I loved getting all the letters and packages this week! The cinnamon rolls were divine, the elders loved them, and then they went into a food coma. Haha thank you so very much! I didn't realize I was craving Mom's cinnamon rolls until I got them, and it made me super happy. So cool that Eric moved into my room. How you liking it bud? If you find anything...unusual...just bury it in the backyard. K bud? Awesome. It's also cool how Adam and Dad went camping! It's awesome that y'all spend time together in the backyard! That's a sweet overnighter right there. And Adam, I really miss you too bud. We'll have to do an all-nighter in the backyard when I get back. Sound good?
THE IMAGINE DRAGONS CONCERT!!! I'm super excited that y'all get to do that today! Have fun, be safe. That's gonna be so awesome. Promise to have lots of fun, maybe buy a concert tshirt for me for when I get back? And take LOTS of pictures. I'd love some pictures of y'all at the concert, but only just of you guys and maybe the concert in the background. You'll have to show me all the non-family concert photos when I get back. Take a few videos, have fun, sing along. And since I'm not there, you have to have even more fun for me, okay? It's good to be totally isolated from pop culture. Well, almost. We do know is that Zayn is back in OneDirection and that Pluto is a planet again. I mean, c'mon, I've only been gone three weeks and the universe is changing so drastically? Haha.
Wednesday was a sick day for me and Elder Herring, so I felt really useless, but it was a blessing to stay in and rest. We had four lessons scheduled for that day, so if we tried to do them all we would have been miserable.
Our district has been on fire. One day our teacher kind of gave us a shake down about being better representatives of Jesus Christ. We haven't done anything bad, it's just we were being a little too light-hearted for our calling. Kind of like Joseph Smith before he received the gold plates. We had a discussion about the Law of Consecration. A mission is the only time we get to fully live the Law of Consecration. Outside of a mission, we are willing to sacrifice everything you have, but here you can't just be willing, you must sacrifice everything. Abraham didn't just put Isaac on the altar and walk away, he was willing and ready to give up his son. Likewise, there are two types of missionaries here: those that have merely put everything on the altar and walked away, hoping for it to be there in two years, and those that have fully given it up and are okay if everything is gone when they get back. So I decided I wasn't going to be a leave it on the altar guy, I'm going to try and give everything up to Heavenly Father. Since then, we have been absolutely focused and driven in our studies. Our district has just caught fire.
Sunday our Branch Presidency got released, and we were combined with another French-speaking branch. District Leaders rotate every three weeks, so I got released on Sunday as well. I don't think I've ever felt as relieved as I was that day. I kept sighing and laughing and smiling all the rest of the day. I feel like twice as relaxed, and it's awesome. Elder Critchlow is our new district leader, and he's awesome. Let me put it this way: if I was teaching our district how to walk, Elder Critchlow is going to teach our district how to fly. (:
That evening, Stephen B. Allen (Managing Director of the Missionary Department) gave the devotional, and he talked about Satan's tactics against missionaries. The best quote: "Jesus Christ experienced all kinds of adversity and challenges. As His representatives, why should you be any different?" It was an awesome devotional.
In my personal study I've been studying Ammon, and I realized just how foreordained the sons of Mosiah were. Before they taught, any other attempts at teaching the Lamanites had failed, and so the Lord had consecrated them to be the ones to bring the Gospel to them. In their early years, the angel that appeared to them and Alma wasn't just calling them to repentance, he was preparing and cleansing them for their mission. If you look closely during the Book of Mormon, you can definitely tell that the Lord was saving them for the purpose of preaching the gospel. And it was cool to realize that we aren't different from them: we've been foreordained, perhaps hundreds or thousands of years in advance, to preach the gospel to the people of Africa, Canada, etc.
Y'all have fun, take lots of pics, enjoy life, keep praying for us, etc.
Avec beaucoup d'amour,
Elder Phillips
THE IMAGINE DRAGONS CONCERT!!! I'm super excited that y'all get to do that today! Have fun, be safe. That's gonna be so awesome. Promise to have lots of fun, maybe buy a concert tshirt for me for when I get back? And take LOTS of pictures. I'd love some pictures of y'all at the concert, but only just of you guys and maybe the concert in the background. You'll have to show me all the non-family concert photos when I get back. Take a few videos, have fun, sing along. And since I'm not there, you have to have even more fun for me, okay? It's good to be totally isolated from pop culture. Well, almost. We do know is that Zayn is back in OneDirection and that Pluto is a planet again. I mean, c'mon, I've only been gone three weeks and the universe is changing so drastically? Haha.
Wednesday was a sick day for me and Elder Herring, so I felt really useless, but it was a blessing to stay in and rest. We had four lessons scheduled for that day, so if we tried to do them all we would have been miserable.
Our district has been on fire. One day our teacher kind of gave us a shake down about being better representatives of Jesus Christ. We haven't done anything bad, it's just we were being a little too light-hearted for our calling. Kind of like Joseph Smith before he received the gold plates. We had a discussion about the Law of Consecration. A mission is the only time we get to fully live the Law of Consecration. Outside of a mission, we are willing to sacrifice everything you have, but here you can't just be willing, you must sacrifice everything. Abraham didn't just put Isaac on the altar and walk away, he was willing and ready to give up his son. Likewise, there are two types of missionaries here: those that have merely put everything on the altar and walked away, hoping for it to be there in two years, and those that have fully given it up and are okay if everything is gone when they get back. So I decided I wasn't going to be a leave it on the altar guy, I'm going to try and give everything up to Heavenly Father. Since then, we have been absolutely focused and driven in our studies. Our district has just caught fire.
Sunday our Branch Presidency got released, and we were combined with another French-speaking branch. District Leaders rotate every three weeks, so I got released on Sunday as well. I don't think I've ever felt as relieved as I was that day. I kept sighing and laughing and smiling all the rest of the day. I feel like twice as relaxed, and it's awesome. Elder Critchlow is our new district leader, and he's awesome. Let me put it this way: if I was teaching our district how to walk, Elder Critchlow is going to teach our district how to fly. (:
That evening, Stephen B. Allen (Managing Director of the Missionary Department) gave the devotional, and he talked about Satan's tactics against missionaries. The best quote: "Jesus Christ experienced all kinds of adversity and challenges. As His representatives, why should you be any different?" It was an awesome devotional.
In my personal study I've been studying Ammon, and I realized just how foreordained the sons of Mosiah were. Before they taught, any other attempts at teaching the Lamanites had failed, and so the Lord had consecrated them to be the ones to bring the Gospel to them. In their early years, the angel that appeared to them and Alma wasn't just calling them to repentance, he was preparing and cleansing them for their mission. If you look closely during the Book of Mormon, you can definitely tell that the Lord was saving them for the purpose of preaching the gospel. And it was cool to realize that we aren't different from them: we've been foreordained, perhaps hundreds or thousands of years in advance, to preach the gospel to the people of Africa, Canada, etc.
Y'all have fun, take lots of pics, enjoy life, keep praying for us, etc.
Avec beaucoup d'amour,
Elder Phillips