Correspondence from John and Marie
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Shalom, John has been under treatment for over 4 weeks for peripheral vertigo, along with his Menieres. He has headache most all the time and has a hard time walking straight. If the Doctors here are not able to help him we will have to come home and see the Doctors there. Please pray for John and that we will know what to do. John & MarieMERRY CHRISTMAS SEASONS GREETINGS FROM THE TAYLORS IN ISRAEL 2006 has been a year of move, change, & growth. Move; as we moved back to Israel in March, we house-sat for a couple that were stateside for 3 months, then after one month, in one room and one month in a two room apt., we were able to move into the two bed room apt. that we lived in when we were here in 2003 & 2004. Then off to Germany for a weeks training. We stayed over for 3 days to see a little more of Germany. We were able to do something that we had wanted to do for some time, that is take a boat trip down the Rhine river. Change; as both of our jobs here at the Village have changed some, because of a larger staff, and more people staying at the village. Also we are both getting older and it takes longer to do anything. Marie had surgery on her left thumb on Dec. 5th. She will have to keep the cast on for up to 6 weeks. Growth; as 3 new greatgrandbabies arrived this year and two grandsons were married. We plan to be in the states in for John's 80th birthday, hope to see many of you then. We hope that each and everyone of you have a great Christmas. And that you will not forget the reason for the season and give willing and sacrificially to the Lottie Moon offering, so that the over 5000 people we baptist have serving overseas will be able to keep up the work, and that God will send others to help with the work. Yours in HIS service John & Marie Taylor Shalom, In HIS service John & Marie HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ONE AND ALL, In HIS service John & Marie Shalom One & All, Will try to write more later. In HIS service, John & Marie SHALOM; Love, John & Marie |
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Shalom One and All; In HIS service, John & Marie Shalom Family and Friends; We are flying Delta Air Line all the way. First stop is in Newark N.J. then on to Atlanta Ga. then on to Tulsa. This week we are taking a trip south going to the Dead Sea for 2 nights then on to Eilat and the Red sea. When we get back from Eilat we will only have 12 days till we leave, with alot to do. Hope to see most of you soon! Love, John & Marie Shalom One and All, Love, John & Marie Shalom Y'all We are getting to be short timers here, with only 3 months to go. It doesn't seem possible that we have been back from our trip 7 weeks already. And that we are making plans for our trip home in the last of Oct. We hope to arrive in Tulsa on either the 28th or 29th of Oct. When we get it all worked out we will let every one know. We want to do several things in this news letter. One is to let everyone know that we have a web sight it is http://www.throneofgod.com/family/taylor.htm We want to thank Val Joe Smith for setting it up and keeping it updated. We shared with you our first experience going to a Jewish Wedding. Well we went to our second one. There are 4 Wedding Halls close to us. Part of the wedding is to have a fire works display, When we first got here we would run to the window to watch, Since most of the weddings take place at night now we just wait for it to end so we can go back to sleep. The biggest and most Elaborate Hall is owned by a man named Jack. (Every year at Thanksgiving Jack gives the Baptist Village a large fully cooked turkey) Well Jack's daughter was getting married, and we were all invited. We knew that Jack would top anything he had done in the past. And we were right. Everything was extra special, the fireworks seemed to go on and on. All in all it was quite a night. Then Mrs. Bashi's son had a boy so we got invited to the Britt [circumcision] which now of days calls for a big celebration. We went to Tel Aviv to the top floor of a large tower overlooking all of Tele-Aviv which is a large restaurant, where they had the celebration which like the weddings includes a full meal. Earlier that day which was our 52nd wedding anniversary we had gone to a nice steak house for lunch, along with some of our friends from the village. The Russian Church is still growing. Timer and Mary Ann are doing a great job helping them. The English Church is still losing members, but with the new Pastor, Avi here we are praying that it will start to grow again. Speaking of Avi being here, he needed the computer that we had borrowed from the church. We are now using a computer that Lucky was using before he got a new one, we should be able to keep this one till we leave in 3 months. The village is very busy now till the end of Aug. with camps every week. When things slow down around here in Sept. and Oct. we hope to see some more of Israel before we leave. Please keep on praying for the churches here, and for GOD to move in the lives of the people of Israel. Also pray for our health as we are not getting any younger, and things don't work as well as they once did, and those that do work hurt. Sometimes it is hard to believe that we are here in the land of JESUS. GOD is so GREAT. John & Marie Taylor P.S. Even when we return home our email address will still be JMTaylor@pobox.com Shalom; Greetings from Israel, we want to start with all the good news. We asked you to pray for the English Church as they were looking for a new Pastor. Well, Praise God. On May 22nd the church voted to call Avi Parot as their new pastor, he will be here next Shabbat July 10th. We asked you to pray about Lucky's visa, it was renewed till the end of the year. The Russian church is still growing. They have a leadership class meeting on Monday nights. By now most of you have heard the great news Southern Baptist gave $136.2 million to the 2003 Lottie Moon Christmas offering, an increase of over 21 million over the 2002 offering. Thanks to each and everyone who had a part in this great achievement. This means that at least 200 additional missionaries will be joining those already on the field. Now is the time to plan so that we can give even more this year. We believe that we are in the last days and what we do for Jesus we must do now. God's Spirit is moving in the most remarkable ways all over the world. Let's join Him. There are still some things that we are asking for you to pray about. When Cas went in to get her visa, she only had 8 months left on her passport. They only gave her 2 months, they said that they could not give a visa for the last 6 months of a passport. Please pray the she gets a new passport and then gets her visa. The English Church is still losing members as they are being deported. Please pray for these families that are being uprooted, many have been here for up to 15 years. Also please pray for the new Pastor Avi Parot that God will use him in a mighty way. May 22nd the English church went to Caesarea. We had a worship service in the Roman Theater, and then went to the Mediterranean for a baptismal service. Next we moved to the Amphitheater for a business meeting and voted to call our new Pastor. On the 29th Pastor Jim and his wife Valarie said their goodbyes. On the 27th we flew to Ireland, where we rented a car and drove all over that island over 2000 miles. We stayed at B&Bs it was a great vac. On our way back to Israel we stopped in Prague for 3 days. We will finish our time here at the end of Oct. and be back in our house in Nov. Our email address will not change it will still be JMTaylor@pobox.com John & Marie Taylor Shalom; Sorry that we have been so slow getting out a newsletter. We will try to catch everyone up on what has happened and some things that are about to happen. We have another couple here at the Village. They are Don & JoAnn Crawford who transferred here from Cyprus. They will be taking our place when we leave. That is an answered prayer. They are living in the apartment next to us, and will move in where we are when we leave. It is great that we will have them here this summer because the Village is fully booked. Both Congregations are doing well. The Russian congregation is still growing. The English one is still losing members because they do not have visas to stay here, but the number each week is still holding as good or better that it was a year ago. The last Sunday in may will be the last one that Pastor Jim will be here. Please pray for the church as they seek a new pastor. Also John is the Bible teacher and we will be leaving in Oct. It is Passover week so school is out and we had a 3 day youth camp & a 3 day children's camp here at the Village. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and we plan to go to Jerusalem for the sunrise service at the Garden Tomb, it is at 6:30 so we will have to leave here about 4:30. But it is our last chance. A few weeks ago we went to Jerusalem and took a tour of Warren's shaft & Hezekiah's tunnel(2nd Kings 20:20) It is about 1 1/2 kilometers long with cold water running in it anywhere from calf deep to just below our waists. It was just barely shoulder wide and we had to stoop over all the time. Well we have done it so we won't have to do it again. Building it was quite a feat in its day, as they dug from both ends and met in the middle. The tour also showed us where they think the city was in the time of David, which is east of where the old city is now. The old city that we see today was built about 500 years ago & is nothing like the Jerusalem that Jesus knew. April 24th the staff here at the Village is going up to the Sea of Galilee for 2 nights, we are staying over an extra 2 nights. The on the 27th of May we will fly to Ireland for a vacation. We are renting a car and staying at B&B's then on the 10th of June we as we return we are stopping for 2 nights in Prague then on back here on the 13th.We haven't taken more that a few days off since we got here and we both need a break. We have been asked what we do on a normal day well so far there haven't been many of those, but maybe in our next letter we will try to tell you some of the things that we do. Prayer Requests 1 Pastor for the English Church Visas for both Lucky & Cas need to be renewed in May. Don & Joann also need visas Many at the English are in need of visas. Pray that God will work on those responsible. John & Marie Taylor Shalom; We know that it has been some time since we put out a newsletter. Our computer died and we were without email for a few weeks. We now have the use of a computer that belongs to the English Church. The main problem was that we lost everything that we had in the computer pictures ect. But worst of all we lost many of the address's we were using for our newsletters. So if you receive this one please send us any and all email addresses that you think that we might want THANK YOU. In our Christmas letter we told you that we were going to Bethlehem on Christmas eve. It was awesome to be where Jesus was born on Christmas eve. We went to the Church of the Nativity, then on to the Shepard's field for a service, then back to Jerusalem for another service. The service at Shepard's field was in several languages. The scripture was read in one language then in English. Everyone sang in their own language. The final song was Silent Night. As we stood there looking out over those hills in the darkness singing that song it was easy to know how frightened the Shepard's were when all of a sudden the darkness was pierced by that light, and the silence broken with the voice of an angel. As Marie wept we knew that there were very few dry eyes there. On January 23rd we went to Jerusalem to the Biblical Resources Pilgrim Center. There we had a guided tour and explanation of several things used during Biblical times, much of which was new to us, or at least things we didn't know about some of it. After the tour we experienced a "Biblical Meal" While we ate the guide explained about seating, types of food and what each meant. It was so good both the tour and the meal, in that we learned by experience. On January 29th we attended a Jewish wedding. Mrs. Boshi, our office manager invited us to their sons wedding. We left the Village at 6:00PM,arriving at the hotel at 6:50.First there was the Reception in a large room with all kinds of food, lots of meat & veggies which started at 7:00. Then at 8:30 went we into another large room for the ceremony which was short and very different than any wedding that we had ever gone to. Next we went in to the dinning room where we had a 5 course meal, with all you can eat,& drink. In the other side of this room was a dance floor, where the Bride & Groom, and many others danced. We left at 11:oo we had all the food we could eat,(John and some of the others had eaten way too much, and paid for it for the next several days) and had heard all the loud music that we could stand. Still we would not have missed it for anything. The Lord has been so good to us allowing us to experience so much in this culture. Language learning, a funeral, a wedding along with all the biblical locations. We are still excited about going to several more sites before we leave. thank you all for your prayers on our behalf. We have stayed mostly healthy, only experiencing things like colds and all the aches & pains of our older age. The Russian Church is still growing. They are in a project now to dub the Russian language on a video about a Jewish family in biblical times that comes to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. The English Church is still losing members because of the Government crack down on those whose vises have expired. We have lost 27 members so far & will some more. Just last week the man who runs the sound system was arrested and is being deported. But God is great before this all started we ran around 50 each week, we are still running around 50. Plus those who have left are witnessing in the courtiers they went back to. Pastor Jim will also be leaving in a few months, so please pray that the church will find a new Pastor John & Marie Taylor MERRY CHRISTMAS, We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving we did! There were 28 of our mission family here for dinner and a fun time. Everyone said it was great. We want to wish each and everyone a merry Christmas. And that 2004 will be a great year. It is hard to believe that we will be here in the Holy Land as we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. We have an opportunity to spend Christmas Eve in Bethlehem with the Jerusalem Baptist Church Needless to say we will be doing that. First we will go to Nativity Square where we will pass out tracts, when to Shepard's Field for a service. After that we will go the Christmas Tree Restaurant for supper, then back to the Jerusalem for a service there. Then back to Baptist Village to spend Christmas with the rest of the Baptist Village staff. We want to thank each and everyone for your support both with your prayers, and as you give to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering, and through your churches to the I.M.B. Let us all work to make 2004 a record year in HIS service. John & Marie 9/20/03 SHALOM Y'ALL, A few days ago we were in the old city of Jerusalem doing some shopping and we purchased a tile that read SHALOM Y'ALL, so I thought that it would be a good way to start a news letter. I started this one several days ago only to lose it. There is more about computers that I do not know that there is that I do know. Well here I am starting again maybe I will finish it this time.. I don't think that we had mentioned the fact that we have a swimming pool here at the village it is a lot of work to keep it clean. I wasn't sure that it was worth it. But in the last few weeks we have had 3 churches use it for a baptism service. The Russian church that meets here at the village used it 3 weeks ago. They had their worship service next to the pool, then baptized 5 new members, we are attaching 3 pictures from that service. 
 The Russian church is growing all the time a few new people each service. That is the best way to grow slow but steady. The English church is losing people each week. In our last news letter we asked for prayers about the problem. To give you a better idea of what is going on. For the past 15 years Israel has had a number of foreign workers here, mainly doing jobs that the Israelis would not do, or for pay less that they would accept. Even though these people did not have a permit to live here. Now the government is deporting them, putting them in jail if they do not have the money for a ticket back to the country they came from. Most of the people here in Israel are upset they do not want to lose good workers, and they do not know how they will replace them. It is a mess. The English Church is helping any members who have to leave with the cost of their tickets. Looks like we will lose about 70% to 80% of our members. Please pray about this situation, and for everyone involved. Also pray that as these Christians go to other countries that they will be witness of the love and grace of God. The church has changed its name from Baptist Village Congregation to All Nations Church. They also are looking to see if God would have them move off of the village to a place where they might be able to reach more people. Please pray about this also. There are many churches facing this problem for some even the pastor may have to go. Pray for Israel and the peace or lack of it. There are allot of hurting people here and they do not know what to do. Yesterday we went to our first funeral here in Israel. The mother of Yehuda our Hebrew teacher died the day before since they do not embalm the burial is usually the next day. 6 of us who are his students drove to the cemetery after missing our turn the first time we did arrive at a very large cemetery where she was to be buried. After a wait for all the family to get there the service started they brought her out wrapped in a black cloth and carried on a stretcher, after a short service we all walked behind the family has they took the body to he place where she was to be buried. Another short service then they slipped her in to the ground, place a few cement pieces that looked like what we use for walks. Then the family took up shovels and began to cover her with dirt. They cut their clothes, then changed their shoes and we all left. I do not know what it all meant. Next week we are going to take a few days off. We are going to Jerusalem for 3 days we will be staying at the Jerusalem House there is an apartment there. It is only a few blocks from the old city and the Garden tomb. Will tell all about it in our next news letter. In HIS service, John & Marie 8/14/03 Shalom One and All, Hope this finds everyone well. We have been/are very busy with kid's camps but it will slow down after next week. We were asked what we did on a typical day, well every day is different. For an example one Sunday we had people coming to stay in the guest house plus others were coming the next day to stay in some of our cabins, and the sewer was stopped up just past there so we had to get it unstopped. We had a thing that we could put through the sewer and clean it but w only had rods for about 15 meters and the distance between man holes was about 50 meters. So 2 of us went in to Petakh Tikva to get some more rods. They did not have enough there but did have in their store in Tel Aviv Then with a map and the address John took off for Tel Aviv only to find the road that he was to take was under repair and he had to use a detour. Well he got lost and spent the rest of the afternoon running around in circles. The next morning with a new set of directions John set off again after getting lost 2 or 3 times, he finally found the store, and we were able to get the sewer unstopped in time. Every time we plan to do something something else happens. So now we say that we will do this or that if nothing else happens. On the 17th of July we took a trip to celebrate our 51st anniversary. We went to Haifa ,Acre and Caesarea by the Sea we had a great time and saw a lot of both Roman and Crusader ruins. We also went to Mt Carmel and saw the place that Elijah defeated the 450 prophets of Baal. The Russian Church is still growing and we enjoy meeting with them. With the English Church there is good and bad news. First the good news Pastor Jim is back and his father is doing well. Now for the bad news several of our member's visas have run out and they are not able to get them renewed. They are being deported but if they do not have the money for a ticket home the are put in prison till they can raise the money. As a church we are trying to help as many as we can. Please pray about this situation. We asked you to pray for two of our people who were having trouble getting their visas . Carmella Roye got hers, but Scott Terry has not so please keep on praying. And add Cas to your prayers for her visas runs out next month. Pray for both of us as the heat is getting to us, and we do not want to be so tried that we are not nice to everyone but that we can show the grace of God in all that we do. We have attached 5 pictures;  1. Marie at Elijah's cave  2. A statue of Elijah cutting the head off of one of the prophets of Baal  3. Part of the rebuilt Crusader wall at Acre  4. A roman Tomb at Caesarea  5. The rebuilt amphitheater at Caesarea In HIS Service, John & Marie 7/15/03 Shalom Family & Friends, We have some good news. You have been praying for the visas for several of us, well the 6 of us that came here in Jan. and have all received our visas. Praise God. We do have 2 others, Scott, Terry and Carmella Royce, who have not received theirs yet so keep on praying. We want at this time to say thank you for your prayers. We do believe/ know that prayers make a difference. The second thing that is good news is that we are great grand parents. Our grand son Dustin's wife Beth had a girl, Lili who is with out doubt the greatest great grand baby in the world. Of course we could be just a little prejudiced. June was a busy month but much different from May. We have 3 new units living here now. David & Karla McConkey, John & Debbie Dorr & their Children Philip & Lauren, and Philip Dorr brother of John. They came here from Cyprus, they work in the media. The biggest job getting ready for them was getting 3 apartments ready. We have one major problem here, all the buildings shifting a lot causing a lot of cracks. The reason for the shifting is that if we dig down 15 feet we hit water) So John patched cracks ,replaced light fixtures, made plumbing repairs, checked out sewer lines, ect. Marie & CASs cleaned, painted, and purchased all the things needed for the new people to keep house, pots, pans, linens, ect Marie is still cooking the noon meals for the staff and fixing a snack for the morning break all this in a hot kitchen as we do not have air conditioning, plus all the extra work of helping CASs get the rooms ready for each new group here. Part of John's responsibility is to keep the grass cut and watered since it doesn't rain here for May to Oct. He uses fire hoses and water cannons that will cover a circle over 150 feet. We can only water between 7 P M and &7 A M so John turns the water on at 7 P M then off at 10 so he can go to bed. Then the next morning he moves everything to another place then same old story. We are both ready for fall to get here. We are going on a short break to celebrate our 51st wedding anniversary. We will leave here on the 17th and come back on the19th. We will be staying in Haifa with side trips to Acre ( one of the oldest cities and most important during the Crusader era. with many ruins to see) and to Mount Carmel (where tradition says Elijah faced the Prophets of Baal.) It will be a nice break from the work here. Timer & Maryann Hartley teach a class for English as a second or third language with the Russian church, and have asked us to take over for them when they go to the states in Oct. so we will be meeting with the class to make the change as easy as possible. We are enclosing a picture of Lili, and one where they are making pita bread. Till HE returns, John & Marie |
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Baptist Village Mobile Post Central Sharon 45875 Israel Email: jmtaylor@pobox.com Email: jmtaylor24@juno.com c/o Trinity Baptist Church 1703 W. 41st St. Tulsa, Oklahoma 74107 Office: (918) 445-2416 Email: info@tbctulsa.org |