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Preparation

Greetings from the Phillips

We would like to begin again 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”

Current Phillips Family Update

Hello to all. Please join us in welcoming Kaius Canaan Phillips to the crew. His name will be a constant reminder to us to rejoice in the promise of Yahweh. Born January 1, 2021, a couple weeks too early and needed a little help in his lung development but now fat and healthy. Kaius' first week of life was spent in the NICU with breathing support and medication to fight some pneumonia that he had along with a collapsed lung. Jessica and I went in to the hospital at 37 weeks pregnancy to check for some abnormalities and found that she had signs of pre eclampsia. This triggered the response of our doctor to make the decision to do the c section delivery that same day. Our family went through some pretty scary and tough times and even after discharge from the hospital, Jessica battled some dangerously high blood pressure for a couple months. We had some amazing people step up in prayer and support to help with medical expenses and some awesome family and friends step in to watch Job and Semira while we were in the hospital. We definitely felt the love and support of our village through that hard situation. We still haven't gotten any bills from the hospital so we still aren't sure if we have enough to cover that but we will just trust that the Lord has that situation under control.

We are in final preparation to head back to our Liberia home with our family of five. It’s exciting and terrifying. As many of you know, our life in Liberia started back in 2015 when we were just 2 young newlyweds following Jesus in Liberia. Starting with the adoption of Job in mid 2019, we have added 3 members to the family in under 3 years. We are blessed beyond measure to have our beautiful children, but as many of you know, children add challenges to life that were not there before. We ask that you be in prayer with us as we settle back in to life in Liberia. Pray that we would be able to love our children well and train them up in the way they should go while also loving the Liberian people well as we continue discipling those that God has put in our sphere of influence. Our family of four came back to the states in April of 2020 on an evacuation flight, and now, a year later and an added little person we are finally going back to our home. We want to thank all of those that have continued to support us with your time, talent, and treasure and look forward to the things that God has in store for 2021.

Jesse's Trip

Since our last newsletter, I was able to spend a month in Liberia preparing our teams for the busy season as well as visiting a majority of the projects that we have been able to be a part of. My goal was to work with our local leadership to:

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.

I helped to do much needed maintenance on the block machines and clear some more land for curing of the blocks. We did some metal work in our shipping containers to organize equipment and make space for more tools and more efficient operations. I was able to do some preparations of our home for the new addition to the family. The most important thing I was able to accomplish was the discipleship and development of our leadership by traveling to our different projects and spending much needed time showing our team how they have been able to impact other ministries and vision casting for how we can be a better asset in the future. Below are just a few images and videos from our tours and walk-throughs of the projects. Please feel free to send us an email if you have any questions about any of the pictures or videos.

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 lead our teams and continue to develop them mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Our Visit to a church we helped to build. From Left to Right Bahvid Guzeh ( our main builder), Jesse, Joseph Fayiah (Our Country Director), David Jusu (Building Manager for the church)

Our visit to the LICC dorms in Ganta City, Northern Liberia

Carrysburg Orphanage Chicken Coop. They are producing about 100 eggs a day which is enough to feed their children as well as sell to pay for feed and care for the chickens.

Interview of the By the Light Ministries leadership

We are already a few months in to 2021 but we have a big year coming up. Our team has already started a home for an amazing missionary family. We will be building another home for another family as well along with working on a set of apartments for a ministry to add American team members to their mission. In addition to that we have 2 Christian schools in the works for 2021. Be in prayer for the Lord to work on the hearts of our crew members as we disciple them and as we serve these other ministries in Liberia together.

As we look forward with excitement and anticipation 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 five on a budget that was set up for just three. 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. There are many ways you can help with this. If you are more comfortable with making an annual gift, we have a number of annual expenses that we can use your gift for including our house rent, residence permits, electrical bill, airfair costs, Insurance premium, etc. Our monthly supporters help us with our family's day-to-day living expenses which are just as crucial to keep a family of five fed and taken care of. 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

Donate Now

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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Greetings from the Phillips

Jesse's Trip

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