Hey everyone! Wow! I can’t believe July is already here…. This week is my last week of Transfer 9. 3 more to go. Idk until Sat if I am stayin or not, but I am sure I am leaving. My hopes are not to. Friday we were able to go to the temple with Nirva and Anne. Wow, it was so so incredible. They were so so darned excited during the lesson when we were telling them about it. We got there and it was so neat. I really enjoyed doing some with them as well. Seems I haven’t done those in forever (other than here on my mission). It is so nice to be at the temple and doing work for those who have passed on. I miss being there so much. I hope everyone has a happy 4th of July. Idk if I will be emailin next week, the library is closed…. Yolands date got pushed back and is this Sunday J July 4th. Well its another short email. Sorry I aint got no exciting news. Its been hot here and I love it. I don’t like being sweaty and sticky, but I love the heat. Well I love you all and hope you all have a fun and safe holiday. Loves!
Love,
Sister Phillips
Monday, June 28, 2010
hey
Hello Everyone it has been a pretty good week a lot of success was seen and our work is paying off. It is so amazing to see the fruits of our labor we taught a girl named Erica Jusko on Wednesday and Sunday and we now have a baptismal date for July 17 it is so exciting and so much fun to see her grow and find out that the church is true. and she keeps commitments!! So Erica is 17 and getting ready to go off to school and has dated to Mormons so she knows a few people of the church, the hardest part is that she actually doesn't have a religious back ground so it is weird because we have to adjust our teaching style, most everybody down here is hard core into the bible. but that is all right because she knows it is true.
We have been biking so much that it isn't even real most likely by the end of next week i will have hit a thousand miles and ya know it isn't the biking that is so bad it is the heat, the heat index was at like 115 degrees the other day and we are like the only ones out side, it is hard work and i have never sweated so bad in my life. But it is fun to teach people especially when they understand and it makes sense. Like we started to teach this really rich family and the wife Her name is Katrina was way excited and she just sat there and was like ya that makes sense i will totally read the Book of Mormon and she had some way good questions, man i just love it so much that i just laugh and the people who think they are funny by yelling and flipping you off and all that kind of stuff.
The Gospel is so amazing everything is totally worth it, Satan works so hard and is a real jerk but there is no way he can hold us down when we receive that lasting conversion and testimony and it is sad to see those that have lost that testimony and fall away because we must look at the bigger picture, but what can ya do other than work on strengthening them.
So the south does stuff to you my English and my IQ is dropping by the minute, i can't believe the way i catch my self speaking, it is weird but the food out here is awesome, you don't know what your missing until you try a really southern bbq it is way good and they feed you a ton of it, and they expect you to keep shoveling it in so i am getting feed real good.
so everything is going great with me
love ya all
Elder Phillips
We have been biking so much that it isn't even real most likely by the end of next week i will have hit a thousand miles and ya know it isn't the biking that is so bad it is the heat, the heat index was at like 115 degrees the other day and we are like the only ones out side, it is hard work and i have never sweated so bad in my life. But it is fun to teach people especially when they understand and it makes sense. Like we started to teach this really rich family and the wife Her name is Katrina was way excited and she just sat there and was like ya that makes sense i will totally read the Book of Mormon and she had some way good questions, man i just love it so much that i just laugh and the people who think they are funny by yelling and flipping you off and all that kind of stuff.
The Gospel is so amazing everything is totally worth it, Satan works so hard and is a real jerk but there is no way he can hold us down when we receive that lasting conversion and testimony and it is sad to see those that have lost that testimony and fall away because we must look at the bigger picture, but what can ya do other than work on strengthening them.
So the south does stuff to you my English and my IQ is dropping by the minute, i can't believe the way i catch my self speaking, it is weird but the food out here is awesome, you don't know what your missing until you try a really southern bbq it is way good and they feed you a ton of it, and they expect you to keep shoveling it in so i am getting feed real good.
so everything is going great with me
love ya all
Elder Phillips
Monday, June 21, 2010
bUsY bEeZ
i don't have alot of time but I will tell the highlights :D We committed Venel for baptism this week and he is so great! He said yes and explained that he wants to learn more before so that he goes in understanding. Yolande's Baptism is set for Sunday but we still need to teach her at least 4 times so it may get pushed back. We found out that Nirva's daughter Christy is actually 8 not 7, so looks like we can soon baptize her as well as Christopher as soon as he is ready. He is 15 and I think turning 16 in November. Anywho, I decided that he and Leslie will should get married :D Yesterday was ward conference, I was sitting by Anne when she started sobbing. I didn't know what was going but was worried she had gotten offended by soemthin the stake pres said. She wouldn't tell me. But after service she said, "It's so good. I am so happy. It feel so good." I was soooo HAPPY! I told her that what she was feeling was the spirit. :D So awesome. We threw Anne and Nirva a surprise party and they were so surprised! Hhahahahahaha. It was so nice and fun, they felt so loved. I really hope that I stay here another transfer. I love it here. Have a great week everyone. Sorry for the short email. I'll be back soon! :D
Love,
Sister Phillips
Love,
Sister Phillips
hey
IT has been a crazy week with transfers and everything going, i got transferred to Kinston so i was close where i thought i was going it is right next door to Alburson. We cover the western half of Kinston and it is very rural, a lot of farm land and a lot of area. It is a lot different then my last area, Apex was more of a city and had a lot of smart people and a lot of out of state people coming to work in the triangle and Kinston is Hick. i can talk to people a lot easier though because they are not as smart as the people in Apex. and the area is twice the size of my last one, Just the past couple of days i have been here we have biked around 120 miles that is like four days of biking so a lot of area to cover. i think from border to border of our area is over thirty miles. so ya it is a good little distance. So when i got my Call Grandma Phillips was telling me we had so relatives that live in North Carolina? the reason i ask is because there is quite a few Phillips in this area we actually live on a street called Alton Phillips so i was just curious.
So my new companion is Elder Alexander he is originally from Washington DC then moved to Utah, he is actually a convert to the church he was a baptist. We get a long pretty well, i live in a four man apartment so there is always something going on. One of the other elders his dad is a truck driver also, he lives in St. George i believe. I have slowly been cleaning the apartment because it was destroyed! So we found a really crazy guy this week. As we were biking a long some guy pulls into his drive way and shouts out Do YA WANT A COLD ONE! and he had a beer in his hand, so we go over there and he gave us coca cola and later he did offer us beer, but all he wanted to talk about is guns and hunting he said that he wants to move to south Idaho because there is the least number of people there in the world and he told us that if we want to go hunting he would take us and have us back by lunch the next day, but if we went that there would be drinking swearing and talk about women but it is all in good fun. He really liked to swear, so as we are talking to him he shouts out to his friend and a flips him off! so his friend comes over and he has a tattoo on his should that has FBX which is his nick name Fat ___ Express they were crazy but fun to talk to. Oh and he pulls out this Hand gun to show us out of the trunk and he unloads it to give it to us, and when we hand it back he loads it and cocks it, so he has a loaded gun in his trunk! Then he proceeded to tell us how he likes Mormons because they horde stuff and when the crap hits the fan we will be ready, he follows our example my hording guns and ammo. SO that was the highlight to this week, i hope all is well, i love you all.
Love
Elder Phillips
So my new companion is Elder Alexander he is originally from Washington DC then moved to Utah, he is actually a convert to the church he was a baptist. We get a long pretty well, i live in a four man apartment so there is always something going on. One of the other elders his dad is a truck driver also, he lives in St. George i believe. I have slowly been cleaning the apartment because it was destroyed! So we found a really crazy guy this week. As we were biking a long some guy pulls into his drive way and shouts out Do YA WANT A COLD ONE! and he had a beer in his hand, so we go over there and he gave us coca cola and later he did offer us beer, but all he wanted to talk about is guns and hunting he said that he wants to move to south Idaho because there is the least number of people there in the world and he told us that if we want to go hunting he would take us and have us back by lunch the next day, but if we went that there would be drinking swearing and talk about women but it is all in good fun. He really liked to swear, so as we are talking to him he shouts out to his friend and a flips him off! so his friend comes over and he has a tattoo on his should that has FBX which is his nick name Fat ___ Express they were crazy but fun to talk to. Oh and he pulls out this Hand gun to show us out of the trunk and he unloads it to give it to us, and when we hand it back he loads it and cocks it, so he has a loaded gun in his trunk! Then he proceeded to tell us how he likes Mormons because they horde stuff and when the crap hits the fan we will be ready, he follows our example my hording guns and ammo. SO that was the highlight to this week, i hope all is well, i love you all.
Love
Elder Phillips
Monday, June 14, 2010
hEaLiNg WaTeRs~
Wow! Another week gone and down! We are staying plenty busy with our French investigators! We have two that we are needing translators for. Yolande has a date for June 27th! Did I mention that she was attending the church in Haiti??? For 8 years! So crazy. Well we are hoping that we can get Nirva’s son Chris baptized right along with Yolande. It is so funny bc all the baptisms here have been rush ones! Squeezin in the lessons. I wish that I would’ve paid more attention in French…didn’t think I’d ever really use it. Darn! Tomorrow we have zone conference which is really exciting! Its been rainy here, which seems that is how summer is here till August or September. This is just how it was last year too. I did a great job today…I left my planner at home so I really can’t remember anything that happened last week. Each day seems like a week and it flies by….So sorry this is such a lame email and so short. But hey! Baptism on the 27th! Here we come! Love you all and hope you have a great week! :D
Love,
Sister Phillips
Love,
Sister Phillips
Crazy and short
Hey
I cant believe that this transfer is already over and i am getting transferred! It seems like yesterday that Elder Roberts came here and now i am already leaving and they are white washing the area because sisters are coming in. Holly Springs and Apex have been fun i feel though that my leaving is premature there is so much that still needs to be done and i hope it doesn't fall by the way side, but It is inspired so i am excited to see where i am going and who will be my new companion. I think i am going to some really small town in the middle of no where, of course when you think you have an idea about something President throws a curve ball so we will see.
So ya this week has been crazy we have had to exchanges in a row one with Elder Thompson and one with the Zone Leaders. The one with the Zone leaders was intense all we did was tract and do surveys on the NC State campus. but right as we were getting into bed we get a call to go give a blessing to a guy that is Gay and was about to commit suicide so that was crazy we didn't get home tell like midnight. so that was fun. Then on Saturday the Fuquay Elders had a baptism so we went and gave the message on the restoration and after the baptism they went and picked up pizza and ran into President Cotterell and then we ran into him at the temple, he was with his family so we met his son and there kids, and we got pictures with them.
So last Monday we were playing volleyball and i jammed my finger except i think it really broke because there was a huge bump coming out of the knuckle so i just pushed it back into place and kept playing then the next day i like couldn't bend it and i was like purple and green so that was fun and it is just now starting to feel better, but is still a little miss shaped. so that was basically our week.
oh and guess what one of the other ward missionaries in Holly Springs knows Torrie and Sheridan they live in Lander His name is Bruce Cook.
well hope all is well love ya lots
Love Elder Phillips
Monday, June 7, 2010
cHeWy CaTeRpiLLaRs~'
Hey family! Another week has gone. Starting week 3 of the transfer…man that is just weird. We’ll leave it at that. Brad’s weekly will totally beat mine up tho. We had interviews with President this week and that is always good J Being a trio can be hard at times but also very fun. There is a greenie in our zone that has 21 in his family all together. They have adopted I think 6 and are planning on 2 more. He is pretty funny. We as always ran into some interesting ppl. It’s really fun to seriously try to talk to everyone you possibly can. Some days are harder than others, but the days you do bring some memorable times lol. I talked to two crazy guys. One had me pull out my scriptures to show us something out of the bible and he went on and on, I actually don’t know what his point was. But he told us that we haven’t had no tribulation yet and we haven’t hardly sinned yet and when we disagreed he was all askin us to confess lol. He asked if later down the road if we found that something was wrong about the gospel if we’d be “kicked out” or leave. We plainly said, “You are never kicked out it is your free choice and we won’t find anything wrong because this is God’s church.” Sheesh, some ppl. I just wish they would give what we bring a chance. They have no idea of how happy their life could be if they would. How happy life is supposed to be! Yesterday was really neat for me. Fasting really is for spiritual strengthening. While sitting listening to testimonies, for the first time I felt was is described as a “burning in your bosom.” It was so neat for me. I of course was all nervous bc I didn’t know what I was gonna say….which is funny to me bc we teach ppl we don’t even know daily and don’t know what we’re gonna say. LOL. But it was nice, the spirit was strong. I have been thinking a lot of how this gospel and our plan is all bec of happiness. Heavenly Father sent us here bc we couldn’t be as happy as he is without coming. This is the plan of HAPPINIESS. Prophets, scriptures, commandments, rules, everything is just to help our happiness to be full. It is so incedible. Wow, we really can’t even comprehend how much Father in Heaven really does love us. As the ppl here would say to that, “I know he do. I know he do.” J The sad thing is it is wearing off…. :S lol Well now for the best part of the week. Mom! I ate a caterpillar! LOL. Ok so it wasn’t for sure the best part, but I am def trying all the diff kinds of foods. We went and had dinner at a members who both are from Africa. After dinner she was talking about how her daughters teacher asked her if she really eats bugs bc that is what her daughter told her. (lol) So she goes to the freezer and pulls out a nice bag full of frozen caterpillars from Africa. I really wish I had my camera cord to send the pics. Hahahaha. Wow. Yes I did do it. I ate the head half. After that I was done. I couldn’t even get it to get smaller. The more I chewed the harder it got and more cracking as well. I hurry and drank some water, and later picked a leg out of my teeth lol. I will have to try to remember my cameral cord next week. She wants us to come on Saturday so we can have more African food and we can have the caterpillars fried bc they are better that way. LOL.
We had a great lesson this week with a new investigator who has great potential. We fearlessed each other at a bus stop. His name is Venel, from Haiti. (He’ll fit right in :D ) We had a member come who speaks french bc its really hard for us to understand him and vise versa. It was sooo good. They talked a lot and hit it right off. At the end he said, “I want you to know, that I am very happy.” Gosh that was sooo cool.
We were able to get in contact with quite a few people who haven’t been to church in some time who we haven’t even met. So that was really nice. Hopefully we can bring them back.
Yesterday morning we taught a Hindu family of 5. They were so sweet. They kept asking us if they could order us some pizza. We felt so bad, but we were fasting and they already had brought us OJ lol. Indian ppl are so sweet. They really take you in.
I hit my one year birthday on Thursday. So crazy. It legit does not seem like I have been a missionary for a year. Not even real. I hope to stay here in Jamaica for another transfer, although I don’t know the odds of that. Time flies. I love you all so much and hope you are staying warm, happy and healthy. Be safe.
Love,
Sister Phillips
We had a great lesson this week with a new investigator who has great potential. We fearlessed each other at a bus stop. His name is Venel, from Haiti. (He’ll fit right in :D ) We had a member come who speaks french bc its really hard for us to understand him and vise versa. It was sooo good. They talked a lot and hit it right off. At the end he said, “I want you to know, that I am very happy.” Gosh that was sooo cool.
We were able to get in contact with quite a few people who haven’t been to church in some time who we haven’t even met. So that was really nice. Hopefully we can bring them back.
Yesterday morning we taught a Hindu family of 5. They were so sweet. They kept asking us if they could order us some pizza. We felt so bad, but we were fasting and they already had brought us OJ lol. Indian ppl are so sweet. They really take you in.
I hit my one year birthday on Thursday. So crazy. It legit does not seem like I have been a missionary for a year. Not even real. I hope to stay here in Jamaica for another transfer, although I don’t know the odds of that. Time flies. I love you all so much and hope you are staying warm, happy and healthy. Be safe.
Love,
Sister Phillips
What a week!
Hey Everyone,
Wow what a week! it has been a truly remarkable week, and it is crazy that we are starting the last week of the transfer, it seems like yesterday that Elder Henley got transferred and Elder Roberts Came in. Time is flying and i can't believe it is June Already! The heat is really setting in! We had a really good week, also we got contacted again by a guy Named David. So Elder Roberts and I were in this apartment complex and we walked down this street that neither of us have ever been on and we were just hoping that it connected to where we needed to go and as we were walking David shouted out to us off of his balcony and asked if we were missionaries and if we could come back and teach him so we said ya we will be back here Friday. So On Friday we go over there with an Exchange and he lets us in and we talk, it turns out that he saw us the other day and felt something good about us. Then a few days later he saw us walking down the street and something told him to invite us over so he did! HE has been praying for help in his life he really wants to change his life around and right now hi is in a gang and he knows that it is wrong and he needs to find God. SO he committed to take the lessons and if this is true he will get baptized! Crazy stuff, we were truly lead to David and it wasn't a luck that we walked down that street it was because we were led by the spirit. It is truly amazing to see how we are used as instruments in the Lords hands.
SO we got to meet Elder Bednar, Elder Snow and two other members of the Seventy on Saturday and that is one thing that is pretty cool that really stuck out to me is that we are not the teacher the spirit is we are just the tool of the conduit because the spirit is the real teacher, so we need to get lost and get out of the way. "If you want to be first you have to be willing to be last." I can't even Explain the spirit that was felt when Elder Bednar walked in to the chapel it was over whelming, i was spiritually exhausted after wards because of how hard i was listening and how strong the spirit testified. One thing that was interesting and extremely neat is that when he stood up he told us don't take notes except for Personal Revelation and i am not going to give a talk. it was all what did you learn from you study of my talks and what do you see about the pattern and then Question and answer session, The conference lasted over three hours. That is just the week end to, it has been amazing i love the work.
I love you all.
Love
Elder Brad Phillips
Wow what a week! it has been a truly remarkable week, and it is crazy that we are starting the last week of the transfer, it seems like yesterday that Elder Henley got transferred and Elder Roberts Came in. Time is flying and i can't believe it is June Already! The heat is really setting in! We had a really good week, also we got contacted again by a guy Named David. So Elder Roberts and I were in this apartment complex and we walked down this street that neither of us have ever been on and we were just hoping that it connected to where we needed to go and as we were walking David shouted out to us off of his balcony and asked if we were missionaries and if we could come back and teach him so we said ya we will be back here Friday. So On Friday we go over there with an Exchange and he lets us in and we talk, it turns out that he saw us the other day and felt something good about us. Then a few days later he saw us walking down the street and something told him to invite us over so he did! HE has been praying for help in his life he really wants to change his life around and right now hi is in a gang and he knows that it is wrong and he needs to find God. SO he committed to take the lessons and if this is true he will get baptized! Crazy stuff, we were truly lead to David and it wasn't a luck that we walked down that street it was because we were led by the spirit. It is truly amazing to see how we are used as instruments in the Lords hands.
SO we got to meet Elder Bednar, Elder Snow and two other members of the Seventy on Saturday and that is one thing that is pretty cool that really stuck out to me is that we are not the teacher the spirit is we are just the tool of the conduit because the spirit is the real teacher, so we need to get lost and get out of the way. "If you want to be first you have to be willing to be last." I can't even Explain the spirit that was felt when Elder Bednar walked in to the chapel it was over whelming, i was spiritually exhausted after wards because of how hard i was listening and how strong the spirit testified. One thing that was interesting and extremely neat is that when he stood up he told us don't take notes except for Personal Revelation and i am not going to give a talk. it was all what did you learn from you study of my talks and what do you see about the pattern and then Question and answer session, The conference lasted over three hours. That is just the week end to, it has been amazing i love the work.
I love you all.
Love
Elder Brad Phillips
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Hey
Hey
It has been a pretty good week, very wet but also very humid, i never feel like i am dry because of all the sweat. I am not excited for the summer cause i have been hearing that it will be over one hundred degrees with this humidity no fun at all. i think i would rather have the heat. So last week we had a lesson with Kelly and Amanda the young couple upstairs and we thought they were like the couple that liked to party have fun ya know, well we were wrong they were very versed in the bible and were ready to go. it was a long discussion and at the end the spirit was there so strong because we got bold with them, basically we laid it down that this is that only true church with the only correct baptism and if they could prove that the Book of Mormon was false and contradicted the bible i would leave the church and look for the truth! It was fun to see how the spirit comes in so strong.
So You want to hear how small the world is? One of my Favorite families in Holly Springs IS the Morgan Family and his mom grew up in mink creek, he is related to the Christensen's. If i can remember there name dad used to haul sheep for them i believe Phil or Lyle and Christa? Me and dad went hunting with Brant on there property for turkey this past fall. That house is his Moms and Phil is his Cousin, so he pulled out a big book of the Christensen family and everyone in that family got one, but pictures of home and Will Wolfley was in there but it was interesting.
But the Morgans help us out so much on Saturday it was way warm and we biked like thirty miles and i forgot my water bottle in the freezer so not very much water, but as we came into town we were by there house so we swung in for a drink and they ended up feeding us dinner also. Then on Sunday they give us a ride to church and back, well on the way back they asked our plans for dinner and we didn't have any so he says looks like your eating with us again! I love that family.
Saturday was just a day of blessings first the young couple up stairs asked us to come back over then our lunch was payed for and then the Morgans and also a return missionary from Orem gave us 20 dollars for lunch! so it was pretty intense.
Well hope all is well
Elder Phillips.
It has been a pretty good week, very wet but also very humid, i never feel like i am dry because of all the sweat. I am not excited for the summer cause i have been hearing that it will be over one hundred degrees with this humidity no fun at all. i think i would rather have the heat. So last week we had a lesson with Kelly and Amanda the young couple upstairs and we thought they were like the couple that liked to party have fun ya know, well we were wrong they were very versed in the bible and were ready to go. it was a long discussion and at the end the spirit was there so strong because we got bold with them, basically we laid it down that this is that only true church with the only correct baptism and if they could prove that the Book of Mormon was false and contradicted the bible i would leave the church and look for the truth! It was fun to see how the spirit comes in so strong.
So You want to hear how small the world is? One of my Favorite families in Holly Springs IS the Morgan Family and his mom grew up in mink creek, he is related to the Christensen's. If i can remember there name dad used to haul sheep for them i believe Phil or Lyle and Christa? Me and dad went hunting with Brant on there property for turkey this past fall. That house is his Moms and Phil is his Cousin, so he pulled out a big book of the Christensen family and everyone in that family got one, but pictures of home and Will Wolfley was in there but it was interesting.
But the Morgans help us out so much on Saturday it was way warm and we biked like thirty miles and i forgot my water bottle in the freezer so not very much water, but as we came into town we were by there house so we swung in for a drink and they ended up feeding us dinner also. Then on Sunday they give us a ride to church and back, well on the way back they asked our plans for dinner and we didn't have any so he says looks like your eating with us again! I love that family.
Saturday was just a day of blessings first the young couple up stairs asked us to come back over then our lunch was payed for and then the Morgans and also a return missionary from Orem gave us 20 dollars for lunch! so it was pretty intense.
Well hope all is well
Elder Phillips.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)