Pauline Baptist Church

On Wednesday Silas and I went to Brother Daniel Mbuvi's place in Timboni to pick up his family and make a trip to their plot they have north of Malindi. I have been telling Brother Mbuvi's wife that I will go see it for months.  Last week while we were together she asked me again. So I told her we would go Wednesday and we went. In all reality I did not want to make the trip and even felt it was a waste of time but the Lord reminded me that people and relationship building are not a waste of time. It took us about an hour to get to where their plot was located. When we left the main road and headed interior I expected that we would just stop out in the open at a plot and that would be it, but we ended up at a boma (homestead).

The boma we went to was home to Brother Mbuvi's wife's sister. She was so happy to see the entire family together. I heard them say it had been over ten years since they had all been to see her so this was a big deal. We greeted everyone and then headed to their plot. Daniel's wife's sister living in the area explained to me how and why they had this plot so far from where they are from and where they live. When we reached the plot Daniel's wife took us around the entire boundary of the plot so we could see it. They have a nice plot. The crops that they planted did not do so well due to the shortage of rain but there was little bit to harvest. After we walked the plot and visited a little we started working on harvesting what there was.

Silas and I were pretty clueless as to what to harvest and what to leave but by the time we were finished we had got the hang of it. We harvested corn and chic peas. It was nice to be in the field with Daniel and his entire family. I really love being with people and living life together. It started out as a trip I did not want to take but as the day went on, God softened my heart and I realized how important this trip was for Daniel and his family and for our relationship. It shows a genuine interest in who they are not just "the work". It is a big deal for them to have this plot and the food that we harvested with them was a huge blessing.

Once we had harvested and shucked the dry corn we loaded it all up and carried it back to Daniel's wife's sister. I even carried the corn I harvested on my head. It is actually easier than just lugging it over your shoulder. It was a fun afternoon. We sat down all together and had some chai (tea with milk) bread, and Mandazi (sweet bread). While we were visiting Daniel's wife's sister said that there was a need to start a church in the interior. She said there is a church by the road but interior there were no churches at all, but there were some believers and lots of people that needed to be saved. We told her that if they would like we would come back in the future and travel more interior and see if there was an open door. It was a great visit and even more so to think that this may open another door for the gospel interior. Everywhere we go the interior peoples have no churches. We said our good byes and took Daniel and his family back to Timboni and we headed for Malindi. It was a good day and who knows what the Lord has in store for us in this new area?

Thursday we spent the day getting ready for our trip to Mazeras to show the Jesus film on Friday. Silas also went out and picked up some items to give to the children in Mazeras. He spent the week distributing all his things that he had and purchasing things to leave with all the new friends he has made over the past few months. We also spoke to John about getting his motor cycle license so he can drive Moses’ motor cycle he bought. Silas used some money that Rob our college minister at our church sent to help John with his license. He already had a license to drive a car but needed an endorsement for a motor bike. This will provide John with work and Moses with someone he knows and trusts to drive his bike which will bring in money for Moses. Everyone wins!

I also spent some time reading and studying. The truck was loaded and ready to go by the time we went to Bible study. While we were at Bible study we added a few more people to go with us to Mazeras but that was no problem. When we got back from Bible study I changed from the small tents to the big tent in anticipation of the group that we would be taking to Mazeras from our church. The folks at First Landmark Malindi are always hearing Moses and I talk about Mazeras and out trips there but have never been there so I invited all that wanted to go to come with us.

On Friday we loaded up to go with nine of us from Malindi going (Ricklynn, John, Godfry, Silas, Beatrice, Juma, Ajabu, Katana, and me)and we passed by and added Brother Mbuvi and his son David to boot. We had a total of eleven in the truck and all the equipment! We were loaded and ready to go. When we arrived in Mazeras we all fell out of the Rover and greeted everyone. Then we went to work of setting up camp and the screen.

We ate some lunch together before heading out to do some visitation. Lunch was mine and Silas’ favorite, Matumbo (goat intestine, stomach, and everything inside a goat). Yummy yummy! I have figured out the way to eat the matumbo and not throw up... you know how you can block off your ability to smell in the back of you throat, well if not try it. If you block off your ability to smell taste goes with it! Who knew? Then you can actually chew up and grind on or let slide down anything and not taste it, and trust me that is a good thing. I ate my entire bowl of Matumbo off course with Ugali.

After lunch we headed out armed with tracts written in Giriama, which is close to the local language. We wanted to get out and remind folks that we were showing the Jesus film in Swahili and invite them for Bible study. We covered a lot of ground with all of us working together. We met back at around 5:00pm so we could finish setting up the film and start up some music to get folks attention. Ricklynn and Beatrice lead us in some singing to invite folks for the movie. We really had a small crowd at first but as the cinema went on the crowd grew. When the night was all over we had a total of five saved! AMEN!

After we broke down everything from the cinema we sat down and had supper together. We had coconut beans and Ugali, which is excellent! After we visited a little while we all headed for bed. All of us men slept in the tent and Beatrice slept with Juma's family. When we got in the tent we were one foam mattress short so I went to the Rover and pulled off the two square foam pads that are on the back jump seats to use for my bed. Let's just say my hip and my shoulders had a place to lay but everything else was another story. I also had a small travel pillow so I managed some sleep. It was also COLD at night. I looked up at one point in the night to see most of the men curled into fetal positions or a ball. I had to laugh until I laid back down on my pads then I wanted to cry. (haha). Morning finally came!

We got up Saturday and tore down camp then headed down with Juma to get some Madafu (young Green coconuts filled with water type stuff).We drank the water inside and ate the coconut "meat" from the inside. Then Juma showed everyone his family’s shamba(farm land) and picked us some corn to roast for a snack later. When we got back to Juma's house I thought we were good to go on breakfast since we all had two madafu each but we still had tea, chapati, and Mahamri (sweet bread) to eat. It was an awesome breakfast.

After breakfast we waited a little while then started teachings. I asked brother Mbuvi earlier in the week to be prepared to teach. I wanted the folks in Mazeras to not only meet our folks but to hear another teacher who believed the same doctrine as we were teaching them. As always we started with a small group but grew quite large. Brother Mbuvi did a great job teaching and he loved every minute of it. In the midst of our teaching I went off to the side to talk to a mama about her salvation and some questions she had about marriage and being a former Muslim. It was a good conversation. Brother Mbuvi finished teaching and we prayed together and visited with everyone for a little while. It was good to see those that had been saved the night before at the Bible study. I love to see the fruits of salvation!

We had a late lunch then loaded up to head for Malindi. It is always a long drive back to Malindi from Mazeras. It takes around 3-3 1/2 hours to get back to Malindi due to traffic in Mombasa. We dropped everyone off at their homes before finally getting back to our house. I was so looking forward to our bed!

Sunday morning we had great services with pretty good attendance considering Moses and his family were still in Western, Juma and Ajabu stayed in Mazeras, and William is still in Singuaya. I taught SS since Moses was gone. I also had to translate Silas' sermon for the morning. This was the first time I have ever translated an entire messaged for someone, I have translated short introductions before but not a message. I think it went ok. Silas preached a good message on bringing people to Jesus together. It was his last Sunday with us and he left us with a great challenge. After services I spoke with Jonathan (William's brother) about baptism and church membership. Lord willing we will baptize two next week.

When we got back to the house I met with Joseph also who made it back from Tanzania in time for services. He did not find his dad but at least did try. He also was able to see the difficulty of finding his dad with the little information that he had. Silas left some more of the money from our college minister Rob to help Joseph buy a bike so he will have work. After I finished talking with Joseph our family loaded up with Silas to go to lunch. We took him to Chariba which was his first meal in Malindi and was his last. After lunch we ran back to pick up Silas' luggage then ran him to the airport. We said our good byes at the airport. I count Silas a good friend and our family will miss him at our dinner table. Our kids really took up with Silas. I hope that his time spent with us this summer will impact his life and future ministry.

Sunday evening we had our services. Josiah lead us in music and I preached for the kids. Josiah told me he likes me to teach them so how can I refuse that! At first I thought, “no we are going to listen to the sermons I down load from our church and that's that”. Then the more I thought about it God pricked my heart and I realized I am an idiot! How many kids say dad please teach us the bible we want you to teach us. So I have been teaching the children and Kenya and I are listening to the sermons from our home church together. The service went well. Even Richard stayed and sang with us and listened to the message.

Monday morning I did some good reading and studying. I am learning more and more that I must take time to feed my spirit lest I have nothing to offer those God has entrusted us to minister to and with. I know intellectually this is a danger but sometimes to do something about it I lag. I want to do do do and go go go but I need to take time to stop, listen, and even feast on spiritual nourishment.

I got a call from Silas that he had not made his plane and that he was stuck at the airport and asked me what to do. I immediately called Jack Story (sorry Jack I know you were sleeping) and asked him what to do. He went to work on it immediately on his end and told me what to tell Silas to do. Throughout the day Silas and I were in contact until he was finally back at his hotel and had a new flight schedule. Unfortunately his new itinerary left him in Nairobi for two days with nothing to do. Silas did great in the entire situation even though it was CRAZY and he was alone in dealing with it.

Joseph came by in the morning so we could talk about where he should go from here. I connected him to Juma and they went off to try and get a bicycle and get Joseph back to work. By the end of the day Joseph had a bike and a place to sleep. I think he will be ok. Pray for him that we will be able to continue to help him with his spiritual growth.

I was also able to get some calls made to some folks and get some administrative things done. I talked with Julius Ayugu who is a good friend of ours from western about coming to visit us this week. He used to work for Brother Hopper in Nairobi.   He works for another missionary right now in Nairobi who is going on leave so we invited him and his family to stay a few days here on the coast. We are excited to have him come. He is a great man one of the finest, bar none, Christian men I know! I also spoke with a printing company in Nairobi if they still had some books that we used in the Landmark Bible Institute. They said they still had them in print and in stock. I plan to go and get some when I go to Nairobi.

I also spoke to William in Singuaya he said they were doing well. They are still meeting near his house on Sundays. He said there were four young men that needed baptism and were waiting to talk to us. I told him we would come to see William this week or next. We really need to see what if anything is going on in Singuaya. You never know about what William says. We also need to start working with anyone that might be meeting there because William is not qualified in any way to lead a group there. He has some major spiritual growth not to mention family issues that he needs to deal with in his life. Please pray for Singuaya and God's leadership I still believe there is huge potential there. I may try going to the river and going across on the ferry this trip to see how long it takes. We will have to leave the car on one side of the river but we can go the rest of the way on foot. We will see how that works out.

Kenya and the children also started school on Monday. I think they had a good day. Sarah was so excited that she was doing school this year. (preschool) It will be good to get back on schedule with school and everything. Moses also made it back to Malindi and will start back to work on Tuesday.  It will be good to have him back.

Today I have spent the morning preparing for starting school back for Moses and Juma then I listened to an audio sermon. I have spent much of the morning today working on this update. I did take about an hour and a half to talk with Moses and Godfry about the church and ministries we are involved in. It was great to dream with them and think of all that God is doing and wants to do. We had a sweet time of prayer. I am finishing up this update and then I have to do some planning for the rest of this month and next.

James Taylor

East Kenya Missions