A Weekend at Camp

Philip and I just returned from a weekend at Indiana South District's Family Camp in Orleans, Indiana. We had the opportunity to speak at the missions rally on Saturday night. We had a great group of people come from our home church, Faith Wesleyan, to support us! It was such an encouragement to have people there who are already on board with the ministry. The time was good and the Lord provided 3 new faith promise givers along with some church contacts. Thank you so much for all of those who came out from the Faith family to support us! We also appreciate Dr. Eckart for giving us this opportunity. Philip's cousin, Joe (the district youth president) was also there to help us set up! Thank you, Joe for your help and encouragement throughout the weekend!

Philip and I will be in Terre Haute this week as we catch up after a busy week of camp. We are looking forward to speaking at Blue River Wesleyan Church this coming Sunday!

Thank you for your prayers! Praise the Lord for His provision and safety as we traveled last week!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, and baby Adalynn

Our table on display!

Camps

This week has been busy and it is not even over yet! Philip and I have been traveling around Indiana this past week visiting camps! Last Sunday we joined the director of Illiana camp, Scott (who is our brother-in-law), for a few days at his camp located here in Terre Haute. We had a great time connecting with the youth and helping out where we could. On Wednesday, we drove to Dale, Indiana to speak at a district Evangelical Methodist Church youth camp. Philip's friend, Matt, got us connected to come in as the camp's missionaries. We were able to speak to the youth for about 40 minutes about missions. It was a great time to share with the younger generation about what God can do in ordinary people's lives. After speaking to the youth in Dale, we had the chance to spend the next day with them at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. Holiday World is a water/small theme park in southern Indiana.
The camp journey continues...on Saturday we will be driving to Orleans Camp in Orleans, Indiana for the mission rally for the Indiana South District's Family camp. We are so excited to share our call to missions with these families! We hope to spread the burden we have for Russia with these people and hopefully doors will be opened for us to also grow our support team! Thank you for your continual prayers as we are traveling and speaking! Also be praying for the Russian field as they have an annual Youth Bible Conference July 27-August 1. Pray that the youth that attend will have their faith deepened during this time.

We appreciate you all!
Blessings,
Philip, Kara, and baby Adalynn

Down to Mississippi

We want to thank Bridge Point Nazarene Church for their warm welcome this past Sunday! We had the privilege to travel back down to Mississippi and speak at this church about our call to Russia! It was a wonderful morning spent worshiping together in their new sanctuary, and then sharing about God's call for us to spend the next two years in Russia. The pastor, Rob, is a Wesley Biblical Seminary Alumni. He and Philip met years ago when Philip worked for him at the Salvation Army in the early seminary days.
We also had a great time spending some time with some of the congregation after church over lunch! We were greatly encouraged and blessed to have another family join our support team as faith promise givers! We also have many new prayer partners from Bridge Point! Thank you for your desire to serve the Lord through missions, Bridge Point Church!

Pastor Rob and his wife Holly after church

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, and baby Adalynn

Fun at MTI

(Philip having a little fun with some fire crackers!)

Last night at Missionary Training, we had a little celebration after dinner. There is a family here going to Haiti who has a son that turn 13 yesterday! We celebrated his birthday as well as having a little Fourth of July celebration. There were a few fireworks for the kids (all safe of course) and then later the adults had some bigger ones...that is until the rained sent us all inside! It was a fun evening playing games and hanging out with our new missionary friends:)! Though we are ready to be on our way come Friday, we will greatly miss the friendships we have made over the last 3 weeks!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, and baby Adalynn

While some prefer to play in the pot holes...

...others chose to play with the fireworks!

The adults even had some fun!

God is Good!

"God is good all the time...all the time God is good."
This past week was Vacation Bible School at our home church, Faith Wesleyan Church in Terre Haute, IN! Earlier last week Philip's dad called us and told us that the nightly offering from VBS was going to go to our mission's fund!! We were so humbled to hear this news. Philip and I drove to Terre Haute last night for the VBS finale. Pam, who was in charge of the VBS, did a wonderful job with the children. At the end of the night the final offering was counted and we were blown away! Our hearts were humbled as we saw God's faithfulness through the giving of the children and congregation at Faith Wesleyan. Thank you to all the children and families that gave during VBS! God has been encouraging us through you this week!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, and baby Adalynn

Philip and I in the VBS "croc" boat!

VBS helpers!

MTI Continued...

Philip and I are finishing up our 3rd week of missionary training with Global Partners. We are staying at Verity Institute where we have all our meetings and meals. This week we have been talking about theology. Today we talked about the importance of being able to articulate and explain the doctrine of the Trinity. We also talked about team building. It was a full day, and the days to come are going to be even more packed with information! Please pray for the 18 other missionaries as we continue through this week. People are becoming weary as we enter this last week of training. Pray for the strength of the Holy Spirit and for His anointing to be upon us as we finish out the week. Philip and I are so appreciative of each of you as you are a part of this ministry. Thank you for your prayers!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, and baby Adalynn

8 Minutes...GO!

This past Saturday, Philip and I drove to Tipton, IN for the Central Indiana District Women's Conference. We were asked to come speak to the women about our call to Russia as missionaries. This district's conference is a little different in style and kept us on our toes all morning! We were given about 8 minutes to speak to each table of ladies. There were about 14 tables of 5 women each. Philip and I went around and spoke about ourselves, how we met, our call, and how the women and their churches could partner with us. After 8 minutes of talking a bell rang, and we went to the next table! It was an enjoyable time getting to speak to each group of women! We really enjoyed moving around and being able to connect more one-on-one with people. We pray that the Lord will continue to work on the hearts of the women as they look to see how they can support this ministry!
Thank you, Wesleyan Women, for allowing us to spend the morning with you! We also want to thank Tipton Trinity Wesleyan Church for hosting us!

Philip, the only male at the whole conference!

At the end of the conference as women were getting ready to leave

Tipton, IN brought us about 27 miles shy of Indiana Wesleyan University where Philip and I both went to school. We took this opportunity to go and visit the campus and see the incredible changes!

The Student Center (this area was part of a road when we went to IWU!)

The beautiful prayer chapel...hasn't changed a bit!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara and baby Adalynn