Paul awoke at 3 AM, dressed, and descended the long stairs to collect a blue jacket and metal lunch box. “My favorite sandwiches are lettuce and cheese, and cheese and lettuce,” he often said. He strode purposefully out the door into the brisk December air to start his station wagon. After arriving at Longacres Dairy, he loaded the company truck with crates of milk from the walk-in cooler. The silent morning was broken only by the rattling of glass bottles and Paul’s joyous whistling. Once loaded, he set off on his daily milk route to households in Berks County, returning to his “Hillside Repose” farm house around 5:30 PM.
This winter of 1969 was Paul’s 17th year as a milk man, content to collect $75 per week. But these past two years were different—the whole Yoder household was diligently preparing to depart for Kenya. The teen children worked at a produce stand in Zern’s Farmer’s Market, eager to contribute their earnings to the trip. And Paul had been busy building pens for 2,000 guinea pigs to sell to Dutchland Labs. This was to raise money for the family of seven’s airfair. On January 1st, 1970, an auctioneer arrived at Hillside Repose to auction off all of the Yoder’s possessions, securing them the final funds for Kenya.
Ordained as the minister of Boyertown Mennonite Church at age twenty one, Paul was a dedicated student of Scripture.1 With several missionary relatives, Paul also had a burden for missions, and when the doors closed to Uganda after his trip in 1968, he set his gaze on Kenya. Equipped with a tent, two-burner Coleman camping stove, Harley Davidson motorcycle, cots, school supplies, and personal gear, the family headed to Kenya on January 20th. Upon arrival the family stayed in the Mennonite guest house for a week and then moved into a tent in Nairobi City Park. (At that time many Western hippies were camping out in Kenya and the government rented out spaces in the park. There were public bathrooms, swings, walled gardens, and a hedge maze. Nairobi was still very small and clean). During those two months Paul learned his way around, networked with missionaries, and studied some Kiswahili while the kids spent most of their time exploring and playing. Just as the rainy season arrived, Paul found a house to rent at Kamiti Coffee Estates in Kiambu, where the family stayed for about two years.2
After arriving in Kiambu, Paul would travel to the bustling marketplace in Thika to open-air preach. In the market, Paul met two key contacts: Pius Nganga and Francis Mwatha. Pius, a friendly man in his thirties volunteered to be Paul’s translator, soon becoming like family. For the remainder or their stay, Pius lived with the Yoders and traveled everywhere with Paul (though that relationship sadly ended when Pius attempted fraud).3
Francis, having the air of a zealous Christian, invited Paul to his home in a sparsely churched farming community called Ngararia. Paul began regular preaching trips to Ngararia and Francis helped mobilize the community. Soon, locals started requesting baptism and a small church formed, meeting long hours on Sundays for teaching, worship, communion, and fellowship. The excitement of early ministry soon waned as Francis was exposed to be a smooth pretender and drunkard and some other converts’ motives came to light.4 But Paul learned from his mistakes and joyfully pressed on in his work to see Christians grow to maturity. Some of the early believers continue to assemble in Ngararia to this day.
Gifted in many things, Paul was primarily a teacher. His ministry focused on teaching and demonstrating the Christian life. Although generous, he avoided giving handouts, so, those who sat under his teaching came simply to enrich their understanding of Scripture. For the duration of his time in Kenya, each weekday he would travel to one of five coffee plantations to preach the gospel to migrant coffee workers, some of whom remain alive as disciples today.5 Paul also held many bible schools for young Christian leaders who came from various denominational backgrounds. Men would travel from afar to study at the one or two week content-packed seminars. Some of his favorite topics were: survey of the old and new testaments, exposition of Paul’s letter to the Romans, Jesus the master teacher, and the new testament church model.6 He was a thorough explainer and would often draw out timelines and diagrams on presentation paper. He also tried to illustrate Jesus’ teachings, involving the men in acting out some of Jesus’ parables. When he was trying to teach Kikuyu Christians to treat their women with respect in a culture where women were essentially treated as slaves, he took a very heavy load which is normally the woman’s task to carry, walked in front of the church with it, and told them, “This is a man’s job—men should be carrying these heavy loads.” He was met with gales of laughter. But today, such burdening of women in that area is much less common.
Although the Yoders lived in a comfortable, Western-styled Kenyan home, they approached missions differently than most Westerners. While many missionaries were insular and kept walls between themselves and the locals, Paul made every effort to be on their level and assimilate with their culture. Instead of hiring servants as was common, the Yoders would do all of their own work. They were eager to get their hands dirty, helping locals build mud huts, harvest corn, build benches for the church, etc. They freely invited Kenyans into their home, often hosting meals more than twice a week, especially for poor migrant workers from the coffee plantations. Paul kept a Kiswahili book and index cards with tribal Kikuyu words at the table to aid his efforts at communicating in their tongue. When Invited into the village mud huts, the Yoders would eat whatever was set before them. They were accessible, and intentional about not being a stumbling block.7
The whole family was involved in Paul’s endeavors. When the children weren’t schooling at home, they loved to accompany him on different outings. Paul’s wife and dearest friend Naomi was a steady support. She was faithfully by his side for his Bible teaching and warmly befriended the Kenyan women. Though she spent much time raising their five children, she was always very hospitable and liked to visit and exchange gifts with the Kenyan women—they would bring some fruits in their baskets and she would send them with avocados.
Paul continued returning to Kenya for teaching trips until his death in 2009. He was an advocate for the work and brought dozens of relatives and other Christians to share in the Kenyan experience. Through his Bible schools, he built relationships with churches across south-central Kenya, forming the network which his descendents continue to work with today.
To conclude, here is a prayer Paul had written:
Dear God,
This is a prayer for all the saints. Please teach good judgment and discernment. Help them to cast not their eyes towards the world, but to cast them towards your glory and your son. Give them the wisdom to show and share, not show and tell. Give them the courage to speak up, and not only to speak out. Please set their hearts and desires upon your righteousness, and not upon worldly acceptance. But most of all Father, teach me these things so that I too may be humble, and godly. Not fearing the world, oh Father, but you and you alone.
Welcome to check out more vintage photos with captions from the 1970s!
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After eleven years of pastoring, Paul’s commitment to truth brought the family to an ultimatum that led them out of the Mennonite Church, though they continued to practice core annabaptist teachings. ↩
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They spent their final year in an Indian community in Ruiru, Kenya until returning to the United States in April of 1973. ↩
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Paul and Naomi started receiving letters from a school teacher about a young boy who was in desperate need. They began seriously considering taking the boy in and were wanting to go meet the teacher. One day Naomi noticed a half written letter in Pius’s trash bin. She quickly noticed that Pius was in fact the “teacher”, hoping to get one of his relatives to travel back to the US with the Yoders. ↩
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For instance, in the early weeks of Paul’s teachings, perhaps several hundred villagers came for baptism. Paul, thinking this stemmed from a desire to follow Christ, soon learned that they simply wanted new names, since they learned from the Catholic church that baptism could win someone a Christian name. ↩
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When Great Britain ruled Kenya, they created reservations for the tribal people to live in. Migrants from these reservations moved into huts and row-apartments on the white-owned coffee plantations as full time workers. ↩
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He used his surveys of the old and new testaments as a chance to teach Christian leaders how to study the bible. ↩
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At that time mini-skirts were in fashion in the west. Many missionaries had no regard for the culture they were in and came flaunting the norms of Western life. One day, some brothers in the church approached Paul and said, “How can these people be coming from America to teach us about God, and yet their wives are dressed like our prostitutes?” ↩
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