Life for the Phillips family is like the picture of Micah on the mountain. The enemy has gone after each of us in hopes to crush our spirit but we serve a God who walks beside us at all times and after the storm of spiritual battle dissipates He leads us up the trail under blue sunny skies to gaze upon the beauty of hope!
Micah has officially started homeschooling and is catching up on learning his american alphabet while continuing bulgarian education with a wonderful woman named Vessey who comes to our house on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Vessy believes in astronomy and luck and well next to a five year old Micah she is being constantly witnessed to about who God is in his childlike ways. For example, one day Vessey and Micah were playing a game and she said "OH god!" and Micah quickly said "Vessey, you're not God and I'm not God. There's only one God and we don't use His name like that when we're mad." Vessey understood and told Micah she would try to stop saying that and respect the name of God. They are building a sweet relationship of learning on both sides.
Vessey also helps me with language and listens for mistakes when I practice my children's Bible lesson. Pray for Vessey to see past her belief in the stars and see the God who made those stars.
Benjamin is continuing his learning at a small school close to us and continues to thrive and love his school. The kids think it's fun when Ben speaks bulgarian to them and the teachers tell me that they look surprised and say "Benji speaks bulgarian!" This only encourages Ben to show off and speak more and more. Ben continues to make amazing snowflakes out of paper and now has stretched his artwork to making anything and everything out of toilet paper rolls. He says he's going to be an explorer when he grows up but I can guarantee he'll be able to create amazing artwork out of anything he finds on those explorations.
In ministry the summer brings our family a lot of work in new directions. This is our favorite time of year and we are excited to see how God works this summer. On Wednesday we will have our first Roma baptism service. Seven new believers from last year are slated to be baptized. Mladin, the pastor of the Roma we work with continues to disciple these individuals and is very serious about making sure they understand what christianity is. Sunday services have begun in the field and it has been exciting to see Cameron and Mladin tag team preach. The children's service has been amazing as I have found consistent help from the women and one lady actually lead the lesson one Sunday! This is a huge answer to prayer as we have told our group that we will not do "church" for them but they are responsible to learn and take over the activities for Sunday.
Please pray for our summer and for open doors into new work. Continue to pray for our language to develop. Pray for our friend and summer student Katie who is living with us for the month of June and helping with ministry and giving us weekly dates! She has already been a huge blessing. Katie loves Bulgaria and is investigating what her love for this country may look like in her future. Pray for decisions in Katie's life to be honoring to God and in His direction and His timing. Pray also for her next semester in college as she will be giving us a large portion of her summer break.
Life for the Phillips family is like the picture of Micah on the mountain. The enemy has gone after each of us in hopes to crush our spirit but we serve a God who walks beside us at all times and after the storm of spiritual battle dissipates He leads us up the trail under blue sunny skies to gaze upon the beauty of hope!
Micah has officially started homeschooling and is catching up on learning his american alphabet while continuing bulgarian education with a wonderful woman named Vessey who comes to our house on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Vessy believes in astronomy and luck and well next to a five year old Micah she is being constantly witnessed to about who God is in his childlike ways. For example, one day Vessey and Micah were playing a game and she said "OH god!" and Micah quickly said "Vessey, you're not God and I'm not God. There's only one God and we don't use His name like that when we're mad." Vessey understood and told Micah she would try to stop saying that and respect the name of God. They are building a sweet relationship of learning on both sides.
Vessey also helps me with language and listens for mistakes when I practice my children's Bible lesson. Pray for Vessey to see past her belief in the stars and see the God who made those stars.
Benjamin is continuing his learning at a small school close to us and continues to thrive and love his school. The kids think it's fun when Ben speaks bulgarian to them and the teachers tell me that they look surprised and say "Benji speaks bulgarian!" This only encourages Ben to show off and speak more and more. Ben continues to make amazing snowflakes out of paper and now has stretched his artwork to making anything and everything out of toilet paper rolls. He says he's going to be an explorer when he grows up but I can guarantee he'll be able to create amazing artwork out of anything he finds on those explorations.
In ministry the summer brings our family a lot of work in new directions. This is our favorite time of year and we are excited to see how God works this summer. On Wednesday we will have our first Roma baptism service. Seven new believers from last year are slated to be baptized. Mladin, the pastor of the Roma we work with continues to disciple these individuals and is very serious about making sure they understand what christianity is. Sunday services have begun in the field and it has been exciting to see Cameron and Mladin tag team preach. The children's service has been amazing as I have found consistent help from the women and one lady actually lead the lesson one Sunday! This is a huge answer to prayer as we have told our group that we will not do "church" for them but they are responsible to learn and take over the activities for Sunday.
Please pray for our summer and for open doors into new work. Continue to pray for our language to develop. Pray for our friend and summer student Katie who is living with us for the month of June and helping with ministry and giving us weekly dates! She has already been a huge blessing. Katie loves Bulgaria and is investigating what her love for this country may look like in her future. Pray for decisions in Katie's life to be honoring to God and in His direction and His timing. Pray also for her next semester in college as she will be giving us a large portion of her summer break.
I love your family! :) And how you are persevering and holding on through so much trial. Praise Him for the undeniable evidence of His love and faithfulness in your lives!
ReplyDeleteSuch an exciting report!!!
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