Settling in...

Well, it's been a few months in the new place and it's starting to feel like home.  Yes, we were blessed to have so much furniture given to us in the first month, but it's taken some time to rearrange and settle in, to make it feel like this is our place, but we are getting there.  I know several people have been asking, so here are some random shots of our place:

our kitchen...the door in the back leads to the "maid's quarters".  We'll just use it for storage  :)

our bedroom

The dresser I fixed up this summer.  

  Rey's music room

 partially sound proofed for now  :)

office space

our sitting room
area behind the sitting room. It's really all just one HUGE room.  Great for entertaining.  :)

the newest additions to our family:  Fred and Wilma.  I had no part in this decision!  

There is one more bedroom that we are still working on.  Each bedroom has it's own attached bathroom with tub/shower.  There is even a laundry room, which I didn't know existed in Bahrain!  Usually the washing machine is kept in a bathroom or the kitchen.  There is also a small balcony around the back of the house (accessible through the kitchen), and a large balcony around the front.  Now that the weather is getting cooler, we hope to make use of those spaces!  

Home Sweet Home

It's been a whirlwind around here lately!  The school year finished at the end of June.  After all the flurry of graduation, exams, grading, and planning for next year, we were all ready for a break!  :)

end of the school year celebration

DJ getting ready to move

BUT no rest for the weary!  Summer vacation began by moving to a new house.  Although it was a lot of work, we could see God's hand through it all.  In a month's time, we were able to find a new place and fully furnish it based on generous donations.  God truly does provide!  We have rented one floor of a villa (house).  The AGYFC office will be there along with Rey's music studio, and a meeting room for youth.  While the set up and preparations are not quite complete, we are eager to see how God blesses this place for use in his kingdom.  We have almost everything set up for donations--stayed tuned for how you can help out!

Rey and I at graduation. 

Our new place!  We are on the top floor--note the great balcony!

This past weekend we broke in the house with a little housewarming party.  A house is always better when it's full!  :)  We had a potluck dinner, and Rey prepared a stir fry station for live cooking.  He loves putting on a show!  It was delicious.

friends :)

so much food

Chef Rey!

We are also in the midst of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting.  With temps well over 100, it is not an enjoyable time to fast.  We mainly stay inside as all food venues are closed anyways, and it's just too hot to go anywhere.  We will all be very happy when Ramadan is over!

Ramadan flags

 

Time for a Change...

Dear Family and Friends,

Two years ago I began coordinating with Arabian Gulf Youth for Christ (AGYFC) based in the United Arab Emirates.  We dreamed of having a youth camp in Bahrain.  After much hard work and planning, that dream became a reality.  We had the first ever Desert Challenge youth camp in 2012.  The next year we had another youth camp that was even better than the first.  After the success of these two camps, AGYFC began exploring the possibility of moving into Bahrain in a more permanent capacity.  After much prayer and consideration, I have decided to join them.  This will be my last year teaching; beginning August 2013, I will officially begin working with AGYFC full time.  Although I will be employed with the organization in the UAE, I will be working here in Bahrain. 

In addition to planning the Desert Challenge youth camps, I will be working with local churches and youth groups.  My goal is to gather resources, train leaders, and develop programs that will support and encourage youth ministry in Bahrain.  Ultimately we would like to create a youth center that would be available to all the youth groups here.  Right now we are renting a floor of a villa that will serve as our home, the AGYFC office, and a meeting place for various youth groups.  In addition, Rey is developing a practice room/recording space for local Christian artists and bands.  We hope to make this facility open to any and all groups in Bahrain.

One of the challenges of this endeavor is fundraising.  AGYFC is a nonprofit organization.  That means that all expenses including rent and utilities, my salary, and all operational and program costs must be raised through donations.  Donations can be made on a monthly, yearly, or one time basis.  More details about donations will be available soon for those who are interested in supporting this ministry.  In the meantime, we are beginning to set up the office and youth center.  The space is unfurnished, so we are looking for people who are willing to help with the furnishings.  Some of the immediate needs are air conditioners (window units), a bed, a stove, a dining table and chairs, cupboards, and a desk.  If you have any items you are willing to donate or if you know people moving or selling furniture, please let me know. 

Please keep this ministry in prayer.  Thank you for your support.

Jena Phillips

36760819

already summer

I can't believe it's summer already!  With school projects, youth events, and the like, spring has just flown by.  Here's some highlights:
Grade 7 took a field trip to the Bahrain Coast Guard!  Sad to say, I never knew we even had one, but I suppose it makes sense!  The entire presentation was in Arabic, so I have no idea if it was even good or not, but afterwards we got to go on a fun boat ride!  We stood on top of the open air boat with only a thin wire to keep us on board.  It seemed slightly dangerous with a pile of rambunctious seventh graders, but it was fun cruising the coast.  :)

                           

  

      

 

Most of the fourth quarter we were reading the novel Hoot.  It's quite the cute and entertaining story of several misfit middle schoolers on an environmental crusade.  Although I had to read most of it aloud and explain all the sarcasm, my students really enjoyed it.  Here's the awesome bulletin board I made of all the characters, which turned out to be quite helpful as one of the boy characters is named Dana which was terribly confusing for my students!

In June we celebrated the Al Raja graduation.  As usual, it was quite the festive occasion.  Here's Rey and I all dolled  up for it.

This year was also a special on as it marked the retirement of our principal, Peter Kapenga, after 10 years of service to Al Raja School.  We had a lovely celebration dinner at the Regency Hotel, complete with a song and dance put on by the staff!  (No, I did not participate, considering my inability to carry a tune and my Dutch blood :) )
This spring we also welcomed the newest member of our family, DJ Fluff Magnet.  (Yes, Rey must have some magic power to be able to convince me to get a dog!)  I still would say I'm not a fan of dogs, although this little one has managed to steal my heart.

                   

                   

Last week we had another youth event, a praise and worship evening called (HE)art of Worship.  We wanted to explore other art forms as worship (dance, painting, drama, rap, poetry, collage)  We started with a time of corporate singing, and then broke into stations where the youth could try out a different art form.  I was in charge of the collage station.  Fortunately for me and my green habits, I stumbled upon the art room at school at the end of the year when they were getting rid of all the old supplies.  I garbage-picked two big bags full of acrylic paints, colored pencils, glitter, colored paper, brushes, old magazines, and even half-finished canvases that I repainted.  It was a gold mine!  Rey just rolled his eyes as I walked away with all my treasures, but the timing could not have been more perfect.  After the stations, each group had a chance to come to the front to present what they learned.  It was a great event with about 100 kids attending.  Surprisingly, most of the youth had NOT been part of the camp in April, so our reach is spreading!

   

  Rey being, well, Rey.  :)Collage station

Dilip leading worship.

Our awesome team for (HE)art of Worship.



Now we are on summer vacation.  This will actually be my FIRST summer spent in Bahrain!  It's already been 110* (or hotter, I'm sure) and Ramadan starts in 10 days.  Still, I'm trying to be optimistic.  I've made a list of things to keep me occupied this summer including many Pinterest recipes and projects as well as exploring some new corners of Bahrain (or perhaps discovering there are no new corners!)  I'm going to try to post my discoveries quite regularly throughout the summer.  In the meantime, I've been on a shopping spree of buying plants to at least give me the comfort of being somewhere green.

Cafe in the Park (Is this Bahrain?!?!)

In my recent wanderings, I came across this little gem of a place, my new favorite location in Bahrain:  an outdoor cafe made of all things recycled!  What a small wonder (and something I NEVER thought I would see in Bahrain)!  

 The entire outside is surrounded by wooden frames with recycled Pepsi bottles as planters.  

It's located in an area of Bahrain that they are trying to update and make into a hip little hangout--I'd say they are well on their way.

The furniture is made of all recycled materials too.  They stacked tires on top of each other and covered with bright cushions to make stools.  (in the picture they are covered in plastic because the cafe was actually closed)  They made tables from blocks of scrap wood and stacks of fused cardboard.  They also used industrial cable spools as tables.  Freshly painted dumpsters and oil drums became planters for trees and flowers.  

Next to the cafe, they painted two huge murals on the nearby buildings.  One looks like a pencil sketch of an old man's face; the other is a brightly colored collage.  But the best part of the entire place is the free standing bookshelf!  Just looking at it makes me so happy!  :)

just the beginning

Last year was a very difficult and challenging year. As the protests and unrest increased around the country, so did the level of anger, hate, fear, and uncertainty. People had so many questions about what was going on and why it was happening. Many people left Bahrain. Personally I was struggling as well. My teaching year was one of the most difficult I've had, and my eyes were being opened to the reality of spiritual warfare and its prevalence in this country--seen both through the demonstrations and in my own life. All of this left me seriously questioning what I was doing and why I was here in Bahrain. I began to look for new jobs, new opportunities, new things to do. In my searching, I came across a position at AGYFC--I think it was for a coordinator in Dubai. My mind started racing. What could that look like? Is that something I would be interested in doing? Would I even be good at that? After much thought, I realized that unfortunately, moving to Dubai was not a good option at that point in time. Yet somehow, I knew this was not the end. Thoughts of YFC kept floating in the back of my mind and I felt certain that at some point, I would be working with this organization. About a month later, an unexpected opportunity popped up to work at Al Raja. When I first came to Bahrain, I was teaching at Al Raja, but after two years I left and took a job at another school. Now suddenly, this door was being opened for me to return. Within a week, I had a new position teaching there. I could not for the life of me figure out how that had happened. For some reason, I needed to return there. Looking back, I realize that the foundations for DC were already being laid.

At the end of the summer, I began reading a book about leadership. I don't necessarily consider myself a leader, but I end up in leadership positions often enough that the book was intriguing. The book talked about understanding the needs of the people you are going to lead and having a vision. While I often find books like this inspiring, they are also terribly frustrating, especially when you live in a different context like here in Bahrain. I could easily think of a million needs of people in the States, but when it came to Bahrain, I had nothing. I realized that I really didn't know what the needs of Bahrain were or what God was calling me to do here. What was the reason for me being in this country? I started a long journey of fasting and praying for a vision for Bahrain and how I could be used here. In a few months, I could see a pattern emerging. There were always two ideas that kept coming back to me: harvest and youth. With all that was and is going on in this country, God is opening up a window for a harvest here in Bahrain. The protests raised a lot of questions, and people were looking for answers. The freedom, hope, and certainty that people were seeking can only be found in one thing: Jesus. Running parallel to that was the idea of youth. The harvest and revival of Bahrain would begin with the youth. Raising a new generation of grounded, hopeful youth would change the face of this entire country. It was around this time that I began talking to you about the possibility of having DC in Bahrain.

In the fall we put together a team to start making this possibility a reality. I soon realized that taking on a project like this was not just logistically challenging, but spiritually as well. Suddenly it was clear why I went through so much spiritual warfare earlier: it was all in preparation for this. When you set out to do the work of God, you are bound to face resistance. And we did. Lots of it. No one really knows all that went on. Being the coordinator, I was on the forefront of the battle, and through many tear-filled nights, I learned the meaning of ENDURE long before the camp ever took place. Sadly, much of the resistance and battle took place within the Christian community. During the worst of it, I had to make a decision if this was all even worth it. At that point, I was standing alone--everyone had given up and I was the only one pushing forward. I woke up one day and knew that in that day I would have to decide whether to pursue DC or not. I fasted and prayed, searching for an answer. I suddenly remembered an invitation I had received to attend a prayer meeting. I had never been to this meeting before, and I didn't know anyone there, but I decided to go anyway. Of all the days that I needed a prayer meeting, that was it. When I walked in, no one was there except one person. He about fell over when he saw me. Their group had been praying for the youth, and he knew about Desert Challenge. He immediately started calling his friends to tell them I was there, and they needed to rush over. A few minutes later, some of the guys showed up and we began to pray. I did not know any of the people there and none of them knew what was going on with DC, yet soon they were pouring Scripture verses over me-- Elisha asking for a double portion of Elijah's spirit, Daniel in the lion's den, the fiery furnace. The words of encouragement kept coming, and it was so clear that I needed to keep going. Even though I was in the middle of the lion's den, God would shut the mouths of the lions, and I would escape unharmed. And that's exactly what happened. One by one the lion's fell away. Through various means and people, each "lion" that showed up was silenced. Even on Saturday night, the last" lion" came to DC and couldn't say a word against it. His mouth was shut and he ended up asking for the names of all the leader's so he could personally thank us. God has truly been laying the foundations of DC for a long time, and he was faithful to see it through to completion. One of the YFC staff asked me on Saturday night what it felt like now that DC is over. I replied that I felt like I was in a daze. I think it would be more accurate to say I felt like I was in a dream, like could this really be happening? Now after a few days and some much needed sleep, I'm beginning to realize what actually took place this past weekend. I'm shocked and stunned and awed. God is working in this country in phenomenal ways, and I feel DC is just the beginning.

Here is a hightlight video of our groundbreaking weekend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCQ1omTNr7w

stress relief

Things have been pretty hectic since I got back to Bahrain. I arrived at 10:00pm on Sunday night, and was up by 5:00am for school on Monday morning. It's been a solid running pace since then. We are in exam season at school right now, so that means lots of preparation for teachers. Exams need to be written, double checked, rewritten, triple checked, submitted, and assembled. As the English coordinator, it's my job to do all the checking and rechecking. Add to that the piles of papers I still needed to grade, and second quarter grades that needed to be calculated, barely left me enough time to sit or eat lunch. Then, nearly every evening was spent in meetings for a youth camp that we are planning for April or worship team practice (for Rey) or meetings with other people or dinners to attend or____________; the list goes on. Finally, a few weekends ago, we decided we needed a break. We called up the gang and headed out for a night of fun. Along the way we captured these pictures that pretty much sum up our night (and how badly we needed to get out!) ...