Greetings from the Phillips
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We would like to begin by greeting you with a blessing. It has been on our hearts and the Lord just confirmed it to us with a message from our pastor about Christians speaking blessings to not only friends but also those who persecute us. Please hear this blessing from a song written by Elevation worship called “The Blessing” which comes from Numbers 6: 24-26.
“The Lord bless you and keep you. Make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. May His favor be upon you and a thousand generations,Your family and your children and their children, and their children. Amen”
In this pandemic it is very easy to feel overwhelmed with the weight of the situations surrounding us. People are out of work, families are struggling, health concerns, loneliness, depression and feelings of despair feel so close to home now more than ever. We all experience these feelings but what’s important is how we respond to them. As Christians we are called to be peace and love. When the world feels as though it’s spinning out of control, remember who holds the world in His hands. Have you ever met someone who was overly calm in a chaotic situation? It’s so odd that it captures our attention and makes us question, “How? How are they so calm?” This kind of calm comes from the true assurance of to whom we belong. We know our lives are secure in Christ alone, in death or in life, in trials or in times a peace, and with this truth we choose to live like He did.
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Current Phillips Family Update
Jessica has entered the third trimester now and is becoming more uncomfortable as baby and belly grow but both are doing well. Jessica is currently taking a class through our church that is unpacking spiritual beings throughout the Bible. This will of course benefit our work in Liberia through more in depth discipleship and deeper conversation of the spiritual realm. Jesse has been working with an electrical company to keep busy and help provide for our family while we are here in the US. Jesse is attending a mens group also through our church to walk along side and encourage other members of the church. Job is awaiting an appointment with a speech therapist to encourage more clear communication and identify any issue that he may be experiencing. These options are not available in Liberia so we are very happy to have the opportunity to address it now. Right now he does talk but its normally one word, very simple answers. Job will be 4 years old November 29. Semira is growing and learning in leaps and bounds following her brother very closely. She has a few more injections and then she will be all caught up on her vaccinations. For those of you who don’t know, Liberia and all of Africa experienced a severe shortage of common US Vaccinations in the past year. We are unsure of what we will experience going back with another baby who will be in need of these same basic coverage but we will work through it with our local hospital here and in Liberia.
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The Lord is continuing to show us favor with our local operations through the block production and construction business, Kingdom Earth Builders. As you know our end goal with this endeavor has always been to work ourselves out of a job. That means finding and developing key leadership that will
A.) Take personal ownership and commitment to see the business continue not only as a financial bottom line but also meeting the spiritual needs of the communities it serves.
B.) Strive to represent the kingdom of God through their craftsmanship and through the relationships they have with customers and beneficiaries.
C) To lead their respective teams toward our goal.
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We began to experience setbacks and difficulties early this year even before the pandemic hit. It started with the tragedy of my right-hand-man, Joseph getting in a severe traffic accident on his way to meet his new born baby daughter. The accident along with very poor emergency care at the government hospital nearly claimed his left leg, but thanks to God we were able to get him to the mission hospital to have an emergency surgery performed to secure both of his leg bones with a rod. Even though his leg was spared, he was ordered to bedrest for 3 months in order to heal properly. This was a wake up call for me and for the entire operation as my right hand was figuratively cut off and I had to step in to fill the huge role that Joseph normally plays. Along with that, Liberia started to face fuel shortages country wide. A fuel shortage affects Liberia as much or more than it affects the US. Prices for everything skyrocketed. Materials and transportation for our projects doubled and at times tripled in price. In addition to that, the only working engine on our block machine tore itself up from the inside forcing us to make temporary changes. We had to attach the skid loader’s hydraulics to the machine to finish out our production quota for the season. These are just a few examples of the harsh realities that Liberia presents causing the statistics to reflect Liberia being in the top 5 worst countries to do business in on the continent of Africa. This does not change our resolve to carry out what the Lord has charged us with. Even in the midst of hardship and struggle, He continues to reveal His favor and the presence of the Holy Spirit preparing the way ahead of us.
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The end of March our family made the difficult decision of returning to the states for a short time. We left two projects still in process and one that had not even begun. I had doubts that these projects would be successfully completed in my absence even though I have spent a lot of time and effort preparing our leadership for that very thing. Much to my amazement, the work continued and 2 of the projects were completed Glory to GOD!! We received reports from customers of excellent workmanship and professionalism by our tradesmen. We heard stories of employees sharing Jesus with community members. Even though there have been definite things that require improvement and training, overall I was overjoyed with the success of the work. We recognize more management training and discipleship is needed before the goal is reached, yet, I can honestly say we are much closer than I would have imagined. In the months of our absence from Liberia, our crews fabricated, erected, and completed a steel truss roof over a 90 foot by 160 foot gymnasium for Hope to Liberia Christian school in Margibi County. They poured a monolithic concrete shop slab and constructed a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 1 office guest house for a missionary family in Bomi County. One crew has nearly completed an Early Childhood Learning Center for Open Bible Church of Liberia in Margibi County. We consider all of this a huge success and reason to praise and thank God for his direction and provision.These projects created jobs, developed employees in their individual skills and their spiritual walks with the Lord, and completed essential, durable, long lasting infrastructure for 3 ministries who are also sharing Jesus with their own communities. It is largely due to your unwavering support towards our family, that this is developing, growing, and moving forward. We thank God for directing His finances through you to allow our family to be a part of this life changing work.
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In just 3 weeks from today, on Nov 12, Jesse will begin his solo journey back to our home in Liberia. You can imagine this creates some stress in our family. It was just one year and a few months ago that our family was forced to be separated pending Job’s documents to be able to come for the birth of Semira. Now Jesse needed to make the difficult decision again to leave Jessica and the kids to return to Liberia in order to do what needs to be done to encourage our colleagues and employees, help to prepare the entire team for the many projects coming up in the dry season (November - May), to hold key meetings with contractors, employees and leadership, and most importantly to bless them and the work they are doing to bring heavenly realities to earth in their own spheres of influence. Jesse will be attempting to accomplish all of this in just one short month which will keep him very busy but that is also a long time to have our family separated. We believe that the Lord has directed us to this discipleship ministry in Liberia and often times, we are asked to make sacrifices in the service of the living God. Even though it is difficult, we consider ourselves blessed to be a part of the grand story of our Lord in this small country of Liberia. One of Jesse’s goals in returning is to travel to all of the projects that our ministry has been involved in to document finished products and also help you and others to get a sense for what the Lord has done and the lives that have been touched through the ministry that we are all involved in.
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As we look forward with excitement and anticipation to welcoming our baby boy into this world in the end of January, we also have begun to make plans for our family to finally be able to go back to our home in Liberia to continue making disciple makers and helping to run and grow the team that has helped many ministries and individuals to see their infrastructure dreams become reality. This leads us to recognizing another reality. Since our move to Liberia, in late 2015 (nearly 5 years ago) we have been able to live and work because of the generous financial support of many of you. Some of you have supported us in the past and because of certain situations, you were directed by the Lord to give towards other ministries or you were financially unable continue giving. Some of you have been dedicated prayer warriors when we needed to be lifted up in prayer, and some of you are still being led to support our family. We want to thank all of you for the part that you have sacrificially played in our crazy story. We are now realizing what it takes financially to raise a family of four on a budget that was set up for just three and very soon we will have a family of five. It became clear to us that we needed to revisit our budget and again trust in the Lord to provide for the vision that He instilled in us. We are in need of additional members of our financial support team to enable our family to continue living and working in Liberia. We are in need of a substantial increase in our family’s annual budget. Would you prayerfully consider:
- Increasing your monthly/quarterly/annual gift? (if you are currently a financial partner)
- Giving a sacrificial ongoing gift (if you have not yet joined the financial team)
- Sharing our need with those in your own circles to see what the Lord might prompt them to do?
- Agreeing with us in prayer for the Lord to provide for our family’s needs?
We thank you so much for considering to join our financial team and see lives impacted and empowered in the name of Jesus Christ. Please click the 'donate' button to be directed to our website to receive instructions on how you can support us. God Bless You
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P.S. If you are on social media you can follow our instagram and facebook by clicking the respective buttons below. If you would like to join our private facebook group where we share more private content about our lives in Liberia you can click this link https://www.facebook.com/groups/494732944354009 and request to be added.
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