YEAHH my people!!

This week was really good! 

Not sure where to start or what to say, so I will just start typing and see where it goes. Well I guess I will start with some sad news.. I made a bet with my campanion that if I won in a game of ping pong he had to shave his leg.. and he said if I lost I had to buzz my head.. I am unhappy to report that I did indeed lose and my head is very buzzed.. its a very very short missionary cut. It actually doesnt look that bad, but I am really missing my baby fohawk.. the baby fohawk will return.. it will.

This week we had christmas conference and mission tour! For christmas conference it was just all of us missionaries in mato grosso do sul.  They will have another with the other missionaries in the north part of our mission cuz our mission is so big! My zone did a skit about passing christmas as a missionary and it ended up really funny so our zone took 1st place! After we had a lunch all together!

This week we worked alot with our investigators with dates for baptism. We are actually going to baptize Rodrigo in a pool! There is a ward christmas activity this week and its his only day off of work so we are going to baptize him at the activity in a pool at the park! My companion said after he baptizes him he is just gonna stay in the pool a little while just to make sure all is good you know? haha its sooooo hot here... doesnt even feel close to christmas! This is defintitely the tannest I have been in December. Our other investigators couldnt get off work this sunday to go to church but they are really firm still. The daughter and mom both bring the BOM to school and work to read.  They are really progressing and are really excited to be baptized on day 22 of December! Other than that, this week we made a lot of really cool contacts and began to teach some new people that we found last week so should be another awesome week!

Today we played soccer again and you already know the american had a goal! Matt will be happy to know I ripped it from mid court in memory of Frank Lampart and then immediate went into goal to get a little Petr Cech action. After we went to the Shopping markets and I bought a Chelsea jersey that is pretty sweet! 

Well I hope you are all doing great and loving life!

Your favorite Marcus Jon Phipps,

Elder Marcus Jon Phipps

we were in the middle of nowhere and It rained so hard that the roads flooded and we had to walk in them for a really long time till we finally got to a road with houses to stay for a little! Love the RAIN.. mostly cuz it isnt 120 when its raining.

Chelsea jersey and Buzzed hair! It actualy doesnt look to buzzed in this photo but i promise its striaght up buzzed

Dezembro Already!

I cant believe its already December.. where did the year go? So like I said last week,  I was transfered again down to the south in an area called colonel antonino in Campo Grande. I am loving it here! By far its my favorite area yet and its only been a week. Its a little bit colder here, and when I say its a little bit colder its actually still at least 100+ everyday.. But at night its usualy pretty perfect. Here its like Tererê heaven.. its cheaper here and they have way more variety.. I bought herb of tutti fruity today so I am pretty excited to give a try! My new Companion is Elder Bowers from Oregon and I already really like him. He played football in highschool and has about a year on the mission. 

So.. lets talk about the week!

I left Rondonòpolis at midnight last pday and arrived about 10 in the morning here in Comp Grande ( happy to report there were no bus problems and I slept the whole ride there) in saying that I still havent read my letters but I am starting to open a few every night.. gives me something exciting to look forward to at the end of each day. This week my new comp and I have been able to work ALOT! He doesnt have any knee problems so we have been working a LOT

We already have 3 baptisms marked for this sunday and they are really firm so I am pretty excited for this week. One is a 22 year old dating a 16 yr old in the ward. He is awesome and is truly trying to make changes in his life but he has always been really hesitant about baptism.. We were able to have a strong lesson about mosiah 18 and how we only have things to gain through baptism and nothing to lose.. He then accpeted the day of 8 this month and so we only have to work around his work schedule.. so baptism could be thursday. We have two others that were a reference and they both accepted the day 15. Its a mom and her daughter! We have only had one lesson with them so far but they are already such great people and super excited about their baptism. We also found a family with 3 daughters and they took quite the attraction to me.. The whole lesson they were climbing all over me and giving me hugs.. Which was actually perfect becasue the dad at the beginning was really closed, but after the lesson and I think he noticed how much his daughters loved us, we gained his trust and confidence. Truly a very special family. One of the daughters has 8 years and she whispered in my ear after the lesson.. ``I didnt know that Jesus had power.. I want to talk about Jesus to the whole world`` it was really cute. It really remimded me how much I miss the kiddos back home and how truly grateful I am for my family. I am excited to get to know them and work with them more this week! 

Also, what I always thought was impossible happened.. I forgot about Thanksgiving.. haha But luckily an Elder called us to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving that night so my companion and I quicky acted. Obviously turkey isnt obtainable here sooooo... we went with the next best, most American thing we could think of and bought a giant hamburger the size of a pizza.. it was 35cm long and weighed 3.3 kilos which is like 8 pounds i think.. and it came with fries and soda.. so to say the least.. we feasted pretty epicly. 

Well to wrap this week up I am absolutely loving it here in Campo Grande. The members are great and are always feeding us. The work is really progressing here and I am excited for the week that is to come. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and an even better closing of the year! Te amo cada um de vocês!

Warm Regards,

Marcus Phipps