5 years ago today...

It is hard to believe that it has been 5 year since I boarded my first airplane in Rochester, NY. It was early in the morning of June 2, 2005. The flights went from Rochester -->Philadelphia--->LAX-->Auckland, NZ--->Brisbane, Australia--->Port Moresby, PNG-->Madang, PNG. We arrived in Madang at dusk on June 4th (since we missed June 3rd). It is hard to believe how fast time flies.

The Last Languages on earth

A video by Wycliffe

Long overdue update for PNG Discovery blog

Greetings out there in cyberspace. It has been sometime since I have posted on here...way back in December and now it is almost March. I have been working at Davis College, my Alma Mater in Computer Services since December and now I am involved on the marketing team at the college. I have been keeping busy with this full time work. Lord willing it will help pay down my school loans so I can go on Pre-Field in a few years and get back to PNG. I have been continuing with my lessons in Philippians. This coming Sunday I hope to finish chapter 2. It has been a great study for me and for the class. Well that is just a brief snap shot of what I have been doing. God Bless.

Philippains Sunday School

I have been teaching the Adult Sunday School class once again at West Corners. I did a two week study on "When God Gets Mad: Understanding God's full character." It was good to look at what most people fail to realize about God's character; the He is a God of mercy and grace, but also a holy God that turns away from sin and punishes it. Now I have been doing the Book of Philippians. I have been doing it for several weeks now. We did Philippians 2.1-2 today. We only had 45 minutes for Sunday School as many people couldn't make it to church with all the snow on the ground. About 4 inches fell in the early morning of Sunday. I have learned a lot going through Philippians. Depending on the week we get 5-7 verses done at a time. I like to get into the Greek and into Commentaries and just read it over and over again to let the Holy Spirit work. Some verses that stood out to me were Philippians 1.27-30:

27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. 29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30 having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me. (NKJV)

They stood out for several different reasons. Verse 28 shows a mark for believers. The persecution and trials from our enemies is a mark of the truth of salvation. It might not see that way in the midst of it, but Paul is writing from experience. He at the time of writing is under House arrest in Rome. The fact that God is allowing Satan to do these things is proof of hell and proof our salvation.

The second thing that stands out is in the next verse. Not only has it been granted to us (believers) to believe in Christ, but to suffer for His sake. It might not be the warm fuzzy, but the Christian life is not all about warm fuzzy feelings. If you want warm fuzzy get a blanket. The life of believer in Christ is that of a spiritual war that is going on. A war in America against apathy, false prophets, and churches that don't preach the true and only ONE Gospel: That Jesus Christ IS the ONLY WAY, the ONLY TRUTH, the ONLY LIFE!!! It is by His Blood we are made new.

Going through Philippians has opened my eyes to things I have never seen and I thank God for the Holy Spirit to guide me in the WORD.

Update...long over due

Greetings everyone. I have not posted anything on here in a while so I thought it would be good to do an update. Things have been quite busy. I have been working at my Alma Mater, which I am praying will be a full time job as I pay down school loans to go back to Papua New Guinea. I have been doing a lot with the History of the College at my other blog: http://davishistory.blogspot.com

Kim arrived back on Saturday

Kim arrived back in the States from her trip to PNG on Saturday. She has a posted photos and a video on her blog so far at http://godsbutterfly-kp.blogspot.com

Prayer Letter from Kim in PNG

Here is a prayer letter I received from Kim this morning. Keep her in your prayers.

Journey to Papua New Guinea
July 18, 2007

Greeting to all from PNG,

So much has happened in the last 16 days. It feels like
I've been here much longer than that. On Monday July 2nd I
made it to Los Angelos with no problems. There I met
almost all of my teammates. Tuesday the 3rd we had
orientation and then went to the beach. Afterwards we
started our nearly two day journey to PNG. We flew out at
1 am on the 4th and arrived in Goroka at 10:35 am on the
6th. Overall we had a good flight. We had a long layover
in Singapore and were able to take a tour of the city. It
was a good time.

Finally we arrived in PNG. We had a 45 minute drive to the
interface campus. I was so tired I don't remember much of
that day. Saturday the 7th we started classes. So far in
classes we have studied phonetics, culture and language
accquisition and the chronological approach to evangelism.
We've been reading a book called A Stranger on the Road to
Emmaus. It's been a good study. In order to simulate
learning language in a tribal setting, we are learning Tok
Pisin from language helpers. I'm struggling a little bit
in this area, though my Tok Pisin is improving. These past
two or three days I've learned a lot of Tok Pisin.

In the afternoons, I've had opportunity to either visit
with the Bena people in the villages or here on campus.
One village is next door. Two others are within a ten
minute walk. I cannot communicate well with the people
because I know little pidgin (Tok Pisin), but the more
time I spend with them the more I connect.

The Bena people are a lost group. Syncretism has seeped
into all the churches here. New Tribes has missionaries
working with this group but they are all on furlough. One
family, the Fosters, are waiting to return to the Bena.
They are currently waiting in Austrailia for their visas
to go through.

Please pray that;
    1. The Fosters visas come through so they can     
        resume teaching with the Bena people
    2. I am able to learn the language so that I can talk
       with the people
    3. I stay healthy and the rest of my team stays
       healthy. Last week we had a flu go through the
       campus. This week our director has strep throat
    4. I and my team are able to adjust to this new
culture

Thank you all for your prayers and support.
In Christ,
Kimberly Phillips