29 years

Mark Carney Phillips celebrated 29 years of life on October 22. This time last year we still had a crazed look in our eyes from having only been on the field 2 days. And this year, while different because of the current situation we are in, it was a little more relaxed and felt a little more like a birthday. I was just glad Mark could come in for the day because I couldn't stand the thought of him being alone for his birthday!


When I asked Mark what he wanted to eat for his birthday, I expected him to say something like Parmesan Chicken or something Mexican or maybe even steak. NOPE! He asked for Shogun. So I got to searching on the internet, found a couple of recipes, & voila!


Thank you Brad & Sally for Mark's cake! It was oh so GOOD!


Touchdown!! Thank you Uncle Randy & Aunt Theresa for sending Mark Madden 08! He's a happy man!


And yeah for the coolest sister in the world who sent Mark Tiger Woods! He's excited beyond words to play this in Ayorou! Thanks BJ & Nate for the yummy snacks too! Sorry the cheese & bean dip didn't make the picture .... we ate it too quickly!!


And one last thanks to Big D & Madame J (aka - Mark's parents) for his new shirt, his fave candy and his most fave magazines. We can't wait to celebrate "for real" in a few days!


And thank you to all of you who sent Mark a birthday card or greeting! It makes celebrating a birthday so far from home that much more special knowing so many people are thinking of and praying for us!

extreme makeover: clinic edition

A year ago we were approached to do a Youth Retreat for some MK's in the area. Any of you who know us know how much we love students! So, of course, we jumped on the idea but we asked if we could wait until after our language ended. We set the date for the end of October and started getting ready a few months ago for our time with the students.

We planned two Bible studies focusing on dating & relationships (what else?) and also planned a service project for them to do in Ayorou. There are 1001 things to do in Ayorou but we decided to do a little "update" to the government owned clinic in town. We'd been there enough during malaria season with all the kiddos to see the need it had. Plus, it keeps us "in good" with the government and the town. Even though I (Parker) didn't get to be a part of it because of my restriction to stay in Niamey, I did get to help Emily (another missionary in Ayorou) prep for the Bible study.

The weekend went great and here are some pictures to show you "before & after". The students, about 10 in all, did a wonderful job working a 12 hour day on the clinic in the heat. At the end of the day, the clinic director told Mark that he was "thankful beyond words." Mark said the Bible studies also went really well and it was nice to be able to play his Taylor guitar for someone else other than the 2 of us!



This is the outside of one of the three buildings. The students painted the exterior.


This is the main waiting area of another building. The second picture is a little wider and shows more of the waiting area.


This is one of the patient rooms. Can you see how much work it needed and how much the students accomplished in one day?

a change in plans

On September 16, the Phillips family found out it was about to go from 2 to 3! That's right, we're pregnant! We had tried to plan this pregnancy as best we could. We hoped the baby would be born sometime around April or May. "Why?" you may ask. Well, April and May are hot season and since there is limited medical care here in Niger, our board will send the expectant mother to Senegal to deliver. So, if we had the baby in either of those months, we'd be a little cooler! Selfish, aren't we?

Things were going very well with the pregnancy besides some major morning sickness (which is more like "all day" sickness). On October 1, we even had an ultrasound and heard the baby's heartbeat (he/she is an active one)! Unfortunately, a couple of days later a problem arose. I began bleeding a little. Hoping it to be normal (as it sometimes can be), we decided to wait it out and get it checked in Niamey a few days later.

To make a very long story short, after much poking and prodding, we discovered that I have a "hematoma decidual." Basically that means that there is a pocket of blood or a bruise that is stuck between my placenta and my uterine wall. The hematoma can cause the placenta to break free and, thereby, cause a spontaneous abortion. This could happen in the next minute or 5 months from now. After talking to doctors here and in the States, they determined that at this point I am not in a high risk category if this separation were to occur. As the pregnancy progresses and if the hematoma does not dissolve or continues to grow, then I will become a high risk pregnancy and it will pose a threat to mine and the baby's life.

With all of this information gathered, the board decided that I needed to be around medical care until we go home to the States for vacation in 3 weeks. What that means is that I must stay in Niamey and Mark has to return to Ayorou to continue ministry. I have been instructed to abstain from physical activity and to have routine ultrasounds to monitor the size of the hematoma.

When we began to make plans to add to our family, we never planned this. When we found out that the pregnancy had taken a more serious turn, we never planned to be separated from each other. There are many other things that have happened in our life over the last year that we would've never planned. But what God has shown us over and over is that He is sovereign, that He is in control and that we must trust that He has a bigger plan at work in our lives - far past what we can see in front of us. And that's where we are at - trusting God, relying completely on Him and putting this in His hands.

As for you, our faithful prayer partners, we would like for you to rejoice with us as the Lord is forming another life. We also ask that you would pray that the hematoma would dissolve and I would go on to a normal, full-term pregnancy. Please also pray for these next 3 weeks as Mark and I are separated. Pray for Mark and those he will minister to in Ayorou and that he'll be able to stay focused. Pray for me as I have to "sit with my feet up" for 3 weeks - that God would show me how I would bring the most glory to His name. Pray for my ladies (Madame Abduli, Mariama & Hamsatou) that I won't see for 2 months - that God would continue to reveal Himself to them & draw them closer.


a picture of Baby Phillips at 8 weeks; the due date is May 20


the bulge on the left is the hematoma

pause.

We've been in Abidjan, Ivory Coast for a week of debriefing our first year on the field. It's been a good time of pausing and reflecting. So often I think we forget to do both of these things (pausing and reflecting) enough. If we do manage to pause, we (or at least I) forget to reflect. It's strange because I don't do this with other things that I might pause. For instance, when I read a book and have to put it down for a bit I will rarely just pick up where I left off without first going back a few paragraphs to sort of re-orient myself to the story.
And that's what this week has been. We've had times to rest this first year and we've been able to put a "pause" on life. However, I think we've often jumped right back into the mix of things without re-orienting ourselves to the story we find ourselves in. However, this week has forced us to look back before we look ahead.
I think the Psalmists understood how important this reflection was for their journey. Without reflection we are left without a point of reference or context. Everything happening right now is the lens to which we can view reality through and a lot of times how we view God. We forget how God has proven himself faithful over and over again. We forget the victories. We forget how we grew in the defeats. We simply forget.
The Psalter is constantly exhorting the people of God to look back as they look ahead. He reminds them how God brought them out of slavery, how God displayed his power, and how God has a plan for them.
And so here we are a year later and as we've looked back this week we are in awe of how God has moved in our lives, of how God has taught us so much, of how completely dependent we've become on Him, of how faithful God is, of how God is drawing people to salvation in a village where they've never heard the name of Christ, and of just how powerful the name of Christ is.
So now we look forward to this next season of life and ministry in Ayorou. And after a week of not just pausing but also reflecting we go back to Niger refreshed and confident that the Kingdom of Christ will continue to advance among the Songhai!

a ban

"A ban" is Songhai for "it's finished." That's right, language #2 is finished! Parker and I took our Songhai test last Sunday and both scored where we should be at this point. This means our days of "official" language study are behind us. So many of you have diligently prayed for our language for an entire year now. We are so thankful for your many prayers. Now we face our ministry focus. While we've tried to incorporate ministry into our lives since day 1, our focus has been on language acquisition. We understood that if we didn't get language now, we'd forever cripple our ministry. While there is still lots of room to grow in our ability to communicate, we are excited about this next step in our lives in Ayorou.

Our team had a celebration party for us for completing language study. These are our "Songhai" gifts we received ... aka the hat is not a normal part of Mark's attire.

And these are the baguettes we received for completing French. Yum Yum!