"I was in the middle of a contact..."

Here are some excerpts from recent emails from Phillip:

“Funny contacting story of the week. I was in the middle of a contact with an evangelical woman, talking about how we have a gospel of peace and love. When all of a sudden, I get pegged by a plank of wood! I look back and see a teenage boy with his hands in the air giving thanks to God. I had no idea what the heck was going on, but the evangelical woman reprimanded the boy in the name of Jesus, and called him 'a shameless vagabond!' The kid left after that, and I went right back into the contact talking about our loving and peaceful gospel. Almost too much for a Thursday afternoon.”

"I think one of the most exciting thing that happened this past week was getting the water fixed and I was able to wash all my clothes in the washing machine. However, I can promise you that my ability to hand wash will come in handy one day."

“Spiritual insights this past week in studying the Book of Mormon. In Alma 46:15. It talks about the true meaning of a Christian. Those that joyfully take upon themselves the name of Christ. After you are baptized you commit to take upon yourself the name of Christ. But only those that take it upon themselves joyfully are really the true followers of Jesus Christ. So, the lesson I gleaned is that we should all take upon ourselves His name even more joyfully, and truly live our religion in the small day to day moments of our lives.”

"My companion, Elder A, is entering into his final week in the mission field. On Sunday, they are picking him up to go to the office for a few days before he is released. You know what, he hasn´t gotten trunky at all. I want to finish my mission just like that. Tranquilo. Like nothing has happened."

Love,

Elder LeCheminant

After 15 days (with only one day of running water)...

Letter from Phillip on October 10, 2011

I´m doing great. Loving spreading the word. We have a bunch of investigators!

The news of the week is that we have the baptismal date for this Saturday for Josefina. She´s an excellent woman and we always have such great spiritual experiences at her house. But she´s been afraid to be baptized. However, she has accepted for this Saturday, but is still partly iffy. I will let you know first thing next week if the baptism went through.

We found this one lady a few weeks ago and were sharing with her a bit. She´s 29, has a 13 year old daughter, and is super nice. We gave her a Book of Mormon and decided to pass by this past week to see how she was doing. She had read up until Jacob and knew everything. However, the biggest challenge we have is Church starts at 8 am. Siempre es un lío. It´s always a challenge to get them to Church.

We have a baptismal fecha with a woman named Angela. She´s a señora. In her 60´s, but loves us and should be getting baptized at the beginning of November.

Marino, the husband of the member is ready for baptism. He has all the desire in the world. He has only one leg, but luckily a member picked him up for Church yesterday. We have to figure out the way so that the members always pick him up, but only a few active members have cars, and they almost all have stake callings. But no worries; the Lord will provide!

Francisco now has all his papers. He should be getting married soon. He´s still fighting with cigarettes, but wants to get baptized. Hopefully soon.

After 15 days (with only one day of running water) the water is working again! It came back yesterday. I filled up the bucket with rain water and showered one day. But they fixed the electricity as well, so I should be doing some laundry tonight.

We played a ton of basketball today for the zone activity. It was great. Then our house of 4 Elders hung out with another house of 4 Elders and it made for a great P- Day.

This last week I read a lot from an Institute Manual about the Old Testament that Elder R. had been given. I learned a lot about the creation, Adam and Eve, and our purpose here in life.

Well, I love you all.

Elder Phil