Tasting the Fruit

It has been such a neat experience being back in Cape Town! While the mountains and ocean are stunning, my favorite part is seeing the people I discipled reach out to others with the love of Christ. Here are a few examples:

Vovo met an old man that had a cancerous growth on his neck. The growth eventually became an open wound, going almost all the way through his throat. The smell of rotting flesh was very strong as he had no one to help him and clean the wound. Vovo felt like she should care for this man, but before she could clean his wound she had to leave the room and ask Jesus to give her strength because it was so disgusting. Over the next week she spent lots of time with him. He was almost too weak to sit up without help, so Vovo would feed him, clean him, pray for him, and love him. When I saw Vovo she told me I must come and pray for this man. Even though the wound had been properly taken care of for several days as soon as you walked in the small room the smell was almost overwhelming. He said the wound was very hot and painful. As soon as we finished praying he said the pain was gone! Tricia told me after that she was praying that the Lord would take this man home, which was similar to Vovo’s prayer of Heal him either here on earth or in heaven. Two days later their prayer was answered as the man went to see Jesus. I just thought it was so much like Jesus for Vovo to show so much love to someone who was all alone and hurting.


Lucas has gone through some tough times while we were away, but he is living for the Lord again now. He knew a lady that unexpectedly lost her 24-year-old daughter about a month ago. He told me he would often go and visit her and try and encourage her faith and give her hope. However, the lady kept growing more and more bitter towards God and was really mad and stressed out. Things were so bad that she got a really bad case of shingles on her face. When Lucas and I went to visit her she plainly told us “I used to believe in God but He let my daughter die too young so now I can’t believe in Him anymore”. She even said that she just wants to die. Lucas and I spoke about how much God loves us, and her daughter (who was a follower of Jesus) as well. I told her that I knew a lady who also went through a tough time and got shingles, but she turned to Jesus and trusted him for healing in both her heart and body. The doctors were amazed at how fast she healed and told her to keep on praying! When Lucas and I left that night I the mother was saying ‘maybe things will be alright…’ And that brings us to the next person, Christina.

(Vovo and Christina all dressed up)

Christina’s faith has grown incredibly! It is so exciting to see her and think about how just over a year ago she was totally lost and hopeless. She is the lady that had shingles, so I told her about the mother who lost her child and asked if we could go visit her and share the hope that comes through Jesus’ love. Christina was awesome at opening up and loving the mother. When we left that day the mother was saying ‘I do believe that I’m going to get better and that everything will be alright.’ Praise the Lord for the work He has done in and through the lives of these special people!

The Facts about Finances

Most of you know that Tricia and I have to raise our own support, as we don’t receive a salary or living allowance with the organization we work with. Turns out that Tricia and I aren’t very good at it! I do believe we are very careful with the money we have, but we are still having to spend a fair bit more than what we currently have coming in each month. Our goal is to have $2,000 a month, which I believe we could make cover all of our living needs and Tricia’s pregnancy. At the moment we are getting around $400 per month – so you can see things aren’t going to work for very long at this rate! Tricia and I really do believe in what we are doing and feel that this is where God has directed us. We also believe that those who financially support us will share in the rewards, both in this life and the next. To make that easier to see and feel, we want to step up or communication with you so that you can feel more apart of our ministry here. Oh how I wish I could personally introduce you to all the people who have had their lives changed!
So, if you would like to partner with us financially in ministry there are numerous ways you can go about it.

If you are from the US, your best bet is probably to go to www.AllNations.us and click on donate on the left side of the page. It lists all the different options and has all the info you should need. The simplest way is to fill out the Automated Donation Agreement (ACH). That way the amount you specify will automatically be taken directly from your bank account each month. If you are in the US you will also receive a tax receipt for all donations made this way. There are several other option on that website as well.

Another option is via our blog. You can click on the Donate button and enter any amount for a secure one-time donation.

You can also send a check (made payable to Stephen and Tricia Taylor) or give cash to my parents and they will put it into our account in Canada. The address is:
Stephen and Tricia
c/o Mike and Joni Taylor
General Delivery
Madden, AB T0M 1L0

We can also set up an automatically reoccurring amount through paypal from a credit card. Just send us an email with the amount you would like to give each month and we will send you the details. It is simple and secure.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have about this process, what we do, or how the money is spent.

Stephen, Tricia, Jubilee and baby on the way!

Hello everyone. This has been a great week around here. We are all feeling much more settled in beautiful Cape Town. I think I am past most of the morning sickness- hurray! Stephen is feeling good about being in Masi. One quick story from him.
The first Rasta he met last year is also named Steve. He is a young guy (about 18 I think). He seemed very hungry and opened the door for Stephen with the other Rastafarians. However, after a while he stopped coming to Bible study and started on heavy drugs. Well, this week Stephen ran into Steve's father and of course asked about him. The father took Stephen to him right away. Turns out while we were gone, Steve had been prayed for by some of our team members, and he was healed of a wrist injury. He had been thinking really seriously about God again and even began making steps to break his drug addiction. Today Stephen is going to meet with him and a few of his friends to talk about the Bible together. Woo hoo! Isn't it great that Jesus is always at work to seek out and love people!
Jubilee is really into pretending right now. Here she is pretending to sleep in a toy box:

She got a bike for her birthday. If she were talking to you about it, she would tell you that she picked the pink one not purple! She really loves it and is getting close to being able to pedal by herself. She took a little spill off of it in our entrance way a few days ago and cut her eyebrow on the corner of the bookshelf. Her first big owie... I felt so terrible.

Hello everyone!! Yes I am FINALLY updating our blog. After a long crazy series of delays we have come home to Cape Town. WOO HOO!!! We are oh so happy to be at home.

Our flight here was pretty miserable for me- I felt just horrible. But you are all going to love the reason I felt so sick- I’m expecting a new little Taylor at the end of February! Hurray! Aside from extreme nausea on the plane, I’ve been doing pretty well. Jubilee was so good on our flights and slept most of the time.

We came back to pouring rain, but reuniting with friends here made the weather seem less terrible. When we came back to our house Jubi looked everywhere for Adi and Ro. When she realized they were not at the house yet, she set up her chair by the front door, looked at books, and said she was waiting for Adi and Ro to come visit her. So cute! After about five minutes she gave up waiting though. She was a little shy with them at first, but she has warmed right up to them now.

We arrived here just in time to be a part of debrief for this year’s CPx. I’ve been watching the kids. Jubilee has really enjoyed the interaction with other children.

I think we are finally over jetlag. Stephen and I would have adjusted very quickly if Jubi hadn’t been awake for nearly 3 hours in the middle of the night several nights in a row. The wake-ups have become shorter and fewer every night, so I think we will all be sleeping well soon.

Well, that’s all for now; hopefully more news and pictures to come soon!

Still in Alberta...#2

I’m not sure how many times we will be giving an update that starts with ‘Well we are still in Alberta…’ Unfortunately this update has that beginning…

As you heard about in our last update email, Tricia and I are trying to get over the parasites we have. From our first visit to the Naturopath they said ‘we are praying you don’t return to Africa like this’… Turns out those words were prophetic… A couple of weeks ago I took a turn for the worse and was feeling rather awful for 4 days. At that point we started wondering if maybe we should stick around here a bit longer and make our long-term health a real priority. We were really seeking the Lord if we should stay or not, and then had several little things that seemed to point towards us staying. So, Friday morning we called the travel agent and delayed our flight. Turns out it was a good thing we did since our visa’s still didn’t show up like they should have. Guess God knew we needed a little extra confirmation that we are supposed to stay longer. The Naturopath really wants us to stay for another 3 months, thinking that it will take that long to get all of our organs back to 100%. I’m still hoping it will be less time than that, but I guess we will take it one step at a time and see.

In the mean time, I’ll probably keep helping my dad with the farm and with selling jetski’s. We are also trusting there is more to our extended time here than just health. Seems like there is something Father wants to teach us and/or use us for while we are here. So, we are looking forward to connecting with many of you, either in person or by phone or email.

We wanted to also express the freedom you have to withdrawal any financial support during this time. Of course you always have the option of directing the finances in a different direction, but we wanted to let you know that especially while we aren’t even in Africa we understand if there is someone else you would rather support. We do hope to save up extra money during our time here. The goal is to be able to buy a used 4x4 that we can use for taking trips up into the more Northern parts of Africa. We are planning a trip to Tanzania and Djibouti in Aug.-Sept. It would be such a blessing to be able to drive rather than buying a bunch of plane tickets, and public transport is sketchy at best… So, that is a bit of an update where we are headed with finances. If you would like more info don’t hesitate to ask.

Our prayer requests are for speedy recoveries back to 100% health, to see and experience all Father has for us during this time, and for our friends back in South Africa whom we miss sooo much!

Following Father one step at a time,

Stephen, Tricia and Jubilee Taylor

Still in Alberta...

Well Tricia and I thought that we would be writing our next blog post from our home in Cape Town South Africa… Apparently Father had something else in mind. We had plane tickets to fly from Calgary to Cape Town on April 20th, and were very excited to see that Tricia’s visa had arrived in time. The only problem was that Jubilee’s and I didn’t have our visa’s back yet, even though they had been sent off about 2 weeks earlier than Tricia’s. So Monday morning we called the South African embassy in Toronto to see what the hold up with our visa’s was. After a couple of conversations the guy realized that we already had submitted the paperwork he though was still needed. Unfortunately he would have to resubmit our paperwork and it wouldn’t be back for another 5-7 business days. So we now have plane tickets for May 2nd.

Tricia and I were pretty disappointed, as we are so eager to return to the community in Cape Town. I am anxious to see the growth in the lives of the people we had been pouring our lives into. Nevertheless, I have a strange sense of peace in this delay home. I am so thankful that I have learned that God is completely loving, and even when things seem to go ‘wrong’ He has a plan and is working all things together for good. One of the benefits that we have seen so far in the delay is the possibility for Tricia and I to get healthier. Some of you know that two weeks ago I had a fairly sudden onset of pain and physical problems. Went to a couple of doctors and they couldn’t tell for sure what was wrong, but suspected prostate cancer… Not exactly something you want to hear as a 24 yr old… I wasn’t totally satisfied with the doctor’s diagnostic so I went to a Naturopath. It felt like it was a gift from the Lord even getting an appointment in the very short amount of time that we had. I was so impressed by her tests and knowledge. It seemed like she could tell me everything about my health. After all her tests she said that I have a pretty bad case of parasites. My liver and kidneys were only functioning at about 20 % of their capacity, and my overall health had deteriorated rapidly. She said that the parasites had probably gotten worse than they normally would because I had been so healthy I wasn’t experiencing much symptoms, allowing they to multiply undetected. The lady also said that it would have caused prostate cancer, as well as lots of other health problems, had it gone unchecked for too much longer. So, now I am on a pretty intense cleanse and detox for 30 days. I take 32 pills a day and drink WORMWOOD (like mentioned in Prov. 5:4 ‘as bitter as wormwood’) four times a day. So, since we weren’t flying out on Monday I went to see her again and she was very impressed with my progress. I am very thankful that I am feeling better and more importantly that I will heave health to continue serving the Lord. Today (Thursday) we have an appointment for Tricia to see the Naturopath. Tricia has battled with health problems for a long time, so we would love it if this Naturopath could find something to help her. With these things in mind, we wonder if this is the reason for our delay to Cape Town.

Thanks again for all your encouragement and support. It has been a real blessing to be able to visit with a lot of you during our time here.

Stephen and Tricia Taylor

P.S. A number of you have asked about the best way to send financial gifts to Tricia and I so here is some info on that.
There are actually several ways that people can donate to us. I'll list them all and people can just use whatever is most convenient.

Most of the ways can be found by going to www.allnations.us and clicking on "donate" on the left. It lists the address for checks to be mailed to and it also has a form that people can use to set up an automatic monthly withdrawal (for any amount) from you bank account. If you are from the US your best bet is probably one of the ways from the all nations website.

Send a check: Please make checks payable to All Nations and attach a separate note "preferenced to support the work carried out by Stephen and Tricia Taylor".

Mail to:
All Nations Family, Inc
c/o Walsh Washburn
5360 College Boulevard Ste. 100
Overland Park, KS 66211

On the All Nations donation page you can also use PayPal, Credit Card, Bill Pay and even non-cash items such as real estate, stocks, vehicles... All of the US donations to us through All Nations will receive a tax deductible receipt.

Another way that individuals can give is through our blog.
Go to www.stephentricia.blogspot.com and click on "Donate" on the left hand side. You can use Credit Cards or PayPal. No tax receipt will be issued.

Or you can send a check to my parents and they will put it into our account (and we will use our debit card to withdraw it in SA)

Make check payable to Stephen and Tricia Taylor
Mail to:
Stephen and Tricia
c/o Mike and Joni Taylor
General Delivery
Madden AB T0M 1L0

At this point we don’t have a way for Canadians to get a tax receipt from their donations. Hopefully soon we will have a channel that Canadian’s can give to us through and receive a receipt. We would appreciate prayers for that.
Hope all that makes sense. It doesn't really make much of a difference to us, so whatever way works best for you fine.

Real Trust

So, today, you won't get much of an update on day to day happenings... just the happenings in my heart. It seems I spend quite a bit of time thinking about our future and the possibilities on the horizon. Trying to figure what to do if... It is exhausting thinking, trying to picture what life could be like in whatever country or during months of travel. Some planning in necessary, but I think I can be an over-planner.
I've been reading lots of different things lately, and one thing has been standing out to me: saying yes to God and not worrying about tomorrow. I read about a couple who adopted more than one baby with down syndrome because they felt a nudge from the Lord. They just said yes without wondering about all the things that could go wrong and how they would handle all these possible difficulties. Rather, they followed and trusted that the Lord would be forming their hearts to handle the difficulties that might await them.
I've been reading Prince Caspian again- I just love the Chronicles of Narnia, and it always does my heart good to read those stories. There is one part in Prince Caspian that I just love that I wish they had done a better job of portraying in the movie: Lucy has gone to Aslan in the middle of the night and he tells her to go wake up the others and then bring them to follow him, but that they might not be able to see him at first. She is very afraid that they won't believe her- they already doubted her once. Aslan tells her to follow him even if they don't believe her. She cries... I can sense the question pounding in her heart: "Will I trust Aslan, though the 'what if's' are numerous, though ti might be painful" Eventually she just knows that it will be better to trust Aslan, and she follows. She know it will be better because she knows that Aslan loves her and that he is wise.
And a few verses that have stood out to me: "So if you find it difficult because you're doing what God said, take it in stride. Trust him, he knows what he's doing, and he'll keep on doing it" 1 Peter 4:19 The Message
"Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you" 1 Peter 5:7 The Message
My heart knows these things well- Jesus loves me, he knows what he is doing, and there is no need to live carrying the heavy load of worry and caution. I can live in full trust; now will I? Will I continue to just ask myself how much time on the road in Africa I think I can do; or will I just wait for him to tell me, and obey- rejoicing that I know what the one who loves me wants me to do? May the trust that is in my heart grow deeper daily, and may it intrude on every anxious thought.
Tricia