November 22, 2010

Christmas Ornament?

Handing out Thanksgiving Dinner's for 150 people!

Things are going great. We are preparing for Thanksgiving and it seems like it should be good...I am not expecting anything special because the last holiday was so lame! So, if I keep my sights low....I won't be disappointed.

Yesterday, I was humbled with my Spanish...a lot! I was asked to translate again in front of everyone for a hispanic member. His talk was kinda weird and he didn't give it to me to look over it before the meeting. I guess I did fine, but I just was forgetting small words. I know this happened because I was starting to get cocky with the language. It is pretty funny how things happen and how the Lord can humble someone.

Tuesday, was a good day. Steven, my first baptism is progressing great and I am so happy like he gets everything. He had his interview for baptism and we were complimented and told he is very well prepared. I was so happy and content to be apart of something bigger than me and that I could do something to help someone. I also learned how to make papusas and they were good! We learned how to make them with a person that used to make and sell papusas in Salvador. They are like my favorite thing in the world and they were homemade...amazing! People have been mistaking me for a hispanic person! I don't know if they are lying, but it makes me feel really good about my spanish!

Wednesday, Wow! We started to teach this kid my age! He is twenty two and knows the Book of Mormon is true. He just really, really likes his lifestyle. He is amazing and he has been talking to friends. He reads more in the Book of Mormon than me! Wow! I had this prompting for him to read Moroni 7. He read it in the library at school and started to cry cause he could feel the spirit so strong and he knew that he had gotten an answer to his prayers. Some people are just ready. He is just worried about how his family would react to him changing religions. Gosh, reminds me of my dad! I might have him call you dad!

Friday was a cool day. We gave out free turkeys at the service...150 turkeys! It was a sight and we got one too. We are going to do an activity tomorrow with our missionaries and the other people in our ward and investigators.

Saturday, we ended up sanding a floor all day for a member! What a huge mess. He had to leave because he had family coming in town. We were so tired from sanding all day, but it was worth it when he came back and gave us so many compliments and was so grateful! It felt great to do some manual labor!

I hope you all have a great week and a Happy Turkey Day! Read President Monson's talk on gratitude. It was amazing...that is my challenge to be more grateful! Peace and Blessings! Elder Aaron James Phillips

November 15, 2010

Elder Phillips and Mr. Hollywood

Elder Mecham and I

I feel like this week went by really, really fast and it was really, really fun!

I found a fantastic scripture this week. It just gives the best reason to be out on a mission. It is in 3 Nephi 18:32 and it states, "Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them." This means that I am the means that God can bring to pass salvation to others and I need to preach the gospel to somebody that needs to have the gospel in their life. This is just a great scripture and it was so great to find it.

Tuesday, I taught someone from China that doesn't believe in God or Jesus Christ. He made all these commitments and then we stopped by the other day and he had left a note that told us that we can't expect him to do all the things that we asked him to do. We left him a Chinese Book of Mormon. Then our investigator that was supposed to get baptized this week postponed because his mom couldn't do it. We will have to wait a little longer. I hope that I will be here when does get baptized. Today, he asked so many questions about the Word of Wisdom. He said that he doesn't think that drinking alcohol and smoking are bad for you. Then the next visit something hit me that I forgot about when the Word of Wisdom was revealed to Joseph Smith, he didn't think tobacco was not bad either. Then we explained to him that as technology advanced we found out how bad tobacco was. That is why we have a prophet to guide us and that when we listen we will be blessed. It was awesome. He was so much better after that. I love it when God helps you explain things!

Two Sundays ago, I met the coolest guy in the English ward. He is from Mexico We are good buddies because I talk Spanish. This guy is such a gentleman. He is a VIP butler and he loves me because I gave him a blessing in Spanish. Then he took us out to this Chinese restaurant and we had this ginger duck. Then we went on exchanges on Saturday and he took us out for lunch. He is the coolest guy ever.

We went on changes this week and I went with Elder Mecham. He is a small country, southern boy. He loves to cook and is going to open a restaurant after he saves enough money working on the oil rigs after his mission. I sure never thought I would meet someone like him. I thought they were extinct! It was just awesome to go with him. We went all over but it was weird that we went to a place of all white people and all the people were rich! I spoke very little Spanish. His dad is a chicken farmer and he talks more than me!

Sunday was great! I am getting better at translating. I am still talking a lot of Spanish, so I am still getting better. I am really happy to be here! We teach lots of Spanish people. I love this work. This is the place for me, in the city! I don't know what I would do without the Hispanics or the city. I will do great where ever the Lord sends me. I just love it!

November 7, 2010

Wedding at the church.

Playing Risk with my roommates!

On the Harvard University campus!

Thanks for all the support and the letters and stuff.  Last week, we went to Harvard University, which was really cool.  It was just like in all the movies.  The campus is just gorgeous and the houses are really amazing.  We looked so out of place, even with our white shirts and ties, we stood out!  I could really go to school there!  I am thinking about if for my MBA.  We will see.  It would be amazing.  The people are amazing and the teachers too.  There are a few that are LDS, so that would be cool!

Tuesday was an amazing day.  It was very rewarding because we are teaching this 19 year old kid that is part of a part member family.  We talked about prophets and why we should listen to the prophets.  I show him this tree metaphor and he like expounds on it...it is just amazing when your investigator teaches you!  It was awesome and the spirit was strong.  He has a testimony of the church and is planning to be baptized in 2 weeks.  Then we went over to a guy who was recently baptized.  I had never met him before and he was asking about when he could have an interview and is taking notes in church.  It seems he is a better member than me and I am a missionary!  What the heck?  Some people are just ready for the gospel...you just have to find them.

Wednesday was the zone conference.  We are learning the new method of teaching that the church is coming out with.  The new method really focuses on making the individual's testimony strong, including the missionaries testimonies.

The only problem with this area is the awkwardness of having to knock on doors by your house to people that you see everyday that other missionaries have knocked on before.  It is terrible, but you have to do it.  It is so lame!

On Saturday, my friend in the ward, Anne, took us to the best sushi place in Boston!  It is called JP Seafood.  WOW SO GOOD!  I miss that kind of food.  I have been eating all fried food and it was so nice to get a little sushi in me.  It was delicious.  I loved it so much!

Last night we had church!  Let me tell you folks, it is starting to get cold!  It was really really really cold!  It is time to pull out the winter gear!  But I love it here, it is beautiful.  After church, we ate dinner with a family from Barbados.  They are really cool and they are all members except the cousins.  They love the missionaries.  We are going to eat over there a lot.

The church is true!  Peace and blessing.  Love you all.

November 1, 2010

Boston Temple

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.    It is nuts that we are already writing emails again.  My new area is amazing and the new companion, too.  We are really, really different but still get along great!  He is very quiet, so I will help him come out of his shell a little bit.  The new elders in our apartment are great!  I love them lots.  They both have just over 6 months left on their mission and speak creol.  It is really fun.  We are always talking and playing games together.

Just so everyone knows, my boy Brock goes to the field tomorrow and he needs our prayers.  He has some mixed emotions and we need to pray that he will chill out!  Good luck Brock!

Halloween is really lame in the field.  We did nothing!  I decorated my little corner of the apartment.  The ward party did not have a great turn-out which was sad, but it was fun.  The ward is really great.  It is a good mix of Spanish and English people.  I get to translate all the time.  It is really, really fun.  It is a new skill that I need to work on.  Some people are hard to translate for and others are not.  I just translated for a sister that used lots of slang in her talk.  I spoke in church on Sunday on "Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy".  Someone else translated for me.  I made sure to talk slower and clearer and didn't use jargon or slang.  I now understand why they talk they way they do in conference...it is because they are being translated.

I love the new ward.  We have a few baptisms coming up.  I helped confirm our recent member of the church and then I had to go to teach the Sunday School class.  The people really rely on the missionaries here.

Funny story before I go.  I have been trying to loose a bit of weight.  I feel sososososo much better!  I am doing so good and then all of a sudden we have investigators that live on the side of us that are Dominican that sale food outside of their house.  We talked to him and he says that he is cooking.  I told him that I love those fried plantains that you are making and he was like, "Do you want some?"  So he gave us some plantains and some other stuff too.  Everything is deep fried!!  even the cheese and eggs!  He gives us two huge plates of food.  I went back over and then he gives us pastries...which are more fried stuff!  I went to bed pretty sick!

Going to Harvard today!  Peace and blessings!