Busy Week!

Hey Mom & Dad,

I don't have much time to write this week.  I'm out of time I am sorry.  Tell everyone sorry.  I have temple day next week so my P day will not be until Thursday.  So no need to worry! I've included some pictures.


I have taught a lot of people here in Hong Kong.  We run into a lot of eccentric ones, they have the best stories   It is pretty interesting. We found a potential investigator this week for another mission area.  She believes her house to be haunted, she wanted us to "cleanse" her house of it.  She is not in my area so I'm going to leave the cleansing to the missionaries in her area :) Meanwhile most of the rest of Hong Kong is too busy working from sun up until sun down, very truly working themselves to death. 

Dad's Duck hunt has turned him... he sounds like such a hick right now, ha.  That's so cool that Amanda Poppe was called to Mesa, AZ. Tell our friends there to feed her dinner! The picture of all of you on your friend trip looks beautiful! 


Anyway that is all, next week will be longer:) 
Love Elder Phillips

                         

                                     
                                       
 

Trip to the Island!

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was the first full week I've had with Elder Falk.  It has been good.  Yes Mom,  I'm very happy, and yes the sister missionaries definitely like it here because they got our two best investigators!  And we did another turnover with them from a lady we just found recently.   Anyway when Elder Falk came into the area he told me that among mission areas Butterfly (Wuh Dihp) is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, areas in Hong Kong.  No area in Hong Kong is easy, but apparently it's super hard here.  That's fine by me, I've never experienced anything different.  The rest of my mission will be a piece of cake compared to Butterfly :)

We had general conference last week and yesterday we had stake conference, Elder Falk hasn't been to our ward's regular sacrament meeting yet.  Oh well, he will get a chance next week!  

Today we went to Hong Kong island for P Day.  The island is much different from my area.  This is the first time I've been to the island on my mission, it's crazy.  I feel like everyone speaks English on the island. That's just an exaggeration but definitely more here than in the New Territories. 

Our Stake President in the New Territories is named President Chan.  I met his son in the MTC, so when I talked to him we got a picture together.  He is such an awesome guy.  

This week we went out finding a bit.  We met a guy named A-Tai.  He doesn't believe in God, he believes in himself.  Usually believing in yourself has a positive connotation, but when we hear it as missionaries it just means they're atheist.  But we met him on two different occasions, and he still wouldn't give us his number. It's okay, we told him if we run into him a third time he has to meet with us because it's definitely divine providence.  They just don't think they need us, but it's ironic because they probably need it more.  But despite failures, we continue on.  Any missionary effort is not really a failure :)

Happy Birthday Mom!  you are getting so old!  Just kidding.  Love ya!

Love, 
Elder Phillips

Butterfly Theory :) New Pictures Too!

Dear Friends and Family,

 It has been a good week.  Lot's of changes.  I got a new companion and he was in the same MTC group as my last companion.  So he's still pretty young.  I thought up a theory of why they send young missionaries to butterfly.  This place is called butterfly right?  So it's like all these new missionaries come here in their cocoons, but by the end of their time here they have hatched into a beautiful butterfly...Pretty foofy theory right?  I thought so, too.

Being in a tri-companionship with two other missionaries was pretty interesting.  We were covering two areas so there were some scheduling conflicts, but I survived.  I'm just glad to be back with one other companion again.  My new companion's name is Elder Falk.  He is district leader so I think he will stay here for a long time.  We will see.  

We have sister missionaries in Butterfly now.  They stole all our good investigators!  Just kidding, I'm not mad.  But really it's a lot easier to find girls to teach than guys. They're just nicer.  

Mom I don't care what you think about my stylish clothes.  You're probably just jealous.  I was going to send you a pair, but now consider it undone.  (he is talking about goofy red pants he bought in Hong Kong :) 
  
We also got to watch general conference.  That was a great experience.  It's so much better as a missionary.  I was actually really enjoying it.  We got a new shipment of elders in who got to see it twice.  Once in the MTC and once in the field because they show it one week late here!  Pretty lucky.

I am going to send you a few pictures. 

One is with a family we ate dinner with last night.  The new sister missionaries as well as my new companion are in this one.




One of them is with a previous less active who is now again active in the church.  He's such a cool guy.  I'm not sure why he stopped going to church, because he has such a great testimony.  Hopefully he get's a calling soon.  He is awesome. 




 When I was in a tri panionship with this younger kid named Peter, who is an investigator.

  

One is new comp. Elder Falk and I.



Another is a pic of some old buses in Hong Kong.  We went to a museum about buses.  I know it sounds boring, but let me assure you just the opposite is true.  You would be shocked at the rich heritage of buses and their cultural significance in Hong Kong.

  

One is with my old MTC companion.  My new companion actually trained my old MTC companion.  And furthermore, my trainer was MTC companions with my new companion Elder Falk.  Pretty crazy.  He has had every companion I've had.  



Another is with a member named Tony.  He is wearing a red Cardigan.  He is another awesome dude.  He is in Tuen Muhn Ward but he really liked me for some reason.



Another is a picture of some steak.  This was two P days ago, I believe.  The guy in our apartment named Elder McCleary was going home so we celebrated his last P Day with steak.  Pretty awesome. 




There should be another picture with a youth in my ward.  He gave me his sweater and I gave him my suit and we took a picture.  His name is Timothy Chan.  Pretty awesome!



Got to go. Love you all!

Elder Phillips

Crazy Week!!

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been insane.  I will tell you first off, that my companion is no longer with me.  He got a special call to be a DBC elder who take care of missionary housing and distribution, so he left early to do extra training.  It's good for him because of his knee problem.  He will get to drive now.  Right now I am in charge of the Wuh Dihp area.  It's pretty scary.
  
 I am in a tri-panionship with my Zone leaders, so the three of us cover two areas.  It's pretty strange.  There's a lot more stress on me, but if anyone can handle it, it's God, and he is on my side.

I will be getting a new companion this Thursday.  I am pretty sure I am staying in Wuh Dihp because my companion already left, and it's pretty rare to white wash an area. We will see.

We are getting sister missionaries in our area this Thursday, and we have to turn over all of our good investigators.  So sad.  But I'm happy for those sisters because they will have a jump start in this area.  We will just have to start from square one
.
One of my new companions is leaving this Thursday.  We had a pretty funny scare the other day.  He bought an airsoft gun and he was carrying it in his bag to give it to someone to send home, but he left it on the train! He freaked out  and ran as fast as he could after the train but on the way he dropped his other bag and some of his personal belongings went flying. Poor guy.  But luckily he found out his airsoft gun was actually in the bag he had on him.   Anyway it all turned out okay.

We haven't watched General Conference yet.  They don't stream it live to us we just watch it a week late. I'm hoping they have some inspiring words for us!

Mom, I haven't got your package yet, but I got the pictures and everything of Corey's family visit!  They were fun to see!

The mission area I'm in is really young so a lot of change is happening,  So it's going to be interesting.
I have to go!  Love you!

Elder Phillips