March 2012 Report
James Taylor
March 2012
“Our vision is to be a ministry of eternal significance that impacts the cause of Christ through the advancement and multiplication of His churches.”
The Daily Grind
(Bourlands)
It is not always glamorous or even exciting to think about all we do from day to day, but it is this constant movement and consistency that ultimately leads to progress and fruit being produced.
This month we
1. visited on sight with three of the churches for services.
2. studied the book of Ephesians with seminary students.
3. secured our lease on the mission compound for this year.
4. continued language learning and translation work.
5. celebrated our one year anniversary of being in Kenya.
Special Projects
*Container: We will be shipping a container this summer to bring over the Bourlands personal items for housing needs, items the Taylors have collected while on furlough, and ministry materials. This shipment will be a consolidated shipment with Brother Ernie Hopper and Brother Eddie Williams. We may even need to ship a 40 footer so we could all really use the help. If you would like to help with the shipment, funds can designated for the Kenya shipment and be sent to:
WWLP World-Wide Literature and Missionary Supplies, P. O. Box 128, Hamburg, AR 71646.
*Vehicle. The Bourlands currently do not have a vehicle. They have been using the vehicles that the Taylors purchased but the Taylors will be returning in July. We are hoping to purchase it by June of this year. We will need about $15,000 to get an appropriate vehicle.
*Bibles: This summer we will be having a 516 Missions group of 35 coming the end of July to do a sports camp at a school near three of our churches. The school has around 1800 students. The purpose of this campaign is to promote the churches in the area and share the Gospel. We will share the gospel with the children at one station during the camp but the big way we will share the gospel is to give every child a full Swahili Bible and an English New Testament.
The English New Testaments are being supplied by F.I.S.H. Ministries in Benton, AR. The Swahili Bible can be purchased for $5.50 a piece and we will be purchasing them on the field.
Bibles are very hard to find on the coast in most shops with the Islamic influence and are very expensive for the average person to afford. This campaign will put 1800 Bibles into circulation on the coast and will give many families the first chance to own a copy of the Word of God!
Please consider helping with this project. Offerings can be sent to our sending church and designated for BIBLES.
Taylor’s Furlough 2012
We had another great month among our supporting churches saying thank you and praising God for all He has done on the coast of Kenya. We also had the great opportunity to attend the World Missions Seminar that Lynn and Brenda Raburn have every year in North Little Rock. I also had the great privilege of preaching at the Pastors and Missionaries Conference in Texarkana. We are loving this Furlough Ministry but we are eager to get back to the field the good news is Tickets Have Been Purchased! We depart JULY 3 for another Three Year Term!
James Taylor PO Box 811 Malindi, Kenya 80200
Phone 011-254-713289014 missiona...@gmail.com
Scott Bourland PO Box 5906 Malindi, Kenya 80200
Phone 011-719661243 missionar...@gmail.com
MAMBO YA JAMii
Taylors
This month was a fun month. We recuperated from the crazy travels. At the beginning of the month I ran my first half marathon with James, who ran his 3rd full marathon in Little Rock. It was a lot of fun. There are several runners in our church, so it's a fun way to fellowship with our home church. I was very pleased with how I ran and will probably do it again. It feels good to work toward a goal and then finally meet it.
We celebrated Samuel's 4th birthday this month as well. We were staying at our good friends, the Wilsons, during the World Missions Seminar. They joined in on our Thomas birthday party for Samuel. He was so proud that it was his birthday. He went around for the whole week after his birthday holding up 4 fingers to everyone we met. They would ask his name and he would just hold up four fingers. He is a cutie. It's still hard to believe, though, that our baby is four years old.
After the World Missions Seminar we met up with Brother John Strader in Texas. We had a great time reconnecting with Brother John and meeting his wife Amber. John got married shortly after his internship in Kenya. The kids loved playing with them so much. They even watched the kids for us one night, so James and I could have an evening out. Thank You, John and Amber; that was a huge blessing.
One night we visited with Brother Kim Williams family and just had a great time. They told us about a homeschool store in Houston that was a great resource to homeschooling families. So after I got the address, one day I set out on quite an adventure. James kept the kids and told me to take the whole day if I needed it. So I left early. It was getting ready to storm, but I decided to venture out anyway. About 10 minutes down the road, it started raining really hard with a lot of wind and then our GPS died. I had no idea the directions to get to where I was going, I just turn whenever "Tom" says turn. So I had to pull over and call James. As I was pulled off at a Burger King getting directions from James, it came over the radio that there was a tornado warning for the county we were in, except I had no idea I was in that county. I got directions and things started to slow down a little, so I drove on. Again a lady came on the radio and said that debris had just blown across the interstate and broke her windshield. It was the interstate I would have been driving on at the time, had the GPS not died. I really believe the Lord worked that out and kept me safe. Praise the Lord for his intervention. I made it to the homeschool store and it was a huge blessing. I got about $2000 worth of homeschool stuff for about $750. Thank you, Sister Williams, for the heads up. Now if only I could have made it to that thrift store she told me about.......
Thanks so much for reading and praying!
Bourlands
This month started out with Scott having a
severe ear infection. We had to go to the “ER”, if you call it that
here, on a Saturday morning. He got five different medicines; two antibiotics,
an anti inflammatory drug, pain meds and antibiotic ear drops. He was in so
much pain, earaches are the worst! Finally, after several days of misery, the
meds started to work and after about a week, he was better. Our friend
Christine told me there is a bacteria in the coral areas of the ocean that can
cause very painful ear infections, we assume this was the problem since we had
recently been in that area when we went swimming with the dolphins. So I guess
the jellyfish in the water was the least of our worries. Thank the Lord though, he seems to have recovered completely.
We were blessed this month to receive a care package from the Lydia Circle of East Union Missionary Baptist Church in Hensley Arkansas. Thank you, ladies, for thinking of us and for your encouraging words and prayers. We also received a box from the ladies Sunday school class from Calvary Baptist Church in Trenton Ohio. Thank you, ladies, for all the goodies and prayers and especially for including cards and pictures from our g-babies. I have already showed them off to all our workers, Gertrude, Pastor Jonathan and just anyone else who seemed to be passing by our house (just kidding). You know the typical proud Nana routine!
Our family is doing well. Please pray for Kevin, our son-in-love. The UPS store where he works is going through some changes, which makes for a time of uncertainty for his job. Kelli has started babysitting, just in case he should lose his job. Joshua is enjoying his new job and has become active in church again. He has had several weekends now with his son Jax, which is a huge encouragement to him. Please continue to pray for him and for Jax. Caleb is in the middle of his first real estate venture. Pray the financing and other paperwork goes through for him. Jessica (daughter-in-law) has a new job also. So many changes going on for all of them. Pray they all keep God at the forefront.
Swahili classes are still going well and my translation work is progressing along. I have completed translating two of my books now. I am in the process of finishing the one into Giriama and I have started translating children’s material already. I am loving it and so is Gertrude. We have so much fun learning from one another. As she teaches me Swahili, I am able to teach her different ways of preparing Sunday school lessons. It is a win win situation, mostly for the Kingdom of God!
