Hey guys! My name is Taylor Euliss! [pronounced (YOO-lis) for those who care] I grew up in good ol' Pfafftown, North Carolina (yup, about a mile away from Sara Beth) and I've lived here for the entirety of my near-17 years of life. My family consists of Mom and Dad, my brother David, and my sister who shares my birthday on Cinco de Mayo! (Yeah, we're fraternal twins). I absolutely love learning, but I can't say I'm a fan of public education. I've been through private school, two different home-schooling programs, as well as public school, where I am currently "being educated." Needless to say, I have some issues with the pertenance and value of the things we learn in public education, but i'll spare you that rant.
Music basically dominates my life these days. I've been singing since I… well… since I could speak. I've been singing in chorus at school or choir in church (or both) since about 3rd or 4th grade. Guitar came next, in about 5th or 6th grade. I picked up my dad's 30 year old Drifter guitar that was gathering dust in our closet and litterally played till my fingers bled (the strings were older than the guitar and were rough as nails). A couple years later, and my love for piano popped in, which I had the honor of catering to with some help from my good friend Sara Beth. Finally, at age 16, I also play a little djembe, some ukulele, and bass guitar.
I was originally a little iffy about thinking about this trip simply because of where we're going… and not even because of what you see in the news or on TV. My biggest fear in embarking on this journey: SPANISH. As you can probably tell by the proposterous length of this bio, I really enjoy communication and being able to get my thoughts and points across. I took Spanish in 3rd and 4th grade, but honestly…it was a joke. I went on to take two years of Latin in middle school and i'm in my 2nd year of French in high school. Now I've studied French inside and out and I pride myself in being fairly proficient, but when I try and speak Spanish… things get ugly. Needless to say, while I am taking a few online lessons to get the basics down-pat, I look forward to learning this new language and building my communication skills even further.
I've been a Christian for as long as I can remember. There wasn't really one "BIG BANG" moment when I dropped to my knees, the clouds split, and a chorus of angels sang as I accepted Jesus into my heart (not to discount that method of acceptance — it's possible). Regardless, my walk with Christ has been far more a journey than anything else, and that journey really started kicking up towards the beginning of this year. In early January, Nick Doub, a senior at my high school, got into a terrible car-wreck just around the corner from the school. After about a week of strong prayer and never-ending hospital visits, Nick finally went home to heaven, (where I know he's partying it up with the Jesus as we speak). Nick's passing really hit our school hard and made what everyone thought was a broken community come together as a HUGE family. The changes that I saw evoked through Nick were miraculous to say the least — especially in me. I saw what God could do with one guy — one goofy, hilarious, charming guy who didn't do anything spectacular other than keep God in his heart and a smile on his face. I immediately thought to "what could God do with me — with my life — if I surrendered myself to him even that much?" So through the preceeding months, I began digging deeper into God's word, paying more attention to the music I was listening to, the TV shows I was watching, the words I said, and the way I treated people. Ever since then, my relationship with God has snowballed into something so awesome I could type for years and never fully explain it (don't worry, I'll spare you).
My stumbling upon this trip was no accident. I had spent countless hours Google searching, calling people, and praying, all in search of some way to do something of eternal value for God's kingdom! It had burdened my heart so that I would lie awake at night, just staring at my ceiling, contemplating where I could go, who would come with me, how long i'd be there, what I'd do, and what I could sell to get there. Through a couple of Google searches, AIM came up and, through some talking with Sara Beth and some pretty extensive discussion with my parents… AND God, I decided this was it.
Amidst other things, I'm really interested in writing and photography — I really look forward to bringing both my camera AND my journal on this trip and coming out of it with some pretty wicked awesome material.
So here I am, and goofy, awkward, almost-17 year old musician with his hear ablaze for God, ready to do whatever it takes to expand His kingdom and work for His glory! I can't wait to get to know you all better as we take embark on this portion of our journey together. To take Sara Beth's phrase, I love you guys already!
