MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OLYMPIA!!!

Oh man oh man can you people even believe Christmas is this week???? Well-I can't!

I don't want it to be Christmas because then we can't use our sweet excuse to get into peoples doors anymore :( (Can we come share a Christmas message with your family? Well sure come on it!) Ya-Jan. is a pretty lame month so I don't know what we will do about that!

This week has been a ball. We had our mission Christmas party on Tuesday, where we had 6 different groups of people doing white elephant trade off, then had our Christmas program, ate some yummy food and finished reading the Book of Mormon together as a mission! Wow- did I ever tell you how amazing the Book of Mormon is? I read it in a whole 7 weeks and it was FAST. My testimony about that book has been strengthened and I have come to realize what a powerful tool it truly is. The Book of Mormon was sent to us during this time for a reason and there is a ba-gillion and one reasons in there. I am starting all over again and I love it. I am so grateful the Lord restored His gospel back on the Earth and that Joseph Smith kept him self worthy and valiant to translate the golden plates for all of us today. The love of God is great!

After the Christmas party I got sick..boooo! I came down with a nasty head cold and I thought my head was going to blow up. But I wasn't going to let that stop me. We still went out every night and knocked on lots of doors in the cold. I probably should have stayed home and rested but we really needed the extra blessings. Our investigators have been a little "stuck" they haven't been progressing like they should. So, I decided to give it my best in hope the Lord would bless them. AND he did! We had 8 people come to church yesterday and we have two on date for the 24th. We have them all planned and everything, horray! Jane is so excited, she just called and wanted to know if she needed white underwear hahah! I love that lady! And keri wants a very personal small baptism, she text us last night and said she wanted the lights dimmed with candles hahahaha. This is gong to be a Christmas Eve I will NEVER forget.

I am so thankful for this time of year! I want you all to know, that I know- the Savior Lives! He lives! HE loves us all very much and is aware of everything we do and go through in this life. He wants the best for us and is ready and willing to give all He has to us if we will only keep His commandments and follow Him. One of my favorite scriptures is Romans 8:35-39 it talks about the love of God. I hope we can all set apart the busy commercialized Christmas and take time to focus on our Savior. Allow the spirit of Christmas to flow through your soul and you will feel His sincere, true, and powerful love flow though you those you serve.

I love you all,

xoxoxoxo

Sister Phillips

13 Days before Christmas!

Hello,

Wow, it is getting so cold here. It gets colder and colder. I ask people almost every week when It is going to get warmer because it is not fun. The low is 32 degrees but I will tell ya its not normal. It's wet cold and it freezes your bones and they feel like they are going to break in half. I would take Vernal 20 degree dry winter cold any day. But the good thing is it shouldn't last as long. They say it starts warming up at the end of Feb. So ill keep my fingers crossed for 2 more months. If not I will demand the be ET'd(emergency transferred) out of here...jk! I wouldn't do that!!!

How is everyone's Christmasholiday going? It's a little weird being on a mission during Christmas, but at the same time it is the best too! Everyone just wants you to have a good Christmas so they try to do what they can for the missionaries :D Sis.Eichenmiller and I were talking and we both felt like it wasn't quiet Christmas yet because we haven't been able to go shopping haha. Oh well, I amlearning budget control, which we all know I need lol!

This week was week 1. It was a good week. Jane aninvestigator had an interview with our mission president and it definitely solidified her decision to be baptised. She was so worried about what everyone else would think and she couldn't get over that. She told us it just doesn't matter anymore...yay! She is now praying to know if Dec. 24th is a good date for her to be baptised. We are going over to her house to make my moms famous sugar cookies on Friday. I can't wait! Keri finally is thinking about giving up her dog, which is a big step for her, when that dog is her life. Seriously her life. It makes me hate dogs. She could get housing and so many other things if she wouldn't have a dog. So we really hope this helps her. She is also getting baptised on the 24th. Tina, our lil. Miracle 2 weeks ago wants to be baptized to, no questions asked. We asked her if she wanted to and she didn't even hesitate to say YES. She had been looking for a Church to go to and they had been to a couple around Olympia but didn’t feel right about any of them, until their neighbors invited them to our ward. Tina said she had a really good feeling (the holy ghost) when she was there and knew that was the place for her :D So exciting. So we may have a literal "white" Christmas with lots of baptisms. That would be the best Christmas ever for a missionary!

Besides that everything is going well. We went over to the Kohlers house the other night (nutritionist) and they made us this "live" drink. It was pink and looked yummy until I tasted it and of course I say, "oh-that’s different". Needless to say it smelled and tasted like mold, pure mold, but I choked it down and kept telling my self that it’s good for my tummy, its good for my tummy. Gotta love them!

Oh how can I forget this story....

We almost got attacked my 2 dogs in one night. We were out finding and we went to walk up to this house when all the sudden this dog came barking at us. He just looked like he was protecting his territory, so we moved slowly closer to the door and all the sudden this giant dog came from behind the house coming right for ME. Sis.Eichenmiller "said" she couldn't see so she darted and left his to kill me. I yelled, clapped my hands and started freaking out of the dog and the owner came out and was apologized up and down. That got my blood going. I don't think I have yelled that loud in a long time. Then the elders called us and were complaining about how cold it was and asked if we would say a miracle prayer with them. So we said a prayer and we look down the street and see 3 fire trucks all decked out with Christmas lights coming down the road playing Christmas music. It was so cool. They stopped for us and we got a pic with Santa and they gave us candy canes. They go all around the neighbor hoods all week and do that. I guess its a big thing here in Olympia, but all we knew at the time was the Lord sent us a miracle!!!! THEN...we get back to our finding and walk up to this house with a gate. Usually we shake the gate to make sure a dog doesn't come out and then were good to go in. So we did just that, went in, knocked on the door TWICE and all the sudden we turn around and see this pit bull growling at us. I almost peed my pants. We are trapped!!!! I start ringing the door bell frantically praying the people really are home-well they weren't. We start taking little steps and this time Sis.Eichenmiller is protecting mehaha. Finally we made it to the gate and we figured we had had enough of dogs so we just called it a night of finding. I felt like we were being protected from that dog because he would come run towards us then turn around, then when we got out of the yard he was hysteric :/ I will never forget that nighty now lol!

I hope you guys have a wonderful week and remember to keep the spirit of Christ in this Christmas Season. This work is truly the Lord's, anything we do or any success we have is because of Him. I feel like the luckiest girl to have the family I have and to be here in the Tacoma Mission serving our Heavenly Father and teaching them about the greatest truths on the Earth. Yes, its the best!

I love you all and wish you a Merry Merry Christmas.

xoxoxoxo

Love,

Sister Phillips

I GET TO STAY IN OLYMPIA!!!!!

Oh man oh man was I excited and Sis. Eichenmiller gets to stay too!!! We begged President to let us stay together. We didn't want new companions for Christmas and we wanted to finish all the work that we started this transfer. I am pretty excited. That only means we know our fate for next transfer.

She is leaving and I am staying in Olympia (yay for me) and getting a new comp. Sis. Eichenmiller has been here in Olympia for 6 months now and it will be 7 1/2 months when she leaves and this is only her first area, so she will be ready to leave my January. There is only 1 person leaving our zone, so we are officially the smallest zone in Olympia and it ROCKS! We are all really close and there is not contention between the Elders (will see how long that lasts). It's going to be a fun transfer!

This last week was a great week. Sis. Eichenmiller was stressing out every day because she didn't know whether or not she was going to leaving...let’s just say I couldn't wait for that transfer call!!! And on top of that one of our Investigators got thrown into Jail :/ and who does she call first.....the Missionaries of course. Oh gee! It was a stressful situation because we really can’t do anything. Long story short the ZL's told Pres. Weaver and he told us the only thing we are allowed to do it teach her, which is fine by me. But it's hard to tell your investigator that when she is someone who can take offense very easily.

Even though I love Olympia, I am sad because there just not very festive. People don't put up very many light or decorations around here. Probably because they are all trying to conserve energy, because that's what Olympians do! We did find 1 neighborhood that was all decked out. We now take a nightly detour on our way home :D We do get to go caroling this week though; I am pretty excited about that.

We will probably go a couple times because it’s fun and a good missionary tool!!! Christmas only comes around once a year, right?! But we prayed mightily for her and all is well. She decided she wants to get baptized on Dec. 24th so hopefully that will fall into place (please oh please oh please).

Yesterday at church we had a member bring a friend in 3rd ward and he was just soaking everything up! He doesn't have too much of a Christian background, but we can fix that real quick ;) He already believes in Joseph Smith and the First Vision and he was amazed that we have a prophet on the Earth today. He's a smarty pants though and he had to dumb down some of his questions for us haha. We are going to start teaching him next week after his finals with school are done. Then, Tina who we met last week came up to me yesterday and said, "I want you to teach me, what time and day you can come over", it was awesome. I was waiting to go talk to her and ask that same question, but I am glad I waited and let her ask me. It was great; I had never had someone ask ME to teach them before ha! We will see her on Thursday. The work is going great. We have a lot of potential for this area and miracles just keeps showing up all the time. I know that is because Sis. Eichenmiller are trying to be obedient and have fun while we work, it really does make all the difference!

Thank you all for your emails and letters I seriously have the BEST family and friends in the world!!!

I love you all,I hope you all are having a great Christmas time and always reflecting back on the TRUE meaning of Christmas. In this season of giving, don't forget about the all of the Gifts Christ has given you and how you can give to others!!!

Sister Lakyn Phillips