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