week‏

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.

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Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

week‏

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

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Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

Week!!!‏

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.

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Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips

Happy New Years!‏

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

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

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.‏

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