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