My Missionaries

weekish‏

2012-02-13T15:41:00.000-07:00

Our week has flown by, we have just been so busy. We went on two exchanges so first i went to havelock and then to greenville. Then just lots of stuff going on with finding people to teach and teaching, Just helping others to come unto christ ya know. It went so fast i can't even remember what happened other than i met Dennis who is the Duck that i caught and i Met a Guy you went to High School with in Shelley, i also got my flight plans. And we had some great lessons with our investigators, we hope to have a few of them ready to be baptized the last week i am here there is alot of work here to be done and i really want to be the one to do it so i won't and am not letting up until they put me on an airplane.

So the neat thing is how crazy tomorrow is going to be, Being my last trainning i get to bear my testimony, also we get to present the training on Charity, then we have a leadership meeting right after with our district leaders, and after i will be interviewing a gentleman for baptism in Greenville while on an Exchange with Elder Hintze. So lots of good things, this week is going to fly as well.

week in a nut shell‏

2012-02-06T12:25:00.000-07:00

I can't remember half of it!!

This week has flown by, it has been super busy. Everyday had something new in store and going on so it started with an exchange with the assistants, which was good i stayed in new Bern with Elder Wade. Then we went to Greenville to district meeting. We had a lot of teaching appointments with people who are willing to learn and we are just trying to help them over come there addictions and obsticals so it has been good. That and it is great to be busy, and that is what we are it is exhuasting you get home at night and just collaps onto your bed. And with the potential that we have now we should have atleast two more baptisms before i come home.It is so good to have something like that to look forward to and to work towards, it makes time go extremely fast though. and this week ended great with the Baptism of Bro Fox, and i got to confirm him which was neat, it was my first time confirming someone. Such a good week and it will just keep being good until the End.

week.

2012-01-30T09:18:00.002-07:00

Well what a weeks it has been, really crazy and busy. It is fun though already i love being a Zone Leader, just the fact that you are busy, and we get to serve the missionaries around us. So this week we saw President Cotterell 4 times, that was neat, First transfers, then interviews, then we had a meeting with the Stake Presidency and all the bishops and Ward mission leaders, then we had Zone Leader Council. So we haven't had an Opportunity to relax yet which is great Just go go go, one thing to the Next. So my companion is Elder Wightman from Rexburg, I like so far, i think this will be a great last transfer for me. we work extremely hard just leaving it all out there. Plus i like having a companion that works hard cause that is how i like to work. And New Bern is great the work is good, they had two baptisms last week and we set a baptism up for this saturday as well. So we are just going to keep finding new investigators. We have two others that we are working with one is really sad, It is like the same situation that we had with Kayla, and a member has taken her in for a little bit. She said it is the most support that she has ever had in her life, and this week she said she feels that the book of Mormon is true.. I know that the Gospel will change her life and she is starting to see it aswell. Also we have been teaching this girl who is staying with a member for a few months, she has a lot of questions and doesn't believe what we tell her a lot of the time, so on saturday we taught her and HOly Cow talk about a spiritual experience!! At first we were trying to teach the Plan of Salvation and we could not get past the earth life plus we had a lady there that was teaching all the wrong things so finally i was like you have got to read and pray about the book of Mormon. I bore my testimony and it was intense next thing you know is that the spirit was so strong and lead us to some very inspired questions and the spirit hit her so hard. Incredible and then she came to church the next day. The spirit and truth can change someone and can make a deep abiding impact it is amazing, I love it.

So now the funny story so we pull up to the street that we live on and it is blocked off lots of police officers and everybody else keeps pulling up so we cant get to our appartment. So we ask an officer what is up, he says there is a bomb threat!! Ha ha i feel safe at night now knowing my neighbors are insane or that there is a bomb threat in our neighborhood.

But over all our week has been great i love it and time is just going to fly by, working hard makes the days short.

Love yall,

Elder Phillips

leaving‏

2012-01-30T09:17:00.002-07:00

Well it looks like my week hasn't been quite as eventful as yours, it looks like Noah sent the flood your way, but my week has been pretty good i can't complain at all. I have had a cold most of the week but that hasn't stopped us. So i am getting transferred and becoming a Zone Leader for my last transfer which will be good, it was completely unexpected. So i am leaving mebane, i enjoyed this area and i have most definitely left it stronger than it was when i came in. There is a lot of success in this area as of right now we have two investigators schedualed for baptism and two more that want to be baptized, they will set dates with them this week. So they should have atleast four baptisms in this area next transfer. We have a lot of solid investigators right now to work with, the Lord has blessed us with success and i know it is because i am worthy, obedient and willing to do what he asks. We have been teaching alot of people consistantly and the ward trusts us so there is nothing better.

few stories of the week‏

2012-01-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

Well the week has came to an end and i still can't rap my head around the last week, for some reason it was crazy and i really don't know what was crazy about it other than it was. Just lots of appointments that fell through and at the same time appointments that i wasn't expecting to go like they did. One appointment was a former investigator and our exchange had been there before and said she was dragging the missionaries along, so as soon as we started he grilled her on the purpose of her having us over and it was pretty awkward, i felt bad and we tried to switch topics but no bueno. Then we picked up a new investigator from Hawaii and in the middle of our appointment she got vertigo and about fell off her chair so we gave her a blessing on the spot. then this week she got kicked out of the room she was renting. In one lesson an investigator asked if to join our church she would have to be baptized again, we said yes and explained authority again. She was completely against that and started to get angery, so we had to calmly tell her that she needed to find out for her self and we explained the doctrine very simply with much power. Weird things, that and while out tracting we continue to find the crazies one guy told us that we were a child of hell and by preaching religion that we were making others twice the child of hell as they were before. He proceeded to tell us a story about his grandfather, so i started to testify and he started to attack the book of Mormon so i testified again, he told me to humble my self because Christ doesn't want us to preach religion and especially not to Add to the Bible, I told him he was wrong and he called me hard hearted. Then he turns to my comp and says i can tell that my words have pierced your heart and it is alright go with those feelings, don't deny the truth let it work with in you, let go of this foolishness. I guess the reason he criticised me was cause my comp said i look mad while he was talking and that i basically said with my actions your a moron! So that was fun.

week‏

2012-01-03T09:25:00.002-07:00

Well this week has been pretty good, we are just experiencing miracles like you wouldn't believe People coming out of now where willing to find the truth. I wish i could say that I was making a difference but i can't not, I have simply said Here am I Lord, I will go where you want me to go! When we are Obedient, worthy and willing to work the Lord will provide the Investigators. I Love this work! We will be having a baptism this weekend and Possible one or two more in the Next three weeks. SO i got a really neat Letter from my mission President about it as well. "As we begin a New Year we are grateful for you and the work you are doing in the Mebane area. You have had a huge impact on the area, it has been more productive since you have been there than anytime that I can remember since we have been here."

Ya so all i can say is we have had a lot of People to teach as a tender Mercy of the Lord and the Spirit is working Like you wouldn't believe. This is the part of my mission that i feel like The Lord had prepared me for this. The Gospel is the Biggest Blessing we will ever have in this life and it truly is the best, It makes you happy beyond all belief, if your not happy you must not be living a principle of the Gospel.

I love you all!

week‏

2011-12-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

This week has been pretty good i can not complain, we had three great lessons two with our investigators with a Baptismal date. It has been a really spiritual week one being with the Christmas Zone Conference anytime you are focusing on the savior the spirit is going to be strong so that was fun plus narrating was good i hardly looked up though i just focused and reading it loud and clear, also the singing was good i like to listen to the missionaries sing generally. Some of us just can't sing and shouldn't try. But it has been good with had a lesson with a sister that is a friend of some members, we taught half of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was so spiritual, you could tell the spirit was working on her. She knows its true, she may have not recognized it yet, but the spirit has bore record. She has read the Book of Mormon everyday for the past week and said she feels peaceful when she reads it and it makes sense to her plus she loves church. We are hoping to set a baptismal date with her this week. We are seeing alot of success in this area and i pray that it continues Right now we have three people set up to be baptized and hopefully we can set some more up as well.. SO we arejust trying to work as hard as we can and keep being obediant. This week just flew by it seems like it didn't exisist. so that is it.

Love ya.

Elder Phillips

Small and simple‏

2011-12-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

This week has been extremely good the main reason being is that Matt got baptized! It was most definitly the most spiritual baptism i have been to on my mission. That is what really matters it isn't about the numbers it isn't about leadership, it is about bringing souls to Christ. Now Matt has been brought into the fold and is save from the storm of the adversary, he has been given the tools to stay in the fold and on the path. After we have experienced that conversion or that mighty change of heart we feel a deeper concern for the welfare of others. That is what we are doing now is working with him to help his family come unto Christ and be numbered with his sheep. These are the times that you know for a fact that you are doing the Lords will.

That was the most exciting part of the week and also i got to confer the priesthood upon him. Other than that we had a lot of cancelled appointments but what can you expect being the Holiday week, even with so many cancellations it seemed like we were still extremely busy, and that is what i like being busy. It just is to difficult to sit inside.

Thanksgiving was good it gives you some time to ponder what is going on and to really give thanks, I dont think i have thought about thanksgiving as much as i have on the mission. It kind of gives you a new perspective of what you are thankful for being most of it you dont' have at this time, but the things you do have you are more thankful for. So all in all a great week.

--
Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

Unexpected.

2011-12-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

This week has been kind of crazy, ups and downs and just the unexpected. The ups are that we found two more investigators that seem like they want to bebaptized and we should be helping them progress for a date this next week so that is always exciting and most of our other investigators are still moving forward. We will be having a baptism on the 26 of November exactly two years from when i got my call.. The only down really is that we had to move the baptism back a week. And the unexpected is that first with faith the unexpected is always good like finding people to baptize. But the major unexpected we ran into this week is..... So Friday morning i get out of bed and step in water. Our whole apartment is flooded.. In the night a pipe broke right next to our apartment. SO no water that morning except the stuff on our floor. So they get that fixed and our carpet is drying and we go out to work. We come home there is more flooding. Our waterheater broke. so they get that fixed and the carpet is drying again. Then the valve starts to leak so they fix that. So i say to the guy. Ya gott'er he says "by george i think we gott'er" then boom! Pipe brakes sending water all over our apartment again.. Wow what a Friday. Then on Saturday we went to A members home for lunch and he is like my hero like how he lives will be how i live when i am older. Golfs like everyother day has deer mounted all over his house, then he just plays the banjo and guitar. Which i have decide i am going to play the banjo, i have already started to learn. So that is about our week.

--
Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

2011-11-07T08:53:00.001-07:00

This week has been pretty good, just trying to continue to find people to teach as usual, and the first week of the transfer is always interesting trying to get used to your new companion so that you are unified in you teaching so that has been fun, Elder Armacost is a great missionary and i can really see him helping one of our investigators make it to baptism, i have felt that from the minute i met him.
So that will be great we also found two new investigators this week that we are excited to get to work with. The work is going great i love it we are also hopefully going to recieve three more investigators this week that we have set up appointments with. There are miracles working in our area and it is amazing. Two of our investigators are set to get baptized on the 19 of November which is really exciting. We are just working and working trying to do our best, The hardest part is that if you don't have appointments during the evening you are at a lose because nobody likes you knocking at there door when it is dark.That has basically been the week not to much going on but alot going on at the same time.
--
Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

week‏

2011-09-19T08:31:00.000-06:00

This week has been pretty busy and quite fast, i can't even remember half of what happened. first i will be transferred on Tuesday. Also this week we started by getting two new investigators from a partmember family, the lesson went so well we applied everything we learnned at trainning and it was so good. Then we deep cleaned our appartment so that took alot of the day, plus that day we went and helped the Fotheringhams move, they are such a great family, they remind me of lynette and Bailey so much it is crazy. It was also stake conference this week so we went to wilmingtonfor that and it was really good. After we went to sacrement meeting on base where two none member walked in to the chaple wanting to learn more so we taught them the first lesson which was great they are sincerely interested and very prepared. the only thing is one of them is going to pensicola florida so we only will get to continue to teach one of them. It was just a good week.

--
Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

weekly‏

2011-07-11T10:25:00.000-06:00

Well this week has been a little disappointing, the work seems to be slowing down, which means we must work harder. Our main investigator, Tiffany the one who had the baptismal date dropped us this week. It was because her husband came home from deployment and said he didn't want her meeting with us any more.
We also met with the The Mohr's this week and taught what we learned at zone conference with the Law of Chastity and the Word of wisdom, it was a great lesson. They are still struggling with smoking, but coming alone. They have came to church twice now in the last three weeks which is a major improvement. Sister Mohr goes in for a major surgery next week and we are hoping this will help her quit smoking, then she will be ready for baptism.
Then we tried getting up with the Boone family this week but he got a new job that has him working 80 hour weeks so that makes for some scheduling conflicts
This week we also taught a lesson to a media referral and it was great she already has a lot of the same values we do and she said she would be baptized when she found out it was true, the problem being she doesn't want to do anything until she reads the entire book of mormon! Hopefully she reads fast.
My study this week has been on Finding and having faith to find. As well as in the book of Alma with the sons of mosiah and Alma. It has been very good, i really noticed this time while reading that alot of people would not listen to The sons of Mosiah.
Love
Elder Bradley Phillips

Week‏

2011-05-20T10:30:00.000-06:00

This week has gone by super fast and has been really good, With those first two investigators on monday, we taught them again on wednesday after district meeting, they had a lot of really good questions most referring to the plan of salvation. Then On tuesday we were out biking and we took this dirt trail and it was pretty fun so we decided to do it again and on the way back we cut through a soccer complex, well there was a girl sitting on a picinic table all alone nobody around, she is probable 16. so we went over and talked with her she said that this is what she needed right know, she has been having a hard time, her mother passed away last year due to cancer, so that was really good. Also this week we have taught The Mohr's a partmember family and it was really good she really wants to change her life and be baptized she told us she has repented of all the mistakes she has made and she fells like she has been forgiven and wants to be baptized. Then on friday morning we went and met with Charlene and taught a lesson there and set up a time to come back, but she is one of those that have commitment issues like with coming to church so we will see.. Then on Saturday we got to meet with Richard G. Scott which was pretty amazing, invoked blessings upon our mission and we also got to shake his hand.. Also he talked a ton about marrige.. Like making it our Highest and first priority when we get home, and to start observing the sisters and finding qualities in them that we want in our spouse and write them down. He was not what i expected i thought he would be like 6 foot something. No he was like 5'7 pretty small guy. It was neat.
Then on sunday it was a crazy day, we were supposed to have investigators coming to both wards so we went to the third wards sacrement meeting, well they didnt show.But some guy while bearing his testimony proposed to his girl friend!!! Then we got to go with a Staff Sargent to Camp DevilDog and 306 to do the sacrement for the Marines, that was cool only two marines did it but it was neat. Then Brother Covey who is the staff sargent set his old platoon straight about complaining about stuff like not being able to call home for a week.. He put us up front and told them what we give up and what we do. it was funny to see there reaction. So a good week.

--
Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

Tornado

2011-04-18T10:02:00.002-06:00

The pictures are of the Elders appartment from the 3rd ward! Brad is serving in the 2nd ward! They did not recieve any damage and the 3rd ward elders will move in with them until other arrangements can be made! There are more pictures of the damage but i cant get them to upload. He is safe and well!

week‏

2011-04-04T13:58:00.002-06:00

well this week has been a not so good week for the work all of our appointments have cancelled so we tracted a lot and had like no success, so the work has been slow, then we have had a crazy week end with conference then finding out i am transferred. we didn't get to watch the priesthood session until sunday morning because the satelite wouldn't work. then we have just been running all over trying to see people. And we went over to the cape and i huged the light house for lynette..

--
Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

2011-03-28T10:39:00.001-06:00

i am excited for lynetttes wedding i just wish i could be there.. LIfe on the coast is good.. This week has been real good other than the weather, earlier in the week it was in the 80's and warm then by thursday night it dropped back down into the 40's and has been raining ever sense. We were going to go to the cape today but because of the weather we can't to the captin in our ward decided to take off work next monday so he could take us out. Which nest monday could possibly be my last pday on the island, so that was pretty nice of him and he is going to take us fishing also in the boat, do some salt water ocean fishing.. So today we are going to go paint our decoys we finally got the carving done. As for the work this week it has been pretty good, a few of the members are starting to really realize there importance to the work so both of our lessons this week were set up by members. It was pretty neat Brother Mikey Guthrie calls us and says I got some work for you. HE set up an appointment and brought a less avtive member to the appointment, then invited like everyone to church. So he brought one non member, and two less active families with him to church!! That is amazing..
Also this weekend we had a pretty funny experience in Davis.. Two weeks ago we met a girl about our age that when Elder Malan contacted her she started laughing and cut him off, well this week we were in Davis again and a member of the ward walks out of this house. So we walk over and start talking to him and a nother member walks out this time it is a girl of our ward. We ask what they were doing, they were helping a friend remodel there home. Then walks out this girl that laughed at Elder Malan... They were walking out to move this couch, so we offered to help, she did not waant us to help.. so first off she gets the leg of the couch stuck between the tailgate and the bed so we help lift it out. Elder Malan grabs one corner, and she grabs the one right next to him. Well when we get to the door we had to tilt the couch, so she tried to get Him out of the way by taking the entire end of the couch.. Then she couldn't handle it and dropped it. ha ha
Then Yesterday at church i asked Ashlyn the member that was there if any conversation was sparked, the only thing really said to Ashlyn was that she should go "talk" to one of us because one of us is cute, so she had to explain that we don't date and we leave our families for two year that kind of stuff.. so that was our week on the coast..

what a week‏

2011-02-14T12:27:00.000-07:00

This week has been great and it went by so quick, i can hardly believe it is monday again. so toward the first of the week we meet with Bob Ensminger and read the Book of Mormon with him and we were fairly persistent in trying to find out concerns, well we managed to set a baptismal date with him for March 12, the hardest thing will be Word of wisdom with him but with the Lord by his side everything is possible so we are very Excited. Also this week we taught a family of Three, the Hall family, and we had one the best lessons ever it was filled with questions. That family is sincerly seeking truth so we are excited for them as well, they said if they found out it is true the would be baptized, and they would have come to church but they had to sing in the church they are going to now. I have very high hopes for them. It would seem that the work is picking up.
Also there is a woman named Dora Willis who as soon as we told the relief Society that we had seen and she was willing to have us back they jump up into action, it is amazing she has had more visits from the ward than anybody i have every heard of, just the other day we were over there setting up an appointment the President and her 1st councler walked up as we were leaving. So it is great when the ward really gets involved.
So anyway we have had a great busy week, but what is going on with you i know Lynette is getting married, how did baily Propse? Tell me all of it and your week..

--
Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

This week‏

2011-02-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

This week has been a really good week, our numbers don't show it very well but it has been good. we have been lacking in the new investigators department, so we have tried to really work with the members and we started with the ward council. So this past week we have met with almost the entire ward council individually and taught the doctrine of Christ and have been getting them to invite there friends, and most them agreed to do it just not very many have yet. Also our main investigator Bob Ensminger has been praying on his own everyday for the past week.. which is a huge step, he hadn't prayed all of his life and he is 80 years old. It is pretty exciting, although we can't figure out why he won't agree to a baptismal date, he wants to be baptized and he wants to go to the temple and be sealed with his wife but he just says he is not ready..
Also this week i am excited for a lesson we set up with a young family that were an old potential Investigators we decided to call them and see if we could set up an appointment and they agreed. The neat thing with this family is that we the missionaries first ran into them and asked if they could come back The wife said i will first pray about it and get back with you. Well a week later they ran into her at the library and she said ya i would like to meet with you, she felt good about it. We also had some training this week which was really good, i always go away from those meetings entirely drained. The spirit is just so strong there. The funny moment of the week also took place at training, when teaching some one the Word of Wisdom some times you take all of there tobacco and alcohol, well this one Elder, who is a real trip! He asks should we take the tobacco cause then we are asking them to give us what we told them not to have? President says they know your are going to throw it away don't they, Then President asks what about alcohol? the Elder says NO thank you i am a minor!! Ha ha President says well have a beer party dump it all down the drain. So that was the highlights of my week!

--
Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

week‏

2011-01-31T09:04:00.000-07:00

Well this week has been extremely slow and hard, it is hard to get your selves motivated when everything is falling through this week we dropped half of our investigators, two of them because they wouldn't call back or we could not get a hold of them. then Our main Investigator Brother Ensminger was in the hospital for most of the week, the only lesson we had was with him, he has been having small strokes which has been causing him to fall, Then Jeremy has been working a lot lately. So not to productive but this next week is looking up we set up appointments with all of the ward council and we are going to teach the doctrine of christ and they all have commited them selves to make and invitation before we come over and i know if they do truly seek for that oppurtunity they will be lead to the elect and we should get atleast a few referrals that way. In this area the members are really going to be the entry way to success so that is what we have been trying to do is to work through the members more, it has been great to get to know them a little more and they are more than willing to invite there friends they just needed to be invited to do so. That really was the majority of our week.

--
Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

week‏

2011-01-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

This week has been another tough week, it seems like all of our appointments keep cancelling so we haven't been able to teach as much as i would have liked to. Our lesson this week with Bob Ensminger went pretty well, we are reading with him in the Book of Mormon, which is what he wants to do before getting baptized. We just need to help him realize he needs to get baptized first, he can finish the Book of Mormon after he is baptized. At the Rate he is going he will never make it to the end, imean he already knows it is true. Then our Investigator with a baptismal date, we had so troubles this week, she lives with her In-Laws and they are against the church it seems. Because we had jsut talked to Donna not even a week ago and she was excited about the church and keeping all of the commitments, then i call the day before our appointment and her Mother-in-law answers the phone, she says " She is not here, so i say well can you leave a message for he, She says No. Ok so i will call back later she says no you won't, she doesn't live here any more! OH ok do you have here new address, I don't know she says. OK do you have a phone number we can reach her at? she says i don't know what to tell you. Bye. That was frustrating i dislike when peopleare like that because you know they don't even know about the church. so that was the highlights of this week that and the seven inches of snow.
Love ya all

--
Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

Week!!!‏

2011-01-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

It has been a crazy week i mean crazy!! I don't have patience for people anymore especially when they start insulting my religion, i can discuss religion with them but when they being aggressive i get a little fired up you know me!! As Sister Guthrie told mom we contacted a Pentecostal Holiness preacher, they are the worst. They are the ones with the speaking in tongues and over taken with the spirit and having a seizure on the floor jumping up and down thinking it is the spirit, most ridiculous religion ever i swear. But this guy was so deceiving he was just like Zeezrom in the Book of Mormon, we knew he was the preacher a lady across the street told us he was, so he was out side and we decided to contact him. He pretended he knew nothing about the bible and religion just that he likes history, that is what made me mad, he says what are the gospels again i know Matthew but what are the others, and acts is a book in the bible as well right? Then he would twist your sentences, like we said when Christ taught his gospel it was pure and true and then man corrupted it. he Goes "see we don't need another testiment of Christ because he taught his word and it was uncorruptible man can't corrupt it so we only need the bible" you said it your self and in Revelations it says you can not add to the bible or you shall be a cursed and the plagues of desolation will be upon you. No you twisted our words and you cut us off! i got fired up and i started throughing bible vesres at him. Then he brings up polygeme, and why should i read a book by a man who had multiple wives it says on the sermon on hte mount not to commit adultery and he is, I said you read the bible right? What about Abraham and Jacob those peole? he says that was Thousands of years ago, i say well that was hundred years ago same point! The best thing was the preacher right before him like he just resigned two months ago was caught running around with plenty of other women. So i got mad i said we are going to find some one who will not question Gods power and is seeking truth and i offered him a card with our number on it and he wouldn't take it so i flicked at him and walked away then he invited us to his church and told us he was a preacher i said we will be praying for you..
Then we found out Elder Billin is getting transferred so i will get a new comp, they pushed back transfer meeting because of the snow storm we got about 3 inches so we went out and played in it being it was our pday and we couldn't go out. That was the highlight of our week.

--
Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

Happy New Years!‏

2011-01-03T08:54:00.003-07:00

Happy new Year i can't believe it is here already!! Well this week hasseemed like it has been forever long, i think the main reason isbecause of not having church last week, but it has been a good week.It seems that everyone is getting sick so that has been the struggle,nobody wants to sit there and talk to a missionary while there sickand i don't blame them. With that we still taught quite a bit for notbeing able to meet with two of our investigators. We got two newinvestigators this week but one of them i am really nervous aroundthey are related to half the ward but the ward doesn't want anythingto do with them especially the family. I Guess they just go around toall the churches and try to get everything they can out of it and theythey run so like everyone in the apartments, The members told us thisyear The father put his name into the toys for totes drawing and hisname got pulled and he just asked for cash. They also have twodaughters which i guess are like obsessive something i don't rememberthe condition but they will spread rumors and claim you are in lovewith them and make like false accusations against you, i guess she didit to her cousin last year? so you never know what you will get next.I tell you what nothing stresses you out like the mission does goodnight, people just expect you to be super man and can do anything andbe everywhere it is exhausting yesterday morning as we are heading into pec the Sunday school teacher calls and says can you teach theclass it is on the millennium? Nothing like gong into a lessonunprepared, biggest pet peeve is not being able to prepare.. But thatwas the extent of my week. not to exciting.. Other than a warm NewYEars.. -- Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

week‏

2010-12-06T11:45:00.000-07:00

Hey so this week has been a really good week, first off i gottransterred to the most amazing area in the mission, Harkers Island!It is beautiful, i don't know if it can stand up to the Kinston firstward as wards go but the area has topped the charts. I will have totake more pictures and send them to you i have a few but they are notthat great we have been working to hard and haven't had time to taketo many pictures yet.. So i am follow up trainning Elder Billin whocame out the sam e time As Elder Butts, although he seems as if he hasbeen out for atleast a year.. He is an amazing missionary, a real hardworker, he is from Riverton Wyoming. So i got here and got to meet afew people, the ward is in the same stake as my last area so i had meta few people before. but we got off to a great start, the night i gothere we had a Lesson with Monica Harrel who is a recent convert, thenthe next day we taught a lesson to the Humphry family, they arepotentail investigators, Then that night we taught two of orinvestigators both Jeremy who is a part member family, he is close toaccepting a baptismal date. Then Bob Ensminger who has came to churchfor years but doesn't want to get baptized. But this area is perfectthere are a lot of ducks and duck hunters, in fact this past weekendwas the Annual Core Sound decoy festival, It was pretty neat they aretraditaional hand carved wood decoys very pretty. They put so muchdetail into them, and so me of the decoys for one is into theThousands!! i couldn't belive it, but we got to talk to alot of peoplebecause the island was flooded with them so it has been fun.Love you all.Elder Phillips

week‏

2010-11-29T09:33:00.001-07:00

My week has been good i got stuffed to the brim for thanks giving i now have the stomach to eat a whole cow because it is so stretched out. but it was good, so hard though both places we went were shooting guns and it was a big temptation Plus they both offered to let us shoot gal the thing i absolutely love to do and i can't do it what so ever.. But i held my self together.. it has also been one of emotion. I found out i am getting transferred and after 6 months i am attached to this ward It is so hard to say good bye i have to go say some more byes latter to day so that should just be peachy. I tell you what even after six months you gain a lot of junk trying to pack is just awesome. Also as i was packing we took a break and started to decorate for Christmas and it made me super trunky. But on the bright side on saturday we cooked for the Relief society ate some good food and went to good will i bought 11 ties at a dollar a piece all sweet polyester, and i found my trade mark, it is ducks i have about 6-8 ties with ducks on them.. they are pretty sweet.
Sorry so short.
Love yall
Elder phillips

General Authorities.‏

2010-11-23T10:36:00.001-07:00

This week has flown by, it has been amazing though because we had three days with general Authorities. The Kinston Stake got a new stake presidency and we also had mission tour. I loved it especially getting to spend time with some General Authorities, which were for Elder Lowell Snow, Elder Cook, and Elder Allen F. Packer. It was neat for Elder snow and Cook we got to know them a little because we got to talk with them more that Elder Packer. But on sunday i invited Both Elder Snow and Cook to eat lunch with us because it was a picnic in New Bern, Elder Snow had to go but Elder Cook came so i got to Eat Lunch with a general authority. And while getting food he came up put his arm around me and said Elder Ya eating all the food? I said trying. then he squeezed my sides and said be careful now. ha ha

week‏

2010-11-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

So this week went so quick i don't remember what really happened the first of the week but the end of the week was amazing, oh and on Wednesday we had zone conference. But on Friday i went on an exchange to woodington and we had a pretty amazing time first me and Elder Holt went to Belk which is like a dillards and he bought a new suit and i was so tempted to as well $300 suits for $100 i am still tempted to and they are some nice suits. Then we went down to his area and started tracting well we parked the car in the middle of nowhere and got on our bikes, we talked to this one Hispanic guy who told us to come back so we were going to refer the Spanish elders to him, so we kept going and we tracted every house on this road. Well when we got back and started strapping our bikes on a van pulled up next to us and a lady got out and marched up to us, she says can you tell me about your church? you missed my house will you follow me back to my home and tell me about your church? We were like heck ya!! so we went with her and it was the Hispanic guys home they are together. We taught an amazing lesson. in her home she already had half the church videos..
Then on Saturday i went back to kinston and we went tracting so on the side of the road we found a deer that got hit a long time ago and it still had antlers on it so we were joking about coming back in the middle of the night and cutting them off it was kinda fun. But then we went to the Harpers for dinner and had ribs, they are an inactive family that we are reactivating. There kids love us and we sat and played guitar. Also his redneck brother was there, so on the ride home we went spotlighting for deer!! ha ha and we told them about the deer we found and the brother was like lets get it so he hops out the truck and grabbed a saws all and cut the antlers off for us.. It was a fun night.. Then at church we had 3 investigators there, it was amazing especially cause Sister Thigpen and Westley were there. so that was my week hope yours was great love you all.
Love
Elder Phillips

The Close of another Journey‏

2010-11-08T20:23:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

I hope everyone enjoyed their week this week. This morning it started snowing here....crazy...that time of year already?

This week was rather crazy busy. Tuesday as a disrict we went and racked leaves for random ppl. We had met a lady named Gaile while tracting (that day when I was struggling that I talked about last week). We went and racked her leaves and she was so sweet and grateful. I am so excited to hear about what happens with her. So we had lots of fun playing in the beautiful automn leaves. I was really struggling tho... while praying that night I realized that I really needed to change my attitude. I was depressed the last few weeks to be leaving and realized that I was ruining the time I had left. After realizing that the week def got better.

Wednesday was a great yet sort of messed up day lol. It was my temple day haha. I get nervous, especially I think when it's been so long. Well we stopped to get some cash and my card wasn't working. So I thought well, I guess I'll just use my airplane money and hopefully the card works next week. So we get to the temple and I go to get my wallet and notice that I left it in the car. Oh man....usually I think if that happens you have to wait downstairs and you don't get to go in. Luckily President goes with us departing missionaries and was able to get me in. I felt so bad.... But the temple was amazing. I recieved alot of spiritual insight and direction, sadly they really rushed us out. We were able to go into another room and ask questions with the temple presidency. They wanted us to be motivated to go back often when we return home. So that was a neat experience. We had yummy NY hot dogs after and then were back on our way. It was so fun and nice to be on a train again :D When I got back I had left the cap open on my waterbottle so water spilled all over my scrips and the phone.... the phone of course stopped working... funny elders said they've done worse before and told me to put it in a bag of rice and in the freezer over night. Luckily this worked lol. After the trip I had my departing interview. It was so nice. President gave me some incredible advice on returning home and also gave me a blessing. It was so amazing. And has been very comforting.

The rest of the week was filled with appts with my families here to say goodbye. It's been hard... way hard.... not much more I can say about that. It was hard tho bc with all the saying goodbyes we haven't had alot of time to tract and teach like I would really love to be doing....since that is my calling and all....that's been the hardest part I think.....

On Thursday we met Sylvia who is an amazing member referral. Brother Davis talked to her while he was in the hospital, she is a CNA worker :) She is the mother of 3 boys: Isaiah: 10, and Abraham and Jeremiah 3. Brother Davis asked why she picked those names and she said they just kinda...came to her. :) She told him that she wanted her children to know about God and he told her that this was the perfect place. She is so amazing. She has had some really rough times. She also wants badly for Isaiah to be involved in volunteer work and such. Saturday night she called to reschedule our appt bc she worked overtime so that she could make it to the baptism and church the next day :D She also had amazing questions!!!! When we went over we had just told her our purpose and introduced the Book of Mormon so she read the intro and wanted to know who Joseph Smith was and so I taught her over the phone...she loved it! Then she asked, "Well what does it mean when it says the ancient inhabitants of the America's?" I've never had that one before :D She said she was so facinated!!!! :D Amazing!!! So she came to the baptism and LOVED it. She said she felt so nice and Sister Jewkes said that she could be the next one to be baptized and she answered, "I would love that. It is so beautiful. But I need to learn more." Eek! So we are so excited! It was super hard to say goodbye to her having just met her. The first night we met her, we felt right at home. We sat on the floor and talked with her. She opened right up and as we were leaving she told us to come back to our new home. SO HARD! It is so hard to meet such incredible ppl for just a little bit and then to leave. I want so badly to see these ppl gain their testimonies of the gospel and watch the new light enter their lives. So so heart-breaking. She stayed for sacrament and gospel principles. She smiled the whole time. I will miss her greatly, and but I am so grateful for phones!!!!

And last but not least, MARIA IS BATIZED!!!! Oh my goodness!!!! How beautiful!!! She had to go under 3 times, but she was just so beautiful! The service and everything was so nice. She said that she feels so good :D She then was confimed in sacrament.

Mike, Raishma, Ashley, Elizabeth Singh and her husband came from Queens yesterday to come to church with me and say good-bye. It was so awesome to walk out of the font doors and see them sitting in the back. Oh I LOVE THEM and will miss them SO MUCH!

I am so grateful for such an incredible and life changing experience that the Lord has blessed me with. The things I have learned on a mission are unforgettable and could be learned no where else. What a blessing to have been raised in the gospel and had such a blessing my whole life. I am so grateful for my parents and teaching me the ways of the Lord. Their selfless service to me as a parent helped me to be a teacher to those here in New York. My mission has deeply planted my testimony. The most valuable thing I have learned in the past year and a half is perfecty expressed in Elder Uchtdorf's words,

"As we extend our hands and hearts toward others in Christlike love, something wonderful happens to us. Our own spirits become healed, more refined, and stronger. We become happier, more peaceful, and more receptive to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit."

I truly have seen this on my mission and know that it is true. We are all here out of love. We were created and sent here because of love. And when we give ourselves to selfless service, we truly are serving God. In return we feel God's love. I know with my whole heart that He lives. I know that He loves us so much that He sent us here so that we can learn how to be like him and gain for ourselves eternal and complete happiness. He loves us so much that He sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die for us. I know that from the Garden to the Cross Christ carried my every pain, sorrow, and sin so that I can be happy and cleansed and could return to my family someday. I know that He lives today and stands with our Father. They will never leave us. Our job is so simple as to just take His hand and follow His footsteps. I know that this gospel is Christ's, established on the earth today. I feel so blessed to be apart of it; and so blessed to have had 18 months to share and testify of such a blessing. I know how to share this message and I will continue to do so until I return to Him again. I am so grateful for Joseph Smith and his incredible and numerous sacrifices to restore that which was lost. I'm grateful for a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson, who leads the church today, truly under the direction of God. Thank you so much for all of your support during this journey. I couldn't have done it without any of you. Your testimonies have all been witnesses to me. I love my Father in Heaven and brother Jesus Christ. In the name of Him, our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love you all!

Sister Phillips

God is there!!‏

2010-11-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

Hey
This week has been a difficult one a real trial of my faith, It started off pretty good a lot of good things happened we were able to teach a few new investigators and what not. We also taught a part member family who there daughter is going to get baptized the end of November but they didn't come to church either. But the real story is the Amazing answer i received.. So we taught the Thigpens this week and she set a date for baptism and to quite smoking, and she said she needed a ride to church. We were like heck ya we can do that to get you to church. So Saturday roles around and we finally find some one to give her a ride because she lives in the bottom of our area so we call they don't answer so we leave a message saying we got a ride and he will be there to pick her up and her son. Right After we do this we get a call from them and westley the son is the one on the phone and he says can you call our ride back and tell him we don't need a ride anymore, we are going to go to the Woodington Ward which is south of us.... i Was like are you kidding. He says i have some friends down there that invited me so it will be more comfortable.. Well needless to say he went with his friends and his mom didn't go and she is the one with the baptismal date.. bah plus we found out the member threw us under the bus, basically told them we were lying to them and we didn't care about them!! So we have been trying to clear up misconceptions now. The Girl told him that it didn't matter which ward he went to, that he could be baptized in woodington and be taught by the sisters or the Elders down there. Then told them the only reason we are fighting to get them to go to our ward and be baptized there is to meet our quota which is not true.. I was so mad i broke down and basically gave up, well you can't do that so i prayed hard i needed help i couldn't do it alone, after i prayed i walked out side and was pacing around praying out loud staring at the stars. There was one beautiful bright star i was watching and the clouds moved across it so i basically thanked god for the stars and asked for it to come back, right then i broke threw the clouds like right threw the middle and a huge shooting star flew across the sky!! That was my sign read D&C 35:8, God is there he cares for us all and is there to strenghten us in our time of need and he listens to our prayers.. i love it i felt the spirit so strong.. I felt the healing power of the Atonement so strong because i did have to ask for forgiveness of a few things i said and did when it happened. but i love you all and God so much it is unbelievable.
Love Elder Phillips

hey‏

2010-11-01T10:04:00.001-06:00

So this was a fast weird week it seemed like nothing happened.. But it was halloween and we went to our wards fall festival were we had to judge the chili and the costumes, that was on Friday then on Saturday we went to the Second wards trunk or treat and i finished preparing my talk oh ya so we spoke in church on Sunday We were supposed to talk for about ten to twelve minutes. Elder Butts took twenty so they had to cut my talk short but i still took about twelve minutes i spoke on baptism it was way good and very bold because we have part member families that just don't want to commit or to change but they come to church every sunday so i basically told them to give up there silly little sins and get baptized and the bishop even asked me were you directing it towards them and i told him pretty much. I mean i spoke on baptism most every one there has been baptized. But i love speaking in church as a missionary because you can be as bold as you want and you won't make enemies.
Then Sunday night we went over to a members for dinner and we carved a pumpkin and stuff plus we had to be in by six so we had some fun i wish i could send you the videos and stuff but i just send pictures.
Anyway that was my week so i love you all
love Elder Phillips

Be StiLL‏

2010-11-01T09:23:00.000-06:00

Hello Everyone!

This week was awesome, super tiring but awesome! I had a neat little experience. On Wednesday we were struggling finding people to teach. We'd knock and knock and no one would be home or answer. So we were trying to find an area with some activity. On top of that two of our appt's had to cancel. We weren't feeling anywhere so it was gettin a little frustrating. I was getting rather overwhelmed and flustered thinking, "Heavenly Father, why can't you please lead us to someone? Time is runnin short...I just want to teach..." I was just getting a little frustrated that He wasn't really "sending" us anywhere. I knew we needed to just pick an area and get out and tract, but it is hard to be motivated when you feel you've done it before and no one will be home. We had some calls that started coming of the past transfer and so Sis Jewkes was talking to them. She being the designated driver we were pulled over and so I was getting more and more ansy (sp?) just sitting there. Then I saw a guy walking and coming past the car. As he passed he gave a somewhat smile and I felt a pang of inward turmoil come from him. I thought, "Great! Someone to teach! Let's go!" But he continued to walk and whatever it was for some reason I was held back and didn't jump outta the car and go! As he rounded the corner, I got even more upset with myself, wondering what was my deal and why in the world did i just let the teaching opportunity that obviously Heavenly Father put right in front of my face, pass me by. When Sis Jewkes got off the phone, after driving around the block we decided maybe it'd just be best to go ahead and take our lunch. I hid out in the bathroom for a bit and read a new era article and then went into the bedroom and prayed for the rest of the time. We then went back out to attempt finding someone again. I decided that maybe we should just try to pull over and pray about a specific area. We pulled over and prayed and then stared at the map for about 5 minutes. I then realized I had left my thumb drive with my pics at the library that monday and went to the library to find that it wasn't there. Luckily it wasn't the one with all of my missions pics on it. As we got to the car I saw a penny on the ground. I felt inside something say, "Be still and know that I am God. Trust in me." We finally headed over the Area 7 and pulled over and tried to help a lady with leaves (which we've been dying to do) and she refused. We drove and drove and then decided on a street, Bayshore Ave. We taught 6 lessons and out of that 3 wanted a Book of Mormon, in 40 minutes!!!! One of the lessons, the lady had lost a son at age 18 and has lost alot of faith bc of that. I love being able to talk about the Plan of Salvation and how the Book of Mormon teaches about everything in life and brings comfort no matter what your situation is. We are so excited. So I def learned a lesson. Heavenly Father truly has his way of trying our faith and patience. He has his timing. We must be still, slow down sometimes and know that everything is in His hands. Our joy and happiness and peace must not be a product of circumstance, but a product of our faith in our Father and Savior Jesus Christ.

Maria is doing amazing! Her UT friend comes down this Thursday. She called last week and said that she can't seem to get herself down from the cloud she is on. :D She really is just so amazing. She is not focusing on getting everything together and ready, but focusing on the spirit and how exciting and special this time is. She really is so incredible. She told me that I have to come out when she goes to the temple. OH!!! I don't want to leave these people.... Her baptism will be this sunday at 12 and she will be confirmed after that in church!!! Wahoo!!!!! :D

Well I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! Happy November and enjoy the beautiful automn season. I know that Heavenly Father lives and loves us, and that He is always with us, very aware of our troubles, desires, and dreams. He knows us personally, by name, and wants the best for us. How great it is that we have the potential to someday be like Him. Have a great week and I love you all!

Love,
Sister Phillips

hey‏

2010-10-25T10:41:00.001-06:00

Hey so this week has went by very fast it is hard to believe. So we started another transfer and it seemed like we got a lot done but not at the same time we taught some very good spiritual lessons and everything but also had so interesting encounters. Just some rude people like always but so with all the spare time missionaries have which is very little we managed to put together a puzzle and also i made a saddle bag for my bike out of duck tape because President said no more walking around with back packs we look better when we are just with a copy of the Book of Mormon

fReSh BReAtH oF aiR~‏

2010-10-25T10:37:00.002-06:00

Hola Family~

This week was a rather eventful week. We didn’t get out much with Tuesday being our deep clean day and then I got really sick and dr’s orders were to stay in for 2 days. Friday we finally got out and were totally exhausted but did some tracting, as much as we could. We knocked about 12-15 houses and each one there were ppl inside but wouldn’t answer. We asked a lady if we could help her weed.. “No.” “Ok, well can we share a card with you?” …. “NO.” …. “Is there a better time we can come back?” …. “NO.” ….. alrighty then! So that was our day. But the times we were able to go on Sat and Sun we were led to some awesome ppl and have return appts. We are really excited bc we found a very family oriented neighborhood and feel really good about it and so we’ve been spending our tracting over there. We are excited and pray that these ppl are prepared for our message.

We had stake conference this week and were able to go with Maria to the adult session. It was really good. They were having a new member mtg in the morning before stake conference started and we weren’t planning on going, but when we got home Maria said, “I’m going to the new member mtg if you girls would like to come.” Ahhh! She asked us!!!! Hahaha, awesome! Toney was also there!!!! He is doing so awesome! He is about to receive the Priesthood! It was so nice to see him, along with my other family in Riverhead! :D There was our area seventy there and his wife is so cute. She talked to Maria and when she got up in stake conference talked about her! Maria was tellin her about her baptismal date of Nov. 6th (yeahhhh!!! She was tellin everyone :D) and she said that she hoped she knows enough. So when Sister Lansing got up she told Maria that she knows enough and she has incredible faith that will continue to grow and she hopes she will take that step. Awesome! So It was a really incredible week, we lived for those high moments, although we were stuck inside for almost the whole week, our days we were out were filled with highs and that was our fresh breath of air that keeps us alive. I LOVE it!

It’s been hard to have to keep saying good-bye to my families in Riverhead. As each day passes it brings more and more tears shed. I’m so grateful to be apart of such a marvelous work. Each day things happen that confirm the truthfulness of this gospel. What a beautiful blessing it is to be apart of it, born into it! Yesterday a family was baptized, well 3 kids of a reactivated spanish sister. What a blessing it is to see this new light enter their eyes, a light of peace, hope and happiness that is now in their family. As we met with Maria she told us that as she did her assignments, she found her testimony. As she read scriptures that she found to explain her feelings, we listented to the new breath of hope in her voice as she told us how she knows that this gospel is true. She has an incredible power about her and we see the spirit is with her a lot as He continues to confirm the truthfulness of the church. I know that her brother is on the other side and is anxiously waiting for his work to be done. I know he has been a big part of her conversion. I love this gospel, and I love so dearly my Father in Heaven. I know He loves each of us and desires each of His children to come back to the fold. How grateful I am that He has entrusted Maria in our hands.

Love you all!

Sister Phillips

week

2010-10-18T12:54:00.000-06:00

So this week was one of those long but short weeks. we had training all week so we were in that from like 8 till 5 for three days so that was really long and really because it was some what of a repeat of last transfer, but there were a few things that i did learn that are useful and hard like extending a baptismal invitation on the first contact that is hard. But a lot of it is just following the spirit and asking inspired questions. For training we had 7 missionaries at our apartment so that was crowded and the first night we went on an exchange with the Assistants talk about intimidating the one we were with like doesn't like to laugh so it was hard. And to make the night more stressful both our plans blew up in our face so i was trying to find something to do. So we went to a part members home and the husband and kids are not members and taught a great lesson on the Book of Mormon and finding answers to prayers so that was good. We also taught the Thigpens three times this week and the first to lessons were really good and we showed the Joseph Smith movie the one you can only see and the visitors centers it was amazing we set a baptismal date with both the mother and the son on Saturday. Then Sunday they didn't come to church and they called and said they are confused and don't know that it is true any more so we went back over and had to resolve concerns an invite them to read the Book of Mormon again. The son Westley was about to throw the copy of the Book away but he decided not to and though that he would actually read it and try to find an answer. So that helped me a little bit, i was having a bad day yesterday from that whole deal but now i am alright. This is also the first week of the transfer i am staying in Kinston bah it is hard area everything is just to far to get to work so this will be another hard biking transfer. And i created a new planner and dedicated the back to lynette being how she is dying so i will have to take pictures and send them to you next week. any way love ya
Love Elder Phillips

lOVE

2010-10-18T10:18:00.001-06:00

Hello! This week was awesome! We got lots of beautiful rain and it is really feeling like fall here. I love Fall in NY!
Maria is doing awesome! The Bishop told us yesterday that she looked so happy :D We were a little nervous bc it was the Primary Program and was a bit...crazy hahaa, but she loved it! She has such a huge heart! She wants to spend time with us and even asked if we could move into her house so that we were in a safer neighborhood! She worries about us all the time she says! I love her! she thought that she had a long ways to go before she could get baptized, that she needed to know the B of M and everything! So when I extended the commit to get baptized she was really surprised and we told her we felt she was so ready! She is praying about November 7th!!!!!! Woot Wooooottttt!!!! :D
Rob and Eli were at church again yesterday. things are going really well, the Lord is truly blessing us so much. We have had some awesome member lessons this week (when a member comes to lessons with us). They are so great! I love this ward and I really love the people here in New York. This work is truly the Lord's work and I feel so strongly the love He has for all his children as I serve amongst them. I love you all and hope you are safe and sound. Sorry it's so short and simple, but most importantly the work is going forth.

Love,
Sister Phillips

2010-10-11T12:42:00.000-06:00

this week has been a little different with the whole preparation day on Wednesday, it kinda throws you for a loop, but this week has been pretty good actually we were able to teach and get a hold of a lot of less active and inactive members. That and working with family mission plans with the active members. Yesterday was a little disappointing because we were supposed to have two investigators at church and they didn't show up, we were supposed to have a lesson with them right after and we figured that would also help them get to church, but the didn't show and they wouldn't answer the phone either so that was sad. It is just kind of weird that she won't come to church because she knows it is true and she has already read half the Book of Mormon and she knows that is true also, i think that it is her son that is the hold up because he has kind of a wall up and we are just starting to break through the wall. Other than that it has been a really good week.

ToNeY~‏

2010-10-11T12:41:00.000-06:00

Hola!

Oh I love New York in the Fall! Automn is sooo beautiful! The leaves are changing deep red all around us and wherever we tract there are lots to crunch. :D I LOVE it~ We had a great week this week. Yesterday we had 3 investigators at church! :D Maria, Rob, and Eli. We are so excited for them and feel so good about them as well! We also are teaching Yvenel and he is coming to church next week and he really is soakin everything up. I LOVE teaching the Plan of Salvation, especially when they have such soul searching questions that the gospel answers. We are so lucky to know “Why we are here and why a loving Heavenly Father would send us some where so….well, evil.” How blessed we are to know that we DO have a Father in Heaven who watches out for us and loves us more than we can even imagine. And we have the key to everlasting and complete happiness! So things are lookin so great here :D Also, yesterday I was able to return to Riverhead to see the baptism of Toney!!! :D It was so incredible and beautiful! :D When he came up out of the water he started laughin and grasped Elder Doxey in a hug. He kinda of raised his hands in the air as a "Yes! I did it!" I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were right there hugging him and crying and laughing right along with him, tellin him a job well done and welcome home. Oh my goodness...it was so beautiful! It was nice to see everyone there again. It was so amazing to remember the first day we met/found Toney and then to see how much he has changed through the atonement of our Savior. Wow. So amazing. I LOVE IT!

Last week was my last combined district mtg and it was really sad. I didn’t know it and so I wasn’t prepared to give a Departing Testimony. I didn’t know what to say at all and it was so hard. I told em I didn’t wanna do it lol…I’m so sad that it was my last…it was too hard to not let the tears flow. I also received stuff in the mail and just left it in the mailbox for another day lol. Luckily I still have time to get these awesome people into the healing waters of baptism. It’s def a journey of mixed emotions. I will be leaving part of my heart with my many new families here in NY and it is a hard and sad thought to think that I won’t see some of these ppl for a lot longer than 18 months. As I think of my mission I hope that I served with all my heart, might, mind and strength. I hope that I did my Father’s will and that I can finish with comfort knowing that He is pleased. ….anyways….

I’m soaking up as much as I can these last days and striving to love and capture every last moment. As we wind down to the remaining 346 brothers and sisters of ours that we are searching for, we are sacrificing even more and working even harder. I know that returning home comletely wiped out and exhausted will a great feeling. I’m so happy to have such a spectacular time to see miracles of lives changed and faith challenged and friendships made. I love you all so much and hope you enjoy your next week.

Love,

Sister Phillips

SpEcTaCuLaR miRaCLeS*‏

2010-10-04T09:03:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday!

Hello from Bayshore! I hope everyone had a great conference weekend and had questions answered and some amazing spiritual upliftment! Wasn’t it great!? I am so sad that it is already over! It goes so fast! It was so nice to hear a prophet of God speak. And the music was INCREDIBLE! Every time conference is here I just can’t help but think of how richly blessed we are to live in this dispensation. To live in a time where we don’t have to walk in darkness but that we and our families can be guided by a prophet and apostles truly called of God. What a blessing! Feel free to email me your favorite speakers or things that stood out to you. I’d love it!

Sunday and Monday were some tear filled days of saying good-bye but it did feel right to be going. Well I am loving it here in Bayshore! It is so good to be back and see all of my family here again! :) I remember missionaries saying how weird it is to go back to old areas but it really hasn’t been weird here at all. My comp, Sister Jewkes, is so awesome! She is on her 3rd transfer and is a hard worker! I LOVE LOVE LOVE her! She is from Taylorsville, UT! There really, I believe, isn’t a better way I could’ve had for my last transfer. …Idk if that sentence made sense…. But what I’m trying to say is this will def be the best way to spend my last transfer. We have seen nothing but spectacular miracles! And I believe that they are going to keep coming. At transfer meeting President Nelson told us to make October a month to never be forgotten and pray to see spectacular miracles and we def are being sure to make that true. So lets talk about some spectacular miracles!

Tuesday we jumped right in to teaching and it was awesome! We got home (which is a diff home then when I was here:D) I unloaded my bags, got some food and off we were! We went to see a 17 yr old young man and ended up rescheduling, but as we were walking away to our car there was a lady sitting out on her lawn, so we decided to go talk to her. She ended up being from Africa and actually asked us to go to Africa and bc we have such “pretty skin” to find a man there and get married. It was really funny. Then a young girl (sr in HS) came out and I waved her over. We got talking and she is just awesome! She talked about how no one here is aware of God and disreguards Him and she is apart of the Bible Society at school! Yes! Well she loves the BOM and wants to share it with the Bible Society and she has been lookin for a church to go to around her. She had a dream when she was younger doing missionary work and so that is what she tells everyone she is gonna do when she is older! She came to conference yesterday and we are so excited to talk some more to her. We ended up having 3 investigators at conference yesterday, 2 of which are new within the past couple of days! Which leads me to the incredible MARIA!

Maria went on a business trip in SLC a few months ago and actually went again about a month ago. A friend there gave her a BOM and told her some things she really needed to see while she was in SL. She has been to Music and the Spoken Word twice, saw the Joseph Smith movie, and said that when she stepped on Temple Square she felt so at peace. She had a lot of miracles happen when she was there, one of which when she was trying to find the church. She went to temple square and they gave her a paper with the address of the church to go to. So she went out and while walking she really had no idea where she was going. So she stopped to ask a lady and the lady put her arm around her and said, “I’m going to. Lets go together.” Her name ended up being Maria as well. Much of the miracles of Maria will have to wait when I get home, but she is so incredible. She has already read 1 & 2 Nephi. She went to a church out here and they told her she was in the wrong area so she felt kinda tossed around. Well she called us like Thursday and said she wants to come and is very interested in the church. Then her friend from UT called and Maria really has been callin us since then. She came to a session on Sat and one on Sunday. We met with her after Saturdays and it was incredible. Her story….she’s incredible. We are so very excited to teach her and help her to find the peace and comfort the gospel brings.

So that is the sum of the miracles for this week. I hope everyone prays to see miracles as well. I know that if we do that we can see them. The Lord will use our every effort. I love you all so so much and hope everyone continues to be safe and healthy. Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Phillips

Back to the Beginning~

2010-09-27T10:43:00.000-06:00

Welcome Autumn! Yeahhh!

We had a good week this week to close up the transfer. We had alot of great lessons and visits with Less Actives. The work is going so well here and it is great to see everyone progressing so much. I love seeing the change from 12 weeks ago to now. Wow! I can't believe I I have been here 12 weeks!

I hope all you Relief Society women were able to see the broadcast. It was so nice and I am PUMPED for conference! Yeahhh! President Monson was so funny that night! We were able to drive down to Plainview to see it and brought two inactives with us! So that was super nice! It was so weird to be there again! My very first Zone Conference was there. I saw some ppl from the Bay Shore ward whom I hadn't seen in prob around 13 or more months. It was so nice.

Sat afternoon I got a call from President. He asked me a few questions tryin to gather info about this next transfer. He asked me about Bay Shore and I told him that I would really love to end my mission here in Riverhead. After prayin I called back to be more clear and he said he had prayed about it and that I need to go to Bay Shore. It is so hard bc I don't really know what i want lol. I just want this last transfer to be the best and no doubt, I will make it the best!

Testimony meeting was so good yesterday. I had been preparing a song for sacrament for the best few weeks. It was the "Our Mothers Taught Us" and I had all 6 of the elders plus 3 of the young men from the branch doing it. We called to put it on the program and were reminded that it was Fast and Testimony Mtg! Oh No! Well we were able to get it approved by the Branch President after callin a second time with a different route ;) I had one of the young men bear his testimony on the Book of Mormon at the end of the mtg and then we did the song. It was AWESOME : D So we had a great day with a Break the Fast after with lots of yummy food.

Anywho. I hope everyone is enjoying the changing leaves! I lvoe the feeling of fall. So spiritual! Something so awesome that I pondered and studied this week was about our earth. I was reading in Jesus the Christ and I've been pondering on what it is about Fall that just gives me that "spiritual" feeling. I love that the earth was created spiritually before it was physically, just like us :) And just a few weeks ago I was talkin to my comps about how i felt that the earth has feelings. Well, then I read in Jesus the Christ about how after Christ's crucifixion the earth grew dark and stormy as we know. Elder Talmage says that it was a great manifestation of how upset the earth was to see her creator die such an ugly death. And i started thinkin of how when the ppl turn to evil the earth goes into famine and pestilence. The earth does feel. Then! I was listening to a tape of conference from back in the 80's and I can't remember the name but he was talking about how the creation is an essential and important part of the Plan of Salvation. In order for us to leave Father's presence to have our own experiences He had to prepare a place to do so. I just love it. And now i'm blabbereing. Anywho!

I love you all and hope you have a great and fantastic week!!!!

Love,
Sister Phillips

the Lord's work~

2010-09-20T14:05:00.000-06:00

Weengapo!

Another great week! When is there NOT a great week as a missionary!?

Lots of great things are happening here and we are so excited! We are starting week 6, last of the transfer and are curious as to what is going to happen. I wanted to end in the city….but…. I really am hoping that I stay, but I of course know that whatever happens is the will of the Lord and there are reasons. I really love the people here though, and would love to end my mission here. We find out Saturday night, we’re sure one of us is leaving. :’(

Tuesday night we had a great visit with an inactive that we have started meeting with. We have really seen him progress and we are super excited. He was baptized in 95 his first day at church! He taught and received the Melchizdek Priesthood (sorry for spelling). But he hasn’t been for prob about 10 years he says. He is amazing and says that he knows he should get back to fulfilling his duty. We of course answered YES! He is working on getting work of on Sundays. He is for sure able to come tho to both night sessions of conference and PRIESTHOOD! He already has it down and planned, what a great time for him to come! :D

We did sadly, loose an investigator this week tho. He was 16 and we were so excited for him. You can see that he is struggling with something and lonely. He struggles with his younger brother who is involved with drugs and that group of friends gives him a hard time bc he is so good. When he is bored he does things for ppl and he is concerned for the poverty around the world. We went over and he was washing his neighbors cars J His dad is a preacher for the Baptist Church his family attends. After we left the last time he said that he didn’t believe in the Mormons and told him to throw out the book :’( and he of course did. Someday….

Wednesday was my last Zone Conference :’( It was so good. It is hard to be a somewhat older missionary who feels she knows somewhat of what she is doing and now all the teaching stuff is being changed. I feel that I am back to not knowing what I am doing lol. It is hard, but what a great way to end. I see the spirit doing His great works.

Saturday was the war social out in Amaganset (richest area of the Hamptons). We got to go to the beautiful Atlantic Ocean. Oh my goodness I love it there. Wow…. It was so good. The other ward was having movie night and they were projecting “The Testaments” up outside. We had told Toney to go. Recap on Toney.

He came to church a few weeks ago for testimony mtg and the ward showed him a lot of love. He has had a really rough life. He is 18 and showed us his biography for school. It really helped us to understand. His family is Baptist, not practicing tho. He is very street and so we knew it would be hard, especially where some family would laugh when we visited and yell upstairs, “Toney! The Saints is here!” LOL.

Well we decided that this time instead of meeting at the house we were going to go to the park nearby. This way there would be no distractions and we’d be able to ask inspired ?’s that would help us to know his needs. Well, that is exactly what happened. Toney is someone who really cares what ppl think of him and ppl watching. So he looks around before he pulls out his BOM J and wouldn’t kneel to pray, but its ok. As we taught we found out a lot of things that were holding him back. We taught according to the needs the spirit told us of and were able to end with him giving a kneeling prayer. He was able to attend the first branches movie night and when we saw him Sunday….there was a change. While watching the movie he felt “funny. It was weird. He had never felt that before.” He also prayed right after we had left and got the same funny feeling. We of course told him what the feeling was and there happened to be a baptism after church for the other ward. Our car broke down sat night on the way home…well it was in the process and we were able to pull into a members house who knows about them… so we had to leave after church bc our ride had to. That night (last night) our District Leader who is in the first ward said, “Now I have a question…. Toney was telling everyone at the baptism that he is getting baptized on Oct. 10th?” J We had asked him to pray about it and he said he wants to and well everything else just happened J He is still praying about it, bc the tenth is pretty soon for everything but that is the story for the week J

I love this work. We wouldn’t have ever thought that Toney would be baptized. But we have to remember to never judge God’s children. This is his work not ours. Even the vilest of sinners can repent and be changed.

Love you all and have a great week!

Sister Phillips

this week‏

2010-09-20T09:22:00.000-06:00

Hey
This week was a pretty good week it started out really slow with a lot of canceled appointments and a lot of tracting but we pushed forward and work hard putting forth our faith. On Thursday we did a very good weekly planning tried so hard to figure out what our investigators needed and how we could help them progress, and i got to say the closing prayer and in my prayer i was so sincere in telling the lord we are doing the best we can and we need some help. And Behold ask and ye shall receive, That very night we were on an exchange and most of the people didn't want to talk with us right then, so it was around 830 and it would take atleast twenty minutes to get home but i was like hey lets stop by this last potential, her name was Meredith. So we stopped in and our exchange really didn't want to stop because it was dark and they had kids, but we did and when we knocked a guy came out and told us that she was just the babysitter. So i felt to ask if he would like to learn more and he said ya so we sat down and taught him a little and left a Book of Mormon, right before we left he says "It is interesting that you stopped by because my wife has been getting on me to find a church and get back into going." it was amazing!
Then the very next night all we had is tracting and right before we left i was thinking hey there are some really nice less actives around the corner that we could go visit instead of tracting lets do that, but then the thought came to my mind that i was hindering the work if i did that because that is not where we need to go so we went knocking doors, and the last house they let us in and wanted to know more about the Book of Mormon and wanted to read it and find out if it was true. It really helped me to see when you are prompted to knock doors even if you think it isn't the most productive you need to do it because we are lead to those few that are open and prepared.
Those were not all the success we saw this week, we ended the week on a high note. We went over to an investigators home for a lesson and she had a list of questions so we answered them and i asked if i could ask a question. I asked have you received and answer to your prayers and she said yes. So do you know it is true? She said yes, so i invited here to be baptized and she accepted! it was so exciting. Then we asked her son if he received and answer and he said no not yet but i will support my mom and go with her to church and take the lessons, i couldn't help but feel that he will be baptized very soon as well.
That was our wonderful week, it truly is amazing to see the spirit work inside people to change there lives and come unto Christ. I love it, and i love you all,
Love
Elder Phillips

sickies‏

2010-09-13T10:24:00.000-06:00

Hey family! I hope everyone is doing well, happy and healthy! Not a whole lot of new stuff this week. We are passing around a really bad cold bug so we were in for 2 days on that one. We are crazily in our 5th week, we find out next week if we stay or go. I’m so curious as to where I will be saying “see you soon NY.” What a bitter sweet emotion. I am excited tho to see these cute new lil girlies in the family. I am excited to hold some babies :D We did however get our first referral here this week! :D The elders had given a BOM card to a lady that works at Stop and Shop, she called in and we’re her missionaries. We are very excited. She and her husband have 2 kids. They are Christian, she has only been so for a year and a half. They try to go when they can, he works Sundays now tho. We are very excited. They gladly took the Book of Mormon and are happy to read. :D Yesterday was a good day. I played in sacrament for the missionaries and was very nervous. The spirit was so strong tho as I was ferverntly praying for and I actually didn’t obviously mess up! I was so happy bc I really hate performing as far as piano goes. Tony came to church so that was good. Things are great and I am getting logged off! Have a great week! LOVES!!!!!

Sister Phillips

This week‏

2010-09-13T09:19:00.000-06:00

This week has been a busy one, there has been a lot going on, so on Tuesday we had to leave our apartment at 6:30 to be to Raleigh at 8:45 and the drive was fun we went with Brother Herring and he is crazy but so funny. so i had trainers meeting and got to learn all the fun things i have to make sure to do and be a good example, all that stuff. Then i met my Companion Elder Butts From Chicago, his dad is in the navy so he has lived in Virgina and Utah all these other places and this past summer he was working in soda springs so when i picked him up we came back to Kinston and we ate with Brother mooring who is quite southern and it was a good time we had some massive steaks and they were so good i loved it. Then we got picked up by meeko, he is one of the youth in our ward and we went and taught a lesson to the Thigpen family, it is a mother and her son. We answered a lot of questions and invited them to be baptized. The mother is pondering on it and Westley the son said no because he doesn't believe that the Book of Mormon is true so i taught to that concern and helped him understand that if he puts forth that faith and has a desire that i promise he will get an answer so he is going to continue to read and pray for an answer. So the was amazing. Then on Wednesday we had district meeting and we did a new member lesson with Erica and it was the last one so then she went to the bishop and set up to get her patriartical blessing and she got that yesterday. so that was neat. OH so miracle story We got a referral from a guy in Raleigh of this girl named Emily so we called her a while ago and she said she wanted to met with us and she would call us on Monday to set something up well she never called so Tuesday we called and no answer so then on Thursday we called again and the phone was disconnected so we were like ok i see she is dropped, this was like two weeks ago. SO then on Tuesday she called us and said ya my phone got shut off and i saw you guys in this Mexican restaurant but i was to afraid to talk to you so do you want to meet there on Tuesday, we were like ya!
Then on Saturday we ate with an inactive member and they had a fight with some people in there ward in Albertson so they were not going back there and with some other troubles they picked up smoking but they are an awesome family. so a scripture popped into my head, and the spirit told me that is what i needed to share even though my comp said we should gear it towards the kids i felt i had to share that scripture, so i did and it was exactly what they needed to hear They even asked me about it the next day when we dropped by so that was so cool. the Scripture was Mosiah 24: 14,15,21
Then on Sunday we were able to get up with an investigator that is so busy it is impossible to catch him but we did and we taught a short lesson and set up a return appointment. So it has been a really good week and it has been harder but well worth it. Plus some punk teenager was trying to shoot us with air soft guns so that was funny. so That was our week very good, very spiritual. and i love you all tons
Love
Elder Phillips

NEwS‏

2010-09-07T11:29:00.000-06:00

Hey
This week has been a pretty good week i have had a lot of good news and some bad news but it has been fun. So we started off the week with a bang and we ended with a bang, during our p-day activities i went and was doing back flipps and i kept coming a little bit short so i was like man i can land this. So i did i landed it and my ankle snaped! Ok just kidding it just popped and i shook it abit and it popped again and i was good i kept playing on it. But as soon as i stopped it started to kill and i could not put any weight on it. so i was on crutches for most of the week but i didn't let that hod us back we worked hard and kept on truckin. Also this past week we have been teaching this older man he is about eighty and he just doesn't get the point he has done a lot of sinning and he just makes excuses for it. So this last meeting he just wouldn't listen so i put it straight i was really bold and told him that he was wrong that his church was false and we are the only ones with aythority, like i basically taught a very bold serman. It was sweet. That was the best and majority of our week. But so the ending bang was i found out i am TRAINING it blows me away i am still a greenie myself but i guess the lord knows what is needed so i will do my best and work hard.
So i love you all i hope your week has been awesome.
Love
Elder Phillips

One Big Family‏

2010-09-07T11:28:00.000-06:00

Well this week flew. I helped the worlds best mission correlator pack up and move on Tuesday all day. It was a super long day. I worked as the sisters went and taught. Yeah for a trio and member splits! LOL. I was totally exhausted! I was so sad to see them leave. We had heard of the Hurricane warning from everyone, it was at a #4. Thurs morning we got a call from President asking us to come "sleep over." Haha. So we had to be at the mission home that day and we also asked instead of 9 Liters of water we now needed 9 gallons! It was so funny at the grocery store for all of us to be getting so much water....27 gallons! Our cart was towering...greedy lil sisters haha. The register said a choice word and that everyone was freakin out about this thing. Haha. Well we got to presidents and had a great time. We met alot of great people. That night we were going to go to a DA with the spanish elders there and as we were waiting a 15 yr old boy was going around selling the varsity football coupon books. Sis. Nelson invited him in and introduced us. We actually ended up teaching him. He had only been there for 3 weeks, his parents had just divorced and he had had 3 very important people suddenly die. He said that he was actually lookin for a church. So awesome. We were able to go with the elders and eat some yummy yummy Bubuza's. Soooo yummy. We got to tract quite a bit on Friday with Sister Nelson which was so good. We got back on Saturday morning and nothing had really even happened. Haha, the elders had to stay in and I guess that it was practically sunny out lol. But safety first :)
Yesterday was the best fast and testimony meeting I've been to. 4 spanish women got up one after another bearing strong tear filled testimony's of strength and how the gospel has changed their lives. Our investigator Tony came to church for the first time. He really likes to talk and decided he'd like to do so at the pulpit. We were a bit nervous. After talkin for a bit he mentioned that the Book of Mormon had changed his dad's like (now deceased) and he knows therefore that it DOES change lives. After another 5 mins of talking his ride, Ssiter Wallace came up, rubbed his back and came in. She is incredible and really did this in such a loving way. She talked about how children like Tony that go through such hard trials and tribulations and how great it is when they attend the church with us. Then after her Brother Vogal got up and before he spoke he shook Tony's hand and then started to talk about the Pre-Mortal Life. He turned to Tony and said, "Did you hear that Tony? You and I, we shouted for joy to come here. We were happy." I can't even explain how strong the spirit of brotherly/sisterly love was in the chapel that day. It was so incredibley strong. What great ppl. It was so humbling to see a brother and sister of Tony's, who once before this life knew each other and loved each other, who in common chose to follow Jesus Christ and come to earth, stand and show such powerful love to their brother who they loved.
I really do know that we each are so important in our Fathers lives. It's as if we were the only creature Father had ever created, He knows us that personally. Each one of us is his beloved son or daughter. We are all brothers and sisters, black, white, tall, short, blonde hair, black hair....each of us chose to come here and we are all trying to return to Him who gave gave us life spiritually and physically. I hope that I can be a helping hand to those of my brothers and sisters who have lost their way. The people here are incredible and are such a great example to me. How blessed I am to have such a wonderful family at home and in church. I know that my Father lives and that He loves me so much that He would give His only son, to die just for me, even if I were the only creature He had ever created.
Love you all so much and I Hope you have a good and safe Labor Day.

Love,
Sister Phillips

ya‏

2010-08-30T10:07:00.001-06:00

Ya so i sang yesterday! i was so nervous i am a terrible singer i can do it for fun but i hate getting up in front of people and singing but they forced me into it and we sang nearer my god to thee i messed up but maid it sound good any way i just harmonized until i could pick back up. I guess it sounded good though i hope so.
SO this week has been crazy spiritual we had a 3 days of leadership training from 9 til 4 and i learned so much they have like changed the way missionaries will do things and they are going to start teaching it in the mtc come may. so it was way cool plus it is awesome that we even got invited, and so what we have learned we are now even teaching it to members and that is most of what we did this week was teach members the doctrine of christ and it was awesome.

siLLy SiSteRs-----‏

2010-08-30T10:06:00.001-06:00

Hey there my grand family! I don’t have much for updates this week. We had a great week of tracting and are still teaching a lot of people, just workin on getting them to progress. The weather here was feeling a lot like fall and the nights are getting cooler and darker. It’s weird bc it feels too early for that. We are half way through the transfer and I’ve been thinkin about my last transfer. I said since I left the Island last time that I didn’t want to come back and I wanted to die in the city J As people here have been finding out that I only have one left, with their sad faces they add, “Well you’ll prob stay here…we sure want you to stay here…” This happened twice this week and my heart just pulled at those words and their faces. I seriously have grown to love these people so much. Course…when does that not happen right? Every area I seem to grow so attached. I love the city and would love to say good bye in the city….yet, it would be so hard to leave these people after only 2 transfers with them. I was planning on bringing up the city with President in my President’s letter…but now I’m thinkin that I will leave it all up to the Lord. I feel there is still a lot of work that needs to be done here. It feels good to be loved and it feels really good to see all the great things that are happening here. To see the fruits of our diligent labor of the first transfer is so rewarding. I will def leave a piece of my heart here in New York. But thankfully I have a good 9 weeks left to give my all! J

This week had some funny things seriously happen. Man, 3 tired girls is not a good combination….we tend to get pretty giggly and silly. I think I will withhold the one bit of hilarious news due to public humiliation haha, but you can gladly ask my mother lol. But the other part well, plainly put…we just tend to create the title “Stupid Sisters.” Haha. So we were leaving an investigators and going to go look up an inactive. The map showed that the road that brought us goes right through, right to the place we were going. So we get down about half a mile and like a few of roads in our area it turns to sand. I’m thinkin it looks pretty deep….but my comps rooted me on and insisted we continue. Haha…oh no. So we get going and about 30 maybe 40 feet in the car starts sliding all over the place and sinks. I stop and go to back up…. But the wheels spin. Now, from the many times of being stuck with Bailey and his “fun digging” I learned a few things haha. My comps are out of the car yellin at me to keep tryin and I knew that we would burry ourselves. Luckily there were some nice blocks and pieces of wood around where we were (we were stuck on a trail that looked as if it was going straight into a mountain full of trees lol) and so we gathered all we could find and did our best to stick them under the front tires (gotta love front wheel drive) . But each time we tried we sunk deeper and deeper. So on our hike back to civilization lol we called the elders who had a great laugh and were able to get a shovel from a security guy to the housing development where we were. By the time the elders got there we had shoveled a bit out and realized we were . When the elders had a look and made a go they told us to go find some ppl to recruite. When we got back they had jacked the car and shoveled it out and put boards under the wheels more. We and 4 boys pushed and we got it out. What a chore! Hhahaha, ya….we remembered the last time we had a chevy Malibu, and we got a diff car since then. Why did we get stuck? Bc we had a Ford. Haha I’m jk. So that was quite an eventful day. We continued the day with sand in our nylons and between our toes and dirty shoes and skirts. Haha, memories~

Well that is all I have for now. I hope school is going good for everyone and you have a great new week! J and Happy September! :D

Love,

Sister Phillips

jOy iN tHe jOuRnEy~‏

2010-08-23T10:00:00.001-06:00

Hey family! How is everyone? Tuesday we picked up our #3, Sister Tauteoli or “T.” J She is from Tonga and left from Cali where her fam now resides. She is great. She was a former Methodist. I lived with her for 3 transfers in Brookly so we are excited to serve together and have an extra sister to help us with our massive area :D We did a bit of tracting this week and got in to teach a spanish mother and her 2 daughters. They came to church yesterday! So that was super awesome! They really liked it :D We also went tracting to our neighbors and now have a few ppl from that, which is super awesome. We had some sad experiences with it as you always do. An old man who is an artist really let us know that we need to put our heads on straight and stop selling religion and making ppl believe what we believe. He told us to pause and think if there really is a god and got really….just not good. He also said he has tried killin himself 4 times. Crazy thing? We could see him in a baptism suit. It was sad, but hopefully his heart will soften. We are loosing one of our most active members/family. The worlds best correlator is moving and I just cried! He is the most loving/caring person I have ever met! But…..he is being a traitor!!!!! He is moving to RALEIGH NORTH CAROLINA! Yup, hey it makes me rather happy he is going there to my awesome missionary brother and I really hope he gets to serve in his ward. Gosh, Idk what my deal is lately but I really don’t have much to tell….we are teaching lots and its great. We really are doing great and as I said before of how I felt this would be a great transfer, it truly will be! Our teaching pool is really starting to fill with investigators and we are doing what we are here to do. Cry repentance and bring ppl to baptism by bringing them hope through knowledge of our savior and redeemer Jesus Christ. Time flies, I got to my last zone conference next week sadly. I am doing my best to fill my days with work and doing what the Lord would have me do. I love this gospel and I do know that it is God’s church on the earth today. I can say that it is the only TRUE church, and by saying that I mean that it has ALL the ordinances and principles that Christ established. I love you all so much and hope you have a BEAUTIFUL week! Love you!

Love,

Sister Phillips

hey‏

2010-08-16T16:47:00.001-06:00

Hey family
Hows everything going at home i hope you are all well and having fun with school about to start. This week has been another hard tracting week, the lord is truly testing our faith and our diligence and i payed off some. On friday we were able to set up six return appointment for this week which was awesome i really hope they are solid. some bad news is that our really cool investigator that we haven't been able to get up with, we finally did and it turns out the reason he hasn't been home is because he has been in the process of moving to Fayettville, so that is a bummer, but i am grateful for him because he was amazing i have never been in more spiritual lessons then with him i really hope he will continue to progress and go to church. This week we also did a lot of service like on tuesday we did service for two different people and it was all yard work and i was bright and wore shorts when my legs haven't seen the sun in 6 months and my neck either. so i got fried and it hurt. What another great week.
Love
Elder Phillips

errand of angels~‏

2010-08-16T16:44:00.000-06:00

HI FAM!

Well it’s the start of my 2nd to last transfer. I was a bit saddened to put away yet another daily planner last night as I wrote in our weeks numbers. Sister Winterton and I are staying but have to go to transfers bc…..we are getting another sister! Yeah…another trio!..... hahaha, its all good. We’ll see how this trio goes :D We ended the transfer with the best week we’ve had yet. Tracting acutally felt a bit productive this week! We taught 17 lessons which is the hightest for the transfer by over double! And got 3 new investigators!!!! Wahoo! We finally got investigators! It’s the 4th watch. :D We are really excited, and what a way to start the new transfer! Woot woot! We’re prayin hard for these new people. We went to Manhattan for a dr. appt and on our way back we had an awesome experience. As we went through the turn style (?) we saw an indian lady strugglin with groceries. (I hate groceries in the city) She gladly accepted our offer to help. We walked to her home with her which ended up being right across the mission office. She invited us in for juice and we gladly accepted :D We sat in her room on the floor (different style of lounging I guess :D ) and talked for a bit. She is from Pakistan and the only one here. A brother in TX but she is alone. We somehow got on the subject of mothers and she just had such great stuff to say about her mom and I asked if she was in TX or Pakistan. She then hung her head and was silent a bit and said that her mom was dead. We gave our apologies and she said she had just died that morning…. That is why she wasn’t at work that day. I pulled out a pos pamphlet and taught her a short lesson. She just stared at the pic of Christ for at least a minute as we sat in silence. It was sad bc the flight to pakistan is 24 hrs and they bury them there rather quickly. So she was not going to be able to say her last good-bye. As we were leaving she asked where the church was and said she would like to come with us sometime. She only wanted to if we were there…. But then we offerend to send our friends over so that she could get to know them and then go with them :D This worked. She offerred any help to the church of any sort bc her mother taught her to always serve. As we left I was so humbled. Heavenly Father is so aware of each and every one of his children. We were able to be instruments in His hands that day and be angels to a lonely aching woman and hopefully leave her with more hope than what the Muslim religion gives her. What a great lady. The Lord truly does answer our prayers through other ppl. More than we even realize. We just have to step back and reflect so that we don’t miss those answers. While tracting we came up on a man on the ground on the corner. He was squirming, holding his back, crying. I tried talking to him, he finally said he didn’t speak english. (he was hispanic) What a blessing when I guy was riding past who spoke spanish. The man had just been beaten. He tried to get up and fell again. We ran to get the car bc we had left the phone. We were gonna call the spanish elders. By the time we got back he was wobbling to the back of a house. We suspected his. We had been talking to the police dept on the phone and they were able to take care of it from there. So sad…. This world. It was all bc of racial differences too. Hatred to our fellow men. Well, as for now I think that wraps up all the good stuff. I will let you know how it goes with our new investigators next Monday J I love you all and hope you have a blessed week~

Love,

Sister Phillips

dUsK~‏

2010-08-09T16:51:00.000-06:00

Hi my lovely family!

There are a few highlights of this week and I am super excited to share them! We have been working quite a bit with less actives and part-member families. I think that our efforts haven’t been wasted and this next transfer is going to be a great one. We found a sale on brownies, 10 for 10. Brownies sure bring out the love J We’ve been takin them to those we are working with. Sister W is a member I think her whole life? Or just a really long time. Brother W isn’t a member but acts like one J He is so awesome. He comes to church every week, and to all the activities and such. Last week he told his wife that testimony meeting was really good and that it really touched him. J We took them brownies and Sister W’s son from a former marriage was visiting with his big very active family. So it was a way good visit and they invited us right in to sit and have a piece of cake with them J Then we were invited to dinner with Marco (the five star chef.) Dinner was so yummy mmmm. We got a call from Sheila thanking us and told us that Marco has been talking of joining the church. J We are so ecstatic! But life is good. We’re in our last week of the transfer and I have great feelings for next transfer. It’s gonna be a good’er! J I love you all and sorry it’s short!

Love,

Sister Phillips

short‏

2010-08-02T09:16:00.000-06:00

Sorry this is going to be short.This week has been a pretty good week a lot is going on. We started out the week with a bang, we got a referral from Salt lake some one had requested a Book of Mormon so we called and set up an appointment for that night, so we went and taught the restoration and they invited us back, the way they came in contact with the church was because one of there cousins got baptized the week before so they were kinda interested in what we believe. Then we have an investigator that has a goal of being baptized on the 14th but he has to get an interview with president because he has committed a felony and has been in the drug game. so hopefully that goes well for him, it has been amazing to see him change his life around, the gospel can change anybodies out look on life and can help them overcome any challenges. On Tuesday we had a crazy spiritual lesson with him i could hardly believe it, it is just crazy when they are open to the spirit he will testify so strong you can't help but feel it. We were able to get up with a lot of people this week and able to teach them hopefully the work keeps the speed. Oh and i have some good news and some bad news, the bad news is that North Carolina is making me fat! i have gained 25 pounds so far and half of it went to my thighs and butt, but that is mostly mussel, the other half is going to my stomach. And the good news we get to have a car for the month of August because the other elders went over on miles.. So other then that everything is going pretty good.
Love Elder Phillips

Its short‏

2010-07-26T09:58:00.000-06:00

This week has went crazy fast it was the last week of the transfer and it has been the hottest it has been in a couple years here so it has been fun.. It is interesting to talk to the member and just local people here, they keep telling us how they had the worst winter in a long time and know the worst summer and they are all expecting to have a really bad hurricane. I kinda hope it happens while i am here and i get to go help people clean up and stuff.
It has been a pretty good week though we started to teach a girl named Ashlee Johnson she is friend of Ricky Jarman, the story with her is that She wanted to learn but not quite ready for the lessons so Ricky gave her a gospel principles book and she read the first like fourteen chapters of it and then had a question on the Priesthood so we started teaching her on Wednesday and she has came to church three times now. We are hoping to set a baptismal date this Wednesday with her, so that will be really cool if that turns out.
Then on Saturday we had a pioneer day with the ward and we got to play old fashion baseball and checkers and stuff like that, so it was fun and we got to talk with everyone in the ward. Then on Sunday i spoke in Sacrament meeting with the high council on repentance, it went well i think i really did it all of the top of my head except for a few scriptures here and there and a section from a conference talk by Elder Uctdorf and i basically called everyone out to repentance so it was pretty good, i just hope the young women of the ward get it, because it is pretty sad when the members are way immodest and our recent convert is more modest then them all it drives me nuts. But the talk was fun to call people to repentance in a loving manner.
So sorry there isn't more to report on but i love you all.
Love Elder Phillips

bEaUtiFuL liFe~

2010-07-26T09:11:00.001-06:00

Hi family! I can’t believe how fast the weeks keep going… It was a good week as always. As a missionary idk if there is ever a very bad day J We did a lot of tracting this week and actually found some good ppl. We are plannin on droppin by to see them this week so we’ll see how it goes. Patrice is catholic, Kerry is Lutheran and Audrey never had a religion. She was awesome tho. When we got to her door she was just steppin out. We ended up teachin her right there on her porch. We were centering our message on families and she said, “Well if you have a structure of families and Jesus Christ that is great!” She explained that she was raised believe in Jesus but that was it. No church or anything. She wanted to change that for her family but didn’t know where to go or how to go about it. Now her children are grown but we shared our unique message and it was all very new to her, of course. She loved to read things from other pastors bc they uplift her. So we gave her a pamphlet and she said she’d have to think about it. Her husband came out and saw us and said, “I LOVE your commercials!” J He was so nice. A very nice family that we really hope we can bring into the gospel. We also taught a 21 yr old boy. He isn’t interested in the gospel at all…. He was amazed at the fact that we don’t drink at all. He believes in Jesus Christ but doesn’t practice or anything. I wish so bad we could get in with his family bc he has 6 older sisters who have kids. He said he’s never thought about what is gonna happen after this life. So hopefully we got him thinking. He was nice. He’s from FL but comes here every summer. His first boss was jimmy buffet lol. Sat was an ASL BBQ, so that was fun, I am learnin sign like I’ve always wanted. I love those ppl. I love the ppl here. The storms here this week were incredible. Wow I love the storms here!~ We got to watch the dark clouds filled with lightening over the ocean. My goodness it was so beautiful. It just down poured! We did some service this week with a less active and her bf in their 30’s? He is a 5 star chef and is Paris Hilton’s personal chef (lol). We got to go help prepare food bc he also caters. We got to cut food and also try it. Oh my yum! It was super neat. Well that really is just about it for now. We just keep truckin along, tryin to find those who are prepared. Have a great week and love you all!

Love,

Sister Phillips

hey‏

2010-07-19T11:02:00.000-06:00

So this week has been awesome, we are really seeing the blessings of hard work and being obedient, i can't believe that it is going this well. First i will start by telling you that when i was in Apex we met a guy named Paul Gunther and Paul was in a wheel chair and couldn't walk because of an accident at work and we started to teach him, i believe we taught him 2 or 3 times before i left and i actually never thought i would see him get baptized but he did this past week that is so cool i am so happy for him.
But on Thursday we were tracting this Trailer park and it was about time to head back for the night and Elder Alexander said lets try this last one then we will go back in for the night, so we did and we met Tome who has had a rough life he has seen his brother die and his mother. So we taught a little bit of the Plan of Salvation and then set up a return appointment for Saturday. So then on saturday we were at the church all day helping with Stake Education day, we were cooking and they needed a lot of help so we started wondering if the appointment was going to go through or if he was going to bail on us like most people. SO it was time for the appiontment and so we went and he was waiting out side for us to show and he was reading the Book of Mormon, the lesson went awesome the spirit was there and he recognized the spirit and we set a baptismal date with him!! it was so cool, he even came to Erica's baptism and church the next day. The gospel is so amazing to see it change lives.
Also on Saturday we had Erica's baptism which went amazing i actually got to baptize her so that was an amazing experience, she has progressed so fast and she will make a great member, she already understands the scriptures better than any one i have met. The spirit at baptisms is incredible being able to witness someone that has changed there life around and decided to follow Christ is so amazing. So i get to talk this up coming Sunday on repentance so i am preparing for that and i love it i love learning more about the gospel and one thing that has stuck out to me this week is we need to have more faith and not only believe in Christ but believe Christ. which is so crazy because if we believe Christ then we won't sin and we will have perfect faith. but i hope all is well with you all.
Love
Elder Phillips

tHe WiLL wiThiN~‏

2010-07-19T09:33:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone J Another week down, time flies, I can’t believe it is already Monday again. This was a pretty rough week so its nice that it went fast. We had door after door shut in our faces…no one even would listen or give us a chance to say anything. Finally yesterday, our last house, an older lady answered and they were about to have dinner with their family that I think was visiting. She read our tags and asked us if we could come back J We are hoping and praying that she is the reason we were out there. It is hard to come from the city, teaching a ton bc you are surrounded with ppl) to the Island where it is very slow and feel like you aren’t teaching anyone. I know there is a reason that we are here in Riverhead, I know there are ppl here that need us…and we just have to remember that. It is hard not to get discouraged and not focus on numbers as well as keep the faith as we go from house to house especting each one to gladly say, “We’d love to hear your message!” Sister Winterton and I work really well together. It is as if we are living here as friends. We get along great and laugh a lot, and that really helps when the work is slow. Opening an area is hard stuff, but I know that this experience is really going to push me and make me stronger. We are praying lots and hard, as well as tracting and teaching every person we meet. If we see a family we will find a place to pull over and share a card. Yesterday we got doors shut and blinds snapped shut lol…its rather sad, I wish ppl weren’t so scared and hard toward us. But its ok. We moved into our new apt on Saturday. Wow, I feel yet again so spoiled. We live in a beautiful apt. It’s huge. We have nothing to fill it with. I wish we had a couch lol. I wish I would’ve gotten pics but I guess that will have to wait for next week. We have a dishwasher and brand new carpet, huge closets each and more closets. Laundry is right on the campus which is nice. I feel so spoiled and idk…like I’m not a missionary bc I am not living in a broken down ghetto apt with the cocroaches J It is so beautiful here. The ppl here they have all these things that they fill their lives with, trying to fill the whole they have with things that only bring them temporary happiness…. We are so blessed to have that whole filled with everlasting peace and happiness. Anywho, we are looking up a lot of inactives and are doing really quite well there. We have gotten in with quite a few and I feel pretty good about them. I think that we will be able to help some if not all of them to come back J We are doing our best to be creative and think of diff ways to find ppl and also help them and serve. It is kinda hard lol. But life is good. I love it here and I love being a disciple of the one who died for us all. I feel Him lifting me and guiding me every step of the way. And I know that He is always there. How rich in blessings we are just for knowing that. I love you all so much and hope you have a beautiful and blessed week. J

Love,

Sister Phillips

liViN iT uP~

2010-07-12T11:03:00.000-06:00

Holla familia!!!!!

I finally have news and of course when I do I really have a lot! Last Thursday we missed a call from pres. So I am going to the voicemail all laughin at sis. Bartschi bc we are sure she is training….well it came back at me when pres asked for me to call him back. He told me to sit down (haha) and told me that I was going to open an area on the Island for sisters. I am pretty excited yet was really sad to be goin back to the Island (car=weight gain and not the city.) Sunday was hard. Things were crazy getting stuff ready for the baptism. We found out at church that she was leavin on wed for Haiti till Sept. So we were all callin prez tryin to figure out if we could have her confirmed that night or they could do it in Haiti. We we got it approved for that night and then it was a mess trying to figure out how we were gonna get everyone to Richmond Hill where the font is. We finally got it all figured out (we hoped) and the ZL’s said they’d give us a ride. We go to pull away and we got a flat! So we got to quickly throw everything outta the trunk and change the tire. It was such a crazy stressful day and the baptism of course left me sobbing. Afterwards, Anne asked us over for dinner. It was so nice and there were fireworks all around her house. It was beautiful. One of the best 4th of Julys! Monday after the ward bbq I was rollin my clothes and getting rid of quite a bit tryin to make everything fit. LOL. I have accumulated quite a bit haha. I will be workin on that the next 4 months. Luckily I will be leavin a lot of these ugly sister missionary clothes and never so them again! MUAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Alright so it was way funny bc when they announced in transfer mtg the new area and that I and sister winterton were going there, the elders were so funny! All the gasps and such. A whole bunch came up to me afterwards and told me how lucky I was and how it turns out to be everyones favorite that serves there. Oh ya. We are in Riverhead. As far as you can go on the Island till you hit water. We got a nice chevy Malibu (now I really have to watch what I eat lol) and it took us 11/2 hours to get here at least. It takes us that to get to some of the members. We cover all the Hamptons and also shelter island, which we have to take a ferri to get there. We are also living in the Hamptons. Hampton Bays. We aren’t there yet tho bc for now we are living with the sr couple in their nice house J For the first time in a year I have been able to read on a couch and have carpet. We have a nice room in the back surrounded with windows and it is right on the churchs property=next door J We even get to eat whatever we want lol. So I feel completely spoiled…. No “we lived in a shaq with the ghetto ppl with rats nibbling our ears and toes.” Lol. We are doing a lot of tracting trying to find ppl. We fearlessed at walmart the other day. One of us would take their cart and the other would teach. Haha, we haven’t met a mean white person yet! They have all been pretty nice. We know where Billy Joel and Calvin Clein live so we are thinking that will be our next stop hahaha. A family just got baptized and they seem like they’ve always been members. She even taught the lesson is RS yesterday! But their 2 daughters (16, 14) got baptized first then came the parents and now the brother whos almost 8 is on his way. J They are incredible. The dad actually is the one who started going. It is so amazing to listen to him. He was so concerned about his family and his daughters having the high standards, they even searched through churches and couldn’t find what they were looking for. When they came to the LDS it felt right at home and it was everthing they were lookin for J so amazing, they are white too! Lol. We are feeling really good about this area. The ward is so sweet and are so excited to have sisters! For the first time! It feels so nice when they are so excited J Well I think that is all for now. I hope everyone is doing well and has fun at the reunion! Love you sosoosososos muchess! Take care, be safe, KEEP THE FAITH~

Love,

Sister Phillips

sorry really short.‏

2010-07-12T09:52:00.001-06:00

Hey
so this week has been a very hot week and we have been doing a lot of trying to find people to teach and it hasn't been to great i don't think we found any body that has potential so it has been hot to help us out and nobody want to step outside. But with all the biking we have done i have biked about half way home, i am like a few miles away from a thousand and i have to rotate my tires but it has been fun. So this week we have a baptism which is awesome i am excited because she is so ready that will take place on Saturday night. Nothing to exciting happened this week other than we had interviews on Wednesday and while we were there two different people came into the church looking for help and wanted to meet with the missionaries but the only problem was they were in the other wards boundaries, then we all went to a little Mexican restaurant and there were 13 of us missionaries and some guy drove by and yelled Mormons and flipped us off and we laughed. Then on Friday we biked to Snow Hill which is about 17 miles from our house and as soon as we got there a freak storm hit and it was like a monsoon so we quickly took shelter at a gas station but we still got soaked. So we realized it wasn't going to let up anytime soon we called the Browns who live in Snow Hill and they came and picked us up, so we chilled at there house tell it was time to go to dinner then they gave us a ride to our house we changed and then went to a missionary homecoming party, it was funny to see him because he wasn't ready to come home so he just came and talked to us about missionary work and then he spoke in sacrament the next day. So basically it has been a pretty hot long week with no income, but that is alright because it is fun just going out and trying to share the gospel is fun i like it a lot. the gospel is such an amazing thing that as we start to understand it we can't help but want to share it. anyway.
Love you lots
Love
Elder Phillips

hey‏

2010-07-06T21:51:00.001-06:00

Hey
So it has been a really fast week this one i don't know where it went. time is flying I hit my four month mark which means i am 1/6 the way done, that makes it seem so short! but it has been so fun i love seening people light up as they come to a realization that this makes sense and that it is true it is a truly remarkable experience. So basically missionary work is all through the members tracting is kinda unproductive, everyone has a friend that is nt a member and everyone that isn't a member knows a member. So guess what the good thing is, the zone leaders banned the zombie game hurray now we get to play ping pong and basketball i am so happy... So a crazy thing happened this week, so we just got done setting up a family mission plan and we had to get up to the church for a lesson with Erica, the church is about 20 minutes away from where we were. So we are biing up the bypass when a flash of lightning and the sky fell! it was just dumping buckets of water and the wind was blowing way hard, with in a few minutes the streets were flooded and we were drenched it was a lot of fun.. i don't think that i have ever been that wet in my life and ihave never seen it ran that hard, we couldn't see like 20 feet in front of us. so we get to the church with ten minutes before the lesson and luckly bishop was there and had two towels in his office so we dried off the best we could and taught the lesson all wet so that was fun. I was wearing a really crappy tie and it is totally ruined now because it was a silk tie. A member came and gave us a bag of 50 ties and they were the ugliest thing ever so that was what i was wearing.
So then on saturday we went to a really southern pig pickin and it was so good, the barbeque here is not what we think of in the west, so when i get home we will have a real southern bbq. Also they deep fry everything, hen the fair and other event like that happen and they have the stands you wouldn't believe teh stuff they have, fried butter fried dr. pepper and all sorts of stuff like that.
Anyway i am doing good i hope everything is good with you.
Love you lots
Love
Elder Phillips

hOt MeSs~‏

2010-06-28T11:21:00.000-06:00

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

hey‏

2010-06-28T10:15:00.000-06:00

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

bUsY bEeZ‏

2010-06-21T11:22:00.001-06:00

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

hey‏

2010-06-21T09:26:00.000-06:00

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

hEaLiNg WaTeRs~‏

2010-06-14T11:18:00.001-06:00

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

Crazy and short‏

2010-06-14T09:37:00.001-06:00

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

cHeWy CaTeRpiLLaRs~'‏

2010-06-07T12:06:00.000-06:00

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

What a week!‏

2010-06-07T10:58:00.000-06:00

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

2010-06-01T10:07:00.001-06:00

Brad wiped out again! It was a downpour and he was on a wood walkway. the white shirts are the aftermath!

Hey

2010-06-01T10:03:00.000-06:00

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.

ThReE's A cHaRm*‏

2010-05-31T20:38:00.001-06:00

Happy Memorial Day! Golly can you believe May is over!? So whack! I can’t believe it is june and that I have been on my mission a year this week! It is so weird to me that I just get all grossed out when it is brought up and change the subject. LOL. Time is just weird. Well we are at an internet café so I don’t have a lot of time but I will type as fast yet readable as I can. Tuesday we went to transfer meeting and picked up Sister Bartschi J I am loving being in a trio. It’s like hanging out yet doing work with my best friends. Smith has been the best companion yet and Bartschi right after so it has just been soooo much fun. I love love love it. They both have been in trio’s before. Right after I left Bart went in a trio. They both said they loved being in one. So it’s gonna be a way fun transfer together. Bart has a matrice (I can’t figure out how to spell that word.) that she sleeps on on the floor and then in the morning slides it underneath mine J I got a new one so I am bed bug free!!!! Yeah!!!! And it is the best bed I have had yet! Thursday we were able to go to the ground breaking for our chapel! We are all so excited! It was so neat to see the Spanish and English wards there, in a thunder storm, the choir singing, as we discuss this big and beautiful chapel that we will be getting. They are so excited. It is going to take a 18 months! So I will have to come back J It is going to be 6 stories high! The one we are in now is a floor above the food court lol just one floor. We are so blessed, it was just so exciting. Yesterday Anne and Niva were confirmed members of the church and received the Holy Ghost. It was so awesome. I am so excited to see them in the temple. They are so happy. It's been really warm here but it doesn't bother me at all. I love it. I love the heat :) Well that is all for this week. The Spanish sisters ward is having a BBQ that we got invited to so we are gonna go play some volley ball and eat! I hope everyone has a blessed and SAFE holiday. Love you all~

Sister Phillips

rAiNbOwS~‏

2010-05-24T13:27:00.000-06:00

Dearest Family~

I can’t agree more with brother brad! This week was most definitely an incredible one! So so much to tell!

As you know Nirva’s was finishing up lessons this week for her baptism on Sunday. So we taught her some awesome object lessons that she and Anne just LOVED! I love it bc when they love it they make it known. “Oh my that is so beautiful!” As they pat their heart J Tuesday Nirva wasn’t able to come so we just taught Anne. I again agree with Brad. I love the spirit. That morning in comp. study we decided that to keep them both on the same page we would share a BOM story with her. So we sat for a bit and I’m flipping through my pages and close them to just listen. Mosiah 24 came to my mind. Ok sounds good. (Anne’s son had just gotten in a car accident and she was going through insurance stuff which is always a pain so I thought this would be comforting to her.) Well we get to the church and Anne tells us about her day. She has a “friend” who is jealous of her. (jealous of her happiness and what she has.) Anne works with 5 special needs kids and really enjoys it. Well her “friend” went and told the boss that for some reason they needed to switch. So her boss came to her and told her she needed to switch. So the person that Anne is she took on the responsibility. She now takes care of 22 kids, one who is fully handicapped. As she goes on she explains that she will take the change and see the positive of it and that she will grow from the experience and not be negative. Her friend came up to her and in a kinda not nice way asked, “So how was your day.” Her friend was a bit taken back when Anne replied in a happy tone, “Great!” Anne was definitely teaching me and smith a lesson. We go and start reading what we had prepared and Anne was AMAZED. She kept looking up amazed and putting her head down. She explained that she couldn’t believe that this story was just for her. That it was exactly what she needed, it was ABOUT her. She hung her head for a minute or so, trying not to cry. This story touched her so much. She expressed gratitude towards God for sending us to her and how much happier she has been since she has been coming to the church. It was so so neat.

Thursday Elder Ringwood came for our zone conference and it was soooo good. (He was mission pres in Seoul Korea till 2007. haha. Kev entered right as he left but he knew Andy Thomas. He said that is the real reason that Preston is famous lol.) The spirit was great. Then Friday we met Nirva early since she missed a lesson and things got crazy. Trying to rush and get to Woodside for the Devotional on time. (there was a devotional for everyone and Elder Ringwood was speaking.) Well we were able to get their on time with a great seat. I saw a few ppl from the Park Slope ward so that was nice as well. The Chinese elders sang a beautiful arrangement of “How Great Thou Art.” It was so neat bc Nirva’s mom, Yolande was humming along and Anne was closing her eyes, lovin it. They loved it. So much that after one of our memebers spoke (he was the first speaker) that they started clapping their hands. Hahahha. Oops. I had to lean over and explain why we don’t clap. LOL. Right after that Nirva went to get her interview and we found out that they all thought that Anne was getting baptized as well. So when Nirva found out she wasn’t she was like, “I am alone!?” Oh man….the first prob is that we haven’t even counted Anne as an investigator bc she doesn’t live in our area but a whole nother church. So we were just counting the lessons. So while there we were tying to figure out what we had to do and what we were gonna do! Then Nirva comes out straight faced with Elder Pickering the same, right behind her. I see her mouth, “No.” I go over and ask her why and what happened. She just says she didn’t pass. I go ask Elder Pickering and he says to ask her. I turn around flustered when Nirva squats bringing up her leg and starts punching the air with a huge grin. Yup, they were playing a nasty trick on us! I would’ve never though that’d come from Nirva! The stress was so high that I almost lost it and started crying everywhere! LOL. Just before that I had also been told that a sister was coming here, meaning that either Smithy or I was leaving. Well we finally get home all sad bc we want to stay together and wondering what in the world we are gonna do with Anne. So Saturday morning we spend trying to figure out what are the boundaries of the ward where Anne lives and what church is closer to her. We then find out that she is planning on moving to Richmond Hill or even better, Jamaica. So this gives us a better chance of being able to go through with Sunday. So we call pres and update him and he has to get an ok from the stake pres and bishop since she isn’t even in the stake. So while waiting for that I am in the car with Mike and Reshma on our way to the temple for baptisms for the dead. (Nerves of the temple and then NY driving aren’t a good mixture. I could’ve thrown up.) Pres calls and says that he got the ok and so we have to hurry and set up an appt. I’m tryint to call everyone and no one answers. Everyone is waiting for me so we can get in to temple. So I leave messages with my DL hoping that it all works out.

The temple was so nice. It was so nice to go and do baptisms. I haven’t done that in so long! It was so nice to see Mike and Reshma in the Lord’s house. They loved it and thought it was so beautiful. The guy who confirmed me also baptized me. When I got in the water he cheerfully said so J and hugged me. After wards as I’m trying to keep water from getting in my eyes he gives me a big squeeze. It felt so nice like I was getting a big hug from my Heavenly Father. I figured out why. Oh…I haven’t had a hug from no man since before I left! Oops! It was very comforting and I can’t wait for that again! I wondered tho why he was so sweet to me…? J When we got out S. Smith said that one of the guys was from Preston. As we left they were eating outside at a restaurant. His name was Brother Sweeley. I recognized the name and we knew the same ppl J some that I grew up with in my home ward. ( mom he is related to craig and Dorothy Thomas.) So that was fun. I think the nice guy from the temple was his son or son-in-law maybe. It was really funny to hear them trying to get Mike and Reshma’s last name right in the confirmation room. Hahahahaha. Nazim pronounced just how it looks but with their big Guyanese accent hard to understand. lol

Once we got out of the temple we had a message that Anne was ready for an interview that night at 7. Well the good news is that they (pickering and brother jean-louis of the bishopric) loved her testimony. She was all set! Then that night we got transfer calls. Me and smith are staying together but have to still go to transfer mtg. Ya we guessed it (rumors) Sister Bartschi, the sister I trained, was coming with us! We are in a trio! We go tomorrow and will be trying to fit another sister in the pad! I am very curious as to how a trio will go.

Well Sunday President came to church as well as Anne’s whole family! Her 19 yr old son, Omslee, is catholic and had no interest really before. Well he wanted to know what the church was all about and how it was different. So by command from President we taught him during Relief Society. He said he was def gonna look into it and read the BOM. We can pray that we can get the family baptized. Anne also has a 14 yr old girl and a 6 or 7 yr old boy who is sooo cute!

The baptism went really quite well! After Nirva was baptized, her mother, Anne and her family all started clapping. Haha. Man, President and Sister Nelson’s faces were so funny. After the baptism I played “The Spirit of God” arrangement that I did before I left. Haha. Man, I think that I am not a performer, and I will not perform again. Hahahaha. Enough said.

Well, I think that that is everything! Whoo-ee! I hope no one falls asleep while they read this. Maybe I should’ve put chapters…? Anwyas, so we ended the transfer with 2 baptisms the last Sunday with a total of 3 the whole transfer. Wow, so incredible. What a beautiful experience. I love it. I loved seeing how happy Nirva and Anne were and excited they were to finally be baptized. They were done waiting. After the baptism, Yolande, (Nirva’s mom) came and acted like she was crying. I asked Nirva to interpret and she said that she wanted to be baptized. Luckily we have an elder who is coming that can speak French who can teach her and get her ready! J sorry, I took a lot of time! That is all! I love you all so much and hope you are all doing well! And congrats mick! Mom prob told you but all week I kept getting this feeling that you had the baby. (I couldn’t remember rthe due date) but sure enough you had! I bet that she is beautiful! I love her name. cute cute! Love you all!

Sister Phillips

So crazy week,

2010-05-24T09:38:00.000-06:00

So this week i have had many strong testimony building experiences and found out some amazing news, the news is that Elder David A. Bednar is coming to the mission next week to speak to us and we will be able to meet him, i am so excited. That will be on June 5 at chapel Hill where i found out his son actually lives there so that is a big reason for him to come this way.
So i would say we had a very successful week we actually got contacted by people twice, the first on was so i just have to tell the story. So a few weeks ago we saw this guy carrying a whole lot of wedding gifts up to an apartment on the second floor in our same building so we offered to help and so we did, well later that week or so when they got of of there honey moon they came and said thanks and introduced them selves. There names are Kelly and Amanda, so we have been friends with them ever since and we talk to them quite a bit, well this past week as we were getting to leave after dinner we hear a knock at our door and it is kelly and Amanda, so we talk to them and they ask us how we work and all of this stuff, then they asked us to come meet with them today so that was pretty cool. The second one was, we were at a dinner for lunch called Andy's and one of the waitresses got off while we were in there and we noticed she kept coming back in every once in a while, any way as we finished up and got back to our bikes she walked up to us and asked you are Mormons right? we are like ya and all well it turned out we had like a 45 minute discussion with her and she was very displeased with her church and is church searching. the real hold up is her dad hates Mormons and threw away her Book of Mormon so we gave her a new one and we are meeting with her this week.
We just got a lot of neat experiences this week. So in the Holly Springs ward there is this family that one of there friends has been coming to church for the past month and the have told us to be patient because she is afraid of missionaries and stuff like that, so we have been patient and last Sunday she came up to us and asked to have dinner and meet with us, she actually got on the Distribution centers web sit and bought her a nice quad! so that was amazing! The whole family is going to take the lessons and wants to be baptized.
But the really cool thing happened yesterday, and the crazier thing is the spirit. So Saturday i felt impressed to look over the blessings again so i did briefly, but the only actual blessing i have done is the one i did for dad. Then comes Saturday and our Recent Convert Matt came and asked me if i would confer the Aaronic Priesthood on him and ordain him a priest, i was so nervous but is was so cool, just to feel that spirit and feel impressed to say things is so amazing, i am so thankful for the priesthood.
So that was my week pretty cool huh? so how is every thing else going? But it has been raining a lot here i have been soaked four times this week and let me tell you that is fun.
Well hope all is well, i love you all.
love
Elder Phillips

aNoThEr SeTtiNg SuN‏

2010-05-17T11:31:00.001-06:00

Hello Family :D It feels good to be here and writing…well typing :D This week I was down sick a day or two. An awful cold is going around and then Sunday I had an awful migraine that wouldn’t even let me stand straight. But we were able to start the week off with committing Nirva for May 23rd :D Her mom (in creole) told her that she wants to get baptized to and was asking when she could. So we are having someone there for every appt that can translate for us. Nirva is so excited that she doesn’t even want to wait for her mom lol. The language can definitely be a barrier, we have to be sure to be as thorough and simple as we can and sometimes even just leave it to the very, very basics. But we feel that she loves it so much and that baptism is the best thing for her. So we are going to finish the lessons up this week and then when we re-teach them we will do so very thoroughly. I am so excited! This will be the last Sunday of the transfer. President came for interviews for the other district in the zone and afterwards we had a zone pizza party that he stayed for. He called me over and took me into the library and asked me if staying with sister smith is something that I wanted. I told him that whatever the Lord wanted was good. Later on Sister Smith and I were talking about it and she said the EXACT same thing haha. Poor president has to deal with 2 indecisive women. LOL. So we’ll see what is happening this Thursday. I’ve been a bit stressed lately with my whole departure date stuff. Its been so hard to make a decision and I’ve really been praying. I wish that I didn’t even need to worry about it. But I am going to go with Nov. 9th and have faith that it is the right choice and if not, that he will make that known to me. Its so hard, especially when Nov. 9th is only 4 transfers away…that will come so fast and I’m not sure what my feelings will be then. I guess if I want to extend I can always beg??? LOL. I just want to hurry up and make the decision so I can stop worrying about it and be completely focused. It has just been a complete distracting mess. But, I certainly hope that I can stay in Jamaica. Wednesday is our deep clean day which I am so excited for. You never have enough time and it is so nice to have almost all day to clean the entire appt. Then Thursday is our zone conference. Elder Ringwood of the 70 will be speaking to us. Friday is a fireside for everyone, will I think everyone in the stake or surrounding stakes. Saturday we are taking Mike and Reshma to the temple. Then Sunday is Nirva’s baptism! It’s going to be a crazy busy week and it is going to go so fast! The last week of the transfer! I have had the best 2 transfers yet. I have had way too much fun with sister smith. We have had so many laughs and good times. We for sure will be life long friends. I wish we could’ve roomed together up at college. We just have sooo much fun together. I will certainly miss these times. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was at the MTC. It is fun to look back and see the change and growth that has taken place since then. At times you wonder if you have changed or grown at all and even wonder what you have done. But I feel so blessed to be living a prayer I’ve had since I was young. It goes so fast, life does. I’m grateful to have this experience to learn how to make the best of life and make life the best for others. This church is most certainly God’s church on the earth today. We are so blessed to have day after day to try again and again. Life brings failure, it happens to all of us. But what counts is how we use the days after our failures. Will we get back up and try again? I love this gospel and the hope that it brings us. I love seeing the hope that it brings into peoples lives and their expressions change as they learn how important family is and that theirs can last forever. I know we have a father in heaven who loves us dearly and I can’t wait to see him again. I love you family and feel blessed to have the best! Have a blessed week.

Love,

Sister Phillips

Hey‏

2010-05-17T09:19:00.000-06:00

Hey fam

hows everything going this week? My week has been intense a lot more teaching then past weeks and a lot more biking! We really only had maybe 3 or 4 full days of biking but we biked over 100 miles in those days it was exhausting, on Saturday alone we biked 40 miles i was wasted after that and because that day we didn't teach at all, and to make it better it was 92 degrees all day and humidity didn't help, but wait that isn't all either we laid sod for two hours that morning. Other than that it has been a good week. The teaching has been really good we have three that are really close one of them is a Muslim and that only hold back is that he couldn't go back to his country again or see his family he is from Iran, the other two, one is Alice she just has to find a different work schedule and her friend Jose actually asked what he needs to do to be baptized. So really close!
So i will tell you something crazy that i would never expect and never expect to do, one is we are biking down the side of the highway on our way to lunch and a lady stops us and asks us to meet her at the stake center for a blessing so we did, then later that night we get a call from sister smith asking us to come give her husband a blessing because he is really sick and has no strength, he has already had four heart attacks. Well guess what Brother Smith is a Seventy, he was ordained a high priest by Spencer W. Kimble and ordained a Seventy by President Ezra Taft Benson, so we placed our hands where they have placed there hands and now he is starting to get a little better. The Priesthood is an amazing power and we don't take advantage of it like we should. Also we got to hear from another area seventy in church Elder Giddons i loved how he said the Hollowing brings the Hallowing, You have to go in empty to come out full.
It has been a very exciting week, i love doing the work especially because there is so much work to do. the church is true and this is the best thing we could be doing with our time, and time is flying it will be over before you know it.
Love Elder Phillips

wArM fUzZiEs‏

2010-05-10T11:04:00.000-06:00

I hope all you mothers had a great and blessed mothers day and that everyone got to talk to their mommy’s, that is def the best…actually hugging them is the best, but I can def settle for now with a phone call :D I’m gonna start putting a big smiley face so that there is no “J”s hahahaha. It was nice to hear from the family, it seems like we just talked, course it has only been 4 months. It was REALLY nice to talk to Brad speaker phone to speaker phone. He sounded so good and mature :D Miss the kid…. Well not a lot has happened, my comp was a little sicky this week so it was a rather slow one. But I do have the best news one can ever get :D Last week we taught Nirva, a Haitian who had come to church that Sunday. She is such a sweetheart. She brought her mother who speaks only creole/French. It went really well and when I called her during the week she said she had read the intro of the BOM and kept reading bc she felt so good. Yesterday she and her mother came as well as Anne, who is an investigating friend that brought her. (We are teaching Anne tomorrow :D)This time Nirva brought her 2 kids. She has a 14 month old girl and I think maybe 5 yr old boy. During sacrament her daughter started fussing and you could see she was struggling with the stroller and all. I went out and was talking to her and she was telling me that she wasn’t gonna bring her next week bec she can’t listen this way. Well I told her to get back in there and let me take care of her. As soon as I went up to her daughter I bent down and she hugged me. Ohhhh, she is the sweetest little thing. Before we got back in Nirva asked me when she could get baptized and what she needed to do. Oh my goodness, I hugged her I was so happy. She told me that she just felt so good; they hymns, prayers, friends, it all made her so happy. Looks like our last Sunday of the transfer we’ll be bringing her into the fold. Oh my goodness I am just so happy. I love her. Her little son, so cute, he came out the door from primary and looked around and when he saw me he waved profusely and ran to hug me at the knees. I love this family. I love this work. It is so hard and rough but so beautiful and rewarding. Her mother was able to attend the creole class (almost our entire ward is Haitian) and she came out smiling. Tonight we are going to show the Restoration DVD in French, I am excited. President called me and told me that I have to choose between Nov 9th and Dec 22nd for departure. Sheesh louish I’ve been stressed over it. He said I needed to let him know within a couple weeks bc they get all that stuff together way in advance. It’s fishy that my card is the only card that said Dec 3rd, right in middle of a transfer. I just don’t know what to do. I’m prayin like crazy and I’d love prayers for me to receive an answer of what I am supposed to do. This Saturday looks like we’re gonna be able to go to the temple with an rcla to do baptisms. So that is exciting. The next week we are planning on taking our recent convert family well, Mike and Reshma. They are on vacation or we’d be going with the ward this week. So that will be incredible. I’m grateful for the opportunity I have to be a tool in Heavenly Fathers hands, to help bring back our family. Its been so eye opening and humbling and I feel so blessed to have his trust in me to do so. I know that he lives and loves each and every one of us, his children and wants more than anything for all of us to return. How blessed we are to have this incredible gift in our lives, to have grown up in it! How great is this work and how great is our calling to share it. I love and pray for you all and wish you the best and most blessed week!

Love,

Sister Phillips

2010-05-10T09:24:00.003-06:00

The shoes show the pollen he is in! He comes home for meals and cleans them. The guy with the leaf blower is also the pollen.

tHoUsAnD LeGGeD dUsTbAllS‏

2010-05-03T11:03:00.001-06:00

This week was yet another great week. Yesterday was another baptism which is always INCREDIBLE! We are being so blessed. We had a street sweep on Saturday (where our whole zone goes out on a certain street and teaches) with a booth set up, and it seemed we picked a day where every other church decided to come out too. It was fun to talk to the Omish/Mennonites, who actually only come once a year, and we happened to be doing the street sweep the same time lol. It was fun tho. I had one of the best birthdays ever! I have such incredible friends and family! I was treated so well by our recent convert family Mike, Reshma, and Ashley. They took me out to T.G.I Fridays and we had lots of fun. I loved getting cards from everyone too! I am so so blessed to have such great friends and family! Wednesday we said good bye to our most recent member, Efrain and his family, that was a very sad event. But of course we will always keep in touch. It was incredible to watch that family change and come together. I miss them already. We have a temple trip coming up which is super exciting! We have some ppl that we are getting ready to go. Sadly, Mike and Reshma are going on a trip, but we planned a temple trip the last Saturday of the transfer! What a beautiful way to end the transfer! J Funny story. We were at a dinner appt at a members on Wednesday. We all got up to go to the kitchen (luckily I was the second to last with an elder following behind me) when all a sudden this big dust ball with a thousand legs ran right in front of my feet, almost stepping on it! I jumped and screamed, slapping the poor elder on the arm lol and ran to the door on the other side of the living room. The members of course had no clue what was wrong and the elder was telling me to hush and motioning me to come. I was so scared! I tip toed/ran into the kitchen. I sat the entire dinner with my feet propped up underneath me, watching the little dustball with a thousand legs attempting to come in and of course my companion across from me choking on her food as she watches me pale face. Well I lost track of it when all a sudden the other elder screamed! Haha. I turned around and there it was! Coming out from under my chair!!!! The wife came over and SPLAT! Oh for scary! So that was pretty funny. But all in all it was a great week with members, less actives and new members J Sunday we had 6 non members show up to church. All member referrals and those referrals bringing friends. Incredible! We got 2 new investigators out of it. The first question they asked me was what they had to do to get baptized…..wow. J Blessings blessings! I love this area and hope to stay for another while! I hope everyone is doing well. And has a WONDERFUL mothers day! I am so excited to talk to my marmmy!!!! J LOVE YOU!!!!

Sister Phillips

Sorry to short‏

2010-05-03T10:21:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone,
We are starting transfer 2. That last transfer flew by i can't even believe how fast it went. I am staying in Apex and Holly Springs but i am getting a new companion i can't wait to meet him, i though i would be with Elder Henley tell he dies being he only has two transfers left. it is crazy though i will be taking over the area! I hope i am ready. Summer is starting to take off here i don't think i have sweated this much in my life 90 degrees with like a 100 percent humidity is crazy even when you have the car you still get soaked as soon as you step out side. So Elder Henley pulled his hip flexor so we couldn't ride bikes this week, so we drove all week. He felt it when we were doing service then on Monday we were playing basketball and it really hurt him. Then the next day we were in Apex and it was killing him so bad we couldn't ride home so we walked back, it was about four miles so that was fun. Although with driving around you don't get to many interesting experiences like you do riding a bike. IT was pretty cool though we were tracting this area in Holly Springs and we start to talk with actually 2 different people and they both weren't interested at first but when we started to testify they both just stopped and they realized that this could be true but they didn't want us to come back, it was just cool to see there perspective change. there just hasn't been much going on this week.

what's with the J?

2010-04-26T11:18:00.002-06:00

so i have been asked about the "J" in nette's letters. I don't know why it does that but it is actually a smiley face in the emails. I guess when i transfer it over it dosnt read it. so when you see a J that doesn't look like it belongs there it is a smiley!!

aPriL sHowErS=mAy fLoWeRs‏

2010-04-26T10:51:00.000-06:00

Howdy family! This week was a really good week as they always are on missions J Ashlyn, our newest members wife, has been in the hospital all week for gallstones and surgery to get her gallbladder out. So we spent some time with her. It was fun to use our ministerial cards, I like to feel like I am a detective or part of some secret work or something lol. I use my imagination J It was really neat bc the first night we went to see her we ended up teaching her neighbor. Her name is Sonya who is 40 and just had back surgery and was in a lot of pain. She asked for her “one of her neighbors friends to come help.” J so I went over there to help her. Ashlyn ended up writing her testimony in a book of mormon and marking a scripture she had just read that gave her comfort that morning. I was able to tell her what the book of mormon is and she said she would like to come to church. She read the scripture and we heard she continued to read that night J well, Ashlyn was talking to her and asked her if she would like a priesthood blessing. J she would love it was her reply. So we were able to call the elders and they went over the next day. They told us that her husband was there and he wanted a book of mormon also. They talked and the elders told us it was great. Sonya and her husband, James, are in our area J we have high hopes. Ashlyn and Efrain were sharing the gospel all over the place in there. The day after he was baptized he talked to a guy in the hospital and got his number and sent the elders over! Wow, they are so incredible. I am so sad they are leaving. It was so awesome. That was our main focus for the week, I guess the next exciting thing would be the Spanish guy on the bus ride home that was makin kissy faces at me and asking where I got off. Lol, ya not very exciting at all. Lol. I love talking to so many ppl here who say that they came from N. Carolina or are going there. We just got in contact with a Less Active who was baptized 10 years ago and just hasn’t been able to make it to church bc she is a flight attendant. She is so awesome! She lived in N. Carolina for a while and her daughter lives there now! She actually hates it there. But ya her daughter I think she said lives in Greenville??? Idk its an hour from Raleigh. So tight! Anywho tomorrow is my bday and I am excited to be sharing the best gift I have to the ppl here. Big 22 eh? :) Ight, I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers and support and cards! :)

Love,
Sister Phillips

Sorry so short‏

2010-04-26T10:30:00.001-06:00

HEy

SO this week is crazy we did have a baptism for Matt it was amazing, i am so glad to be apart of it. The Room was packed there were so many people there to support him and there were nine non members there, we are hopefully meeting with one of them this Wednesday. His mom felt the spirit so strong, as soon as he went under the water she started crying. i think with him being baptized the family will really catch fire where they already have a desire to be baptized.
This week we spent most of our time tracting which wasn't the greatest nobody wants to listen to you, the reason for this was because the area is for some reason very dry all most all of our appointments fell through. we only had 2 or 3 lessons! Although we met some really interesting people while we were out, one guy told me my testimony was based on Mitt Romney and that i really don't believe in this gospel. then told my comp that all republicans are worthless and that god does not answer prayers. I really love the members out here they help out so much, They give us so much food and try to feed us when ever they can. I never thought there would be such a strong ward out here as this one both wards have over 500 members i found out, and both bishops are amazing. I can't believe that i have been out 2 months this next Monday time is flying i can already tell it will go by quick as long as i stay busy. I was so happy to get the letter and cookies from Sean and Tammy they were delicious i need to find time to write them back. I also need to write Katie and Grandma and Bailey, blast there isn't enough time on p-days. i really hope things pick up transfers are monday and i think some one will be transferred but we will see i love you all
Elder Phillips

One of my new favorite scriptures Proverbs 28:1

2010-04-19T12:51:00.000-06:00

I FeeL mY sAviOrS lOvE‏

2010-04-19T10:42:00.001-06:00

What an incredible and blessed week! My goodness! I can’t believe how much love I feel from my Heavenly Father! Yesterday was Efrain’s baptism and the spirit was so strong! He was so excited/nervous all week! And especially on Sunday! It was so awesome! Yesterday was also his first real church, so sacrament meeting. It is so crazy bc he went to general and stake conference, so never had been to a real service. So the day of his baptism he was able to see the sacrament and hear the words that renew his baptismal covenants. I am so sad that they are moving! They are so incredible! It will be so neat to see them go through the temple next year! J They are already talking about it J It was really neat to see answers to prayers. Saturday morning I read a talk by President Monson and told my comp that we really need to get to know our neighbors. That night was a memorial for a recent converts son and so we didn’t get home till like 9:30. Well when we got there we opened the complex door to a bunch of bags. Someone was moving in or out. I looked out the door to see a Spanish lady approaching and asked if they were hers. Well she was moving in and we were able to help her take them up. She had two sons with her as well, 18 and 21. Before we left I pulled out a book of mormon card and asked if she went to church. She said no but that she needs to. J we told her we would send the hermana’s her way J Well when we got into our apt we saw a van outside with a lot more stuff. So we and the Spanish sisters went and helped. She was so sweet! It felt so good! I really felt the concern my Heavenly Father had for me and how he wants me to reach my righteous desires. It really was so neat. We are super excited to continue to help her with the move. Things look good. I wish I could just hurry up and figure out mission life bc time isn’t waiting! But I love it and I love talking to the ppl here. New York is such a crazy place. Its hard to see how the world “really” is, I wish we could just help everyone. But we are saving one starfish at a time. I love you all and hope everything is going well. I am sorry this is short. Sending pics takes up a lot of time. I love you!!!!!!

Love,

Sister PHillips

HEy

2010-04-19T10:41:00.000-06:00

This week has been crazy like none of our appointments went through so we just have been riding everywhere for canceled appointments but we talk to a lot of people so hopefully some will work out! the past couple days we have been averaging 25 miles on our bikes so a lot of riding. We have my first baptism this friday so that will be exciting i hope that after the baptism his Mother and brother will set a date for there baptism, Matt is the one who is getting baptized and he is so excited that it is just awesome to see him progress. This last week we had the last lesson before baptism and his little brother sat in and asked a lot of questions so that was a Miracle by its self. BUt ya this week has been crazy i hat not being able to teach but hopefully that will pick up soon, it is nuts that this is week 5 of the transfer it doesn't seem that long that i have been out here, the weeks just fly by. I like this area a lot it is one of the only areas in the mission where you tract into members both of our wards that we are over have over 300 member and they are strong active members. They help out so much with everything.
We got to go to the temple this week that was amazing, it was the first time that i have been where you move room to room and it is very small, but i did get to see my comps from the Mtc and hear of there success. I wish that we could go every week seems how it is in our area i bike past it everyday. but then the other Missionaries would be jealous. Sorry there isn't a lot to talk about this week but it was just a rough week for me and my comp is irritating me so it is a big test of patience. I forgot to tell you this funny story though so we have these pear trees and when they bloom they stink really bad. so this guy he is new to the area calls the fire department saying there is a chemical spill and it might be on fire, well it turns out it was just the smell of the tree. And i wrecked on my bike to and had some nice bruises and road rash i was mad cause it was in the middle on town. I love you all have a great week!!
Love Elder Phillips

miLeS oF sMiLeS~‏

2010-04-12T11:48:00.001-06:00

Wat up wat up?!? Can I just say I LOVE THIS WORK! Oh my gosh…I guy just totally belched so loud and I was the only one to flip around to see who was the releaser! NEW YORK IS BOMB! Hhahahaha. Anyway, so today is the last day of the transfer and tomorrow is the start of transfer 8 for me! Holy Moly! Sister Smith and I are staying and that is awesome! J We are sad that 2 elders are leaving us in our district though. I can say that this has been the best district my whole mission! We have had so much fun and see incredible things! But new and better things await! I always love a new transfer so I can see where I stand and set goals to make my weaknesses strengths and make the next transfer even better. I love it I love it. So I really want to get my good news out, I can’t wait. Efrain is getting baptized on SUNDAY! Wow holy my cow! I am so darned excited! Efrain is Ashlyn’s husband that I talked about last week btw. So we were teaching him and told him to pray about his date bc he was a bit nervous about his mother. (they live with her so ya…) Well we met on Friday and he told us the 18th. J we met again on Sunday and Elder Thiot (DL) was there so he was able to get his interview right then! He is good to go! J Ashlyn was saying how she just couldn’t stop smiling and said that he has been through many many missionaries (he would even cook for them, but never sit in the lessons) and we are the only ones that he has stayed with and actually progressed with J Super exciting. Seeing his smile seriously is so great. I just love it so much. I can talk to 50 ppl a day and maybe get a few investigators, but when a member introduces a friend to the gospel…it is legit. I just love it! Ashlyn wants to sing at his baptism so she asked me to play. I gotta find some music! One of the elders told me that there is always Sister Williams who is always willing to play if I couldn’t and Ashlyn looked at me and said, “But it would just be so nice if you could play at it.” J That made me feel good J I am excited to share these great experiences with you when I get home. We visited the Indian family that got baptized in Missouri a year ago last night. It feels really good bc they really love us a lot. She bought us both skirts, it was so cute. She speaks hindu so she has a hard time speaking but her kids are a lot of help. Anyway, she was upset the other night bc we didn’t have time to stay and eat, so we went back last night and she thought it was so funny to keep feeding us and feeding us. She even got up from where she was and moved across from me and said, “I can’t see her face.” I was making faces at the kids of how full I was. The kids were so hyper and laughing so loud and mom (Jatinder) was just loving it. I had so so so much fun. I really love that family. They have really struggled bc the church here is very diff than Missouri I guess and they haven’t come for a long time. They have forgotten a lot, but S. Smith and I have come a really long way with them and we are super excited to be able to work with them for another 6 weeks. Even though those 6 weeks seem like 1. I love being with the people here in Jamaica. They are so good. I will really miss this area a lot. They love the missionaries and its so nice. Its hard tho when they don’t have an example of how the church is supposed to run. Its so new here and they are all pretty much convert, but every one of these members gives so much and are so devoted. It’s beautiful. I hope that we can help pull it together and make this ward a Family.

I hope everyone is doing good. I am loving my letters. Thank you so much. They brighten my day. I am very blessed with the best family ever. You have made life easy. That is a fact. Love you so much and have a splendid week.

Love,

Sister Nettie Phillips

2010-04-12T10:07:00.001-06:00

starting week 4 in the field‏

2010-04-12T09:32:00.000-06:00

HEy

This week has flown it seems like yesterday i was emailing you!!! which it is good that time fly's cause that just means that i am working. in fact the work is going great, lots of people who seem interested and want to learn, we had a lot of set appointments and just this last week we got 5 new investigators whom we had lessons with. We have two people with baptismal dates in the Holly Springs ward and zero in the Apex ward, which is funny cause there are a lot more potential investigators in the Apex area.
Matt actually gets baptized next Friday which is awesome, and after he gets baptized we are hoping his mom will just catch fire and role. HE also has a little brother that is twelve and wants to learn but is way shy but i can just fell so much love for him because he just reminds me of Justin and his face is just like Justin's i really hope that after Matt gets baptized his little brother Andrew will! So both of our investigators with baptismal dates are from friends inviting them to mutual so it is pretty amazing that really SUCCESS IS IN THE INVITATION.
So Saturday was pretty crazy we had 7 set up appointments and all of them fell through but we did meet two others that are now set up to be taught this week and they both seem very sincere. so i hope it all works out with them. Oh and Friday we had a crazy experience so we meet this lady on her porch she says come back Friday at six so we come back with an exchange his name is Brother Holme and the lady totally forgot. So as we drive up she is on her porch with her friend named Stacy (her name is Beverly) and her face goes white cause she forgot. So Beverly was going to tell us to come back another time but our exchange who used to be a door to door sales man totally flirted and joked with her so she let us in and we taught both her and her friend. Now she wants to come to church. so it was awesome.
So i am doing good i got a letter from Nettie and Katie this week and i got Your letter Mom on Monday when we got home. i love to get letters. i love the mission and i am so glad that dad taught me how to work, because of it i love to work and it is hard for me to sit around. I just want to get out there, and time flies when your working. so guess what our mission leader in the Holly Springs ward just moved to Logan Utah!! and a kid in the Apex ward leaves tomorrow for BYU-Idaho.
So i told him to say hi to anyone from Preston!
Anyway hope all is well it is crazy i am going on a month just in the mission field after this week.
Also they might white wash our area and me and Elder Henley might be opening up a new area and they will put sisters here!
So ya i love you all tell Justin to started practicing for baseball and tell Leslie good look with the season
Love Elder Brad Phillips!!

nEw ExPeRiEnCeS‏

2010-04-05T11:35:00.001-06:00

Hi family!!! How was everyone’s easter and General Conference!!? Wasn’t it INCREDIBLE! Oh! I love general conference! It comes so fast and then is over so fast! :’( How I LOVE being on a mission during Easter!!! Sunday the streets were pretty much dead! I loved talking to people about Jesus Christ and the atonement and resurrection! It was so awesome! I wish it could’ve lasted longer! Sunday morning was so awesome! We had such great surprises! People coming that we didn’t expect! Our former investigator Amos! J Then our rcla that we’ve really been working on, Jeanine! Then the other missionaries had great surprises! A few weeks ago we had a surprise at church when a woman named Ashlyn showed up. Turns out that she has been LA for a while. She was sitting on the train when a random person handed her the new gospel principles book. She started reading it, loved it, and the Holy Ghost was just pushing her to get back to church. Within 3 weeks she got married and got a recommend for baptisms! NOW! We are teaching her husband who is loving it and wants to get baptized! :D He came to all of Saturday and Sunday’s conference! They are full throttle! I love it! Go LA work! Members seriously are KEY to missionary work! It is incredible! Her wedding was actually quite a big deal for me. Very last minute an elder came in and told us that we were singing. Um…if anyone knows me they know that I DO NOT sing and it is embarrassing to me. Very. I will sing in a choir ok, but they threw me in to a duet with my comp…which wow, if you heard us in the morning when we sing before comp study….haha, lets just say that the Spanish sisters get a kick out of it. Well I was so upset and scared and embarrassed that I was crying and there was no way out of it bc there was no one else to do it. I was SO embarrassed! This was such a big deal for me. Especially when we had to practice in front of all the elders. Oh my….well I did it and they said it sounded good. I don’t think any one realized how scary this was for me or that I have NEVER sang in anything before. Not in the shower, choir, around the house and if I was…it was in the car with Amber screaming our guts out PRETENDING that we could sing ;) and it was either country or the national anthem haha. For realz. If I ever had a tune in my head I would let it out on the piano…I AM NOT VOCAL. Ask my mother my voice is HORRID! Lol. Well it was quite eventful for me. I was kinda upset to be thrown in such a position with no practice but hey, I can now say that I have been asked to sing at a wedding lol. I think that i am going to do american idol when i get home. :)

Well I really hope everyone is doing well. I am just loving the sun. We have ultimate Frisbee today as a zone so I’m gonna get going. I can’t believe it is the end of the transfer! Transfer 8 is here! NUTS! I love you all and hope you have a great, safe, and blessed week!

Love,

Sister Phillips

week 2

2010-04-05T09:43:00.000-06:00

Hey How is everything going at home i hope everything is well, and in New York. Everything here is starting to pick up. Elder Henley is helping a ton, it is amazing i never thought i would actually be out here doing this and being able to talk to random people about the gospel. But here i am, so there isn't anything worse than being sick, except for being sick on your mission, over conference and easter weekend ya talk about fun, i had the flu!! Good for me i have an awesome comp that i can tell loves me and an amazing area. One of the members Bro. Clark brought some gatoraid and medicine over which was very nice. But i felt really bad cause we had to miss Priesthood session because i was throwing up everywhere, but thanks to Brother Clark he recorded it on a CD and gave it to us so ya a way nice guy.
So this week i found out how much people like to bash with you and they really don't know what they are talking about, the baptist preachers tell them what to say and what they think we believe. you always know that it is false when they mention this Joe Smith guy.. And they do not listen just put words in your mouth. We had a Crazy experience on Friday when we have been trying this house for a while, just since i have been here i think we have knocked on this door like three times, but on friday she finally answered and she told us she does not believe in mormons. so we asked why not and all of those questions. She answered she doesn't believe in the plural marriage and marrying your kids and weird stuff like that when we told her that we did not believe in that either she said " well i like Marie Osmond and what she stands for so come back tomorrow and if you can convince me you have a deal." Kind of a shock, but we went back and she wasn't there.
SO Conference was way good at least what i got to watch. it is crazy how much will stand out when you are focused on it and taking notes. President Cotterell told me as we keep a study Journal more knowledge will be reviled and i am really staring to find it true as i focus on the words of the lord. ya we had to watch it at the stake center and we had to bike there which is a 5 mile ride and that is rough when you are sick to!!
This week i finally saw some deer and let me tell you they are about the size of jake they are so small, and i see a lot of dead possums and a lot of geese. When i went on exchanges this past Thursday we stopped by a members home and he had a blown up picture of the Teton Mountains and man do i miss the mountains, oh what a sight they are. we have zero mountains here only little hills and tons of trees.
Well love you all
Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

week 1‏

2010-03-30T09:38:00.000-06:00

Hey so the first week has been kinda crazy i have no idea where everything is yet or who anyone is in that case! but everything has been good for the most part we do a lot of tracting and we meet a ton of nice people but everybody is strong in there own faith. but it is nice as long as we are busy and i like to be busy. so, so far so good the members are great in fact a lot of them are from Idaho and Utah so it is nice to relate to people. the members feed us fairly well so i can already tell i am gaining weight and our wards each have around 200 members so ya.but my area is not very redneck it is more like Logan! with a lot of Ghetto.. We have already been chased off of a farm and been critisied more than a few times oh and flipped off by an old lady so ya just enjoyable. And there are no side walks so we hug the edge and i have already almost been hit a few times cause the roads are not big enough. but we have two people with baptismal dates and hopefully two more tonight. yeah. i miss the mountains so much there are no mountains here only lots of trees and the weather doesn't make any sense it will rain in the morning then by 2 it will be 70 degrees or vis versa. so that is always fun and when it is cold it is cold cause of the humidity and when its warm its hot. tomorrow is the last day for suit coats so i am happy for that. i have some pictures to send but if you are sending a memory card then i will just send my memory card home and i would like a bigger family picture and maybe an album o and my adapter for my camera other than that i have been good i think i will be in this area for a couple months. i have placed 2 Books of mormon started being able to teach. i have been surprised i haven't seen any deer of turkeys yet but there is a lot of geese and a lot of waterfowl hunters so i like talking to them. sorry there isn't a ton to say it is only my first week and i will write some letters today love you lots
Elder Phillips

2010-03-29T11:44:00.001-06:00

2010-03-29T11:39:00.000-06:00

2010-03-29T11:07:00.000-06:00

PuDdLeS & wEt StOcKiNgS‏

2010-03-29T10:57:00.001-06:00

Hi guys! I just walked through a 5inch puddle in my clean stockings and shoes to email. J now I get to sit with cold feet, lol…..it is rainy and cold here! :’( where is summer!??? J are you excited for general conference! Geesh! I sure am! I can’t believe it is already here again!

No much has happened here. Yesterday Mike, Reshma, and Ashley were confirmed members of the church and received the Holy Ghost which was awesome. Ah it was so good. So now we are startin all over trying to find new investigators, since our 3 are now baptized. Its hard but good. J Next week is the last week of the transfer and I can’t even believe it….enough said. I am sure that S. Smith and I will be staying together another one J

I am sorry this is a boring one, I just don’t have much to say. We are having lots of fun being looney and tired, and pressing forward spreading the good word. I love you all so much and hope this finds everyone well and dandy. LOVES!

Sister Phillips

weekly‏

2010-03-22T11:34:00.000-06:00

Hey fam. I don’t have much time but I will try to fit in as much as I can! The past weeks have gone so darn fast. This week I saw things no one wants to see and things that every one wants to see. It seems that as the weather gets warmer, the city gets scarier. But things are all good.

We were working really hard this week and didn’t get much of a break or even home on time. It was well worth it though when I was able to see the family (Mike, Reshma, Ashley; from Guyana) we’ve been working with get baptized yesterday. :D Oh my….. I don’t’ have any words to describe how incredible and beautiful it was. Every time we went over this week it was if they wanted to learn more and more, their desire increased each time. They just soaked up what we were teaching. It was so incredible. To see them all in white and be baptized was so awesome. The spirit was incredible. I was kinda going crazy in the way that the Relief Society pres called me the day before to teach the lesson lol. And the family also asked me to do the Holy Ghost talk. But they said that it was really good so I felt a bit better. They fed everyone at the baptism Indian food; roti and chicken curry. Oh my…..soooooo yummy! But it was so incredible.

Sadly, after the baptisme, Amos called and dropped us. :’( That is another story in itself which will prob well….maybe you could figure it out on your own. It’s why we have elders to teach the men. Sorry! I am out of time!!!! I love you all and will be back fast! J

Have a great week!

Sister Phillips

#2

2010-03-17T10:53:00.000-06:00

hello‏
From: Bradley Joseph Phillips (bradley.phillips@myldsmail.net)
Sent: Wed 3/17/10 8:35 AM
To: phillipstrucking_252@msn.com

hey hope everything is well i am good we got our flight plans on thursday and we leave this monday at 4 in the morning and our flight leaves at 705 i am excited to get out there and get started the mtc is awesome but i cant sit that long any more 12 hours a day it is just to long.. although the spirit is amazing last night we got to hear from elder quentin l. cook and it was amazingly spiritual and his wife spoke with him and i really liked that.. this was one of my favorite things she said " there is nothing more powerful than truth, other than truth in a musical form" something like that it was cool though.. i can't believe how much i have grown to love music i love singing hymns it brings the spirit so strong. there is so much to learn and i don't know how i can learn it all in 4 days. i am having the hardest time typing because there is so many retards around me being very disrespectful. but i am trying to be better with my christ like attributes. so it is so cool to see the spirit work and show things to you. i was teaching and i saw a foot note i had a feeling to go to it and use it and it worked great the scripture is romans 8:17 i believe. our zone is so cool elder akina did the haka last night i videoed it so i will have to send my memory card home so you can download it, it was cool. i am sending some pictures home today so be ready for them. i wish i could down load them and send them through email but they won't let us so i have to mail them. i think i told you about elder tenney he is going to the philipeans well he is going to come and stay with us for a few weeks during the fall that i get home so we can go hunting. he is ranked 10th in the world for turkey calling. and elder hintze is coming to. elder hintze is from st. george and is just like me in a lot of ways he plays a lot of sports and hunts to well i will talk to you later i was hoping you would be on but anyway love elder phillips

rAiN & miRaCLeS‏

2010-03-15T14:02:00.000-06:00

I think that weeks go faster and faster from here on out. This week was a good er. It’s lookin a lot like spring! It has just POURED! I really gotta find me an umbrella lol. But we had a crazy storm the other day that was just BOMB! So beautiful….

I got to go to the Manhattan Temple on Thursday for my ½ way mark. Wow…. I was a bit nervous the day before, I think bc it’s been so long and I was sad to find that my temple dress has gotten a l.i.t.t.l.e bit…..smaller since the last time I wore it. Lol…darn missions. I gotta find a different release haha. But it was seriously incredible. I love the temple and can’t wait to go a lot more when I get back. I’m dealing with crazy emotions right now. It was crazy to be at the temple and try to think that it was really for my ½ way mark and then that it was all done and over with so fast. I would say the next time I go will be my departing trip, but we’re gonna get some ppl there before then J But it was so nice and what’s crazy is when you realize how much a mission takes out of you. When I got back I was so drained in every possible way. I got a bit overwhelmed with all the feelings of how fast time has gone and I feel I don’t have enough time for everything that needs to get done. It was really hard to focus/concentrate bc I was so “hurry hurry hurry!” But things are pickin up again. Wednesday I experienced a miracle J We were at the bus stop waiting and I thought that while I was waiting I would try to talk to some ppl. I stepped out when I Spanish lady stepped in, I smiled and said hello. I stood there contemplating if I should try to talk to her or fearless someone else. For about 3 mintues I was just standing there talking in my head lol. I was looking around when I turn around and she is next to me. She says, “I need to know about your church.” I think that maybe my jaw just dropped. I haven’t heard that one yet. I was just screaming in my head, “Oh my gosh.” I was like, “Oh, haha, well…” and I pointed right at the street sign, “It’s right on that street on block down.” I thought she was gonna cry, “Really!? That is so great!” She proceeds to tell me that she was living in Manhattan for a little and was meeting with the Spanish missionaries there for about 6 months. But she lost contact bc she stopped going to church bc the commute was too hard and then she moved here. I find that she is a single mom of 7 children, her husband left her. I was able to carry her stroller and talk with her on the bus. She is such a sweetheart and I was able to get her information. She wanted me to send the Spanish elders, she wants to go to church. At her stop I helped get her stroller off and said good bye. I just sat on the bus…so humbled. It was incredible. The elders have called her and she is very sincere. They are meeting with her tomorrow J I hope to see her at church. The family we are working with, Mike, Reshma, and Ashley are getting baptized on Sunday :D It is going to be so nice. We went to another baptism yesterday. His name was Janet (Johnea) and he is actually a famous painter in Haiti. It was really neat. After E. Merrill baptized him, Janet turned around and just grasped him in a big hug. It was soooo cool. Another woman is also getting baptized next week with the family. It’s going to be awesome. Well! I think that about does it for this week! I hope you all have a SPLENDID one! I love you so much and will be back next week! Love you!

Sister Phillips

Brad's first email

2010-03-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

Hey hows life going the email thing isa pain but i am finally on. so the Mtc is sweet so many nice people and a lot tolearn so you wont believe who is the 1st counsler in our branch president.. it is Joseph Craig Phillips dads cousin so we had a nice talk and he took our phone nember. And this missionary in my branch is elder Funaki's cousin so small world. also there is this other Elder tenney is just like me a hunter and all so it is fun, and the elders in my room are amazing. There is my Comp. Elder Beach then elder Hintzy And Elder Schofield. I hope you got my letter and you willbe recieving another soon. would you like to get me some addresses for colby and logan. andsend me those close and a jacket and the hoodie and a pair of my wranglers the middle color of blue and maybe some Mtn. Dew. ha ha. Yesterday we got to hear from President Bruce C. Hafen of the seventy and it was amazing the spirit is out of control and it is actually going farly fast. but there is still a lot learn Remember I love you. Love Elder Phillips

2010-03-08T11:19:00.001-07:00

Hi ya family! This week went by so stinkin fast! The weather here is (opera voice) INCREDIBLE! J It feels like baseball season! Tehe. I can go out with out my coat and in the sun, with out a jacket! J I hope the snow doesn’t come destroy this greatness J Brad is now Elder Phillips J So crazy! I can’t wait to hear how he is doing! Yesterday we had yet another baptism. J We haven’t had a Sunday without one since I have been here. We got our investigator Amos to come with us. He came to church and then to the baptism right after. He is really awesome. There are some crazy things going on that we are wondering if we could get him baptized, but still, he is a great guy who is so….GOOD!

I get to go to the temple this Thursday for my ½ way mark! I can’t believe it is seriously march! That it has been a year since I got my call….???? Fareakky! I can’t believe I have lived in New York for 9 months now. We are working with some great people, investigators and Less Actives. The work is going well. And it is so true what Elder Perry said in his talk from last conference. Tracting isn’t as effective, but when we get referrals from the members the work just flies! The family we are working with is referred from a recent convert, they all want to get baptized. The mother, Reshma (hindu) has a date of March 21st. This gospel is great. The work is miraculous. I love Joseph Smith so much for the things he went through to make the Restoration happen. We are so blessed to live in these times. Keep on keepin’ on family! I love you and will be back next Monday! J

Love,

Sister Phillips

MTC (mothers tourture chamber)

2010-03-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

mArCh MiRaCLeS‏

2010-03-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

Chellom! Brad’s last Monday at home! I had to force myself to not think about it all week, which was especially hard on Sunday. I kept thinking of what everyone was probably doing and was really wanting to be there. I know Brad did amazing and he’ll be a great missionary. I miss him lots….it’s gonna be a while till I see him again.

This week was a really slow week, but it was really good as well. We went to go look up a former investigator. We were heart attacking her door when I man came out of another door on the same floor. We got done and went to go down the stairs where he was standing. We said hello and asked how he was. He answered not good, he was having a rough day. We asked him if there was anything we could do and he asked if we could talk. We were like, “sure!” We ended up talking for 11/2 to 2 hrs. He was raised baptiste and told to not talk to the Mormons. He asked a lot of great questions. At the end he said, “I really like what you are teaching. It makes sense.” :D He wanted a BOM so we met him again the next day and taught him. When I told him that we lived with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ before we came here he said, “You have blown me away.” He was astounded. He loved it. He told us the first time we met him that he believes that everything happens for a reason and that he knows that we were supposed to meet. He is 27 from Florida and has only been in NY for 21/2 months. He said that he has been looking for a church that is right for him bc he has been putting God second in his life. He was so prepared. We were planning on going to Bensonhurst (S. Smith’s old area) on Sunday (yesterday) bc if you all remember Isabelle, who showed up at church and loved it but ended up not being in our area; well she was in Bensonhursts area and she is getting baptized. So Pres said we could go bc S. Smith was originally “supposed” to be there and I had first taught her. But when Amos said he was going to take Sunday off to come to church, we both wondered what we were gonna do. We went home and prayed about it and didn’t know. When we met with him the second time, the spirit was so strong and we both knew that we must make this sacrifice. We were called here, we must be here. Amos came to church yesterday. :D The hard part was seating. We had over the number that we can fit in the chapel. The elders were bringin in as many chairs as they could fit, and a lady came and stole Amos’ chair. So he stayed out during the sacrament and Elder Merrill taught him about the Priesthood. :D He came in and during one of the talks he leaned over and said, “I like this.” He kept nodding his head at things and even sang the songs. Then we got in gospel principles and man….haha, ppl were all surprised bc he just had such amazing questions. Then we had a game where we had to guess what prophet went to what story. Amos knew all of them except Adam, he didn’t understand why we looked at Adam as a prophet. When he left his only concern was a living prophet and knowing if he was a true prophet and not a false one. He loved the elders and when we got out he told us that he wanted to be a lot more forward and ask a lot more questions but the teacher was so “small and innocent” that he didn’t want to put her on the spot. HAHAHAH. So we are meeting him at the church with the Elders. Its gonna be awesome. :D I am really excited. He is so funny, we just love him. So pray for Amos.

Then we met with another investigator who has only been here a year and is learning English, she speaks French. It was so awesome bc the sisters before never showed her The Restoration DVD, so that was what we were gonna do. We ended up watching it in French with English subtitles. The spirit was incredible…..absolutely incredible. You could really feel that there was someone else in that room. I loved watching it in a different language.

Today we got a text. We have been asked to take the greenies on a street sweep (where we go out on the sidewalk and talk to ppl). They get here today and before they go home they are putting them right in….RIGHT HERE IN JAMAICA! Haha, poor kids….Jamaica is so crazy, this will be their first fearlessing experience. It’ll be awesome. We get to meet the new sisters. There are two coming in, but idk if they are English or Spanish.

I can’t believe it is already March. My half way is on Wednesday which is even more weird. It’s so weird to think that the time I have left is how long I have been here. It’s scary bc it went so fast, I feel like I just got here…..how will the next 8 months be? Hmmm. Pretty scary. But I am excited for summer still!!!! It snowed like crazy here!!! Brrrrr. I can’t wait to get rid of this coat!!!! It is so beat up. I find my wardrobe quite funny….the sole on my shoe is practically hanging off lol. Gotta find some new ones J Hey! I love you all and hope you have a hApPy MaRcH!!!!

LOVE YOU!!!

Sister Phillips

My Missionaries

weekish‏

week in a nut shell‏

week.

leaving‏

few stories of the week‏

week‏

week‏

Small and simple‏

Unexpected.

week‏

weekly‏

Week‏

Tornado

week‏

what a week‏

This week‏

week‏

week‏

Week!!!‏

Happy New Years!‏

week‏

week‏

General Authorities.‏

week‏

The Close of another Journey‏

God is there!!‏

hey‏

*Be StiLL*‏

hey‏

fReSh BReAtH oF aiR~‏

week

lOVE

ToNeY~‏

SpEcTaCuLaR miRaCLeS*‏

Back to the Beginning~

the Lord's work~

this week‏

sickies‏

This week‏

NEwS‏

One Big Family‏

ya‏

siLLy SiSteRs-----‏

jOy iN tHe jOuRnEy~‏

hey‏

errand of angels~‏

dUsK~‏

short‏

Its short‏

bEaUtiFuL liFe~

hey‏

tHe WiLL wiThiN~‏

liViN iT uP~

sorry really short.‏

hey‏

hOt MeSs~‏

hey‏

bUsY bEeZ‏

hey‏

hEaLiNg WaTeRs~‏

Crazy and short‏

cHeWy CaTeRpiLLaRs~'‏

What a week!‏

Hey

ThReE's A cHaRm*‏

rAiNbOwS~‏

So crazy week,

*aNoThEr SeTtiNg SuN*‏

Hey‏

*wArM fUzZiEs*‏

tHoUsAnD LeGGeD dUsTbAllS‏

Sorry to short‏

what's with the J?

aPriL sHowErS=mAy fLoWeRs‏

Sorry so short‏

I FeeL mY sAviOrS lOvE‏

HEy

miLeS oF sMiLeS~‏

starting week 4 in the field‏

Be StiLL‏

aNoThEr SeTtiNg SuN‏

wArM fUzZiEs‏

nEw ExPeRiEnCeS‏