Praises and Prayers

We arrived safely home to Little Rock. It is with mixed emotions that we have left Kenya for the present time. We are saddened by the violence that is sweeping Kenya and the relationships that we had to leave. We are grateful that our family is safe and our children can resume school. Our community has embraced us as we have returned much sooner than we had planned.

We hope to continue to share with you our experiences in Kenya. God brought into our lives children and people we will be sharing with you over the next months on our blog. We will be sharing prayer requests and updates from those whose lives are being dramatically affected by events that are unfolding in Kenya. We will be sharing with you from our hearts.. about our experiences, our observations and how God worked in and around us.

Many ask what will you do next? Our answer is that we are seeking God's direction with our board and others who join us in a passion to care for widows and orphans. We will remain in Little Rock for our children to finish this school year. We have met with our board several times and shared how God has accomplished more than we ever imagined through our work collectively as a team. We humbly anticipate that God will increase His reach into the world through Go Near Ministry in the future. Widows and orphans are of great value to our loving Father. Please pray for us and our board as we seek His direction.

Praises and Prayer
We have so much to be grateful for as we reflect back over this past year. Our God demonstrated to us that HE IS GOOD and exceeds our expectations. After answering God's call to GO to africa, we loved being able to share with others in many settings about God's heart for orphans. We were amazed and humbled at the way He moved in others hearts to support us financially and in prayer. We were able to leave our earthly possessions behind in the hands of friends who sold everything for our support. We are profoundly grateful that God expanded our reach through Go Near Ministry to align with a Kenyan church(Karura Chapel) and three orphan ministries: The Nest, Uzamatele, and Living Testimony. He also provided wonderful relationships and experiences for our children with orphans and in their school.

Our family experienced first hand, GOD'S PROTECTION. He kept us safe at every close call. (We had our share of these). He convinced us how closely HE DIRECTS OUR STEPS for His plan and glory. As we have sought God for His directives in the decisions that filled our days then and now, HE is FAITHFUL to convince us He is concerned with every detail of our lives. HE ANSWERS PRAYERS. Our family saw Him answer so many of our prayers in the challenges of this year. We saw Him move others to pray for us and the children in Africa. God allowed us to share our experiences with others through our blog. We experienced support from our friends in the States that still leaves us humbly astonished. He provided a peace and persistance that can only come from Him and prayers of others. It was an incredible experience for our family to BELIEVE GOD and GO. It was not our plan to return home so early but even now God continues to confirm His hand in the timing of our evacuation. We are seeking God's directives with our Go Near Board: Nick Adams, BIll ODonnell, Lee Smith, David Watson, Flip Whitner and Terrance Zeurlein and their wives. God's reach into Kenya was accomplished by these foundational people locking arms with us. Please pray for us as we seek God's next steps for our family and the ministry. Pray for us as we transition into a rental home in Roland Feb. We are grateful for every provision in our lives. God has convinced us HE IS GOOD.

Grateful to God for YOU,
Lewis and Melody Taylor
Lowell, Anna, Claire and John

"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." --James 1:27 NASB

LOOKING BACK AT THE FUTURE IN KENYA - Misc..

LOOKING BACK AT THE FUTURE IN KENYA - Anna

LOOKING BACK AT THE FUTURE IN KENYA

We are grateful for what God has begun in Kenya. The children and people there have touched us deeply. We remain in the States during this tumultuous time. Please pray for us as we seek God's direction to continue caring for widows and orphans in their distress during this time. James 1:27.

Lewis holds boys at the Nest...

Mel in the Nursury at the Nest

The Little Engine that Could!!!

Mamma Tanzi and Mel.

Update from Anna Ruth Merritt

Dear friends,

I am included an excerpt from Anna Ruth Merritt's blog who serves in Kenya. Anna Ruth is daughter of Jim and Debbie Merritt who live in Conway, AR. We became friends with the Merritts in community group at Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock. Anna Ruth is a recent graduate of Wheaton College. She has spent this year volunteering with children and families in Uthiru which is close to our home. It was a delight to have her stay with us as part of our family and we have grown to love her as our own. Our family admires her tenacity in serving those God brings into her lives. We share a passion for the children and people of Kenya.

She is at a critical decision making time in her life. I have included photos and her writing here. Her link is listed on our side panel. Please join us in praying for her direction and protection during this time.

Thank you, Melody

26 January 2008

Safe but On the Move Excerpt from Anna Merritt's Blog

"Hi everyone,
Sorry there's been such a gap between last entry and this one. I really don't have time to do a proper update, but I hope I will before too long

For now, you should know that some things here are looking up, and some are looking down. It's hard to tell what will happen next, but we are praying for peace. Some signs show that Kibaki and Raila are ready to talk; others show neither is willing to budge an inch. Thing is, even common citizens of different tribes hate each other now with a passion, and that desperately needs to change.

I have been horrified and sobered by the things I have heard people of different tribes say about each other. It's been saddening to learn of my Kenyan friends' family members and friends who have been threatened, had their homes burned, have been raped, are in hiding, have been injured/hospitalized, and have even been hacked to death. Some children (including those of our neighbors) are still separated from their parents because they were not together when the violence began in December, and have not had a chance to reunite since. The damage is so widespread and horrific that even if the country began the healing process in earnest today, the task would be huge.

Upon returning from Tanzania, I have been heavily advised to leave Uthiru (outside Nairobi) for the present time.

I just moved my things from our apartment yesterday, and said (hopefully temporary) goodbyes to my roommate Rose, who also thinks it is a good thing for me to leave for now. (If you have been reading the news reports, then you've read that not only is there ethnic violence, but also that many groups of young men are taking advantage of the current security-compromised situation in order to loot and rape without regard to ethnicity. Given the risks I take and the men I encounter on an everyday basis in Uthiru anyway, the situation is just not conducive for a single white American female to be living in a slum-like area - especially with no on-the-ground support network outside of my roommate... so much more could be said on this topic.)

I am actively looking for other opportunities for involvement here in Kenya or in neighboring Tanzania. I want a place where I can live and serve in a useful capacity with a reasonable degree of safety and support. I have a couple leads I intend to pursue, and if any of you know of a place I could go, I'm up for suggestions! (I'd like to continue in the same line of work with at-risk children, or get involved with refugees or IDPs - internally displaced people, or quite possibly something else I haven't even thought of yet!)

In all this, I am so grateful for so many of the things I have experienced. It's not possible to go into all I have seen and learned these past few weeks and months, but I feel like I've experienced things that many people only experience or see/hear first-hand after living here for much longer periods of time. Also, I've seen God's hand in ways that have helped to grow my faith and deepen my understanding of what it means to walk with Him."

Now faith is...

"the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen." He 11:1

We moved back home on January 14th! It was the most difficult decision made in the last 12 months. God made it very clear that it was time to leave. We trusted and obeyed. Our hearts are sad to leave loved ones in Kenya and glad to return to loved ones at home. Today we are sure that He will use our time in Kenya for good. Kenya is suffering. You and I are in position to help. Soon we will announce future plans for Go Near Ministry.

Soon we will invite you to join us in taking steps of faith...together!

Lewis

Prayer for the people in Kenya

My mind thinks constantly about those we care about in Kenya. My heart wants to be there with them sharing the burden to care for orphans as they struggle to remain safe and survive. When I read the bible these days, the words are more far reaching to me because of what we have seen and experienced in Africa. As I read psalm 46 the words ignite with relevance.

“God is our refuge and our strength, a present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride…The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold…He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariots with fire. ‘Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth’ LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold.”

Please join me in praying these word from psalm 46 for the people in Kenya.

Their world has changed dramatically. It is a world with dangers erupting beyond their control. I pray they will experience God as their personal defender and stronghold. They will know with certainty that the Lord of hosts with His unseen army of heavenly angels is with them and will bring an end to the violence. They will personally experience God as the gracious covenant keeping God of Jacob in these frightening days and that God would be exalted.

AMEN