Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dear Family and Friends,

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Best wishes to all.  Drink some egg nog, gain some weight, and have some fun!  

 We went Christmas Caroling this past week.  We visited some member’s homes and sang Christmas Carols.  Some neighbors were not too pleased with us, but we didn't care.  

 We picked up a new investigator this week.  He is 16, and a nice kid.  He really liked us, and he has interest to learn more. He has a very colorful past.  He was a triad at one point, and he has broken a commandment or two.  But we talked to him about repentance.  He told us that he quit the triads because his late grandma appeared to him in a dream and told him to stop affiliating with that stuff. He definitely has potential to change.  

 This week, I will celebrate Christmas by going to an activity at our Stake Center.  It's 7 hours long and it's all about Christmas.  It should be good!  We are also going to a picnic activity with our ward.  Today we will celebrate a little bit by getting together as a zone and watching the 2013 slide show of our Mission!  I will also celebrate by buying stuff.  The malls are crowded here on Christmas!  Just like America.  Basically it's like I never even left home. :)  

Love,

Elder Phillips

 Dear Friends and Family, 

This past week was just great!  On Christmas Day, we went to the Stake Center and our apartment worked at a station where people had to shoot balls in a hoop to win.  It was kind of like a carnival.  Very fun.  We also got to talk to a lot of people who might not listen in a different circumstance because it was Christmas Day.

On the 26th, we went on a ward picnic.  We did a bit of hiking and BBQ.  We had investigators and less active members come, and I think they had a good time. 

 

On a bit of a sadder note, we ran into an old investigator on the street who stopped contact with us.  He is an older guy.  Elder Woodburn and Elder Fong (the missionaries previously in Wuh Dihp) found him on the street.  They said at that time he looked like a homeless guy, but as they continued to meet he cleaned up a bit.  Then he dropped us.  Elder Falk and I ran into him yesterday, and we recognized each other.  He was friendly at first, so we tried to get him to come back to church, but he just kept asking for money.  Eventually we just told him we had to go to church because he only wanted us to give him money. 

This morning, we attended seminary.  The young men in Butterfly Ward are pretty funny.  They have a hard time staying awake in seminary, but I did too when I went through it.  Teenagers are just the same everywhere, I suppose.  After Seminary, we were walking home, and we ran into our investigator who has a baptismal date but ignores our calls.  We called out to him and he was on his way to school, he completely ignored us.  He looked like he hadn't slept in days.  Just weeks before, he was hugging us and telling us how sorry he was for being so busy, now he is back to ignoring us.  (Ha, that last sentence just sounded like some teenage girl getting played by the captain of the football team in high school) but that is what it's like much of the time for missionaries. 

 

It's not all bad though.  We had two new investigators come to church this past Sunday.  Their names are Miss Jaak and Penny Jaak.  Penny is Miss Jaak's nine year old son.  Miss Jaak said she really doesn't have interest in church, but we think she wants her son to participate in the church because it is a good influence and will give him good standards.  He really seemed to enjoy church!  We will see what happens there! 

 

On another positive note, New Years is coming up.  My New Year Resolutions are the same as last year: Getting a six pack, working on my extended eye contact with strangers, and of course taking more long romantic walks on the beach. Haha, hope no one takes that seriously! Love you!

Love,

Elder Phillips

Visiting and Old Folks Home

In our college T-shirts. The Elder in white shirt is so faded, but he attends in Texas.