January 18, 2016

That place looks absolutely awesome! I love it! I do have a pic for you today! The Baptism photo! How awesome that the Buckners will be getting baptised! I'm so glad that you've been able to be a part of the "Obra de Salvacion"/ "Work of Salvation"! It truly is something miraculous!

 Today I'll explain to you a bit of the mission baptism stress.

1. MMST (Mexican Mormon Standard Time)

You may be familiar with this phrase. It means that as members of the church we normally arrive at the last minute or late. Well here in Mexico it's worse. Everyone shows up about 30-45 minutes late. So we told everyone that we'd have the baptism at 4:30, they started to show up at 5:15.

2. The Problems Begin.

So we showed up a bit early to finish the preparations (The other missionaries were there with our ward mission leader cleaning and filling the font for us because we had some appointments) and we showed up with an awesome investigator family. Statistics say that 80% of the investigators that go to a baptism will be baptized, so things are looking good! Anyways, they couldn't open up the fancy outside boiler shed because the only guy who has keys for it was out with his family and coultn't make it. Eventually we found a way to get to the boiler without opening the shed, but it turns out that we didn't have any gas! So that means cold water. In the winter! We asked Mayra (it was her baptism) if she wanted to be baptised in cold water or if she'd prefer to wait and do it another day and after thinking a while she decided to do it! So people start showing up, the font fills up slowly, so we had the baptism at 6:30! We had other problems too, but after a lot of prayers it all worked out. The water was freezing cold though! I was the one to baptise her (My first baptism!) and We had to do it 4 times! Her dress floated up everytime and we didn't have a whole lot of water. So in the end we had to do it on our knees (remember, we're still in freezing cold water and she's already been dunked in 3 times now). But we got it the 4th time!! Surprisingly, she didn't say anything about it being super cold after she got dunked the first time. I thought that it was pretty cold though.

Afterwards she was invited to share how she felt, and she told us that the moment I put my hands on her and started to say the prayer, she felt warm again. She felt a warm feeling spreading through her body and it became a lot easier (and less cold) for her. 

3. Resolution

In the end we went and all ate donuts with atole (like a warm drink that they make from milk, oatmeal, cinamon, chocolate, and ocasionally other stuff). It turned out to a very stressful experiencia, but also a wonderful one. 

So here's the pic! And one of the inside of our house. We have a pretty nice house here. I like it. It falls me good. And another flashback photo of Elder Kopsa on Day 1 in the MTC.

And I recently started talking to some members here who still have connections in there homelands (Puebla, Oaxaca, Michoacan) and they're helping me to put together a legendary package for you guys! Ok, not super legendary, but yeah it'll be cool! Sorry I still haven't sent it out but I'll get around to it soon!

And if there is a next package, I would love some Peanut butter (chunky), and other snack foods (my companion recommends the following: Summer Sausage, Pringles, Easy Cheese, Chicken-in-a-biscuit, cheezits, and/or cinnamon life). And if you can, a few garment bottoms. They've started to wear out a bit.

Remember: Miracles Happen.

I Love You!

Elder Phillips!

Dave's Letter had some of the same parts copied, so I will just post what is different

How awesome that they'll be getting baptised! I am so super proud of you guys, thank you so much for helping out the misionaries back home! I know that he'll eventually commit especially with the pressure from his wife! Keep up the good work! With the spirit testifying of this to him I know that he'll make the right choice!

Here's the picture from our baptism! After several months (like 6 months) investigating the church, she's finally getting baptised! Sometimes it takes a little bit of time, but one does not simply ignore the spirit (see what i did there?, it's a Boromir quote). 

Guess that was it :) 

January 11, 2016

Haha, I think that's Ellie's twin sister! How funny :) 

I hope you are put as Elder's Quorum President! Haha, jk. I wouldn't wish that on anybody! But yeah, primary would be awesome! did you all go outside to build snowmen again, or are you all snowed out? All our snow down here melted and all the dirt roads became unescapable mud pits. 

We had special transfers thursday morning. My companion got sent to another area and my old MTC comp came here to party it up with me in Me3zquital (the 3 is silent). He has been in 5 different areas already! this is only my 2nd! How crazy, right? And I'm already forgetting spanish because we're always speaking in english. But man! We're having a great time together! We have a baptism coming up this saturday and some wonderful investigators. We werent able to visit one of them this week (his name is David, we passed by about 3 times but he wasnt there) and then he showed up to church on sunday! Now that's commitment! The Catholics and Christians teach everyone that it isnt important to show up to church, so it's a big challenge down here normally. He's just about ready for baptism too!!

And I didn't even know that we have churches in Kazakhstan! How awesome! And she'll be getting home just a few months after I do! How awesome!

I love You!

Elder Phillips

Mom
No Way! That is so awesome! Congratulate her for me! How legit!! Will it all be in Russian or other languages too? and only 281 in her whole area!!! CRAZYY! Here every ward has at least that many inactive members! It's super easy to baptize down here, but retention is hard so they had to put in a lot of other prerequisites to help. So baptisms in Juarez are more or less low again :( But good news, We have a baptism this Saturday! I'll be baptising Mayra Fabiola Aguilera Sanchez! 

In other news, Elder Procopio had special transfers on Thursday. I am now with Elder Kopsa! My old MTC companion! They told me that that never happens, but here we are andwe're having a blast! 

Really, I have had the wonderful oportunity to see many miracles during the mission. Here's an awesome one for you. I may have already told it to you, but I think it's really cool:

When talking to an investigator, she told us of an expirience she'd had just recently:

She prayed to find out if the church was true one night and then she dreamt about getting baptised and it was super cool and she said that she fealt wonderful. 

After a few setbacks, her baptism got postponed for a while. Then about a week before we went to visit her (the missionaries had stopped visiting her for a while), she had another dream in which she was running around town in the night. She didn't know why, and then a voice spoke to her and said: "You need to find the Elders. You're running out of time." And then we showed up a few days later and started to teach her again. 

She's getting baptised this saturday.

So that's my story for you guys today. I have had many wonderful experiences here in the mission and recommend that everyone considers serving a mission.

Te Amo un Chorro!

Elder Phillips

Ps.

Here in jaurez they don't eat cat (thank goodness) but dog is actually really common to find in street tacos and burritos and stuff. it's an openly admitted fact. And strange parts of all types of animals

January 4, 2016

Awesome! To make a long story short my companion is progressing. We still have the occasional problem and stuff, but progressing. Thank you very much for your advice. Our mission president is helping me to keep him in line too. For many such reasons, we oinly have little time today. I love hearing about the Fat uncles though! Nobody has died lately but there were loads of gunshots on new years eve. Appearantly its a tradition or something. I tried cow stomach (it tastes like it sounds...Bleh). Wish I had more time to write you!

I Love You!

Elder Phillips

May the force be with you

Check out this awesome coat I found lying around the house. It's super cozy and warm!

How awesome! I love all the pictures (Especially the one from Taylor Davis)! How awesome that you had a great family party!! My birthday was awesome! We don't have a pan for our cake, so we made some super delish pancakes with the cake mix! Elder Carreon (in our ward) had his birthday the 28th, and Elder Salas (in our district) had his the very same day as me! We didn't really have a party, but we had fun in our district meeting. I know I am so old! 20 years old! I am no longer a dumb teen!  (I'm a dumb adult!) And yeah! Loads of snow! And Photos!

So this week I tried Menudo (cow stomach soup)!! It was pretty horrible. The flavor isn't very good and it has a weird texture. But don't worry, They anticipated it and gave me permission beforehand not to eat it.

Awesome part! A family of investigators has been listening to the missionaries for a few months now, but hadn't eever gone to church. But we went to visit them with a member this week and BAM! They all came to church on sunday! The only reason they hadn't been coming is because one of their kids (the oldest son  16yrs old) works sundays and they wanted to all show up together! We have a baptism coming up to! the 16th of January!

Next week I'll tell you more about Berenice! She's an old investigator from about a year ago and we contacted her in the street. We visited her and she tolld us that she almost got baptised, but her husband was against it and didn't allow her to go to church. We promised her that through her prayers, scripture study, and abstainance from coffee (and our fasting) that God would help soften the heart of her husband so that he would permit us to visit her. So when we visit them on wednesday, I know that god will be able to work this miracle!

And I hope that none of my friends get married while I'm out in the mission. And Megan does NOT have my permission to get married either!

I love you all so much! 

Quick question, when you guys send out my letters, do you still use the title "the wonderful world of Juarez"? Because i'm very proud of that. It took me a good 10 minutes to think up that title.

With buckets of love,

Elder Phillips

Dec 28,15

What an awsome way to step up the christmas prank! (He is referring to us hiding a gift under McOmbers tree of a santa Jesus nativity)And a very clever way to do it too! They'll never find out how it was done :) And thank you so much for your advice for what I should do. I will do my best to apply it so that we can improve! 

I love the chance I had to talk to you guys! It was so much fun and so awesome! I loved being able to actually see you guys and talk with you and everything! I ican't wait until the next time!

How Awesome! I love the pictures and the wonderful picture that Megan drew for our cousins. It is a true master piece. It was so wonderful to talk to you all on Christmas Eve! It was so great to see you all! To actually talk to you guys! How great that they all got presents for everybody! It seems like after I left everyone became better people... but I'm sure that there's no actual relation between the two things. Right?

Another thing, I'm still not convinced that I have an accent. I think you're just messing with me. There is no way that after 8 months I have an accent! Although that would be cool... Can you imagine what it'd be like after 2 years? Wow! Crazy thought!

In the internet you can probably find this video: It's called "Concierto Navidad 2013". From Chile with David Archuleta. It has loads of the Mexican Culture and their songs and stuff. I Love It! It's a bit over an hour long, but totally awesome!

We got snowed out Saturday! We got about 9-12 inches dumped on us! It started out for a few hours just drizzling and raining a bit, but aroung 6:00 it turned into a bit of snow that continued through the night. Plain snow would've been wonderful, but with the water underneath it got ugly. Loads of slush and wet feet. On Sunday, Church got canceled and our President confined us all to our houses. However, W were already at church by the time they told us. In our sacrament meeting it was just us 4 missionaries, our 1st counselor and stake president (he's in our ward). Even their families stayed home! So we had a quick meeting and took the sacrament, and afterwards went to visit various members that needed our help. around 2, we went back home and my comp slept while I watched mormon messages (about a thousand times!) while playing solitaire. Seriously, Solitaire for 5 hours straight!!!! I'm basically a pro now, but I'm super sick of it. so today I taught my comp how to play war and scum. so we'll have fun the next time we get confined to our house. fortunately, we were given loads of tamales by the members on christmas, so we had a wonderful Lunch! And dinner! and breakfast! And we still have more! My companion is a bit sick of them (actually, he got sick), but not me! And we still have posole too!

So anyways, that was our Christmas! The Members are wonderful and always give us loads of food during the holidays. Thank you so much for sending me thermic clothing and a deck of cards! Those two things saved me from death!

I want to send you pictures of everything, but I can't! Next week I'll send you loads of them!

I love you so super duper much!

Elder Phillips

Have a happy new year!

December 21, 15

HeyMom!

Thank you so much for the wonderful package! Christmas came a little bit early this year, and I couldn't wait to open the presentls! So I opened them :) And they're super awesome! Light sabers and stockings, Talking Yoda and a christmas trree, Loads of wonderful ties cookies and candies! Elder Carreon (an elder in my district) was super impressed with the caramel chocolate cookie bars that you sent. Because they were delicioso. And Kats cookies were awesome too! all in all, it was amazing!

Just so you know, we'll begin our Skype at 5:45 or 6. Dad sent me the info, So I'll contact you guys. Just remember: 5:45 or 6 In Juarez time. I dont know if its a different time back in boise.

Megan: That is a really awesome picture. You are very good at drawing. And your senior pictures!!! You're going to graduate!!! How crazy!!!! 

So the good stuff from the week!

We had a baptism yesterday! 3 kids ages 10, 10, and 13. There parents recently came back to church. However, only 2 of the kids actually got baptised. The little girl 10yrs old got scared right beforehand. Her dad had told her that it would be safer if he baptised her, but she wanted me to do it (and her dad still has a few problems to work out). However, hearing that it wouldn't be safe she began to worry. She had never been swimming before and was super scared that she would drown. So after trying to help her for a half hour,we gave up and rescheduled the baptism. 

So parents, theres a lesson here: Dont tell your kids that a baptism isn't safe. And please take your kids swimming every now and then. Please share that with the ward. 

In other news, we had a mission christmas party that was super awesome! We all went to the North stake center, ate turkey, sang hymns, and relaxed a bit. It was truly wonderful. The members are very generous and always help provide for the missionaries.

Have A Wonderful Merry Christmas! 

And remember to write down all your questions for me!

Elder Phillips.

And here is the letter to dad. I am sure he copies and pastes parts of the letters, so sorry for the repeats!

First of all, I want you to know thet I am dying inside because I cant see that movie yet. I opened my package the other day and it is amazing!! So much jerky! My companion and I have had a few legit light saber fights over the past few days.

Anna is so awesome and funny!! And Ellie Peed her pants? HAHA!!!! How hilarious!

Being senior companion is difficult. Honestly. Im not sure if its ´the senior comp or the training part, but its hard. My companion is 100% Mexican. From the state of Mexico. Here they call them 'Chilangos'. he has a weird accent too. But it's all good. He's still trying to get used to the mission, and I hope that ill be able to help him. Honsetly, I don't know what to do most ofthe time. I'm like a fish out of water here. The worst part is that I know that I'm gonna have a big influence on his mission experience. 

I need your advice on something: He is a bit prideful and reluctant to obey and be diligent. Should I straight up tell him that he has a problem there? I think I have to. Of course in a super nice and loving way, but to have success as a missionary he has to learn. And learning hurts. Ok,it doesn't hurt, but I think I have to tell him.

But other than that, it's all been going well. Christmas and Birthday package was amazing! Witha load of new ties and an awesome BSU Magnet pin for my tie and suit jacket. My companion will be converted to BSU by the time his training is over.

I've started to realize how much of an impact my trainer had on me. In a good way. And how far I've truly come. I really want to help my companion to feel the same.

And some spiritual stuff too!:

We had a baptism yesterday! 3 kids ages 10, 10, and 13. There parents recently came back to church. However, only 2 of the kids actually got baptised. The little girl 10yrs old got scared right beforehand. Her dad had told her that it would be safer if he baptised her, but she wanted me to do it (and her dad still has a few problems to work out). However, hearing that it wouldn't be safe she began to worry. She had never been swimming before and was super scared that she would drown. So after trying to help her for a half hour,we gave up and rescheduled the baptism. 

So parents, theres a lesson here: Dont tell your kids that a baptism isn't safe. And please take your kids swimming every now and then. Please share that with the ward. 

In other news, we had a mission christmas party that was super awesome! We all went to the North stake center, ate turkey, sang hymns, and relaxed a bit. It was truly wonderful. The members are very generous and always help provide for the missionaries.

So that's all for today! 

Thank you so much for everything!

Merry Christmas!

Elder Phillips

14 Deciembre 2015

Hey Mom!

I hope you get well soon! Eat a lot of pineapple to avoid more stones! 

I'm kinda glad to hear that there aren't many good movies coming out, but sad at the same time. Also, it's so super sad that you had to cancel your trip to Utah to see The Lower Lights :( But hey, they'll come around again.

This week a member gave me a book. It's called "Una Obra Maravillosa y prodigio". or "A marvelous work and a wonder" It is super good! I also want to read the miracle of forgiveness, history of the church, and the teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith. But I might have to wait until after the mission. For now, I think it's best to focus on the Book of Mormon and Bible. I still have a long way to go.

This week we kinda had a party in our house. We had the zone leaders and my comp's trainer(and his comp) over for breakfast. Personally, I thought it was a bit of a waste of good study time, but it was still fun. we ate sausage and eggs and of course, tortillas. It surprises the mexicans when i tell them we don't eat with tortillas. They always ask "Then what do you eat with?" "Well, nothing really. A fork? sometimes bread, but not often." and they still don't understand. They imagine that we eat everything with bread instead of tortillas. they're kinda strange and can't imagine eating without tortillas of bread.

So we have transfers! My companion is leaving, and I'll stay here as Companero Mayor (for my first time!) and I'll be training a new missionary! Super crazy! The mission goes by so fast! Can you believe that I already have 7 months in the mission? I can't!

So saturday we had a baptism, super awesome, and tomorrow the other missionaries in our ward are going to have a baptism too! So next week I'll send you the photos from that one! 

Tell Anna I love her Christmas list!

I Love You! I hope you get better!

Elder Phillips

Holy Guacamole! Mom should know better by now that kidney stones are not a good idea. But hey, at least you don't have to raise another kid! What movie did you guys go see? Star wars? Some other awesome movie that just came out? I hear a lot from the investigators and members about movies that are coming out. They say that there's even a new tarzan movie coming out! I'll have quite the list of movies to see after two years!

So news time! 

My companion is getting transferes! I'll be recieving a new elder, Elder Procopio. I don't know if he's american or mexican, but his name is wierd, so Ï think he's mexican. Honestly, I don't feel ready to train anybody. I hardly know the area and feel like I just barely finished my training! I've never even been companion mayor!

But hey, what can I do. I'm going to try my best to help this newby out! So wish me luck!

Tell Mom to stop hurting herself!

Elder Phillips

 

December 7, 2015

Hey mom!

So good news! Yes, Pictures this week! So here are a few of me and my companion! I'll make sure to send you a list of the package. I don't think that they always check them, but most of these things are for safety purposes. Just in case they feel like searching our christmas packages. I don't really get along with my companion. I try to, and I try to be patient, but it is hard. Seriously hard. He's very prideful and not very diligent with the rules. I know that I'm not perfect either, but it's hard. I have been able to learn a lot though. I think that's the value of this type of companion. They say that "God puts you with each companion for a reason, so learn the reason and learn from your companion", I think it's a reminder to me that I need to be more humble too. I've learned that when patience is needed, a prayer is your best friend.

I'm learning to like this area a lot. We've had good things happen and bad things happen. It's been quite an adventure. In the holiday seasons, people usually fire a lot of guns to celebrate. No, it isn't legal. But no, they don't care. Most nights we hear gunshots nowadays.

We weren't able to actually celebrate thanksgiving, but in all of our lessons we taught them about gratitude. We taught shared a lot of scriptures about christmas too! They may not celebrate thanksgiving, but they are a very thankful people. The husband of one of our investigators invited us over to eat chinese food (chinese food in mexico is a dangerous thing), and we were super worried -being poisoned by angry anti-mormons or narcos is unfortunately a very real possibility down here- I am still new here and don't know him very well, but I've heard some stories. He doesn't want anything to do with the church and is currently separated from his wife (he was abusive when she told him that she wanted to get baptised). So we were a little worried and said a few extra prayers in our hearts before eating the possibly poisoned food, but it was all good. actually it was really good. And afterwards we played a fun little game called "WWJD?", all about real life situations and the teachings of jesus. More than anything, we just got to share a bit more about our religion and our faith with him. It turned out to be a really great visit.

One Investigator had both her kids baptised (ages 13 and 17), but she couldn't because her husband didfn't want to get married. She has faithfully gone to church every week for the past several months with her kids. Well this week, he left. She had tried the "Ultimatum" before, but he hadn't married her or left, but suddenly: POOF. He's gone. It was bad, but good. She can now get baptised, but they were together for 15 years. It's been hard on them.

Fun fact for ya: We eat a load of chicken here! I really love chicken, but eating it every day gets a little old. Fortunately there are thousands of different types of salsa that we can use to spice it up a little (or a lot!).

To answer your questions: Yes, I got both ties :) I do have to be careful in using them though, because our president is very strict about our ties that we use.  But Yes, They are awesome! My companion wants to trade ties with me for them, but I told him "Psh, Now Way José!". Get it? It's funny because his name might actually be José :) haha

And thank you so much, I really don't have time to write group letters. When we change areas, we have to write to all of the people we baptised every week (or at least 1 or 2 a week), so I don't get much time. Thank you!

And that super legit mini frisbee is super awesome! I bring it with me to entertain little kids. Unfortunately, they all want it. So that's a problem. But it's awesome!

I Love Love Love Love You!

Elder Phillips

Tell the girls I love them! And Kate too! And Dad too!

(Dave and I got just a little different letters, so here is they part of his that was different (I think))

How awesome! We don't have any snow down here :(.  It gets really cold, but no snow. My companion was asking me today if we really go sledding like they do in the movies and I had to laugh, "Of course we do!" I told him. But he's from an area super warm and has hardly ever even seen snow! I love the snow! The cold weather, standing close to a warm fire, roasting s'mores... it's the best!!

I don't really get along with my companion. I try to, and I try to be patient, but it is hard. Seriously hard. He's very prideful and not very diligent with the rules. I know that I'm not perfect either, but it's hard. I have been able to learn a lot though. I think that's the value of this type of companion. They say that "God puts you with each companion for a reason, so learn the reason and learn from your companion", I think it's a reminder to me that I need to be more humble too. I've learned that when patience is needed, a prayer is your best friend.

Have a great week! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Elder Phillips (pronounced down here as Peeleeps or Feeleex)