EastKenyaMissions.com

We enjoyed a two day visit from our dear friend Katharine. She was down from Nairobi working in Mombasa and she came and spent some time with us. Katherine is a nutritionist and does evaluation of nutritional needs, training on how to improve nutrition, and especially training for the nutritional needs of those who are HIV positive. She also wanted to check on some people she had witnessed to during her 5 weeks with us here in January and February. So found them doing well and presented some of them with Bibles.

Tuesday evening we took her to the board walk at Mida Creek. Missy and I had been there once at low tide and it was neat but a little boring looking at dried and cracked dirt. This time we went at high tide and it was the highest tide of the month, so it was a totally different experience. When we pulled up the worker suggested that I move the vehicle because when we returned it would be in water. I took his advice although it would have been fine because it was the Land Rover (ARR-ARR- ARR, that’s my best effort at a Tim Taylor grunt). He was right, when we returned we had to wade back to the vehicle and some places were as deep as our knees.

I had to have the van serviced this week. It was time to have service done, plus Missy and I leave for Nairobi in about 10 days to get our passports renewed along with some other business, so I wanted to make sure everything was in tip top shape.

Thursday was a busy day. I went down to Jimba to give Daniel his last book to complete in order to be ready for graduation. He also took another memory verse test, seeking to improve a low score. As I was driving back to Malindi, I got a call from Cleopas who usually arranges transportation for our groups that come. He had a price together for me for this summer’s group, so we met at the Malindi church to discuss things.

After speaking to Cleopas, I went out and did some visiting near the Malindi church. I plan on doing some visiting with the pastor’s, but I wanted to go alone to be forced to use my Swahili. It went well although I noted several things I need to work on. There was one man who seemed genuinely interested. He said he would come and visit the church, so I hope he will.

One man looked disgusted as I gave him the tracts. I could tell by the rubbed spot on his forehead he was a Muslim (They create a callous on their forehead by rubbing it on the floor during prayer). One of the men nearby said, you should distribute them with your right hand and not your left. I knew what he was talking about immediately, but at the same time it seemed funny to me. It is impossible to distribute literature without touching it with both hands. If I give it with my right, I have taken it out of my left. I thanked him for the advice and continued to distribute with my right hand to avoid any offense.

Thanks for praying,

Brother Scott

We did all the usual stuff for the first few days of the week. Thursday was a really productive day. Productivity makes me happy. Missy went to the ladies Bible study Thursday afternoon and I had planned to go to the evening Bible study at First Landmark Malindi. Due to Missy being delayed and a fundi being here in the house I was unable to go.

I am sure it was God’s plan because Jonathan came by to let us know that his mother had passed away. I ask several questions about the burial and told Jonathan we would plan on coming. Then it came out in the conversation that it was actually his aunt. They describe their family relationships much broader than we do. An aunt or uncle will often be described as mother or father and a cousin is usually described as a brother. If you need to know exactly what they are saying there are some questions you have to ask, but my mind has not yet gained the automatic setting to ask the questions.

Understanding that it was Jonathan’s aunt and not his mother, I went back to our original plan which was to go to Mombasa on Saturday and visit Bokole on Sunday. Bokole is about a two and a half to three hour drive. Missy and I may be a little spoiled, but six hours of difficult driving plus a hard day’s work is just not for us anymore. We have found a nice place that we can stay in town for about $50. We would rather spend $50 of our own money and have a chance to relax and do a little business in Mombasa. Then after church the next day we drive back. It makes it a little easier on two semi-old people.

Plan B, which was actually plan A, did not work out either. We did go to town relax a bit and have a nice dinner, but about the time we returned to our room I got a call from Juma saying that he and Mercy’s (Juma’s wife) daughter had been born. The named her Neema, which means grace. I congratulated him and told him we would be praying for them. After getting off the phone, Missy and I decided after church we would go by the hospital and see them believing we knew where they were.

The next morning I told Missy that I did not think it would be productive to go out to Bokole. The church there is composed almost completely of Juma and Mercy’s families. I felt that with the birth of the baby the chances of the crowd being really low were good. So we decided to go to church in Mombasa so that way we could get to the hospital a little sooner (Plan C). I decided to double check the place we thought the hospital was and felt that we might be wrong. Every effort we made to figure out where it was only confused matters. We finally decided because we were not sure where it was that we would just go home.

Sunday night we had our worship time with Christine. Always enjoy being with her and having the chance to learn from God’s word together.

Thanks for praying,

Brother Scott

On Wednesday I went with Ricklynn and Godfrey to get some more material for the building here in Malindi. This past fall they did a lot of work on the building and made some really great improvements. Like building projects everywhere it usually ends up costing more than you thought. They ran out of money before they got the finishing touches on. I told them that we would help with the end of the building that faces the road. At least that way it will appear to be nice and finished to those that pass by. Part of the struggle was that they were also raising money for chairs at the same time. But they did a good job putting that money together and were able to buy almost 30 chairs.

Thursday I received an email from Brother Lynn Raburn concerning this year’s missionary retreat. I have never had the opportunity to go to this event, but I have always heard that it is a time of great revival and refreshing. Our sponsoring church has set aside some money to help us and the Taylors both go this year and we are very excited to have the opportunity. If you would like to send an offering to help us with the cost of the airfare, just send it to Pauline BC P.O. Box 299 Monticello AR 71657, be sure to mark it MISSIONARY RETREAT.

Friday I spent the day working with Ricklynn and Godfrey on the building here in Malindi. We got a lot done, but we did not finish the end of the building. They planned on finishing things up on Saturday.

Saturday Missy and I planned to go to Mombasa, but our plan changed. We did go into Malindi to get a few things and the funniest unfunny thing happened. We were in the parking lot of our local grocery store talking to some of the guys that we usually buy a few things from. Then Mike came up and SHOOK MY HAND. He said I thank God that I have seen you today Scott, because I need your help.

He began to explain his illness to me and his important need for medication. His illness he explained to me was “worms of the private area”. I don’t know how you would feel about this, but I laughed. I quickly regained control, but these guys would try anything to get a little money out of us. Mike then offered to go to the other side of the van (still in complete public view, but away from Missy) and show me the problem. I assured him that it would not be necessary and told him that I would not be able to help. He said Oh, but the itching. I itch and I itch. I again said no and told him good bye.

Missy was speaking to someone else and did not catch the conversation between me and Mike. As we walked away, I said to Missy, “did you shake Mike’s hand”, “What” she asked. “Did you shake Mike’s hand”, “No”, she answered. With no explanation, I walked straight past the grocery store and back to the garage owned by some of our friends. I ask Christine if there was any where that I could thoroughly wash my hands. She pointed out some nearby sinks and poured a pile of washing soap in my hand. I scrubbed them pretty good, just in case. There is never a dull moment on the mission field.

Need your prayers,

Brother Scott

Most Monday’s I spend the whole day studying so that I have plenty of material to translate with Gertrude on Tuesday. This week I got in a really good Monday with plenty of study. Missy and I also made our rounds paying all the utility and other bills. Finally I spent about an hour on the phone with Brother James. It is so easy for us to melt away the time talking about God’s work here.

Tuesday Gertrude and I spent our conversant time talking about the political unrest here in the country and Easter. Then we translated material concerning the Announcement of Jesus’ birth.

Wednesday I went to Vipingo to visit with missionary Bobby Bechtel. He is a part of a mission team based in Mombasa that has done some pretty incredible things. I wanted to spend a little time with him in fellowship, but mostly to try to learn. Missy and I are starting the process of interviewing some missionaries to learn more about their church planting methods and their humanitarian efforts, as we look to the future of church planting and orphanage work. It was a very good visit. I did learn a lot from Brother Bechtel and I am also sure that I made a friend.

I had a really close call driving down to Vipingo. I was pretty much at full speed and a motor cycle pulled out in front of me. At first I got on the brakes, but I started to turn sideways. As I let up on the brakes to avoiding a potential roll the motorcyclist froze and he was right in the middle of the road. I was going to have to guess and try to go one way or the other and hope I did not run off the road.

About that time he gunned it to get off the road, but at the same time his passenger decided he would take matters into his own hands and jumped off. Now, the motorcycle is gone, but there is a man standing in the middle of the road. It did give me the room to choose a side and swerve around. Brother James has always said, and I agree, that driving is the most dangerous thing we do here. Please pray for our safety.

Missy and I have started to do research concerning the vehicle we will purchase. Please help us pray about three things. First, of course, pray for God’s provision of the need. Second, that the Lord would lead us to the exact vehicle we need. And third, the exchange rate. When we came to Kenya the rate was 85 to 1, it went as high as 105 to 1, and now it is 82 to 1. When we are ready to purchase the vehicle a swing in the rate could save us a lot of money. For example if we could find something for 1.5 million shillings, at 80 to 1 that is $18,750, at 100 to 1 it is $15,000. We know that there are many ways God can provide for this need and I am excited to see what he is going to do.

We had seminary this week as well. We studied the book of Philippians, taught by Jerry Peercy and translated by brother Raburn, via video. It was a really enjoyable study and I appreciated Brother Peercy’s passion and emotion. I have never met him, but I will some day. Please pray for these men with which we are working. The true longevity and success of this work rest on their shoulders. Pray for James and me to have wisdom in how to train them as well.

Thanks for Praying/Don’t stop

Brother Scott

This week was actually a pretty slow week. It is not bad to have one of those every once in a while. Of course, we had the usual language study and translation work, which is all still going very well.

On Thursday Missy and I went to Jimba to visit with Daniel. We discussed several things one of which was a new visitation program they are launching at their church. It sounds like they have a good plan of course as with all plans the execution will tell the story. They were to start this week. He asked me to come and be with them in about 8 weeks after they had time to get started and see how it was going.

The three of us also went to the school at Gede to confirm our plans for the summer. We did speak to the head master this time and he assured me that they wanted us to come. I ask him to prepare a letter to welcome us and he said he would be happy to do it. I am to go and pick it up this week. We also tried to communicate with the special needs school, but they were in a staff meeting. I will try again this week.

On Sunday Missy and I were headed to Jimba for services, but before we got out of Malindi an indicator light came on in the van. We decided to stop and enjoy services with the church here in Malindi. No reason to invite trouble. I think it was just low on coolant, but we will be keeping an eye on it. Please continue to pray about the vehicle situation. Missy and I need to secure a vehicle and we are praying we can do so before the Taylor’s return. The van which is the original vehicle the Taylors bought about four years ago is giving us signs that it is on the edge of some major repair (Probably an engine rebuild).

Services were good. There were about 8 adults for Sunday School and about 20-25 adults for Worship. Obed (a member that is a police officer) was not there and if I understood correctly he has been transferred. They transfer the police to different areas about every two years or so to minimize corruption.

We did finalize everything with the lease. So we are secure for another year and were able to get the changes we needed in our agreement. This really took a lot of work off of me and Missy and we are very thankful. It also puts us in a great position for hosting our summer group that will be coming in July.

Finally, I would ask for your prayers for peace in Kenya. Violence has started to escalate surrounding two issues; the coming election and the emergence of Al Shabbab (a Muslim extremist group). This weekend there were two bombings in the Mombasa area and the week before there was a violent episode right here in town.

In times past the coast has been relatively peaceful even when other parts of the country have gotten out of control about the elections, but this time it seems a little different. But the Al Shabbab is headquartered in Somalia, so in a way of speaking it is in our back door. Pray for God’s protection.

Keep praying,

Brother Scott

Missy and I continue to enjoy the family. We are soaking in as much of the grandkids as we possibly can.

Today we went and bought about 300 dollars worth of stuff that we can’t get there or just stuff we wanted to take back. Walmart is an amazing place.

Hope you all have a great Christmas.

God blessed us and allowed us to be able to come home for the Holidays. We had not whispered a word about it because we wanted to surprise our family. We were tremendously successful. The first few days we did a tour from family member to family member. It was priceless to see the shock and surprise on their faces. Of course our joy of being able to see them was tremendous as well.

We have been able to visit Calvary MBC of Trenton OH, Landmark BC of Indianapolis, and of course our sponsoring church, Pauline BC of Monticello AR. It was so enjoyable to share at these churches and enjoy worship with them.

We have continued to work on our vocabulary while we are here and look forward to continuing our language learning when we return after Christmas.

Thanks for praying,

Brother Scott

Missy and I both got A’s on our third language test, although her score was one point higher than mine. I am thankful that we are able to process the information and retain what we have been taught, but there is a big difference in sitting in a room and having time to think, verses the speed of light (feels that way) conversations in the real world. We are progressing well, but we have a lot of work to do. Please keep praying for us, it means the world to us.

We got a wonderful care package from the ladies auxiliary of Unity MBC in Ada Oklahoma. Getting a box of goodies and some practical items is always uplifting. Thank you so much ladies.

 This week was our monthly school session for the Bible institute students. All the students but one were in attendance. We studied Church History taught by Brother Ernie Hopper. We are still using the recordings that some of our missionaries made several years ago and it is working well. I am starting to gel with the men a little more and feel comfortable giving them more pointed advice and instruction.

Saturday was a good day for Missy and me to hang out around the house and get a few projects done. We haven’t taken a lot of time to concentrate on making our house a home, but with Missy’s hard work and my small efforts to help here and there it is coming together.

 I also built a pulpit. I noticed that some of the churches don’t have one. They may not even really think they need one, but I really like to use a pulpit when I preach. So I made a very simple one for Gandini and I plan on doing the same thing for Bokole.

Sunday we went to Gandini and they had a good crowd. It was my forth time preaching my message from John 14 and I am starting to feel comfortable with it. In the main body of the message, I know exactly what I am saying and don’t need to hang on every word of my notes and can even add a little here and there. The problem is that I only have two more times and then I have to have something new.

One lady thought I had miraculously learned Swahili and approached me after church and took off like a rocket asking me something. I listened patiently and then said “sielewi” (I don’t understand). She was taken back, but maybe she will figure out later I had practiced the sermon a lot.

After church we went back into the village to eat and visit. Missy did great, after being sick with her stomach for three days, she dug right in. It really gives new meaning to praying for your food.

It was kind of awkward while we were waiting the hour and a half for the food to be done. We still struggle in conversation and this group talks a hundred miles an hour. So far no one has thought, “Hey if we slowed down they might understand us better.” So eventually it gets quite.

 The kids are always easy to play with even with a language barrier. They brought out a monkey they had caught. It was a baby. It really seemed to like me. Missy got some pictures of it with me and finally it climbed up on my shoulder and was going to start grooming me. Unfortunately it needed to potty and when it urinated down my left shoulder and arm the fun was over.