Marietta-Week 10

Here is the latest from Justin......Well things are good here.  My clothes seem to be falling apart left and right, it must be all the hard work.  Marietta is very cold and wet.  No snow! Closest we got was a little bit of frost like Wednesday morning at like 6:00 am is when we saw it.  We were walking to the gym.  I am sorry that I did not attend the annual Aunt Patty celebration at home.  But I was out findin those lost sheep.  I'm glad to hear that Dad and Mike are teaching together.  Gives em a little taste of missionary work doesn't it?  Wait??!!  I'm talking to you on Tuesday??  Oh yeah!!  I might call home, but we will see how busy we get.  We have like 3 families that are having us over that day.  I am going to try my best to Skype with y'all but we will have to see what happens.  Well, the mission Christmas party is this week so that should be exciting.  It will be good to see my old companions if they are still in the mission.  My week has been pretty good, we are finally gettin that cold weather.  I'm doin fine.  Elder Ball is awesome, I love serving with him.  The work is picking up, the members are really getting involved in missionary work.  So this week there was a lot  of little miracles that have happened it has been pretty sweet.  One of which was we went to see a man who of course wasn't there.  So we decided to tract a little in the area and just as a side note our map in our apartment doesn't have every member on it.  It needs to be updated...we are working on it. :)  But anyway we were knocking doors and this man meets us at the door, he of course has no shirt on and says hold on a minute...and I'm thinking in my mind here we go....another great tracting story!  Yes!!  So he comes back, shirt on, and says come on in Elders.  Turns out he is a less active member, who is the only member in his family, we taught him the Plan of Salvation.  And at the end, he told us that about 2 weeks ago he was praying that God would send the missionaries to find him.  I know that God led us there for a reason...the Lord answers prayers, not always when WE want him to but he does answer.  I love the gospel and I love sharing the gospel with others.  This work is amazing.  I love my mission.  I love Georgia.  I love y'all, have a good one.
Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 9

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips......I am going to do my best to call on Christmas in the morning.  I am excited to see the change in y'all.  We should be able to make that time work but I'll take to my companion.  So things are going great, the work is moving forward, my companion is awesome.  I love it.  The weather is rainy...it's a bummer.  The missionaries in our zone are doing great.  I love missionary work!!  So this week we had an awesome experience we went to see a less active, found out he moved so asked the man living there if there was anyone he knew who needed the gospel in their lives.  So he directed us to his neighbor and his neighbor was super open to hearing the gospel, he set a return appointment with us and took a Book of Mormon.  It was a very uplifting experience.  We are super busy this month, it is crazy, we have so many meetings and parties it is hard to keep track of it sometimes.  But that is all my new news not much else is going on.  I met a family in another ward who's son is serving spanish speaking in Magna, Utah.  Weird stuff and a small world.  I miss y'all.

Love ya bye
Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 8

Here is the latest update from Elder Phillips.....Well it has been another week in the mission field, filled with tractin, teachin and preachin.  I love it!!  Funny side note, I watched the Christmas devotional from Salt Lake City and heard Elder Uchtdorf's talk but we had to report numbers to the assistants for the zone so we took off before anything else. But at the beginning it showed Temple Square...sigh I miss going to see the lights on those cold weeknights.  But I know that the lights will be there next year.  Anyway Elder Ball and I are doing fantastic.  We have had a pretty awesome week.  I love it.  It has been pretty mild as far as the weather goes here this week.  Y'all are skipping out on the sing along?  The one year I'm not there??  French Toast!!  It's okay I love singin now though...kinda.  Some more good news....this is the last college football season I will miss!!  YES!!  But it was totally worth it, seek ye first the kingdom of heaven.  I love this area alot.  I am lookin forward to the holidays this year.  I might call, I might Skype...not sure yet.  Depends on if we have a computer touse.  But if you could send me your Skype account so we can find ya that would be great.  I will let you know what is happening the Monday before Christmas so check the email..:) (He doesn't realize that I live for Monday emails from him) Our investigators are alright, just slowly moving forward, but we will get them.  So we had dinner with the bishop this week and we go to dinner a little early so we decided to not waste any time so we knocked on a couple of doors.  And we didn't have much luck, actually no one was really listening to us.  So we got to this door and this man answers and tells us that he just got home from church and that he is a Christian.  So I ask well what does it men to be Christian?  He answered well that I am saved and that God's lookin out for me.  So we dive right into the Book of Morman and how God is watching out for us, by giving us more scripture and a prophet on the earth today.  We talked with him for about 15 minutes.  And he wasn't too interested but I know that I felt the spirit witness to that man that what we taught was true.  He felt it and so did I.  I love this work. and I know that the Book of Mormon is true.  It still stands today as a testimony of Christ and of what Joseph Smith saw and did.  And I cannot deny that.  I have felt the spirit testify that it is true.  I love this time of year.  I love our Savior and I know that the holidays are centered around him.  He loves us all so much and wants the best for all of us.  Have a great week family.  Love ya!!

Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 7

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips....We shared with him in our weekly email that we had fed the local missionaries in our area.....Well it is good to hear that some missionary somewhere is enjoying dad's burgers, too bad it isn't me.  I wish I had his burgers right now.  My week has been fantastic!!  My companion Elder Ball, he actually came into the mission field with me, so we will go home together.  He is awesome! I love it!  He is from South Jordan, Utah.  The work is great, my week has been the best.  The area is great, I love it.  The weather is weird, it is like sunny but cold.  Well not much has changed, I taught gospel principles yesterday.  It went pretty well.  Our toilets broke on Thanksgiving, yes you read it right, toilets both of em.  But its okay we fixed em.  We had a good Thanksgiving day, filled with members food and football....the turkey bowl in the morning.  So here is our little miracle for this week, we are trying hard to find new people to teach and find people who are ready for the gospel.  So we had a man and his daughter sitting on the back row yesterday, part member family.  And he just pulled us aside and say, Hey, Elders she need to be taught so she can get baptized, when can you come by to teach her?  It was so awesome.  It was for sure a miracle from the Lord.  So we are looking forward to teaching her.  So we have some good things happening here.  So everything is good, I'm doing good....and....I don't know what else to say.  Love ya bye!!
Love Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 6

Here is the weekly update from Justin....Well another long day in Sandy Plains ward, I love this ward so much!!  Elder Richardson is getting transferred this Wednesday (last week) back to Spanish work so I will be getting a new companion, Elder Ball.  I was with him in the MTC.  He is a good kid.  I am pretty stoked for that.  So we have dinner at a members home this Thanksgiving.  The work is fantastic, we are having more and more success every week.  The area is picking up.  The weather is still cold...hasn't changed much.  My old scriptures got a little week but I just wanted a nice big set that I can use for studying and keep using the other set for work.  That is my only wish for Christmas.  If it won't work out, that's fine I will live.  So we have been trying really hard to contact 70 people a week and haven't been able to do it.  Until this week, so this week we were determined to do it.  And we did!!  The last few contacts were amazing.  They were truly elect people, we really had to Endure to the end or Enjoy to the end as I call it.  They were super open to reading the Book of Mormon.  The very last contact was amazing, we knocked on his door at like 8:50 pm...that's late. He was super nice and as we taught him and testified I could feel the spirit so strong and I knew and could almost feel the spirit working on this man, it was so sweet to see that.  I know this gospel is true.  It changes lives and will continue to change lives until the end.  I love y'all and miss you lots.

Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 5

Here is the latest from Justin.....Just to preface this update...last Saturday we got a picture on our phones of Justin at a members house.  He looks great and was having dinner with them.  I am glad you got my picture.  We were having dinner at a members home and they fed us hot wings.  They told me to keep eating so I did.  I cleaned those wings to the bone too.  Best dinner ever!!  I think I am gaining weight now.  I really miss dad's famous burgers though.  I can't believe you got snow.  Sweet!!  I miss snow so much.  My week has been great.  I am doing great.  My only wish for Christmas is a new set of scriptures.  A big pair, two separate books, not all in one and any color works with my name on it again.  The weather is cold and rainy, typical weather here.  Our investigators are great, we are having successon finding new people to teach.  So  we were going to get Chick-fil-A after doing service on Saturday and I believe it was inspired.  My companion just thought I was hungry.  We ran into this guy that worked there that was taking out the trash.  And we contacted him and started to teach him about baptism right off the bat and he said funny y'all come to talk to me, I was just thinking about baptism.  It was so awesome, we hope we can get a set appointment with him this week.  The vision of the South is happening, I know it.  This work is amazing. I love it so much and I love the people here.  And I will miss it when I am done.  I love y'all and pray for ya every day.

Love Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 4

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips.  He has been in Marietta, Georgia for a month now and he seems to be loving it....My week has been great.  We have had a lot of success this week.  The week is moving forward just doing our best and leaving the rest to the Lord.  I am going my best getting along with others, I'm not perfect.  Haha!!  The weather is cold and sunny, it is really odd.  The fall is amazing here.  I wish y'all could see it.  I know that I am on a mission for a reason whether it is for people here or people back home, I know that this is a true church.  Well we met with a part member family last night and the dad was wearing a Packers shirt so I thought of dad and it is kind of funny but he looked a lot like Aaron Rogers.  Well we have had some little miracles this week.  We met this lady while contacting she was like the only lady on the street but we talked to her and shared a little bit about the gospel and the Book of Mormon and she said it sounded familiar and that she believed it.  And that she felt like we came to her for a reason.  It was so amazing, I have seen it happen before but I just love when stuff like that happens out here.  But I don't have much else to say. 
 
Love Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week3

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips.....Thanks y'all so much I got  your package this week.  It was the best.  The work is going great.  We picked up like 7 new investigators this week.  My companion is doing great.  He is a funny guy.  We have been having a lot of success.  The zone is good, we are having alot of success this month, so we will see  in what happens in the coming months.  I can't believe that Brandon would dress Oliver in camo and stripes and think that it matches.  Oliver is probably fighting off the ladies already.  We had the primary program in our area this past week and it was awesome.  There is always one kid who is like eating the microphone and no one can understand them.  It is so funny and the teachers are doing everything they can to keep the kids from running on the stand and climbing on their chairs....so glad that I don't have kids yet.  So we had an appointment in our apartment complex with this nice old African lady, well she ended up bailing on us which was disappointing.  But we knew that the Lord had other plans for us, so we saw these two ladies who were walking around the complex.  And so we started to talk to them and they were working out so we asked if we could walk with them.  They said sure so we end up walking around the complex in missionary clothes like 6 times, talking to these ladies.  It is a huge complex and I was beat, no work is done in vain though.  We ended up getting a return appointment for tonight!!  So awesome, best contact ever!!  Well, I can't think of anything new to tell ya, we had some awesome pastrami this weekend at the ward halloween party.  It was awesome!!  Alright, Love ya bye!!

Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 2

Well, here is the weekly update from Elder Phillips....My week has been sweet!!  I love doing missionary work.  Marietta is awesome!  I love this area!  The zone is doing well, I have been learning communication skills, it is funny how the Lord puts us in certain callings or areas that are specifically for us to learn and grow.  My companion is awesome, he does stuff differently but he is great. Y'all are puttin the boat away soon?  Bummer.....well the weather is getting colder...well colder for Georgia, warmer for Utah.  The fall colors are amazing here, I love it so much.  I'm gonna miss it when I am gone.  I went on exchanges with Elder McGary this week, he is a District leader in our zone.  He is such a beast missionary now.  I'm sitting next to Elder Vernon right now and he is an awesome guy.  Well, we had a miracle this week, we were seeing potentials this week and usually they have moved or something.  But we went to see one and she had moved but the man who lived there, met Elder Richardson before and gave him a hard time but this time he let us in and we taught him the first lesson and he said we could come back.  The spirit really works on people, it's sweet.  Well that's all I got.  I love y'all and miss ya a ton.

Love Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 1

Here is the latest from Justin.  As you can see, he has been transferred to Marietta, Georgia and has been called as the zone leader in that area.  Here is his latest email.....Howdy Family, things are great here, the ward is very supportive!  It is the Sandy Plains Ward.  My companion's name is Elder Richardson and he is from Saratoga Springs, Utah.  He has been out a little less than me.  My zone is pretty big, we have about 19 missionaries. It's no big deal, it is just more stuff for me to do.  I am pretty stoked to be here.  The ward is amazing.  It is closer to the city.  I miss Elder Childs but this is where I need to be.  Elder Richardson is very bold, he is alot like Elder Atkinson in some ways.  We are now driving a Chevy Cruze!  It is like brand new.  We have been working pretty hard, we went to the gas station at like 8:50 (They are suppose to be in by 9:00 pm at night) and we needed to get more contacts but when we pulled up  to the gas station there was one pump working and there was no one...it was not promising but then as we started to fill up the car, all these people just started to come out of no where!?  It was awesome, one of them we had an awesome contact with and he said we could come by and share more with him sometime.  It was an amazing tiny miracle.  But I am doin' well.  I'm still alive and I'm preachin' the word.  Love y'all
Love Elder Phillips

Dawsonville-Week 12

Here is the weekly update from Justin.....Howdy Family!!  Well I got some news for you....I was shocked to receive a call this morning (Monday, October 8) from President Wolfert.  He informed me that the Lord wants me somewhere else.  As of Wednesday (October 10) I will be serving as a Zone leader in the Marietta Zone...scared but confident that the Lord will give me strength in all things.  I accepted this amazing opportunity to serve my fellow missionaries.  Elder Childs will be staying here in the Dawsonville Ward.  I did not expect this..but the Lord's ways are higher than our ways.  It is exciting about the changes to the missionary program.  Young men can now serve  missions at 18 and young women can serve at 19 now.  The church is true!!  We have a prophet today who leads and guides us.  So I think I need to buy a few more long sleeve white shirts.  I am also going to send a package home with some of my mission stuff that I can't keep taking with me.  Don't worry I'm tossing out all the random junk!!  No more pack rat. :)  So for conference weekend we had an investigator show up for the last session, he showed up out of the blue.  White shirt, dress shoes, black slacks, the black tie (he hates ties) Book of Mormon, Bible and notepad in hand.  I could actually see him as a member of the church and at that point I think I realized the weight of how real this work we are doing is.  This is life eternal for our Brothers and Sisters in Georgia.  I know that the Lord can change hearts, be we have to invite those hearts to come unto Christ.  This is my miracle for this week, it was amazing.  My week has been amazing.  Our investigators are all doing great.  I hope they continue to search the gospel as I move on to my next assignment.  I love y'all so much.

Elder Phillips

Dawsonville-Week 11

Here is the latest update from Elder Phillips this week.....To start with mom, I am never going to complain about yardwork again, we raked 2 acres of grass on Friday.  Just Elder Childs and I.  Our yard work is nothin' for me now.  The work is going pretty well.  My week has been pretty good.  The work is moving forward.  We have picked up a new investigator this week which was awesome.  The weather is rainy and rainy....that's about it.  I love the fall colors!!  I will probably stay :)  I responsed to Elder Phillips this week in my email telling him that he could stay in Georgia but he needed to know that as of June 22, 2013 his financing would be discontinued and he might want to think about getting a job there!!  LOL!!   I am pretty excited for conference this weekend.  I can't wait to hear from our Prophet.  Well tiny miracle for this week??  Hmmm...I gotta dig deep this week for it.  We had an awesome lesson with one of our investigators this week, he doesn't have a lot of questions about anything, it all makes sense to him and seems familiar.  Which showed me personally that we were all taught this before we came to this earth and when we hear the gospel it is like a bell going off, it sounds familiar to us.  I know we lived with our Heavenly Father before we came to this earth and I know that the gospel is true and that Christ is my Savior!!  That knowledge makes me happy.  Love y'all.

Elder Phillips

Dawsonville-Week 10

Here is the weekly update from Justin......We shared with Justin this week that his grandpa had remarried and he told us that he was going to call her Carole.  He didn't think that he could ever just call her grandma.  He knows that she is going to have a huge impact on his grandpa's life and so that makes him happy.  We are letting him believe that Boise State lost to BYU but I am sure that eventually it will come up and I will tell him the truth.  LOL!!  We were also able to share with him some awesome news that one of his friends from high school had joined the church recently.  He was pretty excited about that.  So this is what he had to share.....My week has been fantastic!  We had some rough patches but it seems to be goin' alright.  The weather is cold in the mornings...not fun for working out at 6am.....we are just working on finding people, it is hard to week through those who are really ready and those who are not ready.  The Lord has really knocked me down in this area...but he will build me up eventually.  It is funny how we can either choose to be humble or the Lord will humble us.  In this area, I chose the second...ha ha rough road.  Elder Childs is a stud, he is such a good missionary.  Tyler and Monica are reading the Book of Mormon...Sweet!!  Every member needs to be fed from the word of God.  They will see a difference in their lives.  I know that for a fact.  Well, let me share with y'all one of my tiny miracles for this week.  This happened on Saturday and honestly this experience means more to me than any football game.  We were walking through a neighborhood contacting everyone we saw and as we went through we saw this little old lady on her porch.  So of course, we started walking up her driveway and she invited us on the porch and we sat down and started teaching the first lesson  to her.  Sh was super interested but the spirit was telling us that she needed to hear something else.  So we started to teach her about life after death out of Alma 40, she liked that because her husband died months ago.  At that moment she really opened up and she said, "Yes, I believe that I will be with him again, but not in this body, in spirit."  And then I read to her Alma 40:23 the we testified of the Ressurection and of Eternal families, the spirit was super strong and I knew that she needed to hear that.  She automatically accepted the Book of Mormon we offered her and invited her back.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I know that the resurrection is possible because of Jesus Christ.  I KNOW that we can be together for Eternity.  I love y'all!!

Elder Phillips

Dawsonville-Week 9

Here the weekly update from Justin....It has been a good week here.  I know that this is where I am supposed to be right now.  We had a Leadership Training this week, it was a two day training and I learned a lot from it.  Plus almost everyone who came out into the fiel with me is in Leadership now, it is so crazy! :) Then we came back to our area and worked our butts off to make up for the lost time.  So we got back Friday night and weren't sure what we should do so we went to visit some less actives, then we got a text from the Dahlonega Elder's they gave us a referral so we went to see him and he was taught in the past but he wants to be taught again and start attending church.  It was so crazy.  The 3 families are a slow process but we will start getting them goin.  So a tiny miracle for this week......we were tracting on Saturday and we were walking out of the neighborhood and there was this Hispanic man workin in his yard and I hesitated to talk with him because I was like well he probably speaks very little English if any...so I thought I'd just wave and keep  walking.  But then I had a thought come to my  mind that said, "The gospel i s for EVERYONE" so I was like alright I'll just talk to him and give him a card.  Alright so we got to him and started talking to him and he spoke like perfect English, plus his wife is American and he said to come back. :)  The weather is nice some days.  But that's all I got for this week.  I love y'all a ton!!
Elder Phillips

Dawsonville-Week 8

Here is the lastest update from Elder Phillips this week.  One thing that I am finding with Justin is that he answers all the questions you have for him at the beginning of his email. I just hope that I remember the questions that I have asked him and in what order. LOL!  Here is his email.....Well my week has been pretty good.  We had a whole week with many, many miracles and blessings.  The work is going forward, slowly but surely.  The weather is all kinds of crazy, it changes everyday.  We went hiking last week and I have some pictures for proof.  We have been seeing a lot of miracles lately because of our obedience it is amazing.  If I just give up something I like to do the Lord will bless me so much.  I am getting along with my companion pretty well.  I need to learn to be more patient, this is for sure a challenge for me. I am doing pretty well.  Well my small miracle for this week is..we were walking out of the apartment on Wednesday and this other guy happened to be walking past at the same time, so I said, "Hey, how's it goin?" He said fine.  And then I was like wow it is a beautiful day and he turned around and said yes, yes it is.  So he started talking to us about what the church believed so we ended up teaching him the first lesson.  He was in tears through the whole thing...he felt the spirit and it was what he needed to hear.  And when we were talking to him it was like I already knew him...it was kind of a weird, subtle feeling.  So no matter what comes out of it, I felt the spirit and I know he felt the spirit and he now has the Book of Mormon.  It was an amazing feeling...the Lord for sure placed him in our path and prepared him to hear our message.  Plus we went tracting this week, and the first 2 or 3 houses were not into it.  But as we went on and pressed forward the Lord provided us with 3 new families to start sharing the gospel with.  We will see how interested they are in a couple of weeks.  I know that this is the true church.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true.  I feel it every time I read it.  It contains the fullness of the gospel.  Cover to cover. True doctrine.  I love this gospel and I love y'all.

Elder Phillips

Here are some pictures that Elder Phillips sent home this week.

I'm not good with signs.

Elder Moore, Elder Childs, Elder Chambers and Me!!

It looks beautiful!!

Me in the wild.

Once again I'm not good with signs, y'all know that.

Dawsonville-Week 7

Here is the latest update from Elder Phillips in Georgia.....So I have been in Dawsonville for a month and a half now serving with Elder Childs.  He is a good guy, he has been out now for 8 months.  But great news Elder Chambers, he is one of the elders serving in Dahlonega is training a new missionary from Texas.  So I am serving with Elder Childs and Elder Chambers and Elder Moore are in my district.  He is missing his dad's burgers and can't wait to have them again.  So the week has been alright, kind of a slow one but it was good.  The weather is still pretty darn hot, I think it is goin to keep this up for a couple of more weeks.  The leaves are slowly changin here and I am excited for that.  I want it to cool down.  I shared a story with about his nephew, that he hasn't met yet, he was sitting with me in church and I gave him my cell phone to play with.  I always put it on vibrate but didn't realize that if he hit the music button it would still play so Sawyer Brown is blaring in the chapel.  He said that is why you don't let Oliver use the phone, he is smart for just over a year.  Only my parents...I love y'all.  So I have some good news, Brother Dunn is taking us to Amicalola Falls today so I'll try to get some pics of it.  So my miracle for this week, well, I have
a lot that happen everyday but one of them that really stuck out.  So we had an appointment fall through this week, and we decided to walk around, then Elder Childs said should we knock on a couple of doors?  I wasn't sure if I wanted to knock on some of these doors but we did it anyway.  So I was walking up to this door and I got hit by a spider web, because here the spiders build webs from tree to tree and I was covered in it.  We still knocked on the door, no one answered, so I was like great....no one answered and now I am covered in a web.  Good news, the spider didn't get on me.  But I wouldn't care anyway.  So then we start walking up the street and I am feelin a little like Nephi, we felt inspired to knock on that door but nothin happened...so we see this guy walking outside so we started to talk to him and he has actually been to the church before just in a different part of the state, he was super open to coming to visit the church.  That was kind of a long odd story but I know that because we acted on that prompting from the Lord he blessed us with that man to talk to.  Everything happens for a reason, the Lord is aware of us.  He wants to bless us, we just need to listen to him when he prompts us.  Well that is all for this week.  I love Y'ALL!!
Elder Phillips

Dawsonville-Week 6

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips.....It has been an awesome morning, we received transfer calls and Elder Childs and I will be staying together for another transfer.  The Lord has something in store for us, he has more work for us to do.  You will never guess what we had at a members home last night....he is from Utah actually.  He fed us navaho tacos.  It was so good.  Oh, he had lamb a couple of nights ago also.  We had told Justin that Michael met President Wolfert's parents.  He did service work for them.  It really is a small world.  The weather has been pretty good this week, the leaves are startin' to fall and it is supposed to be a nasty winter but we will wait and see what happens.  We have some new people and that is where my story for this week comes from.  So we went to see a potential investigator, right??  Typical day, so we parked on this road and apparently people go way too fast on this road.  So the potential investigator she wasn't home.  So we decided to work that neighborhood we we got stopped by a man who wanted us to move our car because he was worried about his kids, which I understood so I told him "yes, sir" we will move it right away.  So we di and he said we could park in his driveway but he said their a Baptist home so don't bother.  So we just kind of talked with him a little, just casual stuff and I think just the spirit that is with us, slowly workin' on him because by the end he said that we could come by and sit down and talk to them.  I love the spirit.  I love the miracles that we experience everyday.  So in closing this week I want to let y'all know that I know that God is a God of mircles and that if we just exercise a little bit of faith, he can open the windows of heaven and make anything happen.  This area has turned around in the six weeks that Elder Childs and I have been together.  God is aware of us and of our hard work, he is blessing us so much.  I love this work!!  Well that is all I have for this week, have a good one, I love y'all.

Elder Phillips

Elder Phillips and Elder Childs

                                                     Just some Utah boys goofing off (Navaho Taco dinner)

Dawsonville-Week 5

Here is the latest update from Elder Phillips.....We had to tell Justin in our email this week that we broke the boat.  We are in the process of re-building the engine in it.  So his email started this week......You broke the boat??   Noooooooooo!!!!  My hopes and dreams!!  It's okay, it happens.  That sounds like an awesome adventure.  I think he is referring to the adventure of getting the boat off Utah Lake and not the rebuilding process.  My week has been pretty good, we had some success this week.  My area is great.  I love it here.  My companion is great!!  Tiny miracle for this week, we were out and visiting potential investigators and we weren't having much luck but as we continued to try to find people we knocked on a door of a man who has been prepared to hear the message.  He said we could come by anytime and while we talked to him, I could feel the spirit working through us.  It was amazing.  That was an awesome experience.  I love and miss y'all.
Elder Phillips

Dawsonville-Week 4

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips.....it has been pretty mild here, weatherwise, but it'll heat up I'm sure.  My week was alright, we worked and preached the gospel.  The work is moving, I am not sure which way it is moving in this area but it is for sure moving.  I am getting along pretty well with my companion, he is a good kid.  No new investigators this week, it was kind of a slow week but we met with a lot of less active members.  We went street contacting the other day and we went to this neighborhood to just knock on doors and talk to people.  Well we ended up talking to a bunch of people and they were all pretty nice about the message we had to share. One even said to come back later.  It was a small miracle but for sure a miracle. We were inspired to go to that neighborhood and work and I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for prompting us to go there.  Mom, I know that you are struggling right now but I know that you have a strong testimony of the gospel.  I followed it for 17 years.  I know that scripture study and prayer are essential in our lives, there is a reason we encourage our investigators to do these things.  I want you to know that I have a testimony of scriptures and prayer.  I know that God reveals things to us through the scriptures.  I know that he hears and answers prayers.  He knows and understands us better than anyone on this earth.  We just need to talk to him, he misses us.  He wants to help us to make it back to him but we gotta ask him for help.  I know that this church is true, I know that Joseph Smith was called of God and that God's church is on the earth today.  The Book of Mormon is true, by reading it we can grow closer to God.  Jesus Christ is our Savior, he loves us and he paid the price for us so that we don't have to.  We just have to do our part and come unto him.  I love y'all and miss ya a ton.  Love Elder Phillips

Dawsonville-Week 3

I have had a number of people ask me if I had new pictures of Justin.  He is good to occasionally send them home to us but I am terrible about getting them posted to his blog but I have included a few from his last 208 that he sent home a few months ago.  This is the lastest update from him....My week has been good.  We got some awesome people that we are workin' with right now.  The weather has been hot but that's just how it is and I love every minute of it, I might move down here ;)  ha ha we'll talk about that later :)  My companion and I are doin' well, we are working pretty hard right now but there is always room for improvement.  We picked up like 3 new gators (investigators) this week, so the Lord is really blessin' us.  I bought new shirts that actually fit, it is a good feelin.  They make me look more like a representative of Jesus Christ.  Thank so much for helping me out with the funds for my mission....this has been one of the greatest experiences of my life.  We had a neat experience this week, well to start last week while tracting we gave this guy a Book of Mormon and said we would come back to share more and so one night this week we went by and his wife answered the door, without asking questions she let us in and we sat down and taught her the first lesson.  She said she was very interested and that she wanted to come to church in a couple of weeks, after the Olympics were over.  I know that this church is true.  I know that missions are not easy, but this is the Lord's work and it is his kingdom that we are building up.  And the things that we do in this 2 year span are far greater that we are and we can't even begin to understand the difference we are making.  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, he lives and loves us.  His Atonement is amazing, it can change anything.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true and no one can take that from me.  I love y'all and miss a ton.

Elder Phillips

Dawsonville-Week 2

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips.....my week has been good.  My companion is pretty cool, quiet but cool.  We picked up a couple of new investigators this week but it is hard to find new people sometimes.  The area that I am serving in is very spread out and very country.  You know where we go camping at Wastch State Park, it is a lot like that area, that little town that is sort of in the mountains.  There is a mountain range at like the top of our area close to the border of the state.  There are a ton of hills here.  I am settling in pretty well, the four of us gave talks last Sunday, it was my first talk in 13 months.  Plus I taught the gospel principles class at the last minute.  I get along with the other missionaries, sometimes we don't always see eye to eye but that is one of the challenges of missionary work.  I have to learned to be patient and to be humble.  Still working on it though.  Oh so a funny story to share...our new investigator we have been trying to get a hold of her and visit her and everytime we go to see her, her rooster greets us...he always just comes out of no where and just walks around with us, like a dog.  We were at her door one day and she has this table right next to the door and he will just jump up there and look at us as we were knocking on the door.  So tiny miracle, we have been doing a lot of tracting lately, one lady we taught the whole first lesson on her door step and committed her to read the Book of Mormon.  It was pretty awesome, the Lord knows where we are going to be and who he needs to place in our path.  I love this work so much and I enjoy helping others come closer to Christ, I know that his Atonement is real and that it covers every mistake I or anyone on this earth has made and I know that if we accept him and accept his Atonement, we can make it back to live with our Heavenly Father.  His Atonement is infinite and Eternal, he is the way and the light.  I love y'all and miss ya a bunch.

Dawsonville-Week 1

Well Justin has been transferred to Dawsonville, Georgia which is north is where he was serving.  He has been called as district leader up there.  We heard from Bishop Allphin, who Justin served with in Jonesboro, letting us know how much they were going to miss him and what an awesome missionary he was.  It does your heart good to hear that as his mom.  Justin says he was an awesome bishop and he loved working him.  So this is his update this week......I miss Jonesboro a lot but I know that I am supposed to be in this area right now.  Dawsonville is straight country and I love it!!  Everyone drives a truck, everyone has lifts on their trucks.  The people here are so friendly.  We went to a members home this week, his name is Bro. S and he owns his own farm, he has chickens, peacocks and like 7 horses.  It is sweet!!  He lives up in Dahlonega though.  So like I said it is very country people just let their chickens roam the yard and stuff, it is weird because the chickens they watch you and follow you.  The ward is broken up into two parts Dahlonega and Dawsonville.  But it is all one ward.  The Dahlonega Elders are Elders Chambers from Woods Cross and Elder Thorne from Orem, Utah.  In Dawsonville, it is myself and my companion Elder Childs, who is from Gunnison, Utah.  The district is just the four of us and we live about 15 miles from the church.  The church is like half way between both sets of missionaries.  The people here are way nice, the ward members pretty much love  the missionaries and they are like all converts.  Oh and like Magna, everyone is related, you should see the ward roster.  I am the oldest in this district by 5 weeks, Elder Chambers is right behind me.  Tiny miracle for this week....well when I got here there were no investigators at all, not one, and this week we went to work and started working through the area book and we found someone, a nice lady who was taught before, she lives in the middle of no where.  We had a good discussion with her but we will see what happens.  We do a lot of service in this area apparently.  I am excited to be here and I know that the Lord wants me here.  I love and miss y'all.

Jonesboro-Week 18

Here is the latest update from Justin this week.....The work is moving forward and we are doing our best.  It has not cooled down that is for sure.  Well....transfers are this week and I am getting transferred.  I will be going to Dawsonville, it is in Northern Georgia.  We have some people here in Jonesboro in the making, they will eventually become investigators, I think.  My companion is doing great and I hope he will miss me but I'm not sure if he will or not.  LOL!!  I visited one of my favorite families this past Wednesday and their youngest daughter decided to use what she learned from Kung Fu Panda on me..."my boys" will never be the same again.  I will be serving as district leader in Dawsonville and I will still be driving a Ford fusion.  Booya!!  I think he is excited about still having a car and not having to bike all the time.  A tiny miracle for this week would be we got in with one of our investigators, finally and she said that she was reading and we weren't sure where to go with the conversation, so I asked an inspired question and it was exactly what needed to be said.  It was so amazing.  I was very happy.  Well, that is it for this week.  Next week I will be emailing you from my new area.  I love and miss y'all.

Jonesbor-Week 17

Well this week we emailed Justin from Utah Lake while we were on vacation we tried not to make him too homesick and this was his update for the week......That is awesome to hear about your weekend, I'm gonna be honest I have missed the boat a lot this year but this is the Lord's work, which is far more important than riding on a tube in the nice Utah weather.  I think he was a little homesick this week.  Our 4th of July was good.  We had a nice ward activity where we played soccer with the spanish branch, it was a lot of fun.  The weather is hot and humid, we had a record setting day last week....107, that's hot!!  Plus we drive by Jodeco Lake like everyday, it's rough.  The work is awesome in Jonesboro.  I love it.  I think I might be leaving  this transfer but I am not sure.  My companion is legit as always.  My miracle for this week, we were trying to contact everyone we see, which is hard sometimes and we met this guy who was super nice and he actually knows quite a bit about the church and he said he would love for us to come by sometime.  He knew about Joseph Smith, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and everything it was for sure the Lord's hand in his work.  I know that this is where I need to be at this time in my life.  I know that my mission is not very long but what will come out of these two years is so great.  I love and miss y'all.

Jonesboro-Week 16

Well Justin has been in Jonesboro now for 4 months and from the sounds of it he is really liking it and having some great experiences...here is the latest update from him......This week has been pretty good.  It has been very HOT here for sure.  Like 107 degrees!!  It was crazy.   We still have to go out and work in it though.  For the 4th of July I think we are going to have a BBQ at the church with our ward mission leader and then we are going out and working all day.  Just a normal day for us missionaries.  I really enjoy being a missionary.  Jonesboro is great and we have some awesome people we are working with.  I am glad that I am not riding a bike right now.  Sometimes we do have to walk though.  I really don't have much to say this week.  Everything is going peachy here. Well my small miracle for the week was this...we are meeting with one of our investigators this week and we felt prompted to promise him if he read the Book of Mormon that he would receive a job offer in seven days, so the very next day  he calls us and tells us that he got a job.  It was so amazing.  I have gained a testimony of missionary work and have strenghtened my testimony of prayer.  I love missionary work so much, it is hard sometimes but it is worth it.  Well that is all I have for this week.  I love and miss y'all.

Jonesboro-Week 15

This is the latest update from Justin.....Howdy family, well this week has been really good.  We had a baptism on Saturday which makes it a perfectly good weekend.  It is crazy to think that I have been on my mission for this long and it freaks me out that I don't have over a year anymore.  The work is going well, we should be having another baptism in a couple of weeks and our investigators are doing really well.  We have some great brothers and sisters here in Jonesboro.  I love my area so much!!  I can get around without a GPS now.  It is starting to get very humid here but we will see how the summer goes.  The Jonesboro district is doing really well.  I am still serving with Elder Astle and are having a good amount of success.  We have a new missionary serving in the Spanish branch, he is from Utah.  And my man, Elder Sarniguet is still here and he is an awesome missionary.  We also have a senior couple who is going home this transfer...and two older missionaries in the Flint River Ward.  So here is my miracle for the week...Elder Astle and I were talking about numbers this week and we were setting goals for baptisms each month and I jokingly said....20 baptisms and he was like okay and I was like come on Elder...that is like 4 families of 5 people.  So at this baptism that we had the bishop pulled us aside and said that he had a referral for us.  He told us a little bit about the referral...like how they called the bishop asking about the Scouting program, so we talked to the referral and set up a time to come by and after talking to them I found out that they were a family of 5 people.  I know now that the Lord is serious about his work.  I know that he knows the desires of our hearts, he knows what we need before we even ask.  I hope that y'all have a good week.  Love y'all!!

Jonesboro-Week 14

Latest update from Elder Phillips.....it has been another great week in the mission field.  I am doing good, just trying to do the best that I can with what I got.  The work is going good, we have a baptism this upcoming weekend, its pretty sweet.  Jonesboro is great and the ward is super nice and now I know the area super well.  We have been looking for new investigators but the work is a little slow right now.  Well this week we had a miracle that I wanted to share with y'all.  We were visiting potential investigators and the first one we knocked on the people that lived there had moved...the lady that lives there was prepared to hear this message.  She is now one of our new investigators.  Well that was a pretty awesome testimony builder for me.  I want to wish dad a late Father's Day and hope he had a great day.  I appreciate him and everything that he taught me.  In closing let me share with you a little piece of one of my favorite talks by one of m favorite Apostles.  This piece of his talk has helped me a lot and it applies to every single one of us.  "I do not know who in this vast audience today may need to hear the message of forgiveness inherent in this parable, but however late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don't have or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love.  It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ's Atonement shines." Elder Holland-April 2012  I just want to tell you that I know that this is true, none of us have traveled too far from the path, we can always come back no matter how far off we think we are, his atonement is infinite and eternal.  I love y'all so much and miss you too. 

Jonesboro-Week 13

Justin's email from this week....The Lord's work is moving forward.  I feel like I'm doing a great job but I feel like I can be doing more for the Lord...My week has been pretty good, could be better.  We have some new people we are working with but it is hard sometimes to find new people to teach.  But it is part of the work and I just gotta keep pushing forward.  I'm doing good, just enjoying this Georgia weather.  Grateful that I am in a car area.  Lol!!  So this week we were having a family home evening with some of our recent converts, we are actually going over there tonight and one of the neighbor kids was like I want to come so we said of course.  Well she asks should I go get my Book of Mormon?  Turns out she is not a member but her mother is...that was an amazing experience.  I don't know what will happen with it but it helped me out a lot.  Plus...we have had this Laotian copy of the Book of Mormon sitting in our apartment and I had no idea why it was there?  So last week we went to see a lady in our ward and turns out that she has a family member coming into town who can only read Laotian...talk about a miracle, that was powerful.  The Lord is blessing the people here...through us.  I know that he is involved in this work and in our lives.  I love y'all and miss ya.

Jonesboro-Week 12

Well, Elder Phillips has been serving in Jonesboro now for the last three months and he is approaching his year mark.  The year for us has really gone by fast.  I started my email last week with....WHEW!!  What a week it has been and then we filled him in on all the changes; his grandpa is getting married and ward boundaries changes. This is part of his email this week....My week has been great for the most part.  The work is going great.  We got a lot of people that we are working with.  I'm doing great.  I love serving the Lord.  I hope I am making a difference in this area.  The weather is hot, plus we had to take our car into the shop so we were on bikes which was a great work out but it was HOT!!  We had a great weekend as a district, the Flint River missionaries plus the Spanish missionaries had baptisms this weekend.  It was awesome.  I'm proud of the missionaries that I serve with here.  We had a lot of people placed in our paths this week, this is probably my miracle for this week.  If we weren't on bikes we wouldn't have been able to talk to them.  But I know that I am supposed to be on a mission right now.  I know that this work is true, I know that we are so blessed to have this gospel in our lives.  I love y'all and miss ya.

Jonesboro-Week 11

Elder Phillips had a great week in Georgia. His companion and him are getting along great.  This is from his recent email...We recently went on exchanges with the Assistants to the President of the mission.  It was a very uplifting experience, makes me want to be so much better than I am.  The weather is getting HOT!!  I mentioned to Justin in my last email as he is approaching his one year mark that he need to finish strong so that he had no regrets.  The mission president told Justin the same thing about finishing strong and keeping his focus so that he will not have any regrets. So tiny miracle for this week, we finally got in with our long lost investigators so that was amazing, they are doing great and progressing well.  So I am loving serving the Lord, it is such a great experience to be serving around such great missionaries and to be serving as district leader.  In closing I want you to know that I know this this work is true, that this church is true.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true.  I know that this work that we are doing changes lives.  I know the Jesus Christ lives, I know that through him and through him alone I can make it back home to my Father in Heaven.  I know he hears and answers prayers, he loves each and everyone of us.  His work and his glory is to bring us back.  He wants us to be happy.  I know that eternal families can happen if we make it happen.  I love and miss y'all.

Jonesboro-Week10

So Elder Phillips spent his 20th birthday in Jonesboro, Georgia.  He is doing great.  He received his birthday package from us just in time.  This is what he had to say this week.....We had dinner with a member family, who invited another member over to celebrate her birthday, well the member who had the birthday couldn't make it so Elder Sarniguet (one of the Spanish missionaries) spilled the beans and they used the cake for me.  It was great.  My week has been good, we have had a lot of success, we are mostly working with the less active members right, they are great.  The work is movin' forward like always, just trying to find those that are ready for the truth.  I love my companion, he gave me a nasty looking tie for my birthday today, it is a pretty good looking one.  The weather is heating up quick, I am pretty stoked about that.  Elder Astle and I have been working on talking to more people and this week we had one day where we just talked to everyone and we found a lot of people who seem ready and we set appointments with a lot of them.  It was an amazing blessing from the Lord.  But we have had a lot of good stuff happening here, we gotta keep pushing forward and keep working hard everyday.  I know that this is the Lord's work and that this is the true church.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  Well that is all for this week.  I love and miss y'all.

Jonesboro-Week 9

We had the opportunity to talk with Elder Phillips on Mother's Day.  We were able to Skype with him and he looks great and sounds awesome!!  He is getting along with his new companion and they seem to work well together.  He said that there is lots of good things happening in the South right now and he is excited to be part of it.  He has had a number of baptisms and they are working with a number of families.  He was able to see Oliver and we teased him by giving Oliver his "crookies" (the frosted pink and white animal cookies).  Oliver loves them too.  He is busy being the district leader and he says it is a lot of hard work but it is very rewarding.  His brothers teased him about his lost back pack and they all compared waist lines.  LOL!!  We did get a short email this week but since we had just talked with him it didn't have much news.  Michael says he sounds funny now.  From his email....Sorry this is short, but I have like no time to write this email but I just wanted to say that it was awesome to talk to y'all, you look great and happy.  I enjoy seeing family and interacting with y'all.  Love and miss y'all!!

Jonesboro-Week 8

Well, Elder Phillips got a surprise this week in Jonesboro, Sister Wright who watched out for him while he was in Monroe visited her parents who live in Jonesboro and got to see Justin. She sent me a facebook message and said that he is looking great and doing well. From his email this week.....We had a baptism on Sunday, which is always good. They are getting confirmed next Sunday, super cool. He is really liking his new companion, he is fresh out of the MTC and is a hard worker. The work is going great, being district leader is a challenge sometimes but many are called and few are chosen. My week has been pretty good. We have been finding a lot of new people to teach. Tiny miracle this week, we got an amazing referral from the members. I wasn't sure how the first lesson was going to go but they are a great couple, it was one of the best first lessons I have ever had on my mission. The Lord is giving us people and we are working as hard as we can. It is such a blessing. I love serving the Lord in Georgia. I love and miss y'all. Talk with you next week.

Elder Phillips and Elder Sarniguet (one of the spanish speaking missionaries)

Jonesboro-Week 7

Here is the latest update for Elder Phillips.....Well, shoot this has been a pretty good week.  I have a new companion, Elder Astle from Yuba City, California.  He is the bomb at missionary work but it feels weird training him because he is 22 years old and I'm only 19 but only for a few more weeks.  He is a hard working missionary and I feel really good about this companionship.  I am very excited about staying in Jonesboro, it is a great area to be in.  My week has been great!!  We have contacted a lot of people this week and we are having tons of success already.  The weather is crazy here.....it is heating up though.  I pray for everyone back home every night.  I know that there are lots of struggles right now but the atonement is infinite and eternal, it can fix anything.  I'm happy to hear that you are making the best of your callings.  I am being tested with accepting callings out here.  The Lord has called me as District leader/Trainer...a lot of responsibility.  But prayer makes it so much easier to deal with.  Our little miracle is on Wednesday we were visiting a former investigator at like 8:30 but he was busy so we talked to the first person we saw.  We talked to her for like 20 minutes, she accepts our message and commits to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.  It gets better though, two other people came out of no where and wanted a copy of it too...so we talked to them and got their information, then a 4th guy shows up and we talk to him about it, it was amazing y'all.  The Lord is in this work, I know it.  I love serving the Lord...and I look forward to talkin' to y'all in a couple of weeks.  I love y'all.

Jonesboro-Week 6

So I guess the best news of this week's email, at least for me, was Elder Phillips found his backpack!! and everything was still in it.  I don't think he would have liked to finish my mission with a "My Little Pony" backpack.  Elder Phillips received the news that his companion Elder Keliikoa was going to be transferred so that means Elder Phillips will be training a new missionary next week. From  his email this week....It is crazy to think that I am going to be 20 years old next month.  I am so excited to talk to y'all.  I have been almost gone a year...crazy huh? Here is my bad news, our baptism was changed to a later date but that is okay I am not discouraged.  I have had a lot of great experiences on my mission so far, some you have heard of and some you haven't.  I know that I am here for a reason, that this is where I am supposed to be and that it is shaping my life.  We had an experience this week where we had a lady that we met on the street and she invited to meet with her at her home so we went over there and she wasn't there...wrong home. So we talked to some lady that lived there and we talked to her for a good hour and she was a honest seeker of truth.  It was so cool and now we are going to start teaching her.  We also talked to a lady from Jerusalem on that street, that was pretty sweet.  Oh, man it is crazy that I am training again.  I am really excited to be doing this again.  I saw Elder McGary recently and he seems to be doing really well in Monroe.  I gonna miss camping this year but it is okay, the work that I'm doing right now is more important.  I am away from my family for a little while so others can be with theirs for eternity.  Thank you for the support, guys...it really means a lot to me..this work is a great work for me to be doing and I am grateful for the love and support that you guys give me.  Well, I know it is not alot this week but this is all I have for this email.  I miss y'all and love ya.

Jonesboro-Week 5

Another exciting week in the mission field for Elder Phillips.  He started out with a funny story for the week....so as missionaries we do weird stuff plain and simple...we actually cooked up a nice little squirrel and ate em this week....that is a change from the usual top ramen..  hahaha.  Not a lot of meat on them. I hope he is joking and really didn't eat squirrel.  He said it tastes like a fish/chicken taste.  I think Elder Phillips is becoming like his Grandfather Phillips....he likes to tell stories.  My week has been great, just out searching for his children that are ready.  The work is moving forward and the Lord is really blessingus.  I am getting along great with my companion, Elder Keliikoa.  He is sort of the shy one.  Oh on a side note, we had a missionary meeting and I left my backpack with my scriptures, camera and everything else in it so I am praying hard that I find it because I really don't want to try and replace everything in it.  So if you could throw up a couple of prayers for that I would appreciate it.  I am enjoying Jonesboro.  We got a baptism this week so that is always good.  Well some small miracles for the week.  We have been having trouble finding new people but we keep receiving referrals from the Spanish missionaries and from the ward because people are just walking into church.  It is so crazy the Lord is answering our prayers, just in a different way than I expected.  I know that He is there.  I know that he listens and answers our prayers.  I know that by small and simple things great thing come to pass.  This work is true and I know that this work is real.  God loves us all and wants us all to come back to live with him.  Oh another side note....one of our recent converts received the Priesthood yesterday and he asked me to ordain him...all I can say is...WOW!!  I am so grateful that the spirit was with me at that moment..the spirit filled my mouth...I have no idea what I  needed to say but the Lord took care of it.  I love ya'll!!

Jonesboro-Week 4

From the sounds of Elder Phillips email this week he is doing great.  He loves that he is serving with the Spanish missionaries because they are fed by their families and he loves the food.  So I am sure that now that he is not riding his bike or walking all the time he will put back on some of the weight that he lost orginally.  This is part of his email this week.....I have some great news!!  Every Friday we play basketball with investigators and I can now touch the rim of the hoop..maybe when I come home I will be able to dunk it!!  The work is going really well.  I am loving Jonesboro.  District Leader is great.  I love being an example to other missionaries and I hope the Lord keeps me here for awhile.  We had a pretty good week, we got two new investigators on Sunday from members.  It was amazing they just bought them to church, I realize that the Lord doesn't just work through his missionaries in the field but he works through his missionaries in each and every ward. And these investigators are great!!  I have gained a stronger testimony of Member missionary work.  The bible says in James 2:18 I will shew thee my faith by my works...there is more to this scripture but I really like that as members of the true church we really do understand that we are not saved by our works ..we are saved by grace, but we show are faith by our works.  Because James also states that Faith without works is dead, like out bodies without a spirit.  That is why we help others, that is why we visit members of our ward and that is why when diasters hit, the Mormons are the first to show up to help.  I want ya'll to know that I know that this church is true.  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, through him all things are possible..He was laid in a tomb, but on the third day he arose from the tomb....He lives!!  I know that he lives, I know that he suffered for us.  And that we can overcome death also.  I know that God lives, he created this world for us, he loves us and listens to our prayers.  I love and miss y'all.

Jonesboro-Week 3

Elder Phillips is doing great in Georgia but he says that the pollen is killing him.  He missed spring in Georgia last year.  He was able to listen to General Conference and he said it was awesome.  He said that he learned a lot and was very uplifted.  He shared an experience with me that really touched my heart......so here is a neat thing for you to think about Mom, so in the morning session on Sunday morning during President Monson's remarks he talked about our loved ones on the other side of the veil, then right after the choir who just happened to be dressed in Purple dresses (my mom's favorite color) stood and sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (my mom's favorite song) when they sang I teared up a little.  It was a very powerful experience.  We had two of our investigators come to conference which is all good.  My district is doing really well, I think.  Being a district leader is a lot of work, not going to lie but I am managing it and I am having a lot of success.  I have learned that my patience level is not very high.  Here is my little miracle for the week.....Elder Neri and I were on exchanges for the day, it was P-day and we were "thriftin'.....thrift store shopping for ties and we used a lot of miles to go to one of them and weren't sure if we could find it so as we are sitting at a light we hear this guy yelling at us asking directions, we tried to help the best we could be the light changed then we see him at the next light, which is red.  So we see this as a finding activity, so Elder Neri hands me a Mormon.org card  and I get out of the car at this light and tap on the dudes window, he rolls it down and I give him the card, he said he would check it out.  I believe that it was inspired for us to be at that light to talk with that guy.  Missionary work is dangerous and exciting.  I love being a missionary.  I am grateful for this chance I have to serve him for two years.  I miss ya'll and pray for you everyday.

Jonesboro-Week 2

Well, this week has been great.  We have found a lot of new people to teach and have had a lot of success.  My new companion and I are doing great.  We have totally differents views but we make it work.  Well I've been out about 9 months now and I woke up the other morning and it all hit me.  It is going by so fast ...it is kind of sad.  We had a combined service for testimony on Sunday with the spanish ward.  The spirit was very strong even though I couldn't understand them.  I have had real Mexican food now...holy cow it puts Taco Bell to shame.  We share dinners with the Spanish missionaries.  This week was eventful week.  On Sunday we had a young couple just walk into our meeting house and we will be teaching them tonight.  The same thing happened last Sunday.  We also had a baptism on Saturday.  Sorry  I forgot to tell you about it before now.  I love the quote you sent me Mom about living our testimonies.  I have run into lots of people on my mission that tell me that most Christians just talk the talk but everytime they had said that the Mormons they know walk the walk.  We live what we teach and we live what we learn from the scriptures.  Plain and simple.  My miracle for this week was we were out tracting last Thursday and we knocked on this guys door.  No one answers..we see his car pull up and he gets out and asks if he can help us?  He was not happy to see us, so we explained who we were and why we were there.  And he totally just threw up a wall between us and was not at all interested.  Typical....so we keep tracting because we are missionaries and we don't get discouraged.  So we just finished knocking on a door and this was like a half hour later and we see him leaving the neighborhood so I was going to wave because I still love the guy.  He stops and rolls down is window and asks if we have a number he can contact us at...his attitude was totally different.  The Lord really can soften the hearts of his children.  This is the first experience that I have had like this.  It was pretty cool.  Being a district leader is hard at times but it is okay.  The Lord is doing this for a reason to shape me into what he wants m e to become.  Well, I love and miss y'all.  Have a great week.

Justin included some new pictures with his email this week.

The baptism

Elder Phillips in the Jonesboro apartment

Elder Phillips at Sanford Stadium, yes!!  (Athens)

My shoes after 8 months

Elder Phillips and Elder Keliikoa studying...Sort of

Elder Phillips with an investigators wig on (Monroe)

Jonesboro-Week 1

So Justin has spent his first week in Jonesboro.  This is some of his email this week.  "Well Jonesboro, or what we like to call it J-Breeze is a great area, it is very big and very ghetto.  The meeting house looks like ours back hom but older...the ward is super small.  We have spanish speaking branch so the spanish Elder's live super close to us.  My companion is Elder Keliikoa from Moreno Valley California.  He is half black and half Hawaiian.  My district that I am over is me and my companion, Elder Neri and Elder Sarniguet (the spanish missionaries), the Flint River Ward elders and a senior couple.  I am settling in pretty well.  The area is just below Atlanta.  It is a great area and very fast paced.  We cover about three different counties, I think.  I finally get to drive a car...a brand new Ford Fusion, I still can't believe it.  We have alot of work going on here.  Being district leader is very different and it is a lot of responsibility but I know that I have been sent here for a reason.  Jonesboro is refreshing but there is a lot to be done.  I gave my testimony in sacrament meeting this last Sunday and it was amazing to see how much my testimony has grown and how much I've changed.  I love serving the Lord so much.  My little miracle is that when I got here, I guess we started picking up new investigators and the work has really started to pick up.  It is crazy how the Lord works and how he is in this work.  I've seen miracles happen on my mission and I will never forget those miracles it has changed my life so much.  I pray for y'all everyday and miss ya a ton. 

Elder Phillips aka Texas Ranger/Phily

Monroe-Week 18

Well, Elder Phillips spent his last week in Monroe, Georgia.  He was transferred last Wednesday (March 14th) to Jonesboro, Georgia which is southwest of where he has been serving.  I think it is south of Atlanta.  He has also been called to serve as the district leader in the area.  He was sad to leave Monroe and the wonderful people he has come to love but he is excited about his new area. He shared a funny story....On Thursday last week (so I guess this would be the Thursday before he was transferred) Justin and his companion, Elder McGary biked to Social Circle which is about 11 miles from Monroe and we worked down there all day and we have been asked to be more bold with people and you know me I am not very bold so we are down there working and we are just inviting people to be baptized and we have found people that have listened to our message because of baptism and because of the priesthood authority our church has to baptize.  It was off the wall insane.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  Side note....we covered about 30 miles that day.  I am excited for my new adventure in Jonesboro.

Monroe-Week 17

I think I am a little behind with these posts so I think I am going to try and catch up.  Elder Phillips is still serving in Monroe.  He survived the severe weather that went through that area a couple of weeks ago.  He says that he would rather deal with earthquakes than tornados.  But it is all part of  the adventure.  He says that the area that he is serving in is a faith tester but it is also building his faith.  They have been talking with lots of people lately but he says that is the way it is because nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach.  "We did have a guy stop us who they had given a pass along card to and he let us in and we taught him the Restoration, he accepted a Book of Mormon (Mormon bible) as some people call it , which was amazing because not a lot of people accept free book these days.  Which for me is sad because it contains the fulness of the gospel and outlines the plan of salvation and testify's that Jesus is the Christ.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I have seen it change lives if they give it a chance and really read and ask God if it is true it will change their lives.  I know this will all my heart.  This isn't my work, it is his work, I am just his servant and I will continue to do my best to serve him.  Not for my gain, but when others see my works it will glorify my Father in Heaven.  I love Georgia and I love missionary work.  Love y'all!!

Monroe-Week 16

This week Elder Phillips has had a rough week.  He said in his email that everything has fallen through this week...it has tested his faith a little bit but he is just trying to keep working hard and he knows that the Lord will bless him for it.  "My small miracle for the week was we were on a team up with a member and everything was falling through of course...but then we was this kid walking by, music blasting, so I get his attention and invite him to visit the website and invited him to hear the lessons.  He accepted.  One thing that I've realized on my mission is patience is not my strong suit.  I was told by another missionary a scripture in Luke 21:19 I think, which says in your patience possess ye your souls.  It just made me think that we need to be patient for what we want and that right now I should be focused completely on what the Lord wants and I think as I've been out here I have lost sight of that.  I need to keep my eye single to the glory of God.  I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  I have started to study the New Testament and it has strengthed my testimony of him.  I have learned more about who he really is and what he did for me.  And I can share that with others so they can see that he wasn't just a man who suffered on the cross but that he is our brother who loved us so much that he was willing to die for us and that he performed miracles and set a perfect example fo us to strive to become.  He broke the bands of death so that one day we can also make it back to live with our Heavenly Father and that we can stand before our God and he will rejoice with us and welcome us to his rest.  I love the restored gospel, I know it is all true.  I have seen it change lives.  I am a witness of his miracles and his mercies.

I know that Justin is in Atlanta for a reason and that he is blessing the lives of people there.  I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to support him and encourage him while he is serving the Lord.

Monroe-Week 15

Sorry, I am a little behind getting this blog updated this week.  Elder Phillips is still serving in Monroe, Georgia and loving it.  He is hoping that when transfers come in mid-March he will be able to stay for a while longer but will go wherever the Lord needs him.  The mission had zone conference this past week and so our P-day was on Wednesday.  Zone conference was very uplifting. :)  He said that it was really good to see some of his old companions.....The work is movin forward are we are fixin to set baptismal dates with our gators this week.  I am beginning to notice that Elder Phillips is starting to probably sound a little southern.  When he writes he leaves off the "g" and I am going to assume that "gators" mean investigators and not alligators.  It has hard to believe that he has been out for 8 months now.  It seems like only yesterday that we were all anxiously waiting for his mission call to come. He shared with us his small miracle for the week......We were meeting with one of our investigators this week and as I sat there and listened toher and tried to help her I realized somethin...she has changed so much since the first time we met with her...I was shocked to see how much the gospel has already changed her life.  We are so blessed to have it in our lives.

Monroe-Week 14

Justin is still serving in Monroe and just as I sat down to update this blog, Sister Wright who is taking great care of Justin sent us a picture of him burning his tie for his six months.  I guess it is a little late but it is hard to believe that he has been gone for 8 months now.  The work is going great and they are hoping to have some investigators ready for baptism in  the next couple of weeks.  He says the weather is cold, not like our cold but it pierces you right to the very core.  He included his small miracle for the week.....We were teaching one of our investigators this week and she wanted to read out of the Book of Mormon, so she opened it up and picked the chapter, so she asked us what does this chapter talk about?  So we explained and it was crazy because her reaction told me that in that chapter was exactly what she needed to hear...so it strengthened my testimony on revelation through the scriptures.  To be able to see it happen in others lives it just....wow leaves me speechless.

Week 13

Justin is serving in Monroe and was having a good week.  He is getting along with his companion and they are working hard.  He is getting over a cold and says he is feeling more like himself.  He shared with us his small miracle for the week......On Fast Sunday I fast for  more team ups for our ward, because we don't have a car and we have a lot of gators, and the Lord answered that prayer and a bunch of people signed up, it was amazing to see how much the Lord loves and blesses us.  And how aware he is of us.  I think that is what I have learned the most on my mission, is really who I am and why I am here and how important the people of Georgia are to our Father in Heaven and how much I actually care about these people.  I care so much about their salvation and I don't even know them.  It reminds me of the story of Enos a little bit, I just have that desisre to help them come closer.  He closed his email this week with his testimony.....I know that God is our Father in heaven and that he loves us.  I know that Jesus is the Christ and that he suffered for our sins, that through him we might be saved.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I recently finished it again and I don't have a doubt in my mind that it was true.  I know that Joseph Smith was called of God. And that families can be together forever...I know that I will see Grandma again and that makes this world worthwhile...having that knowledge.  I know that one day I will see my Heavenly Father and I pray that when that day comes that he will rejoice in what I've done in this life.  In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

It is awesome to see the growth in Justin and to know that he is doing his best.