May 2015
North Survey Trip
The North survey trip, that we
have been praying about and planning for, was amazing! We had a great trip and
I want to share some of the trip details. First, I want to say thank you to our
pastor, Chad Graves; our associate pastor, Ryan Copico; our campus pastor,
Daren Clements; and Pastor Aaron Johnson from Life Point Church, Washington,
PA, for coming and being a part of this survey trip. You guys were awesome and
made this trip a total success not to mention you encouraged and energized
John, Clayton, and me.
Nairobi and the Rift Valley
We started our trip off spending the weekend in
Nairobi and taking some time to enjoy the country a little before we began our
survey work. We went to the Rift Valley and climbed Mount Longonot straight out
of the gate. We visited a few other sites near Nairobi then got the vehicle ready
for our trek to Garissa. On Sunday morning we attended services in a few of the
churches in Nairobi to greet them and encourage them. It was a great prelude
weekend to our survey work.
Garissa
We
left Nairobi Monday morning and headed toward Garissa, not knowing what was
ahead or what we were going to find. The drive was very good with nice roads,
although we still had one flat along the way. We could see Mount Kenya for much
of the day off in the distance. As we got farther away from Nairobi the scenery
began to change and the style of housing as well. An hour or so from Garissa we
began to see Orma bomas (homesteads) and women pulling buckets of water rather
than carrying them on their heads. We were crossing over into new tribal areas
for all of us and the trip was becoming real. We passed through several checkpoints
before crossing the Tana River and entering Garissa Town.
We
wasted no time after arriving in Garissa; we immediately did a once through of
the entire town. It was obvious that we were not in “Kenya” anymore, at least
the Kenya we all are used to. The main populous in Garissa Town is Somali. We
found a church back up in one of the areas of town, went in and were able to
visit with the pastor. Pastor Fred of the Agape Church was our first contact
and through him we were able to get another contact, then from that contact
another contact. It was amazing how God directed our steps and led us from
place to place and person to person.
The
most sobering visit we made was to the AIC church that was bombed back in 2013.
Terrorists came on the compound on a Sunday morning and killed the guards that
were supposed to be watching over the church services. They then blocked the
church doors and threw a grenade inside. The explosion killed 17 believers
including the pastor’s wife. We met with Pastor Eliud who came once the church
was reopened after the attack. He was very helpful but was very fearful. During
the recent attack on the university in Garissa. Pastor Eliud and his family
locked themselves in their home and could hear the gunfire until the attack
finally ended after 12 hours. The attack left 147 dead and 79 injured. The AIC
church and Pastor Eliud’s home is only a ¼ mile from the university. Being in
the church and knowing it was a site of martyrs and seeing Pastor Eliud’s faith
was very challenging.
We also visited with Pastor Joseph
of Church on the Rock in Garissa Town. He is the head of the local pastors
association. He shared with us that there were some twenty churches in Garissa
but only 6 were in Garissa Town; and the others were on the other side of the
river in Mororo and Madogo. Pastor Joseph provided us with several contacts to
follow up with. He was also very helpful in understanding more about Garissa,
especially since he grew up in Garissa and had lived in the area for nearly 22
years.
Mororo
and Madogo
Another one of our visits was on
the other side of the Tana River opposite Garissa Town in an area called
Mororo. We met with Pastor Samuel of Upper Room Baptist Church. Pastor Sammy
was also very helpful and welcoming. He shared that once you cross the river it
is not nearly as dangerous as it is in Garissa Town because you
are
dealing with “Kenyans” again. Sammy took us to Madogo where he lives and most
all the other pastors as well. We met with Pastor Lazarus in Madogo and passed
by Pastor Sammy’s house.
Missionary
Family
The day before we planned to leave
Garissa to head south we met with one last pastor named Boniface. We had gotten
Boniface’s contact from Pastor Sammy. Boniface proved to be a very valuable
contact and contradiction. He was a contradiction because much of what he
shared with us was very different from the other pastors. He was very valuable
because he connected us to Jason Witt, a missionary who has been working and
living in Garissa since 2008.
We
contacted Jason and decided that it was worth staying another night in Garissa
to meet with Jason and filter some of the information we had gotten from all
the pastors. Jason came and visited us at our hotel and even took us to a farm
that he has outside of Madogo. His wife, children, and missionary partner’s
wife came and had dinner with us. Jason helped us process a lot of the
information that we had received, as well as confirm some of the things that we
were told. Jason was a kindred spirit from the get go; and we are planning to
have him and his family in Malindi with us for a week in June.
Bura
and Hola
Once we left Garissa it was a long
day of driving on some of the worst roads in Kenya. We made our way down to
Bura en route to Hola. We stopped off in Bura to see
the town. Bura is built around a huge irrigation scheme sponsored by the
government. This town has no churches in it. Back in 2003 all the churches in
Bura were burned by Muslims over the arrest of a Muslim cleric and have still
not been rebuilt. There was a spiritual void in the area for sure.
From Bura we continued on to Hola. Our time in
Hola was short but productive. We met with Pastor Amos of the AIC church in
town. We were not able to meet with Pastor Amos long because he had a meeting
to attend. We spent a good deal of time with Pastor Franklin who works with
Samaritans Purse Ministry in Hola. He and his colleagues are doing various
projects to help the community and build relationships to share the Gospel. They
even have one of their staff members doing farming in the area as a means to
make bridges into the local tribes.
Garsen
The week following the team’s
departure Clayton, John, and I went to Garsen to meet with an Orma believer
named Bocha Hussein. We heard his named mentioned several times during our
various meetings, and it was great to get the chance to meet with him. Bocha is
our first contact with an Orma and a Christian at that. Bocha was saved when he
was a teenager as a result of a volunteer teacher that worked in the secondary
school he attended. The volunteer was a Christian who worked in the school
specifically to try and build relationships and to share the Gospel. Bocha has
been to Bible College and is now back in his home area trying to be a witness
and mobilize the churches and believers in the area to be witnesses to the Orma
and Upper Pokomo. We really enjoyed our meeting with Bocha and look forward to
more opportunities to visit with him in the future.
What Does it all Mean?
We learned so much during our time
with all the contacts we made and all the places we visited. This is an
extended report and I wanted to mention each of the places and names of those
we visited so anyone who reads this report will pray for each of the men and
places specifically. Pray also for these tribal groups by name: Munyuyaya,
Orma, Malakote, Pokomo, Wata, Wardei, and Somali. All of these people groups
need a gospel witness. In every area we went we found churches but they are
primarily ministering to the Christians that are working in the cities and not
reaching the local population.
Every minister we spoke with
shared of the dangers of working in the midst of a dominant Islamic culture,
but all of them said that the call is what keeps them going. We are praying
that God will make his call clear to us as we process all that we have seen and
heard. Two other things stood out to us as we talked with various people that
are trying to reach these unreached group, that is: Integrity and Patience.
Reaching into these unreached people groups is going to require time, patience,
creative access, and persistence. Bocha, the Orma Christian, said, “People need
to see the Gospel and see that we are different.”
We are praying and processing all
the information that we have gathered and will continue to pursue contacts that
we have. For the next year the Howells and the Straders will be working on
language and culture adaptation. Our family will soon be on furlough and will
be thanking the churches for supporting us and the work for another 3-year term
and also sharing the vision for the future. God has great things in store for
our team. Please pray for us all that God will give wisdom, discretion, and
discernment.
If
you would like more details on the events mentioned in this report you can read
our blog at http://missionarytaylor.blogspot.com/
James Taylor PO Box 811 Malindi,
Kenya 80200
Phone
011-254-713289014 missionarytaylor@gmail.com
Taylor Tribe
This month was a month of accomplishment. The kids prepared for and took their first
ever standardized tests. Ashley did such
a great job preparing them and administering the test. We made it very official, complete with
testing signs all over the house. It was
a huge relief once their testing was over.
Then they just had a couple of weeks of school left. They worked hard
and finished all of their lessons for the year.
Ashley and Lindsey surprised them with a field day on the last day. They didn’t know what a field day even
was. Ashley posted a video of their
reaction. She thought they would all get
excited as she told them. It was funny
because in the video Samuel knows he’s supposed to be excited, but he’s just
not quite sure what the excitement is for.
When she explained they were very happy.
She had t-shirts made, I made walking tacos for lunch and everyone
enjoyed the games including Gertrude, Mama Cedrik, and Safari. In the evening Ashley organized an awards
night. Gertrude even gave out awards for
Swahili class. Josiah has officially
graduated from Swahili. He is now fluent
in the language. Actually a couple of
Sundays ago, Josiah was plagued by Pastor Nicolas’ translation of Brother
Chad’s sermon. Nicolas was having a hard
time following Brother Chad, and Josiah has gotten so proficient that it was
killing him at how many mistakes were made.
They are all very glad to be done with school. This has been one of the best years we’ve
had. We owe Ashley a great deal of
gratitude for all she has done.
While the guys were gone on the North Survey trip,
Ashley and Lindsey helped the kids with Mother’s Day gifts. I woke up to breakfast in bed, homemade
cards, and signs all over the house. It
was a very nice surprise. I have been blessed with the sweetest kids.
James
and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary on the 23rd. Ashley watched the kids for us so we could
spend the weekend in Mombasa. We had a
nice couple of days away just relaxing and enjoying a couple of nice
restaurants in Mombasa.
Josiah
turns 14 on the 8th of June, and he wanted to go do Paintball with
some friends in Mombasa to celebrate.
But since they were leaving to go to the states for the summer, we
decided to celebrate a little early. So
on the 30th we all went to Mombasa to play Paintball and ride
Go-Karts. Everyone had a lot of fun, and
we even had time to go see the new movie San Andreas. It was a fun day.
Now
we are in furlough preparation mode. We
have been cleaning out closets, clothes, toys, and all kinds of junk. The Straders will be staying in our house
while we are gone, so I don’t have to pack up much, just our personal
belongings that we don’t take with us.
We are excited and nervous about furlough. Staying in Monticello for the year will be
very different for us. I look forward to
what the Lord does over the next year.
For
those who have been praying for my sister, thank you so much. She finished her
last round of chemo and will be going for a scan in a couple weeks to see the
progress.
Thanks for reading and praying.
