Through the eyes of Elder Phipps

Well the first week of this transfer was really good! 

My comp and I decided we wanted to really do well at making more contacts (no not physical) so we could better find the elect and those prepared for us! The first week is always the hardest of a transfer but we managed to break our mission standard by 5 which isn't crazy but its better, and we are looking to keep building on that! We found some elect this week and are excited to teach them!  I will let you guys know next week how it went. 

One street we decided to cantact everyone and I am convinced it was a miracle street because everyone was really nice and invited us back this week so my comp and I really liked that street as you could imagine.

Well this week we showed up to one of our investigators house, and he was wasted so that always makes for an interesting lesson.. We are gonna head back one more time this week and try some goals and hope it goes well!  But we have been working with 2 small families this week who are actually neighbors! The mom (Eliane) of a Family of 4 looked like this week during one lesson it just hit her that this was all true, but she didnt end up coming to church so we are going to head there this week and see what happened. The other small Family is of this girl who looks 16 but has a child of 2 years and we actually havent met her husband cuz he works far and a lot! But they are an awesome little family, we are going to continue to help them this week and try and meet with them when the husband can meet too. We left the Book of Mórmon last time we met with both of them and so I am excited to see if they have read a little and what they thought.

Today we are going to play soccer against the other zone here in Campo Grande and with my White american talent you can imagine how it usually goes down against the brasilians... I would just love to play them in bball so they can experience how I feel playing soccer.. haha but its a good time! Its been raining a lot here! like I took 2 baths in the rain this week as we were walking the streets.. the rain just comes out of nowhere and then were soaked the rest of the day but hey I love Brasil!

Well I think thats all I have this week but I love all you guys so much and just know  am happy and loving it here! Nothing better than what I have the oppurtunity to do here these 2 years! Pray for you all Always. Also a huge special congrats to Matt and Kate on finding out its a girl! Super exciting News! You can still name her Marcus if you want its a pretty cool name!

The Warmest Regards,

Elder Marcus ´Neymar` Phipps Jr.

2014!

Welcome 2014! Well this week I really dont have too much to report. Monday was p-day and we hit up some markets around the city and then tuesday was new years eve and our presidente let us all stay out till 12:30 to celebrate so my companion and I went with our Ward mission Leader to a party at his sisters house and it got pretty crazy. Here I felt like I was living in a call of duty game with all the fireworks and mini bomb things everyone was throwing in the streets, but it was way awesome! We had a huge feast there and of course it was rice, beans, tomatões, and all kinds of meat, so it was super good! After we headed back to our house and and we got a p-day the next day, we pretty much slept and then went and played soccer with the zone and some members. I miss basketball.. but it was still really fun!

This week we continued to work with our old little investigator who wants to be baptized but is Always busy to get to church. This week we couldnt get him there because turns out he rocks out the cordion and so he traveled to play with a group of guys. Cant imagine how exciting four 70 year olds playing the accordian would be, but I would hit up a concert! We started working with her niece too and she is an interesting one. She said her husband threats to kill her and all these crazy stories and I am pretty sure she was half drunk, so who knows.  But anyway we helped her understand the importance of a husband and he should be helping her progress. She traveled too so we werent able to bring her to church, but she is very interested so we will be working more with them this week!

Well transfers came and I am staying in the same área here and with the same companion which I am stoked about because I really like this área and my companion. We are excited for the Transfer and to see where the new year will take us! I cant believe I will be 20 in less than a month.. that is crazy to think about and I am starting to feel real old here. But I am loving it here and cant wait to let you guys know how the next week went!

Like I said, didnt have anything real exciting this week, but hope you all have an awesome beginning of the new year and set some good goals! Goals get us places!

Love jungle fever,

Elder Marcus Phipps

Happy New Year

Whadup my people! I hope you guys all had an awesome Christmas back home, I loved my first Christmas in Brasil. Its a little diferente here because its really hot and everyone shoots off these fire work bombs in the street so I felt like I was living in Iraq or it was the 4th of July but it was still really great!

 

I really loved being able to talk to everyone on Skype. Man I missed seeing you guys. I have definitely learned that there is no such thing as Christmas without the Family. Glad to see Mitchs teeth are doing a lot better too.

 

This week I had the oppurtunity to buy some presentes for a Family whos dad had left and so its just a mom and her three little ones. We stopped by and gave them presentes Christmas morning and it was so awesome to see how excited their faces got. I could also really tell that the mom was extremely grateful. It was an awesome experience!

 

Well, this week will be pretty short as I have already explained everything on Skype but it was still a good week! We met an older man and started teaching him. He has probably 60 years and his name is Antônio. We commited him to be baptized for 5 of January but he went to the hospital on sunday so had to miss church. We will pass by this week again and really work with him to get him ready. He is kinda funny to talk to because he just has this sweetest little voice and just very good to everything! We are also working with a man, who is a new investigator we have. His whole Family are members but he has a drinking problem. He told us he wants to change but cant do it on his own. He wants to be a good father for his Family but doesnt want to affiliate with the Church on sundays and then go and do wrong things during the week. We are going to make some goals with him this week and help him get rid of some habits, so he can be a better male figure and father of the house. Our baptisms from last week were confirmed and they are all doing really well and are extremely happy!

 

Well thats about all I have for this week but I hope all had a Merry Christmas and all have an awesome New Year! 2014 lessss goooo!

 

Much Love,

 

Elder Marcus Phipps

Merry Christmas

Hello my friends and family! So it was another pretty slow week because I have had to just let my knees rest without using them a lot so they can get better and iI dont make them worse. 

BUT! the good news is they are getting better day by day. I am hoping to be back at a 100 percent next week, so thankful for all the thoughts and prayers!

This week my companion and I were also sick.. I think we ate something that was not good for us and we were feeling way sick all week, but we are both feeling better as of Saturday so nothing to worry about there, just life. But because of these little issues we have been pretty caged in and were only able to get out and teach 1 or 2 lessons a day, so we mainly focused on our firm investigators. This week we had 3 lessons with Helienne and her daughter Aghata. (The two having baptism dates for 22 of december) All 3 lessons went really well and we taught the importance and blessing of Word of Wisdom, Chastity, and Tithing/Fast Offerings. The lessons went well and they were both excited for Baptism! We went back on Saturday to do the baptismal interview and something pretty funny happened.. so at the end of the interview she came back and going to close with a prayer. We were standing outside and asked Helienne to offer it and it went a little something like this.. `` Dear Heavenly father.. (it started to rain really hard) ... silence.... Amen.`` I couldnt have been so proud. But we hurried and ran inside and then she gave another prayer that was actually really good!

Sunday was awesome! Church went well and my companion and I taught Gospel Doctrine again.. We taught about the Holy Ghost and how he Always motivates us to do good. After in Sacrament meeting Rodrigo (Our Baptism from last week was confirmed) and it was really cool because he was really excited all day for it. He is gonna be a future Bishop one day I just know it. Then after church we had 2 Baptisms!! Helienne and Aghata! It was an awesome Christmas Sunday for me especially after the last 2 weeks my companion and I have had.

I cant believe its already Christmas! It doesnt feel anything close to Christmas here while is sooooo HOT, but the Christmas spirit is all still the same. Take some time and remember whats good and whats most importante in life as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. I know I am extremely blessed! Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and cant wait to talk to the FAM here in 2 days!!!

Much love from the heat of Brazil,

Elder Marcus Phipps

December 16, 2013

So this week was probably one of the worst weeks I will have on the mission but its all good! This week took a turn for bad starting tuesday morning.. I was doing some pull ups in house for exercize and my knees were bent at 90 angle and the bar broke and I fell a good 6 feet directly on my knees on the tile.. yeah it hurt really really bad. I was sent to the hospital to get it checked out and it was a miracle but I dont have anything broken so thats the good news. 

I still have a lot of inflamation so its hard to know if my knees will heal or I will have some more problems but its been almost a week now and they are still hurting a lot so I will just keep on my meds and ice and pray I wont have any serious or lasting problems. With saying this my companion and I had to stay in house almost the whole week because I am not able to walk much and the doctor told me not to for a week to see how they react or progress.. 

But dont worry the week gets better the 5 days we had to stay in house, 4 of the days we didnt have water because missionaries here in last september didnt pay the bill and it took 4 days to get water again so this week was a little difficult. And as a result of no water and things my companion and I are starting to get sick.. but its like Christmas in 9 days so none of that stuff matters its only the time to be HAPPY!! I am so excited for Christmas!

 

BUT! even with the terrible week it was, my companion and I were still blessed to have a baptism. His name is Rodrigo and was the 21 year old we have been teaching. We baptized him in a pool that went up to his neck haha it was so awesome! We baptized him at the Ward Christmas party at the outdoor park with a pool and so it was a really special experience with the whole Ward there to support him in his decision to be baptized. I am coming to learn dispite all trials and tribulations the world throws at us, there are few better feelings than witnessing and helping someone change their life completely to follow Christ and putting to test all the promises he makes with us. Rodrigo is an extremely humble guy and I really learned how we can always be improving in life to become more like Christ. Its a really cool feeling watching someone completely change in front of your eyes and see how much more happy he is becoming. Times like this that make being far away from friends and Family, having almost broken knees, going days without water, and all the other trials we have in life worth it. It makes me feel like me being here is making a difference and makes those things so little in the big picure. I am happy.. and not just becuase its almost Christmas.. haha but as Always I love and miss you guys and cant wait to Skype my People in 9 days! Hope you all have another blessed and amazing week leading up to Christmas, I know I have a lot to be thankful for. 

Warmest and most tender regards,

Elder Marcus Phipps

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