Em-powering Ghana & Togo

Where is God Taking Us?

2011-05-13T22:46:00.000-07:00

I thought I would try and bring everyone up to date on what is happening with us in regards to a future in full time missions, at least everyone who reads this blog.

It started about 2 weeks before my father passed away (March 11, 2011), all of a sudden doors that were closed for the past 10 years began opening. The first door was Wycliffe Bible Translators, they are very interested in us joining their photojournalism team in Nairobi, Kenya. This is exactly what I want to do so I am partial to Wycliffe but I am trying not to allow my desires to get in the way of what God wants for us. That is why I am looking at all the possibilities that are before us at this time. I have had many conversations with Wycliffe and we are ready to apply but we can't until we get a credit card paid down. God has already answered that prayer and now we are waiting for the check to come so we can pay down the card. Once we get it paid we will start the application process. Africa Inland Mission was the next open door and they also want us to go to Kenya. If we were to go with AIM then we would live in Kijabe, Kenya and we would be dorm parents at the Rift Valley Academy in Kijabe. RVA is a Christian boarding school for Missionary kids, we would be living in a dorm with the kids and would be their surrogate parents. RVA is a big school with more than 500 students from more than 20 countries. Some of our other duties would be maintenance work or teaching photography at the school. Morgan and Lyndsey prefer this option as they both want to go to RVA. So far, Kelly also prefers this option. I also am beginning to think this is my favorite option, but photojournalism is what I would love to do as a missionary. AIM was the second open door but was the first one that we started applying with. The next open door was World Team, who I was not really excited about at first but the more I talk to them the more excited I get. They are very aware that we are looking at other opportunities and have asked us to consider a 1 to 2 year trip to their West African field. They will tailor a trip around our skills and desires. They want me to work as a photojournalist and document the work that their missionaries are doing. They also have many opportunities for a maintenance/construction/mechanical person, as much or as little as I want to do while we are there. There is also a boarding school called the Rain Forest International School where we could be dorm parents and the girls could attend. We would be in Niger part of out time and then in Cameroon part of our time. We recently started the application process with World Team as well. Evangelical Baptist Missions is the latest open door, they were one of the first but it started as only a crack but has all of a sudden swung wide open. They just today asked us to consider coming to Mali for a survey trip. They have a couple of things that they would like us to consider. In Mali they want us to consider running their guest house in the capital city. I would also do maintenance and help build churches in the villages. I could also teach photography at a MK school or to the locals to give them a skill with which to support their families. They also have a lot of opportunities for us in Niger. There are pros and cons with each of the ministries but I am honestly very excited about each one of them. One of the things that we are trying to do while we look at our options is to get out of debt as much as we can. God has been proving Himself mighty in this, He has blessed us in ways that we can't explain and we give Him the honor and praise that is due Him. Just this year we were able to pay off 2 credit cards and just recently we made the last payment on our van. We have a second mortgage on the house that we hope to be able to pay off by the end of the month and we hope to have our last credit card paid in full by the end of the summer (or at least the end of the year). This will leave us with a school loan and a mortgage. Isn't God amazing, we have struggled for the past 8 years (while I was working) to pay these bills. Now that I am unemployed not only are they being paid, they are being paid off. I can't explain it other than this, God is a God of Wonders. I could go into more detail about the opportunities that God is giving us at this time but I have a hard time keeping the details straight so I think I will just stop this post here for now. Hopefully I will have an update for you soon.

Photoman

It Was A Big Job But We Will Be Finished On Time!

2011-04-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post, this answer to our prayers has turned out to be a lot of work. I am not complaining it was a blessing, it just took all our effort and energy to get everything out of the house by May 1st. We were able to get everything that we want to keep out but there is still quite a bit of stuff that we are giving to our church youth group that we need to move tomorrow. The youth group has an annual sale in the spring, so it made sense to give a lot of the stuff that we didn't want to them so they could move it. The plan was they would get a group of kids together and they would load and unload it. Well that is not happening so I get to help the youth director load and unload it. So one more day of moving and we will be all done, with the move that is. Now we have the monumental task of unpacking and finding places to put all of the stuff that is currently sitting all around the house, in the garage, in a trailer (that is sitting in our backyard), in my moms garage and in a small storage room of our church. Tonight I have to go back to the house and take down some ceiling fans and put up the regular lights that were there when we moved in, load up the rest of the cleaning supplies and wait for the youth director to help us move stuff tomorrow. Will keep you up to date hopefully a little better after this move is finished.

Well, I just got finished with the fans and putting up the old lights, so now I just have to get the stuff to the church youth sale and load up all of the cleaning supplies. That should take most of the morning tomorrow and possibly part of the afternoon, depending on how much help I have. Then I can turn in the keys and ask for my move out incentive money. Praise the Lord!

On a side note, Kelly and I are trying our best to get completely out of debt (not including the house) so that we can get on the mission field sooner rather than later. In order to do this we are selling a lot of things that we have collected just for this occasion. We started collecting things just for the sake of collecting them knowing that we may end up on the mission field one day we decided that we would sell them when the day was looking more realistic. That time it seems has come so we are selling a lot of things (mostly my things as I am the collector of the family). We have over 500 board games, I am selling all of my darkroom equipment, all of my film cameras, all of my small collectibles and I am not sure what else off the top of my head. We are also selling an electric range, a microwave, a dishwasher and a few other things. Possibly a bed or two as well. If you need any of these items or know someone who does leave me a comment (with your name and number)and I will call you.

Photoman

Answered Prayers

2011-03-30T18:23:00.000-07:00

My wife and I have been praying that God would help us get our last credit card paid down so that we could apply for Wycliffe Bible Translators as career missionaries. We need $1000.00 to pay on the credit card so that we can apply with them. I can't really go into details but today we received a phone call and we were promised $1000.00 by May 1st. It will come with a commitment on our part but we agreed and will be able to pay the card down the first part of May and begin the application process with Wycliffe. We are still looking at Africa Inland Mission very closely (maybe more closely than Wycliffe at this point) and are planning to apply with them as well. Many other options are still on the table but we are pursuing each one until God closes the door on them. Please continue to pray that we put God's desire for us above any desire that we have for ourselves. If you are reading this and would like to hear more about our ministry in Ghana and Togo last year I will be speaking at Calvary Baptist Church on April 3rd (this Sunday) at 6:00 p.m. I will give a recap of our trip and give more detail about what God is doing in our lives currently. Hope to see you there.

Gary Phillips aka Photoman

Decisions!

2011-03-23T18:07:00.000-07:00

Lately, it seems that God has been opening many doors and giving Kelly and I much to think about in relation to our desire to be on the mission field in a full time capacity. We have several mission agencies who have been in contact with us about possibly joining them. If it were up to me I know which one I would go with but with so many doors opening we feel it is only wise to step through each one and see where they lead. I have finally learned that I need to be willing to put my desires behind me and seek God's desire for me first and through this He will give me the desires of my heart. We are presently talking with Wycliffe Bible Translators, Evangelical Baptist Missions, World Team, African Inland Mission, and Christian Missionary Alliance. Each of these agencies have expressed interest in us and we are excitedly watching as God takes us on this new journey. Please pray for us as we look at each of these ministries and try to determine which is the best fit for us. Pray that God will give us clear direction and that we will listen to Him and not our personal desires. Also pray for us as we try to pay off the remaining credit card that we have. We need to have the balance below $1200.00 ASAP and the remainder paid off by June 2nd, we currently owe about $2200.00. Without a job this is not going to be easy but God is faithful and has been providing us the income that we need to pay our bills. Pray for Kelly and I as we look at our budget and try to find ways to spend less and pay it on the credit card.

Gary Phillips

Arrowbrook Baptist Church

2011-03-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had an opportunity to speak at Arrowbrook Baptist Church (One of the churches who supported us on our trip to Africa) and give a follow up report about our trip. They gave me a copy of the service on CD so I decided to upload it to the blog for everyone to hear. Maybe I should rephrase that, I decided to upload it for those who have nothing better to do than to sit and listen to me talk for 45 minutes. If you take the time to listen first let me say thanks and second let me apologize for the poor sound quality at the beginning of the message. I was wearing a lapel mic but it does not seem to work very well when I turn away from the podium. During the first part of the message I was talking about slides that were being shown behind me and I would have to turn around and look at the images to know what to say. When I turn around the sound quality goes way down, the lapel mic was supposed to be my main mic but the podium mic was obviously the main. Someone who was listening to the disc today asked me if the people at the church could hear me better. I hope they could! You can hear everything I say if you listen closely and after I stop talking about the photos the sound is fine for the rest of the message. So if you are still willing or if I have peaked your interest click below on the words listen to Gary to hear what I said. A new window will appear and the audio should start right up.

Listen To Gary

Hope you are not bored,

Photoman

Alzheimer's

2011-03-12T10:59:00.000-08:00

My father passed Friday at 7:25 p.m. He is now in heaven in a perfect body and is able to remember who we are. I am confident that he is watching over us even now. The details of his funeral will be decided in the morning but the waiting is over and now we can bury his remains and mourn his passing. All the while helping my mother get used to being on her own. The last 18 months of her life has been sitting in a nursing home with my father who couldn't even talk to her. She took very good care of a man who much of the time didn't really know who she was. Now she will have so much time and will not know what to do with it. I am afraid that she will want to lock herself at home and feel guilty about doing things and enjoying life without him being a part of it. Please pray for her, her name is Marie.

Gary - aka- Photoman

A Time to Mourn!

2011-03-11T20:51:00.000-08:00

Today my family suffered a great loss in the death of a great man, my father! He suffered with Alzheimer's for the past 8 years and finally succumbed to the disease. He passed peacefully while sleeping with my mom and his sister at his bed side. We will miss him greatly but he is now in a place where the diseases of this world can no longer harm him.

Dad,

I will always love you and I will miss you until we are reunited in God's yard!

Gary -aka- Photoman

Enya - New Age or Christian Music?

2011-02-22T20:01:00.000-08:00

How would you classify Enya's music New Age or Christian? Most people in the music industry would classify her music as New Age. Enya herself says that this is because most people don't understand her background and therefore do not understand what it is that inspires her music. She was born and still lives in Ireland, she was raised Catholic and has spent a large part of her life in the Catholic church. She says that she often would be the only person in her church and says it was quite therapeutic to be alone and pray. She goes on to say that instead of abandoning Catholicism which was not working for her, she had to find a way to make it work for her. This she explains is how she makes Catholicism work for her "I consider myself to be a spiritual person, not necessarily a religious one, although I have to say that one of the highlights of my career was when I performed at the Vatican for the Pope and had an audience with him. My core beliefs would revolve around the idea that we should live to the best of our abilities -- we should live and let live."

I have never met Enya and much of the above information was taken from www.Wikipedia.com. So obviously, I cannot say if her music is Christian but I would say that to me it is more New Age. What I can say, and this is the reason I am writing about Enya in the first place, is that God has used Enya to work in the life of one of my children. My wife and I have been talking about the possibility that God may be calling us to full time service with a certain mission agency (more about this once it is more concrete) and we have been including our children in the discussions. One of them from the first mention of this has told us that she will not talk about it and that she will not go with us if we go. She has been adamant that we are not to talk about it in her presence. I was amazed at the anger that showed in her face anger that was obviously coming from her heart. She was not just upset, she would get angry and would not talk to me. I was worried about this as this not healthy behavior and I didn't know what to say to her. So I turned her and her concerns over to God and let Him know that I couldn't change her heart and that He would have to do it. I tried not to talk about the trip in front of her from that point on. This proved to be next to impossible and sure enough she would get angry with me every time I spoke about it in her presence.

Tonight however I was sitting here in my La-Z-Boy (my favorite place to sit of an evening) when she came in the living room crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said that she misses Africa. I asked her what made her think of Africa and she said she was listening to her iPod when Storms of Africa by Enya was playing and she just started missing everything about Africa. I told her that maybe God was trying to show her that she should have a different attitude about what He is doing in our lives right now. She agreed and said that she had already thought about that. We had a really great talk and I told her that God could choose to send us back to Africa but that where ever we end up that it will be the best place for our family.

God used Enya (New Age Music) to soften her heart, proof that He can use anything in our lives to bring us closer to Him.

Please pray for our family as we have been on a roller coaster ride for the past 18 months. God is opening doors and we are stepping through them one at a time. It has not always been easy as every door we step through seems to come with a new trial. Please pray that we don't look for ways around the trials but allow God to teach us what ever lesson He wants us to learn through these trials.

Photoman

Lyndsey's Big Scary Moment!

2011-02-16T18:53:00.000-08:00

Here are the pictures that I promised you, Lyndsey would rather I didn't post them as she says her hair looks terrible but here they are anyway. As you can see her seizures have not stopped her from doing the things that she loves.

Well to be honest, she is trying to contact all of her friends that called her when they found out what had happened. It was heartwarming to Kelly and I to see how many of her friends were concerned about her and I know it made her feel good also.

Today we spent a few hours at the hospital but we didn't have to stay the night this time.

God has kept His hand of protection on Lyndsey and so far there have been no more seizures, please pray that we will not see any more.

Photoman

Thanks for Praying!

2011-02-13T19:43:00.000-08:00

Let me begin this post by saying thank you to everyone who has been praying for us. It has been a long weekend but it is better now. Our daughter was released Saturday afternoon from the hospital and she has now been seizure free for just over 48 hours. Our hope is that she will remain seizure free forever and that she will be able to be taken off the medication one day. We know that God is in control of her life and that He is the great physician so we are trusting her to Him. The doctors have told us that for the next 2 months we are not to let her be alone for more than a few minutes at a time, this will be an interesting 2 months! While in the hospital she was drugged pretty good so that she could sleep without having a seizure, when the drugs started wearing off she woke but was still very tired for the next few hours. Once the drug was out of her system she was back to her usual self and you wouldn't have known anything had happened. We are very glad to see her being her wonderful self. I will try to upload some photos from our very eventful weekend soon. I managed to get a few pictures with one of the kids little cameras but I have not had time to upload them to my computer. Once again thank you for your prayer during our crisis.

Photoman

If You Read this, PLEASE PRAY for Us!

2011-02-11T20:35:00.000-08:00

We got a call from our youngest daughters school today, one that no parent wants to get. She has had a history of Absence Epilepsy, which manifests itself in the form of staring spells, where she just blanks out for a few seconds and doesn't remember anything that happened in those few seconds. Today however, while at school, she had what is known as a Grand Mal seizure which is usually associated with full blown Epilepsy. She was taken by ambulance to Children's Hospital and looked at by the ER doctor. All seemed fine and she was released with a prescription for a new medicine. Wore out from the experience she fell asleep in my recliner and while asleep she had another seizure. Again, she was taken by ambulance to Children's Hospital but this time she was to be admitted for observation. Before they could get her into a room, she had a third seizure which lasted longer than the two prior. At the present time she is resting comfortably in the hospital and we pray that this is the end of her Grand Mal seizures. Please pray for her and for us, she has to be scarred though she is a trooper and you wouldn't know she was. I know that her mother and I are very scarred for her, because we cannot control this.

Sincerely,

Photoman

First Impressions!

2011-02-04T15:02:00.000-08:00

This is the scene that we saw over and over on our first day in Togo! I have mentioned in a couple of other posts already that we left Ghana and went into Togo on the weekend of Easter. As a result we were met by large groups of Catholic Togolese people who were remembering Christ's death. I got a photo of this group as we drove past them on the way to Kpalime, Togo.
Before we made it to Kpalime we had to stop in this village to get our temporary visas. While we were waiting for them to be processed and approved we saw this scene. It is another group of Catholic Togolese, they are reenacting Christ's day of crucifixion. This was by far the most elaborate of all the groups that we saw.

As you can see by the above photo, they had a very large group of people who was following them through the village. This group is no different than any of the other that we passed that day, they would just stop and pray or sing praise when and where they felt like it and the vehicles had to just sit and wait until they were finished. We were not exempt from this practice and had to sit through some as well.

The men with the gold helmets were the guards that carried out the crucifixion, they seem to be carrying some kind of weapons that they were using to beat the man carrying the cross. I don't think they were actually hitting the man but they were going to town on the cross if not but they were beating the dickens out of something.

The Togolese and the Ghanaian people are very deeply religious people. Unfortunately they are not necessarily all following a living God. There are many people who follow false and dead god's who need to know about the One True Living God. I hope that the time and the work that we did while in these countries will be beneficial to the missionaries there as they try to share Jesus Christ with them.

Photoman

Is God at Work in Africa? part 4

2011-02-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

Our first Sunday in Togo was Easter Sunday, it was a treat to visit this Church on top of the mountain that stands behind our house here in Tsiko, Togo. The ride up the mountain though rough at times was beautiful we had great views of Togo and saw beautiful waterfalls. As you can see from the structure that we are climbing up to it is not much of a building. The main structure of the building is a pole building made of teak poles with a steel roof. The walls are merely stalks of bamboo that are split tied to more pieces and assembled into panels. The panels are then tied to the pole structure to keep out most of the weather. Not a very secure building but it serves its purpose.

The banner at the front of the church reads ...Prepare to meet your God! Amos 4:12. It is the Church verse and the church goal, to be prepared to meet the God if Israel! It is written in French so if you can read French you may be able to make it out. In the image below you see the churches pastor leading a Sunday School class.

The worship team leading us in a few praise choruses, in French so I was lost but still a great time of prayer and praise. Though the music is very basic, I miss it!

Here are the children having an Easter Sunday in the beauty of God's creation. One of my favorite parts of being here is that I felt close to nature and not confined in some concrete or steel box.

It was a special service and the church was celebrating the scriptures and songs that the children had memorized. All of the kids that you see in the below image were reciting scriptures that they had memorized. The pastor asked our girls to participate so they were able to recite some of their favorite scriptures. All of the children were rewarded for their participation with candy.

I couldn't resist this photo!

God is at work in Africa this is just one of many churches that we attended where we saw the African people singing, praying, reading the scriptures and praising God.

Photoman

Is God at Work in Africa? part 3

2011-01-27T21:00:00.000-08:00

In this post I am going from the beginning of our trip to the end. I have mentioned in previous posts that I had been overseeing the construction of a new church building in Agou, Togo. Because I had to ride a motorcycle to the job and there would be no where to keep my camera equipment safe while I was working I was unable to take any pictures until the building was almost complete. So I am not able to show you pictures of the the progress but I am finally able to show you some images of the construction of the building. In this first image you will see a home that is being constructed, this is the future home of the pastor of this church. He has hired men from his church to construct the house to keep the finances separate.

Below is the church building itself, it sits only about 20 feet from his new house. As you can see there are doors but no windows. It does not get cold here so they only need a way to get air movement through the building so they use special shaped blocks that when put together leave holes in the wall for fresh air to get into the building. They will also leave the doors open unless it is raining very hard and blowing in the doors.

The majority of the time that I spent on this project my transportation was a moto or motorcycle. On a very rare occasion I had the privilege to drive this beast (see above image). Let me tell you it was a lot of fun, I loved driving in Africa but when I got to drive one of these trucks it was even more fun. The ride was terrible in a car or light truck but in this guy it was down right scary, I loved it!

When complete there will be steps up to this porch and this will be the main entrance into the church.

My first metal roof, I had a lot of fun with the guys when we put this roof on. I wish I had some pictures of the men but they were not around when I took these photos. Not speaking French was a challenge but I learned very quickly how to communicate with them.

From the roof a view of the neighboring families family compound. I saw the pastor talking to one of the ladies from this family and I asked did they attend his church. he told me no but that he had invited them to and they said they would start coming when the church is opened. They are not believers so pray for this family that this church can see them come to know Christ. In the lower left corner of the photo is a metal roof covering a large round structure. This is a bread oven, we bought bread made in this oven every day for a meal. We were able to be a blessing to this family by buying their bread and they were a blessing to us by filling our bellies. I miss the African bread, we just don't know how to make bread in America.

So to answer the question "is God at work in Africa?", I say, yes He is definitely at work in Africa. This building is a miracle in an of itself but that is a story for another post.

Hope you enjoy the blog,

Photoman

Is God at Work in Africa? part 2

2010-06-28T14:33:00.001-07:00

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?

2010-06-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-27T06:58:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-05-27T06:58:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-26T05:14:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-12T03:55:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-29T06:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-27T02:01:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-03-26T03:44:00.001-07:00

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

Our First Prayer Letter

2010-03-25T12:33:00.001-07:00

Two month’s in Africa, four to go. It seems like we have only been here a few days but we are 1/3 the way through our trip. This has been quite an experience and I can’t wait to see what is around the next corner of this adventure. We have all adjusted fairly well to the weather by now; but there are days when it is very hot (like around 105 degrees or more) that Kelly and Lyndsey still struggle a bit. We have been bitten by just about every kind of bug we can think of and some we didn’t know existed! The sun is intense and some of us have been burned but a couple of us have nice tans. Kelly and I have both lost weight but are not sure how much. The scales here are not very accurate and they read in kilograms not pounds. One thing is certain we all sweat and are covered from head to toe in dust by the end of the day. That all said, I love it here and most days could live here with no problem. Kelly on the other hand will need a little help from God before she would agree to live here.

Being here for two months now I am still trying to get used to the fact that life is very different here than at home. Trying to do some simple home repairs turn into an all day project. It would take me a long time to explain this so just suffice it to say that a dripping faucet is often better left dripping. The hardest thing for me to get used to is the inconsistency of everything. Few things here are consistent save the sun and the moon.

Our barrels arrived on Feb. 14th as promised, however the necessary paper work didn’t arrive with the them. Our barrels were inside a large shipping container which held many other items. Some of the items required specific papers from Ohio banks in order for customs to allow them into the country. They would not process anything on the container without all of the paper work. Because there was a huge snow storm hitting Ohio at that time, the banks were closed and we didn’t get our barrels until a week later. When we got them home and opened them we realized some items were missing. We didn’t know what at first but after unpacking we figured out we had lost a very big bag of Peanut M&M’s, several jars of Nutella, several jars of Parmesan Cheese and some packs of soft taco shells. All total about $75.00 -$100.00 worth of stuff. Not a big loss but it was all of the sweet stuff that we had packed. My tools were all intact as they were on the bottom of the barrel and the items we lost were all right on top of the barrels.

God is working in our lives as we are learning to be patient; we have no choice here it is a part of life. No one is in a hurry to do anything here (except for me). So if you are not a patient person, don’t move here. Unless you want a lesson in patience. We are also learning how to relate with people who have a different outlook on life. I now understand what a western way of life is compared to much of the world. We are all learning to be grateful for what God has given us and hopefully we won’t take things for granted as much as we used to. Just cooking a meal here is a lot work. One can’t run to Wal-Mart to get a jar of spaghetti sauce or buy frozen garlic bread and throw it in the oven, you have to make it from scratch. This cooking experience has been good for Kelly, as she is learning that she can cook from scratch if she has to. She would probably not agree with that last statement. I am very proud of her; she is quite the trooper.

The Bible College work is almost complete, sort of. After I arrived and we started the project we soon realized that the person who had advised them on the cost of materials to do the project had grossly underestimated. Not entirely his fault, just as the U.S. prices continue to rise so do the prices in Ghana. The original quote was substantially lower than the current cost of supplies. So the project has turned into a 2 or 3 phase project. We are just about finished with phase 1, which allowed us to rewire half of the building and install some needed circuits for computer stations and future A/C for the library. We have about 2 or 3 days of work to button up phase 1. I hope to have it finished by this Saturday.

We have just one more week in Ghana and then we head to Togo for 2 or 3 months. We are not sure if our budget will make it for the 3 months that we had planned but we are going to try to stretch it if we can. Please continue to pray for our financial situation. That the remainder of our support might come in allowing us to stay in Togo for the three months that we are supposed to.

I hope you have been able to keep up with us on our journey by reading our blog. If you have not, please log on at http://empoweringghana.blogspot.com to read about our journey. If you have, please continue and leave comments as your comments are encouraging to us here. Every time we log on to the blog the first thing Kelly asks is “do we have any new comments?” we all enjoy them.

Well I need to go as today is Marnie’s birthday and we are having a little party for her.

Serving Him,

Gary Phillips & family

Can Anyone Say Harmattan?

2010-03-24T10:22:00.001-07:00

I thought Harmattan was over, so did everyone else. This past Monday Harmattan decided it was not ready to be finished and it hit us hard. When we arrived in Ghana it was during the Harmattan season but it usually ends before March. So when March hit we all figured we had seen the end of it. Well it is now the 24th of March and Harmattan has been very heavy for the past 3 days. They say that it was not this bad during the normal season. Harmattan is both good and bad, with Harmattan you can't see much and everything is covered in a layer of dust, it does however seem to cool things down just a bit as the sun doesn't penetrate it easily. The worst of it is that it will not rain when it is this heavy, so hopefully it will not last much longer. Many of the following images were shot in the past 3 or 4 days and may not be as clear as I would like but that is another side effect of Harmattan. So I apologize for them in advance. The first image is one that I shot to add to my doors portfolio.

The kids of Area 51 (our neighborhood) play Football (Soccer) everyday in the front yard. Our guard has formed them into a team and has them in a small league. We had our first game this past weekend. Morgan and 3 of the Butler children (Daniel, Allie and Sammie) are on the team. In this next image you can see Daniel kicking the ball.

Here is one of Morgan going for the ball against a very large opponent. Team Area 51 (our team) won the game 4 to 2. Way to go Team Area 51!

I really think that Dr. Seuss visited Africa before he started writing his books. This is just one of the many trees where I believe he or his artists found their inspiration. We call it the Dr. Seuss tree.
Here is Taylor and Happy while we watched the football game.

This is Edem, the Zimmerman's (another missionary family) have chosen him for adoption and are working through the adoption process.

These girls are playing a traditional African game called Ompay. I am not sure how to spell it so I wrote it the way it sounds. In this game they jump up and down and kick their feet at each other. I cannot figure it out, the missionary children tell me that the closest thing they can relate it to is the Rock, Paper and Scissors game that we play with our hands in the States.

For the ladies, this is some kind of flower that grows in a bush here. I have no idea what it is but it is pretty.

This last image is for Van Holloway, it is the first one I have seen since we got here and as soon as I saw it I thought of Van.

Well I hope you enjoy the photos, this is one of two posts that I am posting today so if this is the first one you see then keep looking as I have posted another.
Gary

Children's Community Center

2010-03-24T09:55:00.001-07:00

This past Sunday I was asked to go with the Zimmerman's to shoot photos of their ministry they have with the kids of Ho. They go each week and play games with them and then take them to a building they rent and teach them a Bible story. In this first image they are playing volley ball (sort of) with the older kids.

In this image they are playing some kind of game where the kids all jump rope at the same time.

After playing in the heat January Zimmerman is giving the little kids a drink of water.

These kids are supposed to run to the cone with a bean bag on their head and run around the orange cone and back to the line. When I knelt down to shoot the kids decided that I was the new cone and started running around me instead.

This girl got it right!

This is the small building that the team rents to teach the kids the Bible story. The building is about 12' x 12'. They are able to fit about 75 kids in at one time and 3 or 4 adults. Can anyone say crowded?

After the story the kids were given a coloring page and crayons to color it.

These boys wanted me to take their photo, so I did.

Well once again, I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Gary

2010-03-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

I think I may have mentioned in another post that we had an opportunity to go to a ceremony in one of the villages. It was a festive atmosphere for sure, I really enjoyed the part that I was able to see. This first photo is after I first arrived, we were a bit late getting there as there were some transportation problems. Once we got them worked out the parade had already started it's way to the ceremony grounds.

As special guests of a village chief, I think we were meant to be a part of the parade. Before it was over we were. This photo shows a group of young ladies who were a part of a some kind of ministry called "World Missions Fellowship Outreach" I think. They danced beautifully and they led the parade.

I am not sure what this group of people with the blue shirts are about but they were next in the parade so I took their picture as well.

This next group is the VIP's, they are the village chief's. If you look you can pick out the chiefs, they are the ones with Crowns!

Here is a close up shot in case you couldn't find them in the other photo! The man in the center is my friend who I know as Togbe. He is the chief of Kodzobi Village and is a very good man.

During the parade there was a lot of music and dancing, this man is playing a sea shell. It really did sound good, I have never seen a person play a sea shell in real life before this day. I had to get his photo!

I think this umbrella is where the most important person in the parade is, I am just not sure who it is! I thought the village chiefs would be under the umbrella but they were not, I never found out who the umbrella was for. Sorry!

These drums were being played but at first I didn't look at them very close. When this young man walked past, I noticed his drum sticks were not what I was used to seeing back in the States.

I couldn't resist this young man, he was playing his hear out! If you know anything about trumpets, look closely at the instrument and see if you notice anything missing!

This next photo is a common sight around here. This is how the women will carry their children. I have seen them carrying a child on there back and a load of logs that must way 50 pounds on their head. It is amazing to see!

Here is another young man playing the drums, look at his hands they are almost invisible they are moving so fast!

Well that is all of the images from the festival. This next image is for all you dog lovers. We kind of took in a stray dog the other day. Marnie felt obligated to take her in as one of their dogs got her pregnant. The owner had disowned the dog, she said it was thief, that it stole socks. So they marked it, by cutting it with a machete and put it to the street. No one would feed her, so we would feed her a little now and then and she never left. Taylor now shares her birthday with these new pups who were born on her birthday. We now have 7 dogs in the house, four of which still do not have their eyes open. Anyone want a puppy?

Well I hope you enjoyed the photos, I will try to get some more up soon.

Gary Phillips

Happy 17th Birthday, Taylor

2010-03-15T07:44:00.000-07:00

Taylor turned 17 the other day and here are a few pictures of her opening some of her gifts. If you have been keeping up with the blog you have already seen a short video clip from her birthday party at the pool. If not be sure to check out the post titled Cannon Ball.

So if you have not already done so then you should stop now and sing Happy Birthday to Taylor!

Gary Phillips

Ugly but Cool!

2010-03-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

This is not the first time in my life that I have been this close to a live scorpion but I don't remember the last time. When I was very young (you would have to ask my mom to know exactly how old) maybe about 3 years old, I was caught in the bathroom of our house chasing a scorpion around trying to catch it. I never did as my mom caught me first but not this time. My mom is still in America so she couldn't stop me from catching this guy. We found him at the Bible College where I have been spending my days working. He was under and old tire and Chad moved it there he was. I had brought a container to catch some tadpoles but instead I used it for him. Brought him home and showed him to the family, my wife was not to pleased. It's a good thing she wasn't at the Bible College!

Yes folks he was alive when I took these pictures. He didn't live much longer once our guard who has been stung twice by scorpions found him. Sorry animal lovers, I would have let him go but it happened very fast.

Gary Phillips

Taylor on Top of the World!

2010-03-12T06:41:00.000-08:00

Here is the video Taylor made from atop Mt. Adaklu

Cannon Ball

2010-03-12T03:58:00.000-08:00

Taylor had a birthday yesterday so to celebrate we went swimming. In the above video you can see from (left to right) Allie, Morgan and Daniel doing a triple cannon ball dive in celebration of Taylor's 17th birthday.

Signs

2010-03-09T03:02:00.000-08:00

Before I start talking about the pictures I am posting today, I thought I would take a minute and say hello to all those at XCHS & DCHS who are following our blog. I found out through the grapevine that some of the teachers may be sharing this blog with their students. So if you are one of those students make sure your teacher knows that we grateful they are taking some time out of their day to share our adventure with you. If you happen to be following on your own outside of school we are honored to have you along with us in spirit. I hope you are enjoying reading the blog as much as we are enjoying being here.

For today I am sharing with you some signs that we see all over Ghana, these particular signs are in the city of Ho. I walked through town this weekend and took these pictures to share with you. This first picture seems to be a play on words or it is just misspelled, I am not sure which.

In Ghana if you ask for potato chips you will get french fries. This is chop bar it is the closest thing to fast food that you can get here.

People seem to be drawn to my camera, when ever I am out shooting I am almost always invited into peoples lives. Everyone wants me to stop and talk with them and to take their picture. As I was taking the above photo a lady standing in an alley entrance called to me. She said "Yavhoo, (white person) come in here" my initial reaction was "o.k. I have no idea what is down there should I go?" She was persistent in calling me and said "come see the sisters". So somewhat reluctantly I followed her back to an area (which you can see below) where the sisters were. She wanted me to take their picture and to show me what they were doing. The lady in the foreground is cooking plantain chips. Plantain is like a banana but not as sweet, they slice them thin, fry them and salt them and voila you have plantain chips. They are very similar to American potato chips just a bit sweeter.

I'm not sure this next sign is good advertisement!

Are you seeing a reoccurring theme in these photos? Every where we look we see signs advertising businesses that have some religious theme or have the word God in them. It is obvious that the Ghanaians have heard of the One True God, but the signs do not necessarily mean that they know Him personally. They typically will use some religious words in their business in hopes of adding His blessing on their business. Even the bars have religious or Godly names, it is almost a superstition here. I saw one bar in particular that I want to get a photo of when I do I will post it for you to see.

This is a man and his family that I met when I got to ride in a TroTro yesterday. As I said whenever I have my camera people are attracted to it. This man was so excited to see my camera he asked me to take his picture, so I did of course. When I showed him the picture on the back of the camera I got the same reaction that I always get, laughter! He later asked me if I could give him a copy to which I had to say "No, I have no way to make the pictures." He replied, "Then you keep it and when you look at it you will remember me." To which I replied, "Thank you I will remember you when I see this picture!"

This is a "Wall Spider" they are harmless but ugly. I love the markings on this guy, this is almost life size, maybe just a bit larger than he really was. I guess the get a lot bigger than this one.

Well I hope you have enjoyed the post and the pictures. I will try to get another one up soon. I have tried to upload videos but have not been successful, hopefully I will be able to get some up soon.

Photoman

What a Day and it is Just Now Noon!

2010-03-04T10:16:00.000-08:00

So my day started out early this day, got up at 5:30 to go on a hike through a nature reserve. This is the sight that we were given at the beginning of our adventure.

The hike we were taking was through a Game Reserve which is part of the National Parks System here in Ghana, we didn't get to see any game but we had a very good walk and a lot of fun. This is for my friend Earl who loves to photograph bugs. So Earl this guy isn't eating anything but I wanted you to see an African Praying Mantis.

This is our trail through the bush of Africa, we are in a subtropical rain forest. Not sure what that means exactly but it sounds cool. I love how the sun lights up the top of the grass in the foreground of this image.

This is the largest of the game that we saw while we were hiking. We heard monkeys in the forest but we could not see them. We tried hard but they were well camouflaged.

My hiking comrades Morgan and Nicholas. Nicholas is here as a short term missionary also.

Another shot of our trail, in this photo you can actually see a discernible trail.

This is by far the coolest thing that we saw, I think it is called a Pitcher Plant. I have not had time to look on the web to see if it is or not. Anyone out there know if I am wrong? In the next image you can see just how large this thing is. It supposedly will eat large bugs and small lizards.

Isn't she beautiful!

There were lily plants scattered all throughout the trail but only a few of them had flowers on them.

O.K. Earl here is another one for you, this is an African Walking Stick of some kind.

These flowers are the prettiest wildflowers I have seen since I have been here. The Lillie's are the second prettiest.
Well the hike is over but the adventure is not, we walked from Dzakpo Village to Helekpe Village through the African Bush it was AWESOME just being there. The thrill of not knowing if we would see an animal or get bit by a poisonous snake was very cool. Nicholas and I got bit but Morgan was lucky enough to get through with no bites. O.k., o.k. so we only got bit by driver ants but let me tell you what, they are a nasty bunch. They have been known to bring down animals as large as cows. They were the only dangerous things we saw, which is probably good. So anyway after the 10 mile hike which took us 4 hours we were all very tired. We finally got to the truck that was supposed to bring us home, a 30 minute ride from Helekpe to Ho or a 3 hour walk. We got about 10 minutes into our trip when Jerry said, "I think something is not right with the truck." He got out and looked at the front wheel and said "it is breaking! I think we need to drive very slow." Needless to say we never got far, as you can see in the picture the frame of the truck is literally ripped apart. The roads here are hard on cars. So we sat in the heat of the day for an hour waiting for a ride.

Jerry finally found us a ride in a truck that was passing by and we road in the back of the truck to Ho. You can see the broken down truck as we drive away, note the missing wheel on the passenger side. Jerry is in the foreground of the photo.

Morgan was excited to ride in the truck as it I let her stand up as we were driving. It looks like Morgan has a bug bite or two on her elbow. Can anyone say Anti Itch Cream?

This is Morgan's view from the back of the truck.

I am throwing this photo in just so that you at home can see what the kids do here without T.V. Shortly after I took this photo 3 more kids got books and were reading as well.

Well this is not a typical day here, we don't always go hiking through the bush but the unexpected is very typical here. Hope you enjoy the photos of our hike. On another note, I finally got the barrels this week, only a few things were missing. A bag of M&M's, several jars of Nutella, Flour Tortilla Shells and Several jars of Parmesan Cheese. We think this is all that was taken, about $100.00 worth of stuff. My tools however were all there.

Gary

Little Kimmie Had a Birthday!

2010-03-04T01:21:00.000-08:00

I think I mentioned in another post that I have been helping a bit with the addition to a missionary home. Well it is under roof now and I was out helping the electrician with the project again. I wasn't much help as I didn't have my tools yet and he only had one set of tools (hammer, chisel, hacksaw, and hacksaw blade) so I pretty much just watched and learned how they do things here. I did get to dig a bit of a trench for laying some pipe and I got to hold some things but I enjoyed just being with the guys on the site.

This is a hole that they dug for a water retention pit it was dug totally by hand, everything is pretty much done by hand here. I have not seen many power tools since I got here, now that I think about it I am not sure I have seen any power tools.

While walking thorugh the village of Helekpe I came across this mom and her young ones. I found out the next day that the little guy behind mom was hit by a TroTro and killed. A TroTro is a very small bus that you can take to get from village to village. It is quite cheap but quite an adventure, I have not had the opportunity to ride one yet but I intend to some day.

This little lady was quite a treat, I came across her in the market one day and was drawn to her. I am not sure what it was about her but something made me stop and ask if I could photograph her. She said sure and posed for me, when I showed her the photo on my camera she laughed and wanted another. I took a second and showed her and she laughed and yelled something to those around her and they all laughed. I thanked her and started to walk away when she called me back. When I turned around she said she wanted me to pay her and held out her hand. I had been warned that some might think you should pay them for taking their picture. She was laughing when she asked for money and didn't demand a price so I reached in and pulled out the first coin that I found and handed it to her. I had given her 20 pesuas about 15 cents. She held it up and laughed and said something to those around and they all laughed and I walked away as they were laughing. I am not sure what they thought about my payment but I was pleased that I had entertained them well.

The title of the blog is what these next few pictures are from, Kimmie's birthday party. Kimmie turned 4 years old last Saturday and since it is hard to buy birthday gifts here the missionary families try to make birthdays special in other ways. Usually by going swimming, as we did this particular day. It was a good day for it as it was one of the hottest days since we have been here. Many of us got a good sun burn but it was well worth it.

Lyndsey was probably burnt the worst as usual but she is doing fine today. Don't hate us this is not a usual day for us, most days we are just sweaty and dirty and wish we could go swimming.

Kimmie is opening her gifts, isn't she cute?

This is Emmanuel Baptist Church in Kodzobi village where we attended church this past Sunday. Can you find Morgan and Taylor?

During the singing these ladies got up and were clapping to the music it was very cool to hear!

I really liked this image of the old man and cane.

(For those of you from our home church of EBC) We are not really on a missions trip, we are really on a top secret government project that Will is involved with at work. I can't really say what we are doing or we may be killed. As you can see from the photo we are really in Area 51 and I will probably be hunted down by government operatives and shot for showing this photo but I couldn't resist!

Hope you enjoyed the photos,

Gary

Mt. Adaklu

2010-02-26T16:02:00.000-08:00

I am sorry for the delay in putting up a post. Last Friday evening our Internet went down and it came back up today at about 5:00 p.m. it was literally out for one week. We were all going through withdraw, I finally broke down and took the family into an Internet cafe and gave each of the girls 30 minutes of Internet. It wasn't long enough but that was all I was willing to pay for. Thank goodness it came back up, I hope they have it fixed for a while now.

So Taylor and I take a walk sometimes in the evenings, one night last week just before a big rainstorm hit us we went for a walk and was given this gift of a beautiful sunset from God.

While on another walk we came across this duck who was guarding the entrance to this persons home. I am not sure if the ducks around here are related to turkeys of if they just have really bad acne but this guy is ugly.
Well, I don't really like this picture but I did say that I would post it. I needed a tripod and did not have room for one in my carry on luggage so it got left at home. So in order to get a half way decent shot I had to crank up the ISO on the camera and that never looks good. For those of you who are photogs I was shooting at ISO 6400 can anyone hear the noise! Oh yeah this is the image of Ho Mountain that I mentioned earlier, I said it looked like a volcano had erupted.
This is Saturday a week ago, we lost Internet the night before and just got it back today. We are on our way to the top of Mt. Adaklu. I was instructed to go to Google Earth and see what the elevation is to the top but since we didn't have Internet until today I haven't had a chance to look. So I can't tell you exactly how high we climbed but it took us a few hours to get there. The image below is the trail to the foot of the mountain.
This is Morgan at our first real resting place we had taken a few breaks before getting to this point but by the time we reached this place we were all very much ready for a good break. I am sitting in a cave looking out at Morgan as she stands looking at the valley below.
Here are some of the girls that climbed with us as we are getting to some of the steeper areas.
Kelly and Lyndsey didn't try the climb so here are the rest of us at the top of Mt. Adaklu. We had such a nice breeze that we were ready to lay down and take a nap. Once again if you look at the background of this image the haze that you see is from the Harmattan. We are planning another trip to the top in June or July once the Harmattan is past to see what it looks like on a clear day. If you look closely at my shirt, near the waistline you will notice it is a different shade than the upper part. The darker shade is wet from sweat, did I mention that it is very hot here?
Taylor sitting on the edge taking video with her point and shoot camera, I will try to post a video at the end of this blog post.
The girls are falling off the mountain help!! Well I got the worst of this shot, I had to lay right in the dirt to get this angle. After sweating as much as we were I was a muddy mess, the girls didn't care though.
Back at the bottom and my legs are ready to fall off. We all made it and no one got hurt. Now that I have rested a week, I can't wait to go again! If you look at the image below you can see where a large chunk of rock has fallen from the face of the mountain. We were standing on top of that part of the mountain.
I have been putting images of the children in many of my posts, tonight I wanted to show you this elderly woman. I came across her while I was walking back from the mountain and couldn't resist her charm. I had to get a picture of her, so I could introduce her to you.
I tried to put the video in but it keeps messing up so I am giving up for now. It is almost 2:00 a.m. here so I am going to bed. I will post some more photos tomorrow if the Internet is still up.
Gary Phillips

Life in Africa

2010-02-25T03:13:00.001-08:00

Well part of life in Africa is getting used to the unexpected. We have not had internet now for the past 5 days, but we have had thunderstorms every evening now for the past 5 days. It is somewhat unusual for the rains to be here already, we are just about through the Harmattan season which brings us all the sand from the Sahara Dessert. After the Harmattan we are expecting the hot season, it has started out more like the rainy season which follows the hot season. At least it is supposed to, when I ask if this is normal I get all kind of responses so I am not sure if it is normal or not. It was very hot yesterday, one of the hottest days so far and if we are going into the hot season as we should I am told that the days will just get hotter. Which means we will sweat even more.

The internet is up and down as I write this message, it comes on for about 5 minutes and then goes of for about 15. I thought I would try to get this message typed up so that all would know we are doing o.k.

Please keep my parents in your prayers as I found out late Sunday that my father was in the hospital. Pray for both my mom and dad while I am away.

As soon as the internet is up and running normal, I will try to get some photos posted.

Gary

February 17th

2010-02-17T05:51:00.000-08:00

It was a muggy night, probably the muggiest of all so far. Didn't sleep as good but still slept some. Most of the nights have been pretty cool but not last night. Have been getting bites on my feet at night from some kind of bug, not sure what. I was told that it wasn't a bite but some kind of small bug that burrows into your skin and then leaves finds a new place and burrows again. Not sure why they burrow in and out but not sure I really want to know. I put the Blood Stone on one of the bites to see what it would do, it stayed on for about an hour and I accidentally knocked it off. The bite quit itching and the bump went away. The rest of the bites still have bumps and still itch. If only I had about 20 Blood Stones, then I could put them on all the bites.

Today was set aside as a day to go to Accra and get our barrels. It is a day long process as we will spend much of the day traveling. We had planned since Friday to pick up the barrels on Wednesday (today). We decided to call yesterday afternoon to make sure the barrels were ready, when we called we were told that they are not ready. They said that the container has not gone through customs yet and should be ready tomorrow. Point being we couldn't go and get them as planned. So today I am a teacher not an electrician or construction worker. I have been helping Kelly with the girls schooling. I helped Lyndsey with her Math, Spelling and a bit of Health. I have learned that there is no need to be in a hurry here as it will only prove to frustrate you. Nothing seems to be on any kind of schedule here, so you learn to be patient. It is hard to come from a routine based lifestyle to the Ghanaian lifestyle.

I think I am going to have to start driving or sitting behind Chad in the backseat as he drives, my right arm is really tanned and my left is not as dark. I think I need a little balance in my life, lol!

O.K. enough talk, lets see some pictures, I know that is what you are thinking. Before I show you pictures I need to apologize for my grammar and spelling errors. I am terrible at grammar so please forgive me if I do not write well, I will try to do better in the future.

I think I already mentioned that we went to see the Kente Cloth Weavers. It was quite interesting to see them work. While we were there one of the weavers let Taylor have a go at weaving the cloth. So here she is doing her best. After she tried of course the rest of the kids wanted to try. The man was more than happy to let them each have a go at it. The people here are truly very friendly and happy to meet you. Everywhere we go we are welcomed by all who see us. You can tell from their voice that they are being genuine.

On the way back from Petue Village (pronounced petway where they make the Kente Cloth) I spotted this guy on the side of the road. It is quite unusual looking, I think it is some kind of Turkey but I am not sure. If anyone has a better idea than I do please let me know!

There is always something cool happening here, I was just about to send this blog to the web when Lyndsey came running in the house telling me that I needed to come outside as something really cool was happening. She said it looked like a volcano was erupting. I grabbed my shoes and my camera and ran outside. Ho Mountain the mountain that I was just on the other day is burning. Someone has set the side of the mountain on fire and from this distance it looks like a volcano is erupting. It really is quite cool to see in person, the photos do not do it justice but I will try and post them tomorrow anyway.

I also just found out that we cannot get our barrels and are put on a waiting time. I guess there is some papers that they need from a bank in Ohio for some part of the shipment. They will not unload the container until all the papers are in order. The problem is that the bank in Ohio is closed due to the snow. It is ironic that we are here in the 100+ degree weather and the snow in Ohio is causing us problems.

Pray that the bank will be open tomorrow and that they will be able to get the papers that they need. I am a teacher again tomorrow.

If it does not rain here before Saturday we are going to climb Mt. Adaklu, we are bringing a video camera and will make some videos for you to see. Hopefully we will be able to upload them.

Kelly just reminded me that we are about to run out of water, the city water is off for some reason and has been for over 24 hours now. We have a tank that will hold us for a couple of days but if we don't get the water soon we will be out of water. Pray that it comes on soon.

Gary Phillips and family.

Thank You!

2010-02-15T15:01:00.000-08:00

Sorry no pictures tonight as it is late and the Internet has been on and off all day today. I wanted to give a quick thanks to all those who have been commenting on the blog. It is an encouragement to me to know that you are reading it. I will try to get some new pictures up tomorrow. We finally found out that our barrels are in and we are able to get them this Wednesday, I will be able to get started on the Bible School on Thursday. Again thanks for the comments please keep em coming.

Gary

Lot of Stuff to Share Tonight!

2010-02-13T09:56:00.001-08:00

I have a lot of pictures in today's post so enjoy, I thought I would start with this photo of a girl from the village of Kodzobi. On Wednesday we went to the village to play games with the kids. I was taking photos of them and they would get excited and laugh when I showed them on my camera. I was soon mugged with kids wanting to see there picture on the camera. I had Martin who we took along to translate help me control them long enough to get a single portrait of each child. I really liked this one.

In this next image you can see Morgan chasing a little girl in a game similar to duck duck goose.

This photo was taken on Thursday, we went to Dzakpo again to visit and Taylor took a picture of these kids and is showing them themselves on her camera.

There is a lady in Dzakpo who has a pet monkey, Morgan can now mark Holding a real monkey of her Bucket List.

She was very excited that she got to hold a live monkey!

On the way home we stopped off at Anthony's farm and Anthony showed us around his farm again, some of us had not been here yet. Morgan found a baby chick and is holding it before we release it to it's mother.

On Friday I went to Helekpe to help with the electrical wiring of a 2 bedroom addition to the Mathews home (another missionary family). Jerry is the one squatting he will be working with me on the electrical projects here. He is an electrician here and will help me to understand some of the differences in the electric here. I will also be able to teach him some things as well.

This is the view from the Mathews home in Helekpe, there home is at the foot of Mt. Adaklu. As soon as the girls are all adjusted to the climate here we are going to climb this mountain. I am told the views are amazing. Taylor and I are ready to go but Kelly and the little ones are still trying to adjust. The 100+ degree days are hard to get used to, at least for them it is. I was adjusted the first day and Taylor only needed 1 day to adjust. It is hot and we are getting tanned, well some of are tanning (Morgan and I) the rest are burning.

Man it is hot here, we sweat 24 hours a day and we get dirty from the dust. I think the hardest thing to get used to is the dirty feeling, everyone says that in about a month we will be used to it.
Here is a picture of Sarah Mathews and Edem Zimmerman she is carrying him the way the Ghanaian women carry their young. They do have help from a piece of cloth so that their hands are free.

Another view of Mt. Adaklu from the Mathews yard. I can't wait to get to the top!

This next image is a good example of Harmattan. Harmattan happens this time of year every year. It is dust from the Sahara Desert that blows across Ghana and Togo for several months in a row. Some days are heavier than others. This view from the top of Ho Mountain shows Harmattan very good. The buildings you see in the image are predominately Ho but if you know where to look you can see some of the villages also. I don't know where to tell you the villages are, sorry. Our house is in here somewhere also. I almost forgot the mountain in the background is Mt. Adaklu!

This is one of the vegetable sellers in the Market, we visit her every time we go to Market and buy something. In case you didn't notice she is not in the photo, I needed to clarify this for Marnie!

This is the place we buy our frozen chicken, if you look close at the piece she is cutting you can see pieces of chicken flying.

Here is a view of the road to the frozen food place.

The Butler's received three packages of gifts from their church today, it was full of Christmas gifts. They had a lot of fun opening them.

Today we had a Valentines Day party for all of the Missionary kids. Marnie's mom sent a bunch of craft things so the kids had crafts and cookies and other goodies. They all had a really good time. Even Chad had fun making valentines!

Another shot of the party, Taylor is showing Kelly something, not sure what.

Another Party shot.

One more party shot, trying to show the kids a lot for grandparents.

Hope you have enjoyed the show, please leave some comments for me to read, I enjoy them.

Gary Phillips

2010-02-11T10:06:00.000-08:00

This is the road to Dzakpo Village, there are some blacktop roads around but they do not go to many of the villages that we work in.
These trees are Teak trees they are about 10 years old, when they are 17 to 20 years old they will be sold for 100 Cedis (Ghanaian Money) each. I am not sure but it looks like there are about 100 of them on this particular farm.

Here is Taylor, she is holding a large leaf of some kind, I think they come from the Plantain tree which is like a banana tree. Plantains are not as sweet and usually not eaten like a banana but are cooked into a dish. We had plantain and beans the other night. It was quite good, the plantain has the consistency similar to that of a potato. Taylor thinks it is from the Teak tree, she is probably right.

This is a daily scene here, kids in school uniforms walking home from school.

Tuesday was Market Day and on Market day the market is full of vendors selling there wares. It is like going to the flea market only the aisles are very close and there are so many people buying and selling that you can barely walk. Not to mention that the market is a Labyrinth of old wooden shops. I have not had the full market experience yet, we went late in the evening after many had left. It was still quite busy, Market day is once a week and the people from all of the villages come into Ho to either sell there wares or buy what they need for the coming week.

This is a typical row of Cloth sellers, we bought material from one of these booths for a dress for Taylor.

So far I have fixed all of the broken things in the home where we are staying, I have helped put a roof on a home in Kodzobi today. Have looked at the Bible School and will be ordering material this weekend so that we can start the project next week. Tomorrow I am going to Helekpe Village to install electrical conduits in the slab of a 2 bedroom addition of another missionary home. It would be nice if my tools would get here soon, I think they are supposed to be coming tomorrow, it is hard to get a straight answer sometimes. Thanks for you continued prayer support.

Gary Phillips

An Exciting Find!

2010-02-07T08:45:00.001-08:00

This is the view we had this morning when we got up extra early to go to Helekpe Village. The sky here is always filled with dust from the Sahara Desert this time of year, they call it Harmattan (not sure about the spelling). I am not sure if it is extra heavy today or if there is fog or even if it is just left over smoke from all of the fires last night. I loved this view so I photographed it, the giant termite mound just adds to the beauty of this image.
We went to Helekpe to see this, a Giant Pangolin or a Long Tailed Pangolin not sure which it is or if they are one in the same but when I looked it up online I found both names for the animal. They are very rare animals and all of the Ghanaian people that we ask about it say they have never ever seen one. Some men from the village of Helekpe were hunting in the bush and found this one. They caught it and brought it back so they could try to sell it. They were supposed to have a buyer and we had to be there before 9:00 a.m. to see it. We got up and left at 6:30 just to see this rare creature, it was quite cool to say the least. This is definitely Africa!

I have never even seen one of these guys in a Zoo!

This is 2 of 2 posts for today.

Gary

First Sunday in Ghana

2010-02-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

Today we headed to church in the village of Dzakpo (pronounced Jahkpo), Marnie was driving until we got to this bridge. She didn't want to drive across it, so I got out and looked it over and decided that it might hold the car but that the people should walk across. Then I got to drive it over.
It is constructed of 3 long wood poles running across with some wood 2'X12" boards laying across them. Then as you can see they have 2"X12"x10' planks running length ways of the bridge. On the drivers side of the bridge, the lower 2x12's have broken through and are not really resting on the poles anymore many have broken. This has put all the stress on the top 2x12's and they are breaking as well.

I was a little bit nervous but as you can see we made it across, on the way back I took a vote and everyone decided we should all stay in the car and take our chances. Once again the bridge held us without falling in, all 11 of us.
The above picture is Ransom Baptist Church in Dzakpo Village, where Chad spoke about loving one another as Christ would love others.
Above is Marnie, Kelly, Taylor and the kids with a few kids from the village. Below, Chad and Ema (a village elder) translating for the congregation.
After the service I went back out to see the kids and there were a lot more village kids in the kids class now.
Kelly is greeting a lady in Ewe and everyone is laughing at her being coached by Marnie. The locals love to here the Yahvoo's (white people) try to speak Ewe.
This young man posed so nice I couldn't help but take his picture.
After the service we were invited into the village to visit Ema's family while they prepared for his Uncle's funeral.
I loved the weathered look of the buildings and this blue one stood out amongst the many unpainted huts, the dog was just an added bonus to the picture.

This is 1 of 2 posts for today,

Gary

First attempt at photos from Africa

2010-02-06T13:34:00.001-08:00

So this is the Butler's house in Ho, Ghana this is where we are living for the next 2 or 3 months.
Today we took a trip into see the market, it was not market day so most of the shops were closed. It is actually good if it were market day there would have been too many people for me to get these pictures.
The men and women (mostly women) really do carry many things on there heads. Our first day here I saw a man carrying two 50 gallon drums on his head.
Two very beautiful kids in the market who wanted to see themselves on the camera.
I loved this box full of watches look at what it reads!
Here is a view of Ho from outside the market.
Here is a photo of our neighbors front yard tonight, we could here the fire so I ran out and took some photos.
Morgan rescued this toad from the burning yard.
This is the man who's yard was burning it was fun to take photos of him and his family and let them see themselves on the camera. They were quite amused.
Hope you enjoy the photos, will try to get more up soon.

Gary

We are here!

2010-02-06T01:44:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a few days since my last post, sorry but the travel to Ghana was tiresome and when I got here we didn't have Internet right away. At least not good enough to get on and make a post. I have not really had much time to take any pictures yet, took a few on the road to Ho but have not looked at them. Will hopefully still have Internet tonight and have some photos to post at that time. Everyone is doing fine, the girls are having fun with their friends here and Kelly is only a little bit homesick. I am loving it here, even the heat isn't bothering me yet. Kelly is sad that we are missing the snow, I am rejoicing. Wish I could send some of this heat your way to help you get rid of that nasty white stuff. I was just informed that I am "tall blue", any time that I drink I am to use the tall blue cup. It is official because it is posted on Marnie"s kitchen wall! I think when know one is looking I am going to switch up the list to keep everyone on their toes. LOL! We almost couldn't get eggs today for breakfast as no one would sell the Wavoo (pronounced Yaavoo) any eggs. So chad had to send his Ghanaian guard to the get some eggs for us. Got to go eat some breakfast will try to get another post later today with some pictures.

Gary

Day 5 London

2010-02-02T11:52:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Windsor to see the changing of the guard. Morgan wanted to see the guys with the big hats if at all possible while we were here. The changing of the guard is now only done for show but it is really neat to watch. Show or not the guns that they are carrying are quite real. We then walked around the city of Windsor a bit and tried to see the Castle, it was not easy to see from the ground. After Windsor we went back to the Shepherds for dinner we had Indian food it was delicious. After dinner we took a drive into the city to see it at night. It is quite a beautiful city during the day but the lights at night give the city an all new look. I will not be able to post for day 6 as I am a day behind and we are about to leave for the airport so I will have to get caught up in Ghana. Will try to get some more pictures up then as well.

Gary

Day 4 London

2010-02-01T12:17:00.000-08:00

Today we had an opportunity to go into London and see a bit of the city. We don't have much money so our entertainment had to be cheap. We walked to the train station and took a train ride into the city and a ride on a double decker bus made the trip fun for the girls. We went to the British Museum as the museums in London are free. Taylor wanted to see a mummy and they had a bunch of them. It was really quite interesting to see. After seeing the Mummies we headed for the Africa display where we were determined to find as many items as we could that were from Ghana or Togo. We found a few from Ghana but none from Togo. Many of the Ghanaian items were not on display which was a bit disappointing. So from Africa we decided to head to North America, not sure what we were expecting there but were a bit disappointed at how small the display was. Left there and the gang was getting a bit tired so we were on our way out when we saw a display of pills. It took me a bit to figure it out but it was a neat display once you understood it. It showed how many pills the average person will take during the span of their life, approximately 14,000 pills. While we were looking at this display I noticed a large camera in a glass display box, of course it was a Canon camera. So of course I had to get a photo of it, while I was reading to see what it was about I noticed that there were many things in the cabinet with it that were from Ghana. As I began reading I figured out that everything in this case was from somewhere in Ghana, all of the things that had been missing in their regular display area was in this cabinet. It turns out that the large camera is actually a coffin. That's right a coffin, it was made by two Ghanaian brothers for some poor soul to be buried in. Their grandmother who always wanted to take a ride in an airplane died before getting her wish, so the brothers made her a coffin shaped like an airplane and carried her to her grave sight in it. As a result other people commissioned them to create a unique coffin for them. Probably my favorite thing in the museum was seeing this display, I think I will look them up while there and see how much a camera coffin will cost. After the museum we went to Covent Gardens an area where there are street performers and people selling there wares. While we were there we decided to watch this Brit as he performed for those he could get to stop and watch. While waiting to see what he would do I was called from the audience to help him onto a 15 foot tall unicycle. It was quite humorous and quite surprising when the guy kissed me on the nose and said that Americans were hot blooded. All in good fun though and nobody was hurt. I hope you enjoy the photos as well as the story, more to come later.

Gary

Day 3 London

2010-01-31T12:27:00.000-08:00

Today was a day of resting and getting our bearings straight. Visited Twynholm Baptist Church in Fulham (a part of London) and shared about our trip. Getting ready to eat dinner so I do not have long but wanted to give you an update. Hopefully after dinner I will have time to upload a photo from our walk through Richmond Park. It is a very large park that is abundant with wildlife. I have had the privilege of visiting this park on two occasions now and am still amazed at how the deer react to the people. Watching jay Leno on a British show called Top Gear, I used to watch this show when I had BBC America at home but now I have to wait for reruns and watch it on Hulu.com. Guys should check it out sometime.

Gary

Day 2 London

2010-01-30T04:51:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to give a quick note to let you know that we are in England, all a bit tired but all in one piece. Hopefully we will be over our jet lag quickly. Other than Lyndsey who used me for a bed post last night on the plane we have had little sleep and it is now about 1:00 in the afternoon. Plan on going to bed tonight around 10:00 or so. Will try to get some photos up soon.

Gary and Family

Day 1 Departure

2010-01-29T15:21:00.000-08:00

We are sitting at gate B19 waiting for our flight. Praise God all of the luggage made it through with no extra fees. We were told last night that we were only allowed one bag per person and the rest would be $50.00 each. God worked it out out so that the lady checking us in was a Christian and she did her best to find a way to get them through with no fees. So now we are waiting for the plane to come in so we can board. We will be in Washington D.C. in a couple of hours waiting for our next flight that will take us to London. We leave D.C. at 10:08 p.m. keep checking back for updates. The man at the gate is right now making a call to the passengers of the flight about to leave. He is telling them that they are only allowed 1 personal bag we were told that we would be allowed 2. If you happen to read this before we board in the next hour please pray that we will not have any problems getting them on board. Thank you to all those who helped us get ready for this trip. At one of the last churches where we visited and I spoke the first thing that I said was how great it is to be a part of the Family of God. This week many of the family of God went out of there way to help us get ready for this trip and I am so thankful and blessed by your friendship.

Gary Phillips & Family

Visa #5 is in Our Hands!

2010-01-28T15:16:00.000-08:00

We are set to go, all 5 visas came back and we have our tickets as well. We are leaving our house tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. to head to the airport. We depart at 7:46 p.m. heading to Washington D.C. and from there to London. We will arrive in London at 10:15 a.m. on the 30th. Can't wait, it has only been a short time but it seems like it has been forever. God is in control and though He has allowed a lot of things to happen that we would rather not have happened we know that He is in control. Though we wish we were not leaving on the heals of a funeral we know that Kelly's dad would want us to go. Please pray that while we are away she will be able to work through the grieving process. We are at 85% and are praying that the rest will come in while we are gone. Keep checking back and hopefully soon we will have some interesting pictures share with you.

Gary

Visa Visa Visa Visa

2010-01-26T10:49:00.000-08:00

In case you were wondering we have 4 Visas in hand now hence the title of this blog. We are still waiting on Taylor's which is supposed to be here on Thursday. No guarantee! Bags are being packed, fridge and freezer's are being emptied! We are mourning the loss of Kelly's dad amidst all the activity. There is a funeral on Thursday and we are supposed to leave on Friday! I say supposed as I have left it up to Kelly as to when we will leave. So far she is still wanting to leave on Friday as planned. Please pray that she will feel God's love and embrace and the love of her family and our Church family. Pray that I will be attentive to her needs at this time.

Oh yeah we are at 85% now, God is amazing it seems like we get a gift just about every day now.

Gary

81%

2010-01-23T11:06:00.000-08:00

I am at a loss for words today, my father-in-law unexpectedly passed away this morning. Please pray for Kelly.

Our Little World Traveler is Home!

2010-01-22T20:28:00.001-08:00

My wife is complete again today, our oldest daughter is back in the good old US with us once again. Taylor was on a two week missions trip with her school to France and she just got back today. She will have a week at home and then we are heading out to Africa. I am glad that she was able to go but I am more glad that she is home. We left the airport and went and had her photo taken for her visa and mailed her application off to Washington DC. We have been assured that we will have it back in time for our trip and are trusting the Lord to make it happen. If not we will know that the date of Jan 29th was not His date and we will reschedule once we have the document in hand. I have seen God open many doors to make this trip a reality and I know that if the 29th is His timing then the visa will get to us on or before the 29th so that we do not miss our flight. Keep us in your prayers as we wait to see how God is going to answer this prayer.

Gary Phillips

P.S. I hope to have some interesting photos to add to the blog in a week or so! Sorry, but until then all you get is my thoughts.

A Call For Prayer!

2010-01-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

We have applied today for four of the five Visas to Ghana and will apply for the fifth one when Taylor gets home from France. There is a possibility that we will have to make a trip to Washington DC to get hers back in time. There is some concern that all of the Visas will be late in getting to us in order for us to leave on the 29th. Please pray that God will carry us at this time. Until now I have told many that I feel like we have been God's hands and feet doing the footwork for Him here. Now that we have sent the Visa applications in it is out of my hands and is in God's hands. Now it is up to us to trust Him and have the faith that He is asking from us to let Him carry us. I do not believe that God would let so many things to come together that would allow us to buy our tickets just so at the last minute He could stop us from using them. Taylor's Visa is still a question and I will be making some calls tomorrow to the Ghana Embassy in Washington DC to see what can be done to insure that it is in our hands by the 29th. Please pray that the Embassy will work with us, we have only been told how hard they are to work with so please pray that God will soften their hearts to our need and they will work with us to get the Visa in time for us to leave on the 29th.

I also wanted to let all of you know that if you have tried to leave comments and were not able to please try again. I have the problem fixed and look forward to reading your comments and questions. Please do leave comments especially while we are in Africa, you words of encouragement will be a huge blessing to us when we are homesick.

Gary Phillips

75% before the 15th!!

2010-01-15T20:02:00.001-08:00

We made it to 75% at about 11:00 p.m. on the 14th. We are now praying for the last 25% before we leave so that we can go to Africa without worrying about our finances. God has met every request that we have put before Him so far. There are a couple of new requests that we have started praying about and we are waiting to see how He answers these requests. We have had several conversations with one friend of ours who is a Pastor in a Fairborn church. He has said (on more than one occasion) that he thinks that Christians go through life afraid to ask in faith for great things to happen in their lives. I must say that up to this point in my life I have never really asked God to do great things in my life either. I don't know if it was a lack of faith or merely a lack of believing that God had great things planned for me. I am not sure exactly how to say what I am trying to say here, I hope I am making some sense. I guess I am trying to say is that until now, I had not seen God doing great things on my life. Ever since I have stepped out in faith believing that God wanted me to take my family to Africa and trusted God to provide a way, He has done just that. He has answered all of our prayers and removed any obstacles that Satan has put in our way. Sometimes within minutes God has answered our prayers often within a few hours. God has provided large and small amounts of money at just the right time, an example is how he provided the last $200.00 that brought us to 75% an hour before the deadline that it was needed by. That is actually a much bigger story than I have time for tonight but I will one day take the time to write it down and post it for you to read. Today I was praying and thanking God for all the ways that He has proven to me that this is what He wants us to be doing and I was surprised and encouraged at how many ways I could name. This adventure as I call it has not been without disappointment and hard work but I honestly have enjoyed every bit of it. It has been so fun to see a roadblock put up just so God can knock it down. I hope that every one who reads this is encouraged and that each of you who know me will see that God can truly use anyone to do great things. Yes I am not anyone special even though I often may act like I am, I am just a regular guy with regular job and a great family. God has chosen us to do this and we are excited about what adventures lay ahead of us. The real adventure has even started and I have had a lot of fun, so I can't wait to see what God has in store for us once we get to Ghana and Togo. Please pray that we will be able to get the remaining 25% ($5500.00) before we leave, and that the issue that could hold up Taylor's visa will all work out so that we can leave on the 29th as planned. Oh Yeah! I almost forgot, we got our tickets today we fly out on Jan 29th at 7:46 p.m. if anyone wants to see us off. Some of the girls friends are planning to meet us at the airport to say goodbye, all are welcome. Let us know if you are interested and we will give you the details as to when and where to show up. We have learned that God truly has great things for you if you are willing to step out in Faith and Trust Him.

Gary Phillips

$200.00

2010-01-12T18:05:00.000-08:00

That's it folks just another $200.00 and we are at 75%. I believe that God will provide the $200.00 by the 15th. We are still waiting on a few of the gifts that have been promised to arrive but are trusting God for them as well. We are anticipating leaving on the 29th but have one more small hurdle to overcome with regards to Taylor's visa. Not to be repetitive but we are trusting this to God as well. It has been amazing to see the finances come together these past few days. Please keep praying that the last 25% ($6000.00) will come in before we go so that we do not have to worry about it while we are gone. Thanks to all who have supported us, we have been blessed by so many in so many ways I can't begin to write it all down.

Thank you,

Gary Phillips & family

Please Pray

2010-01-07T15:44:00.000-08:00

We are currently at 58% of our financial support and need 75% by the 15th. In short we need to raise about $4000.00 between now and the 15th in order to purchase our airline tickets. Also we need a few of the gifts that we have been promised but not yet received to come in so that we actually have enough money to purchase the tickets. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to make plans to depart on the 29th of this month. We are also putting Taylor in a plane to France for a two week missions trip this Saturday. Pray that they will have safety and many opportunities to show God's love to the people of France.

Gary Phillips

Busy Week Ahead of us!

2010-01-02T15:46:00.000-08:00

We are getting ready for a very busy week, tomorrow we are speaking at New Song Fellowship in Fairborn for the a.m. service. Monday evening we are meeting with the Elders of Beavercreek Christian Church to share with them about our trip and have them pray over us. Wednesday I am sharing with the AWANA group at Emmanuel Baptist Church of Xenia. Friday Kelly and I are having lunch with a couple who own a business in Xenia, I am hoping to have lunch with another Christian business owner this week as well. Lord willing we are going to be taking Taylor to the airport this Saturday to send her to France on a missions trip with her school. The following Sunday we are speaking at 2 different churches. So this is a big week ahead of us with a lot of opportunity to share with folks about our ministry to Ghana and Togo. Please pray for good health and open hearts and minds to what it is that we have to say. Pray the we will have enough finances received by the 15th of Jan so that we can purchase our tickets. At this point there is 28 days before we are supposed to leave. God brought in 50% of our need in 4 weeks he can bring the rest in in 4 weeks if He so chooses.

Gary Phillips

A Slow Week!

2009-12-27T20:49:00.000-08:00

It has been a slow week, not really anything new to share with you this week. I expected this week to be slow since it is Christmas. The next few days I don't anticipate much activity as well but God could have a different idea than I do, guess I'll just have to wait and see. We have a very busy schedule ahead of us starting on the 3rd of January. Many speaking engagements that will keep us away from our church for the next 3 Sundays. Also some meetings during the weekdays as well. As of this moment there is only 33 days left before we are to leave, that is just under 5 weeks. God has brought in $12,000.00 in the past 4 weeks we need another $12,000.00 and we have 5 weeks to go. Can He do it? Do you really doubt Him? I don't doubt that He can do it, I am excited to see how He does it. Before I get ahead of myself, let me stop and say that I do believe He can do it, if it is His will that it be done. I trust that the plans that I have laid are in line with His but if not I trust that He will bring in the rest in His timing. The hard part is waiting to find out what His timing is. Well folks keep praying for us, He is working in our lives and we are doing our best to follow His leading. Pray that we are able to work out all of the many details that come with planning a trip like this, especially since we have never done anything like this. Pray that we will be able to get all of the loose ends here tied up before we are supposed to leave. We are not sure what all of the loose ends look like, my prayer is that God will not allow me to overlook something that will cause me hardship once I am gone. Hope your Christmas was wonderful and may your new year be the same.

Thanks for reading,

Gary Phillips

50%

2009-12-22T19:10:00.000-08:00

We hit 50% in just 4 weeks and we still have 5 weeks to go. God has already proven that He can bring in our support in the time we have left. We are just watching to see how He does it.

Gary Phillips

A Journal of God Sightings!

2009-12-21T21:19:00.000-08:00

While we are preparing for this upcoming trip to Africa, God has been doing many neat things in the lives of my family and myself. As I have been sharing some of these stories with others, I have received many questions and many different responses. One reoccurring response is "Are you journaling or writing any of this down?" Until now my response has been, "not really". I have shared many things through this blog but I don't really go into a lot of detail so that I can keep the posts short. So I decided to write down as many of the God sightings that we have had as they relate to our trip to Africa.

I am not sure that what I am about to write is a God sighting related to this trip but it is in my opinion a part of what God is doing. Some may say this is prophecy, I'm not sure that it is, but it is the closest I will ever come to being a prophet. It sure seems a bit prophetic but only God truly knows if it was.

It all started about 16 years ago when I first met Chad & Marnie Butler, we were attending Calvary Baptist Church in Xenia at the time. Chad was a student at Cedarville University and was studying to be a Pastor. He was invited to do his internship at Calvary Baptist, during this time we became very good friends as did our wives. Not long after graduating Chad found a job as an Associate Pastor with a church in Wisconsin. I was excited for them but was sad that they would be moving away. About 6 months into his new position a couple of things happened. I accepted a call to the Mission field and the church that Chad was with had a split. The Pastor that hired Chad left the church and took with him those who supported him. Chad was left to fill the pulpit while the church looked for a new Pastor. Being hired by the Pastor that had just left the church left Chad and Marnie in a less than desirable position. They were let go by the church once a new Pastor was hired. Being their first foray into ministry they were disillusioned and decided to move back to Chad's hometown. It had been over a year since we had seen them so we decided to go and visit them, while we were there I told Chad about my calling to the mission field. I half jokingly, half seriously told Chad that "in light of his experience maybe he should give up on the Pastorate and be a missionary". I said "we could all (all being his family and mine) go to Africa together as missionaries". With a slight chuckle Chad told me that he was not cut out for the missionary thing that he just needed some time to get his head straight and then he would look at the Pastorate again. It was about 4 years later that I got a phone call from Chad our conversation went something like this, (Chad) "Guess what?" (Me) "What?" (C) "I accepted a call to the mission field!" (Me) - "I told you so! Who with and do you know when and where you are going?" (C) - "ABWE (Association of Baptists for World Evangelism), we just started the candidating process but we are looking at Africa." (Me) - "Do you remember our conversation about 4 years ago?" (C) - "Yes" (M)e - "I told you so, I wish we were going with you." (C) - "You should come to, at least for a visit." Well that is the important part of the conversation I won't bore you with the rest. Some say that God has a sense of humor this proves it to me. Like I said I don't know if this can be considered a God sighting but I think it is a cool part of our story. After Chad accepted his call and candidated it took them 41/2 years to raise just half of their support, so ABWE agreed to let them go to Ghana for a couple of years to get some experience. They arrived in Ghana in May of 2009 and are currently there. When they were getting ready to leave they had a huge yard sale of the things they no longer needed. We decided to go and help them with the sale and spend some time with them before they left. While we were there Chad mentioned that there is a huge need for electricians where they are going in Ghana. He said I should consider coming over and visiting them and working as a missionary electrician. I told him once he gets there to let me know if there is still a need and we will see what God can do.

This brings us to the part of the story that we are currently living. About a month ago I was on Facebook when Chad popped in an instant message asking me if I was still considering coming to Africa. To which I replied "Sure! If there is a need for an electrician I would love to come and help?" He said, "We need someone to come and help us finish the construction of a house that is being built, we are supposed to move in it in June and it will not be finished if we don't get some help. You could also run electric to the homes in the villages, the government has installed electric to the power poles but it is up to the villages to hire an electrician to install it to the homes, most cannot afford this so they don't have electric." It was at this time that I started praying and asking God if this was what He wanted me to be do. As much as I wanted to be a missionary I never truly considered using my skills as an electrician or maintenance worker on the mission field before this time. For the past few years I had been trying to find a way to use my photography skills on the field, usually to no avail. When I finally accepted that God wanted me to use my abilities as an electrician and agreed to it, I actually got excited about it. I can look back over my life and the experiences that I have had and can tell that God has been preparing me for this for a long time. But that is a story for another time, I want to share with you some of the things that God has been doing over the past 4 months.

As I said I wasn't really excited about using my skills as an electrician on the mission field but after praying about it God gave me and excitement for it. My wife on the other hand is a different story, she was not as excited about the idea of this trip as I was. I knew that she didn't feel the same way as I did but I was sure that this was what God wanted me to be doing. Then one night while discussing the trip with Kelly, she told me how she really felt. She told me that she did not think this was what God wanted us to be doing. She said she thinks this is what Gary wants to do and that Gary has a way of making things happen when he wants them. She asked me to not talk about the trip in front of the girls anymore as she didn't want them to get excited about a trip that wasn't going to happen. She then said that she didn't want to go and that she wasn't going to go. All I could say was WOW, she really let me know what she thought about me! The problem was I began to wonder if she was right and I was wrong, I did want to go to Africa and have wanted to go to Africa since I was boy. I do have a way of making things that I want, happen. So that night I prayed, I said God, I really believed until now that this trip was your will after hearing Kelly I am not so sure. I don't want to make this trip happen if it is not your will. If it is your will, I know that I cannot change Kelly's heart I will leave that to You. I will continue to quietly step through doors that I see you open and I as I do please let Kelly see you at work and not me. Allow her to get excited about this trip as you have allowed me to. Over the next week God did just that, She went from "I am not going!" to "I am not saying we are going to Africa, but if we go we need too...." to "If we go to Africa we need to get...." to "Now Lyndsey, when we get to Africa you will still have to do dishes!" After this comment I knew that God was changing her heart so I went to visit one of our Pastors at church and share with him about our trip. This turned out to be another God sighting to me another confirmation that this is what God wanted me to be doing. When I told him about our possible trip, he got excited and said this is great. We (the Elders) have just been having discussions with Sharon Rahily in Togo and we want to send some folks to Togo this summer to visit her ministry. If you are going to be in Ghana you will be right next door, why don't you just stay while longer and be our representatives? I said o.k. what do we need to do? He then said go home send an email to Sharon (to see if there is a need for us to come during the time frame we will already be there), make up a rough budget for the trip and get back with me. When I got home that night I was excited the trip had just gone from 3 months to 6 months. I wasn't sure how Kelly would take it but I knew that God was working on her so I left it up to Him. That night I wrote an email to Sharon explaining who we were and what we were planning and asked if we could be of use in Togo for 3 months following our stay in Ghana. I also made a rough budget based on being gone for 6 months. When I asked Kelly to look over them she did and when she finished she promptly stood up, put her hands on her hips and proceeded to put me in my place. She said Gary I have never talked about a 6 month trip, I have only agreed to 3 months, I am going to bed! As she walked away feeling like she had made her point clear, I was ecstatic. I was quietly pumping my fist in the air (while hoping that she didn't turn around) and praising God saying Yes God we are going for 3 months! She had never once agreed to going for any length of time prior to that moment. After that she had accepted in her own mind that we were going to go for 3 months. It was about a week later that she decided that she could go for 6 months if all of the girls were going. Our son is 18 and she said she could allow him to stay home as she knew he would prefer that (though she would prefer him to go if she could have her way). This all took place over a period of just two weeks.

For a long time this was the biggest confirmation to me that this trip was of God. There have been many smaller confirmations and recently some more larger ones. Before I share the larger ones I want to document some of the smaller ones. - My employer (Legacy Ministries International) is in a financial pinch and needed employees to take unpaid leave, this trip will help the overall budget as I take 6 months unpaid leave. - The huge need for an electrician in Ghana and maintenance/construction projects in Togo. All of which God has been preparing me for over the past years in my career. - The open invitation to come to both countries and limitless possibilities to serve. - The fact that I want to do this type of missions work. - The many contacts that God has brought into my life who are helping us financially.

There have been other smaller confirmations that I cannot think of but will add them as I remember them.

Let me share with you another of the big confirmations God has given me, this is by far the most humbling thing that God has allowed me to be a part of.

To be continued........

Bon Voyage to our barrels!

2009-12-17T16:33:00.000-08:00

Well finally our barrels have been packed and delivered to Rapid Performance Inc. in Columbus. They will be Africa bound in a few short days and should arrive in Ghana just after us. Yesterday we were given many tests of patience and I think we handled them very well. God is trying to give us a taste of what it will be like in Ghana I think. We are still not sure why God did not allow us to get our barrel out yesterday but we now know that we had grossly underestimated how much would fit in a barrel. So today we delivered our first barrel to Rapid Performance and took the stuff that wouldn't fit in it and put it in a second barrel. We still didn't have enough room so the rest of the stuff will have to go in our suitcases. Good thing we can each take 3 suitcases. I uploaded some short videos so you can see us as we deliver and pack our barrels. In the video you will see Rajah Ishwar who runs Rapid Performance Inc. he is a native Ghanaian who now lives in the U.S.

Please continue to pray for us and rejoice with us that we were able to get our barrels shipped.

Gary Phillips & family

Shipping a barrel what a chore!

2009-12-16T09:24:00.001-08:00

Well let me just tell you, shipping our barrel has turned into a huge project. We have needed to ship our barrel for about a week now and have not been able to for various reasons. I decided last week that I would ship the barrel on Wednesday but that didn't work out so I decided then that I would ship it the following Monday. Well that didn't work so I decided to try today (Wednesday) for the 3rd time. As the saying goes 3rd times a charm, right? Wrong!! We had been waiting to hear from the missionaries in Ghana about some specific items that we might need to pack, they must be having computer issues as we have not heard from them for the past few days. Anyway we have not been able to get the info we need not to mention the shipping address, I was able to obtain that info after making a number of phone calls. We now know where to ship the barrel but we still are not sure if we have all of the items that we will want or need. That said, we are going to try and ship the barrel tomorrow now. The only thing keeping us from shipping today is a financial matter. We were not able to obtain the check the we need to pay for the shipment, we are told that we will have the check tomorrow. I am not sure at this time why God does not want us to ship today but I know He has a good reason for keeping it from happening. We are going to get the barrel today and then pack it and take it for delivery tomorrow. My first thought is that God knows of something that we need for the barrel, we will have to wait and see. I feel like I am rambling so I am going to stop writing and go get the barrel. Please pray that God willing we will be able to get this barrel shipped tomorrow.

Excited to serve,

Gary Phillips and family

Our Current Speaking Itinerary

2009-12-11T21:29:00.000-08:00

Our current itinerary for speaking in churches is as follows:

Dec. 13th Pleasant Grove Missionary Alliance Church @ 9:30 a.m.
Dec. 20th Arrowbrook Baptist Church @ 6:00 p.m.
Dec. 27th No church scheduled
Jan. 3rd New Song Fellowship of Fairborn @ 9:30 a.m.
Jan. 6th Emmanuel Baptist Church Xenia Awana Clubs @ 6:45 p.m.
Jan. 10th Calvary Chapel Beavercreek @ 10:00 a.m.
Jan. 10th Shawnee Hills Baptist @ 6:00 p.m.
Jan. 17th Calvary Baptist Xenia @ 9:30 a.m.
Jan. 24th Emmanuel Baptist Xenia @ 9:30 a.m. (Christening Service)
Jan. 31st (unconfirmed) Twynholm Baptist Church of London, England (a.m. or p.m. service)

That is a current list of the churches where we are scheduled to speak about our missions outreach to West Africa. As you can see there is still plenty of open times for us to be able to visit other churches. So if your church is not listed and you would like us to come please tell your Pastor or missions committee about us. I am available any day of the week to speak it doesn't have to be a Sunday or Wednesday, I am willing to come and share with your home church, small group, Sunday School Class, Youth Ministry or whatever you have in mind. Please feel free to contact me through this blog or through my church Emmanuel Baptist Church of Xenia at 937-372-5887.

Gary Phillips

Passports & 40%

2009-12-08T13:35:00.000-08:00

Kelly and the girls passports came today, I was surprised that it took so long to get them. When Taylor and I had to get them a couple years ago we got them within just a couple of weeks. This time it took 5 weeks almost 6 to get them. The important thing is that we now have them and now we are ready to get our visas, which we plan to order just after the first of the year if not sooner. I am very happy to say that at this time we have received or been promised just over 40% of our support need. We are not quite half way there but it is starting to get exciting. I also wanted to let you know that we have another scheduled speaking engagement. We will be speaking at Calvary Baptist Church in Xenia on Jan 17th during the A.M. worship service which starts at 10:30 a.m. Feel free to stop in and visit, I am sure that the church will welcome you. I also have a meeting this week with another Christian Business owner and 2 more Pastors. So keep praying that the money will continue to come in and that those who I talk with will be receptive to our ministry.

Gary Phillips

Thank You Oak Creek Worship Center!

2009-12-03T00:06:00.000-08:00

I want to express our thanks to Oak Creek Worship Center in Kettering for welcoming us into their church to share about our upcoming trip to Africa. From the moment we stepped into the church we were greeted with smiles and handshakes from everyone who saw us. It was a very pleasant experience, it was as if we were visiting a church where we knew everyone already. It was a gratifying experience to say the least. Pastor Jim and Pastor Scott were very kind and in my opinion went out of there way to make us feel welcome in their church. Oak Creek Worship Center is blessed to have such fine men leading them. I look forward to when we return home so that we can have another opportunity to visit Oak Creek and share with them how God has used us while we were in Africa. If you are reading this and you live in the Kettering area and are looking for a home church I highly recommend you visit Oak Creek. I don't believe you could find a more caring and loving church than Oak Creek Worship Center. They are located at 4800 Bigger Rd. in Kettering, Ohio.

You can visit their website at www.oakcreekworshipcenter.org/home

Gary Phillips

A Night of Confirmations!

2009-12-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

Tonight was a big night for us, it was our first speaking engagement at a church other than our own. I had good intentions to sit down and prepare an outline of what I wanted to talk about, do I need to say any more? I started and didn't get far when my computer started ringing, we have Skype on our computer and we can use it as a phone to talk to other people who have Skype. If you don't know what Skype is you should check it out, it's free and you can talk to anyone in the world who has it for free via your computer. If you have a camera on your computer you can see the person as well as talk to them. Anyway our friends in Africa were calling us and to cut to the chase, I didn't have time to work up my outline. When I got to the church I wasn't sure exactly what to say first, so when it was my time to speak I just started talking. It was unrehearsed and I just let God guide what I said, it felt awkward at times as I would get off track and forget where I was. When I was finished, I didn't feel that I had spoken eloquently at all. After the service a young man came to greet me and the Pastor, after I shook his hand and spoke with him a moment I walked away so he and the Pastor could speak. The Pastor came to me and asked me to pray with them. He then explained that the young man had told the Pastor that after hearing me speak he felt compelled to get saved. All I could say was WOW, it was so exciting to think that God could use the simple things that had I said to bring someone to the realization that they need to become saved. Again, I say WOW! When I am telling people about feeling called to Africa I am often asked how I know this is of God and not just something that I want to do. My response is usually something like this "there have been so many little things that have happened that confirm to me that this is of God and not me that I can't even remember them all, but there is 1 big thing that to me is all confirmation that I need". Then I proceed to share with them what this 1 thing is. Well tonight though was another of those big things that prove to me beyond a shadow of doubt, that we are doing exactly what God wants us to be doing. This is huge to think that God could use us in this way, I hope that when we get to Africa that I will have an opportunity to see someone come to Christ through our ministry there, but I never thought about it happening here in the States. God has opened my eyes wide tonight and showed me that He is bigger than I realize. The title of tonight's blog "A Night of Confirmations!" you will notice is plural because that is not the only confirmation that we got tonight. The last thing that I shared with the church tonight was a couple of prayer requests, I asked them to pray that we would get the financial support that we need and that we would be able to get into some more churches to share with about our trip. On the way home I told my wife and oldest daughter that I would like to get another church scheduled for the Dec. 13th as we were only scheduled for the 6th and the 20th. We had been home for about a half hour when the phone rang, you guessed it, another church was calling asking us to come and speak on the 6th or the 13th. So if you are following our speaking schedule you can add Pleasant Grove Missionary Church to you list for Sunday morning Dec. 13th. God is AWESOME! I don't believe that this is coincidence!

I have told many that this is going to be a faith building experience for the whole family as we watch God provide the finances for this trip. My faith has been both tested and strengthened already and I look forward to what God will do next. After I was finished speaking tonight the Pastor didn't have time to share what he had prepared so he gave an impromptu message on Faith. I think his message was fitting! Thanks for reading our blog and for praying for us.

Here are a few prayer requests:
Pray that Shawnee Hills Baptist Church will be able to add us to there Jan. schedule
Pray that the Christian business men that I have approached will be able to pick us up at the level of support that I spoke to them about.
Pray for Mike he is the young man who received Christ tonight.

Gary Phillips

Church added to the schedule!

2009-11-30T08:57:00.000-08:00

We just added another church to our schedule, we will be speaking at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Sunday Dec. 6th in the morning service. Service starts at 9:30 a.m. I will be sharing with the congregation around 10:00 a.m. This is my home church so I will be able to share with my own church family as a whole. No other churches yet, still looking for other churches to allow us to come and share. Please continue to pray as things progress.

Gary Phillips

Prayer Requests

2009-11-25T13:19:00.000-08:00

I thought that I would share a couple of prayer requests with those of you who are taking the time to read our blog. I know that a few people are reading this and I hope you are keeping us in your prayers. We could really use some more churches to allow us to visit and share with their congregation about our trip. We also need to ship our barrel by next Wednesday, it will cost $250.00 to ship but we need to fill it with food which will cost around $800.00. We have the money to ship the barrel but we don't have enough to fill it. We are supposed to ship as much food up front as we can so that we have less to buy while we are in Africa. Pray that God will intervene in the next week and supply the food or the money to purchase it. These are our two biggest requests at this time, I could fill this blog with other things to pray about but for now these are the ones that are on my mind.

Here is a list of churhes that I have contacted and have tried to arrange an opportunity to share with. If your church is not listed please let me know and I will contact them. I have found that it is easier to get into a church if I have someone who is a member of that church asking for me. I will still personally contact the church but if someone in the congregation make the request on my behalf it helps immensely in getting me in the door. So I would ask if you see your church listed and I am not scheduled to speak, please contact your church and ask them to allow me in to share. We are not looking to fill the pulpit, just to have about 15 minutes to share with the congregation during a service.

APEX Church any region (I must be invited to speak to a house church) none scheduled yet.
Fairhaven Church (was told no)
Beavercreek Christian Church
Dayton Avenue Baptist
Grace Baptist Church Cedarville
First Church of Christ (Ledbetter Rd. Xenia)
Crosspoint Vineyard Church
Aley United Methodist Church
AHOP Church
Kirkmont Presbyterian Church
Xenia Grace Chapel
Shawnee Hills Baptist Church
First Church of the Nazarene (Xenia) I have not contacted this church yet!
Cornerstone Bible Church (Xenia)
Patterson Park Church
Northside Christian Church
Arrowbrook Baptist Church (scheduled Dec 20th @ 6:00 p.m.)
Freedom Baptist Temple
Bible Baptist Church (Xenia)
Stillwater United Methodist Church (Frederick Pike)
Stillwater United Methodist Church (Miller Lane)
Calvary Baptist Church (Xenia)
Kettering Church
New Song Fellowship
Oakcreek Worship Center (Scheduled Dec. 2nd @ 7:00 p.m.)

Thanks again for reading and praying, hope you all have a great thanksgiving.

Gary Phillips

Giving God Control

2009-11-22T09:43:00.000-08:00

Church was very good today, many moving testimonies and many great stories of how God is at work in our church and the lives of those affected through our church. One story shared was of a young couples plans for the past 7 years to adopt. They had been preparing and saving for this day for 7 years and the day finally came for them to meet with the agency to find out what their options were. When asked how much money they were able to put into the adoption they repeated the amount that they had promised a year previous. They were then told that this was no longer a good amount of money and they would have to be able to come up with at least another $5000.00 but more like $10,000.00. Already stretched to their limit they were devastated. They had poured themselves into this for the past 7 years and now it seemed that God was closing the door. They began to question if God had wanted this at all or if it was just what they wanted. Finally they told God that they were o.k. with whatever He decided and that if He wanted them to wait they would wait but if it was to happen now, God would have to prove Himself sufficient and make something big happen. Needless to say God proved himself BIG within a few hours after this prayer they were connected with a family who was looking for someone to adopt their daughters baby privately. God had this planned for them even though they were not able to see it. Their human plans led them to an adoption agency just to be let down, so that God could show Himself mighty and able at the last minute.

This story resonates with me as I try and determine what it is that God wants for me and my family as far as missions go. I have never tried to adopt so I have never had this exact experience but being called to full time missions work and waiting on God to show me when and where has been a challenge. I have tried to make decisions and take steps that will keep me headed in this direction, most of the time the doors are closed at some point. It is when I finally give up and say o.k. God I am at a lose here what is it You want me to do or where do you want me to go. Sometimes like the couple who was trying to adopt I even get to the point where I think that maybe this is not what God wants but just what I want. I know how they were feeling but God has proven Himself to me over and over and every time I doubt, He comes through and shows me that He still has plans for me. I am not sure exactly what, when or where or if He will ever have me in full time missions work but I do know and believe with all my heart that He wants my family and I to go to Africa. The only thing that I am not sure about at this time is the timing of the trip. We are praying for Jan 29th to depart for Africa as this is when the missionaries in Ghana would like for us to come. The finances however have not been arriving like we had hoped they would (at least not yet) and so I am beginning to wonder if we will get to go when we are planning. I am at the point in this process that I have turned it over to God and said "O.K. God whenever you want us to go we will go, You know about the timing of this trip even though I do not and I am trusting You to work it out." Now the hard part for me is to do just what I have said and wait and trust God to prove Himself, if He wants us to go Jan 29th then He will have to move mightily to bring the funds in. It will be an interesting 10 weeks if He does.

Gary Phillips

Ouch!!

2009-11-17T11:22:00.000-08:00

Well today was the day we started our vaccinations, all of us are sitting around the house with sore arms. We went in to have 1 shot each done and ended up with getting almost all of them today. The girls each had 4 shots, Kelly had 6 shots and I had the most at 7 shots. I am glad that I had to have the most, I don't think the little ones could have handled 7. They didn't want the 4 that they got. Fortunately for the the girls it is over for a while. Each of them needs one more shot in 6 months, we will likely be in Africa by then. I on the other hand have to have 2 more shots, 1 in 1 month and 1 in 6 months, so I will need to go back in a month and get another shot. Yeah!!

There have been a couple of churches that have scheduled us in to speak about our trip. On Dec. 2nd we will be visiting Oakcreek Worship Center in Kettering at 7:00 p.m. to share with their congregation about our ministry. On Dec. 13th we will be visiting Arrowbrook Baptist Church in Xenia at 6:00 p.m. to share with their congregation.

That is about all of the big developments so far, I will keep you informed as things happen.

Thanks for praying for us, please continue to pray.

Gary Phillips

Prayer Card Back

2009-11-15T06:16:00.001-08:00

Prayer Card Front

2009-11-14T07:02:00.000-08:00

Were Getting There, Still Many Questions!

2009-11-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

Well, it is looking like we are going to be leaving around the same time as we had originally planned. We will be spending about 3 months in Kodzobi, Ghana and then heading to Mango, Togo and working on the construction on the new hospital until the end of June. A that time we may be heading to Adeta, Togo (or we could just spend the entire time in Mango). Where we will work on the existing hospital before heading back to Ghana. We will try to plan it so that our last 7 to 10 days are spent in Ghana with the Butler's before we have to return home. If anything, we may have to push our departure date back 2 or 3 weeks so that we can make all the timing work out. So, we look to be leaving some time between Jan 29th and Feb 18th and arriving back home some time between July 29 and August 18. None of this is definite yet, just as soon as I know definite information, you can be sure that I will get it posted on here so that you can read about it.

As for the finances, I am still relying on God to provide the necessary finances to get us there. I believe that He has asked us to go and that He has a plan for getting us the needed finances. In the meantime, I am contacting Churches to see if we can go and share our ministry with them. I have contacted many and am waiting to hear back from many. I currently have 3 who would like us to come and share with them but am waiting for them to give us a date to come. I have also contacted Christian business owners and have shared with them about our ministry. All those I have met with have agreed to help us but have not given us a $ amount. Individuals who have heard about our trip have also said that they would like to help us. We received our first check tonight from an individual, two others have told us they plan to support us. God is already starting to show Himself faithful, this is perfect timing as we need to start our vaccines this week. Many have come forth with advice or concerns and this has proven to be very helpful as I have never tried to do anything like this before and am learning much.

Thanks for praying but please don't stop. There are many unanswered questions and much money still needs to be committed before we can purchase visas, get our vaccines and ship a barrel of tools and food over. All of which need to happen in the very near future (3 to 4 weeks) and will cost approximately $3500.00. As soon as that is all done it will be getting close to time to purchase our airline tickets, approximately $9000.00. I can't wait to see how God is going to provide for these needs.

Gary Phillips

Dancing with God

2009-11-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

I am not sure who the author of the following verse is but I really like it and I thought I would share it with those of you who are reading this blog.

When I meditate on the word Guidance,
I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word.
I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing.

When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.
The movement doesn't flow with the music,
and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.
When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead,
both bodies begin to flow with the music.
One gives gentle cues, perhaps a nudge to the back
or by pressing lightly in one direction or another.
It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully.
The dance takes surrender, willingness,
and attentiveness from one person
and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word Guidance.
When I saw "G", I thought of God, followed by "u" and "i".
"God", "u" and "i" dance.
As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust
that I would get guidance about my life.
Once again, I became willing to let God lead.
My prayer for you today is that God's blessings
and mercies are upon you this day and everyday.
May you abide in God, as God abides in you.
Dance together with God, as God abides in you.
Dance together with God, trusting God to lead
and to guide you through each season of your life.

I hope you Dance!

This verse is a great reminder to me that I need to be aware of God when He is nudging me to do something. I have been guilty of overlooking His nudges or gentle tugs He often gives me. I am so thankful that God is gracious as I have surely stepped on His toes when trying to lead instead of being led. Kelly and I are both learning to trust God to lead us in amazing ways as a result of this journey that He has asked us to take. I hope that I can learn to be led rather than always trying to lead.

Gary Phillips

The Latest

2009-11-04T19:12:00.000-08:00

Tonight I had a meeting with my church missions committee to fill them in on the details of our trip, more specifically the financial details. We are looking at some significant financial needs in the next 2 to 4 weeks. We need to ship a barrel of tools and some food items over to Africa in 2 weeks (approx. $800-$1000), we need to start our vaccinations on Tuesday (approx. $1200-$1700 total) and we need to apply for our visas in about 4 weeks ($1600). These items total approx. $3600.00-$4300.00 and all of these things will need to be paid for within the next 4 weeks. These items in no way fit into our family budget and we have not received any support as of today. I am sure that God will supply the money when we need it and no sooner, this is going to be an exciting time as we wait on God and watch how he supplies for our needs. In our simple human ways we are much different than God. When God asks us to do something like going to Africa we make budgets and lay out plans as to how we think things should work out, all the while God has a plan of His own. So when things don't work out the way we planned it feels like maybe God isn't really listening to us. In reality it is us who are not paying attention to Him and His plan. I say this to explain that as a responsible Christian I have done my best to lay out a budget and make plans for this trip just so that I can sit back and watch God's plan unfold. I hope that I am able to accept his plan with humbleness and without worry and frustration, I am after all human. I believe that God has already put a burden on the hearts of those who are going to help us financially on this trip. They may not know how it is that God wants them to help or who it is that they need to help, but I believe that God will direct me to these divine appointments and when I share with them about our ministry they will know and they will be ready to help us. If you are reading this would you please pray for me that I will respond properly when God prompts me to share with someone even if the person is a complete stranger. Also pray as I have been asked to share my ministry with the Christian Business Men's association this week, that I will allow the Holy Spirit guide me when I speak to them.

Wondering how God will move next,

Gary Phillips

Revelations and Tears

2009-10-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

Well, tonight we had a long conversation with our oldest daughter. One that began with tears, was full of accusations and misconceptions when it ended there were more tears but most important "a revelation". No, I am not about to replay an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond! I am talking about life in the Phillips household. Lest you get the wrong idea, this is not a regular occurrence in our home but ever since we announced that God was calling us to Africa we have had a few conversations similar to the one I mentioned above. These other conversations were similar in that they were full of tears, accusations and misconceptions but none of them held any revelations. What was the topic of these conversations, you ask? I think I have mentioned in a previous post that my oldest daughter had not been able to make up her mind about going on the trip, o.k. now you can guess what we were discussing in these tearful conversations. Yep, you got it, myself, my wife or both of us had been trying to convince our daughter that she should go with us, let me tell you that was no easy task. I finally gave up as it seemed every time I tried I just drove a wedge between us deeper and deeper. I decided that if God wanted her to go He would have to convince her, just as he had convinced my wife she should go. So I turned it over to Him and I did my best not to mention it to her again. Well tonight was another story, I didn't bring it up it was my wife and she had good reason to. She had also up until this point tried to just let Taylor work it out with the Lord. Tonight however, Taylor was wanting us to sign some school related papers and it was something that would possibly interfere with the trip to Africa, so it was a quick slide down a very slippery slope that was by far the most tearful confrontation that we had had up to this point. After all was said and we had told her to just go to her room and pray about it more, she stopped us and said that she had just had a revelation and said that she would go with us. We were dumbstruck, after all that she had said, she just changed her mind in less than a second. I asked her had she been praying and she shared that she had but that she was still not sure what to do. So after her revelation we told her to just go to bed and pray about it and let us know tomorrow what she wanted to do. She then told me that she would but that she was pretty sure she was going to go with us. My wife and I had succeeded in wiping away some misconceptions that Satan had planted in her mind. It was a good night in the Phillips household, I know that my wife will sleep better tonight.

Gary Phillips

Keepin You Up To Date

2009-10-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

I really felt like writing so I decided to let everyone know what we are up to at this time. We are currently in the stage of raising support. I have been busy making calls to churches and trying to set up appointments to visit and share our ministry. This is unfortunately a slow process but it is necessary. I have also been talking with some Christian business owners and sharing with them as well. I currently have 3 business owners who are praying about what they should do to help us and feel confident that if God brought them to me that He will show them what they can do to help us, be it financially or through prayer. I have not yet been able to get into any churches to share our ministry with them but have had many good conversations. I truly believe that God has already prepared the hearts of certain people and churches for our ministry and that He will direct me to them in His time.

Gary

Togo

2009-10-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

I have had a couple pf people ask me today what type of ministry the missionaries in Togo have. While I was trying to learn more about the ministry I came across this web page that explains the ministry quite well. If you would like to know more about the ministry in Togo please have a look at this website http://www.togo.abwe.org/home-page. Our ministry will likely be in Adeta or Mango.

Gary Phillips

The Latest Scoop!

2009-10-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

I was able to make contact yesterday with the missionary from Togo (where we hope to spend some time serving) and we had a good conversation. I am still not 100% sure what it is that we will be doing in Togo but I can at least say, it looks like we will be working in both Ghana and Togo. There is a huge need in Togo for those with the skills and abilities that God has blessed us with. I say, it looks like we may be going, as there are still a couple of issues that need to be worked out. But unless the Lord keeps them from being worked out, Sharon (the missionary) would love to have us come to Togo. Adeta, which is in the Southern part of Togo has many needs. Sharon works in a mission run hospital and says there is a need for a full time maintenance worker, as well as construction workers for the new maternity ward that will soon be under construction. I, can fit into either of these roles easily, there is also a few roles at the hospital in Adeta that my wife could easily fill. There is also a possibility that they could have us go to Mango in the northern part of Togo. In Mango they are just about to break ground on a brand new hospital, so there will be plenty of construction work that needs done there. There is also a guest house where those who come for short term trips can stay. Kelly would be able to assist in the day to day operations of the guest house as the lady who currently runs it has her hands full. Sharon works with a team of missionaries in Adeta and Mango and is contacting them and explaining to them that we are interested in coming along side them and helping in any way that God so leads us. She wants to let her team mates know about our skills and abilities so that they can decide as a team where we would fit best in there ministry.

That is the latest news I have in regards to where we will be going, the latest on when we go still depends on our visas. I recently made airline reservations for Jan 29th to leave for Africa and a return flight on July 27th. It is truly exciting to think that if all goes well we will be leaving for Africa in just 3 months. As I said these dates are target dates as this is when the missionaries in Ghana would like us to arrive. The dates are dependent on when we are able to get our visas and also on the length of the visas the Embassies will give us. Our friends who are currently in Ghana applied for a 90 day visa and only received a 60 day visa. We hope to be able to spend 90 days in both Ghana and Togo but at this time only the Lord knows how long we will be there. The flight reservations are just reservations, they are also able to be changed at any time with no cost to us. Once we book the flights that all changes but God has opened so many doors, some that I thought would never be open, that I am confident that this trip is exactly what He wants us to be doing at this time in our lives.

If anyone who reads this blog has any questions, please do not hesitate to leave your questions as a comment, I will do my best to answer any questions we receive.

Please pray, that God will direct me to the people and places that I need to be in order to share our vision with those God has already prepared to help us financially to get to Africa. Our church has said that they will be our sending agency and that our funds can be sent to them on our behalf. If you are reading this blog and feel led to give to our trip please check back. As soon as an account has been set up, I will let you know how you can help out.

Thank you for your prayers,
Gary Phillips and family

Our purpose for going

2009-10-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

When I tell people that I am planning a missions trip to Africa, I always get the question "What will you be doing when you get there?" So I thought that I would share with those who read this blog what it is that we will be doing in Ghana and Togo. I am not sure exactly what we will be doing in Togo yet as I am still waiting to hear back from the missionaries in Togo as to what they will need me to do while there. I will likely be doing maintenance in the mission hospital as well as in other buildings that is used by the missionaries to minister to the people of Togo. I have recently heard that they are just about to break ground on a new hospital so I may actually get to work on the construction of the new building. My wife and girls will likely work alongside the missionary doctors and nurses as they tend to the needs of the locals. We will all have opportunities to work in the churches as Sunday School teachers and what not. There are any number of ways that we can be used and I am speculating that we will work in the above ways. God may have something totally different waiting for us to do, I can honestly say that regardless of what it is He has for us to do I will be excited and ready to serve. Ghana is a different story as I have had plenty of contact with the missionaries there. The list of need is long and will take a long time to complete (more time than we will be there). The list starts with Preaching and Teaching in 8 churches (not my strong suit);
Maintenance work on our Bible college property
-All the electrical wiring needs to be rewired because of lightning strikes
-fans, lights, electrical sockets, etc. for the main building and the dorms
-Support posts for a canopy need replaced
-guard shack is needed to be built
Construction work on Missionary House
-electrical work,
-floor tile
-plumbing
-cabinets
-windows
-drop ceiling installed
Other projects
-electrical wiring of houses in a nearby village that is in the process of receiving electricity.
House owners pay for their own electrical parts but need to pay electrician to install it.
This would be a free service and an opportunity to share Christ. There is almost
an unlimited # of villages that are in need of an electrician who would install electric
into their homes for free.
Well that is just a touch of what I could be doing for the next who know how many years of my life.
Things that my family will be doing (I also will be doing some of these things)
-teach S.S. and evening services at several of the churches
-teach English to village children and women
-minister to the current missionaries on the field in many different ways
-music ministry in the churches
-work with the Ghanaians side by side and share Christ in the villages
-host backyard Bible clubs
As you can see there are many many opportunities for my family and I to serve the people of Ghana while we are serving Christ. This is becoming a long post and I don't want you to get bored reading it so I am going to share one last thing that the missionaries in Ghana shared with us in relation to the needs in Ghana. "There are many more ministries that could be a part of your life here in Ghana. God is doing some great things and is bringing up some strong young leaders in the churches. We would love to have your family here indefinitely if God would allow." I do not know where this trip will lead but I look forward to what God will teach me and to see how He will work in the lives of my family and myself while we are in Ghana and Togo. Please pray that we will not take anything that happens for granted and that we will give all Glory to God as He sustains us throughout the process of preparing for this trip.

Gary Phillips and family

The Beginning

2009-10-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

I am not sure where to start so I will start with who we are. We are the Phillips family and though we all have not been called to full time missions work, I have. I am Gary and my wife and 4 kids have not been called but are supportive. It has been almost 10 years since I made my most recent decision that God is calling me to full time missions work, I say most recent because as a child of 6 or 7 I made a public decision that God was calling me to become a missionary. It wasn't until some time after making the decision as an adult that I remembered this happening as a child. As a child I would relish the times that missionaries would come to our church and share what God was doing through them on the mission field. It was during this time of my life that God put a strong desire in me to some day go to Africa. Though I had forgotten the childhood call to missions work I never overcame my desire to someday go to Africa. I am confident that God gave me this desire as a child and knew that one day as an adult I would remember my childhood promise and be ready to go. I believe that the time has come and that God has been preparing me for this trip ever since. I believe that God is calling us to Ghana and possibly to Togo as well, not for full time at this point but for an extended short term missions trip of 4 to 6 months. I also believe that this is just the beginning and could some day turn into a full time mission for us. Please pray for us as we prepare to leave that we will be open to God's leading, that we will not put our desires above His. Pray that God will us for whatever it is that He has in store for us when we get to Ghana and Togo. Pray that we will be able to raise our support in a timely manner. Pray that through this trip that God will receive glory and honor as we serve Him in humility, putting the people if Ghana and Togo above ourselves. Pray for health, strength and safety while we are home and while in Africa. Pray that God will help us get our passports and visas in a timely manner and that the exact dates and a good budget will be prepared soon. I will post updates soon and hopefully will have a photo to post soon as well.

Gary Phillips