Sunday, May 22, 2011

Two added to the Kingdom!!!


One of my requests from the Lord has been to get a children’s church started here. I hadn’t found my place in church here and I really wanted to work with children. Last week our Pastor asked Cameron if he would ask me to do a children’s church this Sunday. OF COURSE was my answer and I have been excited for this day all week. I prepared and got my supplies and brought enough stuff for ten kids. When I walked into church I saw about 25 kids that would be coming to the first children’s church! Whoopsi!! =D Today at church 26 Roma attended the service and when we went into the room for children’s church the Roma sat on one wall and the other children sat opposite of them. I began reading our story of Elisha being fed by the ravens in 1 Kings 17. We learned about King Ahab and the rain not falling due to their worship of false gods and then each child participated in acting out each character in the story. It was amazing to see the children interact and see their laughter overcoming cultural barriers of race. Oh how I love how children can make love the simplicity it is meant to be. Afterwards we divided into discussion groups and the older kids dug deeper into the Word. We talked about Matthew 6 and how God will provide and knows what we need and our need not to worry. Teaching on Matthew 6 was a huge reality check for me because most of the children I was teaching spend time with their parents digging in dumpsters to make ends meet. There was a weight of responsibility teaching something so relevant that I had to check my own self and ask “Do I really believe this?” because I’ve never had to rely on this scripture like the children I am teaching do. Despite that, I could teach Matthew 6 in confidence because I know when we seek God first all of our needs are met!
At the end of our service, the translator was speaking with a boy who was very attentive during all of the teaching. She brought him to me and said “This boy wants to know God and believes in Him. He wants to be saved.” After speaking with the boy and gauging his understanding of what he said he wanted, he and another boy accepted Christ. They made a commitment to study the Word and be discipled and so this Tuesday they will meet with Cameron and begin to study.
Tonight we had our first children’s church at a church plant across town and it too went amazingly well! Only due to the glory of God because He has truly stripped me of anything I was ever confident in! Both churches desire to continue the children’s church and in the next month or two I will start classes for women who want to be trained to take over this ministry so that I can fade out and hand it over to them. The church we attend will begin a Roma service at 9:30 and a Bulgarian service at 10:30. Though this idea still seems foreign to me and I would love to see them all together worshipping as one body, I know that I am the foreigner who has no understanding of culture and will trust God to change hearts in His time and will focus on just simply loving all and following in obedience my One True Amazing God!

Please pray for the two boys who accepted Christ today. They live in a tent community in a field with their family and other Roma. Praise God for the Roma believer amongst them that brings them to church! (FORGIVE me! I have too many names swimming in my head and I am not going to write down names that I’m not sure of! I can’t remember their names right now)

Please pray for their spiritual growth to be strong as they study the Word with Cameron.

Pray for all the other kiddos who are attending children’s church in the morning and at the church plant in the evenings.

Please pray for God to put desires in the hearts of His people to take over this children’s ministry so that it can prosper under their leadership and under the sweetness of their cultural knowledge and language ability that I will never be able to fulfill.

Please pray that each door God opens, we will walk through with discernment, wisdom and NO confidence in ourselves!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Can you say APPROVED!!!




A quick update to let you all know that God answered our prayers and our visas were approved! They will put the final stamp in them next Wednesday! There were interesting events taking place as we headed to hear we were approved....on our path to the visa office a huge riot broke out clear in the middle of town. Rocks, eggs and all sorts of non-sense were being thrown and clearly hate filled the air. God placed a stamp of approval on our visa and satan was forced to create his trouble elsewhere! Praise God that our visas were approved but also praise God that our children and us were kept safe during this horribly sad day. Pray for those who are so filled with hate that they attack people in their rage.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

A thank you and tears


Today was like any other, I had language class. It was a walk to my bus and metro like any other and like always I was hungry. I was thinking about lunch and I had 10leva in my pocket and this was my lunch allowance for the next two weeks so I was hanging on tight to it. I decided to go home and eat. Like any other day a beggar was on the sidewalk as I made my way to the bus. Unlike any other day I didn't have extra money with me for beggars ONLY my allowance that I didn't want to use! Of course if you know me, you know I couldn't just walk by even though today I really wanted to. I went to a store and fresh baked bread had just been put out! It smelled wonderful and even more than before I was struggling not to just buy it for me! Instead I purchased only one and some water and returned to the lady. Everything about my day was like any other, except the lady was about to turn it all upside down.
God has given me a heart that refuses to overlook people in society that normally get overlooked. I love these people with a passion. With this heart comes a lot of disappointment when you know you just got taken advantage of. When the beggar turns down the food you just bought them and ask for only money or like one guy who told me "Umm I only eat organic" HA! But I will never stand before Christ one day and have Him tell me "I was hungry but you didn't feed me, I was thirsty but you didn't give me a drink, I was the least of these but you didn't offer or do anything unto me" So disappointment or not, taken advantage of or not, I won't pass an opportunity to show love to the least of these.
As I returned to the woman who was dressed nicely and somewhat out of the ordinary looking for a typical beggar, I figured I was about to continue my ordinary day and she would take the food and it wouldn't really matter to her. As I gave her the food she began tearing up and say thank you to me over and over. I kissed her cheeks and hugged her but her tears squeezed my heart. I had a hard time swallowing the guilt of my selfishness that wanted to walk past her and not look back. The guilt of wanting to feed my own hunger and eat the bread I bought her. The guilt of wanting to hold on to money in my pocket and miss the biggest blessing of my day.
Praise be to God who didn't overlook this woman when I wanted to. Praise be to God who released my selfish grip on 10 Leva. Praise be to God that in my life someone always stopped to feed me, yet I sometimes find it inconvenient to show that same blessing to others. Praise be to God that I have the bread of life and I pray that she will one day have it too!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

The indoor adventure of Ben and Trike...


















While Cameron and Micah went to church this morning, Ben and I stayed home to do some breathing treatments and try to move forward from this lingering cold. I gave him permission to ride his bike, "I just wub my new bike mommy" he would keep saying.
He packed the back of the bike with his blankie and superman chocolate milk and he was off doing laps around the house.
Every now and then he would get cold and warm up by "Ben's heater" and then he would be off again.
The snow is gone and now with spring the ants have arrived. I have a feeling ants won't stand a chance with Ben and his new trike! The ant guard is holding his ground with his new ant killing bike! If they try to run away, he will get off his bike and pull them out into the bike killing zone.
It was comical when he saw a few ants high on the wall while using his 'hand Binoculars' and was seriously considering how to run them over with his bike. I reminded him that our bike won't fly despite his little attempt yesterday to make it do so! Enjoy the pics!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Update on Visa and Life














VISA:
The paperwork has been submitted and we will return to the visa office on Friday to see if we have an answer. Please pray for an answer.
Once again, THANK YOU so much to the Simmons and to the contacts that were made through them to acquire these documents in miraculous speed! I am not sure you will ever know the gratitude we hold in our hearts for your service to us for the glory of Christ!

LIFE:
These weeks have been extremely busy with visa issues, language and ministry opportunities. This week was particularly full. On Monday Ben had a runny nose and on Wednesday it was obvious he needed to see the doctor. He had conjunctivitis in both eyes and a sinus infection that was contributing to his fever. I will take him back to the doctor on Monday for a follow up.
On Friday, we took both boys to the park and ate dinner at a cafe close to the house. When we returned home the boys went to bed and within 30 minutes Micah was calling for us. Cameron brought Micah into the living room and his face and back had raised whelps all over it! It was shocking to see and confusing. The whelps itched him horribly and so I quickly dressed him and ran down to a local pharmacy. I purchased some ointment and by the time we returned home the whelps had almost completely disappeared. The allergy medicine we gave Micah before bed had been perfect timing because it helped whatever allergic reaction he was having come to a halt. Praise God!
Today, (saturday) we joined friends for a "Spring Fair" at the US Embassy. There was food and embassy workers’ selling household goods before they leave the country. I didn't know we would encounter such a mad dash and aggression for the items being sold but it was a competitive market let me tell you! lol We were fortunate to walk away with an umbrella stroller and a small bike for Ben. After the embassy sale we took the boys to a friend's house to get haircuts. They live on the sixth floor of their apartment and as we were leaving Ben asked to ride his trike to the elevator. I lifted him over the door's threshold and he peddled to the elevator but then out of nowhere decided to ride his bike down the stairs! My friend and I both screamed and before a step could be taken he was flipping down the first flight of stairs head over feet! I have to make sure you understand that we aren't talking about a flight of thirty steps but it was big enough for him to make 2 to 3 full flips. To be honest I didn't know what I was going to find when I got to him. I fully expected broken teeth, crack head, blood and/or broken bones. When I picked him up he was still doing the silent scream, the one where the mouth is open, lips are blue and no sound is coming out and no air is going in. He finally took a breath and started talking about blood on his arm but there was nothing. We looked him over and absolutely nothing was wrong! I can only say that we bought a bike that came with free assigned angles with it!
So it's been a packed weekend, times of smiles, times of relief and times of tears! Thank you for your prayers over our family because there isn't a time I don't forget to acknowledge the saints around the world who contribute to the times of mercy we encounter. Praise be to God who hears the voices of the saints!
With Love,
The Phillips

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

That's my God


Lonliness, insecurity, body changes, inability to do everything I once took for granted...I could write five pages in detail on each of these and tell you what God has done but I think my most recent experience would be best...home. We applied for our long term visa and quite frankly I felt confident that we didn't have anything to worry about. Everything we knew they may ask for we had done our homework before hand and had brought with us. The day we returned to the visa office our paperwork was pending because they needed more documents. The three documents that were listed were already sitting at home waiting to be called for duty. The lady in the visa office informed us that if we couldn't get the required documents by our visa expiration of May 5th we would have to leave. No worries, we have everything at home. We brought the documents promptly the next day only to be told they wanted all new documents in origional form with apostils and then translated and legalized here! The paperwork from our company would be easy, but the FBI background check!? Were they kidding us? This took 6 weeks to get the first time around and we were in the states! How could we get everything they wanted in a matter of 7 days when Cameron's mom mailed us a package a month ago that still hasn't reached us? We called the FBI and they wanted new fingerprints from us and a new money order with a new payment of course. They said they throw away the finger prints so they couldn't recycle the ones we've already submitted and I laughed to myself and thought "Right, let me commit a crime and we'll see how quick they pop up in your system!" lol There was no budging either on the time it would take to get the new report, 6 to 9 weeks and it did not include the time it would take for the apostil. I began to worry about the inevitable...we would have to leave. Leave the place that's become home. Leave the language we're just beginning to speak and the relationships we've just started, FINALLY just started! Leave the home group that has only met one time and God so graciously laid in our laps. I don't want to leave...AND THEN in beautiful God fashion I heard His words whisper into the depths of my heart, "When did I give you permission to stop following me?" Home is not found in Bulgaria, America or anywhere else He calls me. My home is with Him and I need not tie myself so strongly to a place that I hesistate in protest if He whispers "Go" We are called to Bulgaria, this I know, but we are called to have our minds on our REAL home and never stop along the journey to say I can't or I will not follow anymore. God has amazingly made the impossible happen: We are allowed to stay pending the arrival of our paperwork, in 2DAYS we will have a state background check completed with an apostil and on it's way here b/c of the body of Christ back home working hard AND a senator in Washington told us to call when we send our FBI paperwork and he will personally see to it that he intervenes to move it quickly through the process! And that's my God! That's my God!