week.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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Elder Bradley Joseph Phillips