let the countdown begin...

Well, we are officially one month away from setting foot in our new home in Niger. We are feeling about every emotion imaginable. We are so excited to finally begin what has been a two-year (and in a lot of ways a lifetime) journey. We are so nervous about living in a new culture, learning two languages, etc. We are sad at the goodbyes we'll have to say, here at FPO to some great friends and then to family and friends back home next month. But above everything, Parker and I are ready. Thank you so much for your prayers. There is such peace knowing we are being prayed for. We wanted everyone to see where we are going to be living so I thought I'd show you a couple shots from Ayorou.

This is our home in Ayorou. This picture was taken months ago. Our supervisor and the business facilitator have worked hard and we cannot wait to send you guys updated pics once we arrive! The good news is that I've already promised Parker that I'll mow the grass every week - no complaints!

This is the inside of our home. The guys have laid tile on the floor and painted the walls. Brad and Sally have been busy buying things to make our house a home. Our crate probably won't arrive for 3-6 months but that won't stop Parker - you know how amazing she is at decorating. Again, this will be fun to show you what she's done to our home in a couple months. I think my Raiders posters will look great on the wall!

This is where Ayorou meets the Niger River. The river is the source of life for the Songhai people. Many of the men fish and farm on the river. The river is also a great hangout for the infamous hippo. This is also a huge means of travel. To get to the famous city of Timbuktu, Parker and I would take a looong trip up the river. Let's hope that there are no hungry, hungry, hippos!

This is downtown Ayorou. Parker and I will spend a lot of our time shopping for food at the market. This will also be a great place for building relationships. We hope to have a great friendship with the butcher who kills two cows three times a week. Ayorou has a population of about 3100 people. They are not going to know what to do when a chubby white guy shows up to town!!

This is the gas station in Ayorou! Pretty cool, eh? I just hope they sale Monster energy drinks. Parker and I are about to enter the world of metric system. Say goodbye to gallons and hello to liters!

Just thought we'd let you guys see where we'll be calling home very soon. It seems like we've been gone for a long time. I mean, in just the time we've been here the Pope's death has been called for, Thailand has been taken over, the Mets have clinched a playoff spot, a space shuttle has taken off and landed, the Crocodile Hunter died, and the Raiders have managed to score an amazing 6 points in two games!! A lot can happen in a month! And that's how long we have until we arrive in Niger. May we be transformed more and more into the image of Christ.

from the countdown....
mark

busy bees

We've been quite the busy bees since our last "update" post. Besides our regular class schedule, Mark and I have received our second round of shots; been officially certified as teachers of ESL; hosted my sister, brother-in-law and cute as ever nephew; visited Washington, DC; took a road trip to Virginia Beach; and adopted two new nieces and a nephew. Whew! I'll just let the pictures tell the story ...


Family
BJ (my sister), Nathan, & Chord came for a visit to Virginia. They drove in from NC on Saturday and left on Sunday afternoon. We were so glad we got to spend that time with them: eating some yummy Italian food, playing cards til midnight, visiting Starbucks 3 times, worshipping on Sunday morning, and eating some more!! The only bad part was that this was my "final" goodbye with my sister. Needless to say, Sunday was not an easy day for me. I think I cried nonstop for 2 hours straight (and this was 3 hours after they had left)!!

Adopted Family
We have officially become Uncle Mark and Aunt Parker to these three beautiful children:

Washington D.C.
Last week we visited Washington, D.C. This was not a tourist trip; it was a training assignment. Our requirements for the trip included eating at an ethnic restaurant, observing an international family, assisting an international, and leading an international closer to Christ through conversation. As a team of four (Mark, myself and two girls going to Mali), we were able to accomplish all but one - observing a family. For some reason, we never saw an international family the entire day. We were able to visit a mosque, where Mark shared the Gospel and his testimony with a Muslim. We ate at a West African restaurant called Sumah's and were able to pray for and with the owner. We also visited the Niger embassy and were able to ask to pray for the secretary of the embassy.

Virginia Beach
After a crazy couple of weeks and not having a free Saturday in three weeks, Mark and I and 6 of our friends ventured two hours to Virginia Beach. We had a great time relaxing, talking and not thinking about classes! The girls sat on the beach and did what we do best - talked! The boys, however, did what they do best - played! It was a pretty chilly day so the girls stayed wrapped up in blankets or towels or shirts on our heads! The boys played football and jumped in the ocean like it was 80 degrees outside! We rounded out the day with eating seafood on the beach and a stop at the outlet malls!

baby caroline

A close friend of ours recently had their fourth child, Caroline Frances Grace Carwile. Mixed with the joy of this new life there has also been worries as Caroline has had some complications. The first and most major of the complications is that her chin is recessed which means her tongue sits back farther than it's supposed to. This abnormality interferes with her breathing and eating. The second complication is that her thumbs have not developed correctly either. They both seem to have little or no function. The implications of this have not been determined as of yet.

Our reasons behind posting this blog is simply to ask you to pray for Caroline and her family. She is just 3 days old and, as her father writes, has gone "through more tests than an astronaut preparing to go to outer space." So as you spend time with the Father today, please lift up Caroline in prayer. For more information, you can check out a website the family has at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/carwile.

life in the middle

Have you ever noticed that there is no such thing as an early-life crisis? Or even a late-life crisis? No, all we ever hear about are mid-life crisis'. Why is that? I think it is because life in the middle is hard. As Parker and I have now crossed the midway point of our FPO experience, I am beginning to feel that tension that comes in the middle.

I began to think tonight of so many middles. I thought about Moses and how he had an amazing start to his story (being rescued as a child and raised in Pharoh's court) and a great end (taking his last breath as he viewed the promised land) but life in the middle was tough[grumpy Israelites, doubting family, and even a point where God was on his way to kill Moses (Ex. 4)]. Life in the middle is tough.

But as for Parker and I, it's not so much of a mid-life crisis, but a mid-stride crisis. We are in between steps. We have one foot that is still very much connected to family and friends and life as we know it here in the states. This is the foot we've known our whole lives. It's where our identity has been, it's where we've lived. And yet as that foot is picked up (and has been in the process of being picked up for the past 2 years) the other one has not been set down yet. We're in mid-stride with no feet on the ground. When our foot finds the earth, we will be on completely new turf.

It's a strange place, this life in the middle. We're disconnected with our past but not yet connected to our future. I think about all the things that have defined me these past 6 years. This is my church, this is my job, this is my ministry, this is my house, this is my car, this is my Bo Jackson baseball card collection! And one by one all of those (except Bo of course) have slipped away.

This footstep will be into another world, a new identity, a new culture. It will involve the unfamiliar, the unknown. What's life like with only 8 hours of electricity? What's 125 degrees in the shade feel like? (don't worry, it's a dry heat!). What's not being able to communicate with any of my neighbors like? What's not having a church to fellowship, pray, and worship with like? We don't know, we're in between steps.

But the thing we do know and are confident of is that this is the step we needed to take. We know that in this tension we must depend on God all the more. We know that he knows where this footstep will land and each footstep of our journey. There is a peace that comes from knowing that. Parker and I are ready for our foot to land in Ayorou, but maybe, just maybe, it's in the middle that we grow closest to our Christ as we cast off the familiar, boast in our weakness, and embrace the cross.

from the middle -
mark

ernesto & rabies

Sorry to post 2 blogs in one day. Either we are getting behind on posting or we're being super productive!! My job (Parker here) with the blog is to keep you updated on our week-to-week or day-to-day events with pictures included. Mark, however, seems to be getting his teaching bug out of his system and letting you into the deep, dark trenches of his mind.

We recently had tremendous storms come through our area due to Ernesto. It wouldn't be so bad except we have to walk 3/10 of a mile one way to our classes. Add that to the downpours caused by Ernesto & you've got some pretty sad looking Phillips'.



Also, we had our first round of shots last week. One of the three shots they gave us was rabies. We seemed to be fine with the shots, feeling pretty tough, until it knocked Mark out for 2 hours & when he woke up, he was running in circles and peeing on fire hydrants. No, but seriously ...


We've also been trying to spend some time relaxing and hanging out with each other and with friends. Mark and I try to get off campus once a week and go on a "date." Both our parents told us we looked and sounded tired ... not sure if that's a nice way to tell us something else! Nonetheless, we're trying to work in fun time with study time.




(*names & faces not shown due to security reasons)

lottie moon would be ashamed

As Parker and I were packing our crate a month ago this week, I remember how we were trying to decide what to take and what to leave behind. There was a point where I looked at Parker and said, "Lottie Moon would be ashamed of us."

Our life in Ayorou is going to be a lot less comfortable than it is here in the states no doubt. We have said goodbye to many things. We have sacrificed some basic things and yet I sense that there is still this longing for and dependency on and even this thought that we need stuff.

As I read in a book about 21st century martyrs, I realized that we have sacrificed nothing compared to the generations before us. I learned that missionaries to West Africa in the 19th century would pack all their belongings in a casket to take with them to the field. None of them lasted (nor expected to last) more than two years. They were going up against harsh conditions with little support, little aid against disease, and communication that took months to recieve.

Parker and I have tons of support from many of you who are praying for us and the people group we will serve. We are being vaccinated with the latest defense against diseases that we know we'll encounter. And we can communicate instantly via the internet. We are not packing our things in a casket, but instead a crate. A crate full of stuff that we think we need to survive in West Africa. A crate full of soft toilet paper, green beans, and even my PS2!

I realized this week, as I listened to one of my favorite Michael Card songs ("things we leave behind,") that even in going to West Africa there is a temptation to hold onto and depend on stuff. That we don't naturally like giving up things. Perhaps this is why so few of us talk about the discipline of fasting and even fewer practice it. It doesn't matter if we have a house full of stuff or 300 cubic feet full of stuff, it's still just stuff and there is still this deep-rooted desire to hold onto it with a tight fist. I can be just as wrapped up in the worship of things in Ayorou as I am in Bowling Green.

And it's not just a materialism issue, it's a theological issue. That desire doesn't just say something about Parker and me, it says something about God. It says that we need something other than Him and I'm tired of saying that. I want him to be enough, period. I'm tired of praying for comfort and safety. I want to be free from the bondage of stuff.

So as you pray for Parker and me, please don't pray that we'll be comfortable but pray that we'll be content in any circumstance. Pray that we'll live knowing his grace is sufficient. Pray that God would put us in situations where we must depend on him more. That if it takes sinking our crate of earthly treasures he would. That if it takes sickness, we'd welcome it. That if it takes persecution, we'll endure.

There's a line in that song that says "it's hard to imagine the freedom we find from the things we leave behind." May that be at the center of our desire. May we experience the joy and freedom that comes from depending solely on God. And may we find our lives by counting them as nothing and may we save them by losing them.

-mark

it really worked?!? (or confessions from an old youth minister)

Something strange occured to me today. No, it wasn't physical day at the doctor (that was a couple months ago ... still having nightmares about it). Instead, I realized that there was a part of me that, despite the big talk, secretly and sinfully hoped I was more important than I really am. As a youth minister veteran (got a goatee, know twenty different ways to describe bodily functions, and have made a Freshmen cry), I learned how to say the right things. "Leadership is about replacing yourself," "I know the ministry will continue to grow after I leave," etc., etc. And I truly meant them ... or so I thought.

And yet as I sit in Virginia (and maybe it's because I'm an hour away from getting four shots or maybe it's because Ernesto is beating down on us here and I'm grumpy because my feet are all pruny from my wet socks) I realize that there is a deep-rooted desire in me to be needed. For six years at the Hope, I envisioned a ministry team of volunteers doing the work of the ministry with Ephesians 4:12 guiding my steps. And I woke up one morning and realized it was here. We had an incredible group of volunteers who were investing in kids' lives, challenging them to grow in their faith, and walking through life's difficulties with them. I had worked myself out of a job!

Now don't get me wrong, that's not bragging, not the least. I wish I could say it was because I was cutting edge and a visionary, but instead, it's because God is sovereign and knew that this goofy balding guy was gonna end up in Africa one day.

I write all this to say that it's funny, despite how that picture in Ep. 4:12 drove me each day and how I longed for the team that we had and how I knew the minsitry was going to not just make it but continue to grow after I left, I have to admit that there was a part of me that I think now hoped it didn't! I thought, "it can't function without me." There is a pride in me that I thought had been crucified long ago but reared it's ugly head this week.

As emails and phone calls have slowed, as I realize that for most high school students 'out of sight out of mind' is true, as the flameball and diet coke bottles exploding have stopped and as I hear reports of how the student minsitry is growing, I realize I'm not needed. Not just by students and volunteers but by God. How arrogant to think any of the success we experienced was from anything else than a gracious God who gave us the privilege of serving him!

And I don't know whether my response of "It really worked?" is more of a lack of faith or an abudance of pride but in either case, it's sin. So I write this confession as a brother in Christ who is still in process, is still growing, and is still fighting to take every thought captive for Christ! (2 Cor 10:3-5)

-mark (the goofy balding guy going to Africa)