimba to see them moving forward again. I believe the Lord used all that we went through to get them to this point.

    I left Jimba and went to Magangani to visit with Alphonse and Japheth. We had a good visit and discussed the future a little with them. They seem to be holding steady but not really making any head way. I challenged them to seek the Lord for direction as a church for the future. This church has been idle for a while and even decreased I pray that they will get healthy again and be used by the Lord. It really was a good visit with Japheth and Alfonse. We had a short devotion at the end of our meeting.
    I got back to Malindi in time for Taco night and movies.
Saturday Josiah and I went to Mombasa to pick up Dub West and his family to work with us on videoing some classes for the Bible Institute. Dub works with Jerry Smith and ABA Media. He and his wife and two sweet girls will be with us for the next three months. We picked up Dub and his family then headed back to Malindi.
    Sunday we had a good day at the church. I preached from Psalm 23 on the compound names of God. I got through three of the seven compound names of God. We will finish the other four this week. We had several visitors and Richard’s mama came to services and said that she was going to start coming. It was so good to see her. I know that she is still broken hearted and it was so good to have her. This weeks message was a little more of an encouraging message after last weeks tough message.
    We ate lunch at Shukarani and then came to the house. In the evening we had our evening worship time. It was Dub and Joni’s anniversary so we kept their girls and told them where a nice restaurant was to eat and where to get some Gelato.
    Monday was our day off but I did talk with Ernie and Eddie about Dub’s schedule.
Today Dub and I met in the office to go over his schedule so far and make plans for his travels so he could run to town to buy plane tickets. Kenya ran Dub and Joni to town while I took the Land Rover in and passed by the parts store to try and find a belt for our dryer. I got one and tried it but it was three inches to short. Lord willing this afternoon I can go back and get  a little longer belt to get our dryer going. I was able to get a little office work done in spite of my dryer repair work but Lord willing I will get more done this afternoon.

New Life

      People will ask from time to time how Brad is doing since the kidney donation. While we were in the States we got to see Brad, Diane, and their son Mason and daughter Haylee at our family Christmas get together and he is doing great. He said he takes the minimum dosage of anti-rejection drugs and is feeling good. He is back to working full time as a Barber and has recently opened a second shop with a partner. They may even open another shop soon and my cousin Diane is planning to go back to college this year to pursue accounting. She had to work where she was before because of the insurance and Brad's needs. Oh, and they are expecting a baby!!
      People will also ask me how I am doing and I am great! I ran a marathon this year and got a new personal best. I think Brad and I both are doing great. Thank you to all who prayed for us during the procedure and the rocky days that followed for Brad. Praise the Lord!!! Here is a picture of me and Brad and Diane and Kenya.

             

Gearing up and Steps forward

Another week has gone by here on the coast. I was able to speak with all of the pastors last week to at least see how they were doing. Thursday evening we attended the Bible study here in Malindi. Godfrey did a good job teaching. I think he will continue to teach for little while longer. While we were visiting after Bible study Josiah ran down to see Richard’s mama. She had called during the day and asked if he would come by. He said that when she saw him she broke down and started crying. Josiah was so sweet he said he just hugged her. He told her that we would come by on Saturday and visit with her for little while.

I spent much of the day on Friday getting my computer set up. When we came back from the states I brought back a new computer. Of course that means there’s a learning curve and to be honest it has been a little bit annoying. However I think when it’s all said and done it’s going be much better. I also took a couple of hours of time and waded through thousands of pictures to pick out pictures of Richard that we had so that we could get them developed for his mama. Going through all the pictures reminded me of how much of a part of our family Richard was.  There were tons of birthday parties that he was there for, Christmases, New Year’s. It was so good to look at the pictures but at the same time it made me miss him all over again. Friday evening we had a great family night and of course had some tacos.  I also did some rearranging in my office to try and make it not so cramped.       

Saturday morning I spent the morning finishing up my sermon for Sunday. After lunch we headed to the church for the normal church workday. Before we went into the church we walked up to see Richards mom and visit with her for little while. We took with us a bunch of pictures that we had developed of Richard to give to her. When we got to the house we were greeted by Mohammed, Richards’s stepdad and when his mama Esther came to the door she began to cry immediately. She hugged Kenya and just wept out loud. It was so sad… our hearts broke for her.

Esther just lay next to Kenya and cried sometimes very loudly. I think the kids were a little shocked and maybe even Sadie. Once she composed herself a little she told us about his last night. Richard knew he was about to die and told his mama to give Josiah and Samuel some special things and to try and thank everyone that had helped with medicine and the hospital. It was heart wrenching to hear of a 14-year boy preparing to pass from this life and thinking of others. He was such a fine young man! She said he just went to sleep…

Before we left Esther took Josiah into Richard’s room and gave him a couple pair of tennis shoes and a crossbow toy we had given Richard for his birthday. She also gave Samuel a little gaming system that Richard used to bring over from time to time. Josiah broke down and wept after going to Richard’s room and receiving these items. Josiah loved Richard so much! We all prayed together then we went back up to the church.

We had a good turn out at the church to clean up to get ready for Sunday. We made sure the Baptistery was ready because there was one that we knew of to be baptized. Once all the work was pretty much done the men met for the new Saturday fellowship meeting that the guys started while we were gone. We had a great turn out with Ricklynn, Nicholas, Peter, Geoffrey, Kleopus, Martin, Godfrey. We prayed together then I brought a devotional thought. We talked for a little bit about growing as a church and I shared with the guys that Brother Scott always said, “a church stops growing when it costs too much.” I explained the cost is not just financial although that is an area we need to grow in but also in our time and commitments.  We had a great meeting. Starting next week we will meet for about thirty minutes then do phone visits and house visits. The choir met at 5:30 at Kleopus’ house to prepare for Sunday.

It was a great day of ministry. I am so glad to see the men taking steps in leadership and having a desire to grow. I spoke a little about some changes in Sunday School also with the men but one step at a time. Pray for the Malindi church and the men that God is raising up. I really want to invest in them and I need wisdom to not miss the opportunities.

Sunday we had a great service with two Baptisms. I preached a difficult message on being Sunday only Christians. I almost backed out of preaching it but the Lord would not let me. The message went well and I think that it struck a cord with several. There are a lot of young people in the church that have tremendous potential if they will submit to the Lord. In the evening we had a good worship service singing with I - Worship Home and listening to a Sermon. 

Monday was our normal day off except that the kids had to do school. In the past we let the kids take off school and have a day together but Sadie said we needed to do school on Mondays to be done with school on time. The kids were not too happy about it but they will be glad when they are finished on time without being pressured. We still had a good afternoon playing together and watching a movie.

Tuesday was my office day and I got some work done but not a lot in the morning because I had to take the dryer apart when it stopped working. I discovered that the belt that spins the drum is all stretched out and needs to be replaced. Not too bad of news since we were afraid it was dead only bad news is we can’t run down to Sears and pick one up. Kenya tried later in the day to get one at an appliance store but they did not have anything and were not much help especially since it is from the States. I also met with Karate and one of his friends for a couple hours. It was a good visit.

I was able to make a few calls get the update started and send out some emails that needed to go out. I closed down the office at 5:30 to go play with Josiah and spend some time with him.

Today the power has been out all day starting at 8 sharp. I still managed to get this update done and finances caught up. Lord willing I will get out of the office tomorrow to go see Alphonse, Juma, and Daniel.

Well that about covers all that has happened for the most part this past week. We will be picking up Jonathan West and his family on Saturday to be with us for the next few months. Pray for them as they come in. I need to communicate with Brother Hopper to confirm Jonathan’s schedule and make sure we have him all set up. Sadie is really doing great with the kids and already we are seeing improvement in the kids school and attitudes about school. Kenya is still staying busy running for me and getting some much needed things done around the house that she has needed to do but not had time to do. She plans to spend some time the next few days getting things ready for the Wests.

Back on the Coast

 Sorry for dropping off the radar for so long... We spent the holiday season in the States with our church and family. It was a great time of refreshment and reconnecting. It has been a tough year and a half but God has been so faithful and we have been stretched tremendously. I wanted to give an abbreviated update highlighting all that the holidays held for us. First of all I must express our appreciation to our church, Pauline Baptist Church for bringing us in at the mid point of our term. They take the money out of the churches budget not our mission account in order to do this. They are committed to taking care of our family and trying to do all they can to ensure longevity.
    Let me give you the breakdown of how we spent the holidays. We got in the week of Thanksgiving on Tuesday. We were greeted at the airport by a slew of friends! It was so awesome! We all went out for dinner then our family stayed the night in Cabot with our dear friend Jeanean Wilson. She loved on us and loaded us down with travel goodies(which lasted us the our entire trip) and also sent us off with a good breakfast after a good night of sleep. We love you Mrs. Jeanean! We went to Indiana and spent Thanksgiving with our families then headed back to Monticello, Arkansas to be with our church on December 1. I preached the morning sermon and we had a great time seeing everyone.

    We spent the next few weeks in Monticello visiting with our church family and staying with Mr. Richard and Mrs. Doris Akin. The Akins let us crash their place the entire time we were in Monticello and when we passed back through before departing. They are so good to us feeding us, loving on us, and being stand in Great Grandparents. Our time with our church was so great! We attended several Christmas get togethers, services, staff meetings, and just hung out. We had a Kenya Missions Team get together at one point that was so good. Even with the bad weather several braved out to say hello.

    I was able to run a Marathon with Darren Clemets. Even though it was not the one we prepared for it was still fun and we both got Personal bests. I also got to run a half marathon with a big group of fellow runners from Monticello. It was so good to have the fellowship and we actually took a lot of first places! Oh and Josiah went hunting and shot a deer!

    We finished our time out with the chruch by going up to Branson, Missouri for a staff retreat on December 16-17. Nearly our entire staff went as well as our other two missionaries Clayton Howell and Joey Cook. We had a great time just being together and playing games. The fellowship was sweet. Clayton even brought his Fiancé to meet everyone.

    It was while we were at the retreat that we got the news about Richard passing away. When Kenya and I gathered the children together and told them, everyone just cried especially Josiah. Listening to his weeping was so heart breaking. We sincerely thought Richard was getting better but The Lord had other plans for him. It has been a big life lesson for the kids.
    After the retreat we went up to Indiana to be with our families for Christmas and New Year. My dad even came down from Maine to be in the area for Christmas. We were able to see all of our immediate family and spend some good time with our parents. We were on the go the entire time we were in Indiana but we loved every minute of it just being with family. My brother was suppose to get married while we were in but he postponed his wedding for a few months and instead my sister got married (CRAZY). 

 

We had a good time with our families and close friends while in Indiana. The day before we left we even got to play in six inches of snow. The kids had wanted to see snow the entire time we were in the states but every time it snowed after we left one place and melted when we got to the next so it was a blessing to have a day in the snow and the kids had a blast.

 We left Indiana on January 3 to head back to Monticello for one last Sunday service before returning here to Kenya. On the way we stopped in Memphis for two of our interns wedding. Logan and Brittany had asked our kids to be in their wedding so we stayed over to be with them on their special day. It was the kids' first wedding to attend and to be in so they were all so excited. Abigail and Lydia were flower girls, Sarah carried a sign introducing and announcing the Bride and Groom, Samuel was a ring bearer, and Josiah was a Junior Usher. The kids all did great and the service was beautiful! We had a great time.

 

 We attended our first service of 2014 with our church then prepared for our departure. We left Arkansas on Tuesday Jan 7 with Sadie Hardin, our new home school teacher, and got back to Malindi on Thursday Jan 9. We off loaded everything and went to bed. We all slept form 6pm on Thursday until 9am on Friday. Needless to say we were exhausted.

    Friday we unpacked and I was able to talk to Ricklynn to get the low down on all that had happened while we were gone. It really seems like things went well at least in Malindi I will have to talk to the other men later. I was so encouraged by all that Ricklynn shared. The church even baptized 5 while we were gone!
    Saturday I worked in the morning on my message for Sunday and we went to the church in the afternoon to clean. After all the yard work was done I met with some of the men and the football team about them getting organized. We passed by the hospital and Kenya and Sadie went in to pray for one of our ladies who had a  baby that day. The kids and I went on to Shukarani. It was good to have some chicken and chips!
    Sunday we had a good service attendance even though there were several still out but things will be fine in the next few weeks with holidays passing. We had a good service here in the evening.
    Monday I spent the day with the kids while Kenya and Sadie worked on School things. I put together the girls 3 1/2 foot Barbie dream house that they got for Christmas. It took some time to get the 200 pieces put together but when it was done there were some happy girls! I let Josiah beat me at some video games also. All the kids had a triathlon in the yard as well. It was good to be home and to take a breathe before the week started.
    Today I have spent the day on trying to get reports together and this update as well as catch up on some emails. Tomorrow I plan to make calls and check in with all the guys. I am looking forward to seeing how everyone is. I have texted a little with everyone already but it will be good to talk to them. Sadie had her first day of school with the kids and I think she survived. Pray for her that The Lord will give her wisdom. Kenya is still helping her at first until Sadie gets in her groove then Kenya will be freed up a little to consider some teaching opportunities with the ladies.
    There is much to do and I would ask that you pray for us as we begin 2014 here on the coast that God will give us clear direction and that many will be lead to Christ and Discipled this year. I know God has great things in store for this year!
James Taylor
East Kenya Missions