http://www.thelastwellmovement.com/blog-content/rss.html description http://www.thelastwellmovement.com/blog-content/post/20.html In Vail, Colorado on October 19, 2000, I started my very first “Life’s 100,” which Jack Nicholson’s PR agency has since instructed me to call a “Bucket List.”  Never mind the fact that I couldn’t think of 100 items right off the bat.  The very first strokes of the pen jotted the aspiration of climbing Mt. McKinley, as part of a larger goal of climbing the Seven Summits.  I had become aware of the first-time feat achieved by Dick Bass through a recent article. I have to admit mountaineering may not have qualified as a true passion at the time - let alone my life’s purpose.  If it were, I would have prioritized climbing 14ers in my spare time, wracked up tons of experience, and built an impressive resume of summits.  Perhaps I might even have pursued it as a way to earn a living.  Instead it remained my favorite daydream, and felt like a promise waiting to be filled. http://www.thelastwellmovement.com/blog-content/post/18.html First of all, I’d like to thank all of you on behalf of The Last Well for your prayers and support during the most challenging moment of my life: the Summit of Mt. Elbrus in Russia last week.  As you may have read 8 of the 11 of our team made it to the summit of Mt. Elbrus, the tallest peak on the European continent.  I’m so proud of our team, not just for summiting but much more importantly because through his expedition we raised $250,000 to provide clean water in Liberia in Jesus’ name, reaching our goal for our first expedition! http://www.thelastwellmovement.com/blog-content/post/19.html I'm not the type of person that ever thinks about giving up or being defeated, but I know I will be defeated - many times in my life. I also know I should accept these trials with pure joy all the while trying to discern God's lesson for me through them. I went into this expedition knowing I have suffered from altitude sickness in the past. Anytime I've approached 13,000ft and higher I got sick. I prayed that it would not affect me this time or that I would be able to take medicine to mitigate any affects even though I dislike any medicine dependencies. http://www.thelastwellmovement.com/blog-content/post/17.html Friends, family, and Frontliners... I'm thrilled to send out these four pictures of our summit team climbing Elbrus at sunrise as well as two pictures from the summit of the highest mountain on the continent of Europe!  Most of the team arrived home safely last night (Saturday) to a cheering group of friends and family at the airport.  Jordan Olivero and Andrew Pitts took a later flight home and should have arrived safely this morning (Sunday).  We're waiting to hear word that they are back on American soil.I'm going to ask each climber to post a blog in the next few days so you can read about our adventure from the perspective of each man on the team.We are all spending time with family and unpacking today and I'll be in the Frontline office bright and early Monday morning.  God has truly displayed His majesty in the grandeur of His creation as well as the intimacy of friendship.  Thanks be to God for who he is!Carpe Deum! (Seize God!) Todd Phillips http://www.thelastwellmovement.com/blog-content/post/16.html At 12:30PM Elbrus Time (4:30AM EST) on Wednesday July 2nd, 2008 eight of eleven members of the Expedition Elbrus Team stood on the summit of the highest peak on the European Continent! Rob Newton, Zach Casper, Andrew Good, Andrew Pitts, Thomas Heffernan, Nate Keeler, Jordan Olivero, and myself (Todd Phillips) endured forty mile-an-hour winds and a severe snowstorm to reach the summit. Jim Printz became severely ill and just before the ascent was unable to climb with the team on summit day. Ryan Wheaton went temporarily blind in his left eye about two hours into the summit attempt and was forced to turn back, and Chad Madden, the videographer, turned around at 17,300 feet (1,200 feet below the summit). These men each made some of the toughest decisions imaginable and I applaud them for their clear-headed ability to make the right choice at the right time. A few honorable mentions must be noted: - Rob Newton, Tom Heffernan, and Zach Casper assisted one of our climbers down nearly 3,000 feet down unimaginably difficult terrain through a blinding snowstorm with high winds. - Ryan Wheaton, upon returning to base camp, manned the radio and leapt to action when he heard two climbers were coming ahead of the rest of the team on a snow cat. He met the two climbers when they arrived, took their packs, ski poles and ice axes, and prepared hot drinks for the two dehydrated climbers. When all of the pledges come in from this expedition, as well as donations made before the climb itself and a matching grant from a donor through Living Water International, we are confident that this 10 man team of bright, young, passionate Christ-followers will have reached their unheard-of goal of $250,000! One hundred percent of this money will be used to buy equipment and drill wells in Liberia in the name of Jesus! I am thrilled to have been part of such an incredible team of young men and count it as one of the highlights of my life. We will stay in the valley just below Elbrus until Saturday morning when we will board our flight to the U.S. Every climber agrees that this was without a doubt the most difficult experience of his life. I agree whole-heartedly. I have had the privilege of summiting Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. I failed to summit Aconcagua on the Chile/Argentina border and failed to summit Mt. Elbrus on my first attempt in 2001. Each one of these challenges were unique in their own way but this summit was by far the most physically and mentally challenging effort I have ever undertaken. I give credit to the team but above all to God for the strength he gave each member of the team. Your servant for His sake, Todd Phillips http://www.thelastwellmovement.com/blog-content/post/15.html Julie Phillips received a call this morning (July 2nd) from a huffing and puffing Todd. EIGHT Expedition Elbrus team members made it to the summit! Stormy weather, and altitude sickness caused problems for three of the guys but Todd said EVERYONE is fine and did a wonderful job. The attempt started at 3am and the reached the summit around 12:30 pm. They were able to put the banner: Expedition Elbrus- Last Well Movement and LIBERIA on the top of Elbrus! Hopefully this journey has been able to shed more light on the issue of clean water in a war torn nation as well as bring glory to our Heavenly Savior.Thank you all for praying- Todd plans on posting a more detailed blog in the next few days. http://www.thelastwellmovement.com/blog-content/post/13.html Weather was terrific yet again!  Seven years ago when I was here for my first attempt at Elbrus the weather was horrible!  God has blessed us with unbelievably warm and sunny days.  Today was no different.  We left the hotel at 8:00am for a 45-minute ride to a beautiful area of the valley.  We hiked up a trail about 1,400 feet to the edge of a massive glacier for our training day.  The crampon and ice axe training was amazing, but the best was yet to come.  Tap, our guide, and his assistant Oleg, set ropes for us to practice ice wall assent and descent.  The guys loved it!   http://www.thelastwellmovement.com/blog-content/post/12.html Join us as we are praying for the Expedition Elbrus Team.  We have 3 more scheduled prayer calls.  Here's an update from the first call that just occurred at 9am EST today.  At least 10 voices were raised together in prayer for you all - such sweet time of prayer I found tears streaming down my face. We prayed for weather, safety, strength - physical and mental, each step, health, and on.We prayed for Liberia and the church to grow there through the Last Well Movement and providing clean water in the name of Jesus.We prayed for the salvation of the Elbrus guides and the opportunities each member of the team may have to share about Jesus. We prayed that all would make it to the top, and so on.  If you'd like to join us for any of the other calls, feel free to do so on these key dates:If you would like to participate, at the assigned times, please call - 877-926-8391  Passcode 2832229. They will be short 15 to 20 minute calls that will be dedicated completely to prayer, so no need to announce yourself when you call in, just listen in and if there's an open moment, feel free to pray. Edward Hunt will open and close us out. Here are the call in times - the call in number and passcode are the same for all 3 remaining calls. June 30 – Go to high hut on Elbrus... 12:00 noon EST July 01 – Acclimatization hike... TIME CHANGE - 5:00pm EST July 02 – Attempt Elbrus...7:00am EST http://www.thelastwellmovement.com/blog-content/post/11.html Hello friends, family, and Frontliners!  Our team arrived in the Baksan Valley at the base of Mount Elbrus yesterday (Friday) afternoon.  The weather is unseasonably warm (which is a good thing) and our guide, Tap Richards, is terrific.  We went for our first acclimatization hike today.  We went from 7,000 feet above sea level at our hotel up to 10,000 feet.  We got our first look at the two-headed summit of Elbrus today.  Almost everyone on the team has commented that the mountain looks much, MUCH bigger than they imagined.  I believe each member of the team appreciates the challenge that is ahead.  The team looks strong and everyone is in good spirits. The first five days in Moscow went relatively smoothly.  We visited the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral (the building with all of the different colored cones jutting out from the top), a magnificent new cathedral called the Cathedral of Christ our Savior, the Arabat Outdoor Market, several cool downtown restaurants, and the Moscow subway (something everyone needs to experience at least once).  The only problem happened on Thursday afternoon when Jordan Olivero, one of our team members lost his passport - something you don't want to do anywhere, but especially not in Russia!  We made arrangements for him to stay in Moscow because he was unable to board the plane the following day with the team heading to Elbrus.  However, the story has a good ending! As of two hours ago (Saturday afternoon) Jordan miraculously arrived at our hotel, new passport in hand, after a series of events that can only be described as God's grace on our young teammate.  So, our team is now complete! We will be hiking to a glacier tomorrow at around 10,000 feet to practice the team roping technique, ice axe arrest training, and use of our crampons (the sharp blades that go on the bottom of our boots that keep us attached to the ice).  We will leave at 7AM tomorrow - Sunday - for our training and we'll get back to the hotel around 3 or 4PM.  Then on Monday morning we'll make our way to our camp at 14,000 feet.  We'll rest Monday afternoon, do more training and acclimatizing on Tuesday and then, weather permitting, we will make our summit attempt Wednesday morning starting at 1AM!   We are 8 hours ahead of East Coast Time (9 hours ahead of our friends and family in Texas) so we will, for example, be starting our summit attempt on Tuesday at 5PM EST/ 4PM CST.  So, please be praying that everyone on our team stays strong and healthy over the next few days.   Finally, as a team we read aloud through the book of Romans while we were in Moscow and it sparked some great discussions among the team.  We decided to read through Acts for the remainder of the trip.  The loss of Jordan's passport led us to pray diligently as a team for his return. His arrival was an incredible testament to the whole team of God's real-world provision against all odds.   We should be able to post one more blog tomorrow and hopefully we'll be able to use a satellite phone while on the mountain to post additional ones as we move toward the summit.  The team wants to thank all of you for your prayer and support.  Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)Todd Phillips and the Expedition Elbrus Team