April 25, 2016

So we still haven´t dyed the eggs, we had to search for ways to hollow them out well and then we bought vinager for the dye. The puzzle was super clever and fun! And thank you for sending me money! 1 pair of pants has holes, the other is stitched up (it had holes too) and the third is starting is show signs of wear and tear. My goal was to make them last the full 2 years but well... you know how things go.

The activity went really well! Two days a week The street Yepomera (a big street down here) gets lined with people selling all sorts of stuff. Remember that market in Hawaii? it´s just like that, only a bit smaller. The activity went great because when people are looking for cheap stuff and you say the word ¨free¨, they come a runnin! 

I´m so glad that the misionaries are working hard! It´s surprising how few baptisms we´ve gotten in our ward in the past years, but its awesome that the numbers are going up! When I get back I´ll make sure to keep the Mission work going strong! The mission doesn´t ever really end, You just get changed to another area: your home. I´ll make sure to baptize all of my old friends and acquaintances when that time comes. 

It´s crazy to think about how lazy I was! But it´s great to see Anna working hard! 

I love those senior pics! they are super cute and well done! And I´m glad that your adventure through the mud eventually led you to a beautiful place.

Congratulations for AJ! I was starting to think that Ellie or Anna would be getting hitched first! But keep an eye on them, that whole situation is looking pretty sketch....

What an adventure! I do miss camping (and steak) so promise me that we´ll go someday!

This week we went to ¨The Zone of Silence¨

We were searching for a certain reference when we came across this rather ominously named street out in the middle of nowhere. Weird right? Shortly afterwards, we lost all cell phone signal for the rest of the day. Coincidence? I think not!

But anyways, a bit farther on we found the family Gomez. They were a reference from about a year ago but it turns out that the missionaries at this time never actually visited them! So arrived and got to know them a bit. They´re a wonderful family of three: Veronica (mom), Kimberly (14), and Edwin (10). We talked a bit about God, Prayer, and then Baptism. When we brought up the topic and showed a picture of Christs baptism, The mom said ¨I´ve already been baptised¨.Note: Everyone in Juarez was baptized at birth by the Catholic church, so everyone says that.Bbut then she continued, ¨In your church!¨ Wow! it turns out that she got baptised at age 16, but stopped going a few years later. Now here we are about 15 years later and she wants to come back! She told us all about her baptism and how wonderful she felt. It was amazing! As she recounted the story of her baptism her smile was unforgetable! She was so happy, and the spirit so strong that her daughter told us that she too wants to come to church and be baptised!

Victor Vasquez and his kids accepted our baptismal invitation too! They then came to church and the kids absolutely loved the primary, so much so that at the end they didn´t want to leave! They´ve had many trials in their family, but they´ve put their faith in God and they made it through em. They will be getting baptised on the 21st of May. 

Pray for them!

I Love you all!

Elder Phillips

Here are photos of 1. Our new pet spider. 2. us in a primary activity visitting less active kids (they have baby ducks and chicks)  3. me with the black chick (the kids named it filips) 4.The Zone of silence 5. The zone of Silence again   6. So I was making pasta and broke it in half over my knee, but one piece didn´t break. It just bent. Dry pasta, not yet cooked. So I took a pic.

Half Way!!

How fun!

Did they have a good time at prom?

I Loved the package! It was super clever and fun! Throwing in just half of everything was awesome! I also got the easter package! We've now hollowed out some eggs and we'll start dying them soon! I'll send you pictures when We've finished!

It's so crazy to think that Hunter's already going on the mission! Won't Megan McOmber be getting back home a little bit before Hunter goes out? Crazy! 

A little bit about my week:

This week we've been praying a lot and contacting loads to find new people to teach. One of the things we did was an activity in the "Segundas", or the local yard sale, with the youth of the ward. We put our faith in the lord, put ourselves to work, and we got results! Many people are constantly searching for the truth and when we put ourselves in their paths with the gospel, they recognize it. We found a wonderful semi-old man named Antonio. He's 68ish years old and full of energy. He lives here in Mezquital nearby and really wants to find the true church. It is amazing how much the lord helps us when we need it!

Remember how in The Brady Bunch (and just about every other tv series/sitcom that has ever existed) there's an episode where Pete tries to take two different girls to the same dance? Well this week I was that guy. And I succeeded! Ok, so I didn't really go to a dance or anything, but I was faced with a similar dilema.  This week we signed up to eat with a recent convert of ours named Sister Perez. She is super nice and loves to give us food to eat. She invited us to come by at 3 to eat tacos for lunch (down here lunch is a big deal) with her and her kids. Everything good up until this point, but then we ran into investigator of ours who reminded us that he was going to make us food too! And not just a bit of food, but giant Juarez burritos with 5 different types of meat! I'll admit that we panicked a little bit. 

Down here when you agree to eat lunch with a family, there is an unseen but very real contract that is being signed. If you read the fine print, you'll understand that when you eat with a family down here, you MUST agree to a second helping, or at least more beans. If you do not, it is taken as an offense to the chef. So when we realized what was coming, my companion suggested calling Sister Perez to cancel our lunch appointment. Fortunately, being from the Phillips Clan, I have been trained from a very young age to eat very large portions of food. It was a rigorous and merciless training process, but here in the mission it has paid off. With some quick changes of plans (and a few secret  tecniques learned from chapter 8 of Preach my Gospel), we arranged to eat at slightly different times (at 2:30 and at 3) with the two families. After eating several huge (and I mean some huge!) burritos, we ran to our second lunch appointment and had about a dozen tacos (these were a lot smaller, but really good!). 

Afterwards my companion almost threw up, but he held it down like a champion. We didn't eat again until breakfast the next day.

So those are my adventures from this week, I hope you all had a great week and that this next one is even better!

Love ya

Elder Phillips (or Elder Filipo as they call me down here)

 We sent him Half a shirt, half a tie, half sunglasses, half a six pack of root beer, half eaten candy bars, half a puzzle, etc etc.....

April 11, 2016

Wow! The girls are so old now! Is it bad that I already forgot how old anna is? Is she 9 or 10 now? That sounds like an amazing party! There is nothing better than a bucket of Sour Patch kids and Swedish Fish while watching Star Wars! I´m still jealous because I can´t see it yet. I have been invited to watch it with several families already but don´t worry, I´m an obedient missionary :-) Oh and that Dinner! That´s exactly the kind of food I miss!

And yes, I will be opening the packages Tonight! I can´t wait!! I´ll make sure to send loads of pictures!
Tell Cortez that I´m doing great! I´m glad to hear that he came back to visit the ward, he was a cool guy. Do you know where he´s studying?
Happy national siblings day! And what a shame that I missed Lego Hand Day, But you know it´s never too late to celebrate!
And that Andrew Goodale! Who´s he going to marry? how did they meet? Do I know her?

We had some great experiences this week! Just the other day,  we helped a woman carry her bags from a supermarket, and when we got to her home we recognized her direction. It turns out that she was an old reference named Berta that we had been trying to contact for the past few weeks, but she hadn´t been home. We started talking with her and after a few minutes of getting to know eachother, we put an appointment to come back the next day. When we passed to visit Berta, she told us that she has had many trials and challenges in her life and would like to feel the spirit more. She shared with us her true desire to feel Gods love in her life and her willingness to obey his commandments.
There are many people out there just like her. They have been prepared by God to accept his Gospel. And it´s our job (The job of ALL of us) to find them.

On a completely different note, The spring/summer time is just getting started down here which means 1 thing: The tarantulas, scorpions, and snakes are coming out of hiding and into the open again! It's hilarious because my companion almost faints every time he sees a spider, and he's only seen the little house spiders so far! Poor guy. 

Have a wonderful week!

Elder Phillips

 Ahh, they celebrated Lego Hand Day!!

April 4, 2016

Wow! Megan is the most accident prone child i've ever met!(Megan had a mishap with a fence... hanging upside down by her foot) I'm kinda sorry to hear about Rio. I never really liked him much, but The Sants will miss him. Now I will miss the truck. She had a good life full of adventures and experiences. May she rest in peace (or pieces).

This week was great! even better than the last two weeks combined! All students were out on vacations for the holy week, so we did a lot of visits with the priests in our ward. One of them even spent two full days (from 11am til 9pm) with us doing visits! This is something I would recommend to all the priests back home. It is a great way to learn about the mission and prepare yourself to serve. 

Also, nobody down here celebrates April Fools Day :( But that didn't stop me from trying! 1 plate of spagetti spiked with Habanero salsa + 1 missionary= 1 seriously angry missionary and his laughing companion. For some strange reason he didn't find it quite as funny as I did. I can't imagine why, but oh well.

We've started visiting more members lately too. We have been taught by the apostles that every family should have "Preach my Gospel" in their home and should study it regularly. Unfortunately, we have found that nobody really studies it and if they do they don't understand it. Because when we truly understand the scriptures, it brings us to action. Please read PMG and apply it in your lives to help hasten the work. 

General conference was amazing! I've been thinking long and hard about which talk was my favorite and I think i've reached my conclusion: Elder Russell M. Nelson. His talk was direct, true, and powerful! 

Sorry, but that's all folks!

Lots of Loves!

Elder Phillips