Dear Friends and Family!
We are back at our dear Dorm! Two days ago we came into Moscow from our stay in Kaluga, which was amazing. It has been a long few days, but it was so clear for us to see the Lord working in the hearts of the youth. The concerts went really well. It was
probably the smallest turn out we have had for a while because of the location of concert hall, time of year, and the weather. At first I was discouraged by this. It seemed that at every turn there was so much opposition and in my narrow thinking I thought " ok God is this what we were fighting for? Doesn't seem like much!" The Lord humbled this thinking in a huge way!
At the starting time of the last concert night there was no one there except one old man. We all gathered and prayed to the Lord, this is your night and we are here! As we prayed the kids came. In that moment the Lord really impressed upon me that His numbers are not mine, what a humbling moment. There I realized my ideas of successful are so faulty compared to the Lord. When George gave the message of salvation the kids were more attentive then any other show I have been too, you could tell they were taking these things to heart. After the show was over many kids filled out respond cards expressing an interest getting involved in the church or wanting to gain more information about the message of salvation. That night one boy, who we had met in the summer, gave his life to Christ! Praise the Lord!
As our time in this dear city concluded we found ourselves at the very familiar train platform. As we boarded the train the youth of Kaluga stood out in the negative five weather to see us off. One little girl was shivering as she waited to see us off, standing at our train window with her friends smiling and blowing is kisses. As our train pulled out of the station, despite the cold, two of the Russian boys ran along side of the train until the end of the platform. Later we were told by pastor Dima that he had a chance to meet up with all the kids afterward for a while and talk to them. He said it was one of the best follow ups after an outreach he has had, praise the Lord!
Well last night we started our first night of concerts in a small city outside of Moscow. It was a small crowd but they were receptive which was encouraging! We are only playing one more show here tonight then we are off to Tver to spend time with orphans and give them their gifts that many of you have contributed! If you think of it please keep the show tonight, the days with the orphans, and safety for our travels up to Tver in your prayers.
Thanks you so much for taking the time to reads this and for all of your prayers. Each email is so encouraging and makes us feel less alone in all of this.
Much Love,
Shannon
Friends and Family,
We are in Kaluga. We had our first concert last night, it went well. Please pray that the kids that they would come back and that the Lord would open there hearts to His love. There is not much time to write a complete update, but if you could keep the concerts and the teams health in your prayers that would be great.
Love you all,
Shannon
Beloved!
We are back in Russia! What an amazing feeling I woke up with this morning, all cuddled in my thick Russian blankets, looking out the window at the Russian winter wonderland: there was no place I would rather be than here in this moment! It was such a sweet reunion when my family and I arrived back at the dorm, everyone was up at one in the morning waiting to greet us with hugs and screams. The next couple of days will be less eventful since the rest of the team isn't here yet due to the visa issues. This is giving us the chance to take advantage of this time with the dear people of the Dorm, that we love so dearly, before things get crazy!
It was a bit of an ordinal getting here with a 6 hour delay in LAX due to the snowfall in Moscow, but the nonstop flight made up for this. We got all the instruments and orphan bags through immigration without any problems. Also there was no extra fines for the extra baggage because of the delay, so it did end up being a blessing!
Thank-you for all of those who have been keeping us and the visa situation in your prayers. As of right now it looks as if Chris and Josh, our two new band members, and the rest of the team will be receiving their visa on Monday from the Russian Consul and will leave on the same day. If you think about it please pray that it all goes as planned if the Lord wills.
Thank-you for all your emails of support and love, it is so encouraging to get! My family and I are so blessed to have each one of you in our lives. In a couple of days I will sending another update to let you all know how things are going. Also if you wish to be taken off the email list just let me know, it is no problem :)
Love,
Shannon
Dear Family and Friends,
As we are approaching the final hours before our departure we have come upon
difficult times, the team's passports and visas have not yet been returned from
the Russian Embassy. They were promised to be here on the 24th, then today, yet
there is no trace of them and it is closed until Monday. This will hinder the
team and our two band members, outside of our family since we have year long
visas from the summer, from flying to Moscow tomorrow night. If you could please
pray that these visas will by some miracle show up tomorrow or that we will be
able to track down the visas and be able to switch their flights without a
problem; Aeroflot can be difficult to work with. Also if you would think of it
please pray for our health, there is a bad cold that is circulating the family.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for your prayers, it
means so much to us!
Love,
Shannon
Dear Friends and Family,
It has been over a month since I have been in the midst of the land I have come
to love Russia. The return has become a routine for me, plunging back into the world of academia and my own reality here. I have had little chance for reflection on the journey that my soul has embarked on for the past two months as I started classes two days after returning to the USA! Instead at times I am left wondering if it was all just a figment of my imagination. Pictures remind me that these times were real, though my day-to-day life encourages me to forget all. So finally, after getting a month of school behind me, I sit down in my little dorm room at San Diego Christian College to write the last part of the trip and to wrap things up for now.
As you know, my dad and our dear Texan friend Caitlin had joined us at the tail end of the Kaluga outreach. So the last two weeks of our stay in Russia we found ourselves back again in the beautiful city of Tambov. Every time I embark on the crowded, warm, and sticky overnight train to the city, I get excited that again the Lord has blessed me with an opportunity to return to this place. My favorite part of the train ride is the end, as there are always Tambovians awaiting our arrival at the platform.
We had a team from Pennsylvania come to help with the outreach; they were such a blessing to be able to work with. They were excited to be there and engaged the kids we met on the street, in the parks, and after each concert. They also were an encouragement to my family and the rest of the summer staff. It would have been easy for us to surrender to the exhaustion we were battling from our good, but hectic summer, but instead they brought new life to the ministry, which was an amazing gift to us all.
The concerts went well and attracted kids we had known from prior outreaches along with many new concert-goers. It was such a blessing to be able to spiritually encourage the church and the kids we had met before; also this trip gave the opportunity to share the gospel with those that had never heard it before.
One of our dear new friends is Sameh, who is an immigrant from Palestine and a Muslim, and attends the university in Tambov. After many conversations with team members, he shared his frustration with my mom, saying, "I have read the Bible, and there's many things I agree with and some things I don't agree with or don't understand. And I have read the Koran, and there's many things I agree with and some things I don't agree with or don't understand. They both seem like the truth. How can I know which is the right way?" Mom was so happy to share the words of Jesus, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father but by Me." (Jn 14: 6) A little later, Sameh, prayed for salvation and happily carried around the Bible we gave him right up till we left.
After the three nights of concerts ended, we had a few days of Bible study and follow-up with the kids. They came with questions and really wanted to listen and learn from the nuggets of truth the team shared with them. Also, it was encouraging that some of the youth, already a part of the church, made an effort to really reach out to these lost kids and befriend them. This is comforting for us to know that they have made a connection with the church outside of the team.
Praise God for the kids in Tambov! It was really exciting to see the Lord work through the kids and ourselves! I always look forward to seeing what the Lord teaches us through these trips as well. For this trip it was to simply love those the Lord has placed around me. I always think back on the quote of Mother Tearsea "the success of love is in loving- not the result of loving." So many times I feel it is easy to love a person in hopes of an outcome, but to simply love without any expectations is how we are called to live. It's easy to be on the mission filed and focus all our love on a certain person we feel is close to salvation, but we are to love all, even those who may want nothing to do with Christ. It is simply our job to be a vessel of love to all we are blessed to come across in this life.
We had hoped to have a return trip to the orphanage we had visited with the women's ministry team in July. This was the orphanage that almost didn't let us visit the orphans, but when they did, they were firm about no photography and no talk of God or Jesus. While we had left on good terms with them, there was an outbreak of stomach flu in the orphanage, so it was closed off to any visitors. This so saddened us as some of the most precious children we'd visited ever were from that special needs facility. We are praying that the church follows up with that orphanage and begins regular visits there.
So we finally faced that dreadful moment, when we had to say goodbye to Tambov and our many friends old and new who had accompanied us to the train station. Hugs on the platform led to tearful waves through the train windows and lots of pa-ka's or goodbye's back and forth. As our train began to pull out of the station, some of the younger men ran along side the tracks till they could no longer keep up with the speed of the train. This is always the hardest part of the farewell � also wondering if we will be so blessed to return again.
Upon our return to Moscow, we packed up our rooms at the dorm only to leave the precious staff that we love. Leaving the dorm was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. These people have become a family to me, leaving them meant leaving a part of my heart behind. It was a tearful drive in the van to the airport�. So began journey home. We had a two-day layover in London, which was really lovely before returning to the States.
So here we are back wondering what the next step is. The Lord has continually shown us the many needs of the Russian people and has put such a burden on the heart of all our family for them. Whether we are doing concerts and sharing the gospel with teens and young adults, or encouraging the believers in the Russian churches, or bringing Christ's love to the precious, forgotten orphans, God keeps impressing upon us the huge need of these people. We have been asked by CCCPM to return to Russia this December to do follow-up outreach concerts in Kaluga and to organize a Christmas orphanage ministry. At this point we do feel the Lord drawing us back to Russia and we are seeking Him for confirmation that this is His will for us.
If you think of it, please pray that the Lord would make His will clear to us. If you have any interest in joining the team in December or supporting the ministry, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Also Justin has been working on our website, sorrowunderfoot.com, which if you click on "blogs," you can see some of our videos from the summer (be sure to click only once on the video you want to see). Justin has also been helping update the CCCPM website, so if you go to calvarychapelofrussia.com, and click on "missions," you can see more about the outreaches we did this summer and some new video from our time with the Tver orphans.
Thank-you again for all of your love and support, it truly has gotten us through. Well here it is to wrap it all up for now.
Love,
Shannon Taylor
Dear Friends and Family!
The Lord is so good! Yesterday we had the opportunity to go and visit the country orphanage in Tver; this is the sixth time we have had the opportunity to spend times with these kids. It is so sweet to be with them, they are so precious! They were so excited to see us, greeting us with hugs and kisses. We were able to spend a four-hour period of time with them. Normally it is in two-hour segments but the director is now allotting us more time since we have built a relationship with her. She is happy to have us play with the kids and is open to us sharing our faith with them, God has really opened this door for us! She is by far the friendliest director we have come in contact with. Yesterday we had the theme that all things are possible through Christ. We incorporated a Bible story, skit, craft, and games, and songs all with this theme. It was so good being back with the kids and being able to hug, laugh, and love on them.
God is so good! Only a few days ago we didn't have enough funding for this outreach and God totally provided! We received funding at the last minute from completely random people that we were not even aware knew of our of ministry! How cool is God! We even had extra which we will go towards going back on the 11th to visit the country orphanage again and the city orphanage. Oh me of little faith! I was definitely starting to wonder if God would come through and of course He did!
God also had our backs as we traveled up to Tver in our van. Russian drivers are known to be crazy and at one point on our way up our van got side swiped by another when both were trying to pass head on! If we had been any closer it could have been fatal, all the damage included was the side mirror being ripped off and scratches along the side and windows. Praise God everyone was ok!
The last 48 hours have really been good for me, God truly is so good. I feel like God has again brought me to this point of emptying me of me. Striping me of everything that clutters my life and instead being filled with Him, letting Him be my everything. Focusing on the sole melody that HE truly is my purpose and HE truly is my reason. I tend to lose focus of this in the business of life and ministry and keep up this facade that I am truly living all of this when I'm completely missing the mark. I praise Him for the Grace He bestows on me, I can't believe he putts up with my fickle human nature! I find it amusing when I get frustrated with flaky people, when everyday God puts up with my on again off again love. It is quite humbling whenever I come to this conclusion.
Well other than yesterday things have been slower for us at the Dorm, giving an opportunity to rest and prepare for the upcoming concert outreach to Klugua that we leave for on the 6th. Thanks again for you prayers and emails. Each one puts a smile on my face and makes me feel not so far away from the people I love! I hope you are all doing well and if anyone needs prayer for anything please let me know!
Peace,
Shannon
The Krasnogorsk park outreach went good. First we had a church service. It was cool cause I think some nearby people were listening. We mostly passed out Gospel of John tracts. The tracts have information about the new church. There were a few Russian guys who played volleyball with us, and we invited them to church. We continue to pass out Gospel of Johns. I am praying that this will bring people to church ,and most importantly, Jesus Christ!
Thank you for all your prayers, I can see God answer them every day!
God Bless,
Justin Taylor
Hey Everyone,
Things are Going great over here! We've mostly been helping out around the CCCPM dorm. We are looking forward to an outreach we will have tomorrow in Krasnogorsk. We're going to play acoustic music in the park to draw people so we can share Christ with them, and invite them to church. Please pray that we can spread God's word tomorrow.
God Bless,
Justin Taylor
Dear Family and Friends,
It is so good to be able to write you as a sit on the top of my bunk at the beloved Dorm in Snegiri. The weather outside is absolutely beautiful, it has been raining today and the sky is a vibrant gray, which puts me in the mood to write to all of you. We have been back at the dorm for two days now, it is so good living here again with these beautiful people. For those who do not know the Dorm is an extremely large house that is home to the CCCPM (Calvary Chapel Church planting Missions) staff. My family and I had the opportunity to spend a great deal of time here last summer between outreaches; it has become a second home to me. It is really quite a lovely place, it is a huge family of twenty that speak the language of love which is a bilingual melody. Whenever I am in this place I am so encouraged spiritually as well; it is as refreshing as the cool breeze that is currently carried into my room. They seem to see life's bigger picture and live it, to serve and love the Lord and love all those around them. If I could only truly understand these things and hold on to them.
I would like to touch briefly on the end of the Women's ministry. In Tambov we had a very sweet time encouraging the ladies of the Tambov church. These women are so precious and have such a gentle, loving way about them. We were able to spend a couple days with the ladies and we also had the opportunity to visit an orphan camp on the outskirts of Tambov, this was heart breaking. The camp was a few miles out of the city in the woods; the age range of the children was 2 to 7 years old. This was the first time I had seen a large amount of younger orphans; this age tends to be scares since it is the most popular age for adoptions. Pastor Ray informed us that these children were the "rejects," for one reason or another they were unwanted so they put them away. This broke my heart as a held a beautiful three year old girl, who was too shy to tell me her name, yet bold enough to desire my love and attention. Her big brown eyes would look into mine hopeless and sad, yet they began to glimmer after hugs, balloons, and candy. The kids loved us so much, when we left they were crying and some were running after us. My little girl just stood there with her arms open wide waiting for me to pick her up. I hugged her has long as I could till one of the workers took her away. Leaving the orphanage was definitely one of the hardest things I have ever had to do… As our van pulled out of the gates on the old dirt road, I could see all the little children being processed by the workers into the routine of an orphan; the only life that some have ever known. It would have been a lot easier for me to live my life without seeing that orphanage, but God placed me and showed me it….
I could write so much more but this letter is already too long! One thing I would like to ask for prayer is funds for the orphanage ministry. Right now the orphan ministry has very little and we are trying to figure out how we can afford to travel back up to Tver to see the orphans again this summer. God has opened this door for us to minister to these children, and we want to make the most of it. It was so encouraging to read in Romans 4 and 5 today in my one year Bible, I loved verse 4:18 "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so he became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him." Sometimes I see things like money problems and think that its to much and can't work, oh me of little faith! I just have to remember to have faith and if he wants us up there with those kids he will provide the money. He loves those kids so much more than I could imagine, he's looking out for them, like Laurah said "God is really rich!" This trip has defiantly been a stretch for me by forcing me to completely put all my faith and hope in the great I AM.
Ok this is really the end! Again, I know I probably sounded like a broken record but THANK YOU for your prayers and letters! They really do the mean the world to us to receive; you are a huge blessing to us. I love you all!
Love,
Shannon
Hey friends and Family!
Well the last couple of days have been absolutely insane but such a blessing! As I write this letter to you we are back down in Tambov, we arrived here this morning on the over night train from Tver. I missed this city, it was amazing coming back to it today! I don't have a lot of time to email since I am at an Internet cafe so I am sorry if there are misspells or things don't make sense, just trying to write quick before my time runs out!
Ok so the ministry in Tver went really well, we had the opportunity to minister to three different orphanages. Two of the orphanages were the ones we brought the Christmas boxes to in December. Unfortunately a lot of the kids we have come to love over the past visits were not there since they were off at camp, the ones left could not go to camp for various reasons. In the end we found these kids were the ones that really needed to be loved. At the city orphanage in Tver two of the teen girls that Brit and I spent time with became Christians; this was so exciting to me! The two girls names are Kristina and Yulia. The day we met Kristina she tearfully explained to us that is was her first day at the orphanage, she was sent there by her step mother because she no longer wanted her. She said that hopefully her dad would pick her up soon, but she didn't know. She was so hopeless and clung to the words of salvation and love we shared with her. Yulia has been an orphan most of her life and was recently taken from her foster home since her foster mom's boyfriend attempted to rape her. Both of the girls were so beautiful and young, yet so broken and longed to be loved. We were able to pray with them and give them gospels of John. It was so hard leaving them, but when we left them they had a new light of hope in their eyes. I am hoping that in a few weeks I can go back and encourage them; please pray that something can work out. We also got to go to a new country orphanage that is especially for the mentally challenged kids. The kids there were so sweet and just longed for love and attention. On the whole they were not severely handicap and many of them could understand what we told them about Jesus since a local Church member in Tever visits them often. They knew many of the stories, one of the kids recited Bible stories from Abraham to Issac to my friend Laurah, how precious! About 15 kids became Christians, God is so good! Its really hard to explain all that went on with the orphanages, the best way is to say that God was in that place. I watched the the orphans seemed to open up to us in ways I haven't seen them do before. Please pray for them and the ministry there, we hope to go back more times this summer.
Ok so we just got to Tambov, like I said, and the team is just kind of chilling today since it is raining and our planned park outreach isn't going to work. In the next couple of days we will be ministry to the women in the church in the city, the kids of the city, and the orphans. Please pray that God would be in all we are doing here and especially for our time encouraging the church since from what Pastor Ray has said they are going through a dry time.
Ahh time is almost out! Well thank-you for all your emails, I will be better at responding to all of them when I am back at the dorm! I love you all so much and am so encouraged getting all your love through email :)
Love,
Shannon
Dear Family and Friends, As I write this letter we are on our way to LAX. We have all gotten little to no sleep and exhausted is an understatement at this point for us. Despite our tired souls they are uplifted for their return to Russia. We will be arriving in Moscow in in about 24 hours! If you think of it please pray for the safety and smoothness of our flights and connections. This time we will be having two layovers and in London we will be switching airports entirely! Should be an adventure :) It is super important our flights stay on time so we hop on the next. So here our trip starts! When we first get to Moscow we will be jumping right into the orphanage and women's ministry. If you think of it please pray for strength for us in the upcoming week that and that God will use us according to His plan. Thank you for all of your prayers, love, and support; without you this trip would be impossible for us! Dear Family and Friends,
Much Love,
Shannon and the Taylor fam
We have two more days until we get on our plane to Russia. We still have lots to prepare. Please keep us in your prayers!
