Elder Phillips in Africa
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First Stake Created in the Country of Benin

4/26/2016

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PictureBanner for stake conference
​Bonsoir et surpris, ma famille!

No, I'm not being a rebel missionary, no worries. (: We had a mission conference with Elder Stanfill yesterday morning, so Président just decided to move our Pday to Tuesday, and have us work the rest of Monday. But more on that later.

This week was amazing.

For starters, I had an exchange with Elder Teaupa, our zone leader, this week. He came here to work, and I had so much fun! I can't remember ever having such a great time on exchanges. Elder Teaupa is from Hawaii, and he's a former assistant. He's an awesome cook: I haven't eaten that well since the Provo MTC. He gave me a lot of good advice about the sector, which we'll be implementing this week. The biggest idea was inviting less actives to teach with you. At first the idea seemed backwards, but thinking about it, it totally makes sense. Less actives are sick and tired of having people come to them and saying the same message over and over. They get the attitude of "I've already heard this before, why would it work this time?" When they come to teach with you, their testimony grows in the bearing of it. They get to see themselves as they were when they were investigating. They see people feel the Spirit and accept the Gospel. It reignites their faith. So we'll see how that goes. We also had a great mangez-vous with the Kpadonou family, and I made pate for the first time! I'm really bad at it, but hey, it gives the locals something to laugh at. (: I'm also learning how to dance African style. (:

PictureThey hung yellow ribbons from the mezzanine to represent the cords of the tent of Zion (see Moroni 10:31 and Isaiah 54:2)
BENIN'S FIRST STAKE CONFERENCE
Here we go.

Saturday afternoon, me and Elder Ogoudiran went to Palais de Congrès to play piano for the General Members session, but the meetings were running late, so we actually got to sit in on the Priesthood session. It was so nice! It gave me a lot of excitement for when I get back and I can go to church meetings and listen like a normal member. I definitely enjoyed it, and all of the speakers talked about how we can access our Priesthood power better. Integrity, magnifying our callings, doing missionary work, etc.

I got to do a little bit of prelude for the general members session, and Elder Stanfill took some time beforehand to shake my hand! It was just a quick conversation, but it made my day. Elder Stanfill said "We're glad to have you here, Elder, thanks for your help." I felt really humbled, because he's a General Authority, we're glad to have him here!

PictureElder and Sister Vinson, Elder and Sister Koranteng, and the choir.
Playing the piano was such a sweet spiritual experience. With the hymns that I had really practiced, I felt the Spirit help me play. I would describe the experience as "spiritually guided muscle memory". It was like my fingers found the keys. It wasn't anything big or dramatic, and you may think that that's just a coincidence, but I know that Heavenly Father sent me some help. There were a few mistakes on some other hymns, but nothing noticeable, and everything went well. Soeur Morin thanked me afterwards. "The music makes all the difference!" she said.
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The members session was very cool. Elder Koranteng, from the Africa West Interregion, talked about tithing. Elder Stanfill, instead of speaking from the podium, grabbed a microphone, and gave his talk while walking among the audience. "When I'm up on the stand, I'm afraid, but when I'm down here, you all are afraid, so that makes me feel better." (: He thanked the members for their wonderful work. He invited converts and their member friends to share their stories. There were some cool stories, like miraculous Priesthood blessings, family members who persevered for years in sharing the gospel, etc. Elder Stanfill's message was "It's so easy. When it's not easy, keep persevering. Keep doing what you're doing".

Saturday night, after a spiritually fulfilling day, we got transfer calls. Everything is the same, except I now have a new companion, Elder Yoboue! He's from Cote d'Ivoire, and he came into the mission a transfer after me. He's a super nice, humble, and fun guy. He's always smiling! I'm super excited to get to know him, and I feel comfortable with the fact that if this transfer is my last in Akpakpa, I'll be leaving the sector in good hands.

PictureMe and some of the Akpakpa amis who came! Left to Right: Lioni, Julien, Me, Michel, Isaiah, Eugene, Eli, and Hospice.
Also, this'll be my 7th transfer in Akpakpa. At the zone conference, everybody was like "Wow, Phillips, you're starting to get old over there!" The mission record for most time spent in a first sector is 8 transfers.

I'm still super happy here. I love the people, and I don't think there's a better branch in all of Benin. These people are my second family, and I love it here.

Sunday morning, me and Elder Alexander left the apartment early so we could be at Palais de Congrès at 7h30. Elder Kola and Elder Ogoudiran stayed behind to make sure that as many amis as possible made it to the minibus we rented for them. Bertrand, who is a stud, drove his moto three times to the bus and back to get all of his contacts to the bus. He's an absolute rockstar. Gudi, Alex, Eugene, Natalie, Esaie, Eli, Michel, Hospice, Eugenie, Valentin, and one of Bertrand's son's friends came along, as well as other Akpakpa 2 amis like Julien and Lioni.

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Playing the piano went well. Me and Elder Hansen tag teamed the prelude, and he took over for the conference. The choir sang beautifully, and the music was wonderful. I definitely felt the Spirit during multiple songs, especially "How Great Thou Art," in Lingalla, Frère Landu's native language.

The conference was a spiritual feast. Soeur Christine got back from her first temple visit. Bertrand, Jean-Jacques, and Frère Victor all received the Melchizedek Priesthood, among others. The stake was organized, by unanimous vote, covering the Southeast of Porto Novo to the Togo border. Benin Cotonou received its first stake. The new stake president is Modeste Kpadonou (no relation to the Kpadonous in Akpakpa), who was the district president. He and his counselors are returned missionaries and have been sealed to their families in the temple. They're all super young for a stake presidency, under the age of thirty I believe, but the Spirit testified to all of us that they were the men. Président Modeste is a very awesome, humble guy, and he's got a lot of "weight on his little shoulders," said his wife in her testimony. You could tell that she was distraught at the idea of her husband spending another ten years on the stand without a chance to sit with her during sacrament meeting, but Soeur Morin said that she felt the same way when Président Morin was called as a district president, and how charity helped her overcome that. Charity is a principle we must have in establishing Zion.

Président Morin saluted the work of all the members, missionaries, and others who have made the stake possible, including Président Weed, the former mission president. Author's note: I would say that the two people who worked the hardest for this stake were Présidents Weed and Morin. They did pretty much all the work. Président Morin also noted the young age of the new stake presidency, but that if we take the principle of foreordination into hand, callings are no more a matter of age.


PictureMe and Soeur Christine, who went to the temple last week! She was so happy, joyful, and glowing!
Elder Koranteng told us the story of the Little Mosquito: There once was a father mosquito who asked his son how he was doing learning how to fly. The little mosquito said "Yes, I'm doing great! Whenever I fly near the ears of the humans, they applaud me!" The father said "Watch out, son, they applaud because they're trying to kill you!" In like manner, having established Benin's first stake, we must know that Satan will now work harder than ever to tear us down. We must continue to persevere, and never assume that the fight is finished.

Elder Stanfill told us about his trip here. They were supposed to fly in from Ghana to Cotonou on Thursday, but the flight was cancelled. They arrived at the airport at 10am for a 12pm flight, they checked in their baggage, but it turns out that their flight was actually for 5pm, so they would miss out on their afternoon meetings. Elder Stanfill became grumpy, and he lost the Spirit. They arrived in the Cotonou airport at 7pm, hot, humid, and crowded with people (just like a new missionary), and were welcomed to the sound of a choir of 50 youth singing hymns, having waited since noon at the airport in the heat of the day. Elder Stanfill was really touched by that. He testified that he and Elder Koranteng both received distinct impressions that Président Modeste was the man for the job. He encouraged us all to keep working, and to never give up. He chose "Come Come ye Saints" as the intermediate hymn (last minute) because we were pioneers, and we've got a lot of great blessings here, and we can keep going. He blessed the members that they would be able to keep up the good work.

Monday, we had a mission conference with Elder and Sister Stanfill. It was my favorite zone conference ever! I felt that the overlying theme was prayer, and how to pray with faith. Elder Stanfill's message was "When we pray saying 'Heavenly Father, show me Thy will, and I will go and do,' then we see miracles". And "If you focus on your missions, you will look back at only sweet memories. He promised that in 40 years, churches and temples would dot this country.


That's just a little taste of the most wonderful, historic weekend ever. I'm so excited for the day when y'all get to see the celestial replay of this moment, when heaven and earth touched for an instant on the West African coast.

PictureMe playing the postlude Saturday evening
If there was one message one could take away from the conference, it could be summarized in "Come Come Ye saints", 4th verse, modified a bit:

"And [if we were to die in this moment],
[It would be a] happy day! All is well!
We [would be] free from toil and sorrow too
With the just we [would] dwell
But...our lives are spared again
To see the saints their rest obtain
Oh [let us] make this chorus swell:
All is well! All is well!"

I love you all. Hurrah for Israel!

Love,
Elder Phillips

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Lions, Pythons, and Birds (Oh My!)

4/19/2016

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​Yo, ma famille!

Sorry for the lateness of the hour, we had a power outage. Just to let you know that I'm still alive and well.
Due to stake conference this week, Président extended the current transfer by one week to avoid the chaos of moving missionaries across countries while also organizing an entire country for the coming of Elder Vern P. Stanfill. So, that means that Elder Phillips is still in Akpakpa for at least another week, baby! Yeah! 

Frère Victor had to get his driver's license, so he got released. He really was a good companion, I love him a lot. During my time with him, I realized that, while I have become a really good missionary (doing the missionary things), I had left being a good person by the wayside. Looking back, I should have focused more on giving him a good experience than on my personal desires of the sector. Victor's going to be a great missionary, I've got high hopes and expectations for him.

I'm currently working with Elder Ogoudiran again! He's free for missionary work pretty much all the time. I will say, being with a companion the second time in a row is awesome! You already know each other, and what frustrates one another, so you avoid the tipping points, and you just have a blast together. Honestly, it feels great to laugh. Elder Ogoudiran's a great guy.

Concerning stake conference, me and Elder Hansen are teaming up to split up the mountain of hymns to master for two days of prelude and conference. I will take all of Saturday, me and Elder Hansen will split up the prelude Sunday morning, and Elder Hansen will take the actual conference. It was an answer to my prayers! There is much less stress, and because of the diminished stress, I did so much better in our practice with the choir! Keep the prayers going! Y'all have been praying for me, I definitely felt it this week. I'm so grateful, and I hope you can feel my love and prayers from this end too.

We had an awesome zone activity this morning. We went to Stade de l'Amitié to do some sports, then we went to a zoo in Gbegamey. It's not nearly as good of quality as the zoos in the US, but the animals are much cooler, and you get much more close to them, and you get to touch some of them. Afterwards, we went to a restaurant, and I had a dish called igname pilée, with a side of sauce and goat cheese. Sooooo good! (:

The sector is doing good, same ol' same ol', but I'm not letting it get me down. I'm trying to return to that wonderful doctrine of "happiness is a choice". This week I'm going to focus on being happy with whatever comes my way, counting blessings, etc.
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Yvette got baptized on Saturday. Unfortunately, Elder Alexander had a surprise doctor's appointment, and Elder Kola was going to baptize, so we went on a split to the bureau. Président Morin gave us a ride in his truck to the doctor, and the conversation turned towards Yvette's baptism. Président was pretty happy to hear that she got baptized, and he said "Now the family is complete. When the family is complete, it's much more powerful".  That's something that I've always known (it's emphasized in Preach My Gospel), but I never really felt until then. The Spirit really touched me. I now realize that I am not just here to find, teach, baptize, confirm, and retain recent converts, and reactivate less-actives; in all, I'm here to help build eternal families.

I believe and know that God has given to us again the power and authority necessary to ensure that families can be together for eternity by living and obeying the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. I know it!

Have a great week!

Avec tout mon amour,
Elder Phillips

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All Worth It

4/11/2016

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Bonjour ma famille!

I'm doing well, the week was very stressful, but looking back there were a lot of highlights. 



​Last Pday, I had the blessing to download the conference talks onto a USB, and listen to them during the week on an MP3 with USB capabilities. It was so great! I'm so blessed with the conference talks, and actually listening to them is so amazing! Seriously, you have no idea how empowering it is to listen to work out in the mornings listening to President Nelson's Priesthood talk. That was super cool. I'm super grateful for general conference, because it's like Spiritual Christmas. I was so surprised at how well-tailored the talks were. Seriously, there would be times when something discouraging would happen, I would turn on the talks, and it would be a talk specifically for me, as if the Lord had hijacked the speakers and was saying "Listen up, Elder Phillips, here's the deal..." The Lord speaks by way of His prophet, I know it! Maybe it was because I'm a missionary, but I noticed this time around a lot more of the basic gospel doctrines as talk subjects, especially the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Priesthood and Restoration, and the Plan of Salvation. And then, of course, Elder Holland gave the ultimate pep talk. I'd take that man as my basketball coach any day.

Eugene is doing well. His uncle is staying with him, and his uncle is super old. His uncle is also not too nice to Eugene. We told the man that Eugene is coming to church, and the man was surprised! "Man, let me tell you about this guy here, he's really lame. When it comes to Jesus Christ, he's in one ear and out the other," and so forth. So, being Elder Phillips, I spoke up and, in a nice, calm manner, said "Well, Eugene is a great guy. I love him a lot. He's doing his best to live the Gospel. The Eugene I know is a fantastic guy." But hey, the old man came to sacrament meeting!

That's one thing that I noticed this week, is how much peer pressure our amis and members have to stand up to. Frère Urvon, Alex, and Gudi share an apartment with many family members, lots of them are former investigators, and many are very active in their faiths. So, in a lesson, Alex was talking about the Book of Mormon, and he said "Thank you, elders, for teaching me about the Book of Mormon, because we've been having some family conversations about it, so I'm glad that I heard about it from the source first." Whenever I see an investigator or member facing opposition in living the Gospel, I just get this feeling, and I know it's how our Heavenly Father feels, of "Yes! You keep at it! You keep going! We love you so much, don't give up!"

Wednesday, I got to go on a split with Elder Alexander, and we worked in Akpakpa 2. It was so great to go back to my stomping grounds! We visited Soeur Christine, who celebrated 1 year of being in the Church last Monday. And, best of all, she's going to the temple! She's been saving and working, and in a week or so she gets to go. It was a major blessing to see. I love her and her family, they're amazing!

Lioni is doing good, coming to church with the kids as usual, just being great and faithful. Julien's work situation is terrible. We walked into their house, and Julien was napping, and when he woke up, within 5 seconds I could tell that he was sick. He's had malaria... for over a week. And he can't take a day off without getting fired (Wednesday was the presidential inauguration, so it was a national holiday). He's lost soooo much weight, and he just looked miserable. It was a very discouraging experience, and I was on the verge of tears. But, we shared a message about faith and God's love, and we testified and felt the Spirit. We gave him a blessing. Miraculously, Julien passed by for sacrament meeting on Sunday, and his health was doing a lot better. And, to my delight, all the kids I loved playing with, when they saw  me, ran up to me screaming "Feeleep! Feeleep!" It was the ultimate pick-me up.

Our plans keep going to shambles with the ratez-vous, but we've been finding more and more little miracles along the way. Example: A Nigerian man named Firstus who was a former investigator back when there was only one branch in Bénin, who moved away to Nigeria, and then came back, saw us walking by, remembered his experiences, and called us over. He's forgotten a lot, and when we left him a brochure and came back, he gave a resumé of the brochure based only on the pictures ("God created men and women, and women are very important, but God gave the prophets a golden pen that was passed down through the ages. Jesus Christ gave this pen to His Apostles by baptizing them, and then Joseph Smith saw the sun, was baptized, and went to the Americas"). But hey, if people want to live the Gospel, we'll work with whatever they can give us.

Bertrand is preparing for the Melchizedek Priesthood, and I can just tell how seriously he is taking it. In his prayers, he prays for help to apply what we teach him so he can receive the Priesthood. I love my golden converts.

After listening to Elder Renlund's talk, I prepared for the sacrament with the idea in head of growing closer to God, and that totally made yesterday's sacrament meeting remarkable. Also, Elder Bednar's talk inspired ideas that were really useful for the talk I gave in sacrament meeting.

I had my first rehearsal with the choir yesterday. I approached practicing last week with the attitude of "I'll get it in when I can". After yesterday's rehearsal, I can say that I've got a lot of work to do. Heehee. (: But hey, the choir sounds amazing and beautiful. If you ever get the blessing of hearing African Latter-Day Saints singing, it's a golden experience.
Just pray that Elder Phillips can match their awesomeness (;

The branch is doing great. Everybody is doing much better, and the members are all happy. I love these people, and I don't want to leave them. I've seen lots of really depressing things out here, and I've had a lot of discouraging experiences, but whenever I see those Saints smiling, it makes it all worth it. All worth it.

Have a fantastic week everyone! I know that God loves y'all, and He's got a lot of blessings in store. (:

Avec tout mon amour,
Elder Phillips

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It's a Blessing from the Lord

4/4/2016

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​Cher famille,

I'm so glad to hear that you're all well. We've been doing pretty good here in Akpakpa. The week was slower, lots of ratez-vous, but it's all okay. This next week should be better.

We did a follow-up lesson with Frère Bertrand on the Word of Wisdom. He told us that to quit alcohol, he replaced it with soda. But he drank so much soda that the doctor has asked him to quit soda and juice. So he only drinks water now. I joined him in the challenge, and now Elder Phillips is going soda-free! Yay!

Frère Landu gave me the hymns I need to practice for Stake Conference. It will be a sprint to try and get everything practiced and polished for the conference. Pray that I'll have time to practice, and that I'll be able to do so effectively.

On Friday, we had interviews with Président Morin. Surprise! Président came an hour early. (: Yeah, that was an adventure. Nevertheless, we had a great interview. I always love our interviews, because I always leave feeling like I can think more clearly. We kind of just dwelled on the topic of how the Savior is with us, and how we can always have His Spirit to be with us.

Wednesday, during coordination meeting, we brought up our progress with Soeur Yvette, and our DMB just haaaad to say "Well, technically, she lives closer to Elder Kola's sector, even though she's in neither sector, so Elder Kola should be the one that teaches her.”  Now, to be honest, in the moment, that made me sad. All Elder Kola has done is baptize people that me and Elder Hansen taught, and now he gets to do the same thing. It was one of those natural man moments. However, the Spirit reminded me that it's not important who baptized who, but it's about helping the children of our Heavenly Father make covenants with Him.

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To illustrate, here's a story that happened this week:
Christina is an investigator from Congo. She found the missionaries 3 weeks before she moved to Bénin. She found the Church at the Finagnon branch, but she actually lives in Akpakpa, so the Finagnon elders gave her number to me and Frère Amos. Me and Amos showed up to the lesson, but it was just across the street from the sector boundaries. We still taught a lesson with her, which was fantastic. We read 3 Nephi 11 together, talked about the Doctrine of Christ, and she asked for a Book of Mormon and all of the brochures. Golden! We gave her contact to Elders Magré and Kola, who taught her for a week, but when she came to the Akpakpa branch for the first time, she didn't enjoy it, and she said that the Akpakpa members don't take the Gospel seriously enough. So, she returned to the Finagnon branch, where Elder Barnes and Ogoudiran taught her. She accepted the lessons easily, and would always ask platinum questions like "How can I apply that principle to myself?" She accepted a baptismal date, and this Saturday she got baptized. Finagnon doesn't have a baptismal font, so the baptism was held in the Avotrou branch. Christina invited the Akpakpa missionaries to come as well! So, in short, pretty much all of our zone has had some influence in bringing this baptism to pass. It was the best service I've seen in Africa. Afterwards, when Christina gave her testimony, she just said "I would like to thank the missionaries, my friends, my sisters in the Church, and I just want you to know that after the closing prayer, I brought refreshments!" She is literally a platinum convert.  

So, who gets the credit for the baptism? No one. Not Finagnon or us or Avotrou. In reality, missionary work is quite simple. You get a front row seat to the Lord working miracles in the lives of the people as they accept the Restored Gospel.

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I am so grateful for all of the blessings I receive as a missionary. This is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. It's so hard. But yesterday, during fast Sunday, I just felt rejuvenated, and I felt so much joy. I get to preach the Gospel in Africa! I get to testify of the Savior that I love every day. I felt joy, something that I haven't felt in such a long time. We are truly blessed. The good life we have isn't thanks to us or anybody on the earth, it's a blessing from the Lord.

If you feel downtrodden, don't worry. As the Spirit prompted me yesterday "Hold on just a little longer, I promise that miracles are just around the corner."

I love you all so much!
Hold on just a little longer!
And have fun at Disneyland! (:
Love,

Elder Phillips

PS We played a pickup football game with Emmanuel, Bertrand's 7 year old son. The kid totally destroyed me and Victor. And I'm not saying that because we were easy on the kid: I was huffing and puffing, and he destroyed us! I love Akpakpa! (:

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    Elder Brian Phillips
    Benin Cotonou Mission
    July 2015 - 2017

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