Pauline Baptist Church

I started the morning off with working on the weekly update after my prayer and reading time. The updates take a while to write. I think I spent over two hours on last weeks update. I love writing the update for everyone who reads it and I wanted to say thanks to everyone who is taking this journey with us. What a trip we have been on so far. God is good. I can’t wait to see what is around the next corner! I worked on our old printer/scanner a little trying to repair it after Mama Derrick filled it full of spray cleaner "cleaning it". Having Mama Derrick here in the house helping with cleaning and everything is invaluable with Kenya trying to home school, having to cook from scratch, and going to ten places to find our groceries. Anyhow Mama Derrick really helps Kenya...but she sometimes can unintentionally do things that just don't make sense. Anyhow we are grateful for her but our printer/scanner is not Mama Derrick's friend. We were able to get it to come on again and I can use it with my computer so that is ok. The copy function will never work again but at least the scanner and printer can function with the computer. I really needed it for the scanning capabilities.

I also worked on getting class material prepared for Moses and Juma. We planned to start classes on Tuesday. They are taking New and Old Testament Survey. It was a great day of study. Moses and I went out in the afternoon to make a couple of visits with no success. We wanted to see Alfonse about his and Mapenzi's situation. Especially since Alfonze's Mama came the other day to tell him she refused him to marry her. Alfonse was out so we just returned home.

Tuesday 5/12/09

At 5:00am we - Juma, Moses, and I were in my office and ready for class. We started by talking about the purpose of why we were studying and what we would be studying. They were both really excited. I gave them some home work and we dismissed at 6:00 so they could get ready for work. I am so excited about both of them. I am thinking about talking to Ricklynn about joining the classes. He really is showing a great desire to share the Lord's word. I know that when he was out in Western for the funeral he lead his church in worship and even brought a devotional and loved it! Pray for him as I talk with him. I am not sure what the Lord is doing in his heart.

After class I worked the remainder of the day in my office on inputting tracts and books into my computer that I received from Lynn Raburn. Brother Raburn wrote several books and tracts that are excellent materials that would be such a waste not to continue to use. I know that Brother Hopper continues to use them in Western Kenya and Nairobi. I was trying to format the materials and get them to where my printer will spit them out ready to use. I had to scan the originals that Lynn mailed me and then format them to match the originals and my printer's settings. I got several of them done and ready for printing. I want to finish up the others next week and then spend some time printing. So far the folks that we have been working with in Mazeras, Malindi, and Mangangani (Watamu with Mbuvi) have been completing anything I put in their hands so I want to continue to provide Biblical studies.

Before taking the kids to Judo, Juma stopped me and asked if he could talk to me after Judo about something. So after Judo, Juma came and we visited in the office. He said that he was having some problems with Mama Naomi calling him and being really angry. This has been going on over a week or two. I told him he needed to go and talk with her and her family to see what the problem was. He was really distraught over this. He and Mama Naomi have been rocky since he got saved. She "said" she got saved but really has not shown any change or growth and has not been here for over a month. I told Juma he just needed to communicate with her and go face to face and talk through this. They have been talking by phone but that is not the same as a face to face visit. He planned to go there on Wednesday. After he left I called Moses and reminded him to go by Alfonze's place so they could go to Lengo mbaya even though we had not visited him concerning the new developments with he and Mapenzi. We tried earlier in the day but Alfonse had gotten a job pouring some concrete so he was not available. The last plan we had with Alfonse was for he and Moses to go to Lengo mbaya to work out the marriage agreement with Mapenzi's family. So I told Moses to follow through with the plan and see what Alfonse said.

Wednesday 5/13/09

I called William's second wife Lois in the morning on Wednesday. He spoke to her the other day and her brother took the phone and told him that she had another husband now and for him not to call back. William told me about this and I wanted to confirm this from Lois herself because after our straight talk with William we were trying to get him to work out all these issues in his family life. One of them was Lois who just left one day. I called Lois and talked with her for a minute until her older brother took the phone and I spoke to him. I met him when we went to Witu several months ago so he remembered me. He told me to tell William not to call Lois any more and that if he did they were going to go to the police. I assured him that I would pass on the information. I asked him what William needed to do now according to custom because I knew he had made an agreement with the family. Crispus (Lois older brother) said that William needed to come to Witu to talked to the family and finish everything. He said that she had a new husband and William was not her husband. After that he asked me when we were going to come to Witu to start a church? I was taken back, to jump from a crazy situation with William and Lois to oh yeah, when are coming to start a church. I told him I thought we needed to get William and Lois taken care of properly so that we would have the proper testimony to even attempt to come to Witu. I assured him that we had been trying to work with William and that his actions did not reflect our beliefs on how a man should treat a woman. He said he knew William. I told him that our connection to Witu was William and Lois. He said that he was welcoming us himself to their area. I told him we would talk about it and pray for the Lord's will.

Moses and Alfonse showed up when I finished talking with Lois. They had spoken with Alfonse family about the issue of refusing him to marry Mapenzi. They had even spoken to Mapenzi about it. Alfonse's dad and brother wanted to talk to Alfonse and said they would make the final decision as to whether Alfonse could marry Mapenzi or not. Mapenzi said that whatever they decided she would follow. If they said no she would return home and that would be that. If they said yes then immediately Alfonse and Moses would go to make the agreement. Since all the Matatus (public transport) had already gone to Lengo mbaya for the day and we wanted to keep moving forward, I told Alfonse and Moses to load up and I would drop them at Lengo mbaya. Then they could talk to Alfonze's dad and brother and we could get this all taken care of. It is about a hard hour and a half drive there. I dropped them off and I headed the back way to Kilifi.

When I left Alfonse and Moses, Alfonse told me to take the main road straight until I reached Kilifi. That sounded easy and I always like learning new ways to get somewhere so I took off by myself in the direction of Kilifi. Well, for one it was not straight to Kilifi and two, the road was horrible. At one point I thought the road ended but it only turned right behind a mountain and down into a river bed and emerged on the other side. When I came up out of the river bed I saw a florescent green snake cross the road that I am pretty sure was a Green Mamba... I did not stop to check it out. I drove and drove and just when I almost lost hope, there was a junction with a main road. I asked someone where it went and they said Kilifi so I turned on it and made it to Kilifi. In Kilifi I stopped in to visit Benard the preacher from western who lives there. We had a good visit and he gave me two more books that some of his coworkers had finished. I gave him the Bibles and more studies to give them. He and I went to lunch at a little hoteli down from his place on our way to Temboni to visit Mbuvi.

I really enjoyed talking to Benard at lunch and along the way to Mbuvi's. He is wanting to start a Bible study and in the future a church in Kilifi. I told him that I would call his pastor in Western, who is James Muhanji, Ricklynn and Godfry's daddy, and talk to him about it. He is a member of Musali Landmark Baptist church and I want to see what his pastor says about him and if Musali would be interested in working with him to start a church. I could help him on this side and maybe even Brother Muhanji can come out and help out. We will see what the Lord does with Benard in Kilifi. When we reached Timboni where Mbuvi lives he was not home. Two of his daughters were there so we just left a message for Mbuvi that I would pass back by on Saturday and that I was still planning to be with them on Sunday. I dropped Benard off at a friends in Watamu and then headed home to get the kids for Judo.

While at Judo I tried to call Moses to see how things went and to see where they were but my phone died in mid sentence with Moses. When I asked him if they were back he said well and that was all I got. After Judo I went home and Juma was at the gate waiting. He said that Moses and Alfonse were stuck and needed us to come and get them. I put my phone on the charger and called Moses and sure enough they were about an hour away and need us to come get them. Juma and I jumped in the truck and headed out to rescue Moses and Alfonse. Juma said the matatu they were one had gotten stuck in the mud so that is why they were stuck but when we arrived we got the real story. As we were driving to pick up Moses and Alfonse, Juma told me how his visit with Mama Naomi and her family went. He said that he sat down with Mama Naomi, her sister, her brother, and her mom and had a meeting. They told him that as far as they were concerned everything was fine and that Mama Naomi just need to go to clinics and that was the issue she was having. They made a plan together for her to go to clinics the next day and Juma was going to come and go with her. He said the meeting was good and then he, Mama Naomi, and her sister left to walk to the stage so he could catch a matatu back to Malindi. On the way to the stage mama Naomi started talking crazy stuff and hitting Juma with her shoes and a book. She told him if it wasn't for the baby she would not be with him and that if he did not take care of everything she was going to get a knife and cut the baby out herself and that would be the end of it all. Her sister said, "who will sew you up?" and she said she would just be finished. Jumas said he did not know what to do so he left so that he would not get angry. He came directly to our place. He was completely confused. We talked a little more as we drove and I told him that he, Moses, and I would talk about this the next day during our class time and try to help him.

It was pitch black where we found Alfonse and Moses and the first thing Alfonse did was just crack up laughing. He and Moses got in and as we were driving the story came out. They were not stuck because of a matatu in the mud, they had been arrested and questioned by the chief and sub chief of the area. They left Lengo mbaya and came to a place called Jilore in hopes to catch a Matatu there because the ones in Lengombaya had stopped running for the day. When they left Lengombaya they noticed someone had followed them but thought nothing of it. Someone had followed them and had called the chief and others out to arrest Moses and Alfonse. They questioned them because there were some thieves in the area that had been killing goats and cows and then taking the meat to Malindi. They thought Alfonse and Moses were the thieves. Moses said Alfonse was shaking and scared to death the whole time. After they explained what they were doing the chief believed them (thank the Lord) and told them they were free to go, but suggested they not leave Jilore. He said if they walk up the road in the dark they would likely be arrested, beat, or killed for the same reason they stopped them there. He said the next group may not listen so we road in and rescued them and got them back to Malindi. Oh the joys of ministry! Moses is getting night classes it seems! Haha

We all just laughed about the whole thing and praised the Lord for his protection. Moses then told us of the results with Alfonze's dad and brother. The issue is completely centered around a rumor that Mapenzi has Aids. The conclusion from the dad and brother is that if Mapenzi will be tested with one of them present and she does not have aids then they can marry. If she does they do not want them to marry. So they made plans for the brother to come to town and Mapenzi has already agreed to be tested. She said she knows she does not have Aids and the rumor was started because she had TB and was treated. Many here think automatically if someone has TB they have Aids, which in most cases is not far off but we will see. We got home and all went our ways. What a crazy day.

Thursday 5/14/09

Moses, Juma, and I met at 5:00am for our class time but spent the time talking about Juma's issue. We advised Juma to follow through with taking mama Naomi for her clinics as he had agreed with the family. Then he should meet with them all again and tell them what happened since she did all the crazy stuff after she left them. It is obvious this is an issue with her not her family but they need to know what is going on and maybe can help. We prayed together and then Juma headed out. Moses and I got things ready to go to Singuaya with William. Since there is no work in Malindi he was going home to Singuaya to farm and try to work things out with Mama Faith and work on a house for her also.

We picked up William and loaded all his stuff and headed for Singuaya. The drive in was awesome. I got to put the Land Rover to the test using 4 wheel drive and all. We were the first ones to pass on the road since the rains have come and we made it through. It was fun and proved that the Land Rover is an animal when it comes to mudding. I told William and Moses that the muddy roads were a play ground for this vehicle. We all fell in love with the Land Rover on this trip. We took it off the road and everything with no issues. Thank the Lord for providing this vehicle. Now we can continue with no worries into the interior.

We arrived in Singuaya and visited a little. Everyone is doing good there. We went out to see the shamba (farm land) and how the crops were doing. While in the fields they showed us a HUGE Puff Adder that a mama killed. A Puff Adder is a very aggressive and extremely poisonous snake. That snake was huge and I could not believe that one mama clubbed that dude in the head and killed it! I would have ran and never went back if I had seen this monster. I am not exaggerating about the size! Anyhow we made plans to come back in a couple weeks to stay the night and do some teaching and preaching. Now that William is home maybe he will be able to gather some folks together when we come. We will see what the Lord does. We are just hopeful that William will be able to work things out with Mama Faith and start growing spiritually. Until he changes it is going to be difficult to reach out to his family there in Singuaya. Pray that the Lord will do a work in William's heart.

Moses and I headed back to Malindi so we could be ready for Bible study. We took another route out of Singuaya that was really smooth so there was not as much four wheeling on the way out. When we got to the house, I went in and immediately got a call from Juma saying he needed us in Watamu to help with a couple hundred shillings (a few dollars). We jumped back in the truck and drove up to Watamu and helped Juma pay so Mama Naomi could have her clinic. He said that he was going back with Mama Naomi and the sister to talk after the clinic. We went back to Malindi for Bible Study.

Bible study went well. I called Moses in the evening to tell him he did not need to go with us to Mazeras on the next day if he wanted to stay in Malindi and study. He was suppose to teach an evangelism class on Saturday and had mentioned earlier in the day while we were driving that he had not had time to study with all the travels. He said he would just stay and study since Juma and I were going out and returning. I originally planned to stay the night but thought there was no need on short notice it might be better to just go and greet them and plan for next month. I also called Juma to see how his meeting with the family went. He was on his way but it was late so we decided we could talk on the way to Mazeras.

Friday 5/15/09

I was in the office early and Juma came over as usual. He did his workout while I was in the office and then came in to visit. He said that he met with mama Naomi, her sister, her brother, and her mama again. He told them about what mama Naomi did after they left the night before and asked what he should do and if they could help. First Mama Naomi said he was lying then her sister spoke up and said that it was all true because she was there and that Mama Naomi had done wrong by talking the way she did. Mama Naomi's mom said it was wrong and could not believe she would say what she said about her baby. Her brother Ramah spoke to Juma and said that even mama Naomi was at odds with him and that she had issues with everyone in the family. They told him they did not have any advice if he was finished with her then to get a letter from his dad canceling the agreement and he could come get the baby and Naomi. Mama Naomi said she didn't want them. Juma told them he was going home to talk to his dad but what he wanted was for her to change and not be this way. Mama Naomi replied that it would be like she was now and worse until they both died if she came to be with him.

Juma was defeated in my office. He did not know what to do. I told him I was at a loss for words. I told him that his dad would give him good advice I was sure so we would just wait and hear his advice first. I encouraged him to continue to pray and the Lord would make his will clear. Juma is suppose to take Mama Naomi as his wife next month so this is all so heavy on him and he does not know nor does anyone else know why Mama Naomi is acting like this. We left for Mazeras at about 7:00am. We passed by and picked up some things from Juma's brother Matano. He and his wife finished their books to get a Bible also so I gave him their Bibles and some more studies to do together. We headed into Mazeras. Oh by the way Josiah went with us.

When we got to Mazeras we stopped at the primary school to give out some New Testaments and John and Romans. FISH ministries in Arkansas gave us some English New Testaments and some John and Romans in Swahili to pass out so I thought it would be a good relationship builder to take some to the school in Mazeras. We gave the entire class 6 (100 students) English New Testaments. We gave classes 4,5,7,and 8. John and Romans in Swahili. The Deputy Head Master let us go class to class to distribute the books. It was great to see Josiah and Juma handing out the Word! The Deputy Head Master asked if they were for the Christians or what... I told him that they were for all the students who wanted them. We did not have anyone refuse. Even the Muslim girls wearing their head coverings took the New testaments. We are going to pass by again next month and give the class 7 and 8 English New Testaments. We just did not have enough for them with us. There are over 1000 children in the school with only 16 teachers! CRAZY

After leaving there we went to Juma's home and visited. I was shocked at the fact there had been no rain since we were last here. I mean no rain. There were no crops crowing just dry hard soil. This is not good for them please pray for rain in Mazeras. Everyone was happy to see us and we got caught up on everything. Salim said they had people show up in the morning but sent them away since I was not staying over and had changed the plan. I felt terrible but told him that we were going to come next month for three days again of teaching. He said that there will be a lot of people next time we come. I told him we would be teaching on Baptism and the church. He said that he had been doing his studies I gave him and he knew already that he needed to be baptized and wanted to be the first one! Hallelujah!! That was shouting ground!! God is moving in the hearts of the folks in Mazeras. Salim went on to say that people, he and the others, were wondering when we could start a church since now that they were saved they did not have anywhere to go because the churches in the area were not teaching the Bible like we do. My spirit leaped to see again the Holy Spirit just stirring the hearts.

As the morning went on folks started coming in and bringing their books they had completed. I gave them their Bibles and more studies. We had a group of twenty or thirty by noon that were sitting all around me. Salim brought me his bible and said can you teach us about this passage. It was opened to the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke. So I sat down in the middle of everyone and started teaching. It was so awesome! God blessed! I taught for two hours and barely scratched the surface of all that we could have talked about. One thing I stressed was that just because you are saved does not mean that you will not have hardships in life. The prosperity gospel is rampant here and is just a lie. Real life is hard sometimes but God is always faithful.

The highlight of the day was that Juma's dad finished his book and got his Bible! Juma's dad said he was saved the last time we were here but his profession, I feared, was just because everyone else was following Christ. I was afraid he agreed just so he would not cause issues in his home. After he got his Bible he told Juma that if he could he would stay up all night and read it but his eyes were bad so he would spend the next day reading it all day. This is his dad's first Bible in his entire life! He is probably 45 years old. What a testimony to what God has done in his life. Juma told me about what his dad said on the way home and I just melted! Praise the Lord!

Earlier in the day Juma had spoke to his parents about the problems with Mama Naomi. They told him to be patient and if she has not changed by the time we return on June 11 then they would write the letter explaining why they did not want to go through with the marriage. Juma and his folks are hopeful Mama Naomi will change as I am know her family is also. I am convinced this is a spiritual battle in mama Naomi and I pray that she will turn to the Lord in all this. Juma's mama said that a few months ago when Mama Naomi came to Mazeras that she made a comment that if it did not work out with her and Juma that she would send Naomi and the Baby to her to take care of . Juma's mama said she did not tell Juma then because she did not want to upset him. So this issue has been in Mama Naomi's mind for awhile. Again I truly believe it has everything to do with Juma getting saved and a complete change in his life. Pray for him that God will give him peace and help him through this. Pray for Mama Naomi that if she is not saved she will be or if she is that she will stop resisting the Lord.

Needless to say it was an awesome day in Mazeras. Josiah just played the whole time we were there. We did not eat in Mazeras because I knew there was no food. We actually brought 5 kilos of beans and 5 kilos of rice to try and help them a little. Josiah, at one point, told me he was hungry but I explained to him that they had no food and the food we brought we wanted them to use for them. We have been trying to get Josiah to see he should be grateful for the food he has and not be so picky. We have used the "there are starving kids in Africa that would love to have this food" only we say that "there are starving kids all around us that would love to have this food" we get the same reply as other parents "then why don't we give it to them". This was a great chance for Josiah to see the kids that were around us not eating and to actually give them the food. He agreed that we should not eat and wait until we were on our way home. On the way home we did stop and eat and then got home for family night.

Saturday 5/16/07

I went to the church for Moses' Evangelism class at 10:00am until noon. He did a good job teaching. Juma and Godfry also came. I wish more had come but that is the way it is I guess. I went back to the house and played a little with the kids until the afternoon. Moses and I went to Timboni to visit with Mbuvi. When we arrived they had food ready for us. We ate a new dish I had never had and drank soy bean tea? It was all good. We had a great visit with Mbuvi. They seem to be doing well. We talked about doing a seminar next month on the family and how the family should serve in the church. It will be a big help to the group that is meeting in Mangangani and for Mbuvi and his family. Moses, Kenya, and I will begin making preparations. We sat and visited for a few hours until we finally had to go. It was getting late into the night. We talked about the plan for the group that Mbuvi is meeting with in Mangangani and how to proceed with them. Mbuvi has some great ideas and we will continue to move forward slowly. It was a great visit!

Sunday 5/17/09

I went to Mangangani for services Sunday while Moses preached here in Malindi. Mbuvi taught Sunday School and I preached. We had a good service and it was good to see that they have progressed on their building. The roof is partly on and they did some planning after the services were over. There were ten adults and 18 children in attendance for worship. I gave 1500/= ($20) to the group to help them buy some poles to continue with their roof. They have brought all the big logs to hold up the roof - 8 iron sheets and 100 makuti along with most of the poles for the roof. I want to help them with this portion of the process because they were at a standstill without the poles. It was good to see them working together and excited about the teachings. There were two that had their books done to get Bibles and five or six who said they were almost done.

I spoke to Mbuvi after services and we put together a plan to go through the doctrinal statement and teach on Baptism. I told Mbuvi that I was hopeful that if they continue through their studies this month and next that we should plan for a baptism service and church organization in July. We will see how things continue to progress. I will be visiting them more in the next few weeks to see their progress and help Mbuvi as he needs it.

I got in late in the afternoon. I downloaded the sermon for the evening and just before we were about to have our service Moses came over and said that Juma need us in Watamu. Mama Naomi had to be taken to the hospital with stomach pains. Juma had gone to take her and was at the hospital with a 300/= ($4)balance on his bill and asked if we could help him. Mama Naomi's family basically left Juma holding the bag on the bill. Moses and I helped Juma with the money and brought him home. He had not eaten all day and had been at the hospital all day. He spent every shilling he had and had nothing for food or anything. He said he was defeated with mama Naomi and her family. I told Juma I had no words to say and that I was sorry. We dropped Moses off at home and Juma and I came to our house and ate together. I told him to just keep praying and hang in there. He is a good man but wow what a hornets nest he is in with Mama Naomi. Pray for a break through soon!

It was a great week of ministry with ups and downs. Pray as we continue to work with those God has brought into our lives. Pray also for Mangangani, Singuaya, Malindi, Mazeras, and Kilifi. As always, but with all sincerity, pray for more laborers!

KENYA's update

We had a great ladies meeting last Saturday. Mother's Day isn't really celebrated here, in the big cities on a very small level, but generally speaking it's not, but we still had a little bit of a mother's day theme. I have still just been trying to get the ladies to live out their faith in their everyday lives. Not just come to church. They are all great, wonderful ladies, they don't do anything bad, but I wish they could experience and know God the way I do. So I spoke about a few mothers in the Bible who handed down a legacy of faith to their children. I also made very simple prayer journals for each of the ladies to take home and use to begin praying for their husbands and children daily. I really think they liked the idea of a prayer journal and had never really thought about praying for specific needs of their children. Even future needs like a Christian spouse. My Aunt Jody told me that she prayed for her kids to marry Christian spouses from the time they were babies and they all did and are all serving the Lord. I, now, pray for my children's future spouses. I pray about even small things like potty training and I feel that made all the difference in the world. Anyway, I wanted the ladies to see how easy it is. We will have another ladies meeting on the 30th of May. I really enjoy these meeting so much. I think for one, it's because I get to wear a different "hat." I'm not Mama for a couple hours. Of course I end up teaching about my experience as a mother, but it's so fun passing on what the Lord has taught and is teaching me. This week I noticed how much Gertrude has become a part of the group. Before the death of Mama Esther and Ricklynn's baby, there was just a barrier there between her and the other women, not anything bad, you could see though that no one was really comfortable. But Gertrude was there at the hospital with Mama Esther through the whole day and I think that changed everything. She has such a great personality and I really think she could lead the ladies in a way much better than I could. I hope to talk to her about it soon and maybe someday she will be the one teaching the classes. Again our goal is always to have an indigenous work. James seems to be doing a pretty good job of working himself out of a job here in Malindi. The kids and I will always go to church here in Malindi. We want a stable place to attend for the kids and so this will be our home church in Malindi. James may be gone to other places on Sundays from time to time, but for us this will be home.

My Sunday school class has done so well. I challenged all of the kids to learn the books of the new testament and now all except for a few of the small kids have learned them. They each got a small treat in front of the church when they could say them. And the reason I wanted to recognize them in front of the church was to show them how important God's word is and also to challenge the adults to learn them. None of the adults, except Moses, I think could raise their hand and say they knew the books of the bible. So James encouraged even the adults to do so.

Our family is doing great. God has been so good to us. Last month was just a crazy month, but God kept us sane. I didn't feel like I was going to lose "it" at all. There were days that were down and discouraging, but I knew that God was working a plan. He always is. Lydia gets her cast off in 4 days. She has just been great since that surgery. She has finished school already except for some writing but that is a little hard to do with a cast. Abigail and Josiah will be finished with school on Tuesday. I am so proud of them at how hard they have worked this year. I plan to have an awards evening and everything on Tuesday evening. We are taking Josiah and Abigail to the orthodontist in Mombasa on Wednesday for a sort of pre-braces check, as they are both going to need them. While we are there we will do something fun for an end of school celebration. Sarah's goal for "school" this year was to learn her colors. And she did! I am thinking of going ahead and doing preschool with her next year even though she will only be three. The others I just did fun stuff until they were ready for K4, so we will see, but she loves to be a part of what the other kids are doing. Samuel, wow, he's just busy. He is amazingly smart. He can now unlatch his bed gate and get out of the bed. I had to buy a safety gate so he couldn't get out of his room. I'm worried about our stairs. I don’t know how we have managed this long without one. But I found a store here in town, that has some used expatriate things. And they had a gate. I was so glad. I could use a couple more, but this one will do.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day! James took care of the kids the whole day. I didn't have to do anything. He even made me breakfast in bed, a first. Josiah wasn't versed in the practice of breakfast in bed, so at first he came in the room showed me the breakfast and then took the tray back out. I yelled, "hey isn't that supposed to be breakfast in bed?" He said, "No I was just pretending, I just wanted to show you what Baba made." He finally brought it back to me. I talked to my Mom, too, so that was nice.

So now that things are back on track we are on the move. God is good and I'm looking forward to what he does next.

Thanks for reading and praying.

James Taylor

East Kenya Missions