January 30, 2017

Dad
Yeah, the baptism was great! her brother is really excited to get baptised this month. We also have another baptism coming up this saturday! His name is tony and he's super cool and ready!

Sounds like they all enjoyed themselves up at the lodge talking! and that your survival was pretty intense! Pizza and Pringles are what we call here in the mission The ¨Super Foods¨. Cuz they're super tasty! We've lately been munchin on donuts every week. And I hope that everything goes well with the house! I'll keep praying for you!

funny experience this week, A drunk guy gave my companion and I free hats! Mine has San Judas on it and my comps has Guadelupe! I'll send some pics! 

The mission is awesome. And I am loving these last few months more that any other time in the mission. And that's saying something! In these last few months I am hoping to baptise at least 5 more people. But they've still got a long way to go before their baptism. 

I can honestly say that I've learned a lot. And a new language too! And that which I have learned will serve me well for the rest of my life.

Have a great week daddio!

Elder Phillips

Mom

Sounds like you have an action packed weekend! Love that talk experience!  The truth is that The spirit is the true teacher, and if we let him in he teaches us what we need to say. And most of the time they are things we never would've imagined saying!

My week was a blast!

First of all, we found a funny little bird! I think it's what we call a parakeet? But im not too sure. We found him as we walked through a small park and stopped to take pictures. We went from taking pics to picking him up to having him follow us all day! He perched himself on our shoulders for a while as we walked to our appointments. Every now and then he'd get tired of one of us and would fly to perch himself on the other's shoulder or arm. We were thinking of giving him a name, but before we could come to a solid conclusion he flew away.

This saturday we have a baptism, so I'll be sure to send you more pictures of that. We also have plans to go visit a nearby lake this week! so that should be cool. It's probably the only one we've got down. here. 

Spiritual insight for the day:

Alma 5 (best chapter ever)

 62. I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life.

I love that scripture! But i started thinking: As members, how can we follow his invitation? can we be baptised again? How is it possible? And I came to a few conclusions. 1. The sacrament. We can renew our covenants and essentially ¨be baptized unto repentance¨ again! and 2. We can go to the temple to do baptisms. Not just baptisms, but all the work that one can do there! If we remain worthy at all times to go to the templo we may participate in the fruit of the tree of life!

Now that brings another question: What is the fruit of the tree of life? 

Look it up! What? Did you think i was going to give you all the answers? 

Anyways, that's my short weekly summary. I hope you have a great week! 

Elder Phillips

Oh my goodness! Could he be any cuter??

I thought I would add Dave's letter in 

Hey congrats on the baptism. That is great!  Hopefully the brother will progress well too -- I think you said it was her brother. I liked the quote about behind every cholo is a mom who cares and wants the gospel (or something like that).

Some yeah, we barely survived. Mom was out of town all weekend. She went to the lodge with a dozen lady friends. They hung out, talked a lot, and then probably talked a lot and then talked a bit, and then shared some stories and then talked it all out. That is what the ladies seem to do a lot of and it was good. It is actually really good for them to go and get away for a bit. It is good to recharge every once in a while and build friendships etc.

So with mom gone I was in charge. Hence, why survival was in question. We ate pizza, I had pringles for lunch one day, we ate more junk food, and stayed up too late. It was great.

Some still don't know what is going to happen with our old house. I have been talking to my lawyer, insurance guys, the fire department, etc. it is kind of crazy. I am hoping it will all get sorted out soon so we can start putting everything back together. That would be nice.

It is wild to think about you winding down on the mission. Keep working hard. It sounds like you have an awesome companion you are training. Always remember and focus on why you're u are there. There was a work thing the other day where they were talking about companies and people that succeed at work. They said that some people can tell you what they do (I talk to people about the church), more successful people can tell you how they do what they do (becoming part of the local ward and community allows me to understand the people and share a message of hope), but the most successful of all are focused on why they do what they do (the love of the Lord has extended an opportunity for love and mercy to all of Gods children and I am motivated by love to share that message with my brothers and sisters). Keep a focus on why you are serving in Mexico and it will motivate you to do what is best to bless their lives.

Love you. Have another awesome week!

January 16, 2017

That is such a great story that he shared! And so true! (Kat shared a story from Elder Renlund about a man who by a miracle was alive, and when the Doc went to see him he was complaining about the cold oatmeal and warm milk he had)

I would have to agree, The spirit is an extremely important companion that can bless our lives if we let him. (I have a talk on the Sacrament this Sunday and asked him to share a story) A sacrament story... Well... I'm not sure if this applies...

Down here (it may be the same up there) If you're not inside the sacrament room when they finish the hymn, you don't get the sacrament. They don't bring it out to the halls to pass it around. And every time people still show up late. To me this is extremely sad and i can help but feel that they dont understand the importance of the sacrament. Its like a game to them, the ¨lets-see-who-can-show-up-latest-to-sacrament-meeting-game¨

But it isn't and shouldn't be a game. The sacrament is sacred, the single most important moment of our week.

This week we brought an inactive member to church, he'd been going through some rough times and needed help. When he was there he could fel the spirit helping him to change, and even though he wasn't worthy to partake of the sacrament, God was there whispering encouragement in his ear. 

Last week we were walking down the street when all of a sudden we stopped, turned, and knocked a door. My companion asked me why and I simply responded ¨No se(I don't know)¨. Out came a woman whom we had met once before, several weeks earlier. She told us that one of her friends is about to get baptised in our church and that she wants to learn more about it too. I know that the spirit was guiding us to find her, and that if we werent worthy, or hadn't taken the sacrament that week, it wouldn'tve been possible.

This week went well, the Gas strikes have all calmed down and people have stopped threatening the local governors (more or less at least).

Karla's getting baptised this saturday

Toni, Feb 4th

Ruth, Feb 18th

The work is moving along well here in the Villa. Have to plan the bap program now, but please share this with the fambam.

I Love you!

Elder Phillips

(To Dave)

Oh dear, I remember those activities!  Who are the priests nowadays? _How many are there?

I heard of a place called Castle Rocks that might be cool. Or Craters of the moon. I dont really know but ive heard that they're cool places. Just make the food good and Everyone{ll be happy! When are you planning it for? will I be home in time?

Do you get many opportunities to share the gospel with people back home? Looking back on it I had several oportunities but i rarely took advabntage of them

Pic of my companion, He's from Tropical Chiapas (we should totally go some day, its beautiful down there)

January 9, 2017

So much has happened lately! 1st of all I was unable to go to Juarez for the Trainers meeting due to Road Blockades that were put up by gas price protesters. Gas prices rose 50 cents per gallon and the whole nation went crazy. Gas stations were burnt (not here thankfully) and roads were closed off, not allowing food nor gas nor people to pass by. The small city I'm in panicked and super markets were emptied of food. We too were instructed to be prepared for at least a month without being able to buy more food.

Fortunately, it only lasted for a few days and food was allowed entrance by thursday. We were also able to have transfers on tuesday night. My companion is super awesome! I love his so much! His name is Elder Rivera and he is so excited to be a missionary! We planned everything out well, and on his first day here he ws able to put a baptismal date with an investigator! We plan on having a total of 3 baptisms in the coming weeks!

Last night was a roller coaster of emotions. we spent the day doing visits with a youth, named Daniel. Super great guy. We went with him to visit some investigators and had some really great lessons. afterwards we went back to his house to share a message with his mom (less active) and his step dad (investigator). His brother and sister were there visiting from Mexico City and we had a great lesson, made of us all sharing our favorite scriptures and talking of the importance of scripture study (Read Joshua chapter 1.) As we finished up, Daniel's siblings asked for blessings so that they'd travel home safely and his sister asked for a blessing of health. sp we gave them blessings and the spirit esas there strong. As we left their home my companion told me how great he felt and we just walked and talked about the great responsability we hold. we finsihed up the day having met our weekly goals of lessons and we felt on top of the world. Elder Evans and Torres (our neighbors and fellow missionaries in Villa Hermosa) got home with some Chicharrones to share and we just sat around for a feew minutes telling stories and laughing for a while. All was going well and we were all happy.

 Then President Owen Called. 

I answered and he spoke to me in english " Elder Phillips, I'm calling to talk to your companion Elder Rivera" he explained "But I wish to explain things to you first. His mother just got off the phone with me... His grandfather passed away last night. From what I understand, he's been sick for a while now and died in the night, So I'll be giving him bad news and I want you to be prepared, ok?"

I passed my companion the phone and was rather shocked to tell the truth. I had no Idea what to do.

I'm not going to go into too many details about what happened that night, but the spirit was there with us. I want you to know that many tears were shed and it became one of the saddest yet sweetest memories of my mission.  

I know that the Lord sends us trials to try us and to strengthen us. And my companion has grown stronger thanks to this experience. And so have I

Remember how much you love your family. Be grateful for the great plan of happiness.

Elder Phillips

January 2, 2017

What! I cant believe im missing all that snow! 

Its still warm down here... Well not warm, but not snowing!

Good new! I'm going to be training a new missionary this cycle! I'll be going to the offices (in Juarez) to meet him today!

Happy aniversary!

The truth is that i have almost no time today. Last night they told us about the transfers: I'm staying here, but i'll be training again! A brand new missionary from Chiapas, Mexico! His name is Elder Rivera and I have to travel to Juarez in about an hour, so i don't have to much time right now.

These last few months will have to be the best ever! I'm grateful for the opportunity that I have to train, because it means that i'll be forced to be a great example: so noslacking off for me! haha 👍

Down here its been obnoxiously warm. No snow. a few days of rain. This morning was the first time we've gotten frost this winter! They say that Juarez just got through a few storms though, so ill tell you what its like over there. But i'm just cruisin on by with a sweater for now.

Love you!
Elder Phillips