December 26, 2017

Hey mom! This week has been fantastic! Getting to see you all again was definitely my highlight.

I had totally forgotten bout my birthday too! but thanks. Down here we're enjoying a warm sunny Christmas. 

Here are some pics from

The christmas party and

The family who invited us to dinner on Christmas.

Our bathroom door doesn't lock.

The photos are pretty self explanatory. (also self explanatory.... this is what he sent to Dave, not me :)

December 19, 2017

Please thank the primary (and The Whitings) for the letters they sent me! They were wonderful!!

Not a lot happened this week, and since we´re going to be talking this week they haven't given  us a lot of time to write. But IO will  catch you all up on everything! 

Love you lots!

Elder Phillips

December 12, 2017

That´s awesome! I'm so glad that it all turned out well in the end! (I shared my story of being sick with bronchitis and making it to the Lower Lights concert in SLC- last year I bought tickets and got a kidney stone and missed it)

Funny story: We finally found the rat that was living in the house! After about 30 minutes of chasing it around the kitchen we trapped it under a broken bucket. Unfortunately, nobody had told us that mice can jump. so it lept out and attacked the face of Elder Torres before my companion could put it out of our misery with a well placed boot toss. So yeah, we gave it a nice funeral in a plastic bag. But not before taking a selfie!

This week we had a great experience while doing visits with a Young single adult. We went to visit a less active member and they had invited their neighbor to come over. We taught about the Plan of Salvation but the neighbor had some questions about how to know which church is true. The YSA who was with us shared his testimony and explained how he could pray to know the truth, and invited him to do so. He put an appointment to come back and visit him, and sincerely testified of the importance that this will have in his life. This was a great experience for both us and the member who came with us because he has been going through some trials lately and was a little discouraged, and had begun to doubt his decision to go on the mission. Now he is more excited than ever to serve a mission and wants to help us in as many lessons as possible in the coming weeks! 

Changes in mission rules! We are now able to go to the temple every 6 months starting in January! That´ll be awesome. Unfortunately, I´ll still only be able to go once. But I am super excited! 

We will also be having a Christmas Party this week! It'll be a blast!
Just to let you know, we will be able to skype on the 24th or 25th, whichever is better for you. And at whatever time, so long as we finish before 9PM. We will have 40 minutes to talk.

Have a great week!

Elder Phillips

December 5, 2017

well, Chihuahua has always been a drug trafficking state in Mexico, and even moreso by the border. So ther are lots of gangs and stuff. The good thing is that theyre religious and only get into fights with other gangs, so we arent in any danger at all. Ive had several offer me protection (they come up, give me a boondogle and say something like ¨Pedro offers you his protection¨ and whatnot)

I haven´t seen much lately, just ¨Cholos¨, or local thugs throwing rocks at eachother. It´s kind of funny, they don´t use weapons because it gets out of hand real quick and attracts a lot of attention, so they throw rocks. But we just stay away from the worst areas. 

I hope you enjoy the Christmas parties, it sounds like you´ve all been having a blast! I can´t believe that Grandpa is already turning 80! When is his birthday?

The Christmas devotional was excellent, full of beautiful songs and talks. I absolutely love the Christmas season! It´s getting cold down here and we´re hoping it snows soon! My companion is suffering a lot though, it´s his first winter! He´s from a very calm climate and isn´t yet used to the cold. In the evenings we´re hitting 30 degrees which for him is utterly unheard of. Fortunately we´re well prepared with lots of coats and blankets.

Make sure to send lots of pictures from the party!

I Love You!

Elder Phillips

November 28, 2017

I admit that I miss the amazing thanksgiving dinners, it just wasn't the same without it.
So thanksgiving down here was alright, no parties or fun dinners were planned so we had to make our own fun. We planned a family home evening with the recent converts who´s got baptised last week and we secretly ordered a pizza. We had a great lesson about Nefi 8 (lehi´s dream) where everyone participated in drawing the tree of life and all the other parts of it. But of course my favorite part was the pizza :) haha. 
In truth it was a wonderful family home evening where we were able to talk about all the many things we are thankful for. I love thanksgiving!

Sorry it wasn´t a very eventfull week, I´ll send pictures of our activity from Monday!

I Love You!
Elder Phillips

Other news, the violence down here is getting worse again. Its still safe for missionaries though, they respect us and only mess with people who are doing drugs and whatnot. But yeah, nothing happens to us. So don´t worry about me if you start seeing stuff on the news. I´ll probably be home before it gets serious.

Hey, and there´s a new video from the church that´s super cool! it´s called #LightheWorld or #IluminaelMundo in spanish. Share it with the neighbors!
not sure if the pics turned out well or not, i didn´t take them. But Here´s the zone in our matching Sweatshirts!

November 21, 2017

Hey Mom!

So Im sorry I wont be able to write much, a lot´s been going on down here and I don´t have much time today.

So the changes have passed over our heads like the destroying angel. Our whole district will be staying the same (for at least 3 more weeks).

We had a baptism on saturday! We´ve been working with an awesome family so that their youngest son could get baptised. It was really super cool because his older brother was the one who got to baptise him! The boys name is Alan and his brother is Edgar.

I Love You a Lot!

Elder Phillips

Hey, just to let you know that today i´m going to make a withdrawel from my bank acount. I´ve recently had to spend a lot of extra cash and i´m broke 🤗

So as for a package, if you could send me money that would be great. and the other camera too! 

Thanks mom!

Elder Phillips

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm constantly reminded that Trump won down here by all the mexicans. They're all worried because they all have family living illegally in the states. They cant believe how racist he is for trying to get rid of them all. Every day that's all i hear from them. I've gotten pretty sick of politics and i'm not even participating!  Only among our fellow american missionaries is it safe to admit that we're fans.

My companion´s doing well. He´s still lazy when it comes to getting up and excersizing in the mornings, but he´s been improving non his studying. President Owen gave me a few ideas in our interviews last week that seem to be working.

We´ve been teaching a lot of people lately and our zone is #1 on the charts. We even had a baptism this weekend! The branch just got changed to a ward and the members here are pretty great and supportive. The youth are pretty open to doing visits with us too! We don´t do many service project, maybe 1 a month. But when we do it usually includes yard work, digging, or cleaning something.

Just yesterday the bishop invited us over for dinner. He also challenged me to a game of chess in which the loser would have to find and prepare a family for baptism within the next month and a half (1 transfer). I agreed and I lost. It was a very close match, but at the end I made a fatal error and the game was his. I guess I´m a bit rusty. But now we´ll be looking extra hard to find ¨Golden Families¨

Remember to ´Count your many blessings!´

Elder Phillips

November 14, 2016

Today I am adding Dave's letter to John, then I don't have to explain everything he said.
I spent the week in Atlanta this past week. I was there for automation fair for work. I had about 25 customers there and it was a good week. Lots of meetings etc that went well. I have plenty to keep me busy for the coming months. That is all good.
So one day I went to sushi for lunch while in Atlanta. It was pretty tasty stuff. I snapped a photo of it  just so I could show it to the girls and make them all jealous (yes, it worked)!
Also while in Atlanta I went to the WORLD OF COKE. It was awesome. I now understand how Lehi felt when he reached the promised land!  It was fun. They have over a hundred different flavors of Sosa that they serve all over the world. It was fun to sample them.

So also while i was in Atlanta there was the election. I am sure that you have heard about it. Basically the democrats were destroyed and republicans dominated. It was quite unexpected. Everyone was saying that Hillary was going to destroy trump. Didn't happen.

So while I was in Atlanta there were protestors that were whining because they lost the election. They were demonstrating to complain that they don't like him (no kidding, that is why we have an election and you get to vote for who you want). While I was there I ran into some of the protestors one night while walking to dinner. They were a bunch of whiny, snot-nosed, 20 year old whiners. It was kind of ad to see them carrying on without a firm understanding of how a president is selected and no respect for the law or a willingness to obey it.

Today was the primary program at church. The kids did a great job. Anna had a part and did real well in her part. The songs were great and the spirit was strong. It was really good. The best part EVER was by Chase McOmber. He was bearing his testimony and talked about praying to know if the Book of Mormon was true. He talked about feeling the spirit and how it felt. He said, "it felt like a bowling ball being shoved down my throat, except it felt good and peaceful". Well, I have never heard it described like that!  I was laughing to myself for 15 minutes before I could finally stop.
David Phillips

World of coke! I didnt even know that they had that! I'm constantly reminded that Trump won down here by all the mexicans. They're all worried because they all have family living illegally in the states. They cant believe how racist he is for trying to get rid of them all. Every day that's all i hear from them. I've gotten pretty sick of politics and i'm not even participating!

Only among our fellow american missionaries is it safe to admit that we're trump fans.

I've never heard the spirit described in such a way. Chase should be a poet :)

Sorry i havent had a lot of time to write lately. we{ve just been super busy even on our p days. 

the work is going well down here. We reactivated an inactive family and their son will be getting baptised by his older brother this saturday. 

My usb got a virus from the computers here, so I can't send pics. Its a bummer. I'll see what I can do, but no promises :(

This week has been great, but a little stressfull to tell the truth. We've been under a lot of pressure from our leaders to find new people to teach. Our district has been contacting like crazy but with very few results. But oh well, what else can you do?

I once heard that insanity is repeating the exact same action and expecting different results. So what do we have to do? Keep adapting to our circumstances. Change our way of finding people to teach. 

Tip: When you trust the missionaries, give them references. Even if you're sure that they'll reject the missionaries. 

I like that. We're going to be changed this coming week. I think ill stay here and my companion will be heading out. But who knows, maybe ill get changed again.

This week has been cold. One night around 8pm my companion was just about ready to give up and go home. we have to be home before 9 and our house is 20 minutes from our area. But we decided to knock one last door. It was dark and cold outside and we were almost certain that nobody would open the door (to tell the truth my comp didn't even come to the door with me. He just stood back and watched). I felt a need to knock the door of a rather humble looking home who still had its lights on. To our surprise, they not only opened up but after a short conversation to get to know eachother, the lady invited us in to share our message with her. 

 *note, during our 5 weeks in our area that had never happened before.

She shared with us her problems, her recent divorce and her three kids. She's only 25 and working in the factory to provide for their basic needs, and shares the house with a friend (female) and her baby. Thats two adults and 4 kids sharing a house made of 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom and a kitchen. She expressed her desire to get closer to God, and her only regret was that she had waited until the problems had come to make that step. 

As we taught her about Her Father, I couldn't help but think of all that he does for us. He loves us so much that he provides us the way to be happy. And when someone is looking for it, he sends them help.

God is always there. Trust in him. 

Love you all!

Elder Phillips

Nov 7, 2016

I'm so glad you got the picture! they asked me for my phone number and I totally spaced and couldn't remember it! (A lady, Mary Ann Holley,  sent me this photo of John on sunday, she is on a humanitarian service project and ran into him.)I haven't been able to send pictures lately because of the computers we use (they're slower and don't let me upload pics very well), so I'm glad you got that one.

I'm getting fatter. Just letting you know. We're entering the winter season, when almost all exersize ends and fatty greasy food abounds. I'll do my best to not arrive back home a giant ball of lard, but no promises :)

That being said, The package arrived! I got it saturday night after our zone's interviews with president. The candy is super sweet, and the flag is awesome. And that puzzle you sent! that is amazing! I didn't even know you could do that!  And the money was very welcome. I don't think I ever told you this but my shoes finally have worn out. The first pair died about 2 months ago with a hole in the bottom, and the second pair is getting close (It got a hole on the top about the size of a pea). The new pair you sent is still in solid condition, but I had to break down and buy a cheap pair in the segundas. I'm pretty sure that it'll be enough to last through the winter. So Iafter that I was running a little short on cash, so thank you very much for sending some!

I really don't know what would be fun to get from the beehives... maybe the email adresses of their older sisters ;) hahaha, just kidding. I really don't know. (Our Beehive activity this week is writing to the missionaries)

I'm liking the new area. It's called Villa Hermosa or beautiful town. Its small and unpaved and infested with "cholos" or wannabe thugs. they smoke and sell a lot of marijuana down here, and our area covers the turf of three different gangs 1. Reforma 2. Encinos 3. Villa Hermosa. Each gang is divided by their respective colony (like hickories, demeyer, etc.) but they're alright. Nobody messes with the missionaries. They offer us their protection (kind of like pedro's cousins) if someone ever treats us poorly. We actually started teaching english to a few of them and who knows, maybe they'll be interested in the gospel? The people here are somewhat interested. The majority straightup say no, but those who say yes usually progress.

The comp's a good hard working missionary who knows his area very well. We're planning on having several baptisms here in November and December.

Love ya Mom!

Elder Phillips

October 31, 2016

Story time!

Legend has it that if a pregnant lady doesn´t put a safety pin on her shirt (where the belly button is) the moon comes and eats her baby. weird, right? It makes it easier to tell if a girl is pregnant though. 

I sure would love those donuts! But you´re right,  they´d probably go bad.

Watch out for that ex mish.... I don´t trust him😉 (Megan brought a friend home, Hayden... just a friend :)
Happy Halloween!!!

haha, watch out for the old ladies! They´ll get you every time!

Down here they really don´t celebrate halloween much. Day of the dead is normally bigger, but here on the border our holidays are actually bigger than theirs. 

You may already know this, but many missionaries near the end of their mission start thinking more in their homes and work less. My goal is to never do that. My goal is to use my experiences to make this the greatest time of my mission.

I don´t really know what else to say...

I only have 6 months left (crazy how time flies).

The sister missionaries from the mtc now write me from their homes.

I´m working hard, trying to put a good example for my companion.

Everyone is super jealous of my crazy socks you guys sent (a few months back)

I love you a lot!!

Elder Phillips

(I had a funny story for you, I had to look back and was shocked I didn’t tell you already! I was at a restaurant and had to use the bathroom. I was in my stall and my mind wandered and was thinking of how awkward it is when you make eye contact through the crack of the door… when …. a hand GRABBED MY SIDE!!!  I screamed “Holy COW!”  I looked to my right and the garbage that was on the wall of my stall had been unlocked. There was a 150 year old women in the next stall that had gone to throw something away, knocked my side open and touched me! I then had fits of laughter as the weak, crackly, wobbly old voice next to me said “are you OK?”

So funny!  I now look to find those garbages when I go in a bathroom……)

Oct 24, 2016

Fun fact: it turns out that I´m awesome at basketball!

Ok, not really. But we´ve started playing as a Zone and it´s been great! The people down here really like Basketball but aren´t very talented so I feel right at home!

My companion and I had an awesome experience this with with a new investigator. Her name is Ruth.

her family had asked us a few questions about the plan of salvation at the end of our first visit. So when we came back to teach them, we showed them how the Book of Mormon could answer their questions. Her qeustion was about what happens after the death, and if her father was with God (her dad had died just a year or 2 before). Our plan was to leave them the answers in the scriptures and have them read it for a homework assignment, but she was too excited and read it immediately. She looked kind of strange for a moment and then her eyes filled with tears. She looked like she wanted to say something so we asked if she had any questions or comments. This was her reply: ¨I do have a question, Why do I feel like this? I mean, my inlaws are Christians and we´ve read the bible and stuff, but I´ve never felt this way before. What is it? I feel...free. I feel happy, peaceful, I don´t know how else to describe it. I´m not sad but I want to cry andI don´t know why. Please tell me, why do I feel like this?¨ 

This was a wonderful moment and the spirit was so strong! When someone truly has a desire to know the gospel, God answers. 

Scripture of the week:

Moroni 9:6

Have a great week!

Elder Phillips

October 17, 2016

This was a pretty good first week in Casas Grandes. I´m in the Villa Hermosa Branch with my new companion Elder Cruz. 

We spent a lot of time contacting people this week, and it paid off! We were able to see The Lord´s hand many times throughout the week. 

While we were walking down the street we saw the daughter of an recent convert and she motioned us over. We got there and she told us ¨Guess what, My brother wants to get baptized!¨ 

¨Wow! That´s great¨ We said, ¨And you? ¨ 

¨So do I!¨

So we started working with them more. We put her baptismal date for the 12th of November and we´re praying for her!

 Her brother is a 30 year old ex thug covered from head to toe with tattoos (he has over 100). He´s trying to flip his life around and become a good person. He also came to church on sunday! 

There is a wonderful feeling that comes when you see people genuinely trying to live the gospel. As he walked in on sunday, I felt so warm and good inside. I know that Whoever you are or whatever you do it is never too late to repent.

Another story:

As we were walking to an appointment, we stopped to knock a door. They opened up and out came a middle aged lady to greet us. We talked for a minute and she told us that she had gone to our church before down in Aguascalientes, Mexico (other state) but that she had moved and lots contact with the missionaries. We put an appointment to go visit her and then her sister came out. So we put an appointment to visit her too! They both accepted our invitaion readily and enthusiastically.

When we went to visit the first one (Ruth), she invited us in to talk and then went to invite her family to come out and listen too. Her 16yr old son and her uncle came out to meet s and we got to know them pretty well. And it turns out that her son had gone to many activities and that her uncle is a member! They were very receptive expressed to us their sincere desire to come closer to God and go to church.

Alma 13:24 For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory.

I know that God is continually  preparing the people to recieve the gospel. This week he was able to guide us to visit those who were prepared and those who needed the gospel. 

And I know that he´s preparing people for you too. 

So Go. 

Find Them.

Elder Phillips

October 10.2016

By the way, "Los Choneros" as they call us, are getting changed. I'm going to Villa Hermosa,

Elder Reyna will be in Buanaventura (middle of nowhere with polygamist exmormons)

Elder Rodriguez (with glasses) will be training in Juarez

Elder Nelson (the white kid) will be training here in Ascension.

We got to know each other really well and had a lot of fun together.

So yup, I was kind of hoping to pass the next 6 months here in ascension, but I guess it just wasnt meant to be :(

On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 4:38 PM, Johnathon Phillips <johnathon.phillips@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Happy Birthday Mom!!

I hope you have a wonderfully fun celebration! And just know that I'll be here celebrating your birthday too!

Haha,  I showed my comp a pic of megan and jenny at a school dance and ever since he's been asking for their email addresses! I haven't to anything yet, but just warning you that if they were to come down to mexico they could marry just about whomever they wanted to! 

Funny story, I was walking down the street the other day and I got a strange craving for home made pretzels. Just letting you know that even this far away from home your baking is still the best

Yeah, the whole politics deal is kind of messy right now. Guess what? I can vote from here! I don't think I will, but I could! I personally consider myself too uneducated as of now to make such a decision (I don't actually hear a lot about politics other than complaints). But yes, Grandma always includes spiritual insights :)

Haha, as for packages... I don't know. Food? cookies? A USA flag!

Don't have much time to write, we had an activity today that was super cool! I'll send you and dad some pics.

Elder Phillips

October 4, 2016

The talks this conference were absolutely amazing! I loved them all! The internet transmission that we saw down here broke down for 2 talks sunday morning, but from what i saw they were great! 

This week in my personal study time it dawned on me: sometimes I ask too much and do too little. i was studdying in the Priesthood handbook (part B) on how to make inspired decisions, and I realized that I do well up until it comes to the part where I have to act. When it says in the scriptures: ¨Ask, and ye shall recieve¨ (3 Nefi 27:28) it does not mean that all we have to do is ask and wait. No. That´s not how it works. We have to ponder, pray, ponder more, make a decision, pray to confirm it, and act! And sometimes we have to act in order to recieve the confirmation. 

So anyways, we have to act. Personally I always pray that God will guide us to those who need us and those whom God has prepared for us. however, I often wait for God to tell me who to talk to instead of following the PMG guidance of ¨talk with everyone¨. God gives us help when we act. not the other way around. If it werent like this it wouldn´t require faith.

This week we met a family of Tarahumaras. That is one of the the local native tribes. Their culture is very machista, and they mainly live in the mountains in hobbit holes. They speak Rarámuri, but this family had adapted and now mainly speak spanish. They are really catholic but are willing to listen and accept our message. The mom´s name is Eustolia. but goes by Tola. She is super kind and wants what is best for her family (she has 10 living kids, but only 3 live with her). She noticed that ever since we started visiting her, her family has been more peaceful and their house has had a warmer atmosphere. There has been less shouting and her rebelious son is now calmer and comes home earlier (instead of around 4am). These are just a few of the changes that the gospel can bring into our homes. Truthfully, I have seen the gospel work miracles here in Mexico. 

I am so glad to hear that you could go to the Conference, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! 

Your son,
Elder Phillips

The district of Ascension

September 26,2016

Wow! Kutter got his call changed? (From Russia to Germany) I didnt know that could happen! But they say that germany is awesome too! 

Haha, i don´t really like that candy much either, down here they have some very strange taste buds. The fruit leather stuff is called tamarindo. Tamarindo is a weird fruit that grows on trees. they mix it with a bit of sugar and chili, and poof! The base of all mexican candies! I´ll start looking for some better candies for you guys, some that actually taste good :)

Amy got engaged? (Amy Gray) Crazy! Who´s the guy? How did they meet?

This week I began applying even more some of  the principles that are found in Preach My Gospel. Specifically: Focusing more on our unique message of the Restoration.

Imagine that you´re in a box where nobody can see you, only hear you. How will the people know what church you´re from? from what you say, right? If you hear someone talking about Buddah, you can assume that on the inside of the box, there´s a buddhist. The same works for whatever religion in the world. So what would you say to let them know that you´re from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?

Personally, I would talk about Christ, The Prophet, and The Book of Mormon. And so this week that´s exactly what my Companion and I did. Whenever we met someone new, we talked aobut how this message of the Restoration can help them in their lives. And we found many people trying to find the truth and willing to act upon their faith. As members of the church we should always be quick to testify of Christ and the truthfulness of our message. As we do so during our everyday life, I can promise that the spirit will bare witnesses of our words and soften their hearts. There is no better way to bring others closer to God.

We met a lady this week named Araceli. She´s the neighbor of an investigator we have, and we had greeted her before as we passed by but never talked to her. So one day we started chatting and as our conversation turned towards the subject of God and religions, we told her that we had a unique new message to share with her. Her words were kind of funny: ¨Great! I love learning more about God, but I´m kind of sick of always hearing the same thing, I´d love to hear something new!¨  I almost laughed in the moment. Down here in Ascension, there is a very strong population of Christians who regularly go around knocking doors, but occasionally the people crave something more. Something that no other church can give them. As we let people know that we have what they´re looking for, they open up and realize how much they want it.

    Just last night on our way home we decided to knock one last door. A woman opened up the door and greeted us with a slightly skeptical look (the people here are often times a little slow to trust strangers). We introduced ourselves as missionaries and began talking about everything (the wheather, families, religion, etc.). She told us that she´s Catholic, but her husband has been trying to drag her to the Christian church for years now. To find an answer/divine guidance, she read the Catholic and then the Christian bible. She told us that God hadn´t told her anything yet, so she was still waiting on the answer. 

    I like to consider myself an expert (as a missionary) on helping people get answers. Our whole purpose in teaching revolves around the people recieving personal revelation! So I was supere excited to hear that she wanted to get an answer. Unfortunately, she´ll only be here until tuesday. Then she´ll be heading down to Casas Grandes for a month. We hope that we´ll be able to help her start on the right path before she heads out, but we plan on sending the missionaries to visit her while shes down there. 

    I have been blessed to be able to see firsthand how God has been preparing people in every part of the world to hear his Gospel! Ascension used to be known as the ¨Bautichona¨ because of its success! nowadays it´s known for being a dead area with very few baptisms. But We´re bringing it back up there! I believe that any area can be a ¨Good one¨. It just depends on the missionaries that are placed there and their faith.

Even if you´re in the middle of a desert.

Well I love you all and hope you have an awesome week!

Elder Phillips

September 19, 2016

Proverbs 23: 7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he 

Remember to study the scriptures! 

No Way! Alyse Erickson!! Juarez? Awesome!! We're going to party it up!!!! I am so excited to see someone I know down here! Odds are that I´ll be in a completely different stake, but I might see her a few times! She'll be getting here in February, so we´ll be in the mission for a cycle together (month and a halfish). Odds are she´ll spent the majority of her mission in the north, colonia Dublan, or Colonia Juarez stakes. They are awesome stakes and fairly safe. I am seriously pumped to hear that someone else I know will be coming here!

And Carson and Emma look utterly adorable together!

This week my companion asked a girl on the bus for her facebook... you can just Imagine my facepalm. He´s a great elder, but he´s still got his mind on the ladies. He works really hard and is great at contacting people too. The hardest thing lately for us was knocking doors. Under the Reign of Prez. Derbez, we were strongly advised against knocking doors. But down here, there aren´t people in the streets to talk to. So my first day here (we had few investigators and 1 appointment) I decided to break the paradigm and start knocking. It was a learning experience, full of rejections and failures. But one never progresses without falling/failing a few times.  We are here to make history!! I personally want to leave my mark on Ascension. On sunday we had several less active families come back to church and 6 investigators. The branch is looking bad. It has been shrinking over the past year or two, sop we have to work doubly hard to get it back up.

Mexican independance day came up! We took pictures of the parade too! It was super fun!

However: I learned a valuable lesson. You should not fire off confetti cannons during a horse parade. 

I would show you why, but believe it or not out here we have a lot of technical dificulties and i am unable to upload photos. So let me explain what happened. The horsemen rode by super profesh and everything, but right as they got in front of us they fired off a confetti cannon. The horses got spooked and bolted. 1 of them ran straight for the crowd and probably would´ve hurt somebody, but the rider pulled the reigns to the side to try to steer it away. The horse fell down and almost crushed the rider. Fortunately, nobody got too badly hurt, but it was a freightening moment for several in the crowd.

So Happy independance day Mexico!

I Love you mom! Tell the girls I love them all too! Enjoy the chili covered watermelon candies 😜

Elder Phillips

 

September 12, 2016

This week was absolutely amazing. We started off by putting our weekly goals (something we do every week) and having them get rejected by our leaders. ¨Why Not?¨ we asked the Zone Leaders. ¨They´re too high, we understand that you´re new in your area but the missionaries in your branch never achieve goals that high. So we´re going to have to ask you to lower them a bit.¨ Well, they´re our leaders. So without arguing we lowered them. But let me just say, I took that conversation as a personal challenge. We worked even harder than we did the week before and were blessed enough to see the fruits of our labors at the end of the week. We brought a total of 10 new investigators to church and they all loved it! We´re here in a branch so there aren´t many active members, maybe 40-60 in a good week. But they quickly embrace new members and help them feel right at home. I am very thankful for that. 

Always remember to reach out to the new people! Everyone needs more friends and everyone needs to feel more brotherly kindness. You never know the influence you might have in their lives.

So anyways, it turned out to be an awesome week. The Lord has truly blessed us here.

One of the families we´re working with is the Sanchez Family. They have 9 kids (6 living with them still) and Sunday was their first time in the church. They have turned out to be an amazing family, willing to do what it takes to find more happiness and peace in their lives. There´s a picture of them below. I can truly say that they are starting to live the gospel and will be blessed for it.

17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

I also got to see more of the Chona. It is exaclty what it looks like on google maps: a small town surrounded by dirt and farms. There are lots of sheep, cows, chickens, and horses too. But it is a wonderful place. I love it here. There may not be grocery stores, but its got everything we need!

Have a wonderful week!

Elder Phillips

Ps. I´m also getting practice on the piano again! Man am I rusty!

 

September 5, 2016

Working to bring the lost sheep back to the fold!

Hello everyone!

I love my new area! It is super awesome. with an overall population of approximately 13,000, its big enough to have its own branch and a chapel! We are completely surrounded by farms and ranches and stuff like that, so its really cool. And the weather here is slightly cooler too! Its just better. I love it!

This week when I arrived, I was little dismayed to find that there were a grand total of 2 investigators here. 2! (for those who don't know, 2 is a very small number). So we got to work. We spent the majority of every day this week contacting people in the streets and knocking on doors. And by the time friday came around our day was full of appointments! So we're starting from ground-Zero here, but we're working hard and focusing our efforts on finding new people to teach (because we want to baptise someone while we're here!). We met a wonderful family of 3 who live nearby our house too! The mom lives there with her husband and her son, who is 20 yrs old but paralyzed from the waist down and can hardly move his arms. We have a lot of faith that they will progress in these coming weeks! They are wonderful people and have a true desire to learn more about god and follow his ways.

 Heres a scripture that I love because it just about sums up a large portion of our lives: Ether 12:27

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

Thats why we have trials, and if we humble ourselves God will guide us. But we must remember: "when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." DyC 82:10

So let us all be humble. Let us all accept our weaknesses and let us all try earnestly to improve.

Elder Phillips

August 29, 2016

You'd think that being in a desert you won't get rained on much, right? Wrong. This week we got FLOODED!!! in just a space of 20 minutes the rain was up to our knees! We gave up on trying to stay dry and enjoyed the rain a bit. A small car tried to drive through the water and stalled, so we helped push them to higher ground. Then we went back towards the house, taking pictures as we went. We had a blast!

So this has been a really good transfer for my companion Elder Arlington and I. We've been meeting many of our goals as far as Investigators and lessons go, and have several awesome investigators! And so, I was a little sad when they informed me that I'm getting transferred. I'll be going to Ascension, a small town out in the middle of nowhere. In our mission we have several small areas in the desert, but this is one of the smaller ones. I don't really know what it's like down there, but I'll send pictures of the landscape and whatnot upon my arrival.

So wish me luck!

this week we went with a younger less active man who just went through a separation from his wife and daughters. Instead of coming to church and God for strength, he lost himself in alcohol and parties. We felt like we needed to visit him during the week and when we did he broke down crying. He told us about what had happened and told us he was trying to change. He had realized that he was doing bad things and needed to change, so he was trying to distance himself from the life of drugs and Fiestas but he needed help. He's now getting help from the local Branch President and we hope to see him become active in the gospel again. 

DyC 59:9-10

 And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;
 For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High;

That right there is one of the main reasons why we go to church. If we don't, we slowly find ourselves focusing more and more on the things of the world, the things that don't really matter.

So keep going to church, it's the best way to keep a strong and happy family!

Elder Phillips

August 22, 2016

I am having a great time here in Rio Nilo, It is a blast every day!  It hasn't rained for a while, but we keep praying for clouds.
Paul B. Peiper came to town! He's the 70 who's put in charge of all of Mexico. H came and taught us about the importance of working with the Stake Leaders and being humble enough to get more faith. It was an amazing meeting! The spirit was super strong and we all came away from it with knowledge of exactly what we needed to do to have more success. We also visited many less active members this week and talked about Faith. Why? Because Faith is everything. Question: What does it mean when someone claims to have faith but doesn't go to church or breaks other commandments? Answer: They don't actually have faith. Nobody's perfect, but faith is a principle of action.
 Ether 12:6 ...I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.

All the proof we need about the truth of the gospel will come as we are faithful to the commandments. That's when we'll get blessings and miracles. MIRACLES!!!! I mean seriously, who doesn't want a miracle in their life? And all we have to do is 1. believe the word of God (Commandments) and 2. Act according to that belief (Obey them).

So follow the commandments and have a great week!

Elder Phillips

Mom,

It's crazy to hear that everyone's already finishing up their missions! Justin still hasn't written me though. So both Kelsies already got married? Crazy!

The truth is that I would absolutely love it if Megan went on the mission. I've been thinking that a lot lately. I am convinced that there is no better way to spend your time than to go on a mission. I have learned so many things! I want her to learn them too! Could you send her out to do visits with the sister missionaries from the singles ward or something? That can often times become a game changer and a decision maker. I didn't fully understand the importance of a mission beforehand, but I can testify from my personal experiences that I will never regret having made this decision, and neither would she. 

Now what would you have me do to help inspire her to go on the mission? 

Have fun with the kids in school! I hope Megan has a great first semester at college! And I agree, It is time. As we learn from the book of Ecclesiastes, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" There is a time for everything. There is a time for the kids to have fun and play at home, and there's a time for them to go to school to learn.

Hey mom, I was also wondering if you could update my facebook for me every now and then with mission pics or something. I'm not allowed to use it, but you still can!

My companion and I visited a local soccer stadium. The local team "Los Bravos" has been doing pretty well lately (or so they say). So we did a good old photo shoot inside.

I Love You!
Elder Phillips

August 15th

This week was awesome. And I've got pictures to prove it.

So it rained a lot! And down here in Juarez there isn't a good drainage system, so we still have lakes of water filling the streets. But it was a blast. When we arrived at our last appointment for the day we just asked for towells to dry ourselves off before going inside. I have to say, I love the rain! Partly because the water is awesome, partly because the rain doesn't give you sunburns. 

We visited some investigators and we had a wonderful experience with them. Their names are Maggie (19), Adan (16), and Abram (13). They are siblings. We met them outside their house last week because they have a really cool friendly dog who we stopped to pet. As we pet the dog through the fence, Abram was just getting home and came over to talk to us. So that's how we met them. One thing led to another and on thursday we were finishing up teaching The Restoration to them. As we finished explaining the importance of The Book of Mormon, Abram started crying and Adan got really excited. Down here in Mexico there is a lot of evidence from their culture and legends that support the Book of Mormon. Adan realized that when the natives talked about Quetzalcoatl (A white bearded god who was born from a virgen visited the americas thousands of years ago), they were referring to Christ when he visited the americas. He also told us that the natives wrote about a golden book that spoke of the Gods, but that the gods hid the book because the natives were trying to kill them. He pieced all this together and truthfully, it makes sense. These legends fit perfectly the description of the Book of Mormon. I'm not saying that it's doctrine or anything, but still... Anyways, Adan got super excited, Abram started crying, and Maggie started comforting him. 

Needless to say, they all came to church with us on sunday and loved it!

Well, I have no time left, So you all have a great week!

Elder Phillips

So here're pictures!

1. The Juarez flood. 

2. My District

3. Investigators

So I think that Justin must have the wrong email address, because I haven't seen a single one of his letters. Could you pass me his email address?

I love seeing the youth heading out to join the mission! In our branch on sunday there was 1 deacon, 1 teacher, and 1 priest. we're currently working with a 13 and a 16yr old investigators who'll hopefully join the branch in a few weeks. I'll make sure to attach some photos on the letter!

The truth is that many times we judge people without trying to help them and this can impede their eternal progress. If we try to love them as God loves them, we realize that there is hope for everyone. Some of the best members/converts i've met down here were drug traffickers beforehand. Anyone can change. There's always hope.

August 8, 2016

I really love all the pictures and the stories on what's going on back home! That's probably my favorite part. And seeing Megan's tan lines! Holy Guacamole! I haven't gotten Colton or Russell's letters yet, but I'm glad to hear that they're doing well! Justin still hasn't written me though... Maybe he just doesn't have my Email? Or maybe he wrote it down wrong? who knows. I kinda worry about that kid. 

 I have some great stories for you guys this week! This first one I'm just going to send to you and dad, and if you want to you can pass it on to everyone else, but I do plan on sending a short general letter too.

So It's about an older lady we met this week! A rather Interesting experience...

So to make a short story ever shorter, we got called by a member lady who lives over in Casas Grandes (a small town nearby) saying that her mother was in a hospital in our area and that she needed a blessing. So we got her information, put an appointment, and went to visit her. When we got to the room we entered to see an old lady(80ish) in a bed with a younger lady (30ish) sitting nearby. We explained who we are and why we were there and then asked her if she was a member of the church (we asked the younger lady, the older one had pneumonia and a breathing aparatus on her nose so she couldn't really talk too well). The younger lady told us no, and that the older lady wasn't a member either, but the daughter of the older lady was a member (the one who called us). So it was a little awkward but we went on and gave the lady a blessing. As I was blessing her, I got the impression that she wouldn't make it. I knew that her time had come. I felt a bit sad to say it in the blessing, but I told her to rest. I blessed her so that her pains would ease and she'd be able to rest peacefully. After the blessing we left. 

That was on Tuesday. She passed away Thursday around 9AM. 

I felt a little sad for the family, but I realize that there wasn't anything I could've done to change it. It was her time.

It's always sad to see someone pass away, but that time always comes. It isn't a question of whether or not it'll happen, but more a question of when. So that's why I love God and Temples and the church. Because God made a plan for us, and in the earth we can be sealed together with our families. That way we can be with our loved ones after this life too! Our family is the most important thing we have on earth. And so we have to love it and cherish it always. I think that's why the prophets and apostles have always said "Husbands, Love your wives." That's also why they bless us with scripture like The Family: Proclamation. I love my family. I love you all. I love you mom. And don't you ever doubt it.

Elder Phillips

Another great week in Rio Nilo. I have to say, I feel really good right now. We've been working hard and it's starting to pay off. I've been here for 3 weeks and we still don't have anyone progressing enough to accept a baptismal date, but we're putting our faith in the Lord and working hard to find those who have been prepared to recieve the gospel.

This week we went to visit a sweet old lady named Sister Enojosa. She's been an active member of the church for many years now but recently fell down and hurt herself. So we went with her visiting teacher to visit her and give her a blessing. In one of our visits, Sister E. told us about one time when her visiting teacher's family planned a Christmas Pageant for her. As she told us of the activity, her eyes filled with tears and I couldn't help but look back at the activities I had done in retirement homes back home. Truthfully, I felt bad. I realized that for this Sister didn't get many visits nowadays and she feels pretty lonely. And to have someone go out of their way to do a family home evening or simply come visit meant all the world to her. I shamefully admit that back home I usually had a pretty bad attitude about such activities. I was selfish, just thinking about me and my wants and how I would much rather be out going to the movies or hanging out with friends. But as I saw Sister E. nearly in tears as she reminisced about an activity that happened 5 years ago... wow. I don't even think that the family who did it remembers the pageant. But she does and I doubt that she'll ever forget it. 

I've come to realize that Christlike love and Humility go hand in hand. When we're only looking inward at ourselves and our wants, we never learn to love others.
Mat 10:39

"He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

Only when we forget about ourselves and start serving others can we grow spiritually. 

Love,

Elder Phillips

We found some native Juarense Animals!

1. The horsedrawn burrito salesman

2. A cool looking lizard that came out during the rain

August 1, 2016

Sounds like you had a wonderful week! how fun! Activities like that are super awesome and are great for strengthing the testimonies of the youth, keep it up! (Our youth just got back from youth conference called Keystone. It was focused on the Restoration) A less active family i was teaching back in mezquital is now active and the daughter went to EFY. She came back with a super strong testimony and is now preparing to go on a mission when she turns 19! So keep up the wonderful youth activities!

What is your current calling in the ward? Young women?

I just wanted to thenk you for the awesome package you sent me. Thank you so much! 

I Love You!

Elder Phillips

Dear Everyone.

It has come to my attention that my letters have been getting progressively...lamer. I wish to apologize. And to make it up to you, I'll be writing a (hopefully) better letter. 

And so to start off, I want to wish a big old Happy Birthday to my dad, who just turned 50!

This week has been quite extraordinary. We started off by practicing the "Fat Cat Approach". What is this strange sounding technique? Well allow me to explain.

My companion is Elder Arlington, he's been in the mission for 18 months and has been slowly perfecting this tactic for the purpose of finding new people to teach.  This is how it began: as we were walking down the street, my companion saw a really really fat beast cat sitting outside of a house next to the owner. he immediately (being a lover of all pets) went ove to pet the animal. As he did, he started talkng to the owner about his pet, his family, etc. And by the end, we've arranged an appointment to come back and teach him about the Gospel of Christ. It's a fool-proof tactic that has proven to be quite successful during this last week.

Another example: Walking down the street, we see a large friendly looking dog sitting in the yard watching us. Once again, we go over and start petting the dog. After a moment, a young man arrives at the house. We get into a conversation about dogs and then we smoothly change the subject to talk about church. It turns out that the young lad's father is a member of the church but lives far away so the kids never got baptized. As we talked about the church, the youth's older brother came out of the house, offered us water, a mentioned to us that he'd like to go to church with us too! we put an appointment to visit them during the week and to take them to see the temple grounds.

So maybe it's the guidance of the spirit, maybe it's just our love for pets. Who knows, but either way it works!

A wonderful thing about Rio Nilo: We have the temple in our area! It is super beautiful! I've only passed by it a few times, but every time I do I have to take a quick break to just look at it for a while. It reminds me of the primary song "I Love to See the Temple". I can't wait to go inside again! 

I went on Splits with the Zone leader this week, and we went to a funeral. The woman who passed away was a less active member and almost all of her family is inactive in the church. They were in tears during the whole service. It's strange to see the difference between an active family and an inactive family during a funeral. The only way I can describe it is that the active family has hope. They have a hope of better things to come. They look forward to the day when they can see their loved ones again. And as Elder Fonseca taught a bit about the Plan of Salvation, a few of the families grabbed hold of it and took hope. Not all of them, but at least some of them. I feel like that's one thing that we can never afford to lose: The Hope. 

1Corinthians 15:54-58

 "So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?...
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

So let us be steadfast and unmoveable. 

Let us abound in the work of the Lord. 

Elder Phillips

Check it out, I crossed the Rio Grande! AMERICA!!!!

 This is the big red X. I think it means that there's a treasure burried there...

And I got dragged into eating Menudo (cow stomach soup) again. This one actually tasted pretty good.