Martyns in Africa » Update

Learning from history

Taylor — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:25:14 +0000

Wanted to pass along the insight from the daily devotional found at Our Daily Bread.

“Paul also saw the value of embracing the lessons of history. He warned of the destructive nature of bad choices by recounting the story of the children of Israel and their wilderness wanderings—a result of their refusal to trust God and enter the Promised Land (see Num. 14). Then Paul told the believers in Corinth, “All these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Cor. 10:11).

God has given us the Bible, partly to help us learn from the history of His people. Biblical lessons contain both examples and warnings to guard us against our worst inclinations and to lead us into wiser living. The question is whether we will learn from the lessons of the past or repeat the mistakes of those who came before us.”

It seems that God has been showing me times in my past and in other’s lives struggles we make of whether or not to follow where he has asked us to go. I pray that the next direction He gives I am quick to follow as history has shown time and time again his way is better than mine

Snapshots- Pre-planning

Allison — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:00:31 +0000

Nairobi is a growing city and new apartments are popping up all over. On both sides of the compound we live on new complexes have been built. To one side they are putting on the finishing touches and realized they needed an extra water tank in the back. Unfortunately, they could not get it through the narrow walkway behind the building and the fence They had to come up with a way to lift it around the covered porches, pushing against the electric fence at times. This was unfortunate but does show the inventiveness when needed is a valuable skill set most have here in Nairobi.

To give you a better insight, the wall that one gentleman is standing on is about 8 feet high.

Location scouting trip report

Allison — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:15:32 +0000

While posting all about our family time I realized we have not shared an update about Taylor’s work trip! He had a pretty successful time looking at many options of locations for the film. Thankfully AIM is working under a Kenyan media house who had its owner represent them in beginning negotiations to secure locations. A huge praise is that the writing was completed by a Western missionary and is under review by a Kenyan to make more culturally appropriate.

Please continue to pray for the project. Prayer needs include clear wisdom and direction in guiding of those in charge of the script and directing. Pray that this will be an effective tool the Kenyan church can use to help promote missions from within. Please also pray for funding to come in and all the details of directing, acting, set and costume design…etc.

Thanks as always for your continued prayers!

Trip to Malindi

Allison — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:47:59 +0000

Our kids are such great flyers! Here is a pic from our quick flight to join Baba. Avery made Larson laugh with a puppet show, thanks to the air sick bag.

Thankfully both kids LOVED the water. We had a large and small pool at the gorgeous home we stayed in. There was access to the beach a five-minute walk away. It was such a treat to have great weather all week and enjoyed all the time outside.

Happy Belated Mother’s Day

Allison — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:39:45 +0000

Spending the sunny day with the kiddos in the pool was a great Mother’s day. Even as Taylor, due to malaria, was in bed and kind of loopy he arranged for the caretaker of the home we were staying at to make flower arrangements all over the house. Here is a picture of one of them. What a great guy!
A side note- I love that these flowers come from plants that are typically used for security on walls due to its large thorns. Functional and beautiful!

Nyumbani Njema Nyumbani

Allison — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:35:59 +0000

We arrived home last night. Taylor, as many have seen from his Facebook posts, came down with malaria. Thanks to a quick call to the fabulous Dr. Ginna and a fast trip to a neighborhood chemist he got on the right meds and is on the mend. He was even well enough to do most of the driving for our trip. This was a huge relief as I am not as courageous as he is at driving and would have taken a few more hours. Pictures to come.

family time!

Allison — Sun, 06 May 2012 18:27:34 +0000

The kiddos and I will be leaving bright and early tomorrow morning to join Taylor at the coast. After a week away it will be wonderful to have some family time. Can’t wait to posts updates when we return. See you in a week!

Snapshots

Allison — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:00:14 +0000

I love the mix of this city. So much has become normal that it is sometimes hard to remember that it might be something out of the ordinary for our normal reader. While driving down the street outside our home we saw this mama showing off her amazing balance and neck strength! We also had many brand new luxury cars coming (from the opposite direction) into our lane to avoid a push cart hauling rocks that was moving too slow in their lane.

On the road again…

Allison — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:10:35 +0000

Taylor left before the sun came up this morning to drive down to the coast. He will be working with four others scouting locations for the film. See the post at the top of our blog for more background into the film, A distant boat.

I got word that he arrived safely and wanted to ask for continued prayers for safety during his trip. Please also pray for good team unity and for finding locations that would work well. Thankfully a Kenyan media house is helping the production so they will be able to help in negotiating when locations are found. Please pray for favor for the owners of each location and for their willingness to help out with the project and for good witness to those who are not believers.
Thanks as always for your prayers!

Community Development

Allison — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:07:50 +0000

Though we don’t share much about it, community development is a huge part of why we are on the field. I, Allison, studied community development at university and have long desired to take part in applying the book knowledge to help others improve their lives and open doors to share the reasons why we care.

I was trying to help out a team mate with some issues that had come up while working with the community building latrines and stumbled upon a quote from one of my favorite professors at JBU.

“Our call is to be stewards of God’s creation. We can be agents of blessing to others by teaching them how to make the best use of God’s resources,” “Engineering and renewable energy studies are very effective tools for demonstrating Christ’s love in places where people’s very livelihoods are at stake.”- Dr. Kim

That about sums up why I get so excited about helping others through community development and just wanted to pass it along.

Bombings in South Sudan

Allison — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:35:39 +0000

Reports are coming out saying that Sudan has bombed Bentiu, a city in South Sudan. These bombs hit markets and had civilian casualties. Click here to read the full article from CNN.com.

Please continue to pray for both Sudans.

Thankful Thursday

Allison — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:30:28 +0000

Today I am again thankful for the chance to live in a mix of cultures and get the chance to see things through a child’s eyes.

There are many “melt your heart” moments as parents, and I would love to share one of them. One day while playing outside, Avery ran up to me and told me quite earnestly, “We have to pray now!”. She had heard someone singing so we had to pray. This melted my heart because she had confused a neighbor singing in another language with hearing the call to prayer. When describing what the call to prayer was I mentioned that it was also a reminder for us to pray for others to come to know The Truth and find hope in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Next time you hear the call to prayer, or just someone randomly singing and your remember this story, will you join us in praying?