Of Fish and Fishers of Men

July 25, 2016

Hola familia y amigos!

Today we climbed to the tops of the mountains to see a lighthouse, and while there we were surprised to feel the ground start to shake.  We thought it was just the wind but it got stronger, the car sirens began to blare, and little people began to scurry around the city.  EARTHQUAKE!  But everything’s all good :P Earthquakes are common in Chile—it takes one over 7 to really catch people’s attention.

Good news!  A young man in my old sector Simon Bolivar, Arica was baptized this week!  I’ve been frustrated for a long time because I spent 3 transfers there and could never get the right combination for someone to be baptized, but sometimes you just have to wait it out!

Speaking of baptisms, our part member family who are going to get married in a month told us about a cool experience they had.  In small towns everyone knows everyone’s business, so when the guy started going to church all the fishermen he works with gave him a hard time. One mockingly said, "If this really is all true with God and stuff I bet you’ll catch 50 pounds of fish tomorrow! haha"

The next day, all the boats lifted their nets and he was the only one who had caught fish.  Take that unbelievers!  He has so much faith--I love it.

I did have a huge trial this week.  We had to travel to a small town called Diego de Almagro for a baptismal interview.  The older gentleman passed the interview and we got on the bus to go home.  As I closed my eyes I heard "BUMMMM . BUmm buda bum ba da du da ba baba bunnn (the STAR WARS theme song), and I looked at the small TV screen in front of us and saw STAR WAR 7.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.  It almost killed me but I kept the faith.  I didn’t watch the movie.

Ahhh, what a week.  Transfers are next week and it will be my last one, so we will see what happens.

Everything is awesome,
Elder Phillips

Goofing around with hats

The light on the hill

Happy family

A great day