6 DAYS MAKES A FAST WEEK!

[On Monday October 20, 2014 Emma sent the following.]

Hello Everyone!
This week just flew by!
I will give you a quick day by day overview of my week. It was WONDERFUL!!

Tuesday
We taught English class. Right now our most constant students are a recent convert Cuban named Osvaldo and Estela, a Colombian born Mexican. On Tuesday the class was HILARIOUS! Osvaldo and Estela kept on giving us different words in Spanish for words we were teaching them in English. The Cuban was really loud and persistent that his Spanish was the correct Spanish. Estela just laughed and hinted that if you ask any other Spanish speakers in Spokane, they would agree with her because they most likely are from Mexico (which isn't exactly true... we are finding people from all over the Spanish globe lately). It is so much fun as we get to hear all kinds of different versions of Spanish!

After that we ran to a lesson with Carlos! Our favorite Marina Lopez and her "just-off-the-mission" son came with us to teach the Restoration. Marina and Noel, her son, were the perfect fellowshippers and made all the difference in the lesson! At one part Noel turned to Carlos and asked him if he believed there should still be prophets today to which Carlos replied, "Yes, there should be! God would still want to guide us right?" Then we got to tell him he was SO RIGHT! And that there are Prophets on the earth. The Gospel just makes sense!!

At the end, people walked in and the lesson was getting rather distracted, but Hermana Boman and I were determined to not leave that lesson without inviting Carlos to be Baptized. It really shows the sincerity and desire of a person. Hermana Boman, amongst the distraction, got the lesson back on track and whipped out such a powerful invite, to which he said YES! I could just feel the Spirit! All through the lesson, Carlos said, "I want to keep learning!" That is beyond fine with us! The only thing is he might be switched to the YSA Ward this week, depending upon what he prefers... Good thing is... the sisters we live with are the YSA sisters, so we could get play by play updates. THE ELECT JUST CAN'T BE BEAT!!

Wednesday
We stopped to see Yolanda, someone we were teaching last year who is in LOVE with the Book of Mormon. She let us right in and told us that she still reads the Book of Mormon every night while her children are sleeping. She then told us, "You two always come right when I tell God I need you." I love moments like that!

Thursday
We ate with our favorite Spanish speaker who attends an English ward! She makes the most flavorful food in the world! That dinner just reconfirmed to me that I LOVE the Spanish culture with all my heart and it is just the biggest blessing that I get to be part of it! I am just too blessed.

Also, we got to go to a Relief Society activity all about Family History! The Mission is REALLY focusing on Family History right now and so this week we were asked to go on Family Search and try all the neat things they have on there. MOM AND DAD... Coolest thing ever. They have a link that you can click on and read trail excerpts of pioneer ancestors! In fact, let me share my favorite pioneer story that I found this week! It is hilariously scary!!

Okay,... I couldn't find the link to it, but it was so funny! I printed it off so I will just send a copy of it home!

Friday
We had a really good lesson with Jorge. He has such good desires... Now we just need to help him ACT on them! He will. The Branch is focusing on helping him ACT also, so together we can do this!

Saturday
So, remember little miss Lola? The cutest little girl who fell in LOVE with the Book of Mormon? Her grandpa Steve got baptized on Saturday!!!! I was the first missionary to teach him!!! THIS IS SO EXCITING! All the missionaries in the Branch sang together at his Baptism! It was a beautiful moment.

The Elders brought some investigators to the Baptism and Rosie came to. During the service one of the investigators turned to the Elders and said, "I feel like crying and I feel like I have goose bumps all over." Rosie was sitting with us in front of this family and we all heard her say it. After the meeting, Rosie did the most amazing thing ever. She turned back to the investigator and said, "Remember how you said you wanted to cry? That is the Spirit and He is telling you that this is right!" Could Rosie get any better?!

Sunday
We visited some of the youth in our area to do a lesson with them to make sure they are living the commitment Elder Anderson extended to them in General Conference. He invited all youth to read Joseph Smith's History and to pick scriptures and share them with others. After that invitation from an Apostle, I made sure I read the Joseph Smith History again. Oh, I just love that part of the scriptures! The spirit always hits me so strong!!!! I have already seen the blessing of reading it. Randomly we have had lots of people having opposition against Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. But, because I have been working on Elder Anderson's invite, my spirit and testimony couldn't help but burst with joy and help others resolve their concerns. It is neat! It just reminds me that our testimonies are not meant for ourselves. They are meant to strengthen others. The bible says, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." Sorry, that was paraphrasing... But It Is SO TRUE!

Warning! Next week I won't have P-day until Thursday, because I get to go to the Temple! :) So, write me some letters so I can last the week!

So, that was my week! I love you all so so so so so so so so so much!! Enjoy my picture from last Sunday when we made the yummiest and biggest milk shakes ever!! HAPPY DAY!

HERMANA PHIPPS ENJOYING HER MILKSHAKE!!

HERMANA BOMAN & HER YUMMY
MILK SHAKE!!

WINTER WINDS

On October 14, 2014 Emma wrote the following:

HELLO! I honestly don't know why I titled this email that way... but it just seemed to fit the sky that I can see outside the library windows.

Sorry for not emailing yesterday! We had a Special Training with the Mission President. We got to have a special treat too! We watched Meet the Mormons. I LOVED IT SO MUCH! Be sure to WATCH IT!! The Candy Bomber just might be my all time favorite person ever.

LOTS happened this week! So, I will be writing like a whirlwind!!

I can testify that Heavenly Father is guiding us every step of the way. I am so thankful because I wouldn't know how to do this work without him. Hermana Boman and I have been focusing these last few transfers on finding, so each day when we have extra space during weekly planning we put in a finding focused activity for an hour. This has been one of our most productive and miracle making hours of the day! Last week the thought came to us to visit a random apartment complex in a part of the town we haven't really ever touched. We put it in our plans, then on Tuesday we went there!

We got some referrals for the Marshallese Elders while we were there and talked to some other people about Family History. Then while walking, we ran into someone else who looked Marshallese. We went up to talk to him and to our great surprise, he was Spanish speaking! His name is Lee and he was playing with his absolutely adorable little girl outside just at the perfect time for us to run into them. What a miracle! So we talked to him and the miracle just kept on getting better and better!

So we began talking about the Gospel and he interrupted us and said, "You are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, right?" To which we responded, "Yes." Then he went on to tell that our church has congregations where he lived in Mexico and also in Florida. He moved here to Spokane just under a month ago. He then went on to say that he loves our Church and had spent hours looking for where our Spanish Branch would meet here in Spokane, but was only finding addresses for churches in Mexico!

That is what I absolutely love about Heavenly Father! He helped us find him in the moment he was looking for the Church! He went on to tell us he is a Baptized member, but hasn't been for years, but he wants it for him and his family. Hermana Boman went and visited his family again during exchanges and she met his adorable wife and 13 year old son who are not members. We have an appointment set with them for when they return from a trip they took this week!

Then on Saturday, we had a visit with one of the neatest people I have met on my mission! A Russian speaker we met on the street helped us find him! His name is Carlos and he is from Chile! He is really such a nice guy and he knows lots of Spanish speakers that we know and love. We talked about the Book of Mormon with him and invited him to come to Church. HE CAME, without hesitation! We have a visit planned with him tonight and we can't wait!

THEN... Listen to this one! Long story short, Sister Metcalf, an AMAZING Sister Missionary we live with shared the miracle we had with Adonay with her brother last week. Her brother has connections with Elder Gavarret. Elder Gavarret is now going to CALL ADONAY this week!!!! We told Adonay the news and he was so excited! We were shaking with excitement too!!

It is so neat to see where the Lord takes us. These few stories have just made my testimony even stronger that the Lord is in the details of our lives!!

The Galindo family are as dear to me as ever!!! Keep them in your prayers, please! Being a recent convert is a hard transition and there is definitely opposition. But Hermana Boman and I are prepared to do whatever we need to do in order to make them the strongest they can be!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

KEEP THE FAITH! & READ THE CONFERENCE ARTICLES!!

Hermana Phipps

I LOVE HEAVENLY FATHER!

On October 6, 2014 Emma wrote the following:

Hello Everyone!
   I am just so happy! General Conference this weekend just filled me with happiness! I Love Heavenly Father and His words that we were able to hear this past weekend. Isn't it special that those words are just for us? I know I received specific words just for me!
   Last night we went to an appointment with someone we had just found. As we were visiting him, the lesson was going no where. He wasn't listening and it just broke my heart! It broke my heart because, just hours before, Apostles and Prophets were speaking to us for our day. Their words helped me understand the blessing I enjoy to know Restored Truths. I just wanted him to know that Christ's absolute truth was on the earth! But understanding takes time and an open heart. Hermana Boman and I walked away with an increased determination to find the elect! There are prepared people searching for Restored Truth! I am so grateful to be here and working to find those people!

Speaking of the elect...
ROSIE AND JULIO!

Let's just look at the absolutely ADORABLE texts Rosie sent us during Conference. (Translated into English.)

US: "Were you able to find the website to watch General Conference? We don't want you to miss a second of it!"
Rosie: "A German pilot is speaking right now, right?"
Even if I wasn't watching Conference, we all know who she was talking about... Elder Uchtdorf.

A half hour before the next session started, we texted her to remind her it was about to start and she said, "I know :-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-)!!!!!" Yes, I counted the exact number of smiley faces!!

Then after the second session she said, "It isn't over is it? This is the best experience of my life!"

We actually got to watch a session with her! That means I watched another session in Spanish! Whoo! She was just beaming the entire time.

After Conference we went to the Lopez home to see how watching conference went for them. Sadly, right at the beginning of the morning Sunday session their internet timed out. Grrrrrr! We even texted them to see if everything was working, but they thought it was going to work again so they didn't mention that it wasn't working and just told us it was all good. But no fears! When we went over Adonay pulled out his laptop and we showed them how to watch the recordings. We actually watched the talk by Elder Gavarrett with them to help them keep their commitments!

The Spirit was SO STRONG! He was the first Spanish speaker to give his talk in Spanish, and oh let me tell you, that talk is perfect for Adonay. It hit him really hard! He said that while listening to it he felt like God was speaking right to him. He promised to quite drinking coffee on the spot and to pray to know what day to be Baptized.

I am just still so in LOVE with being in the North again.

I loved all the Conference talks. I cannot wait for the moment when I can print out some of my favorite talks and search them and receive all the guidance I can from them. I can't wait until mom sends me my own copy and then it will become my favorite study friend!

I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE!!

And, I love each and everyone of you SO MUCH!!

     ~Love, Hermana Phipps

We didn't mean to hide... but it makes for a funny picture!

OUR ZONE!

FRIENDS FROM A SMALL COUNTRY BY NEPAL

(BHUTAN?)

   We were doing a Finding Activity when the sweetest lady from a small country by Nepal and India led us to her apartment and into her house so we could talk to her son! They come to English Class now! They have such an amazing story and I will have to tell you about it next week.

 

IT'S A GOOD DAY!!!!!!!

[Message from Mama Phipps who keeps up the blog. I had a full hip replacement three weeks ago and fell behind on Emma's Blog. So sorry! I will put three weeks in now. On Monday October 27th I go in for a knee replacement and may be out again for awhile. Please understand. I love all that is happening to Emma right now and will post it all as soon as I am able!]

On September 29, 2014 Emma wrote the following:

I have so much to say, so much to rejoice about, 

so much to share with you!

Where can I even begin?!?

   On Saturday, Rosie and Julio were baptized! {M I L A G R O}!! On the Friday before the baptism Rosie turned to us and said, "Remember how I asked you during our first visit how can I really know God has forgiven me of everything? I realized the answer! I will know tomorrow. I will feel all fresh and new tomorrow, after my baptism and I can know without a doubt that God has forgiven me, All Tomorrow." This is the question she had since the beginning and to hear the powerful answer she received is so touching! God is so good.

   I wish I could explain just how much it has meant to me to be here. I am beyond the point of everlasting gratitude to my Heavenly Father to know the Lopez family. They have impacted me for ETERNITY.

   My favorite quote can only sum it up:
"I am perfectly, completely and incandescently Happy!!

Here is how the Baptism went:

   Last Sunday Sister Condon turned to me and said, "Are you ready for whatever this week holds? Crazy things always happen right before Baptisms." Truthfully, after the crazy things that have happened around the other Baptisms during my mission, there is reason to be fearful. But all this week I couldn't help but have faith! Heavenly Father had perfectly placed everything in order the last five weeks and I had no doubt His hand was still here to uphold us during the crucial days leading up to the Baptism. Everything went without a glitch! Really! I couldn't imagine it going any smoother. I owe Heavenly Father ten million prayers of gratitude!

   On Saturday, we got to the Church a little early to set up the room and get everything in order. Julio and Rosie came and they were just beaming! They got all ready and the members started filing in. Just the attendance at the Baptism alone shows that Heavenly Father was in charge of it all. We have never had so many people attend a Baptism. All the seats in the room were filled and they had to bring in more chairs from the side to use!

   Members kept on coming up to Hermana Boman and me saying, "It's a family! And not just any family. These two are so amazing!"

   I have never seen the ward fall so in love with investigators. I don't blame them one bit! The Spirit was so strong during the Baptism. It just goes to show that Heavenly Father was so happy for these two! During the entire service Rosie was crying. I teared up and felt like crying too! During testimony meeting yesterday nearly every member commented on the Spirit they felt as Rosie and Julio got Baptized. I AM JUST SO HAPPY!!

   This story will help you picture just how strong the Spirit had to be. When we went to perform the musical number, I could barely hold the uke, I was shaking so much! We started to sing. Krystal's voice rang loud and clear. It was such a pinnacle moment to be singing with her again at a Baptism! It sums up all I have learned on my mission. But as we sang, my voice began to die! (I am suffering from a dreadful cold that started last Friday and is still going strong today.) Ha ha!... So in the midst of freaking out about my throat and dying voice during the last chorus, I just kinda stopped playing the Ukulele... and then right after that my throat completely gave out. Yep, but then I looked at Rosie, Julio, Aleah, and Julito. Tears filled Rosie's eyes and the family all had such perfect smiles on their face. It didn't matter what happened during the musical number, it didn't matter how much my voice was gone during the rest of the service, what mattered was the Spirit was there touching all of us!

   At the end of the day, I watched a recording of the musical number. At first I was scared to see how dreadful it was. But as I watched it, my eyes teared up again. Being with Krystal again is something I will never forget to be grateful for.

   Right after the Baptism, while Julio and Rosie changed, we watched "Because of Him" and then four members of the congregation gave a 30 second testimony of Jesus Christ one right after another. With each word the Spirit just kept on building. The last one to bare his testimony was Alonso Lopez (He is the son of Leticia Lopez). He is one of the people I look most up to here in Spokane. He gave such a powerful testimony about how Because of Christ, Families Can Be Together Forever. Coming from him and his life story, that means so much! Then to end Julio and Rosie gave their testimonies. I am calling for another request, that angels have recorded their words! I want to read them over and over again in Heaven.

   Right after the Baptism was Women's Conference and all the women stayed and watched together with the Stake. Hermana Boman and I got to sit next to Rosie during it! SHE LOVED IT!! 

   All in all, life is amazing. There is so much to be grateful for. On Saturday Sister Taylor introduced me to a song by Hilary Weeks called "It's a Good Day."  I love it because it reminds me of what Daddy always taught me, we choose our attitude and choose how happy each day can be.  Even though this week was rather easy to be happy about I know just by the things I have learned during my mission that I have an excuse to be happy forever!!! So, it is a good day today and for always!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Hermana Phipps

    

BAPTISM OF JULIO AND ROSIE!