Romi's Christmas Party

I'm back to the blog!

Just before Christmas, we had the opportunity to host the Christmas party for Romina's class at school. Sandy had been working closely with Claudia, another mum from school, to organise the Christmas party. With lots of back and forth looking for venues, we invited the families from Romi's class to our house for the party. It worked out well since we are still lacking furniture, there's lots of space!!!
(I have moved into the house that we will be living in once we are married, Sandy is just visiting with the rest of the party)

Socialising

Romi and her friends playing on the roundabout

TACOS!!!

MORE TACOS!!!

It was a great opportunity to open our house and share with a bunch of families that don't yet have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Both Sandy and I were very excited that we could build relationships with other families and use the house we have rented to be a blessing to others. We have formed a good relationship with the other parents that helped to organise the party and we are praying for opportunites to share the good news of Jesus with them as build relationships and live a transformed life in Jesus.

Tacos with friends

Sarah is a good friend of ours who comes from the US. Sandy often goes out for coffee with Sarah to catch up and share times of encouragement together. Recently, Sarah's parents came to visit, so in our true Mexican style, we took them out for tacos!

The tacos were a BIG hit! Glad you enjoyed it guys!

The Wedding in Caanan

Jewish wedding music... check. Pottery cups... check. Grape juice... check. Bible... check. Ready!
Last week in our young adults group, we studied and experienced the wedding at Caanan. We are studying the life of Jesus and in this event, we saw the humanity and the divinity of Jesus.


As we sat around the table, we chatted about how Jesus went to the wedding with his mother and his disciples. Jesus was a part of a family, he had brother and sisters (Mark 6:3) and was an active member of the Jewish society.

Jesus was and is the Son of God and at the wedding, he revealed his glory and his discipled believed in Him (John 2:11). Jesus did the miraculous and showed His power in the middle of the ins and outs of ordinary life.

May you today, get to know Jesus more and more, and believe in Him and learn to trust Him in every situation.

Cathy and David in Mexico

My sister Cathy and her husband David came to visit Mexico and see what all the fuss is about. We had a FANTASTIC time catching up and for them to get to know Sandy and Romi. Check out their blog for all the news http://home42.blogspot.com/

They are actually very good at updating their blog, so you might need to scroll down a bit to find the Mexico bits and pieces. Have fun!

The Proposal

The time had come and all was ready. I had prayed about it, thought about it, had the ring and I was ready! My sister and her husband were with us and very excited about what was about to happen…

I took Sandy out for a romantic dinner that I had organised for the two of us. Sandy thought we were going to the restaurant, but we took a shortcut which took us to a lookout with a waiter, table and red roses waiting. We sat down to a lovely dinner and enjoyed chatting about how God had brought us together, some funny and candid moments we have shared and our dreams for the future. Sandy was enjoying herself, but had no idea what was to come…

After we had enjoyed main course, we stood up to enjoy the view. The background music playing was by Luis Miguel and Sandy started singing the first song and proceeded to tell me it was a song dedicated to a woman that he was no longer with, hmmm, I let that song pass by. The next song started and Sandy said “This song is beautiful!” so I thought, “This is the moment!”
I felt the ring in my pocket and started to pull it out as I got down on bended knee. The breath escaped from Sandy’s lungs as she gasped with surprise. “Sandra García Estrada, ¿te casarías conmigo?” (“Sandra Garcia Estrada, will you marry me?”)

“¡¡¡SI!!!” (“YES!!!!!”)

I put the ring on her finger and I couldn’t wipe the smile off her face as I gave her a big hug! We enjoyed dessert and tea and coffee as a newly engaged couple. We asked our waiter to take some photos for us to capture the moment (sorry, the proposal photos are a re-enactment, that’s why I have a goofy smile and I’m looking at the camera whilst I put the ring on her finger.) It was an amazingly special time and a celebration shared with my sister and her husband visiting from Australia.

Wahooo!!! We’re engaged!!! That’s Lord for your love, grace and faithfulness!!!

Thanks all for your support, congratulations and prayers. We still don’t have all the details for the wedding as we are praying for God’s timing and direction. We would value your prayers as we take this important step of faith and as we seek to glorify God in our decisions and our future together.

Reaching out to uni students

Hey all,

Today I will be starting a bible study group for uni students with one of the guys I am discipling. We have the opportunity to meet with a group of students, both Christians and seekers, at the main university here, the UAQ. A couple of other missionaries had started the group at the end of the last semester, but they have moved to their permanent ministry location and the group was left without leadership.

We are really excited about the potential to share clearly the message of Jesus, form true disciples of Jesus and invest in future leaders. I am also encouraged to be able to invest in the life of my friend and disciple, Carlos M.

Please pray for the group as we start things up today, build relationships and seek to reflect Jesus in our actions and words. Please pray for young people that don't know Jesus to enter into a life-changing relationship with the Saviour of the world. Please also pray that we would be able to impact lives as we seek to make disciples.

Living for the glory of Jesus,
Phil

Finishing well in Costa Rica

I have had an incredible time in Costa Rica learning, growing and serving alongside an excellent team of people who love and follow Jesus Christ. I have been challenged and transformed by studying the life of Jesus chronologically and learning from the Master to be a disciple-maker and leader who serves.
I have made deep and lasting friendships here and I will miss sharing with those whom I have become so close with here. Here is a photo of the guys with whom I have shared my life and times of discipleship - being and making disciples of Jesus together.

Top row - Phil, Diego and Mark, Bottom row - Norman, Jorge and Checho.

I have been thinking about the words of Jesus' prayer in John 17 and I have been challenged by these words:

John 17:18 "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." (Jesus here is praying to his Father)

Jesus has given us as his disciples a sending into the world, to make disciples and to reflect Jesus to those around. As I have spent this time in Costa Rica, I have drawn closer to Jesus and I feel more than ever this call to go into the world (for me right now this is Queretaro, Mexico) and to make disciples. I know that this will mean suffering, difficulty, persecution, hard times and the need for lots of patience. But I also know that there is joy in serving God, blessing in obedience and the amazing privilege of serving the living God and being an ambassador for Christ.

Please pray for me in the coming days as I return to Mexico to continue being a disciple and making disciples of Jesus!!!

20 June Video update from Costa Rica

I hope you enjoy this video update!

Finishing up at Spanish school

"Espero que haya mejorado mi español"

I finished up at Spanish school on Friday the 5th of June and have said farewell for now to my Costa Rican familiy in San Francisco (San Francisco of the Costa Rican variety). I spent four weeks doing an intensive course of advanced Spanish. I feel like this has really helped me understand better why I speak like I speak and will give me a stronger base to continue perfecting my Spanish. Here is a photo of the graduating students and teachers from my intensive course. ¡Que chiva!

Jars of clay

2 Corinthians 4:5-7
⁵For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. ⁶For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. ⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

On the 28th and 29th of May, I attended and was involved in the Sonlife seminar - Jars of Clay (Vaso de barro). I both served at the seminar helping to set-up and playing drums for the alabanza and took the "Come and See" course which covers the first 29 years of Jesus' life.This was an awesome time of seeing God bring together a group of about 60-70 young leaders to worship Him, learn more about Jesus and be equipped to be and make disciples. I praise God for what He is doing here in Latin America to equip a new generation to be disciple-makers and live out what it means to be a follower of Jesus in today's world.

Some of the most impacting things for me were seeing the deep obedience to God of Mary and Joseph as parents of Jesus and the full implications of the way Jesus entered the world in the society both cultural and religious of that day. Also it has been impacting me in my study of the life of Jesus in God's word, the amazing mystery of the complete humanity and complete divinity of Jesus Christ.

I pray that you too will be challenged to take a fresh look at the Jesus of the Bible, God's Son who humbled himself and became a human being to save us from our sin, show us what God is like and reconcile us to a restored relationship with God.

Serving at Principe de Paz

Since I arrived in Costa Rica, I have been attending church at Principe de Paz. Woody and Su Roland go to this church, as well as my friend David Obando whom I met at the IT conference in Ecuador.

During this time that I am taking Spanish classes, I am living quite close to the church and God has given me the opportunity to serve with the youth at Principe de Paz.

Each week I go along to the planning meeting with the leaders in formation and help out David (the youth pastor). On Saturday afternoons we have the youth group meeting and I have been able to help out being a part of the group, chatting with the young people and helping out with some of the activities and teaching. David has asked me to share with the youth in one of the bible teaching sessions in the next few weeks which is a real privilege. I have also been helping out with the music where I can... good times!

My heart is to see Latin American young people encounter Jesus and enter into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. I pray that in my time serving with Principe de Paz I can be a blessing and be used by God to help some young people take the next step in their journey of faith in Jesus.

Here are some photos of the crew taken last Saturday night...

Phil and Chris (a.k.a. negro... meaning black in Spanish, not insulting black people)
Da boyz
Jose Luis and Phil

Back to school

Today I had my first day of a one month intensive Spanish course here in Costa Rica. My aim is to take my now fluent Spanish to the next level. I am currently at a level where I can understand pretty much everything that people say to me, apart from technical terms or local idiosyncracies, and can be easily understood by those that hear me. I particularly want to work on my accent and correct some aspects of my grammar. Even though lots of people tell me that I speak very good Spanish for the amount of time I've been in Mexico, I still have a long way to go in terms of improving, refining, expanding my vocubulary and starting to speak more correctly and eloquently.

Today, we started with an orientation session and a written and oral exam. There are about 18 of us in the intensive course and everyone else is from the US. I'm proudly flying the flag for Australia and have had lots of questions about the good old Land Downunder.

The Spanish Language Institute is one of the largest in Latin America and caters primarily for missionaries heading out to serve in Spanish-speaking countries in the region. In our first classes today, we did some revision on past-tense verbs in grammar class and then two hours of conversation. I am struggling to get my brain back into gear to learn grammar in classroom-style repetition but I think it will be helpful. The conversation class was interesting, but I'm praying that somehow I can find the way to make it push me because I'm used to conversation all-day, every day in Spanish on a variety of subjects.

Please continue to pray for my time here in Costa Rica, I'm enjoying it and wanting to make the most of every opportunity that God gives me to learn, grow and serve Him. Please also pray for the Costa Rican family that I am staying with for this month that I reflect Jesus and point them towards His saving grace.

Over and out... Phil

Getting to know Jesus better

A big part of the ministry here in Costa Rica is Sonlife – discipleship in the life of Jesus. I am spending as much time as I can learning about the life of Jesus with the Sonlife team and learning about leadership Jesus-style. There is so much richness in the Bible, the word of God, when we read it, study it and interact with it at a deeper level of understanding. A lot of the time we think about Jesus as God and don't think about Jesus as being fully human, a man, as well. Others go the other way and focus so much on the humanity of Jesus that they lose the truth that he is also fully God. It's a profound mystery and an amazing truth. As I get to know Jesus better (know Him, not just know about Him), my life is transformed and I am called into a deeper level of trust, amazement and obedience to God. My desire is to be more and more like Jesus in my character, in my habits, in my leadership and in my relationships with others.

What is discipleship all about?

Firstly, discipleship is about BEING a true disciple of Jesus Christ – seeking to develop the character of Christ. As disciples of Jesus, we are committed to be true disciples of Christ, actively seeking an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father, and letting Him transform our lives to reflect Jesus Christ. We aim to live a style of life that shows that Jesus lives in us and works through us.

"…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me." – Galatians 2:20

Secondly, discipleship is about MAKING disciples – Jesus' priority. As disciples of Jesus, we are committed to make disciples, intentionally investing in the lives of others. We don't just want to share the good news of the gospel, we want to share our lives with others.

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." – Matthew 28:19-20

On Saturday I went to a Sonlife seminar about Forming Leaders – Developing a Movement of Discipleship. In this seminar, we looked at how Jesus formed leaders for his movement of making disciples and announcing the Kingdom of God. Jesus had been calling followers, preaching to the masses and training disciples for 18 months to two years before he chose those who would be leaders. Jesus didn't stop working in the lives of the other disciples and followers, preaching the good news and investing in others, however, he did invest specific time and training in those who would be leaders. With his chosen leaders, Jesus first worked on their character, their very being, then he worked on the doing, how they were going to lead a multiplying movement of disciples. We looked at some specific events in the chronological life of Jesus immediately after Jesus chose and established the 12 apostles who would be closest to him.

Jesus chose leaders to be formed in his image for two reasons – to be with him and to send them out to preach and share (Mark 3:13-19). Jesus worked on forming four specific areas of his leaders – prayer, love, authority and obedience. He taught them to have a new understanding of these concepts that reflected Jesus' way and was very different to the world's view of these things.

As I follow Jesus, I am called into a new depth of prayer, intimate communication with God and listening to His voice; loving in the way that God loves, forgiving others even when they hurt me; having a new concept of obedience to God, doing His will always and obeying immediately, completely and joyfully; understanding authority from God's perspective, that I am under God's authority and He has given me all authority to serve, love and wash others' feet in humility, and to make disciples in Jesus' name.

Being a disciple of Jesus is a big call and it is only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit whom God has placed in me and by dying to myself and letting Christ live in me.

Contracorriente... youth in Belen, Costa Rica

On Saturday afternoon I went with Diego and Wendolin to their youth group at Belen. On the way there we met up on the bus with three of the leaders being trained and discipled by Diego and Wendolin. Jonathon was giving out tshirts to the others and then he pulled out his first brown prototype which he gave to me! I said a big thanks and now felt part of the group!


On Saturday we went across to San Rafael and joined with their youth group to talk about discipleship. We had a good time of worship, getting to know each other and a challenging talk from Diego about discipleship.

In the gospel of John, Jesus says that he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. When we talk about Jesus as being the way, we can easily accept that... yeah, Jesus is the way, I'll cruise that way. But when we start to think of Jesus as the truth, he challenges us into deeper commitment and obedience. Finally, when we start to see Jesus as the life, it changes everything. Jesus calls us to give up everything, deny ourselves and follow Him. When we accept Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life, we start on a journey of being a disciple (learner) of Jesus. To be a disciple of Jesus is to live like Jesus did, live out the stuff that the Bible teaches, and to share Jesus, calling others to the same radical obedience to Jesus and sharing the journey with them.

Jesus has changed my life, is changing my life and will continue to change my life... where are you at with Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life? He continued to say that no-one comes to the Father (God) except through Him. Jesus is the only way and he's the BEST way because he meets you where you're at with grace, forgiveness and love and will take you on a journey of transformation that is beyond your wildest dreams.

Growth, Equipping and Service in Costa Rica

Hey all, I'm going to take the time over the next few days to get up to date with some blogging and communications. I'm currently staying with Woody and Su Roland (International Teams Regional Directors) in Costa Rica! Why, you say?

I'm here in Costa Rica for a period of around three months to spend some time serving the regional team here in terms of crisis and security plans (which was my job for 5-6 years prior to joining International Teams), spending some time taking my Spanish to the next level and also getting trained and equipped with the SonLife team with a focus on being and making disciples of Jesus Christ.

I am particularly excited about the opportunity to grow in my personal relationship with Jesus as I study the life of Jesus as a basis for making disciples. We have a massive need for deep, intense, biblical discipleship amongst young people in the ministry in Queretaro, so I'm very privileged to have the opportunity to be here for this time of training so that I can put it into practice in Mexico.

Here is a quick video about the SonLife ministry here in Costa Rica...



I have a growing album of photos of my experience here in Costa Rica. Click here to see them!

Regent College

I am currently here at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. It has been a great day experiencing a little of life here on campus and learning. I caught up with the President and have visited a couple of classes. It would be excellent to study here at some time in the future!

More updates to come...

Geolocate this post.

Posted with LifeCast

Arrived in Canada

Hey all,

Just a quick one to say that I'm having an amazing time with my parents. It's been refreshing to spent time catching up, sharing Mexican life and culture and just seeing them again!

We've just arrived for a week in Canada where we will be catching up with some friends and seeing Regent Bible College.

Photos to come...

International Teams Latin America Conference

Wow! It was great to travel again and see new sights, meet new people and be refreshed in the word of God and in community. Last week I had the privilege of going to Quito, Ecuador to participate in the International Teams Latin America Conference. It was a huge encouragement to see what God is doing around the world through teams and individuals committed to sharing the love of Jesus in innovative and transforming ways.

We had some great bible studies shared with us by Mark that were both challenging and encouraging. I personally had a real time of growth in my relationship with God as I was in a different context for a week and had time to reflect and catch up.

The location was excellent, both getting to know the city of Quito and the Youth World ministries there, and the San Luis Hosteria where we stayed.

Here are some photos of the experience.

Can't wait for my parents to get here, they arrive next Monday!

Goodbye 2008

What a huge year! 2008 was a year of immense change and growth for me. I moved to Mexico, started in mission service, made new friends, moved house in Mexico and so much more. Here are some of the scenes and moments from the year that was...

A forced vacation...

Last Wednesday night I started to feel sick. Well, not super sick, but I didn’t sleep well and had a temperature. With a true blue Aussie, she’ll be right, I decided to rest on Thursday but not take any action. I went to eat with some friends in the afternoon but totally didn’t feel myself. When I got home, I planned to go and rest in my room, but I thought – hey, maybe I’ll go to the doctor on the corner, it’s only 20 pesos and get checked out. The doctor examined me and took my temperature… 39.5 degrees! She was surprised that I wasn’t convulsing. Anyway, she injected me with medicine to lower my temperature and sent me for some tests.

I went home and had a shower and followed the doctor’s orders to keep my temperature down. By this time I was feeling very uncomfortable. In the morning, I went to get the blood tests done and I was shivering with fever. I went to a friend’s house and their family looked after me for the day until we could go for the test results and back to the doctor. The doctor saw the results and was worried about my platelets being surprisingly low so sent me to the hospital for more tests and observation.

Wow – my first Mexican hospital visit… as the patient! I got to go to urgencies and got a rude doctor to start with, they took more blood and then left us there for about 3 hours with my temperature and very little attention. Eventually my friend went to ask what was going on and they said that they were waiting for the doctor to come and take my case seriously. We weren’t very pleased with that! Anyway, they moved me up to a hospital room to wait for the doctor. We waited. And waited. At about midnight we called the nurses and they said the doctor had been around the floor and had left for an emergency. About 1:30am, finally the doctor arrived. Funnily enough, the only food we could find (we hadn’t eaten) was biscuits and coffee from a machine. I drank the coffee and finally my temperature went down! Dr. Phil now prescribes coffee for fever.

Anyway, I had another two days of solid fever in the hospital before on Monday morning finally it went down and got under control. They did a stack of different tests, poked and prodded and still don’t know what was wrong with me! I had a throat infection, but they thought that there must be something more going on, but haven’t found it! Overall, I’m feeling better, still a bit tired from being in the hospital and having a fever, but much, much better.

Maybe it was God saying – Phil, take a real break!