Monday 8:15 p.m.

Anoher busy day, however we did have the afternoon free to do some shopping, resting, and just doing nothing. The SC's and local Chinese students took us to some local shops and mall to shop. We are about to leave for a New Year's Eve party being hosted by two Univeresity Teachers and SC's. Tomorrow is a holiday for Chinese as well as Americans (us) and we are going to party again at a Barbecue hosted by local belivers.

All the students are healthy and none have gotten sick....so keep praying.

RT

Monday Morning 6:30 a,m.

Another great day yesterday. Last night we attended an undergr. ch. and was blessed by worshi. with other believers and having lrds. Suppr. (By the way please remember for security reasons, I must abbreviate some words so Officials "are not able to connect the dots."....so you may have difficulty in understanding some of my messages.....However, I think you can make sense of most of them.

We are going to an Chr. elementary school this morning to help them with their English pronunciation. Tonight one of our hosts is having a New Year's eve party for us so it will be another long day.

Our students are doing great, always on time, and not much whinning. I love them all and they are having opportunities and experiences that they will remember and use forever. Thanks for giving them the opportunity to come and keep pra.ing for us.

RT

Sunday Afternoon

We just returned to our Hotel after Ch. Great service at an authorized, registered ch. for foreigners living in China. However gov't does not allow Chinese to attend this registered ch. There are cameras installed throughout the facility to insure that Chinese do not attend. We had lunch at Papa Ron's (go figure) and we are relaxing til we have another meeting tonight. Weather is great...the locals call it sub tropical....today's temp is 62.

More later................RT

email address

PS....If you want to send emails ....send to rtaylor@sewanee.edu and I make sure team member gets it. I attempt to check my emails daily ........RT

Sunday Morning

It is 8:45 a.m Sunday morning and all is well. All team members are healthy and had a great time meeting with teachers and students yesterday during orientation. We spent about two hours teaching in the classroom after a huge Chinese lunch.....sitting at a huge round table with a lazy susan and food just kept coming if front of us......great time of fellowship and eating. We are meeting in 15 minutes to go to Chinese ch. service. All the kids are excited. More later...gotta go..RT

Arrived in Guangzhou

We are all ok It is 7:45 a.m. on Saturday. We are waiting to go to the University for our first class. Everyone is ok. Only casualty was that Daryl's guitar got broke. He is a is a bit sad but will be ok. We will have an orientation sessin this morning, lunch with University staff and teach this afternoon. We will have an English Corner tonight. Gotta go...more later.....RT

Newark Arrival

The team that departed Nashville, made it to Newark on schedule as did the planes from Birmingham and Tampa. It is 10:30 a.m. and all team members are eating a bite before departing Newark at 11:30 local time.

Notes from team members:
1.Daryl said his feet hurt.
2. Michael says ibs is in-check,
3. Kim did great for her plane ride.
4. Blair loves his family.
5. RT loves his family.
6. Kim gave Daryl half her sandwich and Daryl is happy....and we are happy because he can't talk while he is eating.
7. Kyle is doing his in-flight exercises so that he does not get a blood clot that travels to his heart and kills him.
8. Harrison says he has not grown any taller.

Bye for now....I will try to make another entry after we go through immigration and customs in Beijing. ...some 13 hours from now. However, do't be alarmed if not able to send update.

More later..........RT

We're Ready to Go!!!

We had our final orientation meeting on Sunday and we are ready to go. Team members departing from Nasville will meet at the Nashville airport at 4:00 a.m. on Thursday for our 6:30 a.m. departure to Newark where we will meet up with Diana from Birmingham and Jaime from Tampa. We depart Newark at 12:15 and will arrive in Beijing 13 hours and 45 minutes later at 3:00 pm. Beijing time on Friday. We depart Beijing at 7:15 p.m. and arrive in Guangzhou at 10:05 p.m. We will be a Team of tired travelers!!! I will update as often as I can. (Please remember for security reasons, I will not be able to be too specific on some of our work)

GoneToChina-rt

To family and friends back home:

I will try to update this blog often...however, please know there will be days when internet access is not available.

RT