The End

Well, I am officially ending this blog. It has been great to share with you through the years with it but Mel and I have started a new one together:

http://philandmel.wordpress.com/

So from now on please link up to this one. I am sure 'we' will be doing a much better job posting!

Cheers -

Phil

Its Official

Well as many of you have heard - Melanie and I are engaged! It has been a long road for me and Mel has been very patient these past years. I wanted to make sure I was in the right place and by the grace of God he brought an amazing woman into my life. One that loves the Lord, loves people and loves me.

You can check Mel's blog for the engagement picture (we were on the Eiffel Tower in Paris) but here are a few more photos from our trip to France.

Family Visit Photos

Here are a few photos from the family visit:

Mel and I

The mom's playing frisbee at an orphanage

The parents brought some balloons for an orphanage....they really enjoyed it!

Left to Right: Tim and Lynne Scherf, Buz and Linda Bloodgood, Steve and LaNea Ewert

It was really a wonderful time! Thanks for coming parents.

Long Time

Well it has been way to long since I have posted. It has been a very busy few months with a family visit and lots of work. It was really a blessing to have family out last month and I will be posting some photos (you can also look at Mel's blog)

Things in Sudan are going good with our programs although there are still many concerns for the country itself.

A good article on Sudan:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/world/africa/12sudan.html?_r=1&hp

I am headed to France with Mel in just a week for Christmas so I am looking forward to that. We will be visiting some family friends there and just relaxing.

more later...

Some days you wonder....

We have just started our work in Jonglei as I put on a previous post but the challenges we face are more and more difficult.

Some of you may have read the report on the latest battle:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8194060.stm

It is hard to know how exactly best to approach this difficult area but we are praying that the Lord would give us wisdom to bring hope in that region.

We have also had a tragic situation here in Kenya where the mission agency that we fly with had a plane go down. Please be in prayer for the families of those who pasted away.

More info here: http://www.aimair.org/page21/page21.html

Both the pilot and the mechanic left behind a wife and several children.

Photos

Here are a few photos for you from my last month:

David, Angelo, Josh and Matt in Kurmuk....looking at some fun finances

Kids in Kurmuk

Sunset in Kurmuk

Katie and I in Yei

Traveling Around

This past month has been a crazy one for me, from visiting various project sites to traveling to Uganda, Khartoum, meeting with the Vice President of Sudan and having a ministry conference for our team.

All my travel went well and it was a blessing to see so much and visit so many places. Last week we had our first ever ministry conference with 80 staff from all over South Sudan. Some of these folks had never even met each other so it was really a blessing to have everyone in the same place at the same time. We had a great time of games, worship, spiritual nourishment, and fellowship.

South Sudan Team

Another blessing was to have my cousin Katie come out for a couple of weeks and volunteer. She did a great job and it was really fun to share a bit of my life with her. Hopefully she will come next summer as well.

Nairobi is cold these days (in the 60s) but Sudan is still pretty warm. In fact, you can be praying that Sudan would receive rain. This year has been very dry and although it makes it easier to work, it is very hard on the people as they plant most of their food.

We continue to pray for peace here and for the hand of our Lord to touch the lives of the people in Sudan.