Joel Martin Taylor

Faithful readers of this webpage probably already heard the news, but the Taylor family welcomed our newest member 2 weeks ago. Joel Martin Taylor was born January 14th at 9:03am and he's doing great so far. We and others have said lots of prayers for this and our two previous pregnancies in China and God has faithfully answered each time! I'd put up some pictures, but unfortunately our computer is in a mysterious repair shop somewhere in Zhejiang right now. For now, just go dig around on Facebook for photos until we get our computer back in a week or so. And in the meantime we have to visit Shanghai to tell the US embassy about their newest citizen.

Promising Contacts; Season of Prayer

We have had a good couple of weeks, overall. I am going to go ahead and say our health was better, because only one of us struggled with some sickness. Jason had some kind of stomach bug, but he is over it and we were able to get some stuff done anyway. We have spent time with quite a few people lately. For example, yesterday we went out to lunch. With Sunny, and discussed where she is spiritually. Today a girl named Candy came over for a study, got set up on a study plan for the Spring Festival holiday, and prayed with me, and seemed really happy about all of it. So we feel great about the upcoming Festival season. We really pray that God will work in hearts and prepare people to study and move closer to Him. Finally, on Monday we head to Hong Kong. This is the first time we have done a vacation in China in about eight years. Hard to believe, but true. Please join us in prayer for safety and refreshment! Love all y'all! Thanks for reading the blog.

Connecting People to God, and to Each Other (Hey, Sounds Familiar!)

This past Sunday we invited Wang Hao, who has been a brother for several months now, and another brother we know, English name Bob, who has faith but needs encouragement, and a girl named Gong Yan Xia who has expressed a deep interest in faith and study, all to our house, for study and worship, and pizza party to follow. All three of these folks are precious, but we hesitated to invite them all over at one time like that. Why? Well, they aren't classmates, they don't even know each other, and that can sometimes be awkward in China, where group mentality rules social settings. And to top it off, I wouldn't call any of them extroverted. But, we felt, still it was the right thing to do and the right time to do it. You see, in the cold winter, and during the cramming for finals portion of the semester, lots of students study constantly and lose perspective. Some need extra encouragement that getting out of the dorm, to a warm family atmosphere, and the focus on something spiritual, can provide. We had the feeling these three were all needing that at this time. And yes, sometimes, it was a bit awkward...but there were some really great moments,and we are so glad we could host them. Wang Hao and Bob each led great prayers in Chinese, we read the scriptures in unison in Chinese, we studied, we sang in Chinese, and after worship, we were able to encourage Bob to explain to Yan Xia the meaning of the Lord's Supper. Later, we were glad to see them exchanging numbers with each other, and agreeing to meet up and go to the local church meetings together in the future. We were positive the time together was a success when they hung around our apartment for a very long time, looked on our computer without our permission, played with Phoebe for about an hour, saw us putting sheets on a bed and offered immediately to help, etc...All of this assures us they felt comfortable and at home here, and they (almost) forgot we were foreigners. Praise God! He does all this, thru the unlikeliest people, namely, thru us Clarks. And also, thru three introverted but faith-filled and seeking people who were, after all, willing to connect to God and one another. Thanks God, for being among us.

Friday Ladies and Children's Study

We had a great semester of ladies’ Bible study. This group is consists of 7 permanent members: four Christian ladies Linda, Grace, XiLe MaMa, Gaoyan and three Seeking ladies XiaoChuan MaMa, XiaoYu MaMa, CoCo MaMa. Sometimes Promise MaMa and ChongChong MaMa visit. We have grown closer together studying the Bible and learning love and grace from God. Our group is trusting to share problems in marriages, in parenting, and relationships with older parents.

The last Friday of December we discussed and set some group goals for 2013. Goal 1: Read through the Bible together. XiLe MaMa brought a copy of January reading plan for each mom. Goal 2: Set up prayer companions. In our group, we will find a lady that we pray with regularly on the phone every week. Goal 3: Every mom will try to bring a new friend to the group and continue to visit and study with the friend throughout the year. Goal 4: Community work. Visit an orphanage. Put together give away packages of children’s clothes, books, etc.

Christmas Party on Tea Island (Year Two)

Margaret, Elaine, and LiWen came to our house to plan the 2012 Christmas party. The tea house can only hold around 80 people, so they decided to focus on Christian friends and friends who are studying the Bible already. This party was a great union and celebration of three main groups: Friday Bible study group, JiuLian church, and our Sunday church family. We planned to host a lunch buffet and Elaine and Margaret volunteered to buy some food, fruit, and drinks. GaoYan volunteered for more food and decorations. GaoYan also talked with Shelly of JiuLian a lot about the planning as their group was ready to help.

The day of the party at 9:00 a.m. Gerald, Bill Gates, the Hardin family, Shelly and LinLi’s family came to help set up. We decorated with balloons and red paper stars and set up tables. Teacher Liu from our Friday night group brought children’s tables and chairs.

Margaret did a great job hosting the party. Josh had 10 test questions about the birth of Jesus. Adults and children volunteered standing up to answer questions and Josh gave out chocolate as a prize. Shelly helped Josh with translation. It was a fun activity. We also sang a few Christmas songs.

Next we handed out strips of red and green paper and asked people to write down a thanksgiving from 2012 and their new-year wishes. We joined all the rings together to make a long chain of thanksgiving rings. The children, ladies, and men held the chain and took group pictures.

Then we had some Christmas performances. Linda invited the music teacher from ZheJiang University who sang Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art. She is a Christian. Linda also invited a children’s group to perform from her parent’s church here in ShiMa (stone horse). Margret’s daughter played violin. LinLi and Clint sang some Christmas songs.

Afterwards the lunch buffet started. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sausage, tea eggs, corn, homemade cookies, brownies, and all kinds of snacks.

This year’s Christmas party combined and included a lot of groups together. It was a great celebration About 80 people were counted.