June 28, 2015

Hey Mom!

Thanks for the pictures! I made the mistake of asking dad for the pictures. What was I thinking! I got one, but it was good. It was of the awesome foods he's been cooking up. My companion is Elder Chalmers. Zone Leaders are Elder Mora and Elder Brazell. District leaders are Elder Borgel and Elder Sanchez. I will send you pictures of the baptism. WOOHOO! And yes, we can watch talks and mormon messages and the restoration videos but thats pretty much it! So yeah, mormon messages (the most inspirational and spiritual and epic and awesome) and talks as well! BTW, Here's the best talk: Elder Holland's MTC Devotional. I think it was in January of 2011? But it is super good! You've probably seen it, but its worth seeing again.

There they are! Another girl in our ward area (but other district becaust we have 4 missionaries in our ward) got baptized too! Her name is Ruby I think

They have really good burritos down here. Just thought you'd like to know that. 

Love You Mom!

Elder Phillips

Hey Dad!

So first I'll answer your questions.

The people around here live in much better conditions than Tijuanna. It's still not quite up at American standards, but yeah. The people in our area are for the most part pretty well off by Mexico's standards. Some are very poor, but we have a very nice area. The most wealthy ones are those who learned English and work over in El Paso during the week. the others work really bad hours in factories over here making roughly $50 a week to support their family.

I am serving in the Chapultepec 1 ward. There are 2 different companionships in our ward. Elder Borgel and Sanchez are the others here with us.

I'm glad you had fun at the Reunion! I've been partying it up pretty good down here too. You probably wouldn't even recognize me I'm so tan! ok, I feel like I've almost got a tan. But I'm so close I can feel it!

Boulder lake! I remember that! It really is beautiful up there. Did you take any pictures? I may not be able to send you pictures often, but send me pictures of everything! Send me all your snapchats and selfies! Anything! Ok, I take that back. Not all of your snapchats. Because those get pretty crazy.

Miss you!

Elder Phillips

On Sun, Jun 21, 2015 at 10:11 PM, Dave Phillips <boisedwp@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey Elder --

Well I hope that you had another good week. It is always great to hear from you. We had a very good week. It was the Nielson family reunion. We did it up at the lodge in Donnelly   It was Sally and del, grandma and grandpa, Susan, Karen, rob, Leila and Liam, and Devon, Emma, and Maren. It was a good time.

Some of the stuff we did at the reunion:  rob and I golfed. We all went to the beach a few times, we went to a hot springs along a stream that was out in the wild. It was not one where you pay, just a wild hot spring that was really nice, we hike to Boulder lake. I had never been there and it was a great hike and very pretty.  I think you went there last summer on her go adventure. It was fun for those that went. My achilles was fine for the hike so that was good. We also went to a world class stand up paddle board competition at the new whitewater park in cascade. It was really fun. We roasted a ton of marshmallows and played games too. It was fun. We went to church this morning and then headed home. It was a good time.

So last week you mentioned a few investigators:  Antonio, Arturo, and Silvia. How are they doing?  Do these guys live in places like Deoni (remember the lady that we built a roof and rewired her house for)?  Are they really poor or do they live a more normal life?  What Ward do you serve in right now?  Are there several missionaries in the ward or do you cover multiple wards?

Have a great week!

David Phillips

June 22, 2015

First, Here is the letter I wrote to him

     This weeks seem to be long! Hope it went fast for you. We got together with all of our family for our Nielson reunion, I'm actually in Pocatello right now! The symons car broke down on their way to MCall, So I had to go pick them up in Boise and drive them up. Then I had to drive them back to Pocatello. Bummer. We had a good time,
But you were missed! Liam ran through the house calling for you and nobody had the heart to tell him you weren't there :-) devin might've missed you the most though, Chris couldn't come so he was the only boy. We hiked up to Boulder Creek Lake that I think you hiked to as a scout, Megan and maren jumped in the water and froze to death. The Nielson family reunion and the Phillips family reunion are totally different! We never once played a game, although I think the little girls played some cards upstairs, and we explored all over the MacColl area 

     Where was I when I accidentally hit send :-) oh yeah, I was trying to edit the word McCall.             

      We found some hot pools we did a great hike, and we went to the Payette River games where we watch some stand up paddle races. It was pretty fun.
I'm not sure if it was dad's favorite ever Father's Day though, we had to pack up and come home and then I left to go to Pocatello and grandma grandpa Karen and Liam stayed in Boise for another day :-) he didn't get spoiled for one second!
So now to you, you make sure you keep that sunscreen on! I don't need a crispy fried son coming home ;-) as for little dogs I wish I had 1000 of them running around in the streets :-) in fact, I would love to let Charlie come and run in the streets too! Do they eat the dogs there? That sounds crazy hot and miserable weather, but I heard the rainy season will start soon. Did you ever get an umbrella? Thanks for the correct address, we sent out an incorrect one to everybody :-) maybe you will get a package now! 

   We actually bought you something while in McCall. Oh, I bought you some keens, you know the hiking and water sandals that dad has. If you want me to send them I will. So have you done anything fun on your P day? Do you get to go explore or anything? I talked to other missionary moms and they said to tape your memory card inside a letter and send it home when you have some pictures on that you want me to save. I am glad you are working hard and don't miss us too much, it will make time go faster for you and you will surely be a better missionary.I always include in my prayers that you will have the energy to do what you want and need to do, so I hope that you are doing well physically, I know you were a little worried about that.
It was awesome to hear you say you were grateful for fit mania! Can you just hear Karla saying" I told you so"! I had a funny dream about you last night, all of the Hermana's got to vote on a missionary that they would most want to meet their mother and that missionary got to call home, They all liked you so much that they voted for you! I was super excited. But sad when I woke up and it wasn't true!
    Well, I'm sure you have other things you want to do today, so have a fun one! We miss you, we love you, we are proud of you!
Love love love
Mom

Thanks mom!

No they do not eat dogs here. But dogs do eat other dogs. It's a dog eat dog world down here. Our P days are usually pretty busy and we arent allowed to play soccer or sports. Which makes me really sad because at the church gym (the outside basketball court) they are always playing basketball, volleyball, or soccer and I desperately want to join in!

You won't recognize me in 2 years I'm getting so fat down here! They feed us really well and make deliscious dessert. The other day we opened a can of chilled fruit(it was one of those fruit cocktails with many different bits in it) at a members house after dinner, and it was truly the greatest thing ever. Cold fruit after 106o weather if amazing. But the best yet was something that i think was called: Impossible choco flan? look it up, because it was amazing! And also, we only have a microwave and a stove in our house, so if you can find cheap recipes for microwaves... please send them!

     If you do send a package, Could you include some Mormon Messages? Because all of them down here are in spanish :P. and any of your cavorite talks on a Cd too! Thanks :) 

No I never did end up getting an umbrella. I guess it might be a good idea to invest in one... maybe.

     Unfortunately we havent been able to explore either. But honestly there isnt a whole lot to explore around here. the oldest thing i've seen yet was a banana in the back of our fridge that im pretty sure was put there by Joseph Smith himself!

But anyways, that's just part of the missionary life. (the banana was delish)

Elder Phillips

Hey Everyone!

Good news! Jesus Antonio wanted to get baptised sooner so his baptism will be this saturday! Awesome, right? I'm getting super excited for him! I know he is ready for this and he's super excited! And afterwards, he wants to come visit others with us and help us teach them!

The weather down here is hot. Like 106 degrees hot. And it's crazy dry too. But all the people around here are super nice and always offer us water and soda and stuff. Ice cream is rare, but amazing.

This week my companion and I got attacked by a large dog! I think it was a hybrid of 50% boxer and 50% Chupacabra! It was a big dog. it ran up and was trying to bite my comp. So he kicked it in the face. It barely fazed the beast! Then a guy with a bike rode up and scared it off. "Where were you the whole time, Elder Phillips?" some of you may be wondering. Well let me tell you. 

I bravely ran away.

Have a great week!

Elder Phillips

Hey Dad!

So first I'll answer your questions.

The people around here live in much better conditions than Tijuanna. It's still not quite up at American standards, but yeah. The people in our area are for the most part pretty well off by Mexico's standards. Some are very poor, but we have a very nice area. The most wealthy ones are those who learned English and work over in El Paso during the week. the others work really bad hours in factories over here making roughly $50 a week to support their family.

I am serving in the Chapultepec 1 ward. There are 2 different companionships in our ward. Elder Borgel and Sanchez are the others here with us.

I'm glad you had fun at the Reunion! I've been partying it up pretty good down here too. You probably wouldn't even recognize me I'm so tan! ok, I feel like I've almost got a tan. But I'm so close I can feel it!

Boulder lake! I remember that! It really is beautiful up there. Did you take any pictures? I may not be able to send you pictures often, but send me pictures of everything! Send me all your snapchats and selfies! Anything! Ok, I take that back. Not all of your snapchats. Because those get pretty crazy.

Miss you!

Elder Phillips

Another from June 15

Hey Mom!

I'm sorry I didn't write you, I was feeling terrible about it all week! And so I'm writing you firstish this week!

It has been awesome here! You love little cute dogs? They're running around in the streets everywhere down here! 

I wish I was able to play disney games with you guys! It sounds like fun! I also miss being able to play board games with the family. I've been missing that a bit. But really only a little. We've been working so hard down here and I've been getting sunburnt like crazy! I'll probably end up using a bottle of sunscreen everyday!

I can almost understand the people down here! So long as they talk using simple words, I feel fluent!\

Before anything else, Here's the mail address for our mission: 

1410 Gail Borden Suite

B-4 El Paso, Texas 79935

I believe that's it. And just write elder phillips as the recipient and I'll get it someday!

President Derbez told us that if your family doesn't send you packages, it's because they don't care about you. I'd like to think he was joking...

But yeah! 

Read Helaman chapters 5-6! They are awesome!

Love you always!

~Elder Phillips 

And then the one from Dave, and to Dave :)

On Sun, Jun 7, 2015 at 8:25 PM, Dave Phillips <boisedwp@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey, so Kat gave birth last Wednesday. It was a baby. It was a girl. Her name is Davida. Well maybe not the last part, but that should be her name. Seriously, look at her!  She is fat and red, what more do you need than that to name her after me?  It really hurts my feelings that they went out of their way to not name her after the person she looks EXACTLY like.



Before I forget, you need to send me your physical address. The address for the mission home is what we will put in the bulletin on the back with the other missionaries from our Ward. If you want more letters then you're gonna have to send it to me. Don't forget.

So, as you might have guessed, as soon as the baby was born, mom hit the road to go down there to do whatever it is that grandmas do. She has been doing it ever since and will continue to do that for another week or so. Not really sure what it is, but I think it involves a lot of taking pictures, saying 'oooohh' and other such things that call unnecessary attention to the fat, red little person (did I mention she looks just like me?). Actually she is not all that little, she came out at 9lbs, 14oz!  If Ryan had come from better stock I am sure they could have pushed it over the 10 pound mark. What a slacker!

The kids are now out of school. We are having a memorable time already. They spend the day asking me when mom is coming home, if they can have another Popsicle, if they can play with friends, and if they can go to the park (the answers are:  I have no idea, sure, if your room is clean, and yes). Of course, there is great whining cuz all of the answers are not YES!  I am not too worried. They will get over it.

That is funny that your original trainer got 'fired' for showing up late. Bummer for him. Now he is stuck for another transfer with a missionary who is not YOU!  So sad for him. So tell us all about your comp. how is the language coming along?  Are you limited to bearing your testimony or are you able to teach a bit?  What kind of home/apartment do you live in?  Is there lots of gunfire in the night?  How about in the day?  You are probably so used to it that you don't notice any more.

What do you spend your days doing?  Lots of tracking? Street contacting?  Teaching?  Visiting members?  Re-wiring and Putting roofs on homes in danger of falling down?  How is the food?  I bet it is awesome!

Keep up the old work. We are praying for you always.

David Phillips

Hey dadio!

 

So about that address.... I don't know it. Neither does my comp. What we do know is that it's somewhere in El Paso. I hope that helps :) But you could maybe google it?

 

We visit a lot of members. We have learned that the people here get converted to the missionaries sometimes, and by bringing members they can make friends and go to church more.

 

Feed the missionaries whenever you can! And feed them lots of ice cream!

 

Most days it has been over 100 degrees here. But at night it cools down to about 90. I wake up in the morning drenched in sweat. It's pretty legit. And then we start up the fancy little pilot water heater outside, use the bathroom and usually only have 15 minutes to work out. Im glad I did fitmania though, I know way more stretches than before! I stretch for 5 minutes before, do sit ups for 5 (or lay downs as I like to call them), and stretch for 5 more. Ok that's another joke. Usually I do some pushups and lift weights, do squats and other stuff too. Our weights are just milk jugs full of water though. but I don't mind.

 

We do a lot of contacting and teaching lessons. However, most of the time they aren't home for our lessons so we end up walking a half hour to contact a reference. We don't do tracting. We have been forbidden because it isn't safe.

Fun fact for you:

When a dog dies, guess what they do with it? Stick it in a bag and toss it in the street where it gets run over until it becomes dirt. and that is why mexico smells bad.

And here's a little side note: In talking to my comp I've decided to get a Glock 17 or Glock 19 when I get home. something small and useful. I've decided that I need to be prepared in case America starts to go downhill much more and turns into the next Juarez.

 

Love you dad! Have fun being a grandpa!

~Elder Phillips

June 15, 2015

Hola everybody! 

This week has been so awesome! To start off, the investigators: 

J. Antonio: This guy is so awesome and receptive to the gospel! In our second lesson we placed a baptismal and right now we're planning the baptism for the 4th of july. That's right, it'll be the greatest holiday ever! We taught him about the commandments and it turns out that he was trying to find out how to pay tithing last week! before we taught it to him! He's 23 years old, single, and awesome!

Silvia G: Silvia is 18 years old and about 18 inches tall. Ok not really, but she's very small. She's very timid but is receptive to our message. she has member friends that have been an amazing help while we've been teaching her.

Arturo: He's married with 6 kids. He went to church last week and loved it! he invited us over for dinner too! He loves the church and is very willing to read the book of mormon.

We had divisions with the Zone leader this week and it was awesome! Our zone leader is super cool and has about 21 months now. 

This week my favorite scripture would have to be Ether 12. The whole chapter is so awesome! you should all read it this week because there are many principles that you can learn from it.

Party it up!

Elder Phillips

June 8, 2015

Hola!

Who wants to hear a story!?

Once upon a time there was a magical place where it never rained. 

THE END

I guess that basically summarizes life here in Juarez. Lots of dirt, and dust, and stuff that we wish was dirt. But let me just say, It's a dog-eat-dog world down here. Literally.

This week has been super great! We do a lot of street contacting and teaching lessons with both members and the investigators. We have 2 baptismal dates set right now and I'm getting super excited! My companion is still super awesome and is already wanting to extend his mission. I love it down here and the people are awesome, But I'm not quite ready to ask for an extension. not quite yet. He is an American Elder, and is about as American as you can get. His family is from Australia, but his family moved to Montana about 19 years ago, right before his birth. We talk all about guns and eagles and other super patriotic things. Ford trucks. Steak. The good stuff.

So a little bit about the people here: 1st is our neighbors. They are awesome! They have a little food place that we ate at today. super good. But anyways, a few nights back they stopped by and gave us some carrot cake! Awesome! and then today we ate there and had some burritos and cantaloupe juice that was super good, and then they wouldn't let us pay for it! They are so kind! To return the favor, I think we're going to baptize them. 

We started talking to a guy in the street about the gospel and he said he was interested. And it turns out he's our neighbor! Awesome! We taught a lesson that went super well. You could tell that his family was feeling the spirit. Unfortunately they didn't answer the door for our follow up appointment. Maybe they just weren't there. That's what I hope. Another Member family that lives near us is the Falcon family. They just got baptized and want to go to the temple but need to attend church more. ATTENTION EVERYONE: Church attendance is so super important you don't even know!!!! If you have friends not going to church, Drag them there!   

But anyways, great family. They have a little kitten to that can barely walk. It is super cute. And it hasn't yet learned how to be evil and scratch and stuff!

Everyone here is super nice! One guy was driving around the park last night giving away free candy! They are so nice. ok, not really. They are nice though. We are given tons of food! 

Unfortunately, we aren't able to send pictures home anymore. Unless it is of a family we just baptized. However, I just got permission to send home my last few pictures from the MTC. So I hope you fondly enjoy these last pictures of me in civilization.

 ​Hermana Tuisala! she's from Alaska and was friends with Amy Gray!

 Last day. Super sad. So I took a selfie to cheer us up

​My Frijole of faith! look how big he's gotten! I named him "Beanjamin Frijolin"

Stay Classy Everyone!

~Elder Phillips

To mom June 1st

I'm sorry i didnt write on tuesday, but a lot of crazy stuff went down and I wanted to build the suspense :) I dont get a lot of time, but I'll make sure to always write you! Its been a lot of fun so far and I love it down here! We have many investigators and we have to walk a lot to get around. That's right, blisters already. But They're still small and I think they're going away. Or at least I hope they're going away...

Anyways, I love it here but I miss hamburgers. We cant eat them here. Forbidden by the prez because they arent healthy. I wish I had remembered but I completely forgot about Memorial Day!

Every morning we have 30 minutes to excercise. And so I spend it mostly working out legs and core. For now at least I want to get used to working them out asap, but later I'll focus on my upper body. Because I'm going to be freaking sexy when I get home! Make sure you tell all the ladies that too ;) 

Love ya mom!

Elder Phillips

June 1, 2015

Hello My People!

Everything is awesome here in Juarez! Beautiful scenery. If you have a passion for dirt, that is. But really, I love it here! And so much crazy stuff has been happening too! But let's start from the beginning...

I hopped off the plane at the Ciudad with a dream and a suit jacket. We were met by other missionaries who then drove us to the mission center place. We partied it up there for a while, heard a lot about our new mission, got an overview of the rules, and a talk about obedience. At least I think it was on obedience. It was all in spanish. My old Companion and I were the only Gringos there, so they sent us a translator -Elder Ramirez or something like that- to help us out. It was cool though. I really like the mission president. We then drove for a while to go eat lunch, which I expected to be sandwhiched and a bag of chips or something. But nope! Turns out the mission president is pretty rich. We went to his house and ate a delicioso soup, a fruit and nut salad, and some amazing breaded chicken with ham and cheese in it. I cant remember the name for it, but it was awesome. Annd then some cheesecake. Then we were shown where we were staying for the night: A legit hotel with an indoor pool and a tv! It was terrible! Awesome because of quality running water, soft beds and AC, but a TV and a pool! And we can't use them! The closest we got to the pool was filling up the tub and imagining swimming. So all-in-all, you could say it was a pretty good day. 

Day 2!

We got our companions! Except for me. I was flying solo. All of the companions would go up, say their name, time here, where they're from, and who their new comp was. except there wasn¡y one for me. It turns out that he showed up late to the meeting. And if you're late, even just a minute, you are told to go back and work. And as a trainer, he needs to be a good example. And so they called up Elder Chalmers in the middle of personal study and said "Hey elder Chalmers! Come on down to the mission office with all of your companions stuff for transfers!" And so Elder Beck got a surprise transfer, and I am now being trained by Elder Chalmers. Unfortunately, they had plans for that day. Normally we would've had a P day when I could wash my clothes and learn about the area and write home to tell everyone I wasnt dead yet. But nope. We went out and taught lessons! And then contacted some people and overall partied it up pretty good.

And from there it became rather routine. I got some blisters from walking, some tortillas for eating, chased by a few rabid dogs (by the way, there is one dog around here that we call the Zombie Dog. He either had a disease or got hit by a car or something, but a large portion of his face didn't have fur or skin on it. It makes his eyes look all red and creepy too. But I think he's getting better now), and I still haven't been mugged! Woohoo! 

For all of you who were thinking that I'd come back in super good shape, I am pleased to inform you that you're wrong. Yes, we walk a lot, yes, we work out every morning, however, the members in this area are very generous and feed us a lot of food. We are not allowed to buy soda, pizza, junk food, or hamburgers because they're not healthy. However, if it's given to us by members, it's fine. And so, we currently have 7up, a little ceasars pizza, and ice cream waiting for us back home. I think I've had more soda here then at a Phillips family reunion! And several Littls Cs Pizzas too!

We got two baptismal dates set yesterday! For Jesús Antonio and Silvia Guadelupe. I'm super excited for them! And we've found many others who the lord has prepared to hear our message. 

Have fun back in the states everyone!

Elder Phillips

Sorry, no pics. I'm not allowed to send them except for when we have a baptism.