We cannot be whole ourselves without loving others and loving God.

3/13
Dear Friends and Family,

I hope everybody had a great Easter.  I hope all is going well for you all.  Things are good here in Yuen Long.  Two investigators will be getting baptized in the next coming month, so it is going to be a hectic time.  Nick is supposed to get baptized on April 26th.  Pang is to be baptized on May 10th.  Pang  is a super nice, humble deaf man. His body is crippled and he has other hardships, but he is an amazing guy.  I love him.  Nick is not deaf and he is a really cool guy as well.  He is 23.  

I watched general conference this past weekend and I had some amazing experiences while watching it.  There is too much stuff to write it all.  One thing I have learned for myself is that If I cannot be motivated for my own sake to do things, then I should do it for God's sake or for another's sake.  Sometimes I think I should be able to conquer this temptation on my own.  I think I should do it for my own sake, but I've realized it is not always enough.  Why did God send a help meet to Adam in the first place?  Why does God offer us grace?  It is because we are not enough on our own.  It is one of the greatest lessons of my life.  I cannot do it by myself.  I've probably given my parents a lot of grief in the past because of this attitude I've had, and I'm certain I've given God grief for it as well.  But I've realized that there is a reason why we have other people to help us.  Also we need to serve them.  We cannot be whole ourselves without loving others and loving God.  We are dependent, completely dependent, on God and others.  God did not send me here to look perfect or receive honor and glory of others, he sent me here to repent and strive to help others do the same.  No matter how independent I think I am, I am completely not okay when I am on my own.  

Which leads me to the next thing I learned from Conference: marriage.  Just kidding I'm not going to talk about that.  Anyway Love you all.  Keep carrying on.

Love,
Elder Phillips

4/20
It has been a really good week!  Things are going pretty well.  Nick passed his baptismal interview and is getting baptized this Sunday.  It has been a miracle seeing him change.  When we found him on the street he was such a different person.  It is cool to see how the gospel softens people's hearts.  

We have been teaching a couple other deaf people so that has been great.  In other news, my recent convert named Grace Li (baptized in Pok Fu Lam) has decided to start attending Yuen Long because it is closer to her home. She also happens to be great friends with Pang.  Actually she referred Pang!  It is going to really strengthen the deaf members. 

This past Friday Bishop Shum called and asked me to give a talk on Sunday (yesterday).  I prepared a bit on Saturday but our schedule doesn't give us much time for preparing talks!  Luckily it turned out really well.  The topic was on missionary work.  I shared some experiences I had sharing the gospel with my friends at home.

I love you all.  I hope all is going well.  

Love,
Elder Phillips