May 30, 2016

Hey family! How´s it going? 

Remember that family I wrote about last week? well the mom is named Rosa (Rose), her daughters are Luz (Light) and Rocio (Dew). Well it turns out that they are super prepared! But I mean SUPER prepared! We taught them about the restoration, the plan of salvation, and baptism! They are super excited and accepted our invitation to come to church this sunday. We also hope that they´ll be able to  come to the baptism of Kimberly and Edwin this saturday!

Oh yeah, Baptism this saturday! We´ve been teaching the Gomez Family for about a month and a half now and this saturday Kimberly and Edwin will be getting baptized! They are a family of 3: Veronica (reactivated member), Kimberly (14, super shy but watch out if she gets angry), and Edwin (11, a rambunctious child). 

This week we did something kind of cool: We did an exorcism on a house! ok, not quite like that. We did a blessing for a house. Some recent converts had been having some problems lately and their daughter (4 yrs old) claimed to have seen spirits and other strange stuff, so we jumped into action! After the blessing they say that everything is better and the problems have calmed down.

I Love You!

Elder Phillips

Stay tuned until next time when Elder Phillips sends pictures!

Here is Becky's letter with a short reply. 

So she actually graduated! It has been a very busy weekend! But you know those are always the funnest. Aunt Sally uncle DEL, Tevon, Emma, and Grandma came to visit for the weekend. I don't know if I told you, Chris couldn't come because he's in Ireland! He went with school and will be there for six weeks. So fun! They haven't heard from him much, so I can't tell you any highlights yet. Our highlights were
1: going to jump Creek Falls. It's a nice little walk into a waterfall, can't really be considered a hike there for Ellie can't complain :-) I actually think she's getting better, she's hanging out with adventurous people that make her be OK with hiking. Grandma loved exploring, and the girls actually got in that frigid water! I will have to send those pictures separately.
2. We went to garage sales :-) that was at Sally's number one request one coming here. I found some good things, some cute clothes for little baby savanna, and a new coffee table! But nobody was there selling the gospel ;-) not like your yard sales!
3. I took all the girls up to see great grandma Thompson up in Haines Oregon. She will be 97 years old in September! I doubt she will make it that long though. We enjoyed our visit with her. My aunt Denise was there, And she let the girls ride her horses. They got to brush them down and braid their hair also :-) they were in heaven! We also went and visited aunt Charlene and uncle Jerry. She is in really bad shape! She fell and shattered the ball joint of her shoulder and had to have it replaced, And then a week after that fell on it again! I think they are putting her on hospice which usually means you only have at the most six months to live. They still love you, and ask about you

(From John)

Wow!

1. That sounds awesome and super fun!

2. Well somebody´s got to start! Buy a few book of mormon and start handing them out!

3. That sounds like fun, but it´s a real bummer hearing about Aunt Charlene and Great Grandma Thompson. So they´re thinking that they only have a few months left? they really need our prayers.

May 23, 2016

Wow! What a week! 

Let me just say that I am grateful for all those hot summer hikes that we did as scouts up in the mountains, because this week was a lot of working hard in the burning sun. And it was awesome.

I have found that in the past year (that´s right, I´ve been out here a full year already!) my best weeks were the ones when we worked the hardest. Porque asi es. That´s just how it is. And I´m starting to realize that that´s how life is in general. The more you work in anything -a calling, a job, school studies, etc- the more you get out of it. If you want to have a good mission experience, you´ve got to forget yourself and get to work.

Nifty Little Weekly Experience!

So last week we went through our Area Book again. For those of you who don´t know, The Area Book is our binder where we keep the progress records of all our investigators. And we have records from 2013ish up until the current date of every investigator whom the missionaries here in Mezquital have visited. Anyways, we went through it and found Rosa, an investigator from about 2 years back whom the missionaries stopped visiting. We stopped by to pay her a visit and she accepted to recieve the lessions again. However, she didn´t really seem interested. The first visit we got to know her and about her family (she has 2 daughters and 1 son, but they don´t live with her anymore). We left doubting her interest in the gospel but we decided to teach her, invite her, and see if she progressed. We went one more time and taught both she and her daughter about the Restoration. To our surprise, they were very receptive and promised to read the Book of Mormon! We went back a few days later and found that she had read in Alma, prayed about it, and got her answer! Holy Huacamole! I was truthfully astounded! She was one of our investigators who had progressed the least, showed the least interest, and was most dedicated to another church, but she got the answer! It just goes to show you that God gives ¨liberally and abraideth not¨ to all who ask in faith (James 1:5). So just like that, a question was asked and an answer was given. 

So that turned out to be super awesome! 

Also, we make a cake this week! That super delicious lemon cake recipe that you sent me. And it turned out a bit ugly, but super tasty!

I hope you all have an amazing week!

I Love You!

Elder Phillips

May 16th, 2016

That meat though! That sounds like 12lbs of sweet smoky goodness!

I´m glad that everone´s feeling better now, it always stinks getting sick :P

So about 2 weeks ago we met a young couple and their 2 kids in the street. We walked up to them and started talking -about the weather, their kids, local sports, the differences between the beans here and the beans back home, about loads of stuff (cuz that´s what we do)- and after mentioning our purpose as missionaries, they invited us to visit them and share our message with their family. This was awesome, because we had been fasting and praying to find new receptive investigators. But when we stopped by their house, nobody was there. Super dissappointing. The following week while walking in the street, we bumped into them every day! That never happens! So we talked to them a bit more each day and we put another appointment to visit them. And this time when we stopped by, they were there with there parents too! It turns out that the father (of the husband in the couple) was a member of the church too and that his wife and son (the husband) went to church too! They had stopped going to church a few years back but now the Lord helped us to find them again. They shared with us their desire to have an eternal family and grow closer to God. We taught them a quick little message and put another appointment to visit the couple and their parents too. Now we´re hoping that they join us at church this coming sunday. It just goes to show you that God´s always there. Here in the mission I have really noticed that God doesn´t abandon us. Sometimes we´re just not very good at noticing all the little things/tender mercies that he gives us. So remember that God has, can, and will guide you, and all you have to do is ask.

Con amor, 

Elder Phillips

So the pictures:

1. Elder Seguel and I went on divisions this week. He is from Chile!

2. Elder Madin (my companion) and I

3. Baptism of Joel and Claudia

May 9, 2016

Hello everyone!

So here´s a little bit about my week: 

The Gomez family came to church this week! There is absolutely nothing worse that when the families you teach and invite don´t show up, but they came! We´re working really hard to reactivate Veronica (The Mom) and help her two kids learn more about the church. If all continues well, Kimberly and Edwin will be getting bapized the 4th of June! This sunday when they came it was Ward Conference, so they got to meet lots of new people!

Another little weekly observation: Who remembers the story of the Zoramites in Alma 31? They were dissenters who had fallen into ¨Great Errors¨. One of these being their super redundant and blasphemous prayer (Verses 15-18). Now compare that to Alma´s prayer in verses 26-35. See any differences? One thing I like is that Alma doesn´t say ¨Thanks for making us better.¨ Nor does he say ¨Make them change.¨ I have heard many prayers in sacrament meeting lately where they pray for those who didn´t come. and that´s ok. But do we honestly believe that just because we pray for them to come back, that the´ll wake up with a change of heart? No. I´m 150% sure that when we are brought before God after this life, we can ask him ¨Why didn´t you help (Insert name of inactive member here) come back to church? Why didn´t you send an angel to teach him and show him the way?¨ And you know what I think the answer´ll be? ¨I did. I sent you. Why didn´t you do your visits?¨ Now look again at Alma´s prayer. He doesn´t ask God to force them all back to church or magically change them. But look at what he prays for: 

¨Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee.¨ (verse 35)

He prays for Gods help as they exercise their faith as agents. Not as objects. They Still Had To Work. 

When Elder David A. Bednar spoke to us in the Mexico MTC, he taught us a lot about that principle. He understands and teaches it in way so clearly that it´s hard to misunderstand. look up his talks on this topic, they´re all really good!

Sorry if I ramble a little, but I guess the point I´m trying to make is: DO YOUR VISITS!!! Exercise your faith. 

God will use you to effect miracles.

Here´s another semi-amusing anecdote for you: My companion and I both got sick with a strange combination of a cold and flu. Again. However, there is no rest for the Lord´s Missionaries. We just kept on working. We left the house that morning feeling pretty crummy, but when we got home that night we felt 100% better!

      He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.  Isaiah 40:29-31

Put your faith in God and get to work!

I Love you all!

Elder Phillips

And Happy Mothers Day!

May 2, 2016

So the Mothers day call: Here in Mexico Mothers day is always on May 10th. So we will be calling on may 10th around 4pm. Or later around 7 if you´d prefer, We have a bit of flexability with this.

holy cow! So are they going to change some of the stuff that you recommended? Good job on that 10% raise! Now you are officially rich! haha, my mexican companions always assume that I´m super rich (because I´m american. I think it counts as racism...) but are amazed by how cheap I am. I finally went to buy some new pants with the money that you guys sent in the package.

The life style here in mexico is very different. If they have money, they spend it. simple as that. They live in super small houses with roofs falling apart, but have the newest x box with half a dozen games. I still don´t really understand it, but that´s what they do.

And mom, I´ve noticed that same theme down here too! The sabbath day is a very important commandment that we really don´t understand, and many who say that they do understand it don´t live it! Recently I heard the local Institute president tell us that on Sunday, we spend less time in meetings and sleeping, and spend more time doing visits. I was thinking about that a lot and came to the conclusion that he is right. What better way is there to dedicate a day entirely to the Lord than strengthening relations, serving, and sharing the gospel with those who need it? These are exactly the kinds of things that Christ did during his ministry!

Here´s a little lesson I learned this week. We met with one of our investigators who was a little upset. She had had a few problems lately and was complaining a about how she was a good person and God had abandoned her, and all that rubbish. I started pondering on the subject of Gods help and blessings in our lives and honestly, I got a little upset. Here´s why: Look, when someone wants to ask a favor from their parents, what do they first have to do? Clean their room, do their chores, homework, etc. God (our father), works in similar ways. When you want blessings from God what do you have to do? Keep his commandments (DYC 82:3,10 ;DYC 130:21-22). There is no doubt in my mind that this is true. Trials will still come (that is a promise too), but we will have Gods help. What more can we ask for? So if ever you start to think that God has abandoned you, take a nice good look at your life. Are you keeping all of the commandments? Are you constantly striving to develop Christlike atributes? If the answer to both these questions is yes, then we´ll talk. But if not, what else can you expect?

Here in the mission, it gets rough at times. But I now understand that this exact same principls applies to me, here and now, as it does to all of us. When I am discouraged and things get rough, I now ask myself ¨Elder Phillips, are you doing all you can? Are you striving to be 200% more Christlike daily?¨ And if I can´t honestly say that I am, do I have any right to complain? Do any of us ever really have the right to complain?

I testify of this principle. I testify of our lord and saviour, Jesus Christ. I testify that he lives and loves us all, and that only by him and through him can we return to God´s presence. I know that is constantly reaching out to us, begging and pleading us to follow him and obtain eternal life, and with it, eternal happiness.

In Christ´s name I testify of these things. Amen

Love ya,

Elder Phillips

April 25, 2016

So we still haven´t dyed the eggs, we had to search for ways to hollow them out well and then we bought vinager for the dye. The puzzle was super clever and fun! And thank you for sending me money! 1 pair of pants has holes, the other is stitched up (it had holes too) and the third is starting is show signs of wear and tear. My goal was to make them last the full 2 years but well... you know how things go.

The activity went really well! Two days a week The street Yepomera (a big street down here) gets lined with people selling all sorts of stuff. Remember that market in Hawaii? it´s just like that, only a bit smaller. The activity went great because when people are looking for cheap stuff and you say the word ¨free¨, they come a runnin! 

I´m so glad that the misionaries are working hard! It´s surprising how few baptisms we´ve gotten in our ward in the past years, but its awesome that the numbers are going up! When I get back I´ll make sure to keep the Mission work going strong! The mission doesn´t ever really end, You just get changed to another area: your home. I´ll make sure to baptize all of my old friends and acquaintances when that time comes. 

It´s crazy to think about how lazy I was! But it´s great to see Anna working hard! 

I love those senior pics! they are super cute and well done! And I´m glad that your adventure through the mud eventually led you to a beautiful place.

Congratulations for AJ! I was starting to think that Ellie or Anna would be getting hitched first! But keep an eye on them, that whole situation is looking pretty sketch....

What an adventure! I do miss camping (and steak) so promise me that we´ll go someday!

This week we went to ¨The Zone of Silence¨

We were searching for a certain reference when we came across this rather ominously named street out in the middle of nowhere. Weird right? Shortly afterwards, we lost all cell phone signal for the rest of the day. Coincidence? I think not!

But anyways, a bit farther on we found the family Gomez. They were a reference from about a year ago but it turns out that the missionaries at this time never actually visited them! So arrived and got to know them a bit. They´re a wonderful family of three: Veronica (mom), Kimberly (14), and Edwin (10). We talked a bit about God, Prayer, and then Baptism. When we brought up the topic and showed a picture of Christs baptism, The mom said ¨I´ve already been baptised¨.Note: Everyone in Juarez was baptized at birth by the Catholic church, so everyone says that.Bbut then she continued, ¨In your church!¨ Wow! it turns out that she got baptised at age 16, but stopped going a few years later. Now here we are about 15 years later and she wants to come back! She told us all about her baptism and how wonderful she felt. It was amazing! As she recounted the story of her baptism her smile was unforgetable! She was so happy, and the spirit so strong that her daughter told us that she too wants to come to church and be baptised!

Victor Vasquez and his kids accepted our baptismal invitation too! They then came to church and the kids absolutely loved the primary, so much so that at the end they didn´t want to leave! They´ve had many trials in their family, but they´ve put their faith in God and they made it through em. They will be getting baptised on the 21st of May. 

Pray for them!

I Love you all!

Elder Phillips

Here are photos of 1. Our new pet spider. 2. us in a primary activity visitting less active kids (they have baby ducks and chicks)  3. me with the black chick (the kids named it filips) 4.The Zone of silence 5. The zone of Silence again   6. So I was making pasta and broke it in half over my knee, but one piece didn´t break. It just bent. Dry pasta, not yet cooked. So I took a pic.

Half Way!!

How fun!

Did they have a good time at prom?

I Loved the package! It was super clever and fun! Throwing in just half of everything was awesome! I also got the easter package! We've now hollowed out some eggs and we'll start dying them soon! I'll send you pictures when We've finished!

It's so crazy to think that Hunter's already going on the mission! Won't Megan McOmber be getting back home a little bit before Hunter goes out? Crazy! 

A little bit about my week:

This week we've been praying a lot and contacting loads to find new people to teach. One of the things we did was an activity in the "Segundas", or the local yard sale, with the youth of the ward. We put our faith in the lord, put ourselves to work, and we got results! Many people are constantly searching for the truth and when we put ourselves in their paths with the gospel, they recognize it. We found a wonderful semi-old man named Antonio. He's 68ish years old and full of energy. He lives here in Mezquital nearby and really wants to find the true church. It is amazing how much the lord helps us when we need it!

Remember how in The Brady Bunch (and just about every other tv series/sitcom that has ever existed) there's an episode where Pete tries to take two different girls to the same dance? Well this week I was that guy. And I succeeded! Ok, so I didn't really go to a dance or anything, but I was faced with a similar dilema.  This week we signed up to eat with a recent convert of ours named Sister Perez. She is super nice and loves to give us food to eat. She invited us to come by at 3 to eat tacos for lunch (down here lunch is a big deal) with her and her kids. Everything good up until this point, but then we ran into investigator of ours who reminded us that he was going to make us food too! And not just a bit of food, but giant Juarez burritos with 5 different types of meat! I'll admit that we panicked a little bit. 

Down here when you agree to eat lunch with a family, there is an unseen but very real contract that is being signed. If you read the fine print, you'll understand that when you eat with a family down here, you MUST agree to a second helping, or at least more beans. If you do not, it is taken as an offense to the chef. So when we realized what was coming, my companion suggested calling Sister Perez to cancel our lunch appointment. Fortunately, being from the Phillips Clan, I have been trained from a very young age to eat very large portions of food. It was a rigorous and merciless training process, but here in the mission it has paid off. With some quick changes of plans (and a few secret  tecniques learned from chapter 8 of Preach my Gospel), we arranged to eat at slightly different times (at 2:30 and at 3) with the two families. After eating several huge (and I mean some huge!) burritos, we ran to our second lunch appointment and had about a dozen tacos (these were a lot smaller, but really good!). 

Afterwards my companion almost threw up, but he held it down like a champion. We didn't eat again until breakfast the next day.

So those are my adventures from this week, I hope you all had a great week and that this next one is even better!

Love ya

Elder Phillips (or Elder Filipo as they call me down here)

 We sent him Half a shirt, half a tie, half sunglasses, half a six pack of root beer, half eaten candy bars, half a puzzle, etc etc.....