DECEMBER 28

One year ago today, Gary was going through, and had been going through weeks of excruciating pain. We did not have much hope that he would live long enough to celebrate my birthday a month away. (See DECEMBER 28, 2008) Today, Gary is free of cancer, and he was able to play golf with his father, Robert Phillips and long time friend and fellow missionary Herb Hayes, on a newly built course overlooking the South China Sea. Gary's father, told us the other night that all through Gary's journey with cancer, he had one picture in his mind .... Gary being able to golf once again with him. Today was a very special day for the two of them and we just thank the Lord that He has brought Gary this far. How wonderful to be able to enjoy God's beautiful creation, have great fellowship with fellow missionaries, and make special memories with his father.

Gary's stamina is still not back to normal, but each day we see an improvement. He was able to drive the ball and play better than he had in October when he first tried. Thank you for your prayers!

DECEMBER 21

Just an update on Gary's health. He still tires easy and does not have his stamina and strength back, but every day we see an improvement. He is going to try to golf 9 holes tomorrow using a cart. Hopefully, he will be able to gain strength each day.

We did get the final report of the last PET/CT scan and it was clear of cancer. We rejoice in that! Gary has struggled with his right eye, tearing alot and at times painful, so he went to an eye doctor last week.... mainly because his reading glasses were not working for him. *smile* We have used Dr. Reyes many times and he is a member of fellow missionary Lance Gotcher's church. He was well aware of what Gary has gone through these past two years. He ran the usual test and was concerned that the right eye appeared to have a little cloudiness in it, indicating cataract. He put Gary on another machine to test his eye and we had to wait for the results.

After the test were back in, Dr. Reyes called us back in his office and explained that he put Gary on the test because he was concerned that the damage to the nerves on Gary's face and/or the brain tumor, might have done some permanent damage to Gary's eye, causing him to lose his sight. He had tears in his eyes as he explained how relieved he was to see that the damage was very minimal.

There is some loss of Gary's peripheral vision, but considering all that he went through, it is nothing to be alarmed about. He put Gary on drops because his eye is very dry, and prednisone drops for a month. We will then go back and see if there has been any improvement. Gary has already noticed that his eye does not hurt or tear up as much as before, so we feel the drops are helping.

On another note... Before having the stem cell transplant.... in fact most of Gary's life.... he has had terrible cracked heels. He could never walk around barefoot or wear sandals. Since the transplant, his heels are as smooth as a babies! Just one of those funny, unexplained things that happens with cancer.

This past Sunday, we were able to reunite with our church we turned over just before going to the States. Faith Baptist. You can go to http://www.phillips2pi.blogspot.com/ to read about it. Thank you for your prayers!

BACK TO THE PHILIPPINES!

We made it back to the Philippines on Dec. 2. Gary's MRI came back clear. We are still waiting on word of the PETscan , but the doctor acted like he expected that to be clear as well. Words just can't express our joy to be home at last. God has been so good to us! So many times, I thought I would be making this journey without Gary. I am so thankful he is by my side!Our people at Bethel Baptist Church, Quezon City, gave us such a warm welcome. They surprised us by acting as if they really did not know us ... greeting us very unemotionally. After the worship service, Pastor Jun announced, "Let's welcome Pastor Gary and family!" Then BOOM BOOM, confetti was flying and they all swarmed us, hugging, kissing and crying for joy. What a reunion! Many talked how Gary is a living testimony of what God can do. So many thankful hearts, lifting their praise to God for allowing Gary to return.

The choir sang, "It is Well with My Soul", and they had a short video of a little golf ball, who was a long way from home and went through rough times but finally made his way back. It was a great picture of what Gary's journey has been like. I am having trouble with slow Internet loading it, so will try later.

We are anxious to get back to the work God has called us to do. Please pray that Gary will recover his strength and stamina and be able to accomplish all that he feels God is leading him to do. Thank you for your prayers!