Dear Family!
So ya! This email is only coming to you like a day and a half late, sorry about that, the library was closed yesterday, super lame. and today was the first time that I have had any time.
CONFERENCE WAS SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Super powerful. Last Friday night we got stuck a little bit in our planning session. so we decided to have a prayer, then analyze our thoughts and feelings. So we did, and we sat there for like another 5 minutes silently, then we brought our ideas, and decided that we needed to go to village way and contact on the street. We had no idea why, especially because there’s like no houses, and almost certainly none that are Hispanic. But we put it down. So then before Priesthood Session we go over to that street and start walking, and we see this Mexican guy! So we go contact him, and he totally blows us off, tell us to scram. nicely. We were like what the heck? That was probably the only Mexican here. So we keep walking, and really really randomly I find myself walking up this driveway for no reason. Elder Gressier was like this place is totally white, and I just kept walking and said I know. We get up to the door and its wide open, but we can’t see anyone inside, so I knock really loudly on the frame, and we here hello? reply: Hey, come on in. We’re like ok sure, sounded like a guy. So we get in there, and there’s this guy just sitting on his couch, invites us to have a seat. He looked a little bit beat from the day, and smelled like he had already drank one, and he was watching like animal planet or something. We start talking with him, and he's telling us about his life, and how his family is going through a rough time right now, possibly awaiting a divorce. He told us about his daughters and what they were like. We talked with him for like 15 minutes, and Elder Gressier was in the middle of saying something when I asked, "Jo, do you feel like you have ever gotten an answer to prayers from God?" totally cutting my companion off. The reply was a solid, no. Then I continued, “well if there’s one thing that helps me find direction and answers from God its by listening to his called servant the prophet and in like 20 minutes we going to go listen to him and Gods other called servants, and its just for men, and were going to go listen to the Lords instruction for us in our day, would you like to come?... “
“You know what.... I’ll be there. Where?”
It was so sweet!!! and a half hour later we walked into the chapel with him into the Priesthood session of conference. We are listening clear up through President Uchtdorf’s talk, practically directly addressing, it seemed, his issue and he leans over and taps my comps shoulder and says I got to go. So he leaves, and when we follow him out we find him sitting in his car, engine on, staring and his steering wheel. So we asked what’s up, and he said nothing. So we talked with him some more and he said he thought that the conference was really corporate, really business like. Which I can imagine it would certainly seem. Then as we talked more, we shared the message of the Restoration with him, told him about restored truths. Then he accepted a book of Mormon graciously and said thanks you guys a lot.... (then to Elder Gressier) can I give you a hug? of course! So we both gave him a hug, and he thanked us again, and said “I think i’m going to go home, watch a little football, wait for my family to get home, then go get all of this fixed“ and he left. It was wonderful! Really feeling like a tool in the Lords hands without caring about what nationality the person was!
So that was super sick.
Yesterday since we didn't have any library time, Elder Gressier and I went over to the Monroe high school and started playing soccer on their field and a gym class came out and was playing and we talked to the coach guy, and he was like oh yaw’ we'll have a little more room over there. Sweet. We played for like 2 hours, and just about as we were going to leave, another class came out, and that coach was like, um if your going to be out here you need a pass from the office, so were like ok, so we walk in there to go to the bathroom and ask about passes, and the front desk lady was like, um excuse me? this is a closed campus school, you cannot use the field during school hours. oh. ok mama our bad ha-ha. but it was fun nonetheless. Even today, being a Tuesday was crazy, because we had to be to the mission office AGAIN to go to transfers, so that Elder Gressier could go through the training with all the other new missionaries. So I got to sit there for a while, but then I got to see a bunch of old buddies too. Elder shaver came back from the land of English, and Elder Fiala came back AND went zone leader in Marysville! That was super sweet to see them.
Elder Gressier and I have been running in the mornings, and the other morning we were running up this road, but being 6:15 in the morning there was like no light. We started running up this road, and then all of a sudden there aren’t any more street lights. A bunch of cars pass, and Elder Gressier sees this man walking like 40 feet in front of us. Then another wave of cars pass, and illuminated nothing, the man had disappeared. Elder Gressier said he got a feeling at that point. "Stop. Turn around" he’s like were just running were fine. "Stop. Turn around." were missionaries what’s anyone going to do to us? "STOP! Turn Around." So he grabs me flips us around and we start booking it down the hill! so as creepy scary as this experience was, the point I wish to make is that we give thanks to all of your prayers of protection, and openly reply to you all and confirm that they are heard, and our Heavenly Father listens to prayers. That I have no doubt of.
Best wishes for the week!
Elder Phillips
Found a ball and had to see if I could still make a basket even in a white shirt and tie.
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