A Week of Bible Clubs

The Lord allowed us to be a part of two Bible Clubs this past week. During the week we were in a neighbor village about five minutes away, and then on Saturday we had hosted a Club here at our house.

It was a long week for us, but we were so blessed by all the children and their hunger for the word. We started on Monday, and had about 40 kids show up. The weather was a little chilly so we were inside the village's community building. Jeff and I were in charge of coming up with games that the kids could play. We played Hot Potato and Simon says. A group of young people from our church and another sister church had prepared the lessons and songs. Tuesday came and we were able to have the Bible Club outside. The Lord blessed us with good weather the rest of the week. Some other games we played outside were Tug-of-war (the kids loved that game), Red light, Green Light (another favorite), Red Rover, and Balloon Stomp. Jeff and I were able to put together gift bags to give out each day. One bag for a girl and one for a boy. This one boy and girl were the best listeners and were most active in the lessons for that day. We put in the bags soap, toothpaste, shampoo, tooth brush, a toy, puzzle, and activity book. This would not have been possible if people had not given to the ministry. So, a BIG thank you from us and the children that we were able to bless.
In this neighboring village, the only religious influence is the Orthodox Church. On Thursday we found out that a few kids that came to the club on Monday had been grounded by their parents. They were unable to come back to our club, nor could they do anything else for a few days. These children's parents are strong orthodox believers and did not like their children coming to our Club. Our church had a special prayer for the children, and asked that the Lord protect them and the He continue to give them a desire to know the true gospel of Jesus Christ. On Friday, we found out that the Orthodox Priest had called the police on us, and was wanting them to stop us from having the Bible Club. The Police came, but only stayed about five minutes, and said they had better things to do. You know that the Lord is at work when they call the police on you!! The Lord has big plans for this village, and the devil is trying his hardest to prevent the truth from being heard. On Friday, we had at least 50 kids, maybe more, and 30 to 40 adults that heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Adults got Bibles and reading material, the kids got a Chocolate Bunny and a track!!

Saturday was a good day here at our house for the Bible Club in our village. We had 34 kids show despite the rain and cold. Again it was tough to play games inside with that number of kids, but we had a cake walk with cookies to give away, and had the witnessing bracelets to give out.

First Day of Bible Club in neighbor village

Last Day of Bible Club!! God is Great!!

It was a blessed week!! Please be in prayer for our neighbor village. Please pray that we will have another opportunity to go have a Bible Club there again soon.

Pictures from the Week

Romanian Springtime

The trees are starting to bloom, and the sun has been shining all week!! School is out for Easter Holiday and everyone seems to be a little happier. I feel that Winter is gone for now, and Spring has arrived!!

We have completed our first full week of Language school. Yesterday we had a conversation with one of our local neighbors and actually understood about half of what she was saying!! Success!! It was an encouragement for us to know that one day we will be able to speak Romanian!! Our son has done well in his Pre-K class, and seems to enjoy it. Thanks to all for there prayers!

In these weeks around Easter, the children are out on Holiday (Vacation) from school. During this time our local church is organizing a week long Bible Club in a village just up the road from  here. They have asked us to provide some outdoor games and activities for the kids. We are very happy to help with this, because in this village there is no Baptist Christian influence. This is a blessed opportunity to be a light for these children and tell them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have also been asked by another local Pastor to help him start some kind of Children's Ministry in his church. We are so excited about all the things that the Lord has planned for us during the month of April.

Around this time of year, during the Easter Celebration. We have seen that Romanians mix together a Lime solution, which is white, and they paint the bottom of all the trees. Now we understand that the Lime helps prevent bugs, mold and other things from harming the trees. But guess what else they paint with this Lime Solution? The light poles, culverts in the ditches, just about anything that lines the side of the road. We don't think the light poles would benefit from the Lime solution, but maybe since they paint the trees they paint the poles so they all look alike.
Just one of the things that makes us smile about the culture we are now living in. :)  

Praises:

• For a great first week at school for all of us.
• The ability to be able to help with the children.
• For our Lord and Savior who did not stay in grave, but is alive and lives in us!!! 
Prayer Request:
• Continue to pray for our visa application.
• For our Language learning to go smoothly
• For the Lord to lead us to people that he wishes us to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with.

*Slide show of the two Bible Clubs we did in March

An Adventure on Sunday Evening

We had an interesting evening this past Sunday! We went to a village where a couple local Baptist pastors held an Evanglism Service. The village was in a little cluster of rolling hills, and the church was up a small walkway from where we parked. It rained in the afternoon that day, so everything was nice a muddy. The church was a one room building and had an outhouse for a restroom. The places to sit were not pews, but rather benches with a little padding. We had a good service, and everyone we met was so welcoming. Right now it is hard to understand the sermons unless we have a translator, but music is universal!! I love to sing the songs, and recognize some of tunes that we sing in the states. The people that live in the village brought some open face sandwiches and cakes, to have after the service. During this wondeful fellowship, the electricty in WHOLE village went out. We had to eat our treats by the glow of cell phone light. After we found our coats in the dark, we had to make the trip down the hill to where the van was parked. Lets just say we were all saying a few prayers, and asking the Lord to not let us fall. We all made it down safely and then drove home. It made us laugh, and very thankful for the lights when got home.

Welcome to Romania

As I write this, it is Sunday afternoon. A time of rest between church services, and a great day of reflection on all that the week has been. It has been five days since we have arrived in Romania. When we got here there was a little snow on the ground, and a lot colder than Southwest GA has ever been!

In these first few days, we have rested and recovered from the jet lag, unpacked our six suitcases, gone grocery shopping, checked out the malls, and went to church this morning.

Our son  has really been doing good, and that has been such a blessing from God. He loves the snow, and Jeff helped him make a snowman. As for Jeff and I, we are taking it one day at a time. It is so much to take in, but we are trying to have our minds like a sponge, and soak it all up.

Church today was wonderful! Everyone was so welcoming, and excited to see us. The singing was beautiful, and we even sang a verse of "Victory in Jesus"!! The Pastor spoke out of John chapter five. There was a young Romanian man that translated for us. It was a wonderful service, and I am looking foward to tonight.

Tomorrow we are going to meet government officals and send off some paperwork for our visas. Then I think that Buddy is going to let Jeff drive into town so that he can get a lay out of the city. Romanian people drive a lot like folks in Atlanta. :)

Praises:

• That the Lord is with us, no matter were we are or were go!! We had a safe trip to Romania with no major delays and all our luggage made it safely. We are over our jet lag, and are sleeping fairly well at night. Buddy and Barbara are here to help us get started and introduce us to people. We have a warm house and warm clothes!

Prayer Requests:

• Buddy and Barbara are only here for three more weeks. Pray that Jeff and I will learn all that we can from them. Prayer for us and our families that still adjusting to being apart. Prayer that our visas application process will go smoothly and quickly. We can't do any buisness without them. For us to continue to listen to the Lord and for His guidence in all our steps. 

                                                                                                                                         JAC Phillips

Our son's sonwman

The snow that piled up beside sidewalk

Our son's foot in Jeff's footprint

We Have Our Plane Tickets



It is hard to believe that in 24 days we, the Phillips Family, will be leaving for Romania. We will be staying for nine months, and will return to the States for the 2012 holiday season. This will officially be our first year in Romania!! We had a feeling that the Lord was going to move us quickly after the new year started, we just didn't realize that it was going to be this fast. It is amazing how easily we get comfortable in our time of waiting for the Lord to move, that we are so surprised when He does. I have to picture the Lord looking down and smiling at us for being so shocked that it is all coming together like He said it would.

We will be flying out on Feb. 28th. Buddy and Barbara Braswell, the missionaries that we will be leaving Romania are going to be with us for the month of March to "show us the ropes" of the ministry and administrative things. We have BIG shoes to fill, but we know that with the Lord's grace and wisdom we will continue to be a blessing to Romania and the people as Buddy and Barbara have been for 12 years.



I think he's ready to go to Romania!

We are very excited about preparing to leave, but as you can imagine, things have only begun to get crazy. Not only are we leaving on the 28th, but our son is having his 3rd birthday around that same time too!! We were so blessed when the Lord let him come into our lives. He has no doubt changed Jeff and I forever!! (In a good way) :) We are so blessed also because he is an outgoing little guy. The Lord has wonderful plans for his life, and we can't wait to watch him grow up into a man of God.

We are still speaking at a few more churches. We shared at two churches in January, and have three in this month of February. We must note that even though we are leaving for Romania, we are not 100% funded. We are currently at 77% of our $5,500 budget committed. We are still in need of supporters to push us over the top. 

Thank you all for your continued prayers. We have an amazing praise!! When we got our Dec 2011 statement from Global we were blessed by a family that gave a gift large enough to cover the cost of the van we will need to purchase when we get to Romania! Our God is faithful to take care of us!
Prayer Requests:

• Safe travels for us and the Braswells
• Smooth transition into Romania and that the process of us getting our visas will go as it should.
• For the month of March, as Jeff and I will be learning all that we can as to how to run the ministry and teams before the Braswells return to the states.
• For the time we are in Romania as we will be learning the language and will be adjusting to a different culture.
• For our families that we will be leaving. Please pray for the Lord's peace on their hearts to know that He is watching over us.

Thank you again for all who has had a part in getting us to this point. For prayers, financial and emotional support. We love you all so much! God Bless!

Great Plans for a New Year

We hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year! It was quite around our house, and had a great Jan. 1st in church! What an awsome way to start the New Year. We had a great Christmas with all our families and were so blessed by the Lord.


We sent out an E-Newsletter a few weeks ago, and I figured I better keep our blog up to date also. As I write this we are a 70% committed. We have three churches on the calendar to speak at. One this Sunday and the other two in February. We are shooting for the first week of March to be leaving for Romania. The couple that we will be with are here in the States for the holidays ,and will be going back about that time also. We want to try and leave when they do, to get over and get ready for the summer, which is when all the teams usually come.


During our time here in the states, Jeff has been learning to play the guitar. It will be wonderful to incorporate some kind of music into our ministry. We have also been blessed by a Dentist in a near by town to give us some much needed dental care before we leave overseas. We found out about this after we knew that we would not be leaving in October. We knew God had a reason for us to stay a little longer, and we feel this dental care was one of them. A BIG Thank you to Dr. Lane and Staff!!


We have a few things we ask that you pray with us about:


1. We need between 1,400 and 1,600 more committed dollars and we will be at 100%!! So, please be praying about being a part of our support family. Just 16 families giving $100 a month would put us in Romania. If you wish to support us go to www.globaloutreach.org Look for our names: Jeff and Anna Phillips, click on it and the site will lead you from there.


2. Pray for more opportunities to share with Churches and families. Whoever might be interested in our ministry we want to share with them what the Lord has called us to do. The more we share, the more our name and mission gets out for people to hear. If you wish for us to share with your church or family contact us at phillipsa@globaloutreach.org


3. Pray for our Missionary friends in Haiti and Ecuador. The family going to Ecuador got there visas the other day and will be buying plane tickets soon. The family in Haiti, are still support raising, but have been in Haiti for the month of December. As I understand, Haiti has become tough for Christian Americans, as they are being targeted for robberies and violence.
*Pray for all the Missionaries around the world!!


Thank you so much for wanting to be a part of our Romania Ministry.
God Bless you and your families in 2012!!                                      
JAC Phillips

Getting Ready for Christmas

If you don't count today there are 11 days until Christmas!! Where has 2011 gone? As a child it seemed like it always took forever for Christmas and my birthday to come around, now they both come way too fast. As I type this tonight Jeff is speaking at a Men's Fellowship in Donalsonville, and in the last two weeks we have spoken at two churches in the Dothan, Ala. area. We are very excited to see what 2012 brings as far as support and when we will be able to leave for Romania. We have on the calendar to speak at another church in Alabama and hopefully two more here at home. We are so thankful for the ways that the Lord has opened doors for us to share in lots of places. Continue to pray for us as we are still seeking committed supporters, we are at about 60-65% of our budget committed.

As for our Christmas plans, we are keeping it small and simple. We as a family are trying to instill in our son that Christmas is not about him, the gifts, or Santa. It is all about Jesus Christ and what His birth means to us as His followers.

When Jeff shares with a church he likes to read from Philippians 2:5-13. In verse 7 it states, “He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”
New American Standard Version
Charles Stanley stated it well in one of his sermons. That Jesus “existed in the form of God, came down to our human level so that there would be a way to be forever united with Him and the Father”.PRAISE GOD! That He loved us so much to send His Only Son, that through Jesus we can call Him “Abba, Father”!! If you do not know the Jesus Christ that came into this world as a humble child, was a sinless man that died on a cross for you and me . . . . then please during this time of thanksgiving and celebrating ask Him to come into your life so that you can have a relationship with Him and be called a Child of God.

We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a blessed New Year!!
In Christ's Love, The Phillips Family