Letter # 61 11/25/2013 Tres Cruces‏

Dear Friends and Family,

I write to you from Montevideo. Today Hermana Linnell had to sign her residency so we're in the terminal waiting for our bus. Two hours here, two hours back. Tomorrow we have a conference here, so we'll have to return-- two hours there, two hours back. So I'll at least have some time to catch up on my journal. I'll need the time, because a lot has happened.

Elda Ricardi got baptized on Saturday!!!!!! I love her so much! Like Hermana Linnell keeps saying, the angels did a really good job preparing her, because we feel like we didn't really do anything. That's how it is when you're teaching someone prepared. When people open their hearts to let the Spirit in there's really not much else to do. Keeping commitments becomes no problem. Now we'll be working to retain her in the church and help her daughter come back to church as well. (If you want to pray for her too, her name is Eva Cardozo)

We are currently teaching a golden family: Federico, Cecilia, Nicolas Federico, and Belén. Amazing little family. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have found a family to teach. The only obstacle seems to be finding them all together. They work a lot.

Yesterday it was SO HOT. You'll probably read that phrase a lot in the next couple of months. I need to start wearing my hat again, even though I look a little funny; it's better to look a little funny than to pass out of heat exhaustion. Mom-- every time I put sunscreen on my ears I remember you, because at home when we would go on hikes I always forgot. Almost without warning you would grab me and put sunscreen on my ears. I guess that's a weird thing to remember, but it's the little things that make me think of home.

We have talked to an unusually large number of people who are devout members of other churches, in recent days. Not that that's bad-- I'm happy to talk to people of other religions. It's just frustrating when the conversation turns into them inviting me to their church. That must be how they feel, I imagine. We stopped some ladies in the street the other day, and I wanted to give them one of our pass-along cards with Jesus on it. The first one took it, but the second one practically leaped back and said-- very offended-- "No, I don't accept images of God. Jesus asked us not to worship graven images." I felt bad for offending her, and even though I explained that it wasn't to worship, but to remember our message, she refused. So I gave her the pass-along card with the nice-looking family on it instead. Later that day we passed by an evangelical church that was holding its worship service with all the doors open: there were the three ladies, preaching into microphones. Awkward.

I love you so much and hope you are doing well.

Love you forever,

Hermana Phillips

Letter # 58 11/05/2013 Salud, Dinero, Amor. Check.‏

Dear Family and Friends,

We found out about transfers, and I'll be staying here with Hermana Linnell for another change! The elders that also serve in the ward here are being whitewashed out and another companionship of sisters will be replacing them. One of them is an oro, and her trainer, Hermana Sandoval, is only a few changes younger than me in the mission. It's weird for me to think that most of the missionaries are now much younger than me in the mission. Is this how it is to grow old?

Belén and Milagros were not baptized on Saturday. We're working on a few problems that came up the day before the baptism; I happened to not be there that day because we were doing an intercambio, and everything went wrong while I was gone. The hermana I switched areas with felt so bad-- she kept apologizing and even started crying. She said that she felt like she had undone all of our hard work, but I truthfully told her that if I had adequately prepared nothing would have gone wrong. Poor thing, she goes home tomorrow. I'm the one who should feel bad for ruining her last week in the mission.

We finally went to the zoo because during transfer week we have PDay on Tuesday instead of Monday. I forgot my camera cord, so pictures will have to wait. We almost got spit on by an enraged llama, though, if you can picture that one.

Thanks for the pictures of Luke! I LOVE HIM SO MUCH ALREADY! I can't wait to hold him.

My ONLY wish for Christmas is to see everyone on the other side of the computer screen. We're not allowed to call more than once (more than one house), so I can't Skype mom and dad, then Michelle and Dan, then Christopher and Desiree, then Lisa, and so forth. So that's my Christmas wish: To see ALL the family. My love for you all has grown so much while I've been away, and I miss you all. I hope to see you all soon.

Love you forever,

Hermana Phillips

Letter #57 10/28/2013 "Lunes Cerrado Para Mantenimiento‏"

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been almost another transfer here in San Carlos, and I love it! Tomorrow we have a meeting in Montevideo for the trainers and oros, and I can't believe that Hermana Linnell has already been my companion for an entire 6 weeks. She's really awesome.

We went to the zoo today, but when we got there, we discovered that it is only closed on Mondays (our PDAY) for maintenance. Hence the subject line of this email. Hermana Linnell loves zoos, so even though this one is quite small, especially compared to what she's used to in San Diego, she was pretty disappointed. So I made her a flower crown to make up for it-- Hermana Phillips in her natural habitat.

So... I haven't received any baby pictures yet of my new nephew. Not to be a complainer, but I need to meet him. Ever since I found out Luke was born I have wanted nothing but to hold him. But since I can't do that, I NEED PICTURES!!

In other news, Belén and Milagros will be baptized this week! We're obviously really excited. They're really sweet girls. Now we just need to work on their parents. What is with this place and not getting married? I'm fairly certain that more than half the families we meet have unmarried parents. It's alright. We just can't baptize them-- yet.

What else happened this week?

I almost got eaten by a pack of dogs a few days ago. Encounters with dogs are a daily occurence-- for example, Hermana Linnell almost got a chunk bitten off her arm on the way to the computer place today. But on this particular occasion, about thirty to forty dogs ran at me from behind this lady's house, thirsty for my blood. We were just walking by! I had nothing to defend myself but the trusty Libro de Mormón I always have in my hand and as I was running I made a few swipes at the closest one. Then, here's the best part: the owner runs out from behind her house yelling in Spanish, "Don't run! The don't do anything!" She says this as I'm facing her shaggy mutt of a dog with matted hair, snarling and trying to get my ankles. I thought I was going to die. Thankfully, the Lord protects His missionaries, and I'm fine.
While we were visiting a less-active couple, the Silveiros, Hermano Silveiro wanted to have me listen to a song he wrote on the piano. So we did, and it turned into a talent show. His wife played the piano. She's pretty incredible. She's a pianist, but while she was on her mission in Argentina, she got run over by a bus-- and lived, of course, but broke her left hand in seven places, among other things. She had the surgeon repair her hand in such a way that her fingertips were permanently curved as to be able to touch the piano keys. She completely re-learned, accomodating for her left hand, and now plays beautifully. I sang and she played, and her husband recorded us doing "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" (the one by President Hinckley).

Love you forever,

Hermana Phillips

Letter #56 10/21/2013 "Pasen otro día, capaz..."‏

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm sending pictures!

We're pretty excited about some upcoming baptisms. I'll let you know about those when they happen-- I can't jynx it. But if you want to pray for my investigators, these are the ones who have baptismal dates in upcoming weeks:

2nd of November - Milagros (13)

9th of November - Belén (8)

9th of November - Tony (

Prayers on their behalf would be much appreciated. Our biggest challenge, as always, is getting people to church. We are also concerned about Milagros and Belén, because they are young girls and will have difficulty remaining active once we leave because their families are not members. We are having a lesson today with Belén and her mom so-- prayers for that!

There's not a lot to report today, so I'll talk about the ward. Our ward is pretty small-- the total attendance this week was 56. All of the auxiliary and priesthood quorum presidencies are shorthanded. There were no active young women when we got here, and there are 2 active young men. We had a fun Young Women's activity last Thursday and I taught them how to make origami flowers. Belén came, even though she's only 8. I never thought I'd have to be able to explain how to do origami in Spanish. Vocab like "crease" and "flatten" weren't things they taught us in the MTC. I found myself saying "hagalo así" (do it like this) a lot. It was small but it was the first activity that I have successfully thought of, organized, and pulled off by myself (with the support of my companion and other leaders of course). It gave me more confidence to do other activities.

I'm thinking of starting a ward choir. I've talked to a lot of our less-actives and even a lot of investigators that don't want much to do with us anymore, and I think there would be a fair turnout. If I can convince one of the less-actives who is a piano teacher to come be the pianist, we might sound fairly good, too. I'm nervous to try, but it looks like God wants this to happen, and as they said in conference, when you're on the Lord's errand, you CAN'T fail. So I hope to be reporting positive results on that.

I also hope to be seeing some beautiful baby and wedding photos pretty soon too!

Love you forever,

Hermana Phillips