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...

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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!