ANSWERED PRAYER

God answers prayer. Sometimes it is not the way we may expect or want, but He does answer according to His purpose and will for our lives.

A month ago, I asked you to pray for Zac Smith (see in archives). He had been diagnosed with stage four cancer and had been undergoing chemo treatments. To most of us and even medical doctors, his prognosis did not look good.

Today, halfway through his proposed treatment plan, Zac heard the news that he is FREE of cancer! His doctor said he had never seen anyone react to the treatments like this. All because of the thousands who lifted Zac up in prayer! You can read here Zac's own words on his wonderful news.

I can rejoice with Zac, his wife, parents and sister so much more, understanding what those few words meant to us when we heard them such a short time ago. Thank you for praying for Zac and thank you for continuing to pray for Gary.

SEPTEMBER 13

This weekend marks the one year anniversary since Gary received his diagnosis of cancer. As many of you know, Gary had been ill for a long time before doctors had figured what was causing his pain and paralysis.

Today, at our sending church, Lifepoint Baptist in San Angelo, TX, Gary was able to preach for the first time since April 08. This was a very momentous and emotional day for Gary. He loves preaching and has missed doing it this past year and a half.

He told me this weekend that he was nervous about preaching because he was not sure if he would be able to. Partially because it had been so long since he had been behind the pulpit, but also because the paralysis that he still has on the side of his face sometimes affects his speech.

I told him that Lifepoint was the perfect place to do this for the first time, because the members would be listening to him with ears of love. It would not matter to them if he preached the same as he had done in the past.

Gary was very emotional after the services today. Being a preacher has been his life and he loves it more than anything. He told me he was just so happy to be back at it. If you would like to hear his message today, you can go here , click on video for the September 13th service.

God has been so good to us to give Gary the opportunity to continue serving Him. We appreciate your prayers! We know he would not have been here today without them!

NATHANIEL IS HOME!

Thank you so much for your prayers! Nathaniel came home from the hospital today! I was pretty emotional tonight, thinking how just a few months ago, we did not know if Gary would be able to see Brian's son come into the world, and now Gary was able to spend the day holding and talking to this precious blessing! God has truly blessed us!

NATHANIEL

Thank you for your prayers for Nathaniel. This morning, he was taken off the breathing machines! The doctor said it was a "MAJOR milestone". He is not out of the woods yet, but we are very relieved to see him doing so much better.

NATHANIEL JEAN PHILLIPS

On Wednesday of this week, we received a call from our son that they were going to hospitalize our daughter-in-law, Kristina because her blood pressure was high and she was having headaches. She was experiencing preeclampsia and if she got worse, they would induce labor. Since we had 6 more weeks before our grandson's due date, we made plans to drive to Georgia Thursday. Even though the 14 hours trip was very hard on Gary, we were so glad we came when we did. Early Friday morning, they did an emergency C-section and Nathaniel came into the world weighing in at 4.7 lbs. He lungs are immature and so has had trouble breathing. Today, they had to insert a chest and put him on a breathing machine. Please pray for this precious little guy! Pray for Kristina and Brian as well. Kristina is recovery well from her surgery and will probably be released from the hospital tomorrow. It will be very hard on her to leave her baby in the hospital.

AUGUST 17

Today was another milestone for Gary. We went to the driving range to see if he would be able to grip a golf club enough to hit the balls. HE COULD! He still has a long way to go as far as getting his strength and stamina back, but it was wonderful to know that he will be able to play golf again! I told him that now he doesn't have to just drive the cart for me. *smile* This may seem like a small thing, but you golfers out there know how it would feel to not be able to play again. This is such an encouragement to Gary. We appreciate all the continued prayer for him.

ZACHARY SMITH

In the past year, you all have proved that you are great prayer warriors! I would like to introduce you to Zachary Smith.Zac grew up in Ecuador with his missionary parents, Jim and Sharon Smith. This past year, at age 32, Zac was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, which has metastasized to his liver and spleen. He is married and the father of 3 young children. He is in need of prayer.

I do not know Zac personally, but have a connection because of being fellow missionaries with his parents and having his grandfather, Carl Boonstra, as our missions director for a time. I told Zac, we have friends all over the world that prayed for Gary and would pray for him!

The church Zac attends recently did some videos with their youth department, and asked Zac to do one. The message that Zac shares is not just for young people, but for all of us. You can also go to his website www.zacsmith.com Please take the time to watch and remember to pray for him! Thanks!

Letter to Zac from NewSpring Production on Vimeo.

PHILLIPS to the PHILIPPINES

We have made the decision to change our website to a blog format. It has the same name as our website, except "blogspot" is inserted before .com. Those of you familiar with our website will need to remember this.

I will be posting about past ministry opportunities until we are able to return to the Philippines in December. We hope that doing this format, we will generate more "hits", so sign up to be a "follower" and you will be notified each time a new post is published.

Check us out!

www.phillips2pi.blogspot.com

BACNOTAN, LA UNION, PHILIPPINES

Bible Baptist Church

Pastor Delfen

Bacnotan, La Union

Philippines

SAN FERNANDO, LA UNION, PHILIPPINES

Bible Baptist Church

Missionary/Pastor Robert Phillips

San Fernando, La Union

Philippines