Bibles Needed

Two Sundays ago we were out to Villa Maria having our usual Bible lesson, worship, and activities with the kids. We brought a Children's Storybook Bible to use with the lesson and one of the girls came up to me and asked if she could borrow it. She came back last Sunday and had read almost half of the entire book! She wanted to know how much it would cost to buy one and that her brother wanted one too. Another little girl that was overhearing our conversation said she wanted one as well. The thing is I'm not sure if any of the kids that come to our time together for one, have a Bible and two, could actually afford to buy one. The one we brought costs $10 which is about 27 soles which is frequently more money than a family lives on per week in Villa Maria. We normally have between 35-45 kids every Sunday and I'm making it a goal to raise enough money so that every set of little hands that comes can have a Bible of their own.

If it's on your heart to be a part of this you can send/give your donation to my mom, Karen Phillips, and she will in turn make sure the team here in Lima gets those Bibles to the precious little hands. You can email me at lyndsay.phillips@hotmail.com or Chelsey at chelseyshaver@gmail.com if you need an address. Any amount that exceeds the goal will be used toward our ministry in Lima.

Thanks in advance for your generosity!

YouTube Entertainment

As I was searching for some fun kids songs in Spanish to teach the children in Villa Maria on Sundays, I found this gem of a video! It will get stuck in your head (at least it did mine....and all the roommates' heads too), but it's worth it! Watch the first minute and you'll know the song! Oh, and to translate the words: "I am happy, Christ saved me". That's it. That's all it says besides when it adds "I sing glory, hallelujah, Christ saved me". Enjoy!

*NOTE:  When you click play, it probably won't play, but it should ask you if you want to go to YouTube to watch it, so just click that to watch it!*

 

Homey Feelings

The past two days have been incredible! Yesterday we went to Villa Maria as usual for our VBS-like activities, I caught up on Bible studies, emails, and got Bible class ready for the adorable Corban (I've been teaching the toddler's Bible class the past few Sundays and Corban, who's one of the missionary's kids, is the only one out of three that was there). After church we went to dinner at La Lucha which is a sandwich place that has delicious fries (if you know me well you know I'm not huge on fries so that says a lot) and a frozen de fresas which is a strawberry smoothie, deliciousss...The best part of the day, however, was that we went to the movies for the first time and I don't think I've felt more at home than sitting in that movie theater, besides the subtitles in Spanish I suppose. On top of that, we found out that if we went to see a movie on a Tuesday and got a grande popcorn it would cost less than $4! Since we're on a budget that was great news.

Today, we met with the missionary guys as usual in the Portico (the church building) and figured out our week's plans. We also had our first, of hopefully many, English worship/potluck's. I'm speaking for me and the other interns when I say we greatly look forward to any event that involves homemade food! Besides the meatloaf and fried potatoes and fruit tray and cookies, the greatest part was by far the worship time we had together. I always feel closer to God when praising Him in English and we don't do that too much here so it was absolutely amazing.

The last thing I'm going to add is that my baby sister's 16th birthday is tomorrow! Kelsey is growing up wayyyy too fast but she is turning into an amazing, strong Christian young lady so I'm okay with that. I wish I could be there to celebrate such a precious girl's birthday but the phone call I'll be making at 6:30am will have to do. Kelsey, I love you to pieces and I hope that although you'll be spending your birthday at school and soccer practice that you find a way to make it special! I love you!!


PS Kels, sorry for the old school pic, I couldn't find a more recent one...

Count Your Blessings

This is an exciting post for me to be able to write! As I write, I wish you could all see the JOY I have...

So living overseas is rough and uncomfortable, at least so far. And if there were one thing I had to choose that I was not completely prepared for, it would be being away from family and friends. I mean, I KNEW I was going to be in a different place for ten months, that I would likely not see any familiar faces except through Skype during my time here, and I was prepared to lose contact with some people, and I was prepared to feel disconnected and a little bit forgotten.......I thought. 

And I would be lying straight to your computer screen if I said I hadn't felt those things since August 6th. But who wouldn't feel disconnected?!

It's crazy...I missed my parents moving to a different town, I missed my brother and sister-in-law moving into my parents' old house, I missed David getting an internship with the Cowboys, I missed Joshua leading worship in a football stadium, I missed cooking for him during his first round of tests, I missed my old roommate's Aggie Ring Day, I missed all the Rangers' baseball talk between my friends, and I missed getting to see my precious "8th grade girls" start high school. I'll miss Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family, I'll miss one of my friend's weddings, seeing old friends in Canyon....the list continues. 

But more days than not, I feel remembered and I feel connected to the life I have/had back in Texas. And the only reason is because I have incredible friends and family that are, whether they know it or not, incredibly encouraging to me! 

*I have a Mom who still sends me pictures of the dogs! And who has never taken more than a 24-hour period to respond to an email filled with encouragement. And who still sends me a text reminding me of birthdays in the family

*I have a nutty Dad who still says "atta girl" when he hears I tried cow heart. And who still reads every blog post on his iPhone, even though he probably has to ask the young kids at work how to do it. 

*I have a boyfriend who texts me everyday, Skypes me more than I imagined, fills me in on what he's doing that week, or what's going on at church. And has tried multiple times to Skype me in on a Wednesday night worship with the youth. And reassures me I can do it on my rough days

*I have two old co-workers, one that said "That's why you're still my favorite...I'll take care of that for you!" and the other that said "Can't wait for you to be back so I'll have someone to talk baseball with."

*I have a Reece (and family) that hooked me up with an awesome laundry basket. And who told me "You're right where you need to be" 

*I have an "8th grade girl" that told me "We all miss you so much! We were talking about you 2 Sundays ago" and who also told me "I'm facebook stalking you..." haha I loved it! (Jordan, don't be embarassed, it's awesome!)

*I have a boyfriend's mom, Melissa, who's using her resources to hook me up with a guy at the embassy here so I maybe don't have to leave the country again! And who also let's me know I'm missed

*I have a boyfriend's dad, Scott, who so graciously showed me the new small can of Dr.Pepper over Skype so I wouldn't feel out of the loop when I return to the States haha

*I have a brother, David, who took time out of his busy schedule so that we could find the absolute best way to text each other (iMessage, if you're wondering...). All on a Friday night - just like in college when I would text him, home alone, feeling lame on a Friday night!

This is not an exhaustive list, by far! It's only from this week!! So what I was also unprepared for is how much encouragement and love I would feel from my friends and family, all the time! Your words and emails and skype dates and pictures and ways you still include me in your everyday life are priceless. 

So I'm counting my blessings, and haven't found a stopping point!