Daily Dying

Weeks 4 & 5

2007-07-28T06:40:00.000-07:00

It's scary how fast time flies. It feels like I just got out of training, and now I'm about to begin my last week of clubs! This has been a lifechanging experience. It is mindblowing to think that I have had the opportunity to plant seeds in over 100 children's hearts over the past seven weeks.

Anyway, here are pictures from the past two weeks of clubs. Last week we had three clubs, and this week was especially tiring with four clubs from 9:45 until 4:45. I wish I could have gotten more pictures this week, but oh well...

Week 4

Club #1

Lakyn

Austin, a.k.a. the mini flying tomato. ;-)

Alex

Karissa

That was on a day when we had a small club. But for real, we had about a dozen kids. I think this picture gets most of them...

Back row is Austin, Lakyn, Britney (?), and Alex. Front row is Megan, Sammy, Ali, Karissa, and two other girls whose names escape me at the moment.

Club #2: I would put pictures of club #2, except that I don't have any pictures, and there was one student. Logan, the cutest 8 year old boy I've ever seen. For Thursday and Friday he was joined by Eli, but it was still a small class. God really taught me through this club that even though I may only have one or two students, it is worth it. Think of how much better Logan listened, with all the attention on him. I think he felt special. :-)

Club #3

Cameron

Leeland

Ron and Delyilah

Desiree and Cameron; would you believe that she's his aunt? It's true! Cameron: "Dez my ant!!"

Again, I will do my best...sitting on the porch behind me is Jenna, and then there is Delyilah, Desiree, and Ron, with Cameron in front of him. Front row is Bria, Tasha with her sister (holding the scooter) in front of her, Brooke, and AJ. Zack is standing on the left and Will is on the right.

Week 5

Club #1: Vicky, Jessica, and Ethan. As you can see, a pretty small club, but this was on Friday when the three or so other kids did not come.

Club #2: Again, I didn't take any pictures! It was a small club of three children. Their ages were 3, 5 and 6. I love preschool clubs though, so I had fun!

Club #3: Our all girls club! Emilee, Coral, Summer, Hannah, Calista and Hailey.

I have to tell a cute story about club #3. Being Friday, I was exhausted. All I could think of was finishing my fourth club and then coming home. At the end of this club, Hannah, who is four, comes up to me and says "Miss Taylor?" She hesitated, then all of her words just kind of spilled out at once. "I just wanted to say that this club has been really fun, thank you for teaching us, I loved it!" She quickly threw her arms around me. "I came every day and didn't miss any 'cause I love it so much!"

I wasn't tired any more after that.

Club #4: You're not going to believe this looking at all two of my pictures, but we had about 18 children enrolled for this club. It was at a trailer park, one of the rougher trailer parks, and probably one of my favorite clubs. I'll just say that a lot of unexpected things happened. I could see a spiritual battle going as children, with no respect for authority whatsoever, favorably respond to the message we were bringing them. And, of course, I again chose to take the group picture on the last day, thinking that everyone would come on the last day! But God mercifully allowed our parched land rain, bringing a thunderstorm right before club started and causing many children to stay inside that day. But I praise the Lord that He had a purpose and allowed at least four children to come.

Briana, Michaela (who I had the opportunity to lead to the Lord!) and Bryson.

Tristen

Please pray for the children at this trailer park. Many are left on their own, and being independant become arrogant. This makes them mature beyond their years as they have no one to protect them from things that might harm their little minds. Several smelled like smoke. It was saddening, but was also eye-opening to see and understand better that I do not have to go far to find a need for the Gospel.

~ t ~

Lots and lots of pictures...

2007-07-17T13:26:00.001-07:00

Club #1

Back row is me and Janelle, and in the front we have Desiree, Cameron, and Jacob. The amount of kids at this club varied, though I think we had ten or eleven enrolled.

Club #2...

Nathan

Brandon

Dylan

Jon teaching missionary story...that's when I always took pictures

Ethan

Brandon, Dylan, and Caitlin

Brothers: David, Caleb and Nathan. :-)

The whole gang, except for Caitlin, Brandon and Dylan, who only came twice.

VBS

These pictures are in no particular order...snacktime!!

Kayla

Bryson and Allexa

Alex destroying a popsicle

Crafts with Miss Cindy...this day was woven place-mats

Dylan

Ryan and Kayla

Games...1) Reach in bucket of water and grab spongy ball

2) Squeeze water out in your team's bucket and run back! No throwing water at the teachers...

Dylan didn't want to play, so he took on the job as the cheater patrol person.

This isn't the best picture in the world, but the back row is me, Nicholas, Jimmy, Bryson, Ryan, Alex (notice the thumbs!), and the front row is Allexa, Dylan, Austin, Ryan, Abigail, and Kayla.

More next week...so far, though, this week is going really well. Already there has been one child added to God's family: a little six year old girl named Olivia. Praise God!

Last week's clubs

2007-07-08T18:19:00.001-07:00

Me, Julian, Yasmine, Noah, Eric, and Kyle. This was our biggest club yet! No, seriously, this was taken on the last day when 9 of the other kids didn't show up.

Club #2. Jon and I, then Cindy, Aaliyah, Ira, and Ivan. This was the whole club. Rather small, but so was the town we were doing it in. The kids were really sweet!

This was a challenging week. I don't think that SMTS can prepare you for everything. There's no way that it can, because of the variety of children that we deal with. Some are churched kids in stable families, like in our first week. But then there are children like in this second week, when, as I counseled those who responded to the invitation, would burst out with things like "I have nightmares all the time and I prayed to God to take them away but they didn't," or "I asked Jesus into my heart when I asked Him to make my eyes better," or "My brother (or mom or dad) cusses all the time." Definitely not textbook answers!

Pray that I would be given wisdom to deal with situations like this. Pray that that burdens they give me, through their problems, I would be able to cast on the Lord, whose yoke is light. Pray that I would be able to teach them to have the kind of faith that I do not. And then pray for the children: Aaliyah, whose real dad has passed away and her step-dad is in prison; Kylie and Calem's older brother, that his cussing problem would be overcome, and that it would not rub off on his younger siblings, and Kylie and Bailey with their nightmares. Pray for the 18 children I have witnessed to this week. Pray that the seeds would have fallen on good soil.

This is awesome work. I am excited to see what next week, two clubs and a VBS, will bring. Oh, and BTW, happy 4th!

32...

2007-07-01T16:09:00.001-07:00

That's how many children God has allowed me to share the Gospel with within the last three weeks. He has also blessed me with the opportunity to lead five of these to a relationship with Him. It is amazing, and humbling, to think of how I have shared with more people over the past three weeks than in my entire life. God has given me boldness beyond what I thought I had.

Please pray that the seeds which have been planted in the hearts of the following children would grow, and that God would give the increase:

Saiwan, 8, plus three other children I shared with in open-air evangelism in the inner-city
Amber, 8
Coltin, 6
Gracie Anne, 5
Andrew, 8
April, 12
Chelsea, 9
Ethan, 7
Owen, 6
Jesse, 10
Jessica, 9
Peter, 7
David, 4
Ellie, 9
Sophia, 7
Uriah, 6
Rhys, 4
Rebecca, 10
Jade, 4
Hailey, 8
Amy, 5
Andrew, 8
Zachary, 10
Aimee, 7
Emily, 7
Trent, 7
Christian, 7
Olivia, 6
Peyton, 3

1 Corinthians 3:10, "...I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon..."

~ t ~

VA Goodness!

2007-06-25T18:39:00.001-07:00

Yes, I'm back from SMTS! No, I don't have any pictures...I was kind of too busy studying for pictures. I will have some soon, though, from the official SMTS photographers, so it's all good. Thanks for your prayers ya'll, I had a blast. God was so faithful. It feels like it went by so fast! Many stories and pictures to come...

Well, in the mean time, I'll share with you some pictures from our family reunion in VA. I was so tired and dazed, since I had come straight from SMTS, that I mostly sat around and took pictures. Enjoy!

Awww....

Two of our great-aunts

Two of my mom's second cousins, or cousins of her second cousins, or something...

Cutie #1

Cutie #2

The little girl is from Guatemala; she's really cute!

Grandad with his buddies :-)

Horseshoe skillzz

Football...

AJ attacking a watermelon

What a perfect day; it was beautiful. The next day on the way home, we stopped at a lookout.

I learned 3 important truths on this trip:

1. The speed limit in Hot Springs is 55
2. The best sausage gravy ever can be found in Hot Springs
AND
3. When you are given directions to go on, say, Route 234, the next letter, which tends to be either N, S, E, or W, is one which determines the outcome of your trip. Especially at 10:30 at night. Oh, and just so you know, Route 42 East (or was it West...?) takes you to a very nice parking lot for a bed and breakfast.

~ Taylor ~

2007-06-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

You would never imagine all of the different products that are in the Wal-Mart "travel-size" section. It's hilarious. Mini hairspray, mini soap bars, mini hand sanitizer, mini stain wipes, mini paper towels. I have now mini-sized my collection of toiletry items. And they are all packed neatly in little "travel bags", which will even pass through the security at airports, and are basically ziploc bags. Oh well. They look cool anyway, all seven of them, with airplanes on the front and an arrow showing me how to close them.

I keep getting asked if I'm nervous, excited, scared of homesickness...none of the above, really. I'll be nervous tomorrow, trust me. I doubt I'm going to be homesick, no offense to my dear family. Excited? Definitely!

So...prayer requests. Pray for my physical condition; many of you know about my back and ankle problems. My back especially will cause me pain. I have had a hard time keeping up my physical therapy exercises, so pray that time is given for that, even at SMTS. Pray that the pain does not distract me from learning, and retaining what I will be learning. I think I have all of my piano songs mastered, but pray that I don't mess up really bad during worship times!

Pray for my family at home. Especially pray for my little sisters, the 2 and 5 year olds; apparently it is very difficult for them when I am gone. Amy, 5, will put things on my pillow to welcome me home. I left for four days a few weeks ago, and came home to bubble gum, tic tacs, and an orange Starburst. As Mom commented, my pillow is going to look like a shrine when I get home.

And finally, pray that I would have humility to accept whatever God brings my way over these next two weeks. I don't want to just know, but believe that all things work together for good for those who love God. Everything is predestined by God; I'm just here for the ride.

Romans 8:28-39, "God causes ALL things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become confromed to the image of His Son, that He might be that first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; whome He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

If God is for us, who is against us?

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justified; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, 'For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principlities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, not any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

I can't believe...

2007-06-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

...how fast time flies! It seems like yesterday the Summer Missionary Program was eons away, and now it’s here! For those who don’t know, I was accepted to work for Child Evangelism Fellowship this summer. On June 10th, I will go to a Bible camp about two hours away for Summer Missionary Training School, or SMTS. If I come through alive, I mean, when it is over, I will begin teaching 5-Day Clubs throughout the area for five weeks. Then comes a soccer camp for a week, and then I’m done!

Now that SMTS is only days away, I am starting to get a little nervous. Okay, a lot nervous. There is so much to do! So to finish, let me give you some things that I would appreciate prayer for:

Pray that I am not overwhelmed by all that needs to be done!
Pray that my perfectionist personality will not interfere with an ability to focus on one task at a time.
Pray that once a day I will be able to push everything out of my mind and seek God's face through devotion and prayer.
I have volunteered to play piano for worship at chapel during SMTS. Pray that I can master the big stack of music that came in the mail the other day!
Pray that I can memorize the 5-Day Club verses and the Wordless Book verses. That has to be finished by SMTS.

God has been so good by giving me this opportunity to serve. Pray that I do not lose focus of this through all of the little details and logistics to be worked out.

That’s all, for now. I will make sure to post again before I leave. Oh, and one more thing…

CONGRATS WCFS GRADUATES!!! WOOHOO!!

~ Taylor ~