Finishing up work

Friday 21st of December was my last day in the office at KPMG for the next couple of years! I put on my out of office reply that says I'll be out of the office until 2010 - wow!

Phil, Martijn and Matt

It was with mixed feelings that I finished up - excitement at the prospect of moving into a time of real preparation for going to Mexico and taking the next step and sadness at leaving a group of workmates who have become my close friends.

Phil, Angy and Noel

I had a fantastic last few weeks at KPMG, especially as it was the Christmas season. It was great to be able to share some good times, celebrations and fun with the team before I took a break from work.

Fantastic steaks to celebrate!

I have sincerely enjoyed my time at KPMG stretching over almost six years. I've had many great experiences and made a lot of great friends, but now it is time to say “hasta luego amigos”.

Interesting article about Mexico

Check it out... it even has a picture of Guanajuato where I plan to do language study...

http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,23483,22730077-27977,00.html

Following Jesus Passionately

As I was praying this morning and thinking about God's power and awesomeness (I was reading from Mark 4 about Jesus calming the massive storm on the lake), I was challenged to think about the way I describe how I go about following Jesus.
So anyway, I was thinking about how I would like to describe my life and relationship with God, and how I would like others to see me, and I came up with this:

I want to be a guy who follows Jesus passionately.

For me, this is something short that takes in Jesus' command to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to love your neighbour as yourself. If I look at following Jesus passionately, to follow I must obey, be close to Jesus, do the things that he did, reach out to those he reached out to, display his priorities and characteristics and be like him. And if I am to do that passionately, it takes in all of my heart, soul, mind and strength, my emotions, my excitement, my inspiration... and what I am passionate about something, it invades every part of my life and people see it.

So that's what I want to be like, a guy who follows Jesus passionately. That's tough, and personally, in my own strength, I can't do it. But Jesus has given me His Spirit, which puts that passion in my heart and can help me to follow passionately. So, I'm on the road, following, stumbling a lot, but keeping my eyes on the guy I'm following so that I don't lose the way.

I would love you to come follow with me... how about it?

A great welcome at Glenroy

This morning I had the privilege of sharing about Mexico and preaching at Glenroy Gospel Chapel. I arrived at about 9:30am and met two Harold's and Nancy and had a lovely morning sharing with the people there and getting to know them a little better.

A few of the senoras took a liking to my sombrero hehehe

It was amazing to meet some ladies who have been praying for me since I was a little kid, meeting with my mum in the city at St Paul's Catherdral to pray for their kids. What a wonderful legacy and encouragement they are passing on.

God bless you guys!

Phil

Johnston St fiesta

On Sunday night I went down with my friends to the Johnston St fiesta which is a Latin American and Spanish cultural festival. We had a fantastic night exploring the street stalls and sampling some great Latin American food... I grabbed an empanada (Chilean) and some Portugese donuts - YUM!

After food we went across to our favourite Mexican restaurant - Los Amates and had a bit of a dance to some Mexican tunes. I got to practice a little bit of Spanish, but most of all it was just great to be amongst the mix of Latin cultures. It really reminded me of Mexico with all the street stalls and people packed into a small street. I can't wait to go!!!

Upcoming dates...

I was hanging out with some of my friends on Wednesday night as we were having our weekly small group bible study. We were praying for each other and I was asked how people could pray for me. Sometimes you just phrase things badly. I said "I'd really appreciate your prayers, I've got a couple of upcoming dates..." Before I thought to finish the sentence, everyone was in fits of laughter and asking me who I was taking out on a date?!

"...to share about what God is doing in Mexico..."

So yes, I have a couple of upcoming dates to share about what God is doing in Mexico and what I will be doing there.

25 November at 10am I'll be preaching and sharing at Glenroy Gospel Chapel (101 Paget Ave, Glenroy).

29 November at 7:30pm I'll be sharing with New Community Ringwood (www.ncr.org.au)

Please pray that God will enable me to share HIS message and encourage these friends as I spend time at each of these churches. Also pray that God would raise up those who would be challenged to partner with me in my ministry in Mexico.

Clase de español!

Hey all. I had a really fun night on Thursday - my friend and I went down to Tres Culturas Spanish class and did a Spanish lesson! It was super-cool to practice my Spanish again in a class and get some more help and tuition. I was able to understand pretty much everything that was going on and also knew some extra bits which was cool. We talked about lots of things in our area like public services (police, townhall, swimming pool, library etc. etc.) which was handy.

I'm really looking forward to getting into even more Spanish when I get to Mexico. I was thinking of doing this class for the last five weeks up to Christmas, but I have realised that things are just a little too busy and I already have things booked up on Thursday nights. Anyway, it was exciting to get back into learning Spanish and I came away very pumped up to speak and learn more.

Vamos!

Sharing the vision

Over the next couple of months I am seeking to share some of the vision and passion God has put in my heart to share his love and message with Mexican young people. I will be organising to speak at some churches, events and small groups.



On Sunday 28 October at 5pm I will be sharing at the Missionary Advisory Council missions event. This will be held at Eastleigh Gospel Chapel.




I would love to connect with you on the night if you are able to make it.

This is great!

For those of you who are interested in learning a bit of Spanish, a friend sent me a link to the Mariachi Wiggles!!! Enjoy!! Es bonito y muy divertido!

Bad blogger

Ok, so I've been a bad blogger and not updated this blog for a little while. I'm putting up a couple of posts in a row now to get back on top of things. I'll try and update a little more regularly as the time is fast approaching that I'll be heading off to Mexico.

It's starting to really hit home that my planned departure is less than five months away! I've got so much to do! But at the same time, I'm trying really hard to spend time out and enjoy life - particularly enjoying the company of my friends and taking time to do the important things like watching sunsets, hanging with the family, drinking coffee with friends and going out to the country (with the Wild Brumbies... see to the right).

I've been really challenged lately about God's kingdom - the central message of Jesus. I've been challenged about how it looks when God is in charge of everything and also what it looks like when you come to Christ, becoming part of God's kingdom and aligning yourself to a new way of life. I actually preached at my home church, Balwyn, just over a week ago about the kingdom of God. It challenged me to continue to study, to grapple and to challenge how I understand God as he reveals Himself in his word - the Bible. God is a loving king, a king who is above everything and is mighty and powerful, yet humbled himself to come to earth in Jesus and offer us relationship, forgiveness, freedom and connection with the king.

Wow!

Accepted!

On 25 September I received my formal acceptance letter from International Teams to serve God in Queretaro, Mexico for two years.

I'm very excited to finally have this confirmed. I have felt God's encouragement to keep moving forward and depending on Him.

I'm still working full-time (until Christmas) but I'm moving into an important time in my preparation where I need to form my partnership team. I believe that God has this under control and he will touch people's hearts to pray, encourage and give financially. I'm feeling quite comfortable that God will provide all my needs, but I am struggling to make the time to do the organisation and preparation required to get out there and catch up with people and churches.

If you're a praying person, I would love it if you would pray that God would help me to balance and prioritise over the next few weeks to get these things organised.

Brooke Fraser

Tonight I had the privilege of seeing Brooke Fraser in concert. I went to the Atheneum Theatre in Melbourne with some friends and had a fantastic night. It was really refreshing to see an artist who is very real and candid on stage!

Brooke sings an amazing song called Albertine which she wrote after spending time in Rwanda. I find this song really moving as it tells the story of a person she met in Rwanda and how this has changed her.

Now that I have seen, I am responsible, faith without deeds is dead...

This song always brings me back to the compassionate and loving heart of Jesus - the one who loves me and calls me to love others...without limit...

Oh...and I want to marry Brooke Fraser. Brooke, if you read this... call me!

Encouraging and challenging words

I am taking on a bit of a challenge to read through the bible in roughly a year (I say roughly because I'm using an online reading plan which means that when I'm away from internet connectivity, I have to go back to my offline copy of the Bible... i.e. the book version hehe).

Anyway, I was reading through 1 Corinthians 4 this morning and was both encouraged and challenged by these words:
Verse 20 - For the Kingdom of God is not just fancy talk; it is living by God's power.

These words challenged me... do I talk lots about the Kingdom of God, about Jesus, about the Bible, whilst failing to live day-by-day by God's power? Sometimes the answer is yes. It's much easier to have lots of fancy talk, but to really rest in Christ and live by God's power is more challenging. It involves letting go of myself and my own desires and choosing to let God take the drivers seat. I think that when we are following Jesus, we constantly need to remember this - to daily let go of our own desires and live by God's power.

I was also reminded of the verse in James where it says "Do not merely listen to the word [of God], and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."

Thankfully God is full of grace and promises to give us his Spirit to help us. So if you catch me speaking lots of fancy talk and not living by God's power... tell me to be quiet and take a minute to seek God to get things back in balance ;-)

Continuing the journey

Last week I had an exciting week completing the Partnership Development workshop out at Wycliffe. I really enjoyed getting to know the others on the workshop and had a real sense of God confirming to me that He is going before me on the journey.

I'm back at work now, but excited about the journey ahead.

There's more to come, watch this space...

MILL's done!

Hi all,

Thanks so much for your prayers and interest in my journey. God continues to be faithful and loving even when life gets hectic and full on - how great is our God! I was encouraged last week to get a note from one of the team members in Queretaro saying that they were looking forward to March next year when I would be in Mexico - wow!

I've just completed the eight day Maximum Impact Language Learning course out at Equip Training in Kangaroo Ground. This course provided some great tools and techniques to assist with language learning as well as being good fun. I had a great time during the course catching up with other International Teams missionaries and meeting a stack of great people going out to other places around the world. I had fun talking Spanish with one of the course leaders and sharing some stories of the funny language faux pais (spelling?) I had made whilst in Mexico last year. It was particularly cool to share and pray for one another on the final day of the course.

I also had Friday off work (following the course) and went snowboarding at Mount Buller with some friends. It was great to get away and have a day of "real" leave as I've been using all my holidays to attend training courses lately!

I'm back at work on Monday to face the intensity and busyness of corporate life again so I would appreciate your prayers for strength and focus particularly over the next week. The next step in my preparation is to attend the Partnership Development workshop from July 9 - 13, again at Kangaroo Ground.

I'd love you to pray specifically for:

• My transition back into work in the coming week
• Continued focus on God and the journey ahead in the midst of work pressures
• The Shift missions event on July 22 that I'm responsible for organising - that things would come together for this
• Me to be consistently shining a light in my workplace, particularly over the next six months as people see me prepare to serve God overseas

Thanks again for journeying with me. I do find it really encouraging to have people interested and praying for me - it really excites me when I'm asked how things are going or to get an email letting me know some news about your journey wherever that may be.

God bless,
Phil

The next step - MILL

Ok, so what's MILL - it stands for Maximum Impact Language Learning. For me, this is the next step on my journey as I work towards serving in Mexico. On Tuesday I'll commence the MILL course run by Equip Training (Wycliffe) for two weeks. This course will equip me with tools and techniques to learn language effectively.

Since I last blogged, life has been pretty hectic with LOTS on at work that has been keeping me very busy. I've been travelling up to Sydney a fair bit which has been interesting but also kept me fairly tired.

I look forward to taking a couple of weeks to really focus on learning and preparation for my time of mission service and I'm praying that God will really challenge, stretch and equip me over the next couple of weeks.

It's been exciting to hear stories from another International Teams intern from Australia who just returned from spending three months in Queretaro. She absolutely loved Mexico and God used her to be a blessing over there.

Please continue to pray for my journey and I look forward to catching up with you over the coming weeks and months.

Telling work about my plans

Thanks so much for your prayers. I had the opportunity to share my plans with my boss at work today and he was really supportive and receptive to what I was planning to do.

Work has agreed to give me the leave in June/July and to organise a career break for the two years. He also said that they would like to keep people connected with me whilst I'm away and find some way to publicise updates to the group.

Thanks God for work being so good to me!

Walking with God

I was able to walk through Melbourne city tonight on my way to Perspectives and just dialogue with God in wonder and amazement at the diversity and life I saw around me.

I asked God to show me what he wanted me to see. I asked and pictured what Jesus would be doing as he walked down Swanston St at 6:10pm on a Monday night. What would he be saying to his friends, his disciples as he walked? What would he be pointing out? Where would he stop and talk? or touch? Would he stop to have coffee? Would it be the amazing saxophone player sharing soulful melodies in the city square? Or the guy drawing on the pavement with a crowd gathered around? Or the busy people rushing past?

Would he, like me, stop at the Lounge for the $10 express meal and drink and read, exchanging glances with those outside the window?

As I continue on my stroll with God through the city, I walk past two homeless guys sitting on the footpath. One is writing on the ground with chalk. It says "please feel free to read this"... and is surrounded with lots of chalk writing. I walk on past, feeling the coins in my pocked, asking God if I should go back and give the coins to the men.

As I walk up to the street corner, God answers my prayer quite differently to how I expected. Another homeless guy walks up to me! He asks if I can spare any change as he hasn't eaten in two days. To his surprise, I reply with and enthusiastic "Sure!". I reach into my pocket and grab at the coins in there and place a simple dollar in his hand. I ask his name, "Craig". "I'm Phil" I reply and we shake hands. He says "I hope one day I can repay you." I say
"Don't worry about it." The lights are green and I cross...

I can't help smile and laugh at the joy which fills me as I walk through the city with my Lord Jesus. Earlier I had prayed "Jesus, come and fill this city, be a part of what's going on here, come and do something..."

But in that moment I realised that he was already well and truly here and had been working long before I ever joined him on a walk down Swanston St.

Blessed by training

Hi all. I'm currently sitting on the verandah of the International Teams office watching the rain fall over Sydney. It's good to see the rain wet the ground! I am in my second week of iTeams Access training that is designed to prepare you for missions with International Teams. I have been so blessed to be here!

God is growing me, challenging me, exciting me and strengthening my vision for what he has in store for me. It's been really fun getting to know the others doing the training as we have lived in community over the past week. We are now staying in different locations around Sydney, but come together during the day at the iTeams training centre as a little tribe.

Today we have been learning about the local church and missions, which for me has been a good refresher of the concepts I have learned doing the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course.
Some of the most beneficial aspects of the last week have been putting together my personal philosophy of ministry - my own document of my core values, gifts, passions and ministry experience. This has been powerful in showing me the way God has worked in my life to shape me, growing me into the guy I am today and preparing me for the good works he has prepared for me to do (Ephesians 2:10). I also know that God definitely isn't finished with me and has lots of ways in which he still wants to grow me and change me which is exciting!

Here is a pic of the Access tribe up in the Blue Mountains!

Please keep praying for me throughout the training and I look forward to catching up with those of you at Balwyn Gospel Chapel on Sunday when I return!

Phil

Conversations organised by God

Hi all,

I've just returned from a great Easter weekend away at Belgrave Heights Convention where I was serving on the youth team with the OAC Ministries (www.oac.org.au). We had a great time sharing with the teenagers around the theme of "A better place" - looking forward to heaven and thinking about the kingdom of God now.

Anyway, after one of the evening sessions I was catching up with a couple of friends and waiting to speak to a missionary from Interserve when I was introduced to a guy called Flinder who is involved with Christian Union at Deakin. We were chatting, talking about the things we were involved in and he was telling me about his interest in teaching in the Catholic school system. When he heard that I was looking towards going to Mexico next year he asked me how much I knew about the Catholic Church. I said that I knew a few basic things about the Catholic church but hadn't got into it in a lot of depth. So we sat down and he shared with me a whole stack of really cool background and information about the Catholic church, where it's been, where it's at and how we can relate to people involved with the Catholic church. After chatting for ages, we prayed together and went on our way.

I was really encouraged by Flinder and his openness to have a great chat and share some of the things he is really passionate about. I was really excited that God gave me the opportunity to learn a bit more about the environment in which I'll be serving (Mexico is 89% nominally Roman Catholic - CIA World Factbook). I would really like to learn more about the Catholic church and get a really good grip on its background.

Back to work tomorrow, so better go!

PJ

I've sent my application!!

Wow - God has been continuing to take me on an exciting journey as I have been seeking his will for my life. He has been guiding me specifically around missions over the next couple of years. Thanks for praying for me over the past couple of months as I have been seeking God for direction. I feel that God is leading me to go to Mexico with International Teams to do a two-year mission placement. I have really valued those who have given me encouraging words on my journey and have listened and prayed with me. It's really good to have others who can encourage me when things are confusing and tough decisions have to be made.

So, what's been happening? I'm almost half-way through doing Advanced Perspectives and I'm continuing to learn lots and be challenged about communicating the gospel cross-culturally. I have been learning some great principals and tools about understanding culture, understanding God's word and contextualising the message for effective communication. I've also been having some great conversations with people about where I'm at and my ideas and plans about going back to Mexico and through these things doors are opening for me to return there. I sent off my application to International Teams last week to be accepted as a first-term, 2 year team missionary. That was a big step in my journey and I heard from Janice at IT that they were really excited to get my application!

In a couple of weeks, I'm heading off to Sydney for my first training module with International Teams from 15-28 April. This course introduces International Teams in a bit more depth, talks about aspects of serving as a missionary and equips me for the next step of going longer-term. I'm excited to join with other people who will be going out with IT to serve also - it's going to be great! There are three more training modules that I am required to complete before I leave for the field:

• Maximum Impact Language Learning (June);
• Partnership Development (July); and
  
• Transition Training for living and working in another culture (January 08).

In terms of timeframes, I am currently looking at completing these training courses this year whilst continuing to work at KPMG until close to the end of the year, then completing my final training and heading out around February or March next year as God enables and provides. I'm open to God's leading and guiding on this, but that's what currently seems best. A particular challenge in the short-term will be getting the time off work in June and July (13 working days) for training as I won't have enough annual leave left after taking 2 weeks off for the first training module. This will mean that I have to request unpaid leave from work. I am really praying about this process because I want to make my transition from KPMG work to mission work a really effective witness to those in my workplace.

Specific prayer points:

• Discipleship and growth - I want to be close to God, growing and walking in His way
• Finalising the International Teams application process - I've got to do a couple of other things and tests to complete my application process
• Logistics and training - that God would open doors for me to complete the required training and that this training would really prepare me in the ways God wants for me. Also for getting the time off that I need to do the training
  
• Time management - I'm a really busy person and need to take the time to prepare, communicate with IT and missionaries on the field, prepare things and balance work and life etc.
• Continued peace and guidance - Just to be really listening to God and obediently following

Thanks for taking the time to catch up on where I'm at with my journey of stepping out where I believe God is leading me. I'd love to catch up with you and chat further as there's lots more detail than I can put into an email. I have made a blog to capture some of these things and I hope to try and update it from time to time so if you're interested, check out http://philonajourney.blogspot.com.

Finally, I was just reading from 1 John chapter 4 in my bible tonight and wanted to encourage you with these words (I've put in The Message version):

(verses 7-10) My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.

Que Dios te bendiga!

Phil

A year on from Mexico...

It's now almost a year since I left to spend six weeks in Mexico on a short-term mission trip. The cool thing is that my trip didn't end when I got home - God has been working in my life long before this trip and he continues to work in my life and impact me.

Going to Mexico changed my life. I discovered so much more of God's heart for reaching the people of the world with the good news of Jesus Christ. I was humbled to see God use me to bring people just a little bit closer to knowing him in whatever way that I could. I continue to be humbled as I see God work and remember that God changes peoples lives and we just have the privilege of doing our part in loving, sharing and living out our faith as part of that process.

Since I have returned, I have done a course called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (www.perspectives.org.au). I plan on continuing to do the Advanced Perspectives course this year. I have had the opportunity to share about my time in Mexico with a number of churches and gatherings of young people (and also with anyone that would listen!!). Every time I start to talk about life in Queretaro and my time in Mexico, my passion is renewed and I get super-excited! Just last week I was able to go up to Sydney and assist with the International Teams Summer Teams Training where we equipped three teams of young people to head overseas to Uganda, Greece and Thailand for 3 weeks of mission experience.

I feel God is challenging me to take the next step and to seriously consider stepping out into full-time cross-cultural mission for him. I would invite you as friends and those who have been with me on the journey so far to pray with me for God's guidance as I consider how and where I best serve God.

I do feel that God may be pointing me back to Mexico as I have a strong passion for Mexico and integrated into the culture well during my time there. I also have continued speaking and writing Spanish since I have returned and I am looking at continuing study in Spanish. I am considering the potential of doing a two-year term in Queretaro with International Teams, but I'm open to God's leading for where, when and who he would have me go with.

There are a few specific areas that I would value your prayers for:

• First and foremost that I draw even closer to God and that I have a strong and consistent relationship with Him;
• For guidance and confirmation as to whether Mexico is where God would have me return to;
• For guidance around the training and equipping I should complete before heading out and that training and equipping that I may be able to do on the field; and
• For guidance around timeframes and how that interacts with my current job.

I thank you for your friendship, prayers and support as I continue on my journey. I would value your input into my journey as you pray, so if you have any encouragement, please feel free to share.

I'm excited about God's plan for young people and have been inspired to see friends and aquaintences stepping out to engage in short and long term mission work. I'm excited that God has a plan for each of you and that we are all on a journey, so I'd like to challenge you also - what's your next step in your journey with God?

With God's richest blessing,

Phil

The Journey

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - Confucius

Here is a blog of my journey through life, my travels, my thoughts and cool stuff that God is doing in my life.

Keep in touch, stay a while... I'd love to share the journey with you...