Love

Alright everyone, this is the first email that I will be sending to people, I apologize if this is the first email you have received from me.

     Hmm where to begin... This last week has been awesome. My companion (Elder Hannesson) and I started off last week sick, which sort of threw a wrench in our plans. However we didn't really care, we were both sick and tired of being sick and tired, and So we went to work. The highlight from our finding efforts took place as we tried to contact a referral. They lived near a pretty crowded area and we decided to park a few blocks away, street contacting to and from our referral. The referral wasn't home so we headed back to our car. Upon passing a subway my companion stopped, turned to me and said, "we need to go to subway." I thought that he was hungry, but as we entered Elder Hannesson headed straight for a man sitting in the corner. My companion asked the man if he was a pilot, and the conversation took off from there. We found out that his name is Orlando, he's a flight attendant,and that his grandmother was Mormon before she passed away and took him as a child! Next we asked him what it would mean to him if he could be with his grandmother again. We let Orlando ponder on this question for a little bit before we showed him the new Easter video (which is awesome btw). I could see the spirit touch him and we could tell that the spirit he felt was powerful. He accepted a Book of Mormon and said he would read from it during the next flight he was scheduled for. He was headed to California next! It's so awesome that our contact is headed back to my home state!! I love this gospel so much, It truly changes lives. Yesterday was Palm Sunday, and I was able to learn a great deal about this day. For those who don't know, on Palm Sunday Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people put Palm leafs down before him. I learned that the palm tree is a very versatile plant in that part of the world. Among the different types of Palm trees came products such as rope, clothing, jewelry, food, and sugar. When Christ came into Jerusalem the Palm trees were in bloom, and the symbol of laying Palm leaves down represented the giving up of worldly goods.
     Anyways, the area I cover is in Skokie, and there are a lot of Jewish people. Skokie is a really diverse place, and I've had the opportunity to learn about lots of different religions. I love the people here, I love the food, and I love the work. I hope everyone has a great week!
-Elder Fa'afetai Phipps