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

August 22, 2016

I am having a great time here in Rio Nilo, It is a blast every day!  It hasn't rained for a while, but we keep praying for clouds.
Paul B. Peiper came to town! He's the 70 who's put in charge of all of Mexico. H came and taught us about the importance of working with the Stake Leaders and being humble enough to get more faith. It was an amazing meeting! The spirit was super strong and we all came away from it with knowledge of exactly what we needed to do to have more success. We also visited many less active members this week and talked about Faith. Why? Because Faith is everything. Question: What does it mean when someone claims to have faith but doesn't go to church or breaks other commandments? Answer: They don't actually have faith. Nobody's perfect, but faith is a principle of action.
 Ether 12:6 ...I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.

All the proof we need about the truth of the gospel will come as we are faithful to the commandments. That's when we'll get blessings and miracles. MIRACLES!!!! I mean seriously, who doesn't want a miracle in their life? And all we have to do is 1. believe the word of God (Commandments) and 2. Act according to that belief (Obey them).

So follow the commandments and have a great week!

Elder Phillips

Mom,

It's crazy to hear that everyone's already finishing up their missions! Justin still hasn't written me though. So both Kelsies already got married? Crazy!

The truth is that I would absolutely love it if Megan went on the mission. I've been thinking that a lot lately. I am convinced that there is no better way to spend your time than to go on a mission. I have learned so many things! I want her to learn them too! Could you send her out to do visits with the sister missionaries from the singles ward or something? That can often times become a game changer and a decision maker. I didn't fully understand the importance of a mission beforehand, but I can testify from my personal experiences that I will never regret having made this decision, and neither would she. 

Now what would you have me do to help inspire her to go on the mission? 

Have fun with the kids in school! I hope Megan has a great first semester at college! And I agree, It is time. As we learn from the book of Ecclesiastes, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" There is a time for everything. There is a time for the kids to have fun and play at home, and there's a time for them to go to school to learn.

Hey mom, I was also wondering if you could update my facebook for me every now and then with mission pics or something. I'm not allowed to use it, but you still can!

My companion and I visited a local soccer stadium. The local team "Los Bravos" has been doing pretty well lately (or so they say). So we did a good old photo shoot inside.

I Love You!
Elder Phillips

August 15th

This week was awesome. And I've got pictures to prove it.

So it rained a lot! And down here in Juarez there isn't a good drainage system, so we still have lakes of water filling the streets. But it was a blast. When we arrived at our last appointment for the day we just asked for towells to dry ourselves off before going inside. I have to say, I love the rain! Partly because the water is awesome, partly because the rain doesn't give you sunburns. 

We visited some investigators and we had a wonderful experience with them. Their names are Maggie (19), Adan (16), and Abram (13). They are siblings. We met them outside their house last week because they have a really cool friendly dog who we stopped to pet. As we pet the dog through the fence, Abram was just getting home and came over to talk to us. So that's how we met them. One thing led to another and on thursday we were finishing up teaching The Restoration to them. As we finished explaining the importance of The Book of Mormon, Abram started crying and Adan got really excited. Down here in Mexico there is a lot of evidence from their culture and legends that support the Book of Mormon. Adan realized that when the natives talked about Quetzalcoatl (A white bearded god who was born from a virgen visited the americas thousands of years ago), they were referring to Christ when he visited the americas. He also told us that the natives wrote about a golden book that spoke of the Gods, but that the gods hid the book because the natives were trying to kill them. He pieced all this together and truthfully, it makes sense. These legends fit perfectly the description of the Book of Mormon. I'm not saying that it's doctrine or anything, but still... Anyways, Adan got super excited, Abram started crying, and Maggie started comforting him. 

Needless to say, they all came to church with us on sunday and loved it!

Well, I have no time left, So you all have a great week!

Elder Phillips

So here're pictures!

1. The Juarez flood. 

2. My District

3. Investigators

So I think that Justin must have the wrong email address, because I haven't seen a single one of his letters. Could you pass me his email address?

I love seeing the youth heading out to join the mission! In our branch on sunday there was 1 deacon, 1 teacher, and 1 priest. we're currently working with a 13 and a 16yr old investigators who'll hopefully join the branch in a few weeks. I'll make sure to attach some photos on the letter!

The truth is that many times we judge people without trying to help them and this can impede their eternal progress. If we try to love them as God loves them, we realize that there is hope for everyone. Some of the best members/converts i've met down here were drug traffickers beforehand. Anyone can change. There's always hope.