Chère famille,

Time is going by way too quickly. I've learned to not be sad and mopey about these last few weeks, but to love them and live them up while they're here.

An Average Assistant's Adventures

• President calls: “I’m in Togo, and I need you to get in contact with Elder such-and-such, he's got a problem.”
• Assistants try to call Elder such-and-such, whose phone is not online. Unsure if this is an emergency or not, Assistants decide to commute to the other side of Benin to visit such-and-such district.
• Assistants arrive at such-and-such apartment, Elders open the door, super surprised to see Assistants: “What are y'all doing here?”
• Assistants call for private interview with such-and-such Elder: “What's the problem?”
• Elder such-and-such: “Oh, I just had a question.” Proceeds to explain innocent problem that was resolved in two minutes, and could have been resolved over the phone.

Haha, just another day in the life. I really enjoy little adventures like this, and I'm really glad that it wasn't a major problem. (:

Over the course of the past two weeks, at least three missionaries have slipped up and called me "Brother Phillips," not "Elder Phillips".

This week, we did a split with Elders Kola and Ballie, from Zogbo. We had some fun with them, and got some good lessons in. Elder Ballie's a very direct guy, so in the car I explained to him a little bit about Natalie's situation, and then once we got in the lesson he just said whatever came to mind. At first I was super scared, but Natalie actually opened up a lot and shared what was on her mind.

Today, the others had a baptismal service for their ami, Florens. He's got an amazing story, and an incredible journey. I had the privilege to do his baptismal interview, and he was very much ready for baptism. He gave the closing prayer, and it was probably the most sincere, intimate prayer I've ever heard anyone offer. Florens talked with God like He was right next to him, like he was talking to his literal Father. It was a very sweet experience.

We had branch conference today. Our branch president bore a sweet testimony about how the Gospel has changed his life. In our Gospel Principles class, the stake president took the time to share a lesson with our amis, and that was wonderful!

This past month, our mission has been working on a project. We proposed the idea to President, and he modified it a bit. We wanted to give positive reinforcement to missionaries working hard, and help missionaries feel closer to President, so we challenged each zone in the mission to baptise fifteen people during the month of May. If they met the goal, then President would take the time to do a P-day activity with them. If the entire mission achieved ninety baptisms (fifteen for the six zones), then President added that he would give personal au revoir gifts to each missionary. Well, the missionaries dug in and worked super hard, and as of today, the mission has accomplished 102 baptisms in one month! Everyone worked super hard, and the mission drew closer together as we worked towards this goal. I know that Heavenly Father's plan is entirely based on positive reinforcement, and blessing His children as much as He can! In the end, we all will receive glorious blessings, but it is only by faith and obedience that we can achieve the highest blessings in store.

My last week is going to be consecrated to visiting members and friends in Akpakpa and Cocotomey, teaching at zone conferences, and planning the next transfer, so my last real week in full proselyting mode is this upcoming week. That's crazy to consider, and my biggest desire is just to give it all I've got. We might get to go up to Bohicon one last time. Pray that I'll make the most of this week!

Reflecting on what I've learned over the past two years, I thought a lot, and I realized that my testimony has been strengthened and my conversion deepened. I've learned so much, and I keep learning so much! Today, during the Stake President's lesson, I felt the Spirit, and I felt completely comfortable in my own skin. I felt like the Lord is pleased with what we are doing, and I know with certitude that He loves us, each and every one.

I love y'all! Have a great week!

Avec tout mon amour,
Elder Brian H. Phillips

P.S. How could I forget? Edmond and his family were also confirmed today, and Edmond received the Aaronic Priesthood. I'm so happy that this family's on the right path.
P.S.S. We passed by Narcisse's house. He told us that his little daughter passed away a few days ago. It was very sad, but we shared our love for Narcisse and his family, and we bore our testimonies of the Plan of Salvation. Narcisse is such a sweet, sincere young man, and I know that he'll see his daughter, and all his family, again one day. Keep him and his wife in your prayers!

​Chère famille,

This week felt slow, but a lot of great things and miracles happened in our sector.

On Sunday, I got to Skype with y'all, and that was fantastic.

During Wednesday and Thursday, we did a split in our sector with Elders Wride and Dorsey, one of my absolute favorite équipes here in Benin. They're such optimistic, hard workers, and I always look forward to our splits with them. During the split, I tried to focus on Teach People, Not Lessons, which is an important principle that I love. Basically, my formula is as follows:

• In street contacting, just have a plain old conversation with people about their lives, find something in their lives (ie their job, food, customs), and make a Gospel analogy out of it, tied in to a scripture from the Book of Mormon ("that reminds me of something an ancient prophet said...").
  
• Whatever lesson you had planned on sharing, find something in their lives or homes, and make an analogy out of it to teach the principles.

It's a pretty great formula, and it helps the people learn the Gospel from a hands-on approach. I learned a lot from these elders, and I really enjoyed the split.

On Friday, we took Edmond and Véronique to the mission office to have their baptismal interviews, and we had a great experience with them. Long story short, I was very stressed about a million things on my mind during the whole drive to the bureau, but then once we got to the bureau, and they passed their interviews, I felt all the stress just melt away, and I felt joy. The Spirit just taught me that the things we often think of as important or urgent, are oftentimes just hindrances to our eternal progression and happiness.

Saturday, out in the sector, we saw revenants! They're voodoo people who dress in colourful costumes and go around asking people for money and beating them with a stick. And then down the street, we saw some Christian women doing some preaching. Haha, Benin sure is a religious, spiritual, and diverse place.

Today, we had arguably one of the best sacrament meetings I've had on my mission. Marlene was confirmed, and between the two companionships, we had at least 25 investigators come to church. It was incredible! It was a completely unexpected miracle, and everyone (even the branch leaders) was shocked! How cool is that? We had so many friends come, that we had to kick the members out of the chapel for the second hour so we could have enough room to teach them. Multiple members gave us contacts! Everything was great!

Afterwards, we held the baptismal service for Edmond, Véronique, and Sarah, and because it was after church, everyone stayed to watch. I had the special privilege to baptise them, and Elder Linderman baptised one of his amis. It was so great to finally see this wonderful family enter into the waters of baptism. They're such a special family, and I'm so happy to see them progress!

We should have one more family being baptised on June 10th, my last weekend in the field. I hope and pray that it works out! (:

Like I said in my Skype call, I feel like I'm running out of gas, but this week, I felt like the handcart was starting to push me. Heavenly Father just took over everything. He gave me the strength to get up on time and get my studies done every day this week. Our amis are understanding the doctrine, accepting commitments, and changing their lives. People contact us on the streets to learn more about our message. The members bring contacts to church. Amis we weren't expecting showed up for sacrament meeting, often despite difficult circumstances. People are walking into the waters of baptism. All in all, it's the Lord's work, and not man's. I've come to know my Savior so well over the past two years, and now I feel His familiar hand guiding everything for the blessing of His brothers and sisters.

I love my mission, and I'm so lucky to serve here.

Have a great week, y'all!

Love,
Elder Brian H. Phillips

"Travailler comme c'est votre premier jour, témoigner comme c'est votre dernier."

​Chère famille,

A story I forgot from last week: Because of the bulldozer fiasco, we've decided that whenever we visit Frere Edmond, we'll park the car as soon as we see some rough sand patches and walk the rest of the way. As we were walking home one night, Edmond accompanied us (Béninois culture, to walk with visitors until they are safely on the way home, ie to their car or to a well-known road that anyone can recognise), we passed by a large marsh. It was dark and eerily quiet, and I had the dumb idea to ask Edmond if there were crocodiles in that lake, and he said "Oh yes, loads of them!" and that kept me quietly panicking until we got in our car.

Anywho, this week was (trumpet call) transfers week! This is the week when our Toyota becomes the Magic School Bus, and we ride across Benin, putting people here and there and hoping that everything will work out. There weren't too many companionship changes, but the changes happened mostly in the sectors on polar opposite sides of Benin, so we drove to Calavi and Porto Novo multiple times, but hey, we got to have a road trip! While it is very tiring and stressful, transfers week is a week when we get to get close to the missionaries, see Benin up close and personal, and have fun with a change of pace. And discover milkshakes for the first time in two years (Speculos milkshakes are the best).

We had some new missionaries stay in our apartment Tuesday night. I love new missionaries! Their zeal and spirit remind me why I'm here and how awesome this work is. Our visitors were Elder Park, a nice American, and my mission posterity! Elder Angbo is training again, a Congolais elder named Elder Nkoy, and Elder Turner (my great-grandson) will be training my great-great grandson, Elder Boileau, a super nice elder from France! I was so stoked, and it made me reflect on how much the work we do in our families perpetuates to the future generations.

Well, with transfer week, we only truly got to return to proselyting on Friday, and it was an afternoon of ratez-vous, so that was a wee-bit discouraging, but yesterday was awesome!

First off, we went to Hillacondji again yesterday morning. We did baptismal interviews for eight children. Two of them were children of a member couple, and they knew their doctrine! The couple also has a seven-year old son named Gabriel, who has some cerebral-reflex-coordination problems that have kept him from walking, but after a recent surgery, he's hoping to walk in the coming months and years. I promised him that one day we'd race, and that he'd beat me. (:

The six other children were living with their grandparents who have not yet received the lessons. Baptizing children is always a delicate situation, because we want to ensure that these children have an adequate understanding of the Gospel so that they'll stay active in the Gospel throughout the rest of their lives. All of the children I interviewed passed the interview just fine. There was one little boy, named Pascal, who was rather quiet, and didn't seem to understand what we were trying to teach him, but I figured that I might as well do his interview and see. I quickly found that there would be a language barrier, and so I asked Frere David (the member accompanying us) to come give us a hand. With his help, the interview passed very well. I took a few seconds to pause and listen to the Spirit, wondering if I could OK Pascal's baptism, and then I felt prompted to ask Pascal a question, which I did: "Would you prefer to be baptized today, or watch your brothers and sisters be baptized so you know how it happens, and be baptized next week?" Pascal preferred to wait and learn how baptism happens, and I felt very grateful that the Spirit helped, and I felt like Pascal will become a great member of the Church. Frere David said afterwards that he felt the Spirit too. (:

That afternoon, Frere David took us out to lunch, and then we went straight back to Cocotomey to proselyte. We visited with Odile and her friends, Marlene and her family, and Edmond's Family. Marlene, Edmond, Veronique, and Sarah all accepted an invitation to be baptized next Sunday, and I think this time that we'll make it. Keep us in your prayers!

Today, during the sacrament, I thought of a general conference talk, "Stand Up Inside and Be All In," and about the promise found in Ezekiel 18:21-22, that if we turn away from all our sins, and keep all of the Lord's statutes, then all our sins will be forgiven. Turning away from our sins means fully repenting, and to show our willingness to be completely obedient, we are baptized and renew our baptismal covenant by partaking of the sacrament. In repenting, being baptized, and continuing our lives in daily repentance and weekly partaking of the sacrament, we are able to obtain the promise that all (100 percent!) of our sins will be forgiven.

I love you all, and I wish you a wonderful week, and Happy Mother's Day!

Love,
Elder Brian H. Phillips

"Travailler comme c'est votre premier jour, témoigner comme c'est votre dernier."