Mormon Neighbors

Unfortunately, today I had to say goodbye to a brother. Elder Fewel has been an awesome companion but his 2 years are up and the Lord needs him in another place. His plane takes off tomorrow and I hope to see him when I finish up. But this week has been one of the most fun ones and definitely a learning experience. After many weeks of joke telling, we finally came out with one that actually teaches a great lesson. With a Ned Flanders kind of voice we would act like a Mormon neighbor that always tries to contact his neighbors and get them to accept the Gospel. It really isn´t that funny when I write it like that.... But it kept us happy through the tough times. What it really taught me is that everyone needs to be a missionary in their own way. Even though it comes out weird or the person straight up rejects it, our job is to share with others what we know to be true. Something that I learned this transfer is that without ordinances of the restored Gospel, man cannot participate in the Atonement. It doesn´t matter how long you pray or how good of a person you are, we just don´t meet up to God´s standards. Even the most world-renowned people that have done unmeasurable good for the human kind don´t even come close to what God expects us to accomplish. If we wish to be ¨at-one¨ with our Heavenly Father and His divine design, we must participate in the Atonement, which is accessable by baptism, confirmation, the Priesthood, temples, and finally but most importantly Temple marriage and or sealings. If it weren´t for Jesus Christ the human kind would be inevitably doomed to eternal destruction. And those who don´t accept Him will not be able to experience real happiness. Therefore, SHARE THE GOSPEL. Just do it. Give references to the missionaries for petes sake. Your friends want to meet the missionaries, they just don´t know it! Haha

I love the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. When I see people, I just want to talk to them. I just want them to be happy. That´s why I´m here. To make people happy. You can do the same. Charity is service. Service is the Gospel. Give the Gospel. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot 

La Iglesia Mormonica

To start us off, I want to tell a story. Saturday night, while walking away from one of our investigator´s house, we found ourselves thinking about where we would be going. From a distance we saw a small figure walking toward us in the dark as if he lived in that house. Well, we were leaving so we said hi and shook his hand but before we could contact him, he starting to ask us a few things. The first thing he said is unforgettable. ¨Ustedes son de la iglesia mormonica?¨ Translation: ¨Are you guys from the mormonic church.¨ I said, with a surprised/sarcastic tone, yes, we´re from the mormonic church. Then he asked if we were elders. I said yes. He proceeded to ask our names and comment that they were strange. I agreed. Then he said, ¨Good, I´m going to church tomorrow.¨ Then he marched in the front door.... We passed by Sunday morning and he was already dressed. We walked together to church. Unfortunately, he lives in another part of Salta because his family is separated but it was the greatest experience until now in my mission. Haha what makes the story even better is that Jorge, our contact from last week, woke up early this morning and went to church by himself. He got there 30 minutes before church started. After all the meetings he said, ¨Alright, what´s next?¨ We had to tell him to go home. Hahaha I`ve learned quite a bit this week but what I saw most is the constant need to receive personal revelation from our Heavenly Father. Everyone needs help in this life and God isn´t a cold being that lives far away laughing at all His kids falling, getting up, and falling again. God loves you. He wants you to be successful. He´s very willing to lead you but He needs to hear your voice. I learned that God is preparing His children to receive success through His Church. I don´t have one single doubt that families are meant to be together forever. The Gospel has been restored for our personal progress. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot

Frolicking

Hey, missionaries don´t frolic! Well these missionaries do... Haha this week hasn´t been too different from the rest so we´ve been finding lots small funny things that help us loosen up. One of which is the practice of frolicking because it´s a little faster than walking, not too physically demanding, and much more fun. But don´t worry, usually we wait until everyone can see us to start frolicking in the streets. Haha anyways, we´ve been having a lot of fun lately and the transfers are starting to fly by and my companion is just about to end. It´s pretty sad how fast time goes in the mission but with every week comes awesome new experiences. This week we did companion exchanges and while I was with Elder Brazzel I learned that some of the best missionaries are also the most humble. If we learn to be humble, what the world thinks begins to leave our list of worries and what the Lord hopes us to do begins to guide our actions in spite of physical or mental barriers. Sometimes I wish I hadn´t been put in a leadership position because I don´t want to think about what others think of me. I wish that my thoughts were set only on what the Lord expects of me. I know that it´s important to help other missionaries but I think that it gets to all the missionaries´ head at times. Other times I think of the happiness it brings me to help other missionaries in their missions and I feel great gratitude for an opportunity to serve them. Service really is a sign of not only true discipleship but also humility.

But anyways, I wanted to share an awesome experience I had this week! While walking down the street last Monday, walking away from the house of someone that we wanted to visit (who wasn´t there), I felt as though we needed to talk with more people in the street... It´s just that there wasn´t anybody in the street. About a minute later I felt a strong impression and said to my companion,¨We need to contact the next person that we see!¨ My companion said,¨Alright!¨ and while I looked to see if anyone was turning the corner, Elder Fewel asked me if that was a shadow in the door at the end of the street or a person. As we got closer, someone walked up to him and shook his hand with a fist bump. Oh great, I thought, it´s just a druggie and his friend. We almost passed by him but I felt determined. As we shook his hand and began to talk, his face brightened up and I realized that he was way not a druggie. He let us in and expressed his desire to learn more. Turns out, he´s just an awesome dude, about 30 and surprisingly intelligent. The Lord definitely has a huge role in this work... This IS His work. Our Father speaks with His children. He knows every single one of us. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot

Good Times

This week has been full of different adventures. I actually don´t really know where to start so I´m just going to give a day by day synopsis.

Tuesday: Every month, all the zone leaders are called to Salta for a leadership counsil so bright and early in the morning, someone decided that we should go play futbol northern zones versus southern zones on a cement ¨field¨. A fun experience overall but since we live in Salta we basically had to spend a ton of money on a taxi and then go back to the pension then to the mission home again. Hahaha but it was nice to see a bunch of old pals in the leadership council!

Wednesday: Weekly planning.... Not exactly an adventure but we had to do it early because on thursday we had to give our Zone Training and on Friday we had to verify weekly planning of another area in our zone.

Thursday: Zone Training and divisions with an Elder called Elder Birch (pretty hilarious dude with great desires to become a better missionary).

Friday: Fun road trip to Ciudad de Milagros to verify weekly planning. The taxi driver was swearing up a storm so that was interesting. Haha

Saturday: Rest from all other duties. I got to spend the whole day in my area!

Sunday: an investigator named Hugo (we call him Hugity Bugity) showed up to church which was an awesomely present surprise!

I think what I learned this week would have to be the importance of church attendance in participating in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. After giving a lesson in the Zone Training about it, I´ve come to really understand that it is so important that we should never miss church. In fact, we can´t miss church. The grace of God is sufficient to save all man but only if we are willing to do what is necessary to utilize that ennabling power. Without the sacrament, we are unnable to enjoy the ennabling power of Jesus Christ´s sacrifice. I would like to refer you to the talk by President Uchtdorf in the last General Conference. Without the sacrament we would still be headed farther down in a hole that we can´t dig ourselves out of. God´s grace can be accessed by worthy church attendance. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot