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.