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

December 26, 2017

Hey mom! This week has been fantastic! Getting to see you all again was definitely my highlight.

I had totally forgotten bout my birthday too! but thanks. Down here we're enjoying a warm sunny Christmas. 

Here are some pics from

The christmas party and

The family who invited us to dinner on Christmas.

Our bathroom door doesn't lock.

The photos are pretty self explanatory. (also self explanatory.... this is what he sent to Dave, not me :)

December 19, 2017

Please thank the primary (and The Whitings) for the letters they sent me! They were wonderful!!

Not a lot happened this week, and since we´re going to be talking this week they haven't given  us a lot of time to write. But IO will  catch you all up on everything! 

Love you lots!

Elder Phillips

December 12, 2017

That´s awesome! I'm so glad that it all turned out well in the end! (I shared my story of being sick with bronchitis and making it to the Lower Lights concert in SLC- last year I bought tickets and got a kidney stone and missed it)

Funny story: We finally found the rat that was living in the house! After about 30 minutes of chasing it around the kitchen we trapped it under a broken bucket. Unfortunately, nobody had told us that mice can jump. so it lept out and attacked the face of Elder Torres before my companion could put it out of our misery with a well placed boot toss. So yeah, we gave it a nice funeral in a plastic bag. But not before taking a selfie!

This week we had a great experience while doing visits with a Young single adult. We went to visit a less active member and they had invited their neighbor to come over. We taught about the Plan of Salvation but the neighbor had some questions about how to know which church is true. The YSA who was with us shared his testimony and explained how he could pray to know the truth, and invited him to do so. He put an appointment to come back and visit him, and sincerely testified of the importance that this will have in his life. This was a great experience for both us and the member who came with us because he has been going through some trials lately and was a little discouraged, and had begun to doubt his decision to go on the mission. Now he is more excited than ever to serve a mission and wants to help us in as many lessons as possible in the coming weeks! 

Changes in mission rules! We are now able to go to the temple every 6 months starting in January! That´ll be awesome. Unfortunately, I´ll still only be able to go once. But I am super excited! 

We will also be having a Christmas Party this week! It'll be a blast!
Just to let you know, we will be able to skype on the 24th or 25th, whichever is better for you. And at whatever time, so long as we finish before 9PM. We will have 40 minutes to talk.

Have a great week!

Elder Phillips

December 5, 2017

well, Chihuahua has always been a drug trafficking state in Mexico, and even moreso by the border. So ther are lots of gangs and stuff. The good thing is that theyre religious and only get into fights with other gangs, so we arent in any danger at all. Ive had several offer me protection (they come up, give me a boondogle and say something like ¨Pedro offers you his protection¨ and whatnot)

I haven´t seen much lately, just ¨Cholos¨, or local thugs throwing rocks at eachother. It´s kind of funny, they don´t use weapons because it gets out of hand real quick and attracts a lot of attention, so they throw rocks. But we just stay away from the worst areas. 

I hope you enjoy the Christmas parties, it sounds like you´ve all been having a blast! I can´t believe that Grandpa is already turning 80! When is his birthday?

The Christmas devotional was excellent, full of beautiful songs and talks. I absolutely love the Christmas season! It´s getting cold down here and we´re hoping it snows soon! My companion is suffering a lot though, it´s his first winter! He´s from a very calm climate and isn´t yet used to the cold. In the evenings we´re hitting 30 degrees which for him is utterly unheard of. Fortunately we´re well prepared with lots of coats and blankets.

Make sure to send lots of pictures from the party!

I Love You!

Elder Phillips