OLYMPIA!!

I got transferred!!!!

I was SO SHOCKED.

I had told everyone I would be staying and probably taking over the sunrise area after Sis. Fisher left. AND...I finally put a little girl on date for baptism and I get transferred :( That’s okay though. We got our calls on Saturday while I was on exchanges with another sister. I was expecting for her to get transferred, but then we both did. Sis. Fisher is staying in Sunrise, Puyallup training another greenie (good luck). One of the members said, I guess they decided to move you instead of the cats, lol! I will miss that ward, there were some great people there, but was ready to leave.

I am now with Sis. Eichenmiller (pronounced iken-miller) she is so amazing. She is so nice and loves to work HARD! This is only her 4th transfer so I'm not far behind her. Olympia has struggled big time lately with disobedient elders and a lot of problems occurred, so president weaver said, and quote “were sending a few of you in for clean-up." I am thrilled to know he would trust me enough to come here and help gain back the trust of the people in Olympia. Yay!! There are only 2 elders and my comp. that were in Olympia before and they took everyone else out and put all new in. I am ready to work hard in this area and see a lot of success. All the Elders warned me, they said, " sis. Phillips remember the 3 H's. 1. Hippies 2. Homo's 3. Hobo's haha. I already love this place. It will be interesting when I meet my first "real" liberal. I have really never had to deal with them before. Good things to look forward too, right?!

We live in this cute little condo. It looks and smells like a log cabin. It's much better than my last place. And we have a sweet new car. :) It's so pretty! We ate dinner with members last night and they LOVE the missionaries. They all just got baptized a couple months ago and if they could they would feed us everyday :/ I am nervous about gaining weight, members think you have been starving, so they cook these giant meals and desert for you. I love it, I just have to remember that we live in America and I think they'll be okay if I don't eat everything on my plate..ugh!

How is Utah??? I miss the fall leaves. There are a few here, but mostly there are evergreens and they just stay green all year. When we tract at night I just think to myself how cold it is in Utah right now and I feel much better. The people here keep saying it’s going to be an ugly winter this year, but there definition of a bad winter is a couple feet of snow. I would be okay with that!! I love this work and it is 10 times better when you have a comp. who loves the work as well. Being on a mission is by the hardest thing ALREADY I have experienced, but so worth the things you gain in return. The Lord will always pour out his blessings upon those who seek first the kingdom of God. I know of that to be true and I see it change people’s lives every day. I know the principles and doctrines we teach are true and they are for everyone. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a beautiful thing that I will ever be grateful for. :D

I hope you all are doing great!

I love and miss you all so very much.

Love,

Sister Phillips

WA-TAC

How are my Utahn's?

I sure miss that place...already!!

This week has been, well, interesting.

We moved, we met a drunk lady and she is coming to church (YES), and I discovered I may be allergic to cats.

We are teaching a little girl named Mckenna and she is SO excited to get baptized. We also met a lady named, Heather. She just went through a divorce and is having a hard time and is looking for a church to attend...SCORE! We are still teaching Wil Green, but I am worried about him, he seems a little hesitant, but we just have to pray for him and teach by the spirit and them let him chose.

I am learning how to be patient with people and how to be patient with myself. My companion and I see very differently and I am learning to humble myself and give in to her (which kills me) Yes, I need to be humbled!

Moving has been quiet an adventure. The lady we lived with is getting married and wanted us out asap! We had no idea where we were going until the morning of. I was a little nervous. We ended up with a single sister and her sister-in-law in her basement living room. Let's just say, I'm glad its temporary. The lady we live with now is the best though. She is so sweet and lost her husband not to long ago, so I think it will be good for her to have some more company.

I am trying to think about what to write to you all, but I don’t remember what happened last week. It was so crazy that I tried to block it from my mind lol.

I did have a tender mercy given to me this week though!!! The day we were moving we weren’t able to study that morning and oh man could I feel it. The spirit had left and I had never felt so crummy. We decided we needed to read the scriptures. I didn't feel like I could focus in our new house because it still wasn’t organized, so we drove to an empty parking lot by target and read in the bible for 15 min. It was Amazing, the spirit that flooded into our car and changed my NEGATIVE attitude into a NORMAL happy lakyn one. We went finding for 2 hours after and I was in the best mood! I was so thankful for Heavenly Father blessing us that day and letting us know he was aware of us and we could do it. As a missionary you can't afford not to have the spirit with you 24/7. Nothing will covert a person more strongly that the spirit it self. We can try to "woo" them with our knowledge, but for most that is not enough. Something I remember while teaching them is "if they say it they believe it, if you say it they tend to doubt it". The message is much more powerful if they believe it and when they can feel the spirit testify to them that it is true, than us just telling them! I hope that makes sense.

I want to share with you this quote from Boyd K. Packer:

"Since baptism is essential there must be an urgent concern to carry the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. We accept the responsibility to preach the gospel to every person on Earth. And if the question is asked, "you mean you are out to convert the entire world?" the answer is, "yes, we will try to reach every living soul." Some who measure that challenge quickly say, "Why that's impossible, it cannot be done! To that we simply say, "perhaps, but we shall do it anyway."

Amen.

Well I love you all,

I will try to have a better letter next week

xoxoxoxo

Sister Phillips

Another week down!

This week has been great-rainy, but great! Last p-day I bought me some boots, so I am set up and my feet are not freezing anymore...yahoo!! How has everyone's week been? I sounds like there has been bad weather everywhere. Winter is coming :( One day I am going to live some where, where there is only summer, spring, and fall. Wouldn't that great?! Some people we tract into have been keeping us up to date on the politics. I love it! My companion kinda gets frustrated with me because I go off on my tangents about it, but ya know what-were creating relationship with these people, so I don't really care hehe! They tell us as missionaries were not supposed to be "one-sided" on any party, but I am a republican and proud to be one! Now, if I were talking to a democrat I would hold my tongue, but if there republicans, I don’t see why we can't chat? They keep me informed on how Mitt Romney is doing and his component "the Texan". I sure hope he wins primaries!! Maybe that will help V-town a little too or....the whole country.

We had some really sad news this week. There is this Samoan family named the, Laititi's. Their WHOLE family lives together. There are 3 different families living under the same roof. Ace and Frank are members and less active, but their children are not baptized so we have been teaching them lessons. They are such a fun family. There is never a dull moment in that house. Frank is usually threatening the kids with their life if they don’t behave or their crying because they just "love Jesus" lol. The little kids sing to us every time we would go too, its was an event! Anyway, we go over there on Thursday to check on Frank because he had been in the hospital with some health problems. We show up and there house was empty. What? We were so confused. They had mentioned moving, but never said much so we didn’t really think anything of it. We called the sister and she told us that Frank had died on Tuesday. That means since they moved they are not in our ward anymore. So, we had to hand them over to the Elders in a different area...rrrr! The sister called us today and invited us to his funeral next Monday. She also asked if we would stand up and say something about Frank, because he loved the missionaries. I was so honored they would ask us. I hope our mission pres. lets us go! But I have never spoke at a funeral before, what do I say eek!

Have you all heard the news about the Provo tabernacle becoming a temple? The Provo tabernacle burned down last year. I remember asking Kaylen why we could hear so many fire trucks and then we found out that it had caught on fire. It was the saddest thing to see such a historic and beautiful building be destroyed. But in conference they announced that they were going to reconstruct it to how it was before, but this time it will be another temple in Provo :D I started crying. I don’t know why. I just thought it was the coolest thing EVER!!! I can’t wait to go see it. I imagine it will be a lot like the vernal temple...AWESOME!

Funny story:

We were "finding" Friday night and we knock on this door, not knowing what to expect like every door we knock on. This Asian lady opens the door and starts going crazy like we are coming to kidnap her family. She jumping up and down, screaming, waving her hands all over the place (the whole time sis. fisher and I are just standing in amazement) she then runs past us like she is looking for help or our car and goes back in side and slams the door. Sis. Fisher and I looked at each other and just started laughing hysterically. It was the funniest thing!

Sis. Swanson the lady we are living with moved up her wedding date to Nov. 4. They decided they couldn't wait that long haha! I agree! They are so smitten for each other. That means we will be moving soon. They don't know where we will be living, but I hope its somewhere as great as sis. swansons house. She also asked us to be the witness at her wedding. That means I get to speak at a funeral and we a witness for a wedding all in 2 weeks :D Look at all the new things I get to experience lol!

We have a new investigator and 1 church tour this week..yay!!! Our new investigators name is Wil Green. He just got home from Afganistan. He is in the special forces unit and just got home and wants to take the lessons from the missionaries. Pray for him! Our church tour is a guy we met on the side of the street, so I hope he shows up! The work is moving slow, but it’s moving. I know the Lord will bless us with people to teach because we are being obedient. You wouldn't believe how many elders are disobedient. Pres. Weaver found out and is starting to crack the whip. I guess the last mission pres wasn't as strict everyone was just scared of him. Pres. Weaver is so opposite. He is the nicest most loving man, but he also will not allow the Elders to walk on him.

Remember, to always treat people how you would want to be treated. It's so simple, but I can tell a lot of a person’s character of how they treat people who can do NOTHING for them. Something I heard this week that applies to my life everyday as a missionary is:

"If you give a man a fish, you will feed him for a day, but if you teach a man to fish, you will feed him for a lifetime"

Now, I think we can apply that to all of our lives in many different ways. As a missionary that is key. We have to teach people how to be self reliant and not reliant on the missionaries. If we can do that, they are more likely to stay active in the church. I love this work and I am learning so many life lessons that will benefit me forever. Thank you all for everything you do.

I hope you all have a fabulous week!!!

I love you all so so much and miss you as well!

The Church is True!

Love,

Sister Phillips

P.S. I'm sorry if my writing is sloppy and incorrect. I just don't have much time. Please just look over all of that :D

This is a little one liner from my email today:

"I pray for you all the time and just remember, it's okay if you haven't found a man yet, because you have a whole 18 months ;D"

Thank you Lakyn for justifying my singleness :) Love you always

It's Monday!!

This week has been a good week. We found 1 new and no church tours. That's okay though. My comp. and I are being very obedient and doing everything we can, so I know the Lord will bless us. We are being fed so well by members, I have to watch portion sizes or else I will gain 20 pounds so easily...eek! Sister Fisher is such a great teacher. She makes sure I stay humble and she'll tell me too! I also talked on the phone with Natalie Neilson a girl I was friends with when I was little (Dr. Neilsons daughter). I was at her brothers house (our bishop) and she called so he let me chat with her. It was fun!

The man we found is a old single man in a trailer park. His name is Bruce Welcome (yes his last name is welcome). He is a total redneck. When he invited us in he was watching a football game and was cheering for the Washington Sea Hawks who were playing the Ravens. I said if the Ravens win, we get 2 lessons not just 1 and THEY WON! haha. I think my comp. thought I was crazy, but you have to be able to connect to people. That was a way we could gain his trust and understanding, Whatever it takes!!!

Did I tell you the story about Mary? The lady that we met finding last monday? Well everything in our plan went wrong that day. Long story short we didn't have a car, so we had to change our finding spot and go somewhere we could walk to. We decided to go to a place called, lapoma firs-about a 20min walk. It was rainy and cold and about the 15th door we knocked on it was Mary. Mary is a very faithful baptist. She invited us in, gave us something to drink and then wanted to talk business. She knew we were mormon. She got her bibles out and started to almost bible bash with us. What? This lady is like 60 years old. Anyway, we just nodded our heads and smiled, because we are not allowed to bible bash, even though I could prove her wrong on most of the stuff, out of the bible. We told her we had to leave because we had another appt. and this is what she says, "Girls I prayed for two mormons to come to my house today, so I could teach them" What? I was so confused. But it made perfect sense. I know we were led to her house for a reason, that reason I still am trying to figure out!

Mary wanted to talk again. We prayed and felt like we needed to go back. We went back on Friday. By this time she has studied mormon doctrine from Internet sources (not good) and had came up with questions to try to prove us wrong. Again- we smile and nod our heads, trying not argue. She rejects any possibility that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ are two separate beings. Pretty much she believes in the trinity where they are as one. I won't lie, the bible is confusing about that certain topic, but that is why we have the First Vision!!! We also have the account in Acts where Stephen says he saw both of them and many more. I then was just boggled. I couldn't understand this lady and how she could be so defensive, but yet preach of Christ. I bore by testimony of the Book of Mormon and new without a doubt that it was true. We then invited her to read the Book of Mormon and read her Moroni's promise (moroni 10:3-5), we then asked her if we could leave in prayer.

She says, " No, we do not pray to the same God and I will not allow it in my house, the only thing I need the the good word of God and that is in the Bible"- my heart was crushed.

Remember- I am a greeny and am from Utah!

We left and got into our car and tears started streaming down my face. I was trying to be so strong for my companion, but I just couldn't anymore. I have never had anyone tell me so many piercing anti-doctrinal words before. I couldn't understand why God wouldn't just let her understand through the bible she is reading that it is false doctrine. For example- the trinity,faith alone will save you and the we have a prophet on the earth today. I went home that night and prayed to help me answer this question in conference the next day.

Thank goodness for General Conference....

Elder Christofferson rolls around and what does he say????

"Faith without works is dead". Yes!!! Many people do not welcome the message of repentance, but it is a divine gift that will allow us to return to live with our Father in Heaven. If we do not repent, we will never be able to progress in the way we can.

His talk answered every question that I had. I love that man!

How thankful I am for a Prophet of God on this Earth today to lead and guide this church through these last days. I always use the example to the people we teach-is the prophet is standing on top of Mt. Rainier and can see everything that is happening, where we can only see to the eyes reach. That is what a prophet does. He see's things we can't and if we listen to him we will always be protected.

How was your conference experience? I heard Jeffery R. Holland laid down the law haha. I heard they talked to the everyone about serving missions,even the seniors. hint hint, grandma and grandpa buck!!! ;D Always count on him for that!

I attached some pics. My mom sent me a tomato from my grandpas garden and I made a tomato sandwich. I was soooo yummy! We ate lunch at a members house and there house is giant. The pics of the mountains are from her back porch. Beautiful hu! The sign on the fence in for my mom. It reminded me of her haha. She hates when dogs are on her grass!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! I think of you all everyday and hope you are doing well.

xoxoxo

Love,

Sister Phillips

WA-TAC