Cher famille,

Hey howdy hey, everyone! I hope this letter finds you all safe and well back home.

Fun fact: There are two places that a domestic African chicken can sleep. The first is a cage. The second is in a tree. Yup. Chickens fly up to the tree branches and spend the night there. One member was telling us that one time, up north in the village, him and his family went chicken hunting for dinner for a funeral. They started the chicken hunt at 10pm, and it took four hours for them to get a hold of one chicken.

Follow-up from last week's sport activity: The zone t-shirts we wore exposed a bit more of our arms than an average white shirt does. Also, this was the first time my calves had seen bright daylight for an extended period of time. Naturally, I burnt pretty bad. No worries, it's turned into a small tan by now. Nevertheless, I have "three degrees of glory" on my arm: pasty white, pale red/brown, and attractive bronze. Haha, what a day.

One morning, on the way back home for lunch, we helped a maman haul a cart of coconuts for a few minutes. Here, you can buy a coconut, right on the road, and the maman will take her machete, cut it up so you can drink the milk, and then cut it more so that you can eat the meat. African mamans with machetes are bold, fearless, and scary. They hack like nobody's business. Nevertheless, the milk and meat were sooooo good, super fresh! 20 cents wisely invested. (;

Me and Elder Angbo are doing great! This week, we really hit it off, and we've been becoming good buddies. Elder Angbo is my fourth companion from Cote d'Ivoire, so I've learned a bit about Ivoirien life and culture. The youth speak a slang called "Noushi," which is code talk they use to avoid being caught by their parents. I love spending the evening just swapping stories about cultures with Elder Angbo. We both hope to stay together until after Christmas, so that way he can practice his English with y'all over Skype. He's such a good, good man, and I'm super blessed to have him as my companion.

Concerning our investigators, we've been teaching with power and authority. We feel the Spirit testify of our words. Some people choose to ignore the feelings we know they feel, and reject the message. It's sad, but just another part of the work. I've gained a healthy respect for free agency, and I feel like I've grown a deeper understanding of our Heavenly Father. He always invites, and never forces. I'm trying to do the same. Whenever an investigator decides that it's not for them, we sigh, brush off our shoulders, and continue the harvest.

We visited with Philomène on Thursday. She's become really opposed to the idea of baptism. I suppose her family hasn't been a very good influence on her, but every time we ask what's up, she gives an excuse, we resolve her preoccupation, she promises to come back to church, and then never come. In our lesson, she said that she doesn't want to get baptized a second time. We said "okay, no problem, we're not going to force you." She had lots of weird questions about different churches that we tried to respond to, but ultimately we told her that we're not here to bash on other churches, but just to present our message. We asked her what she thought about all of the things we had taught her, and she said that she knows it's the truth.

I decided to get personal. I bore my witness of eternal families. I talked about my family, the trials we've faced sometimes, and the infinite blessings of an eternal family. That silenced the room real quick, and the Spirit was there, palpable and testifying. I bore my witness that I would not have come over 5,000 miles, leaving my home, friends, and family for two years, to come into her home and teach her if I did not know that this message is true, and that she could have an eternal family too. I bore my witness that we could help her achieve this goal, and that if she respected the commitments we give her, she would have the same blessings.

I was just caught up in the thick feelings, but my companion said he couldn't speak. He was observing Philomène, and he could tell that she was feeling the Spirit, and she knew that she was feeling the Spirit. Through no credit or part to me, the Spirit came in power and testified of truth. No one and nothing, in a million years, can make me deny that the Spirit came and bore witness of my words. Well, Philomène promised to come to church, and on Sunday she didn't show up. Frère Akakpo said that she just went to her church. That breaks my heart a little, and I'm sorry that Frère Akakpo's going to have to wait a little while to receive those promised blessings, but I'm not giving up hope. I know they'll come one day, just not right now. God loves His children.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sam's been doing great. We had a really great lesson about Moroni 7. He asked if there was a way for the nation and the world to become a better place, and we read parts of 4 Nephi 1 and Moroni 7. He loved the idea of charity. Afterwards, he gave me and Elder Angbo a shoe polish. That man sure can polish shoes! My shoes were shining!  Sam missed out on Church yesterday, so we'll have to postpone his baptism, but I've got high hopes for him. I really feel the Spirit whenever we teach him, and I know that the Lord's got big plans for him.

Our big focus this week was on Awofah, Elizabeth, and Denise. Awofah didn't pass the baptismal interview, which is a little sad, but nothing we can't work on. We're hoping to return in a couple of weeks. She's doing great, though!

We did a pre-interview with Elizabeth on Thursday, and she did great. We asked her if she's ready to take upon her the name of Christ, and she said yes. She started talking about all of the different churches she's joined, and wow there's a lot! From pastors selling handkerchiefs dipped in the blood of pythons sacrificed to Christ, to a church that wears those orange construction vests and casts out demons by unanimously shouting "HOLY GHOST BOOMBA!/HOLY GHOST FIRE!" she's seen it all. But she bore her testimony of how this will be the last baptism she'll ever do.

Denise has a slight mental disability. She doesn't talk very much, and she doesn't really follow the lessons. We tried teaching her, but she couldn't really remember anything or respond to any questions, so we just encouraged her family to review the lessons afterwards in their dialect. According to them, that didn't work too well either, so we decided that Président Attiogbé would know best if she needed to be baptized or not.

Well, come Friday, and the baptismal interviews passed wonderfully! Président Attiogbé actually speaks their specific dialect, so he was able to converse with them freely. According to Elizabeth, Denise's tongue just let loose. She responded perfectly to every question, and she talked more in the interview than she talks at home. I firmly, firmly believe that the Lord performed a little miracle for us, and that the Spirit brought to Denise's mind everything she had been taught. It was a very inspirational, tender mercy.

The baptismal service was great! No bucket-hauling, just a perfectly filled font. Elder Angbo baptized, and he's actually really good at baptizing, no problems whatsoever. It was a very tender mercy for me to be able to take part in this wonderful day.

Elizabeth has been visited by countless missionaries, and I've been a witness to how rooted she once was in all of her religious traditions and experience, and how she could just not accept the need for our message. I've been a witness to her conversion, and it was through no part of our own. Only the Spirit (and Arnaud's super awesome mom) could have brought about this change of heart. Conversion is real. People can change. The Spirit testifies.

Transfer calls are this week. I don't expect anything too crazy, if anything we'll probably get two more elders in the apartment. Then again, there are 18 missionaries leaving and 19 coming in, so it's bound to be a little hectic, but nothing we can't handle! (:

Well, I hope y'all have a wonderful week! We've had some wonderful spiritual experiences this week, and it's been another one of those "I love my mission!" weeks. I'm happy to be here, and I wouldn't trade this for the world. I hope that General Conference is a good one! 

Que Dieu vous accorde une bonne semaine, pleine des miracles!

Avec amour,
Elder Phillips

Bonjour, ma famille!

Well, this week was rather good!

SPOILER ALERT: I've filled many acts of service in the different baptismal services throughout my mission. I've conducted, I've given talks, I've prayed, I've conducted hymns, I've played piano, I've stood ready with towels, I've been a witness, and I've baptized. I've even had to go into a baptismal font to unplug the drain for postponed baptisms. But this baptismal service introduced the most physically demanding, awkward, and messy contribution I've ever participated in.

Bonjour ma famille!

Well, this week was full of ups and downs, here we go!

Our bedroom is right next to the backyard, and if you have a large backyard, chances are you have a lot of trees, and if you have a lot of trees, then chances are you have a lot of birds in your courtyard, and if you have a lot of birds in your courtyard, then chances are that they make lots of cool noises in the morning, and if they make lots of cool noises in the morning, then chances are Elder Phillips wakes up every morning to the sound of the African jungle right before the tribal chant starts at the beginning of Lion King. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. (;

So, to describe the title of my email, let's go to Saturday night. As the sun set, the craziest and most intense thunderstorm of my life began. One thing I've noticed about African thunderclouds is that you'll see a very bright flash, but then you'll wait twenty seconds before you actually hear the thunder. If my weather skills serve me correctly, that means that the lightning is so far away that we can only hear a low rumble, but so strong that we can see it flash!

We got into our apartment just as the first drops were hitting the ground. We sat inside, planning, and then the power cut! So, we endured a good half of the storm in the dark, which was rather scary. There wasn't any danger or anything, it was just one of those moments from Planet Earth or something. The most intense part was when we would see ridiculously bright flashes of lightning, and then hear suuuper loud thunder one second later that would rumble for twenty seconds! I could feel the ground trembling slightly! Luckily the power came back on, most of the storm passed, and we slept safe and sound. So, thank you Toto, but you can keep your blessings. (;

Well, Monday night, we went to an Family Home Evening at our DMPs house! Papa Mensan and some of his family were there, as well as Frère Bakana, and a less-active named Boris. It was great to be with everyone! Boris is a really cool guy, and I feel like he's a special spirit. We're planning to work with him this week. I really feel like we've gained Papa Mensan's trust. He likes us, and he sees that we're working hard. We have an FHE with the Bishop's family tonight, and I promised to cook a little something special for them (rice with pineapple sauce, first time cooking it! Pray for me! (; )! I feel like the members trust us, and they can see that we're working hard. I've learned that, in missionary work, making sure that the members see your hard work is just as important as working hard. That doesn't mean that we should put on a show and pretend that we're working harder than we are, but we should show the ward the fruits of all our hard work.

We had a zone meeting on Tuesday, and we got to hear about missionary efforts in Kpalimé! They're experiencing a few difficulties getting the plane off of the ground, but it's looking like Kpalimé's going to be a soaring sector! I also gave my first report as district leader, which was a little intimidating, but nothing too special, just letting the zone know how we're doing. Elders Eperonnier and Lath gave great lessons, as well.

We've taken on some recent converts in the other sector, Frère Emmanuel and Family. They seem great, they're preparing to go to the temple (Emmanuel has prepared over 500 names to do baptisms for the dead with! Wow!!!), they just need a little bit of guidance in some doctrinal matters, but nothing too crazy.

Philomène has been a little hesitant to meet with us lately, and we learned yesterday that she's got some problems accepting the doctrine of baptisms for the dead, so we're hoping to work with that this week.

Hilaire's family is doing wonderfully! Elisabeth wants for the whole family to get baptized, so we're going to try and baptize them this Saturday. Luckily, Hilaire knows pretty much everything, so he's helping a ton with getting the rest of his family up to date. The family just found out that they're getting evicted at the end of the month, so they're hoping that the members can help them find a new situation. They've talked with the bishop, and we made sure that they're getting baptized for the right reasons (ie to become converted and not just to receive help), and I feel like they're being genuine. You know that the work is progressing really well when your thoughts change from "What does this family need to get baptized" to "How are we going to get them ready for baptism?!" It's been such a tender mercy of the Lord, for which we're super grateful. We'll see how it goes over the coming week. Pray that we'll be able to get them to baptism safe and sound, and that they'll be able to remember all of the doctrine that we've taught them! And that they'll get baptized for the right reasons!

There were a lot of ratez-vous in the middle of this week, which was a bit discouraging, but nothing too bad. We did service for Alice by carrying corn to the cornmill, which was fun!

Felicité is still a little hesitant about baptism, so we re-fixed her date to the 24th of September. She does want to go to the YSA activity (going to Benin to meet Beninois YSAs), though, so that's a good sign.

Sam is doing great! He understands the Restoration, and we invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We challenged him to come to Church, to which he was hesitant. We promised the blessings of coming to Church, to which he responded that he's "done a lot of searching" in his life, and multiple times he's heard pastors say "If you do this, you'll be blessed," to no avail, to the point of disappointment. We shared John 7:17, and testified that, to know the will of the Lord, you have to act upon seeds of faith.
​
Well, come Sunday morning, Sam showed up, rasta cap and all! It was so great to see him! He seemed super happy to be there! He was a little shy in the Gospel Principles class, but he loved and participated in the Priesthood quorum lesson about eternal families! Another amazing blessing from the Lord.

Africans are very spiritual people. Sometimes, if you're teaching with a member, you'll be testifying of a certain principle, and you'll ask the member to share how they've gained a testimony of that principle, and they'll talk about how they had some very spiritual dream or experience of how they gained a testimony. As a missionary, I absolutely believe what they say, but to continue the lesson is kind of anti-climactic ("Well, I don't know what to say to that, so will you close with a prayer?"). I've really grown to love and appreciate these people, they are wonderful to live with, and I'm going to desperately miss them when I'm gone.

Training Elder Angbo is going well. He's really zealous in his English study. It's hard for him to learn, but he still goes at it nonstop! He's a stud. He hasn't had any problems with homesickness, and he's super engaged in the work. I'm so grateful to have him as a companion. Nowadays, if we're teaching a lesson that we've already learned together, I let him teach the entire lesson. I know that I've learned best when I was let loose to experiment and try my own ideas, so I imagine that he'll learn much more that way too.

Elder Angbo has the gift of remembering where people live, and being guided by the Spirit to get there. One day, as we were headed to an appointment, he thought he was on the wrong course, so we took a turn or two, and we ran into Frère Hugues! Hugues is one of Elder Jorgensen's converts, and he's awesome! He's a very sweet, humble, nice guy. He's a tailor, and so we made a business deal about some ties I wanted made. We stopped by this morning to drop off the fabric, and he gave us two contacts that we'll be seeing tomorrow! Woohoo! The Spirit is awesome!

One member, Soeur Charlotte, was less-active, but thanks to Frère Bakana, she's been going to church for two months now, and she wants to go to the temple next month. We visited her yesterday, and she said "Oh hey, my niece isn't baptized yet, can you baptize her?" So yeah, we're working pretty well with the members. We're hoping to baptize Awofah (the niece) this Saturday, too! Pray for us!

Délali is also hoping to be baptized this Saturday! Pray for her too!

Working with Frère Bakana is always a pleasure and a blessing. He's so eager for the work! We have our mission standard of excellence to find seven new investigators a week, but with Frère Bakana we end up finding usually five of those investigators on Sunday. He rocks! Yesterday, as we were walking home, I thanked him for everything he's doing for us, and he turned around and found another investigator just to shut me up. (:

So yeah, to sum it up, we're working the boots off of our feet trying to keep up with everyone who wants to be baptized! Needless to say, it's exhilirating, tiring, and so, so very rewarding. We are so blessed here in Attiegou, and it's become my favorite sector. I hope that I'll be able to spend a good deal more time here, "yea, perhaps until the day I" go home. (:

If there was one thing I learned from study/experience this week, it would be the importance of daily repentance. It was a principle that we ended up emphasizing to multiple investigators, and it's something that I'm still learning about. One paragraph in the "Gospel of Jesus Christ" brochure says it best:
"Repentance does not always mean making big changes. Often it simply requires an increased commitment to live according to God’s will. True repentance does not always happen quickly; be patient with yourself as you strive to do what is right and correct mistakes you make. As you repent, you will experience a change of heart. You will no longer desire to sin. You will come to know that you are a child of God and that you need not continue making the same mistakes over and over. Your desire to follow God will grow stronger and deeper."

As Preach My Gospel says:
"Even after we have accepted Christ and repented of our sins, we may fall short and sin again. We should continually try to correct these transgressions. In addition, we should continually improve—to develop Christlike qualities, to grow in knowledge, and to serve more effectively. As we learn more about what the Savior expects of us, we will want to show our love by obeying Him. Thus, as we repent daily, we will find that our lives will change and improve. Our hearts and our behavior will become more Christlike. We will come to feel great joy in repenting daily."

I love this doctrine! I've felt its blessings so much during my mission, especially this week. Daily repentance is not beating yourself up every day about your mistakes, nor is it an emotionless critique, or an imaginary confession. It is simply, at the end of your day, coming to Heavenly Father in prayer with a positive, open heart, asking "Okay Father, what did I do well today? What can I do to improve?"

The Lord is infinitely loving. I have gain such a testimony of the peace that the Gospel brings, and I can promise each of you that God is waiting for you, no matter who you are. He's ready to take the burden of anything that might be weighing you down, and teach you how to fly. I know it.

I love you all! I wish you a phenomenal week!
é zandé! (see you later!)

Love,
Elder Phillips

​Bonjour, ma famille!

Hi everybody! This week was pretty great.

What's really funny about eating at places like King Burger is that it's a hotspot for the rich in the city. You'll see lots of higher income singles go on dates here, or higher income families go for a family outing. I find that really funny, because back home those kinds of places are the "anybody can come here" restaurants. Very interesting.

Fun fact: What I consider the African equivalent of breakfast cereal is something called gari: dried corn ground into lots of flecks, run through water, mixed with sugar and milk. 40 percent of the flavor, 40 percent of the price. (;

One thing that I'll definitely miss about Africa is how many people stare at me as I walk down the street, especially the kids. Back home, if I were to turn around in the road, do a little dance and stick my tongue out, it wouldn't have quite the same comedic effect as it does here. (;

During the week, Elder Angbo and I studied the first missionary lesson, the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and different ways to teach it. We ended up studying a lot about inspired questions, listening, discerning, and teaching the doctrine. I told Elder Angbo that, from hereon out, he's going to lead teaching the Restoration, and I'm just going to testify of what he says. He did marvelously. In fact, Wednesday morning, we had a lesson with a new investigator. Through asking inspired questions, we learned that her dad abandoned the family when she was younger, but the family received lots of comfort and strength through their religion. Then came the time for my companion to introduce the doctrine, and he said "We have a message about the Plan of Salvation that God has for each of His children," and I had a silent "say what?" moment. As we continued the lesson, it was easy to realize that that was exactly what the investigator needed to hear! It was awesome. I was very proud of how Elder Angbo taught. He's still got a lot to learn, but he's becoming a very effective missionary, I feel.

Tuesday morning, we had a surprise appointment with an inactive who is never available. While giving the opening prayer, I heard a literal voice whisper "Get out". I believed it was the Spirit, so we shared just a quick spiritual thought and then booked it. Normally I would have loved to give a more in-depth lesson, but we did what we needed to do. I don't know if anything would have happened if we had stayed, but it just goes to show the importance of acting on the impressions you receive, even if you don't know for sure that it's the Spirit.

Wednesday afternoon, Président and Soeur Morin came to have a trainer's meeting, something that happens every transfer. It's a meeting where the companionships in training receive important instruction on the training process. There was only us and a sister missionary companionship, so it was great to have more individualized interaction with Président. He's a very inspired leader, as is Soeur Morin, and we definitely felt the Spirit. At one point, Président was testifying of how, at the end of his mission, he felt proud of his service, and he felt like his hard work and obedience paid off. I felt the Spirit testify to me that I would have that same feeling at the end of my mission. Président's just an awesome guy. (: My companion also made some superb comments, and I felt very proud of my mission son. He's very obedient, and he loves hard work. It's been a lot easier to keep the rules with him as a companion, and I feel like I'm the most obedient I've been during all of my mission.

During weekly planning, we tried out a planning method that Président recommended, and we ended up filling all three of our planning hours, something that hasn't happened since I was trained! Woohoo! (:

We did a lot of work this week. As of right now, we have nine investigators with a baptismal date fixed! Multiple amis won't reach their date, but that's okay, we can just refix it if need be. We're following the council we've received from our leaders (fixing baptismal dates in the first lesson), and we're seeing the fruits. Felicité, Délali, Hilaire, Philomène, and some more new faces all have their dates fixed!

On Thursday, we decided to use our DVD player (every companionship in training gets a DVD player to watch "The District") to show Felicité "The Restoration" film. She said that, little by little, as she reads the Book of Mormon, she feels like she's getting her response. She believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet. We were super pumped! And we fixed a baptismal date for this week! We'll have to refix it, because she didn't come to church yesterday, but no problem.

We also fixed a baptismal date for Hilaire, too! We finally got his mom's permission. We could tell that she was a little bugged that Hilaire was joining a different church, but she admitted that Hilaire was very intelligent and mature for his age, so she felt confident in his ability to choose wisely. Hilaire understands the doctrine perfectly, and is super ready. He came to church yesterday! And, get this, his mom and sister came too! Yayyyy! It was a total surprise to see them walk into Gospel Principles class, but it totally made my day! After church, Elder Adzagah was telling me that he was talking to Elisabeth (Hilaire's mom), and she said that she wanted to be baptized! Yoohoo! It just goes to show that the Spirit is very much present in our Sunday meetings, and investigators can feel it. We had a lot more investigators at sacrament than usual, which was awesome! The Lord is definitely shedding His tender mercies upon us.

In the other sector, things are okay. We tried going out to see people there on Friday. I was only able to remember where one house was, so I prayed that we could be guided to find the people that we had met on Sunday, and my companion was able to lead us to every house. Nobody was available to be taught, unfortunately, but it was still a tender mercy of the Lord.

The only people in the other sector that we've really been able to contact regularly is a partial member family, converts of Elder Olela. They're an awesome family, and we love teaching them. We've felt that we just need to be goofy, friendly, and funny as we take stewardship of this special family.

On Sunday, we had to rush around making sure that everyone got home from Church, paying fast offerings, etc., and the Hedzranawoé ward's pianist couldn't come, so the elders asked me to sit in and play for their sacrament meeting. In total, we spent five hours at church! Woohoo!

Friday evening was baptismal interview night! The zone leaders had a Nigerian investigator ready for baptism, and Elder Lath (their district leader), understands but doesn't speak much English, so I was able to translate for him. It was a very sweet experience. Michael, the investigator, expressed that he was willing to keep the commandments, but he expressed a fear of temptation. Elder Lath testified that the Holy Ghost would be able to guide him and keep him on the straight and narrow. As I translated that phrase into English, I felt the Spirit testify.
Michael was baptized Saturday evening, and confirmed Sunday morning. The person confirming him promised him that the Spirit had the power necessary to protect him from evil. It was fast and testimony meeting, and the second counselor of the bishopric bore his testimony, and he promised Michael that the Spirit would help him in difficult times. Michael bore his testimony, and the person confirming him bore his testimony too. The person who confirmed him said that he had been sick for a month (apparently after a bad reaction to a medicine, he ended up pooping twenty five times a day), but was able to come to Church that day. That very morning, he had had a dream that he would be giving a blessing to someone that day. How cool is that?

Brigitte was finally able to be baptized! We had a combined baptismal service with the zone leaders, and I had left my baptismal clothes at home, so Elder Adzagah baptized. It was a very cool experience, and we were blessed by the Lord to be able to have a baptismal service.

Overall, I would say that this week, I learned the importance of spiritual confidence in producing miracles. As Elder Jorg Klebingat said, "Faith in Christ—the kind of faith that produces a steady stream of tender mercies and even mighty miracles—goes hand in hand with a personal confidence that you are striving to choose the right". As I've focused on applying the Atonement daily and having confidence in my standing with God, a lot of miracles have happened this week. I know that it's all the hand of the Lord. There was no way that this week could happen without the Spirit.
On my mission, I've learned that there's a difference between feeling the Spirit and being guided by the Spirit. I don't know how it is for other missionaries, but for me I feel like I'm not feeling the Spirit strongly with every corner that I turn, but I do know that I've been guided by the Spirit in so many things, and when I recognize it, I feel the Lord's hand in my life. I know that our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of you, individually, and that He responds specifically to specific prayers. I know that He is very present in your lives, even if you may not recognize it at the moment. So keep building your spiritual confidence, and you'll be able to one day, soon or into the eternities, recognize all that the Lord has done for you in your life.

I love you all, and I wish you bonne courage as you continue the daily fight against the world! Mawu né ramé (God bless you)!

Love,
Elder Phillips