"Finding the elect is a higher priority than trying to convince others."

Hello my family,

How was your week? Mine I would have to say went from okay to GREAT! So many things have happened that I feel like it has been longer than just 7 days. I have a new companion-Sister Lyles, She is sooo much fun and only 19. What? Well is from Aberdeen, WA and she came on a mini mission for 9 weeks last summer so they wouldn't have to close a sisters area, well the same thing happened and we were short a sister, so president asked her if she would come for another 6 weeks. Even though she is only 19 she is very smart and mature. She has a very strong and powerful testimony of her savior Jesus Christ that will change many lives here in Skyline. I will attach a picture of us :) I met her family when they dropped her off at transfer meeting and they are so nice. Her mom is a little Filipino, which makes her half. I got to introduce her to the mission (again) even though I'm really not training her because she is that awesome!

Later this week Sister Lyles made goals to see what we wanted accomplished this transfer. One of our focuses is to find the Elect, those who are prepared by the Lord to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. President Weaver told us something that really stuck with me. He said, "Finding the elect is a higher priority than trying to convince others." The past few weeks that is exactly what I have been feeling that we have been doing, trying to convince people. Sister Lyles and I prayerfully took this into consideration and because of that our teaching pool has now gotten smaller, but we have faith that because we may have extra time we can use that time that the Lord can lead us to those who are ready and prepared.

Friday morning we were out exercising and on our way home around 6:45am we ran past the bus stop and there was a lady sitting on the bench waiting. The spirit told us we needed to go inviter her, so we introduced ourselves and asked her if she would ever be interested and right away she said, Yes I would love to. She have us all of her info and we set up a return appt. to go see her. She is so amazing and we have an appt. with her tonight. Please pray for her (Nika) We then we had to memorize what she had told us in our heads, so sister Lyles and I went running back to our house saying out loud her address so we wouldn't forget it ha-ha. Good memory. We also had a thunderstorm this week. I have not hear thunder in 9 months!! It was so much fun. We weren't having the best success at tracting and getting a little discouraged, so we went and played in the rain and scrame every time thunder shook the ground. There was an old lady that saw us and made us come into her house. But the first thing she said was, "Now don't think you can convert me, I'm a Lutheran" ha-ha. She was sweat!

This Thursday our mission is going to the Seattle Temple :) President Weaver asked us all to read the Pearl of Great Price before we went and he was so inspired to invite us to do that. Sister Lyles and I have been using things from our morning studies in all of our finding efforts. I have never prayerfully read the Pearl of Great Price before and now it is one of my favorite books. At the end of Joseph Smith History in the last paragraph this is Oliver Cowdry describing the feelings he had after he and Joseph Smith received the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist.

"Man may deceive his fellow-men, deception may follow deception, and the children of the wicked one may have power to seduce the foolish and untaught, till naught but fiction feeds the many, and the fruit of falsehood carried in its current the giddy to the grave. But one touch with the finger of his love, yes, one ray of glory from the upper world, or one word from the mouth of the Savior, from the bosom of eternity, strikes it in all into insignificance, and blots it forever from the mind."

Those small couple of lines from Oliver Cowdry really expressed in my heart that it is through the Spirit of Christ that this Gospel will be preached. I have felt and overwhelming feeling of the urgency of this work. We have a message that can put eternity in perspective a message that will give hope and that will seal families together forever. Even when Abraham had to take his family and leave to a different land he understood that, "Shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even life eternal (Abraham 2:11) Then in vs. 16 He says, "Therefore, eternity was our covering and our rock and our salvation." Even Abraham of old understood that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is nothing without families and without the priesthood. He had an "eternal perspective" and I know that If we keep our eyes open to the eternal scheme of things that we too, will have our eyes and hearts open to life eternal.  I am grateful for my family and the love that I have for them. I know that there love and support has brought me closer to my Savior.

It was also my Birthday and it was the BEST! It was a little different for the fact that I have never had a birthday without my little brother, since our birthdays are only 1 day apart, but it was still a great day. We woke up Monday morning and a lady in our ward that has been helping us get back into shape ran with us around point defiance park. We ran what is called the 5 mile drive. Yes 5 miles! We actually ran it last wed. too before sister Hoffman left. It is up hill for 3 1/2 miles and then down hill for the rest. Sister Lyles and I thought we were going to die, but we endured and came out winners!!! Our ward was having a breakfast at the same park, so we went and ate breakfast with them and played some games. Then we did our daily shopping for groceries & random things, Sister Weaver took us to Jamaba Juice for my birthday :D  After that our Zone met up at Olive Garden and they surprised me with a cake and of course they all had to sing to me and my face was cherry red, it was embarrassing! lol. Oh but the Birthday doesn't end there. Sister Horton our Relief Society Pres. is making a cake tomorrow night because her birthday is on Thursday so she wanted to celebrate together and then Elder Quigley (works in the mission office and is over all of the mission cars, he is about 73 years old) is taking us out for a birthday lunch on Friday!! Yep, the WA-TAC is the BEST!

Thank you all for being shinning examples of Christ!

I know that he Lives and the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Don't let a day go by without opening it!

I love you all

Sister Phillips