Can I Change God?

Hola family and friends!

Another week has come and gone actually very fast. Did I say that? Yes!  It went by fast!! I won't lie, two years can seem like a long time because it is.  But it’s not nearly enough time to do what we need to do!!

We've been meeting lots of wonderful people who are hesitant to do much with their religious lives-- so they might take a little while to work with, especially considering the fact that many only can meet with us once a week. But I'm very grateful that people want to at least talk with us!

We have been teaching a woman who has been investigating the church for quite a while and hasn't been baptized, mainly because her less active husband needed to get a divorce so they can be married legally.  This is a common issue here for many reasons.  Well, this week it finally happened and they can get married in August and then baptized!  I am so happy for her.  An important commitment for baptism is following God’s laws, including husbands and wives being legally and lawfully married.

Last week we had a wonderful conference with an Area Seventy leader from our church, Elder Zeballos and his wife. He is from northern Chile, where I am serving.  It was also fun to catch up with my MTC companion and a few others from my group in the MTC that I haven't seen in a while.  One teaching from the conference that stuck with me is how the pain, long days, and frustration we face as missionaries will pass and fade. But if we don't do what we need to do, the weight of regret will always remain.  That principle is something I can carry forward in my life--serving God to the best of my ability so I won't have regrets. As I think back on my mission so far, I know I have tried my best. And one bright spot this week was hearing from one of the elders at the conference who was in Vallenar that golden girl, my first convert, is doing well--so great to hear.

As I was talking with a group of 30 year olds smoking on the street the other day, I finally found the response to the statement we get on a daily basis: "I believe in God, but in my own way."

Many people have it the wrong way around.  If we believe in God in our own way then we are assuming we have the ability to change an unchangeable being! Saying that someone is like this or like that doesn't actually change who they are. It’s the same with God. Our purpose in this life is to find the true nature of God.  To come to know Him and love Him for who he really is--through study, prayer, the Holy Ghost, and the blessings of His restored church.

Thanks for your kindness and love.

Everything is awesome,

Elder Phillips

Great to see my MTC companion

And this missionary from my MTC days as well!

Here For A While Longer--To Baptize!

Hola,

No transfers this week for me or Elder M., which is good because we are actually finding new people to teach here in Alto Hospicio!

Our red-haired wonder girl got baptized on Saturday and I had the opportunity to confirm the gift of the Holy Ghost on her at church on Sunday. It’s a little more difficult in Spanish :)  Organizing baptisms are somewhat stressful for me—you never know what will happen.  This time there was a birthday party going on in the back, and we had some missing leaders.  But it is all good--I am so happy for her.

I also had wonderful surprise last week when my old companion in Copiapo sent me a picture of the baptism of the girl we found whose mom was praying for the way to find the church when we showed up on her doorstep.  So technically I had two baptisms this week!

Epic fail on my part this Sunday. Another elder had a baptismal interview for someone and they brought some friends so we talked to them and invited them to church. They actually said yes...but they heard me said 6:30 instead of 3:30.  So they came at 6:30 when no one was there. Ugh!!!!  Finally people come to church but at the wrong time.  Cursed Spanish gringo accent.

To make up for my embarrassments the Lord is kind and gives me cool experiences like on Sunday night when a sister asked us to have a family home evening in her house with her less active family and her son’s non member girlfriend.  I felt prompted to ask the family about the goals they have for their lives. The sister who has been active all of her life said she would love to be sealed to her husband in the temple but didn't see it happening.  Her husband was last, and with tears in his eyes he said that his goal was to also be sealed to his wife.  The room was silent and powerful.

With lots of walking in our very large area we always have time to think about life. We believe that we lived before this life with God and all of our heavenly brothers and sisters.  In that case, it must be true that I have friends scattered throughout time who are all fighting for the same heavenly cause.  Cool!

Everything is awesome,

Elder Phillips

A Reason to Gather and Rejoice!

A Happy Day!

Family and Friends

An Awesome Surprise

Missionaries can have fun too

There is an ocean over the horizon

Surprise Situations and Viva Chile!

Hola muchachos,

Not a super typical week here in Alto Hospicio--I quote this saying from my Grandpa a lot on my mission, "a change is a good as a rest".

We changed to another chapel an hour walk away from our apartment where 5 branches will be meeting.  Good thing some members have cars!  And for all of you missionaries who have cars...you are lucky.

The great news is we have a BAPTISM set up for Saturday--a 16 year old girl with fire red hair who’s mom is coming back to church. I dozed off a little in sacrament meeting on Sunday (I didn't get a lot of sleep due to the soccer game and after game celebrations) and woke up to her walking to the pulpit to bear her testimony about the things we have been teaching her.  Super cool!!!!  Now—if we can just convert the dad... :)

Speaking of bearing testimonies, we had scheduled a family home evening with a less active member. When we arrived, all of her family and two of her very religious friends were there at the house.  I had a thought to talk about the Book of Mormon. In the midst of my lesson, I was cut off by her friend, who scolded me for teaching them that we have the restored church with the proper authority from God and the complete restored truth of the gospel.  He said I couldn’t possibly know from God that I was right.

How could a scrawny 19-year-old white boy with a gringo accent find his way through this situation with 12 sets of eyes all piercing deep into his soul?  I thought of the prophet Brigham Young’s conversion experience--when a poor humble man of little education bore a simple testimony of what he knew and felt, and the spirit bore witness of the truthfulness of what he was saying to Brigham Young--changing this future prophet’s life forever.  Testify. That’s we need to do. "Sir, I know I’m 19 and have little experience. But when I put on this name badge I made a promise to God to defend the truth he has given me. So yes, Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. He restored His church and I can’t deny it because I know from the Holy Ghost. I’m not here to offend, I’m here to testify."  He congratulated us for our efforts and gave us a hug as we left.

For 4th of July, we got permission to watch the final of the Copa America: Chile vs. Argentina. It was a nail bitter game but we won with a penalty shot.  You would have thought the world exploded—so fun. We had to ask our branch president to take us home in his truck or we would have surely died on our way in the crazy festivities.  The partying didn’t cease until 6 am.  Go America! Viva Chile!! TAKE THAT KELSEY SPENCER HAHAHAHA  (Kelsey is my cousin and she is serving a mission in Argentina—just a little friendly cousin teasing)

Today was a fun surprise as well. We got a call from the other elders in our area that I was needed to help the local school with English.  It turned out they needed some English speakers to be honored judges for the school English spelling bee--with a fancy seat, sparkling water, a tour of the school, and a meeting with the principal. I was bombarded by kids wanting selfies, and asking my name. I’m famous!! lol

We never know what each day might bring. So we better prepare carefully. :P

Everything is awesome,
Elder Phillips


Here is a description of the night Chile won the Copa America from another missionary serving in Elder Phillips’ mission:

"July 4th--This was a big day because first, it was the fourth of July and second, it was the finals of "La Copa America". Which is like the world cup but instead of all the world being invited, it's just the Americas (minus the USA this time). And for the first time since 1987 (I think) Chile made it to the finals. They played against Argentina and for the first time ever, Chile won the tournament…oh my goodness. There is no event in American culture that equals or even attempts to reach this level of excitement. Not a single one. Chile was on fire Saturday. I swear it measured on the Richter scale when Alexis scored that last goal. You gringos can't even imagine. I'm not Chilean and I went nuts."

Judging the Spelling Bee--cute kids

Night time in Alto Hospicio

A good meal

Changing Times and Seasons

Hola from the land where it freezes in July,

We finally moved into our improved apartment so now I have a warm bed, a semi warm shower, and two rooms with Disney banners on the walls.  Who could ask for more? Seriously, when I saw the Disney stuff I laughed. However, I did super enjoy living in the other apartment with 6 elders.  Never a dull moment!

As far as the work goes, it’s been a bipolar week.  The family we were working with kind of dropped us.  My companion called them and they said rather shortly they would "call us".  I don’t know why. This is one of the hardest things about the mission.  As my brother once told me, "As missionaries we hand our hearts over on a silver platter to watch the people pick it up, look at it for a while, throw it on the ground, and smash it. Then we have to pick up the pieces for the Lord to stitch it back together."

Sometimes I don’t want to give people my heart for this reason. After so much rejection and false hope, it is easier to close myself off.  But to find the people who want to change their life forever, I will go through this process many times in my two years. The question I ask myself is--will my heart harden over time or will it become faster and easier to repair it?

We are having some great success with a teenage girl whose mom is returning back to church.  We got permission to baptize her in these coming weeks so I will keep you posted. :)

I did hear through the grapevine that same sex marriage was legalized in America and that Donald Trump has been saying some controversial things.  News travels even way down here in Chile.

We had a wonderful talk in sacrament meeting from a woman (Hermana) in the ward about the temple.  As a member of the church, one must follow certain requirements to enter LDS temples once they have been dedicated. If you follow them, you can obtain a recommend, a little piece of paper with your name on it. It represents your willingness to obey God’s commandments and to make certain covenants with God.

The Hermana said, holding her temple recommend up for all to see, "The difference between immortality (the free gift to live forever given to all of us) and eternal life (to live with God) is this little slip of paper."

I don’t care what the world says, or even what my own mind thinks sometimes.  I choose to believe God knows more than me even if according to the world I am stupid, intolerant, and behind the times. I know for myself that God is real, and I believe in his words and those of his prophets. The covenants we make with God in His temples are important.

Tengan una buena semana!!  (Have a nice week!)

Everything is awesome,

Viva Chile!  Elder Phillips

Vive Chile--Ward Activity watching soccer!

Good times

Number six

The apartment of six minus one

Our new apt. = disney princess paper

Another room--can you believe it? lol

New and improved yard wall

Our own spiral staircase

 

Where we study the gospel each morning

Feliz Dia Papa!

Hola,

To get the most important thing out of the way, Happy Father's Day!!  Whenever I show my family picture to people here, everyone says, "Wow, your mom is very pretty. And you look exactly like your dad!"

In our sacrament meeting, a lady from Mexico talked about an experience she had during an open house tour of one of our temples. As she walked through the room with a giant mirror where the brides get ready, and later in the room where the marriage ceremony takes place—a room where we believe we are sealed to our families for time and all eternity, she began to weep.  She made the decision right there to fight for this sacred privilege--in a world that could care less what she did with her life.  Her final words impacted me: "Your kids deserve the right to have an eternal family."

This Father’s Day I am thankful for a kind, smart, sacrificing and Christ-like father.  Little do my parents realize how long I spend on my knees thanking God for the privilege of having them as my guides, my source of happiness, my friends.  I try to live my life in such a way to honor these rare gifts I have been given.

As far as the week went, due to the Copa America it’s been kind of a tough week for lessons--with canceled appointments and caterpillar days.  People get depressed when Chile looses in soccer and they get drunk when they win. Which is kind of a lose lose situation for missionaries haha. It also doesn’t help that today is National Strike Day and people aren’t going to work.

We were invited to the ward activity to watch the soccer game.  I thought Americans were crazy about football.  NOT EVEN CLOSE.  There were tears, gasps, screaming--with every eye glued to the screen. If you know anything about me, you might imagine how I looked.  Honestly it was fun to get into it the spirit of it, but I will never be able to care as much as they do.   GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!  At least I can say I played it a few  years as a child--go AYSO!

But we have been working with a new family, an older couple in their mid 50s (sorry, for me that is old) with their two kids.  What struck me about them was how much they much have changed in these 20 years.  The dad is covered in tattoos and used to be involved with drugs.  Now they have a family, a nice house and want to learn about God.  We taught the mother how to pray, giving the first prayer in her life. She was shocked how it felt, like finally being able to feel something after years of static and silence.

Have a great week dying in the summer heat.  :P

Everything is awesome,
Elder Phillips

Yes, I live on the moon :)

Copa America and the Question of the Week

Hola,

A week before I left on my mission I was deathly ill from the flu, lying in my bed watching The Lord of the Rings.  Well, on Tuesday this week, the sequel happened.  The difference was there was no TV to watch, no warm showers to melt away the aches, and no pampering mom to make me food.  Good thing it was only for two days :P

From now until July 4th it is the American Soccer Cup.  So.... people have been pretty busy with soccer madness. Vive Chile!  Our mission president has allowed us to watch the Chile games with investigators. My companion is to soccer as I am to Disneyland, so he is very excited.

Since the missionary work has been a little on the slow side, we decided to do an activity with the branch called "La obra es dulce (the work is sweet)." We are making appointments with all the members to visit them, share a spiritual thought about missionary work, make cookies, and with them take the treats to their neighbors and friends to see if we can show them a quick video about Jesus and teach them.  The moms seem excited, the dads not so much. We will see how it goes!

Missionaries teach, but we also learn a TON about the gospel, life, and ourselves.  I tend to ponder about things on my 40 minute walks to the church, and lately I have been thinking about the responses people give us when we try to talk to them or teach them.

A super common response they give to us is, “No, I’m good. I think all religions go to the same place because we all believe in the same God, just in different words.”

I used to agree with people, that we do in fact all believe in the same God, but I was wrong.  Maybe all the people who believe in God believe in a superior being, but most of the time that’s where the similarities end.

The God we believe in is a loving Heavenly Father with a body of flesh and bone, only perfected.  He is all knowing; a God of perfect love and justice who has always been the same and will never change.  He loves all of his children, but doesn’t control us or many things in this world because he has given us the ability to choose the path we want to take.  He has also shown us the way back to him through His son, Jesus Christ--who established His church, gave men the authority to act in his name, and through his sacrifice provided a way for us to be perfected and live with our Father again.

He is a god of truth, of innovation, of timing, and one who does everything to help us grow, even if it sometimes means difficult challenges, tears, temporary darkness, and pain.

But many people believe in an easy God, one without a purpose or rules. What does it serve God to put us here on this earth just to let everyone come back and live in heaven? If that were the case, wouldn’t it have been easier just to put all of humanity straight into heaven and skip this whole earth thing?

It’s one of the hardest questions to answer: Who really is God to me, and how do I envision him? In my own life, I want to do the things I need to do so that when the day does come and I am face to face with Him once again, I will recognize and know Him.

And in the meantime I’ll be the gringo who tries to rip people away from their television sets to teach them about the true Heavenly Father we all have.

Everything is awesome,
Elder Phillips

PS: I saw the new Jurassic World trailer and about died of happiness....

Lunch at my Mamitas

The view below

I live on the moon

Alto Hospicio--the city on the hill

Vive Chile!

Alto Hospicio Zone

A baptism we helped with.

Homeless in Chile

Oh, que semana (what a week)!

Wow, so we were living in the house of a member of the church, a nice older couple who make desserts and fried food for a hobby (yum!!)  But our mission president called and needed us to move to an apartment with 4 other elders while our apartment is getting the windows and doors fixed. Currently I am sleeping in a freezing hallway on a broken bunk bed, sharing one bathroom with 5 other elders, and trying to train a new elder in an apartment that is a 30-minute walk from our area. The adventure continues.

About a year ago there was a giant earthquake in this area, so all of the church branches in the city meet in one building.  And the church is growing here--they just made another branch!  So now we have church at 4 pm.  Our sector (area) has also started covering part of the new branch--it takes about 90 minutes to walk from one side to the other.

And we had a wonderful week!  The branch members are great here, which helped all of the stars to align and our baptism was a success! I just met our new convert on Wednesday before his baptism, since I am new to the area--he is a nice and humble man.  A nice lady also showed up to the baptism and then came the next day to church.  Her aunt is a member and she told us, "I just had a feeling to go to church last week. I heard about the baptism so I decided to come.  I felt something move inside of me, moving me to tears when I saw the simple, beautiful service." So during the Sunday classes, we gave her the first lesson and we have a lesson tonight with her at the branch president’s house!  Yeah!

Being a trainer of another missionary is a little overwhelming, especially when he speaks the language well, knows the area better than you, and has different habits from his other trainer.  But he is very excited to learn, and says he likes being with me--always a good sign.

But he didn’t get the greatest first impression of me.  On our first day together we were visiting people, and after my 17 hours of travel, fried food, and lots of walking, my body wasn’t very happy with me.  On our way back to the house, I stopped, excused myself, walked over to a light post in the dirt, and hurled everything my body has ever consumed.  I sat back up, excused myself again and kept walking.  He was very quiet and I felt very awkward.  Best trainer ever!!!

The people of this city struggle with many challenges, and it is home to a large mountain of trash littered with drug paraphernalia and stray dogs looking for food. In contrast, I can see the city below us, which is on the ocean and gorgeous to the eye. But I am reminded wonderful things can happen anywhere, even here in Alto Hospicio, “for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” There are lots of great hearts here :P

Have a wonderful week!

Everything is awesome,
Elder Phillips

A Great Day!

Iquique--the beautiful city below.

My Mamita in Copiapo and her family :)