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!