THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS!: August 2018

Elder Phippen has been in Toronto Canada for 3 weeks now. He is absolutely loving it.

in his words. . .

"Hello Everybody!! This past week was great and I'm starting to get used to this crazy city. All of the Ward members here are so nice and they are so welcoming. I'm loving all the different kinds of food here. You have food from everywhere here and i love it!! No matter where you go you can get food from Iran, Korea, China, Japan, Brasil, the Philippines, and so on. Its amazing. I love seeing all of the different cultures here as well. Everyone has different backstories and i have only met a few people so far who have said they are from Canada.

The work is also going pretty well. I have trouble teaching people in Farsi but ive only been learning for 2 weeks so i cant beat myself up too much!! We have had a couple of the people come to church and so that has been really cool. They have all loved it. We also have the opportunity to teach and English class twice a week which is pretty cool. A handful of Persian people come to that that we like to talk with to try and learn the language. The lessons that we have taught are really awesome because its so cool to feel the spirit when you have no idea whats being said. I love feeling that because i know they can feel it too. I have learned that that is the biggest thing you can do as a missionary is to help others feel the spirit. The words dont matter as much but the spirit is what really matters. I love the spirit that i feel as i help others feel that as well. The Book of Mormon plays a huge role in that and i know that you can have the spirit if you read it and really study and try to understand what it means.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!!"

- Elder Phippen

ارشد فیپن

I loved that his brother who is in Peru, Elder Phippen, was able to call when he opened his mission call. These two have always been so close. Four years to not see one another is such a long time.

I have to be honest. . . this one leaving has been hard for me. This last year we have spent so many hours together. I have watched miracles come to pass as this boy has fought for his life. It is tough to watch your babies grow up and leave!!!

Each e-mail he sends home strengthens my heart. I love how missions teach our children things we as parents never could. When Daxon received his call, it was for English speaking. He kept saying "I know I am going to learn a language." Turns out he was right. As soon as he arrived, he was asked to learn to teach the Gospel in Farsi. He could not be more excited!

After Dax received his call, he fell in LOVE with Canada. He sang "O'Canada," wore Canada socks, and it seemed all of a sudden, Canadian flags were everywhere. They were always there, we just never noticed them before.

Saying goodbye was much tougher on us than on him.

He was excited and ready to go.

One thing I noticed that Daxon did the month before he left is he purposely made time for this little girl. One night as I was tucking her in he came in and hugged her for over a minute. He took her on a few dates to the movies and to get ice cream. He would tickle her after prayer or just tease her for a few minutes. He was making memories and storing them as a reserve for the next two years.

He claimed many times, "I am just excited to go. I won't be emotional at all to leave.

I would have to fake it if I were."

He is faking it pretty good, LOL!!!

He didn't get to emotional except
when he said goodbye to his Dad. I am not sure which one of the two had

a harder time saying goodbye!

Britton and I decided to fly out to Salt Lake City with Daxon.

We wanted to spend a little extra time with him before we dropped him off.

Jake & Alyssa picked us up at the airport.

It is always fun to be around them.

The morning before we dropped him off, my Dad and Trisha drove down to Provo. We all went to the Provo City Center Temple and lunch. Then it was time to drop Daxon off. If we had it to do again ,we would have skipped the Temple that morning, it made us short on time. Daxon does not like to feel rushed. I felt a little bad and we wanted to just spend more time with him at lunch. I am sure that would have been the case no matter how much time we had.

Two years is such a long time to say goodbye.

I am thankful for the good friends Alyssa and

Daxon have become over the last few years.

It has been hard on Britton to have Daxon gone. This is the first time he has had a room to himself. I would think this would make most teenagers happy. I think it has made him lonely. Dax and him hung out a lot over the last few months, even if it was just watching some dumb Netflix series and laughing together. I am amazed how clean the bedroom stays. I can see who was the messy one. It was not Britton! I would clean it and the second Dax walked in, it was a mess again. I never even see an article of clothing on the floor anymore.

The day before we dropped of Daxon, we ate at the Nauvoo Cafe. It was good, but Daxon is the only one who ordered right. The rest of us didn't understand and we had to order hash-browns separate.