Cumming-Week 11 and Week 12

Well, this is going to be the final post of my blog for Justin.  He will be returning from Georgia on Thursday afternoon after serving there for two years.  He didn't email this week because I am sure he is busy finishing up work and say goodbye to those he has met.  This is his email from last week.....so I went to court this morning (June 3rd) and it wasn't too bad.  I had to pay a 179.00 fine and it will not show up on my insurance.  The judge said that I need to go back to school when I get home, that is all he asks, just get an education and be successful.  Well other than that, things are good.  My week has been good, very hot...it's so nice.  The work is going good, just doing what I can and leaving the rest to the Lord.  It is so crazy that my mission is ending this next week....I can't believe it...it goes sooo fast....but I got one last week, my last stand as Elder A calls it.  So here is my miracle for the week.  We taught a recent convert's mother this week, she was legit.  We had her in a member's home and everything, the spirit was super strong.  We even watched the Restoration dvd.  We bore our testimonies and she was in tears, she ask me if gaining a testimony was hard, like if I struggled to keep praying when the answer wasn't coming and I wanted to tell her so bad that it wasn't hard, because I didn't want to discourage her but I told her that it isn't easy to gain a testimony sometimes, that our Father in Heaven want us to show him how bad we want to know and I testified that she could gain a testimony, if she truly searched for it.  It was awesome!!  So other than that, things are good....the ward keeps reminding me how much time I have left, they always have me share thoughts and closing prayers like it's the last time I'll ever pray in my life.  But I love ya and I'll see you next week.  Love ya bye!!!

Elder Phillips

Cumming-Week 10

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips.....I am a week behind on posting his update so at this writing he has actually spent 11 weeks in Cumming, Georgia.  Next week I will post his last two updates since he will be home a week from this Thursday....Mom, I am gonna dry clean my suits before I come home but they don't fit at all anymore.  I've just gotten too big, since I've been in Cumming and Marietta.  Things are good here.  We had a steak dinner by the lake yesterday, ahhh!!  I miss the lake.  I really enjoyed it.  My week has been good.  We haven't found any new people to teach yet, it's rough.  The weather is getting hot!!  It's nice.  We were able to get back in with a lady we met this week which was sweet.  We left a blessing on her home, it was so powerful, even her 4 month old daughter was quiet during it.  She was amazed at that, because her daughter is never quiet.  It was a powerful moment on my mission.  I love it!!  Elder A and doing great.  Just doing what we can and trying to stay positive.  Missionary work is just that, it's work.  We'll find some more people I know we will, we just gotta keep it going.  But I love y'all and I know that this work is true and that we are blessin lives here.

Love Elder Phillips
PS: I'm stayin in Georgia :) ( let me think about that for a minute.....no you are not!!)

Cumming-Week 9

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips in Cumming, Georgia....he celebrated his 21st birthday on the 20th of May......Thanks for the birthday wishes.  It is weird that I am not 21 years old.  I still feel like a little kid.  I don't feel like an adult.  So I had Sister A call you because she was saying something about my license not being legit or something, I don't know.  But I talked with Elder A this week and he does want me to call the court to see for sure if I have to have someone with me, he doesn't think I do but we will see.  I will let you know what happens, if I'm not in the slammer that is. :)  Our week has been hot and hot.  We didn't really find any new people this week.  We have one lady that we are teaching and we invited her to be baptized, she isn't ready though.  We got dumped on yesterday with rain, I've never seen so much rain in my whole life, it was so crazy.  My allergies are better now, they were pretty bad this past couple of days.  Things are just kind of moving along.  We were out knocking doors as usual and we came across this family, who was super cool.  They were friends with the missionaries before us, so hopefully we can get in with them and teach them.  Our teaching pool is rather small right now, we just trying our best to find new people to teach.  I am probably going to leave my bike in Georgia.  Well, that is about all I have this week.  Love ya, bye!!

Elder Phillips

Cumming-Week 8

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips....it is a short update since we got to talk with him on Sunday for Mother's Day.  He seems to be doing great and it was wonderful to hear his voice.  I am getting excited about him coming home in just a few weeks.......Well, it was good to talk to y'all on Mother's Day.  I am glad that everything is going well there.  After I done talking to y'all I took off my pants at our dinner appointment....she repaired my pants and I wore a robe while she did it.  Sweet!!  I am excited about seeing y'all in a month.  Tell Tyler to focus and enjoy the little things but don't worry about the little things.  Love ya bye!!

Elder Phillips

Cumming-Week 7

Here is the latest update from Georgia......Mom, I am planning on calling you on Mother's day because it will be easier plus y'all will see me a month later anyway. My court date is in Duluth, Georgia and I have to be there at 9:00 am.  The work is going well, we have an investigator gettin' baptized on the 11th of May.  The weather is slowly heatin' up here and I am excited about that.  I will try and send my quilt home on Monday.  We are having dinner with a cool family on Mother's day and I will call you from there....no Skype but it's okay.  So basically, we had a crazy experience, we went to teach one of our gators, in a trailer park and we get there and they had a friend there, who was super excited to talk about Jesus, he used to persecute the Christians but now he loves Jesus.  So we invited him to read the Book of Mormon, he was excited about it.  So things are good.  Talk to ya later.

Love ya
Elder Phillips

Cumming-Week 6

Here is another weekly update from Elder Phillips....our baptism didn't work out this weekend but our other guy is still on date for May.  Our other investigators are all right, we are just trying to find more of them.  We don't have too many at this point.  This week is good, it was pretty dry until like Friday then it rained like crazy for 3 days.  The Farm was fun, lots of horse poop.  We didn't go out this week, too much to do.  So we got transfer calls this week and Elder A and I are sticking together, Coal Mountain/Cumming will be my last area.  So I will start working on selling my bike, I guess.  So this week we were knockin doors on this street called Philips Creek Dr and like everyone we talked to was super nice to us.  There was one lady that said she really wanted us to come back and talk with her.  So that was legit, I guess.  But other than that we are just working on the members, trying to get them to share the gospel...and knockin on a billion doors.  haha.  I am going to try and send my blanket home in the next couple of weeks.  Things are good, we have Stake conference this next weekend and then Mother's day.  But I love this work a lot.  Well, that is about it, pretty boring week.  Not too much to say.  Lol!!!

Love ya,
Elder Phillips

Cumming-Week 5

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips......Hey Family, well you just took a huge load off my shoulders today, I was worried how y'all would react to my ticket.  I am not happy about it but I have learned a great lesson from it.  Elder A (a senior missionary couple) will be going to court with me to help me out.  I am glad that dad got a kick out of my whole experience, at least I didn't pull over on the wrong side of the road.  (He is referring to the fact that his brother, Tyler did pull over on the wrong side of the road and removed the side mirror with a mile marker sign.)  We are hoping that we will have a baptism this weekend but we will wait and see.  The pollen is really bad this year here but it is getting warm so I am stoked about that.  So things are going good, just trying to stay busy.  We had 4 legit investigators at church this Sunday!!  It was so awesome.  I know that our Heavenly Father is in this work and that Jesus Christ is out Savior and Redeemer, he lived for us and he died for us.  And he lives today..:)  I love this work...it's hard....trust me....Satan is really trying to get me to quit but I will not quir, this work is too important to me and my Father in heaven.  So things are good, just moving forward.  I got to do service this week at the barn.  I'll make sure to take pictures next time, basically it is a farm where they do riding lessons and therapy lessons for special kids, they get to ride horses and stuff.  Plus a less active member owns the barn, so we go and do service for her there, like moving horse crap.  It is pretty sweet!!  I love this area so much.  But that is all I have this week.  Love ya, Elder Phillips

PS: If you see me pickin up trash on the side of the highway in Georgia, you know my court date went bad......

Cumming-Week 4

Well, here is the latest from Justin (Speedy) this week.....Hey Family, well this week has been pretty crappy....um I have some bad news.  I got pulled over on my way to Leadership training.  I got caught speeding, because I was passing someone who was driving reckless.  So instead of a ticket because I am under 21 and I was going 17 over because I was passing someone I now have a court date on June 3rd.  I am sorry I know that this is going to cost me alot of money (really it is going to cost HIM a lot of money??, how about it is going to cost his dad and I a lot of money.) So we are just going to call him "Speedy" from now on. And there will be repayment in his future.  On a happier note, we have two people on date for baptism, we are pretty excited about that.  And that is where my little miracles come in, so we were trying to decide when to put this guy on date and we decided for April 20th and I was in another area when they went to teach him.  But here is the story....they were talking baptism and he just said that he wanted to be baptized on April 20th.  But none of us brought up when we wantd to have him baptized.  So the Lord inspired us on when this man needed to be baptized.  So he is shooting for this week, let's hope that it works out.  Well, I am good, the weather is getting better but the pollen sucks here though.  The ward we are serving in is great.  Anyway that is about all I have this week.  I hope all is well at home.

Love ya....Elder Phillips

Cumming-Week 3

Here is the latest from Georgia and Elder Phillips.....I really loved conference this time.  I got to sit by my old companion Elder B.  So I was sitting in priesthood session and I thought that next time I'll be home with my family but I feel like my family is here.  I truly love the people of Georgia.  They are just like my family, sometimes they frustrate me to no end but I still love them.  That is why I keep working, that is why I keep trying and never give up because these are God's children and this is their salvation.  I love this work.  It feels so weird to think that it is all coming to an end.  We are gonna do everything we can to get that 6 baptisms before I take off.  I have decided to leave my bike here and hopefully some other Elder will be able to use it.  I am doing pretty well.  The weather is getting better, one day it will truly be warm.  I don't need anything. I am good.  So here is our miracle, we were out knockin' doors and this guy was talking to us, he was super old and set in his ways and he was saying this and that about the church and doctrine and so he asked me if I believe that man can see God and live?  And he was trying to stump us but I testified to this man that I know that a man named Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ and it was super powerful.  I've never bore a testimony like that.  I love this work so much.  I love the Lord.  He is in this work.  Love ya bye.

Elder Phillips

Cumming-Week 2

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips......Well this week was super long.  We have been doing alot of work and knocking a lot of doors.  Holy cow!! so I had one of the best Easter dinner I have ever had.  It was amazing.  Honey ham, biscuits, green beans, taters and deviled eggs.  It was crazy good.  They mad so much food.  I love this ward.  They feed us so well here, it's awesome.  I got your package and loved it, the granola bars are super good.  I'd share with Elder A but he doesn't like candy...he doesn't like sweets at all.  So here is something I was thinking about Elder A birthday is at the end of the month and I was thinkin' if y'all could instead of sending me a package send him one with like with granola bars in it.  Could you do it like you did for my birthday last year...y'all could send him one for his birthday because he never hears from his family basically.  He will be 21 years old this month.  So after reading this I had a little "mom moment" as the boys call it and I shed some tears.  How proud I am of him!!!    I have also decided to leave my bike in Atlanta so that another missionary can use it.  The new area is sweet.  It is alot like Dawsonville, it has a lot of open spaces and cows and horses but it also has a lot of big homes and BIG TRUCKS!!  It is the promise land.  Elder A is sweet, he is the oldest of 6 children and from Tonga.  We are slowly having some luck here, the Ward mission leader wants us to have 6 baptisms before I go home, it's gonna be insane.  You know I'm down!  It's gonna take work.  The weather is heating up and I love it.  Being district leader is pretty easy, not too hard.  The other two missionaries are sweet, Elder J and Elder C.  They are good obedient Elders.  The members love us, they miss having missionaries here.  So here is something cool....so the other night I was praying and I was thinking aobut who we need to work with and help in this ward.  And I had this weird impression of this old man that is a part member and he just started coming this week I got here.  So we went to church and one of the member came up to us and said she had someone that she wants us to teach...and guess who it was??  It was the old man, he wants to take the lessons fromt he missionaries, it was so awesome.  I knew that I received revelation.  It was so awesome, this is his work, it is the Lord's work!  I know it, I know that Christ lives and loves all of us.
Love ya, bye
Elder Phillips

Cumming-Week 1

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips.....So Mom I have been transferred to Coal Mountain, which is in the city of Cumming, Georgia.  I am pretty close to Lake Lanier.  It is a super nice ward.  We were given a key, a phone and an address...and here we are....white washing is fun.  That is what we call it when two new Elders get put into an area.  We basically didn't know anything.  We have to drive like 40 minutes to get to church, because our church down here is still being built.  We meet in the same building as the Dahlonega Ward.  I was there like 6 months ago.  My new companion is super legit.  Elder A is my new companion, he is a funny buggar, he is sweet.  He is from Tonga, first time off the island, he has been out for 12 months.  I have to explain all kinds of words to him because he learned English on the mission.  Don't worry I am teachin him all the bad ones. :)  I am doing really well, just stressed as usual, the Mission president dropped me as a Zone leader but I guess the Lord wanted to keep me as a District leader...fun stuff, it is only a 4 man district.  Just us and another set of missionaries.  So here is a funny story, so we got here and the missionaries who were taken out here, chose not to clean out the fridge in the apartment, moldy, nasty food...gross...fun stuff.  But things are good.  The members bought us some food to get us by for the week, the feed us like every night here, it is awesome.  I love this ward already, plus there are tons of people that the ward is sharing the gospel with.  We have had some sweet experience, we were knocking doors our second day here because we had an extra 15 minutes and we got in with this lady, who allowed us to leave a blessing upon her home and the spirit was pretty strong.  And at the end we testified that she was feeling the spirit and she started to cry and said that it was weird that we came because she was just praying for everything that we blessed her with...it was amazing....I couldn't believe it!!  Miracles in the field. But that's about it.

Love ya,
Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 23

Well, Elder Phillips time in Marietta has come to an end.  This will be the last update from there.  He has been transferred to Coal Mountain/Cumming Georgia area to finish our his mission, he thinks.  He was sad to leave the area but excited about a new challenge.  Here is what he had to say about his last week in Marietta....Well mom I am getting transferred on Wednesday to the Coal Mountain Ward.  I will be opening it up, they have not had missionaries there in 3 months.  I will be with Elder A.  I think it is near where my old area was of Dawsonville.  I am doing great.  I love this work.  The weather is warming up nice and good, well a little bit.  The work is moving forward very fast.  I love it.  So this is what happened this week....we were doing the Peace and Blessing tool and knocking doors.  And we met this family who wasn't going to let us in.  So we asked for a referral and then Elder M changed and asked if we could just come in and she let us in.  And we blessed her home/them and the spirit was super strong.  I am seeing so many miracles as a missionary.  I love being a missionary so much.  I know that this work is real and that the Lord is in this work.  I want to serve my Heavenly Father for the rest of my life so I can enjoy the blessings of the gospel.  Well, that is all I have this week.  Love ya all

Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 22

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips.....It is hard to believe that I have been in Marietta now for almost six months.  The ward that I attend feels like my home ward now.  I am thinking that I may be transferred next week so I will try and send some stuff home on Monday.  My blanket is still good but my coat has seen better days.  I am thinking that I will leave my bike for another Elder to use.  What do you think, Mom??  My week has been good, just a pretty normal week.  The weather is basically the same.  Elder M is good, just pushin' forward hoping to get someone on the path to eternal life.  I've seen our teaching pool change a lot since I've been here, it is so crazy and it breaks my heart sometimes when someone I've grown to love doesn't join the church, they miss out on blessings...missionary work...I love it so much.  I'm looking forward to General conference this next month, it has come so fast.  So here is our little miracle for the week.  I was on exchanges with a missionary and we had a couple of minutes to use before our dinner appointment and so I suggested since we were in his area maybe we could do this new finding tool, the peace and blessings.  I told him that I would lead out the door approach.  So we knocked on the first door, it was a young kid, no interest.  The second door we knocked on a lady answered and we introduced ourselves as representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ and she knew we were...the spirit testified that we were, she let us right in and we left the blessing.  Those missionaries from that area will be going back to teach that lady tomorrow.  It was so awesome that him and I were able to do that. I am so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord.  The Gospel is true!!  I love this work!!  I love my Heavenly Father and I know that my Savior lives and loves me.

Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 21

Here is the latest from Justin in Georgia.....I fell on my left hand during basketball today so I am writing this with a sore hand.  I told Justin about the van dying on us and that we were looking at a new car and I told him that he was not driving it when he got home.  His reply was...I am fine not driving it, I'm tired of driving cars :) I want to get a truck as soon as possible when I get home.  My week has been great.  Things are really going well in this area right now.  It is off and on cold with the weather.  We got a little bit of snow on Saturday.  The work is moving forward, we are getting more and more missionaries every transfer, it is so crazy.  The Lord knows his work, he is in this work I know that for sure.  I am doing all right just pushing forward.  Enjoying my mission while I got it.  We had a sweet experience Elder M and I found this kid a couple of weeks ago and he was super open and he let us right in to leave a blessing.  So Elder M and Elder M were on exchanges this week and they felt inspired to knock a door and they knew they had to knock it.  And they found a young lady who let them right in to leave a blessing and she turned out to be the first kids's we found, it was his sister.  So we found these two people who are siblings, who lived in different parts of our area, super inspired.  I know that this is the work of our Father and that we as missionaries are inspired and that when we are obedient we are led by the spirit.  Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings Miracles.  I love this work and I love my Father in Heaven.  I love my Savior so much, he means so much to me.  I love y'all.

Elder Phllips

Marietta-Week 20

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips in Georgia.  He did comment that this past email was the shortest one that he has received from me.  It is weird all the changes that are happening in our mission, a lot of the missionaries I know are going home, they are gettin old.  I feel like one of  the old ones now, it is so weird.  Things are good here.  The weather is heating up a little but not hot enough yet.  I want to have the heat back. Elder M and I thought about calling Sister W but we decided not to.  I bet she freaked out when she found out, she was so cool.  I love that family so much.  They are probably one of my favorite families in the south.  I love this ward so much and the weird thing is that this ward feels like home to me now, I know everyone names, even their first names.  But I still refer to them as ma'am or sir or Brother and Sister.  But the work is going well, we have Zone conference this week and I am conducting the meeting.  So that will be interesting.  I am excited though.  Can you believe that they are opening up like 58 new missions?  So crazy!!  The church is sooo true.  I love it!!  So here is my little miracle, Elder C and I were on exchanges this week and we were knocking doors in this neighborhood and we came across a lot of people who didn't want to listen to us but then we came across a woman and her daughter who let us right in and we left the Savior's peace and a blessing upon them.  It was so awesome, it was a tender mercy from the Lord.  I love this gospel so much.  The gospel is so true.  I love y'all so much!!

Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 19

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips.....I got  your package Mom and it was sweet!!  Elder M and I are good.  It's weird to be back together, he has changed alot and so have I.  We are going to get a lot done here.  So we got one of the first 18 year old missionaries in our zone this week.  It is so weird!  They are young buggars.  (This statement coming for the older and more mature 20 year old!!) My week has been great, things are going well here.  We have a lot of new people that we are working with.  The weather is cold and wet here.  I don't like it.  I will be here in this area for a least another 5 weeks but I could finish here, it would be weird.  And that would mean that I would be here for like 9 months.  So this week has been sweet, we had some sweet stuff happen, we left a blessing with a cool black lady and she was in tears.  And she wanted us to come back and share more.  We also found a cool family, who let us right in and they had all these questions.  I know that there are elect people out there we just gotta find em.  It is my job to seek them out.  I love this area and I love the people of Georgia.  Love ya bye.

Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 18

Another update from Elder Phillips.  I think this is the longest  he has been assigned and yes he survived transfer and will be staying in the Marietta area.  Well it has been another crazy week in missionary life.  So this was transfer week and Elder B is getting transferred.  I will be staying  and I will be getting a new companion.  Elder M and I are going to be companions again, remember we served in Monroe together.  We are going to be zone leaders.   This doesn't happen very often but I am excited about it.  I know that I am in Marietta for a reason and part of that reason is to preach the restored gospel.  My week has been great, it has been rainy here...not too happy about that.  Bring on the heat!! :)  I am doing fine, just workin away.  The work is moving forward.  Elder B and I had the opportunity to meet some new people, we went to follow up with this guy, who I didn't even think would talk to us again but we went anyway.  My real miracle for the week was we were knockin doors and we came across this man, we stated that the Lord sent us to him to leave the Savior's peace and a blessing upon him and his family.  We let us right in and we left it.  It was super spiritual and I thought it was awesome.  He just automatically recognized us as men of God.  The Spirit is so strong with missionaries, it is so crazy.  Well that is about all I've got this week.  Love ya bye.

Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 17

The lastest update from Elder Phillips......I am going to try and take my own avice and not countdown the last few months of Justin's mission although I miss him like crazy.  I have been encouraging him to "stay focused and finish strong" so I will try and do the same.  So things are good here.  So here is my super cool miracle for this week.  We were at Zone Leader Council on Friday and the zone leaders that cover my last area, Dawsonville, said that a man that I found, taught all the discussions to is getting baptized next week.  I spent 3 months there and felt like I didn't change anything but now I know that I did some good there.  So tomorrow (Tuesday) Elder B and I are going to attend his baptism.  I was pretty stoked to hear about it.  So the work is going well here.  I love this ward.  We have a family of four on date for baptism later this month.  I know that God is in this work, I know that this is his work, I love serving him.  I hope it never ends. :)  Well that is all for this week.  Love ya bye!

Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 16

So here is the latest from Georgia and Elder Phillips.....One of the questions that I asked Justin this week was if he had an "official" release date and he said that he wasn't sure but that I could call the mission home so that is exactly what I did and he will leave Georgia on June 13th, 2013 so that means that as of today (February 4, 2013) he only has 129 days left but no one is counting.  Lol!!  My week has been great!!  We have had a lot of success this week, we have a legit family on date for baptism this next month!!  The weather is cold and dark, Georgia is weird during the winter.  This transfer is a five week.  Elder B and I are getting along really well.  He is awesome!!  The district is good.  The zone is doing pretty well, I hope this will be my last area but I might have another area in me.  So this week we had this former investigator come up out of no where.  Like we taught him the first time and it went well, he agreed to read the Book of Mormon.  But then we couldn't get in contact with em again.  So we every often we will stop by to see if we can catch em.  Finally we caught him and he said he was reading a lot and wanted to come to church so we brought him.  We that is all I have for this week.  Love ya bye!! 

E. Phillips

Marietta-Week 15

Here is the latest from Georgia and Elder Phillips.....So we have been busy out preachin' and teachin'.  We are losing our car, we drive a 2012 Chevy Cruze but we are trading some other missionaries for a Toyota Corolla.  I am stoked I don't like the Cruze it is too small and I'm a big guy.  My week has been great, we had some sweet things happen, we are workin hard and doing our best.  The weather is good, it gets dark early here so it is hard to find things to do at night so we go and see our members.  So we are staying pretty busy.  We have picked up some new gators (investigators) but not any big news, missionary work is gettin hard, it seems like the world is getting more and more wicked.  But I'm going to keep tryin and we will find someone.  I don't think I need anything, I am doing alright.  Here is some news though...Elder B and I never go out anymore.  I weigh about 180 lbs now because every morning I run about 3 miles.  It is sweet!! :)  So my little miracle this week....I was on exchanges in other areas.  I was with Elder C this week, we were tracting in a nice area, just looking for investigators and we came across a man, we did just like a regular door approach and he started to close the conversation/door and so I felt the impression to offer him a blessing upon him and his home and he said he would like that, so he let us in.  And we knelt down and said a super powerful prayer and he felt that spirit so did Elder C and I, it was awesome.  He said that Elder C and Elder P could go back to see him, to share a message.  It was awesome!!  I know that this work is true.  I love being a missionary, I love Georgia and the people here.  I know that the Gospel is true and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I love y'all.  Love you bye!!

Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 14

I am trying to get back on track and up to date with Justin's blog.  So here is the latest from him.  I love missionary work and I love the people of Georgia.  So here is a funny story...I'm fine so don't worry too much. (Not really what I wanted to hear from my son) We were tracting in the rain and the porches get really slippery here and I ended up falling down a flight of stairs....soo funny!! :) (He tells us this in the same email that I had sent telling him about his brother breaking his elbow and having to have surgery on it.)  My week has been nice and wet...lots of rain.  But I love it!!  The work is going really well right now and we are having a lot of fun and just enjoying it here.  My companion and I are getting along great.  So we were out this week and we were blessing families like going door to door.  We knocked on a door and we invited them to allow us to come in and leave the Savior's peace and blessings.  We had two incidents where they allowed  us in.  One lady that let us in was in tears and was going through a rough time, we ended up sitting and teaching her the first lesson.  So this week has been the best!!  But it was very long.  I love this work and I love y'all.  I know that the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is also true.  I am grateful for my Father in Heaven.  Alright have a good one!  Sorry so short!  Love ya bye!!

Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 13

I am little slow updating Justin's blog this week.  It was been a really busy week. But I guess better late than never....here is the latest from Georgia. I am glad to hear that y'all are in the cold, it makes Georgia look wayy better!!  I have had a good week.  The work is great and I love this area so much.  This week is transfers and Elder B and I are staying together.  We are pretty excited.  The weather is cold and wet.  I don't think I will finish my mission in this area but you never know.  The work is going well.  We were out tracting this week lookin for people and we weren't having much luck.  But we kept pushing forward and we got to this door that had a sign in the yard that said we love our church.  So it was a little discouraging but we knocked anyway.  So we got to the door and the guy let us right in and we sat down and started teaching him.  It was sweet!!  I love this work.  The spirit is sweet.  He even wanted to read the Book of Mormon, it was awesome.  My baptismal date that talked about at Christmas has been moved.  We are working on it.  Well, love ya all very much.

Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 12

Here is the latest update from Elder Phillips this week......Well it was good to hear from y'all on Christmas!!  Y'all looked great!  Oliver is growin up so fast.  But it is all good stuff, the rest of the day was pretty normal, except we had Colombian food for dinner, it was good.  It was weird to think that this was my last Christmas on a mission, the time just goes by so fast it seems like.  I'm glad to hear that Carole isn't totally taking over....lol.  So Tyler and Monica are buying a house?   Hmmm...where at again?  My week was alright it was kind of slow this week with the holidays, that is the bad part about holidays, missionary work slows down.  The weather is cold, it has been really cold lately, cold weather is a pain.  It has made my knee act up also...it is a sign that I'm gettin old.  I 'm looking forward to the summer too....it will be nice and warm for missionary work.  I think I'll have one more area after this, I will probably be here for like 3 more months.  Yeah, I heard that they are sending us a little early too...we are losing like 2 weeks of our mission...its not cool.  So my little miracle  is probably we were going to see a potential investigator recently and of course, they moved.  So we contacted who lived there and they were actually oddly enough really interested in hearing the gospel.  So we went back to see them and taught them the first lesson and we are going back to see them again this week.  To teach them my favorite lesson, the plan of salvation.  They are super humble and super elect.  We had this same experience happen in Jonesboro but in Jonesboro the family got baptized.  So I hope that it happens here as well.  I know that God sends us to certain houses and neighborhoods for a reason, this work is inspired.  But I hope y'all have a good New Year.  Love ya bye.

Elder Phillips

Marietta-Week 11

Here is the latest from Elder Phillips....Merry Christmas, family!! I'll talk to ya tomorrow.  So I am calling around 11:30 or 12 so hopefully y'all are together by then. The Christmas party was great.  It was good to see everyone even, Elder Astle, my trainee.  He is doing pretty well up in Commerce.  I am waiting for Christmas to start but it is difficult.  Well, I'm sorry that y'all don't great a white Christmas but we are going to have a rainy Christmas.  Elder Ball and I went shopping for food today...oh man...I do not like crowds...still don't.  So it has been super cold this week well...cold for Georgia.  But my week has been great, little slow but great none the less.  Elder Ball is doing great, he kind of looks like Tyler but not..it is kind of odd.  The work is moving forward, my clothes are just...yeah...they are just worn...it's cool though.  So my little miracle we were teaching one of our top investigators this week and we invited him to be baptized and he accepted.  But the lesson we were teaching was the Plan of Salvation, he was so shocked and he felt the spirit so strong and we invited him to pray about it and right then he started praying about it, in front of us.  It was awesome.  Alright. Love ya bye...talk with you tomorrow.
Elder Phillips