October 26, 15

Hey Dad!

I'm glad that my letter was able to help you guys out, How have they been progressing? Do they still go every week to church and activities and stuff?

And I saw some pics from Annas birthday and it looks like she had a blast! And that bike of hers is super genial too. That's Mexican for Awesome or cool. And how was the zoo? did you go too? Did you get to pet the goats?  

And that pizza joint sounds awesome! Down here they have little ceasars, but it isn't quite as good. After eating about 5 slices you get kind of bored. And that should never happen while eating food! But how hot do you think that oven is? doesnt the cheese burn or something?

El Centro just means The Center. Kind of Down town. They have a lot of markets and stuff that are pretty cool and you can find a lot of stolen goods there too. Super cheap.

Hahaha, don't worry! Those photos arent in our house, but in an investigators house! Ours is super nice and cool. Actually, it's really cool. Freezing in the mornings according to my companion. But the weather here is practically the same as Idaho. A bit warmer, but nearly the same.

However, yes. Sometimes we do need to use the "Light Switch Gloves" when messing with the lights. 

Have a wonderful week full of rainbows, flowers and butterflies!

Elder Phillips

Hey Everyone! 

  

      The Area is good, we are seeing much progress in our investigators. If all goes well, we will also have a Baptism this Saturday! Our investigators understand the importance of reading and praying, we just have to get them to church. I don't know why, but nobody wants to go to church down here. Maybe we need to offer refreshments after sacrament meeting or something :) This week I will be Ponderizing:

Jacob 1:19

     19 And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day.

I feel like it is a wonderful scripture that reminds us that we need to do all we can to help others to come unto christ.

      I am very grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary here in Juarez and there is so much I can learn during these two years. I know that I am here in this mission for a reason. I know that there are people here who need my help, and I just need to find them. I know that I will be able to. 

Hechale Ganas!

Happy Halloween!

Elder Phillips

Hey Mom!

Thank you so much for all the photos! They are undoubtedly the best part of Pday. I love seeing the family so much! I hope Anna had a fantastic birthday! And from the looks of the photos, I believe she did :) I hope that you are able to fix your Camera too. That's a pretty Schnazzy bike that she got! You say that the zoo has improved, in what way? I still think the zoo is super awesome, but then again, I haven't been to many others. Are there more animals or something? The petting zoo part sounds awesome! And lots of goats :) Do they have the screaming or fainting goats too? Because they are hilarious. Funny story about goats: There's a guy in our ward down here who works with leather and is going to make us covers for our scriptures out of goat hide. They look super legit and hopefully will help preserve our scriptures. I'll make sure to send you a few photos when they get finished :).

My companion was so excited to see the photo you took for him! He wants me to tell you that he loves it very much. He loves it and loves you all too. He says not to worry, because he will take care of Elder Phillips and protect him from all the mean racist Mexicans. And that one day, he will come to Boise Idaho to visit us.

And Elder Sanchez (From Guatemala) says that he will protect me and come visit us someday too.

If you remember Pedro's cousins from Napoleon Dynamite, that's basically Sanchez and Escobar for me.I truly miss Kneaders. French toast just isn't the same down here. Tell Megan that the photos are awesome and that she's half the reason that they're going to visit us after the mission :)​

Tom sant in December! And Katie too! And Kim! Crazy! Send me photos of all those crazy kids and their lovers!

I Love You!

Elder Phillips

October 19, 2015

Hey! Super awesome! Does Colton still have that mullet? I sure hope not. And does he plan on serving a mission? I love the poster (I made a great monkey poster of Megan for D3) and miss the sushi and soccer playing :( I'm sending you a photo of Elder Escobar's face when I told him what happened to your camera and that he wouldn't be getting any pictures soon. (I dropped my D300 off the back of the truck while trying to take a picture for him)

And another of Elder Sanchez (El Gordito) with the train. I'm vey proud of my photography skills :)

I Love You Mom!

Elder Phillips

Hello Everyone!

This week was really awesome. I really feel blessed for the opportunity I have been given to serve a mission. My testimony grows daily and I can truly testify that we have a prophet in our day and that the Book of Mormon is true. We are not left here alone in the earth to stumble our way through this life. God loves his children.

And so, we get to this week. It was awesome. We went to visit some members, who gave us some jackets to help keep us warm this winter. For those of you who don't know, it gets cold down here. Really cold! Like Idaho cold. My companion is from Tropical Honduras, where the weather is always wonderful and there's a double rainbow every morning. Pray for him. I don't think he's going to make it.

Anyways, These jackets are super awesome! So I included a few photos of them.

We have a wedding coming up this week! Rogelio and Anabel are going to Samalayuca for their wedding. I've heard that it's really cool down there, hopefully I'll get to see it some day! 

And if all goes well, we'll be having a baptism the 31st of October! 

 I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end.

Moroni 8:3

~Elder Phillips

October 12, 15

John's letter to his dad cracked me up this week! here it is!

"So I am curious about some stuff. You have not said anything about being in sketchy places, dodging drug dealers, bull lets, or roving gangs of gradient on robbers. Is that because my little pony land is part of your mission and that is where your are stationed or are you just not talking about that kind of stuff?  I am just curious about the sketchiness that your see and what kind of craziness you witness down there." Dad

Ok, so about all that, this week some major sketch went down. More or less this is one of the nicest parts around here, but the pony land parts are where the Sister missionaries get sent. This week outside the church (monday at 4 PM) two guys from rival gangs got into a fight. One lives right in front of the church and is almost always drunk, and really super tattooed. The Tattooed guy stabbed the other a few times with a knife and now is in jail. The guy who got stabbed walked down the road a little bit before he collapsed dead.

We had a killer storm too! loads of wind and rain, it was crazy! In another part of the city, it was hail the size of a golfball. Those with the wind caused many broken trees and hundreds of broken windows and windshields. it was all over the news down here. In our area we just had loads of rain. just for about 20 minutes, but the streets were flooded afterwards.

This morning we got followed home after out daily run. Fortunately, I have seen about 100 episodes of Psych, NCIS, and Burn Notice, so I was able to ditch him in a nearby park. I'm kind of a professional spy.

That's really all that's been happening down here this week. But yeah, stuff happens occasionally. Not much, but occasionally. you probably shouldn't tell mom about the murder or the guy following us. But the storm, was cool.

Great to hear about The BBQ and all the kids getting sealed together! 11 in total? Any others on their way? And how many were adopted? I hope that everything goes well for them. I really miss BBQ. They have Carne Asada (grilled meat) down here, and they all love it, but I find it's not nearly as good as the ones back home. Nor do they use BBQ sauce much.

What up with dat?

And my companion says that he'll take you up on that offer. And he is my favorite companion yet. He is super fun and really spiritual too. He wants more pictures of Megan, but I think mom is intentionally avoiding them. She sends photos of everyone but Megan, and Elder Escobar is not amused.

Love you Dad!

~Elder Phillips

I will have to take a super BAD picture of Megan to send to him :)
Here is my letter
Hey Mom!

Happy Birthday! Did you really think that I'd forget my Mother's Birthday? No Way! Any presents that you'd like me to send to you guys? 

That car is pretty super legit, I hope it lasts even longer than the durango did! And Tom's engaged! What happened! When? He's only been back 5 months! To Who? send me some photos!

So today is our Zone meeting. Sorry, but now you'll have to wait another month to send anything :'( But that's ok. When you send the next package can you include something for my companion? His family is super far away and it's super expensive for them to send packages. so maybe you could help him out a bit.

 Elder Escobar asked me for a special request from the family this week and I told him that you could help him out. He wants a picture of my family (You, Dad, Megan, Ellie, and Anna [and kat if she's there]) holding a sign (a poster or something) that says "We Love You Elder Escobar". 

If you can, It'd be awesome! 

I'm glad you're meeting with the Buckners, and I hope that they are able to decide soon. Chris wrote me this week. I was so excited! He doesn't currently plan on serving a mission. Really, just show him love. No matter what he ends up choosing, show him Christlike love and help him feel wanted.

GUESS WHAT!! PHOTOS!

1. Yup, Elder Escobar and I had a blast this week, and we have many photos to show you. The first one is of our river crossing. It rained a lot one day this passed week and we had to cross over a a stream using a big old pipe. 
2. The second is of the train tracks. He had never seen a train before so he was super excited. We took loads of pictures down there!
3. The third photo is because we found Cream Soda. And everyone knows that the best way to end your day is with a bottle of cream soda. 
4. And one more of my companion.
5. And one more with Diego, the son of one of our new investigators!

I Love you Mom!

~Elder Phillips

and the one to ALL (those letters are not as exciting as our are)
Hey Everyone!

We had a fun week down here in Juarez, Full of rain storms and other parties.Things have been great this week, but I can't believe we are 3 weeks into the transfer. We are working hard, and partying hard. Yesterday we had a most excellent fast & Testimony meeting, and all of us missionaries went up and bore our testimonies too. 

 

Our main highlights this week were: Finding and teaching Diana and Sophia. 

Diana is 18 years old, has a new baby, and is the daughter of one of our contacts. We met her when we came to visit her mom, and had a super awesome doorstep lesson. She doesn't really know what to believe right now in her life but is searching to find the truth. Fortunately, that's kind of why I'm here. We began talking and put another appointment to teach her about God's plan for us. The second visit went great and she better understands her purpose here on the earth. 

Sophia found us and asked us about our church one day, and invited us to visit her. She already wants to get baptized after just 2 visits! She knows that our messages are true and wants her family to hear it too.

Keep them in your prayers!

Also, enjoy a few photos of your favorite Missionaries having a cowboy party and trying to cross a flooded street!

Love you all!

~Elder Phillips

AND I GOT LOTS OF PICTURES!!!! I didn't take the time to put them in order that he numbered them, so just figure it out!

October 5, 15

Hey Mom!

I love all of your photos! And I am super thankful that I get to miss this diaper stage (more or less) and get the super fun toddler :)

So I have a bit of happy news: Transfers! Yup, that's right. I am now here with Elder Escobar, from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. And he is awesome! He has 6 months in the mission (only a little more than me!), and is great at teaching, contacting, and he is super friendly! He loves the US and already has requested permission to marry Megan. He is probably my favorite companion. But I don't know, it's only been a week.
His family is from Honduras and he has a twin brother serving his mission down by Cancun. He's pretty awesome (and loves American candy ;D).

This week we did a lot of contacting! a lot!! However, it all paid off as we found new investigators, People who are ready to hear our message and make the necessary changes in their lives. We have made so much progress in this area (Still Chapultepec 1.2) in just this week, I love it! I know that we're going to have success!

Sorry, once again I have no photos. But Next week! We have some great plans coming up!

And sorry the letter is short (again). If you start feeling down, just remember:

I Love You!

Elder Phillips

Hey Hey Hey! (DAD) 

 

General conference was really amazing! Super powerful talks. I truly learned a lot! I am glad that the Buckners are listening to conference. With the spirit that they undoubtedly felt, I believe that they will make the commitment to be baptized soon.

Did you see that priesthood session? It was awesome! It was in Spanish, so I missed a few things (mostly jokes), but it was really excellent. And then Sunday too! The afternoon session was three or four short powerful talks, one right after the other! I have really developed a higher appreciation of general Conference.

 

Thanks for sending pictures of the Katherine, Ryan, and The Little Beast! Super funny :) I think that child is going to be hilarious! But what did you do for 4 days at home? Working out back? Watching the NFL?

 

So who are the elders in our ward nowadays? do I know them? Do you have any pictures of them? What are they like? My new companion is Elder Escobar. He's from super far away, Honduras. He is super awesome and he's a hard worker too. We are going to have a great time together and a super successful cycle! I don't have pictures today, but next week i'll have some of us together.

 

Love You!

Elder Phillips

Hello Friends and Family!

 

This week we started things off with a little something that I like to call: Transfers. Yup. But guess who gets to have another 6 weeks (and hopefully more) here in Chapultepec? That's right, Elder Phillips does! My new companion is Elder Escobar from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He is super chill and fun, has 6 months in the mission, and has a twin brother serving in southern Mexico, in Yucatan!

 

General Conference was awesome! If you didn't see it, I would highly recommend that you watch it. Right now. Literally, I mean right now. Stop reading this and go watch it, then you can finish reading my letter and write me back. Why? Because It was super awesome and I love you. That's why.

 

This week we spent a whole lot of time contacting. and it paid off. We were able to find the people whom God has prepared. Many times, we were rejected. However, it really doesn't matter. What matters are those few people (Because yes, they are few) who have made room in there lives to learn of Christ.

 

So it has been a good week. The Lord has blessed us in so many different ways. And he will bless you too. Just go out of your way to share the gospel today.

 

With Love,

Elder Phillips