The World Race - Phillip Henry

Dear Supporters: I Made It To Cambodia!

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

I really can't thank you guys enough. I'm honestly humbled when I look at the list of people who decided to give in this.

About a year ago I decided to squad lead and I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I had no clue my heart for these people would swell the way it has.

The lessons my Father is teaching me through this is insane. He doesn't stop. If I take time and give it to Him, He's more than happy to speak. I probably learned one of the hardest things with you guys reaching out and supporting.

I knew when I was leaving the squad back in January to return home, I knew that I wasn't going to communicate with them for a while for two reasons: I just needed to be out of leadership, out from under the weight, and I wanted to be someone who could come to them and celebrate with them about what they've been through without already celebrating before I see them. I knew this, but I didn't let anyone on the squad know.

So, I went home and really didn't have communication with people from the squad for about 3 months. God taught me so much in this time, it was an amazing time of being with the Father. It wasn't always pretty but it was always good.

A Birthday Song(video) To Our Mom Slash I Need Your Help

Thu, 5 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Okay, so my brothers and I made a video for our mother's birthday.

We all live in 4 different locations. It was actually really cool putting this together. It was seriously something that brought us together when we haven't all 4 been in the same place in years.

The video is below this.

In one month, the squad I lead from September until December is having their 8 month debrief. I have the option of flying out and spending time with these people. These people will have been traveling, growing, loving, changing, and strengthening for 4 months since I have last seen them.

A thing that would be HUGE for them would be to have the only people who have seen them since the beginning of this journey that started back in September come back out and tell them how much they have changed and encourage them. No one else has seen them since they started back in September. No one else has the opportunity to come back and speak into their character and push them forward in their 11-month mission.

I would absolutely love to be able to go back out and see these people. I do not have the funds in my support account right now to be able to make it out to Cambodia where the debrief will be.

I need $2,800 dollars by Friday the 13th. I have 110 people who are subscribed to this blog.

I just need:

10 people who will give $100

20 people who will give $50

80 people who will give $10

Can you please help?

Want To Help Feed And House Children?

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

the27project

is a non-profit started by a woman I was on P-squad with and she's now leading B-squad. This started because of her passion to love people affected by human-trafficking.

They are about to do their first run and you can help support. Read more

HERE

People All Over The World, Join Hands

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So, world of people who follow my blog,

For whatever reason you have come to this blog. Thank you.

This blog is for one of my men on A-squad.

He is in need of 2,800 dollars by January 1.

His name is Spencer Adams.

He's from Colorado, attended Silver Creek High School and graduated from University of Colorado at Boulder.

This man has a heart. He's also got two eyes, a pair of ears, couple of arms, hands, and the rest of all that good stuff. BUT, most importantly he has a HEART. His heart burns for people, it burns to be set free and released as much as it burns to set free and release the people he comes across. His heart burns to know God deeper, more intimately and to bring that knowledge to people. Currently he's in Bangalore, India teaching young men how to know and trust God deeper.

Because this is where he's at, his Father is teaching Spencer lessons of knowing Him deeper and trusting Him more. Right now, Spencer is short of a support deadline. He's funded his whole trip so far, not knowing what support from the body of Christ looks like. Now he needs support from YOU, his brothers and sisters, his family.

He's got so much to bring to these countries, these people. Please, right now, ask God if you need to support this man. You don't have to close your eyes, you don't have to bring your hands together, you don't have to do anything, just stop reading and say, "Hey Daddy, do you want me to give to this man, my brother? If you do, how much?" I said stop reading and ask!

Seriously, ask Him. He'll move your heart one way or another.

You can donate using the donate link on the left side of his blog page. I would love to make it easier for you and have the donate address linked, but the first link to his blog up there took like 5 minutes to do.

You are awesome. Thank you so much for taking how ever long it took you to read this. You're beautiful. Seriously, you're shining right now!

Month 3: Nepal

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This place is ridiculous.

It so makes up for having, according to random man with newspaper on the street, the 7th worst airport in the world.

After about 20 minutes of paper work and picture taking and 2 and a half hours of standing in line...

A-Squad is in Nepal!

SO worth it. The mountain peaks seen through the airplane windows, insane.

These people just love well and respect each other, a lot.

When we went to get a taxi to our place, usually you can turn taxi driver against taxi driver, wait till you hear a price, look at the man standing next to him, "How much do you offer?" This group of taxi driver's all looked at me and said, "500" the same price the original man said and motioned me toward the man who had originally talked to me.

I even had a dream about a guy and his son. I was playin catch with his son and threw his wiffel ball back to him. I threw it too hard and it went over the fence and i offered to hop it to get the ball back for the man's son. The guy looked at me and said, "It's the hotels ball now, leave it alone." I was like, "what?!" any day most people would say screw whoever's property it is, i'm jumpin this fence and gettin back what is, "mine."

Bottom line. These people are insanely good genuine people.

Sweet things that have happened in Nepal.

-Got tapped by bag full of somethin hanging off of a scooter

-Dr. Pepper in the store across from our place

-Met a Spirit filled pastor named Joel and his family

-Met a couple living in Montgomery at the airport!

-Breakfast with X-squad leaders! worship with them tonight

-when you flush our toilet, poop water flows up from the drain(we got moved last night)

-found a way to the top of our hotel and looked at the Himalayas

-Indian FOOD!!!! NAAN!!

-Found classical strings for my guitar.. but somethin's wrong with it, D string keeps breakin

-Garrett, X-squad leader, is lending me his guitar until i get home

-Choosing to fight against silence and retreat(it's actually pretty easy, just speak)

There's probably a whole lot more that's happened and a whole lot more that will happen.

Stay tuned. Hopefully this blog machine is gonna get JUICED this month!

Home

Tue, 8 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

My soul shall be satisfied as with fat and rich food

and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips

Psalm 63:5

Talk about one of my hardest months, AGAIN! As if I didn't learn things the first time around. God brought me back here to teach me new things, maybe things I should have learned last September. I'm seriously so thankful to Him for loving me enough to bring me back to a place and say,

"Hey, you had a rough time here. I know that you can PROSPER here, so try again."

Some things that sit over Moldova.

-spirit of comparison: something like six people die, four emigrate and five are born daily. I don't know if there's one Moldovan who desires to stay in this country. Most everyone thinks there's a better life in Russia, Italy, Spain, Canada, America, anywhere.

-spirit of depression: self explanatory

-fear of man and oppression: these people lived under communist rule and now they have no leader, no president to lead them anywhere.

God literally broke my heart for this country the other morning. As we sat in worship He began to speak to me.

I kept hearing the word "home." What is "home?"

When you boil it all down, walk it through the fire, our Father is at home inside of us and we are at home with Him. So if you've found Him, you're at home. Where you're at RIGHT now is home.

God's heart hurts because there's a land he created that the inhabitants are disgusted with. He created a land that even His "missionaries" very quickly start to have the same disgust and desire to leave.

I'm not gonna go into all the junk of why this is true, of what fuels people's hearts, including mine, to look forward to something different. Here's why I absolutely LOVE this place.

-It is insanely beautiful. The north part is covered with forests, protected, uninhabited forests with PURE air: fresh, clean, newly generated oxygen from who knows how many trees.

-It's simple living. No running water, unless you have the money to pay for it. There are wells everywhere! You get to go down and draw water from a well. No internet and no need for a cell phone.

-It snows here. Snow is ridiculously beautiful.

-They have some of the best wine in the world, maybe?

-The people. There's a sweet thing you find here that you can't find somewhere else, Russians and Moldavians living and working together. There's a sweet blend of the language because of this.

-The produce of this land is insane. The fruit and vegetable juices that are made are the sweetest of the sweetest, the thickest of the thickest. At any store you can find single fruit juices and a lot of sweet multiple fruit mixes. Grape and apple, Grapple, juice is one of my favorites.

-The land is INSANELY rich. The soil is BLACK and THICK, you can plant a fence post and it would probably start growing. Seriously though, the life that this land is ready to produce is ridiculous. It just keeps getting richer and richer and richer.

People who are born here, and people who visit, are going to start recognizing that life is to be had here. This country is going to become one of those places that people DREAM about being able to go.

So, Father, what did I learn here?

"Be satisfied. Be satisfied in EVERY moment. Quit looking forward to your next country, to your next luxury. Quit comparing. Even when the comparison seems good cuz you're saying good things about where you're at now... you're doggin the place you're comparin. And that place you're doggin is My place, My creation, My presence My spirit rests there."

Anything else?

"I'm proud of you, son. You're a man of humility. You're coming deeper and deeper with me. You're holding My hand and letting me lead you even when you can't see what is in front of Us. I love the fire that's the source of your eyes. I love the river rapid that is the source of your voice. I just love you, son."

Father, You're ridiculous. I can't imagine this life without you. You seriously make this physical life better than it already is. Knowing You makes waterfalls louder, the skies bluer, the trees stronger, the oceans deeper. You soften my interactions with people, you slow down the time that I have with Your people, I feel like I literally have more time to invest in people and more time to grow as an individual. I don't know how You do it! HAha. I'm satisfied with You. Thank you for where You have me. Thank you for trusting me.

Today's home is Chisinau by day, and overnight train.

Tomorrow's home doesn't matter.

A Heart Full Of Honey

Tue, 1 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

There's a term out here on the world race when you're walking in fear and timidity and not saying what needs to be said.

It's called "feedback constipated"

Who likes being constipated??

Not me! Funny side story about that, the one time I was truly constipated I was too young to know what was goin on. All I knew was that my mom was sticking medicine up my rear end. When everything came out, including the medicine, I cried because I thought the medicine wasn't supposed to come back out and I was gonna have to go through the whole process again. End of sidenote. Back to the blog topic

It's what's I've been for the past couple of days.

I'm not a person who can hide behind a mask and act like everything's alright. I can't talk to ANYONE while I'm like this. I'm like a little closed off ball of life sucking death walkin around.

Pretty scary huh?

Well here's to getting flushed out of my crap.

I speak against a fear of man and claim that I have a spirit of power, love and a sound mind.

I speak against timidity and claim boldness.

My mouth and heart is filled with sweet honey. God tells Ezekiel to eat a scroll with His words on it. On the scroll is lamentation and mourning and another bad crappy word for Israel. Ezekiel eats it and he says it tastes like SWEET HONEY! What???

No matter what the word is God's word brings life and THAT is sweet and good for the heart that His word needs to get delivered to.

So give someone the honey today that you've been holding back. I'm walking with you.

Oh yeah, during time like this, blogs are scarce and it's hard to write. bleh.

0 Degrees and Sunny

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

What is this month all about?

NOT complaining.

If anyone knows me one bit, they know that I'm terrible to be around the in the cold.

I scream when I take cold bucket showers.

I am not good at living in the cold weather.

I actually made a comment to this effect(affect??) after two days of being in Moldova.

"I'm pretty sure they'd get more converts if they told people it was freezing in hell instead of hot..."

With all this in mind,

God is completely overtaking me with His heart, it's insane.

Quick update

I'm in Cornesti, Moldova. If any of you were following me last year, i'm at the same contact I was with last September.

His name is Vitali, God's given him a vision to plant 30 churches in 30 years in this area.

ps. i just ordered possibly the worst dish ever... gustare cu ciuperci... mushroom snack?? with onion juice???

Random Blabberings of a Squad Leader

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Wow. I really don't even know where to begin.

Our first month is done and in the past. We are in Moldova. Our teams are at their ministry sites with today being their first full day with their new family for this month.

I cannot begin to tell you what my days are like. God's poured so much into me, and poured so much through me, I literally feel like the last four weeks have been atleast three months.

It doesn't make sense. The amount of things that I deal with and that I have energy for, they do not make sense.

God is teaching me so much about how whatever He has for us, we have more than enough to finish. I should literally be laid out on the concrete somewhere back in Romania with zero energy to get myself up and find the bathroom.

I have more energy than I did on my race and I was only a team leader.

My Father really has taken care of me. He's filled me in on secrets and they have been precious. He's given me new songs to sing, seriously, songs that never existed in this world, have been introduced to this world from this well inside of me. WHAT?! How's that for a sweet revelation via blogging.

There's words, phrases, sounds, songs that are inside of you that don't exist until you speak them!

Speak up. There's more.

Songs to Team Leaders

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Having a ridiculous time in Sebis, Romania right now with some AMAZING life-time missionaries we met at church on Sunday. God is bein pretty insane right now.

Here are some songs for you guys.

Music Videos

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So, Christy and I had a revelation the other day.

We realized that there's people in the world who could possibly NEVER have the honor of someone singing a song over them.

Zephaniah 3:17 says,

¹⁷ The LORD your God is with you,
   the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
   in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
   but will rejoice over you with singing.

So, with that realization we've started to ask, "Hey God, who do you want to sing over and what song do you want to sing?"

It's honestly been insanely, super cool to see God show up and give us songs, whether it's rewriting lyrics to a popular song or just straight up singing a song.

Before this whole thing came about as we were praying over our team leaders(TL's) we were speakin into AJ Levan and all of a sudden, "When A Man Loves A Woman" popped into my head. I spoke it out, and collectively, our people started singing this over her! It was pretty sweet.

Anyway, here are some videos of us singing random songs to people. The last video is actually what inspired us to do this.

Emerge And See

Thu, 1 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Emerge And See. Whatever that means.

HEY!

So I know by you coming here, it probably means you're already supporting me.

I know i just put out a blog about needing support.

But now I have a video.

SO,

If you have 4 minutes and 17 seconds.

Watch this with the people who are around you

Share this with those that aren't around you

Thank you. Seriously. Thank you so much for even signing up for this blog, and caring about what's goin on with me and the world! You're freakin awesome and I have a lot of respect for you.

If I Share With You My Story

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So, if you have been following this blog since I've been home you know that I am going on another world race as a squad leader. Last time I needed to support raise.... and this time is no different.

Total Need: 5.000 dollars. That's only like 3.086 british pounds!

Current: 1.188 and 70 cents

Current Need: 3.811 and 30 cents

I need your help. I need

three thousand eight hundred eleven people who want to hear my story.

i need those thirty-eight eleven people to WANT to hear my stories and my squad's stories.

i need those 3811 people to give one dollar towards my support account and i'll be done!

easy right?

I know you know someone who would be interested in hearing random stories from Romania, Moldova, Nepal, India so share this blog!

Like this one time, in Moldova, when my buddy and I were walking people home, and my buddy got open-handed, molly-wopped by a russian guy driving the biggest tractor i've ever seen.

Basically, if you guys donate, I'll be able to share my stories with you! I want you guys to be with me while I'm gone!

If you want to support me, you can click the support tab on the side. Thank you, have a nice day!

It's Never Too Late(video)

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Ok, so I think I'm gonna start posting blogs that I should have written way back when I was on the field, and I'm gonna add em to this "The Blogs I Forgot To Post" category.

Here's a sweet one I COMPLETELY forgot about.

In Targu Mures, Romania, I spent the month in a beautiful wooden house. Everything was wood: the bed posts, carved wood; the lamps, carved wood; the handrail, carved wood. You get the idea.

This house was shared between two teams. Our team had six people and Sara Hansen's team had seven people so that brings the total up THIRTEEN people! What was really cool though, we had these crazy, huge family dinners, pretty much EVERY night. It really was a super, cool time of just bein a family. I feel like family meals really set the tone in the World Race.

Anyway, with thirteen people eating at the same time, you have a lot of dishes at the same time. This was basically our routine: one team cooks and the other team cleans. Welp, tonight was Julian and I's time to clean the dishes. You gotta get creative and enjoy this because that's a whole lot of dishes!

My Loosely Written Bucket List

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

In no particular order

Swim a mile, no breaks

Hang glide

Fluently speak 3 languages. English, Spanish, mystery language

Graduate from college

Stand on each continent. Australia South America and Antarctica remain.

Sing a song in front of 1,000 people.

Raise children who seek after God, listen to His voice, and act on it.

Build a house with my own hands.

Really learn how to play the guitar.

See a friend that I met during my travels.

Teach another person how to do a backflip

Break my habit of biting and chewing my fingernails

Live in the Middle East for an indefinite amount of time.

Shoot and release a documentary film

Stand on top of a volcano.

Trusting God Like Pepto

Mon, 8 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The music adds somethin to this blog, i think, so play it and read.

I can't remember what was I was up to earlier today but God gave me some kind of a word about the way we trust Him and the way we come to Him.

Actually, I remember! I was contemplating on the things I would talk about if I were asked to speak with people about my journey with the World Race. So many things would be expected to be spoken of.

The people

The languages

The food

The travel

The best countries

The worst countries

The good times

The bad times

And what made me think the most; my God stories, my testimonies, the things that grow people's faith.

As I pictured myself in front of people speaking, I started to relive my race and think about the experiences I could bring up. All of a sudden God didn't want me to give them my experiences.

He started to give me a word that might not be the easiest to hear, to let settle in your heart, to still smile at me when ever i finally shut my mouth.

A lot of us have this "pepto bismol" faith. Think about it, how much did we hate pepto bismol or any other kind of liquid medicine growing up? The thought of those medicines made me even more sick than I was, and then taking the medicine didn't even seem practical after that. We fought to not have to take that medicine. We heard that it would make our sickness go away from our parents,

so we sucked it up and downed the medicine.

It's time to stop suckin it up and going to God.

How many times have we heard the great stories, (people being healed, risen from the dead, demons cast out, whatever it may be) how many times have we heard great, amazing stories like these and they've been the things to stir up our faith and trust and make us painfully go to God, "if you did it, do it for me." That's not enough. It's never been enough.

It's time for us to wake up, soak up His goodness, the things He's blessed us with, love Him back with the love He's poured over us since the day we were born. God's not this medicine that doesn't taste good and that might work.

He's YOUR

Creator

Lover

Comforter

Song-writer

life Author

Healer

Source of Life

Warmth

Voice that breaks the Silence

Advisor

Best Friend

Refuge

Peace

Answer

Strength

Beginning

Middle

End

Papa

Daddy

Abba

Dad

Padre

Bigger than Big

Lord

Savior

Yahweh

Companion

Amigo

Forever

When we start to understand these things, we no longer go to Him like medicine, dreading the after taste. We RUN to him because we realize not having Him is death. And we realize running is dumb because we've been in His hands our entire lives. So, run, run until we run out of breath, until we're breathing our last and realize we can't take another breath in. Get to the end of yourself to let Him begin in you.

All the experiences that I've had and the people around me for the past year have had are nothing compared to the story He's writing in you.

Silence. Speak

Sat, 6 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Psalm 39:1-3

¹ I said, "I will guard my ways,
         Lest I sin with my tongue;
         I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,
         While the wicked are before me."
² I was mute with silence,
         I held my peace even from good;
         And my sorrow was stirred up.
³ My heart was hot within me;
         While I was musing, the fire burned.
         Then I spoke with my tongue:

Muse - (verb) to think or meditate in silence

Soooo, i've been sitting in my silence for too long. I'm kinda at that point where david is musing and the fire is burning. I don't know how long I can keep "musing" for.

Since coming home I have quickly realized how strong of a weapon silence is. It's crazy. It's almost comical how strong it is and how weak of an act it is. It doesn't take a whole lot to keep your mouth shut and what happens when you do, it's scary.

Every relationship I've ever been in has come to this point of silence. Whether it's getting too deep and real for me, or something that could create conflict happens and me and that person need to resolve it, I've hid from them in silence "restrain<ing>" my mouth with a "muzzle," not even recognizing the "good" with my words.

What has followed these times of silence is tragic. Relationships that never go deeper, and sometimes even relationships that are lost. Relationships that our Father could use to trample Satan and his lies, theft, death, darkness. Instead those thing reign in my life and in that relationship.

If we're not gonna stand up and speak out against evil, the chances of speaking up and standing for the Kingdom decrease.

If you're sitting there and somethings burning in your chest, you've got this heavy weight there, almost to the point where you don't feel like standing up.

SPEAK

The people around you need you. They need your voice. You've got words inside of you that have been planted by your Father. Words about yourself, your parents, brothers, sisters, friends, enemies. Words that will uproot any crap that's been able to settle in your heart because of the silence.

We always hear that God speaks in a "still, small" voice. That's because He does. He plants these ideas, visions, dreams, desires, wisdom silently into our hearts, into our ears individually and personally. It's up to us to turn that voice unheard by the people around us, to the voice that can't be turned down, that can't be ignored. The voice and words that are so addicted we're pressing "most recent" every few hours trying to stay updated on His status.

Mi Familia Gigante Nueva

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Last blog continued.

I have 51 new people in my life.

I went on my own World Race with P-squad starting July 2010. After coming back, i get to co-lead the amazing A-squad for the first 4 months of their own World Race! Leading with is me is the wonderful, beautiful, talented, ferocious, free, Christy Zbylut, a squad member with me on P-squad!

We make Team Squawkward! or Team Squadicles

Together, we will be leading these history changing, ground quaking, death breakin, life raining, tent staking Kingdom of Heaven bringers!!!!

Anchors of Hope

Brandon Ellis, Burton Williams, Rachel Ridings(TL), Jessica Robbins, some sweet airbender kid, Shayna Isaacs, Megan Buker, Marlene Morris

Beauty for Ashes

Top: Rachel VanTimmeren, Ruth Leppard(TL), Emily Pluciennik

Bottom: Jenna Malinen, Krystle Desales, Tara Ptacek

Fierce

Angela Harvey, Caroline Player, AJ LeVan(TL), Emily Harr, Ashley Holcomb, Vanessa Butler

Perisseuo

Bri Danese, Jake Murphy, Madisson Wisher, Katie Bury, Kaitlyn Allen, Kyle Markel(TL), Brittany Gray

Radiant

Kelsey Amann, Amanda Stoesz, Elizabeth Nettleton, Katlyn Head, Angel Borthwick, Carly Crookston(TL)

Rhema

Lori Clemons, Daniela Romo, Gary Lee(TL), Emily Watkins, Layne Kulhanek, Natalie Sexton

Shema

Jen Perrin, Elizabeth Huff, Loren Messarra, Jack Messarra, Spencer Adams, Peter Owens(TL), Sarah Graley

WALDO

Christian Roderick(TL), Kacie Lester, Wes Webb, Marissa Dale, Stephanie May, KayLynn Love

*TL equals Team Leader

Out of the Loop Much?

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So, I know i haven't blogged in a while. Here's what you missed.

I was going to go to school.

I started to sign up for classes.

I got home from the World Race on May 28th.

I spent a week in Phoenix with squad mates Joshua, Lucas, and Jeremy.

I arrived home on June 3rd.

I started a job, hostessing(hosting for me)

I found out I had a parasite, and I had to leave the job.

I decided to squad lead instead of school in the fall.

I just spent training camp with A-Squad

We leave in September

I have 51 new people in my life.

MALAYSIAN LOVE

Tue, 10 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So, no theme here just spittin whatever comes up.

We are living above a chinese church, doing life with an Indian pastor. We eat breakfast, strawberry and chocolate wafflewiches or whatever middle you prefer, at a gas station run by malaysian muslims. What the ef?!

It's so weird seein 3 different people groups live together. The only other integrated place i've been was transylvania where romanians and hungarians lived together. After ten months of seein one people group in one area has been engrained in me and now it's weird to see different people together.

I know i know, america is the biggest melting pot of the world, but this is different. These people know what they believe, have their own traditions, own ways of raising family, and so forth. I feel like a lot of america has literally started to melt, and our cultures are melting into one. Here, there's a definite difference between the three groups, they all still speak their homeland tongue, or a dialect of it. After spending a month in China, I can speak mandarin, even though i only know I love you and strawberry icecream, with the Chinese. Pretty cool stuff.

Also, another cool thing. Glee just covered Rebecca Black's Friday!!!! Pretty awesome. We had manistry last month in thailand and yes, Friday made it to us in the jungle in thailand. We played this every friday morning as soon as we wake up. We'll probably continue to play it every friday morning until the end of the race. Pretty good stuff. I don't know if glee's version beats Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and Taylor Hick's version though.

God's downloadin a lotta stuff on me right now, maybe i'll do a blog about that later. we'll see!

I almost forgot. Osama was killed a week or two ago... Pretty crazy blog written by one of our team leaders, Sammi Moor! Pretty sick stuff! In awe of the grace, love, and mercy our Father can extend.

Brushing my Teeth with Osama Bin Laden

Update slash Video

Tue, 3 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I am in malaysia, currently resting. Tomorrow i will be going to the east coast to work with a pastor. I'm not sure what we will be doing.

Here is a preview for a film trying to increase awareness on the AIDS epidemic. It looks like part of the movie will be filmed where we lived during my birthday month January!! I lived with some of the kids on the videos.

It's predicted that the countries basically gonna to cease to exist because of AIDS. My God says different. I know this film and stories from the people who have experienced this place will be used by the One who created the country in the first place. He's got a different future for Swaziland than that what is predicted.

a couple of videos

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

so, this whole things coming to an end pretty quickly.

we have been working hard on people's farms. morning work, noon break, afternoon work

planting cassava

scooping goat poop into bags

spreading goat poop

harvesting cassava

herding goats

it really has been awesome.

21 men together. it's a necessity for every man

alotta truth is bein spoken. alotta hard truth

alotta conversations are bein had. without fail, every day is filled with conversations that bring growth.

anyway here's a couple videos.

one is just a fun short video from long boarding in the philippines

one is just a fun longer video from thailand new year. basically its a water fight.

Family Ties

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I am in Bangkok now, returning to Kanchanaburi tomorrow. I have a sweet story to tell you guys about though.

After being here at Bansabai Hostel, we heard that they have a pool on the roof and a garden where they grow all their lettuce and vegetables for their home-grown salads. So, we went exploring to find it.

We found the pool and after maybe a minute or two of being up there, a man sitting down started talking to me. He asked me if I was a Christian, so i said yes and then he invited us all to dinner.

This is how the church, the body of Christ, is supposed to work!

After meeting us and talking with us for 5 minutes maybe, the man opened up his service to us and took us in. His church family cooked an amazing dinner for us. If we were homeless i promise you they would have given us a room and beds somewhere. After dinner, our friend had a service and so we joined him. He asked three people to translate for Joshua, Caleb, and I. He talked about the Holy Spirit and conviction.

It was pretty dang awesome to say the least.

I will never forget Pastor Mike and the body of Christ we encountered in Bangkok, Thailand. On that website you can see a picture of Pastor Mike, that's his english name, at the bottom of the page.

He told us how when he builds his building, he wants to have a room that can be for anyone who needs a room for the night. Jesus told his disciples to go out and if someone accepted you, eat their food and stay with them. If they reject you, dust off your feet off and keep looking.

To spare you the details, Pastor Mike gave us a place to dust our feet off and fill our bellies with food and our souls with our Father's love.

What's up, Thailand?

Fri, 1 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Just wanted to update you guys on where i'm at.

Left Manila back on like march 5th to fly into Hong Kong.

Left Hong Kong to take trains into China.

Spent the month, speaking spanish and eating tacos, tostadas, and many other foods.

Spent a few days in ole Beijing.

Flew out on the 31st and landed in Bangkok, Thailand.

1 day here and we're off to Kanchanburi!

Manistry begins tomorrow, April 3rd!

Hello farm living!

My Hands Are Dirty

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

After giving Paolo a low five/handshake (I don't really know what to call it) he looked at his hands and said probably what anyone who was holding hands with the kids or playing with them thought, "My hands are dirty from the kids."

It was really cool though because he looked at em and just shook it off. He said, "it's good though." Which is EXACTLY what I was thinking.

Last Thursday and now this passed Monday and Tuesday night we have gone out to Santa Lucia to just spend time with the kids there. There's at least twenty kids from ages 7 to 20 out there every night. They're out there every night because that's their home, that's their street, that's where their work is, it's sad but that's where their hearts are. Their family is the brothers and sisters that they have out there on the street. Their real family has either abandoned them or simply can't take care of them.

These are real kids with the same potential as the kids back home: there is ZERO difference. They wanna be loved, they wanna have fun, and they wanna share it.

Location Location Location

That's the only thing that has them in this situation. Having the same nature and potential that I had as I was growing up, someone could have adopted them from the states and they could be the one writing the blogs, facebook stalking, skyping, credit card swiping. I think that's one of the hardest things to understand so far. These kids are exactly like we were at a certain age, no difference. In fact, Junior and Gilbert(brothers 9 and 7 or something like that) remind me exactly of my younger brother Matt and I.

So this Jesus guy was pretty much a baller. He still pretty much is a baller because the work He started still goes and doesn't stop.

I say that I had an awesome response to Paolo's comment about his hands but it definitely wasn't me, it's Him in me. I remember my buddy writing some kind of a quote on facebook a while ago, maybe before I left I can't remember but it said something like this

You can't get something clean with out getting something dirty

I actually struggled with that a little bit. Just because I took from that that something is ALWAYS dirty. If you apply that to a person in something like shame, guilt, pain, anything like that it seems like there will ALWAYS be shame, guilt, pain, all that crap. Hmmmmm. Not true at all, our crap gets sent to the grave that God made for it.

"My hands are dirty from the kids." He said

"So were Jesus' hands from ours"

The more we go to the streets with our guys from Children's Garden, the more dirt we're taking away from them. The more street we're takin away from em. These aren't "street" kids. They're kids. No one called me a "school" kid or a "home" kid. I was a kid when I was growing up.

What Would You Do Ft. Jesus

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

What would you do if your son WASN'T home

Out on the street cuz drugs sit on your throne.

Seriously though

What to do, what to do, what to do, what to do, what to do, what to do, what to do, what to do

My mind hardly ever thinks and when it does it's definitely one track. You can literally ask me what i'm thinking anddddd i can't tell you. True story.

What to do, what to do, what to do. That's it, "what to do"

Tonight was our first night of street outreach

"Samasa outreach(are you going to outreach)?" Jayvee(a CG kid) asked

"O O, samasa outreach(yes! i'm going to outreach)!" me

10 kids who came from the same lifestyle going to the streets to dance and show how their lives have been changed, RADICALLY. These kids put to shame the radical change that my life may portray.

The night started with about 15 people piling into the back of an Izuzu Elf truck. We drove to an area and parked. Walked about 20 yards and entered into a different world, a different time zone. I really can't explain the difference that we walked into. It was night and day. We literally turned the corner and it was like someone switched the lights off and cranked up the heat.

Right when we turned the corner you could literally see the desperation. Kids sporadically placed, hands to their mouths with plastic bags, stumbling to cross the street and meet the three white people with the 13 some Philippinos , finally spitting the question out, "what's your name"

what to do, what to do, what to do

Even the guys from CG with us were havin a hard time. Paolo had to take some time, stare at the busy traffic and wonder, "where would I be if God hadn't changed my life?"

Atleast 30-40 kids, living on the street, boys and girls(age 7-18) huffing glue, the girls looking for guys to buy them for the night, the guys completely out of their mind.

Edwin, passing in and out of consciousness as he stands with Lucas and sits with me. Gilbert, 7, dancing to our lousy beatboxing. Michelle and Mari Kan singing a sweet lullaby. RJ returning the food Julian hands to him. These are real people, with real beating hearts, with real futures, but no real hope right now. These kids are sunken into a harsh reality that pretty much seems hopeless for them. But the crazy thing is that there's atleast 10 kids who come to them who have escaped their harsh realities, into the reality that they are living under God's power, affection, grace, mercy, forgiveness, love. They just need their hearts opened up to it.

So, here's the mini plan of what God's throwin out there for us.

It takes about 500 pisos(11 dollars) to feed 30-40 people out there with a sandwich and a thing of juice and about 200 pisos(5 dollars) for gas to get out to the strip that these kids run. Lucas, Julian, and I are going to fast our lunch and use that money to fund the food and gas to be able to get to these kids as much as we can. I know you're not supposed to gloat or boast in your fast and do it in the dark or whatever but i want you guys to join. Fast your lunch and pray for these kids. Fast your lunch and spend some alone time your Maker, the One who absolutely loves your soul! Or just pray during these times, our lunch time is from about 10 am central and street outreach will probably start monday which would be sunday morning about 6 am central to 9 am.

Isaiah 58

⁶ "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
   and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness^{a]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} will go before you,
   and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
   you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

   "If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
   with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
   and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
   and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
   he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
   and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
   like a spring whose waters never fail.
¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
   and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
   Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Who wants to repair some walls and restore some streets?!?!

haha!

Just Dance

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I've always been one of those people who wished they could dance, wow a crowd with my feet, pop lock and drop it, be taught how to "Dougie", tell the truth with my hips....

And I still am one of those people. It's sad, i know but it's something i have come to terms with. My feet aren't rhythmically connected to my ears. I can't spell my name with my hips. I can barely clap and sing at the same time. And that's okay.

I really do enjoy watching people dance though. It truly brings joy to the dancer and to the observer. Just the other day i got to witness this phenom, and it broke my heart.

We have been visiting Children's G arden every weekday to do morning devotion with them. Every morning we sing some songs and play some games. After songs and games it's testimony time. Two of the guys from CG give their testimony every morning. It's not easy to hear at all.

"I was sold by my mother for 200 dollars"

"My mother died so my father sent all eight of us to orphanages"

Whatever the testimony, these kids come from brokenness, from solitude, from chaos, from rejection, from abandonment to the highest degree.

I watched kids that were buried in this dance, laugh, and smile.

I've been dealin a lot lately with thoughts of God, the normal questions people have, "Is He real, where is He, why doesn't He speak"

The thoughts that came in were answered from watching these kids. There is no way someone can come through the things that they have come through and be filled with joy. There's really only one reasonable answer, it's completely impossible. Life has been too hard on these kids too early. You can't take that kinda stuff on your own and be fine. I can't imagine being put through anything that they have and being able to handle it, alone. It's impossible because there's nothing made of flesh and blood that can help. There is however, Someone who WAS made of flesh and blood, we kinda nailed Him to a cross, without knowin our actions fueled by rejection, abandonment, hatred, and misunderstanding would actually bring redemption, and it was just a part of a perfect plan to bring healing and reconciliation to the world.

The only thing that can heal these guys and that HAS been healing these guys is His love, His mercy, His grace, His Spirit. There's nothing that makes sense that could bring these guys through. That's where i gotta stop tryin to think that God has to make sense. His ways are higher, His love is greater, He is bigger!(Too many big ideas for one blog, sorry!)

Back to this whole dancing thing. These kids are filled with JOY when they dance, it's crazy! God has given them dance!! And they're freaking good! These kids who were living on the street for years are now using dance to minister to other street kids! I can't imagine what it took for them to go through what they went through and now they're spreading whatever brought them through their struggles!

We went to a juvenile center where kids are waiting for court hearings, kids who are in trouble with the law. We went their because two of the guys from Children's Garden come to spend time with them and teach them dance! They have a dance crew with these kids! It's freakin awesome.

I'm really random and sporadic when i write, i'm sorry, BUT dance is healing kids, bringing them joy, bringing them love. Dancing is gettin pretty huge it seems like in the Philippines, and sooo when in Rome! Dance is gonna be a huge way of bringin people J-money(that's Jesus). Seriously though, i've seen it work in kids lives here. I'm actually hearin from God on this issue. I'm seein hundreds of kids comin for dance but leavin with something more.

Here's some pictures from our time at CICL.

Some kids from the Children in Conflict with the Law(CICL)

Kim from CG leading some stretches before the dance lesson

Random kids dancin to the music on top of the roof next to us

The judges. Caleb(Mary Murphy), Me(Nigel Lythgoe), Julian(Shane Sparks)

Some CICL guys learnin the dance

Jeepney Lovin on the way to CICL

Randomness of Philippines

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So, i'm pretty bad at blogging, here's some random stuff to update you guys on what i've been doin

-Waterfall jumping

-5K running

-Baby holding

-Jeepney riding

-Balut eating

-Face shaving

-Massage getting

-Trike riding

-Long boarding

-Basketball playing

-Taco Bell eating

-Scooter riding

-Sleep sweating

-Midnight eating

-Jet lagging

-Movie watching(please don't watch Buried)

-Under sleeping

-Coke-in-a-bag drinking

-"Hey Joe" hearing

-Tagalog speaking

-"All The Kitchen Ladies" singing (Beyonce remix by our kitchen crew)

We've been doin a lot more that's just all i can think of right now. So far it's been a crazy good month. We are at KIM(Kids International Ministries) in Cainta, Rizal. The director Jeff Long has contacts all over here doing everything imaginable, so our teams are doing different things everywhere. As far as me, I've been workin with a program called Children's Garden. They do work with street kids, kids who have decided to leave their homes for various reasons at an early age. They've been breakin my heart so you guys will be hearin about them soon!

*** Cynthia Joy update.

A lot of you guys have been broken with hearin about this girl and it's been awesome to hear your hearts about her situation. The last thing I heard was through a phone call from my contact in Malawi. It lasted about 5 seconds before it cut out but the last words I heard was "yeah, Phil, she is healed!!!" God is so good! I'm gonna keep tryin to get in tough with Pastor Antony to hear more and get an update about everything, but thank you guys so much for your prayers and thoughts.

The Philippines

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

After about 18 hours of flights and great airplane food, complimentary eye masks, socks, and toothebrushes from Qatar Airlines... our squad has just made it to Cainta, Rizal in the Philippines!

I know it's been a long time since i've blogged. i'm sorry, we had zero internet in Swaziland other than a Blackberry. Blogs comin soon from Swaziland, maybe a little video we'll see.

We're extremely blessed here at K.I.M. ministries. I can't wait to see what this place has to offer.

Did i mention yet..... there's a TACO BELL!!!!!! hello chicken quesadilla with jalepenos.

This is our team at Lil Wayne reservation (Mlilwane Wildlife Reserve)

Swaziland Birthday Video

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I had an amazing birthday in Swaziland last month.