Is God at Work in Africa? part 2

So as I continue my "Is God at work in Africa" theme, I went back to the very beginning of our trip and pulled out these photos. In my previous post most of the images that I shared focused on the work of the Zimmerman's in Ghana. This post is going to revolve around the ministry that the Butlers have in Ghana. As I said before it is hard to photograph God at work but I hope these images will shed a light on how missionaries are God's hands and feet on a daily basis. I also hope that all who read and look at this blog will realize that though these are photos of missionaries in Africa, they represent the same things that God expects from all Christians regardless of where we live.
Martin in the foreground and his brother working on Martin's house. Martin is one of the guards employed by the Butlers. Chad and I were able to help put a roof on Martin's house.

Marnie introduces Kelly to one of her friends at a church in Dzakpo on our first Sunday in Ghana.

Head and shoulders knees and toes during a Sunday School hour with the children of Dzakpo village. Have you considered working with the children in your church?

Chad preaching in Dzakpo village.

A great opportunity to share Christ is at the local market. Making friends with the vendors at the market gives you a weekly opportunity to get to know someone. Here in the U.S. we don't normally have a market like this to visit daily or weekly but we do have Wal-Mart and Kroger.

I mentioned cell phone charging in my last post. This lady would regularly bring her cell phone to the Butlers to charge it. This gave them an opportunity to get to know her and will hopefully open into an opportunity to share Christ.

Wednesday was game day in Kodzobi village. Another great way to show God's love to the children. Lead a child to Christ and you have an in road to leading the whole family to Christ.

I hope that I have given you a better understanding of what missionary life is like and hopefully showed you that you don't have to be a missionary in Africa to be used by God.

Gary Phillips

Is God at work in Africa?

I have been asked by some to share images that show what God is doing in Africa. As I look back through my photos and thought through the things that happened during our trip, I decided on a series of images that I am showing in this post and if I don't get sidetracked will continue to show in the next few posts. I also realized how hard it is to photograph God at work! I mean sure it is easy to photograph the moment that someone is being led to Christ or the time when someone is being baptized. Those are obvious God at work moments, what is hard to photograph and document are those subtle moments. The moments when a missionary gets a phone call because someone in a village is sick and needs a ride to the hospital. Or the times when they have a person into their home to share a meal. How about the times when a neighbor who doesn't have electricity brings you a cell phone and asks you to charge it for them. I could go on and on listing little ways that God is at work using the missionaries He has placed in Ghana and Togo but you would just get tired of reading so I won't go on. I was blessed for 4 1/2 months to get to experience seeing God at work firsthand through many different missionaries lives and I can honestly say that God is at work in Africa. I hope that the following images help you see that.

To start this series of photos I decided to go back to Ghana and work my way through the images. On Sundays the Zimmerman's would have an afternoon outreach to the children of Ho.

A game of Volleyball with a giant ball to start the day off for the older kids. You will notice some young men in the photos. These are local young men from the church in Kodzobi who volunteer to help the Zimmermans.

This lady spent the afternoon watching the festivities from the back of her home.

For the younger kids a jump rope session of sorts started their day.

Jump rope turned into get the rope.

A game of tug -o- war,

A drink for the little ones,

Now it is time to head in the building for the lesson.

The building is one room about 15'x15', they were able to squeeze 75 kids into this small room. It was very hot to say the least.

Well that is all for today, I hope you enjoy the photos.

Gary Phillips

Critters

Before I go on about the following photos, I want to let everyone who reads this in on a little secret. Many of you may already know this but for those of you who don't after reading this you will. I am making this blog post from the comfort of my own La-Z-boy recliner. We arrived home on Monday evening and have been trying to get back into the swing of things in the good ole USA. Kelly and I struggled with the decision to come home early, we were at pretty close to the end of our funds and were trying to decide if we should stay and try to make it or leave before we ran out and incurred some debt. It was when we found out that our son was struggling with being here on his own that we realized it was time for us to return home. If anyone has any questions or comments I will be happy to address them in person, in the mean time I would like to continue the blog and post the photos that I was not able to while in Africa. The lack of good Internet made it very difficult to keep this blog going. I would like to finish now while things are fresh in my mind.

Now onto the Critters! These grasshoppers were everywhere and they were more than willing to pose for me.

This is a great image to represent the circle of life, not sure what kind of bug we are looking at but I am glad they are not bigger than me!

Now that he is finished with lunch he is looking for dessert, glad he can't see me behind the camera.

There were also a lot of these caterpillars around.

This lady bug reminded me of home!

This guy is just plain UGLY!

Well I hope you enjoyed the photos, I have more that I will be posting soon. I am now having trouble with my Internet here at home. Hopefully I will be able to get it working proper soon.

Gary Phillips -AKA- Photoman

Just One Touch!

So I received a comment from Norman last week about a picture of me in my last post. To answer your question Norm, Yes, I am sporting a mohawk. It was my girls idea but I actually liked it. Kelly on the other hand hated it and so it only lasted until my next haircut.

While we are on the subject of hair I thought I would show you this photo of Lyndsey. She is sitting with some of the African children who visit the hospital on a weekly basis for a Bible school day. The African people (adults and children) are fascinated by the straight hair of the Yovoh (white person), this little girl couldn't resist Just One Touch touch of Lyndsey's hair.

This is a young lady I saw coming to the Bible school, I have seen many of the African people carry things on their heads. This is the first person I have seen with their Bible on their head.

I will try to post more photos later today,

Gary Phillips

Learning to Ride!

I wanted to try and get some photos up as I promised that I would. Today is my first attempt to upload with my new connection. It is a steady but slow connection so I am not able to upload as many images as I would like to. I will try again sometime after it 10:00 p.m. and see if it is faster. For now I have 2 images to show you they are pictures of me learning to ride a moto or in America a motorcycle. It is a small moto but I eventually graduated up to a larger bike. This was a good one for me to start with. You will notice my new hair cut in one image, it was the girls idea but I like it. Hope you do!



Gary

Tsiko

We finally made it to Tsiko and once again we have internet access that is more dependable. I plan to make a post later tonight that will have some photos, I hope I still have some readers waiting for updates. We are all doing well and looking forward to what adventures lay before us in Tsiko, Togo.

Gary Phillips

Agou Church

Agou (pronounced Agoo) is the village where I am currently working. I am overseeing the construction of a new church building. The project is going well and I am learning much about masonry work. We are supposed to be moving to Tsiko (pronounced Cheeko) on the 23rd of this month. I am sorry for the lack of pictures but I just do not have a good enough connection to upload. Hopefully that will change after the 23rd.

Gary

Flexibility is the Key!

Someone has asked me what is it that I am learning from this experience. At first I was not sure how to answer that question. After 3 months, I can now say that God is teaching us/me to be flexible. We all had certain expectations in our mind as to how this trip would go. Almost all of the expectations have been met but not in ways we had planned. All is good and God is even better, we are learning that it does not matter what plans we have because God always has a better one.

We are currently in Kpalime at the blind center where I have been working as planned. We are supposed to leave this Friday for Tsiko but God has anther plan so we will be staying in Kpalime a while longer. He needs me to oversee the construction of a new church in Agou. So we are going to stay in Kpalime until the 23rd and then if God allows us we will head to Tsiko.

Sorry that I do not have a photo for you but I am at the internet cafe and I do not have my hard drive with me. Hopefully the next post will have a photo for you.

I am learning to ride a moto (motorcycle)and how to crash one, luckily it was a minor spill. Morgan was with me so we both got our first case of road rash. Thankfully it was not serious and I took the brunt of the impact. We are both fine just a bunch of scrapes and a few bruises.

Could you please pray with us that at least half of our remaining support will come in in the next month or two? We are asking God to give us another $1500.00 to help us over the next 3 months of this trip.

God is great and we know that He has our backs,

Gary Phillips

A Quick Hello!

Still do not have a great internet situation but I wanted to get this info out to those of you who read this blog. We are all doing fine here in Togo, the girls like it more than Ghana so that is a good thing, it does not seem as hot here. Funny thing is we are only 18 miles from Ho, Ghana and it seems much cooler. We now have a cell phone, so if you want to call us you can. Just keep in mind the time difference. If you call us after 7:00 p.m. we will likely be in bed. It is free for us if you call us but quite expensive for us to call you. So it is up to you, if you want to call us please do. If you do you will need to dial 011-228-734-1558. That is all I have time for at this time. we look forward to hearing from some of you.

The Phillips family.

Sorry for the delay!

I apologize that I have not been able to post for a while. Since we have arrived in Togo the internet has not been very dependable. I think I have finally worked out a solution to the problem though it is not economical. I will do my best to get a post up this weekend with a picture or two. We are all doing well and are really enjoying Togo. I hope to be able to fill you in more fully this weekend.

Gary

50/50

These 3 men were here in Ghana for a short time from America. They are with the FBFA (Fundamental Baptist Fellowship Association). The young lady in the picture is a neighbor of the Butlers, it is her that the title of this blog refers to. During one of the youth nights at the Butlers, the question was asked to each youth "Are you a Christian?" To which she answered, I am 50% Christian and 50% Muslim. As a result she became know as 50/50. She had also expressed to us that she was searching for some truths and that their was some things about the Muslim religion that didn't seem right to her.

The following Sunday she came to church for the First time at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Kodzobi Village. She was asking many questions about the Bible and Christ so they asked her to come to the house so they could talk further with her. It was during this time that 50%/50% became 100%. Praise God, she is now a part of God's family. Pray for her as she has some very difficult things in her life that she has to work through. Pray that she will grow and continue to ask questions. Marnie has started a Bible study with her, Pray that Marnie will be able to answer her questions and help her work through the difficult situations in her life.
Praising God,
Gary Phillips

For the Butler's Friends and Family!

Click on the picture to see them larger!

Kimmie's Birthday!















Recreation time in Kodzobi Village!











Singin in the Rain!



Kente Cloth Weaving.

Valentines Day fun, thanks Grandma Ehlers for the crafts!





Christmas in March for the Butlers! Thanks everyone for the gifts!

















Monkey Business.





Sunday School in Dzakpo!








Everyone Out this bridge may not hold us!

Sammie at Market.

Peek a boo I see you!

Bye, we miss you all!

The Butler Family