Future Missionaries

This has been one of the happiest weeks of my mission and it has to do a lot with the people that are beginning to investigate the Church. I have always said that the mission is probably one of the best things in life and has done me more good than anything else in my life! That´s why I want to find young future missionaries more than anything. God answered my prayers. On thursday night, we finished up a lesson and decided to head towards another investigator. My comp said that we should just visit a contact that was closer and I agreed. As we searched the house, we came around the corner and without thinking twice I lifted up my arm to shake hands with a young guy sitting in front of his house. It felt as though God just lifted my hand out of nowhere. We started talking a little bit and right away he offered us Jell-O. Haha we declined but we invited him to listen a little and he accepted. He brought out a few chairs from his house and we began to teach him about the Restoration. It was something really special that I won´t forget. After he said the closing prayer he told us that he felt relieved and that he was going to go to church with us. He went. His mom was very interested and both accepted a baptismal date yesterday. His mom, Marcela, said the closing prayer yesterday and started crying, giving thanks that someone had reached out to her son who had been very sad and alone. As we were leaving, he asked us if he could also be like us, a missionary. I ecstatically said yes. What makes me even more convinced that God knows His children individually is that when I looked back at the address of that contact, I had read it wrong and wouldn´t have turned the corner if I had seen it correctly. There are so many benefits of being a missionary but the biggest one is being able to witness God´s hand so clearly in His work. There are more miracles but I don´t have time to write them all! God´s hand is in everything. He exists. He loves His children and He knows them. We are representatives of His son Jesus Christ. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot

El Poder de los Miembros

Once again I forgot my camera so you´re gonna have to just bare with me. I know... It´s a real struggle. 

As for my life, it´s still pretty much the same. Working hard, openning my mouth to strangers, walking fast, planning, and most importantly sleeping like a champ (which is actually a lie because one of the missionaries snores like a bear in the night). Hahahaha just kidding, it was only a few times. Anyways what I really have been able to see until now in the mission is the power that is added to the Work of Salvation when normal members become missionaries in their own special way. One of our goals as companions was that of training the members to spread the restored Gospel in a normal but bold way. I actually came to really appreciate the pamphlets that are out and about the World teaching the message of the Restoration. I realized that the missionaries in my ward must´ve been somewhat unefficient because they never gave me a pamphlet and told me to share it with a friend of mine. Man, maybe my past could´ve been different if only someone had taught me how to be a teenage missionary. But I digress. The point is this: we spread the Gospel to edify ourselves and those around us. For that very reason, the full-time missionaries need your help! Here in Argentina, the zone Salta Oeste consists of 22 missionaries. Their are millions of people that live in our zone! Now, if we add the number of members to those 22 missionaries we´d have about 1000 people spreading the Gospel. You do the math. As the prophet Thomas Monson has said multiple times,

¨Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord´s vineyard to bring souls unto him.¨

The question is: are we obeying the voice of the Lord? Because as explained in Doctrine and Covenants 1: ¨whether it is by my voice or the voice of my sevants, it is the same.¨ And as said by the prophet David O. McKay,¨Every member a missionary.¨

Personally, I wish I had been of more help to the missionaries where I have lived because there is nothing that makes me more happy than what I´m doing now. I know that this is the work of out Savior Jesus Christ. I also know that we need you members. We need your help. God needs your help. I hope we can all feel the urgency of this topic. I hope that we can all follow the prophet. I hope, no, I urge that all of you contact the missionaries and ask them for a few pamphlets of the Restoration. Share them. Invite a friend to church. They´ll thank you in the future. I promise that if you invite at least one friend, the Lord will touch their heart. As we edify our fellow brethren, the Lord edifies us. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot

Y volví mi rostro a Dios

In life we come to understand why we need God in every situation. As you all may know, life isn´t easy. In fact, it will never be really easy. God didn´t make it that way. God gives us weaknesses and trials that we may be humble. This life is a time for man to prepare to meet God and, as taught by Christ, he who wishes to be great in the kingdom of God will be thy servant, but he who humbleth himself, yea, he shall be great in His kingdom. Or rather, this life is a time to be humble.  And life isn´t easy because if it were easy, none of us would really be humble.

This week, I´ve put a few goals because I feel like with more time in the mission I come to rely on myself too much. I´m not very humble. But until now, I really have only seen blessings and miracles coming my way so I came to the conclusion that I need to give myself trials and goals to be more humble. So I did it. I started a challenge to really dedicate myself 100 percent to our Heavenly Father. It´s paid off. Already we´ve seen many miracles and next Saturday we should see the baptism of 2 brothers. In fact God sent us 2 miracles. Literally, two different girls named Milagros or Miracles. Haha the two are progressing a lot and one of them will be baptized as soon as she gets married. Pretty ironic.

I guess my point is this. Todos tenemos que, varias veces, volver nuestros rostros a Dios y darle todo honor. We all must turn our faces unto God many times because that is why we are here. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot

Pink Eye

As reads the title, this week I got pink eye :( Pretty lame but I´m actually better now! Along with pink eye, we´ve actually been really busy and we haven´t been able to be together much, my companion and I. Multiple meetings and a few divisions makes it tough for a zone leader. Not only did we have, leadership council, but also zone training, and to add to that, we had divisions with the AP´s and another area in Salta Oeste. But I would say that the Lord has still blessed us a ton! Especially with the members of our ward.

En especial, one of the families that we´ve been visiting has been progressing a lot. This week we were able to introduce a member into the lessons and they have gone so much better. I don´t have much time to elaborate but I want all of you to know how awesome members are when they help a friend through the process of conversion. What´s even more awesome is when a member who doesn´t know the investigator makes himself their friend and does it anyways. Haha the members are the most important part of this work! Afterall, it is actually called ¨member missionary work¨. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot

Luchar con el Espiritu

I´ve gotta say that this week, even though full of blessings, has been actually really rough. Haha since a few weeks ago, something has been on my mind and this week I have been having several World Wars in my head. I feel a lot like Enos, who went to catch beasts and on his journey began to think about the words of his father. Later on it explains that he began to pray and didn´t stop praying when it got dark, instead he kept searching for what he wanted. After lots of thinking and lots of praying, I finally got to a point that I had been striving for. I feel the peace that Enos felt after hearing the voice of the Lord saying that his sins had been forgiven. Now I feel the same desires. Now, all I want is the well-being of my brothers. Both my brothers at home and my brothers here in Argentina. I think that it´s important that everyone arrives, one day, at a point in their life when they can feel that very voice in their head. Peace be unto thy soul. Thy sins are forgiven thee. 

As for Palermo, we´re seeing great progress! We´re even planning 3 baptisms this month. Two brothers who are really awesome. And the mother of a recent convert. They all have great desires to do the right. They all went to church also. As for my companion. We´ve been able to really connect lately and I feel like I´m starting to understand why God put me with him. There is always something to be learned from a companion. If it weren´t for all my companions, I don´t think I would have changed as much as I have. Special shoutout to Elder Blake who will be ending his mission soon, Elder Sandberg (a great example of humility, love, and diligence), and my beloved hijo Elder Starkey (best hijo ever). You guys have helped me a lot!

Anyways, I hope you all know how happy I am :) There´s nothing better than the mission. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot