“Our vision is to be a ministry of
eternal significance that impacts the cause of Christ through the advancement
and multiplication of His churches.”
January 2014
On The Ground
It
has been a good month here in Malindi getting everything back in order after
our trip to the States for the holidays. We returned to power and water
rationing as well as the heat. After being in the arctic temperatures in the
states it was nice to be back in the tropics but not so nice to face what Kenya
calls “#third world probs.” We have spent much of the month reconnecting with
everyone and checking in with the churches to see how they are doing. Let me
give a little run down on what is going on with those that we have visited.
First LBC Malindi continues to do well. We baptized seven
this month and five of those were while we were still gone the first week of
the month. Church attendance is good and there are several men starting to take
leadership and pastoral roles. I continue to serve as the senior pastor but
please pray for the leaders that God is calling that they will continue to
mature.
Magangani LBC is doing about the same as when we left.
Alphonse continues to serve as pastor and Juma is working with him. The church
is still praying for the Lord to open up an opportunity to purchase land. For
now they are making improvements on their building and looking at starting a
new work in another area.
Jimba LBC is doing great! Daniel has some enthusiastic
and committed men working with him and they are thriving. The church relocated
to a plot they are renting near the road and have rebuilt their building making
it bigger and sturdier than it was before. They are planning to start a new
fellowship in Mida this year with the Lord’s help. They already have contacts
and an invitation to start. This church has been through hard times but it has
made them stronger!
Singuaya LBC is doing well with Mwangiri continuing
as pastor. They are planning to baptize 12 the first Sunday of February. They
are continuing to work on their building on the plot they purchased. Next month
I plan to visit the church to see the plot and see their progress and how we
can help them. This church is doing well. They continue to need doctrinal
teaching and encouragement, but they are full of life.
Gandini LBC is doing about the same as always. The
building is in need of some work and the people are a bit discouraged. The
situation with William and Mama Faith divorcing has really hit this church
hard. Jonathan is trying to lead the church as pastor but he needs prayer and
teaching. I hope we can devote more time to Singuaya and Gandini this year.
Mnara wa Kweli LBC Miritini is doing well from the
reports that I got from Ely their pastor. We have not made it to Miritini yet
but I hope to next month. Ely is a good pastor and very stable so I am sure the
church is doing well under his leadership. Lord willing we will get a chance in
February to visit more with Ely.
Bokole LBC is continuing to well with Fred as their
pastor. Juma’s family says good things about Fred and has accepted him as their
leader. It has been so long since I have visited the church in Bokole. I have
really left it to the care of Ely and Fred. I hope that we can see them as well
in February.
ABA Media
Dub (Jonathan) West, his
wife Joni, and two daughters Chloe and Adelyn arrived this month to work on
shooting videos of Bible Institute classes. This is the ABA Media project we
have been asking prayers for. Dub will be traveling around the country videoing
seasoned pastors in our work that are teaching now in the Bible Institute. These
video classes will be available to all our missionaries for use in training
other pastors. I am super excited about this project and the benefits it will
have for years to come. Joni and the girls will be staying with us here in
Malindi while Dub will be coming in and out. Please pray for safety and the
success of this project.
Homeschool with Sadie
We are so
grateful to Baring Cross MBC, Arkadelphia, AR for sending Sadie Hardin over as
a short-term missionary to be our kids’ Home School Teacher. Sadie is doing
awesome and the kids are responding so well to the concentrated attention. We
appreciate Sadie giving six months of her life to the Lord and investing in our
children. Short-term missions can be so much more than just two weeks in the
summer. No one ever regrets trying something great for God!
James
Taylor PO Box 811 Malindi, Kenya 80200
Phone
011-254-713289014 missionarytaylor@gmail.com
Taylor Tribe
The biggest thing for me to report this
month......is ......I'm freeeeeee! Sadie has already been a huge blessing.
In just three weeks the kids have improved in school simply from having
someone who could devote everything to their home school needs. Sarah was
really struggling with reading and we have seen significant improvement
already. The other kids are truly enjoying a teacher other than
Mama. We all love Sadie. She is becoming
part of our family. Thank you to all who
have helped in getting her here. I hope you know what a great help this
is.
We’ve had some issues with power and water
rationing this month. I’ve been posting
a little bit about our water problems, but maybe an explanation about how our
water works would help it make sense. We
have city water, but our whole house is run off of tanks in our roof. So the city water comes on and fills up the
tanks and then all the taps are connected to those tanks including
toilets. The problem is when of course
the water goes off or it comes in with very little pressure. When the pressure is not enough it cannot
climb to our roof and fill the tanks. So
we can at times have water but not have water because the pressure is not
strong enough to fill our tanks. That
has been our problem. Since we have a
pool at least we have been equating swimming to baths. Don’t judge, you know you’ve let your kids
slip by with a pool bath from time to time.
Well, okay, I guess that’s just me.
Anyway, when the water comes on to a trickle we fill up all buckets and
use that to flush the toilets, usually it’s only enough for one flush a
day. Yep…..our house has been stinky to
say the least. We also washed our hair
right out in the front yard in swimsuits after swimming because there was a
trickle coming out of the outside spigot. Finally though, my wonderful husband rigged up
a pump system and pumped water up to the roof yesterday so we could flush all
the toilets and take a real shower.
Please pray for the water issues in Kenya.
Now, since I have a little more free time, I am
really praying asking God exactly where he would have me invest my time. I
am enjoying the margin in my life, where I can actually plan our meals and
family time without stress of rushing and always feeling pulled in every
direction. Before I was running all James’ errands in town, plus
homeschool, and even that had become difficult, so now I have the freedom to do
that for him. I am really enjoying having the extended and uninterrupted
Bible Study time once the kids get started in school. It's just a joy to
be able to dig deep. I am asking the Lord to speak to me through his word
about ladies ministry here. So many of the ladies in the villages have
asked me to come, but before I just could not. And even though I plan to
keep that margin in my life, I believe the Lord is opening the door for me to
help these ladies in the way of teaching.
Dub and Joni and their family arrived this
month to start the filming project. We are all enjoying having those cute
little babies around. I had forgotten how much Samuel really has grown,
when I realized how "not" baby proof my house is. We are
thankful for their sacrifice in being here to help out with this project.
Once again I just really want to thank all of
you who helped with Sadie's financial needs and for those who are praying for
her and our family. It's
such a huge blessing. She is a joy to be
around, and I hope we can talk
her into staying. Shhhh don't tell her
dad!
Thanks for reading and
praying!
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