The Taylor Times - 2010Highlights of the Year...
The Scribe working on his new-fangled parchment...
... wonder why this Taylor Times took so long to appear? :)))
The Family
Our clan are growing fast, each one quite different - although they have some interests in common! :)
Hannah (15) is into guitar playing and singing. She has lessons each week and is making good progress. Home Schooled, probably her favourite subjects are biology and history.
Hannah likes archery and is quite a good shot - winning a competition during the Rangers Camp in the summer. She is also an avid reader and bookworm, she usually has her head in a book... :)Sarah (13) attends the Music School in Poznan in the afternoons, she plays the piano and is in the School's Choir. Home Schooled like Hannah, her favourite subject is history.
Both Hannah & Sarah are registered with a Christian Secondary School in Wroclaw, where they attend exams each semester. Both are doing well, and both are bilingual (Polish-English) at this stage. Asia is heavily involved in teaching then at home and supervising their education.
Abi (11) attends King David's School, our Christian Primary School in Poznan. She enjoys art & singing in particular. She was Home Schooled for a year, but is now happily settled back in King David's. She is keen to learn the piano, like Sarah, so perhaps in 2011... :) Abi also likes animals very much and reading, taking after Hannah in this way.
The three girls have some other interests in common, including a collection of traditional Doll's Houses, scouting, Medieval history and WW2 women's organisations (WAAF, ATS & WRNS)!
Ben (10) attends King David's like Abi. His favourite 'classes' are probably football & sports, but he is good at art too. He likes model making, like his Dad, and enjoys swimming like the rest of the Taylor clan (with the exception of Dale who still won't go near a swimming pool!).
Reuben (5) goes to the Nursery School at King David's. He loves tanks (wonder where he's got this from!) and models. He's is always trying to keep up with the older gang of Taylors!
At times the family clan have been joined by a menagerie of pets, at this moment in time only Dori, the guinea pig is still running around. We were joined by Duke, our missionary friends' Golden Retriever, for several months this year when they went back to the States for a short furlough. Great fun, and a lovely dog, but Asia enjoys handing him back at the end of his stay!
Royal Rangers
All the children are very involved with the Royal Rangers (RR) scout group which meets in our house. This is a Christian scouting organisation, originally from the
US where it is part of the AoG Pentecostal Church. In Poland it is interdenominational, but very evangelical in nature. Dale is still involved in leading his Model Club which is now a specialist group of RR and Jazwiec, our Christian Medieval re-enactment Fellowship, has also become part of Rangers.One of our family highlights of the year was the Summer R.R. Camp in Lwówek Sląski where we enjoyed 10 days in a 16th Century castle. The theme of the camp was definitely 'medieval' and we concentrated on the series of books written by John Flannagan entitled 'Ranger's Apprentice'. Great fun, although not everyone had enough sleep and Dale spent a lot of time on the archery range as the main instructor!
During the week the Falcon and Eagle troops meet at our house, their numbers are steadily increasing as more young people join. The Poznan Royal Rangers were involved on Flag Day on 2nd May where they provided an Honour Guard in the Old Town Square. All hands were on deck to help out at the Baptist Church during their Conference in July. The RR served at tables, poured coffee and generally made their presence known!!! During the Greater Poland Uprising anniversary celebrations on 27th December they turned out in force again, but froze in their places as it was -8C and snowy! :(
New Life Christian Fellowship
The Fellowship continues to meet in our house on Sundays and during the week for prayer meetings. Dale continues to lead the church as an elder and is busily engaged in Bible teaching on Sunday mornings. Highlights during the year included a Passover Meal at our house for over 40 people and an Easter Sunrise Service at 6am at a lake in the Greater Poland National Park just outside Poznan.
Always a fellowship with something to do, we are embarking on a major New Testament translation project alongside the Evangelical Bible Institute. For several years now we have had a small group of Deaf Christians in our fellowship. As we've learnt to communicate with them, we discovered that the Deaf Sign language they use is extremely limited and that their Bible understanding greatly hindered. The deaf community here are very much a sub-culture and even their way of thinking is different from those of us who can hear. We have set up web pages - www.dobry-znak.pl - and have already begun this rather daunting and yet challenging project - to translate the New Testament into the Polish Deaf Sign Language...King David's Primary & Nursery School
Asia continues to teach English in the Christian School here in Poznan. She is teaching children aged 4-6 and 11-12. The school continues the work of our Nursery School 'Aslan' which joined King David's when it started in September 2006.
We are delighted with the school, it strong Christian lifestyle and ethics, as well as its excellent academic record. It really is God's blessing for us as a family to be involved in the schools work and to have children attending there.
Amy
Asia was much assisted by Amy Silcock during the last term in school. Amy spent almost 4 months of her 'gap' year with us as an intern teacher mainly working in King David's under Asia's guidance and supervision. Amy hails from St. Mary's, Reigate, an evangelical CofE which is in the next town from Dorking, my hometown. Amy did a brilliant job, she worked on an Introductory Course to TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) which I ran for her. Her assistance was also much appreciated in a Children's Centre called 'Nibylandia', run by evangelical Christians, where she taught English and helped out with art classes and Dale's Model Club! She made friends with all the kids she met and we know she's missed.CELT Plus
CELT Plus (the symbol 'plus' + being the
Cross), the Christian Language School we have run in the city since 1993, has undergone a slight change of name as we have shifted emphasis in our work over the past year or so. We have changed the meaning of CELT - Christian English Language Training - to Christian Educational & Language Training. The main reason for this is that Dale has been doing a lot more exhibition work connected to school setbooks and history in libraries, schools and museums recently. This is taking up more of his time and, occasionally, he is now getting paid for this! :)Dale continues to 'tent-make' by teaching English mainly in companies and to individuals, particularly in one major American company in Poznan. However, he is also preparing teens for their final secondary school exams. Most of the lessons are conversational classes based on the 'Communicative Approach' to teaching English.
Opportunities to share the Gospel in classroom situations still present themselves, Dale gets many occasions to share something about Christ during his work hours. Teaching predominately individuals nowadays also allows a greater flexibility timewise for both the student and teacher!!
The England Trip
We had an amazing time in England this year as the old van creaked and wobbled its way across Europe and back. :)We visited St. Paul's in Dorking, my homechurch, kindly staying at the Goddards once more. It was great to renew friendships, catch up on news and talk about some of the things we are getting up to in Poznan! We had an opportunity to share with everyone during the Sunday Services and also to meet up with Shona (the new curate and her family) which was brilliant.
The annual trip to a London Museum was to the Imperial War Museum this time accompanied by our good friend David Bassett. A super time was enjoyed by one and all, including Dale discovering the exact location of his Great-Grandfather's artillery battery at the siege of Kut in 1916!
We also had a key time with family during the time in the UK, first in Dorking with Dale's cousin Craig, Liz and their children. Together we made a grand total of 14 Taylors!!! Then we went up to Nantwich to spend some time with Dale's Mum, Paula - his sister - and her family. The girls particularly enjoyed sending time with Hayley, their cousin. A great time was had by one and all!The last part of trip to the UK we visited our friends Jonathan & Ewelina Greenwood in Lincoln, where Jonathan is the youth pastor in the Baptist church. Jonathan worked in CELT for some time and we organised a Mission to & from Lincoln last year. Plans are to run 2 Christian English language camps in CELT in the summer of 2011 as a mission outreach, with help from the Lincoln Church. Very exciting!
The journey was not without its 'highlights' either! A cylinder problem left Dale having to 'bleed' them rather regularly(!!!) on the trip as trapped air in the system caused one to stop. :( The effect - the 'wobbles'! The van vibrating and rocking whilst moving! Actually quite a serious problem, but praise the Lord thanks to a no.17 spanner handy we made it back to Poznan (1,300km from Dorking), having stopped 10 times! A new van, or 7-seater car, is a prayer project for next year!!! :)
Living History Groups / Re-enactment
Dale & the children continue to be involved in the Medieval & WW2 living
history groups with Asia helping out from time to time! A hobby that is becoming more popular with folks across Europe, we were quick to see the opportunity this gave for working in schools and libraries doing exhibition work, as well as attending full-scale historical events 'from the inside'. By carefully choosing the subjects and setbooks used in schools, we have been able to find creative ways to present the Good News. Hannah & Sarah, being home-schooled, often accompany Dale during these events.This year we have done exhibitions on: the Narnia Chronicles, the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, 303 Squadron, St. Patrick, the Battle of Grunwald (1410) and Medieval Times, the Battle of Britain (the 70th anniversary) etc. and worked closely with the Sienkiewicz Museum (famous for Quo Vadis) during the Night of Museums.
On a sad, but very serious side, Dale took part in the Honour Guard at Belweder, the Polish Presidential Palace, with the WW2 15th Poznanian Lancers after the Presidential Plane disaster in spring. They provided the Guard of Honour for ex-President-in-Exile Ryszard Kaczorowski who was killed with many other dignitaries on their way to the Katyn Memorial service.
The Military Zone (Strefa Militarna) display in Gostyn this year was another highlight, as Dale won the prestigious 'Orthodox of the Event' statuette from out of 700 uniformed participants. The award was for the most convincing uniforms and 'orthodox behaviour' during the entire 3-day event. Thousands of visitors had the opportunity to see some British WW1 uniforms and memorabilia, especially a small New Testament collection from my family and the war itself.
Our Christian Medieval Fellowship 'Jazwiec' formed a music group 'Cithora Sanctorum' at the end of the year, playing melodies, hymns and songs from the XII to XIV centuries. Dale plays percussion instruments, including the bodhran. Our first public concert was of carols and advent songs in a packed historical city centre cafe. An evangelistic opportunity, this was extremely well-received and has encouraged us to plan for future events around Lent & Easter in 2011.Prayer
Thank you for all your prayers and continued support, they are very much appreciated and needed for the work and ministries we are involved in.
May the Lord Jesus bless you,
in Him and for His Kingdom,
Dale, Asia, ><>
Hannah, Sarah, Abi, Ben & Reuben xxx
After the Christmas Dinner... :)
