Feliz Navidad

I´m very happy with the outcome of this Christmas :) my family is happy, I´m happy, everything seems to be going pretty well. First and formost I feel the need to say that while worrying for my family when I first came on my mission, and still worrying from time to time, I was guided by the Spirit to a scripture that I´ve come to love. D&C 101:16,¨ Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God.¨ Instead of Zion I think of my family. Before even finding that scripture, I had heard the Spirit whisper so many times.¨They are in good hands. They are in My hands.¨ I have a strong testimony that God cares for those that lose themselves in His service. As reads the scripture in Mark 8:34-35- ¨And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself (and let me add family), and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life (and may I add family) for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.¨ There´s nothing more comforting to a lonely missionary than the assurance that all the he cares for are in the hands of the Almighty, the All-Powerful God. I know that Jesus Christ was born more than 2000 years ago. I know that He lives. I know that those who lose themselves in His work are blessed beyond compare. We must all take up part of the cross that He bore. We must all carry the cross of our brothers and sisters. That means that we must serve our neighbor, and what better service than that of sharing His gospel. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot 

Consagración

First of all I just want you all to know that I am aware of the awesome gas prices up there in the USA. Haha man am I jealous!

On a more serious note, this week has been a great experience. With my new comp Elder Romer from Texas, we were able to see a few miracles within just a week! I´m pumped to see how this transfer goes because we have a good rythm going and hopefully we can keep up a good beat and keep on progressing because we have lots of potential here in Tucumán, Belgrano 1.

Yesterday we were able to attend a rather delightful Christmas conference with Presidente Chapparo and his wife. I especially enjoyed the talk by President who spoke about the need to consecrate ourselves to the Lord (not just in the mission btw, but also in life before and after). What most caught my attention is that he said that a consecrated person isn´t scared of what others may think, he is only worried about what the Lord thinks. A consecrated person is aware of God´s constant eye that is watching at all times and not only when others are around. It reminds me of an episode of Malcolm in the Middle when the youngest, Dewey, asks his brothers what God would think as they were playing a prank. He asked if God would know. Then the oldest says to his brother, No stupid, God can´t see through roofs! Hahaha it´s very ironic and so untrue! God knows. But that doesn´t mean that He will punish us very every little mess up or omission. The grace of God is sufficient to save a man FROM his sons but not IN his sins. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot

These computers are really bugging me, it´s hard to send pics :(

I call home on the 25th at 3 or 4! Fun fun. But not the last. Haha

Estrés

I´m sorry that I didn´t write last week but it was pretty hectic last monday. But man, would I have to say that it was a fun week. Last monday, we planned to go to El Cadillal, a beautiful lake about an hour from our zone. We had everything planned perfectly. At 7 in the morning, we all were going to meet in the terminal, we were going to arrive at 8, we would hike for 2 hours to a waterfall that I visited last year, hike back in 2 hours and take the bus at 12 noon. Well, it didn´t exactly go as we had planned. Haha we got to the terminal on time, but 2 sister missionaries sent a text saying that they were going to get there a little late because their bus was driving slow. As we stalled the bus a little, they ran as fast as possible but we had already pulled out of the parking lot. Luckily, we saw them running and they ran to the bus just as it was about the leave the station. We got there safe and started to hike. We got to the trail head and I failed to pay attention/remember that it was a difficult hike not appropriate for girls who aren´t used to doing hard things. Haha after some three hours and hundreds of falls and helping hermanas get back up, we got to the waterfall. We took a ton of pictures. It was beautiful. I took lots of pics, mom, don´t worry. And we started back home at about 11:30. Not going as planned so far. Well, we did just about the same on the way back and decided to eat at a restaurant on the coast of the lake. We were worried that we would miss the bus so we ate like wild dogs and started for the bus stop. When our two ¨scouts¨ got to the bus stop it had already left and we were stuck in heaven. To try to get back in time, we had to all call a taxi and try to get home (paying a lot of money btw). Then we had to leave immediately because we had to travel to Salta for our Leader´s Counsel. When we got to the terminal for the second time that day, we saw all the missionaries that couldn´t get a taxi in their normal clothing arriving at the terminal. They had waited for the next bus that would have come at 6. I felt terrible. I had planned an activity and the majority ended up suffering for disobeying the schedule on P-Day. We called President and explained what happened. I´ve come to really appreciate what he told us. ¨The next time, it´ll be much better if you plan much better¨. (I honestly don´t know if that´s good english but you get the idea). 

Many times in our lives, we will run into obstacles and things won´t always go as planned, but if there´s one thing that I´ve learned this week, it´s that as we plan for the little things and for our failures, our lives become much easier. God planned our creation. God also planned for the fall of Adam and Eve. We also can follow His example by planning according to His will. Plan, it´s the easy way. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot

I don´t have time. I´ll send pics next week. 

Tucumán Tucumán

You know, after about 500 emails sent home I´m not exactly sure what I can say. Haha I´m happy. I´m healthy. I´m keeping myself relatively cool in this humid climate. And the people treat me well. If you want to hear something funny, I could tell you about the way people talk here. But I think everyone already knows that here in Tucuman it´s not the purest spanish in the world. Or I could talk about the number of dogs that are just funny looking because animal control doesn´t exist here. Or I could tell about the dog that lives in our apartment building that has a disorder and keeps getting fatter and fatter. Or I could even talk about the flies that are for some reason a little slower here and much easier to catch or squish. Or I could talk about the number of people that can fit on a single moped or motorcycle (you´d be surprised). But I want to talk a little about the love that God has for every single one of His children. ¨For God so loved the world that he gave his only Begotten Son.¨ It doesn´t matter how many strange things there are in Argentina, in fact, the things of this world don´t matter much at all. What really matters is our personal commitment to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, our Savior. As I think of my Savior, I think of all the awesome people that I´ve come to help thanks to a simple decision to follow God and serve a mission. I also think of what I still owe Him and it makes me want to be better every day. For God so loved Elder Philpot, that He allowed him to serve a mission and meet all these wonderful people. For God so loved YOU, that He sent the Gospel into your life. The blessings are uncountable, infinite. Elijah, it´s about time that you leave on a mission. You have no idea what awaits you. I love you guys! We are children of a loving Heavenly Father. So simple, but so immense. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot

I believe in miracles

Well, I honestly have no time at all for a few inconveniences but this week has been awesome. I love my comp, I love my area, and I love the people here in Tucumán. We´re going to have a lot of success. I was also able to attend a special conference with the whole mission and Elder Cook. Suffice it to say that I was left open-mouthed. I also was able to eat lunch with the first baptism that I was able to see here in Argentina, Yolanda. One of the persons that I most care for. I am grateful for the mission. I am grateful for my parents. I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know it and I live it, but most of all, I love it!

Elder Philpot

Baptisms and Buckets

For lack of time I´m gonna have to be short. It was an awesome week! There are so many people prepared to hear the Gospel here in Tucumán! This week a little boy was baptized and it was so awesome! He´s been wanting to be baptized for so long but the missionaries kept saying that he should wait for the rest of his family. He couldn´t take the wait so he was baptized this saturday. It was very special. 

The hard part was trying to drain the baptismal font afterwards! Haha the water sucker thing, I don´t know what it´s called in english, was broken so we had to use buckets and empty the thing by hand. Quite the adventure if you ask me. Haha but I´ve learned this week about the importance of maintaining a constant desire to be better than what we´ve always been. If we always do what we´ve always done, we´ll always be who we´ve always been. Progress is the habit of perfection. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Home sweet home

Sounds like everyone is having fun in their respective places of stay. I am also having fun in my new old place of stay. This week I was asked to pack up my things and take a bus to my city of birth (in the mission), Tucumán. Haha they transferred me to the zone of my first area, Parque Guillermina, and now I´ll be supervising the work in a place that I´m already so familiar with. My area is called Belgrano 2. What makes it even more ironic is that I´m with an old friend that I came to really love here in this very zone. My companion is Elder Smith. No... his name is not Joseph. When I received the call last night I was almost sure that I would go due to the already very long stay in Palermo. When they told me that I´d be ZL in the same zone where I started with a companion that I met while there just made me awe in amazement. Haha whats more, while in a conference together, Elder Smith and I proposed to Pdt Chaparro that he should make us companions. Well look how fickle life can be! Hahaha

Anyways, apart from the irony and a ton of fun memories, I´m super excited to get to work once again in Tucumán. During this week, I´ve also been able to acquire new skills. I´m learning to play piano and I´m not half bad. I´m learning to focus on the most important, because I don´t have much time. But what I most have come to learn is that God is in charge and that´s that.... but! we can plead with Him and He will listen. Prayer has the power, not to change what is around us, but to change our very selves so that what is around us becomes a miracle. This is a great truth. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot

BTW- fam, I extended my mission until May 31st. I´ve prayed and I feel like it is what the Lord desires. And mom, I asked permission from dad. Haha