Miracles in the Driest Place on Earth: Of Sins and Fish, and Preach my Gospel in the Spirit

Hola familia y amigos!

The quote book by my bed gives me excellent advice: "If there's something that makes you laugh, then every day is going to be okay" -Tom Hanks

And man, there are a lot of things to laugh about!

Some words in Spanish are incredibly close in pronunciation. Sins are "pecados" and fish are "pescados". Mistake #1: Be careful not to say, "Jesus suffered for all of our fish". No bueno. Mistake #2: If your investigator says they want to be baptized but you don't really understand because they are speaking a different language, ask for clarification before you rush into the next point in the lesson you were going to teach. Our teacher asked us after our practice lesson why we weren't excited for her to be baptized. I was like, " she wants to be WHAT?!!?" Rookie mistake haha.

Missions are great because our souls are constantly being fed the words of life. All we hear, talk, and teach about concerns pure truth. And, at least at the CCM, there is no one bashing or discrediting what we hold dear to our hearts like in the real world sometimes. Yeah for the spiritual bubble!!

Elder Neil L. Anderson (an Apostle) came on Saturday to speak with us at the CCM. I could literally feel a difference when he walked in the room. He talked about the Atonement and how Jesus Christ is not just the most important person in the universe but the most important ANYTHING.

A shoutout to my friend Grace for getting her mission call to RUSSIA. That’s so awesome! And another shoutout to Shad and Noah for going to the temple in preparation for their missions! I’m sad I won't be able to go to the temple for two years (there isn’t a temple in his mission boundary). The temple gives me strength to do hard things, something I need right now. Make sure you three go as much as you can before you leave! It will help you so much during your mission and your life.

Sunday nights are the bomb here because we all get together and watch a movie! Last week we watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. Ok, I wish. No, we watch inspiring movies about church history, Jesus and the prophets. Three days ago we watched a new movie about the history of sister missionaries. I don’t know if it is online yet but it is very inspiring. I love the spirit and enthusiasm sister missionaries have. What a blessing it is to be in a church that understands the true nature of men and women. Our roles are equal, but different. When we work together with our different strengths and abilities, the work of the Lord is able to go that much further. So, YEAH FOR SISTER MISSIONARIES!

Who doesn’t love Elder Holland? (An Apostle) We watch many of his recorded MTC devotionals. Did you know the actual title of Preach my Gospel (the book used for missionary work) was supposed to be Preach my Gospel BY THE SPIRIT, but they thought it would be too long of a title. It shows how important the Spirit is in this work. We need to work hard to have the Spirit with us if we want to be powerful member missionaries.

I’m a little nervous for the Spanish in Chile. It’s supposed to be super muy muy rapido. A worker here said her native Spanish-speaking daughter who is in Chile wrote home and said she can’t understand what they are saying. Yikes....

The Church is true. God loves you personally. The Atonement is real. Love you! Have a great week!

Everything is awesome,

Elder Phillips