Letter #71 2/2/14 "Santificaos‏"

It's still raining.

Dear friends and family,

Where to begin?

I gave a talk in church last week about Zion. All four of us missionaries serving in this ward feel like that is the reason we are here: strengthen the members. They are truly amazing-- and the Lord allows the strong to be tested.

On Saturday we had an amazing lesson with our investigator, Gustavo Zipitría. When we called an hour before our appointment to confirm that he would be there, he told us that he had reached the decision to not be baptized. Fortunately, my companion and I are not the type to take "no" for an answer that easily, and we went with a member couple to his house to try and resolve his doubts. The problem is that we haven't been able to teach him very much, and the challenge of baptism weakens if not supplemented immediately by the good word of God. We were able to convince him not to close the door on something he does not fully understand yet.

This week at church the attendance dropped by over half. After calling and texting all our investigators about church, we ran the two blocks in the pouring rain to the chapel. The power was out, and only the emergency lighting was running. We held Relief Society in almost complete darkness as another black raincloud moved in and blocked out the sun. Our phone has a flashlight, which I gave to the teacher so she could read the manual. It was me and Hermana Peña, Hermana Norma (the teacher) and Hermana Rodao (the bishop's sister). 4 sisters.

There was a confirmation during the sacrament meeting, and a profound silence reigned over the chapel during the whole meeting; all the families with little kids had stayed at home because of the rain. During the sacrament, the Spirit comforted both me and my companion. Despite our efforts, the rain had turned out to be stronger than our investigators' faith, and none appeared. But faith is to believe that all things are possible, even when we see "the wind boisterous". The Spirit has given me a deep feeling of tranquility that we will reach our baptismal goal this month. The Lord is just testing our faith and the strength of our desire to bring sould unto Him. Seconds after the "amen" of the benediction, the lights came on in the church. As my wise companion keeps reminding me, "there is nothing physical that does not teach a spiritual principle."

The other sisters were frantically trying to find the baptismal clothing for their baptism to be held right after church. It had disappeared, but they found it in the house of a member who had offered to wash it after his son's baptism. Due to the fact that there had been no power in the building, the font was filled with icy water, but the little girl who was baptized showed great courage and pure faith as she stepped down and didn't say a word. The power of godliness is truly manifest in the plain and precious words and actions of gospel ordinances.

This week I am amazed at the Lord's ability to help me find strength in places I never would have looked.

I am grateful for my amazing companion. I am grateful for your prayers and please know that I pray for you every day. God has everything under control.

Love you forever,

Hermana Phillips

Pictures: Sisters in Zion

Picture: Missionaries of San Carlos

Missionaries of San Carlos on our last day together:

Letter # 64 12/17/2013 Ola de Calor‏

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for the pictures!!!! You all look so good! But Christopher-- what's going on with the mustache?

Well, transfers happened, and I'm leaving San Carlos. NOOOO!! But it's ok, really it is. I'm going to Sarandí del Yí, Durazno, with Hermana Peña from Colombia. Mom, if you want to try to get in contact with families or individuals you knew in Bogotá, you can just send me the info and she can ask her family. You never know...

These transfers are strange for me because my whole mission (minus 6 months or so) I've been training or my companions have been relatively new missionaries. Hermana Peña was in the MTC with me, so we have almost the same amount of time on the mission. I also lived with her when we were in a house of 4 in La Paz. I'll let you know more about the area and the branch/ward when I get there.

I'm pretty excited for the Christmas conference we'll have tomorrow. The choir will be performing, and I'm singing in a quartet. We have a surprising amount of musical talent in our mission. I'll try to get someone to record it so you can see it when I get home-- I can't send videos by email because the file is too big.

Speaking of videos-- I can watch videos so, Michelle, if you want to send me a video of Ethan's songs, I can watch them!

We went to La Barra today, which is a tourist spot on the beach near San Carlos. It's super pretty. A member in our ward is building a house out there so she offered to be our guide. There are crabs EVERYWHERE! If someday I can take my family to Uruguay, we're going there. We could only spend a little while there, because I have to pack and clean and visit all the members. I've never been so NOT excited to leave an area. It's a new adventure, and of course I will embrace it, but I feel so at home in San Carlos, and I feel like for the first time I have a strong relationship with the members here. I love them so much. And their food is DELICIOUS! Plus we have a firm baptism set for the 28th of December that I'll miss. Keep Inés Pereira in your prayers! She needs to stop smoking. And now I'm off to the countryside, closer to the interior, so things will at least be a lot cheaper!

Love you all so much! Take care!

Love you forever,

Hermana Phillips

Letter # 63 12/09/2013 ¿Te Extrañas?‏

Dear Friends and Family,

I think I miss you all more today than I ever have.

Some great things are happening, but I don't have much time to write about it all.

1 - I am in a choir that is going to perform for the mission christmas devotional. Fun! I almost forgot (almost) how much I love and miss singing. It's been a great and rewarding experience.

2 - Changes are coming up and I'll probably get transfered out of San Carlos. Here's hoping I don't have to leave! I love it here!

3 - It's raining today. What a relief! I love it when it rains on PDAY because we don't have to be out WALKING in it.

4 - One of the other sisters in the mission lent me her copy of the General Conference report-- GOLDEN! I'm taking advantage of every opportunity to read as much as possible before I have to give it back.

In other news, the church down here is so different! Hermana Linnell and I were walking the other day and we stopped a nice-looking middle-aged lady. Before we could even tell her we were missionaries, she pulled down her shirt to reveal her garment sleeve, saying, "No no no!! I'm already one of you!!" We were a little taken aback. Without even breaking her stride, she walked rapidly away. Haven't seen her before, nor since that experience.

The sad thing is that's not the first time that's happened to me...

Love you forever!

Hermana Phillips

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 #54 10/07/2013 "¡Pon tu hombro a la lid!‏"

Dear Friends and Family,

The weather is getting really hot again. The thing I'm mostly excited about is the prospect of having dry clothing. During the winter it takes days for clothes to dry (we don't have dryers) and I usually just gave up for lack of clean clothing and was wearing it damp. Gross. But now it's time for the sunscreen to come out because I don't want to look the same way I did last summer (red) or get skin cancer. Luckily, the Zone Leaders approved my hat. It's darling.

A quick update on our investigators:

The ones we couldn't find came back. Maria Pia was actually in the countryside with her grandma, so my companion was right-- I really do need to have more faith in people.

The ones we went to look for in the hospital (Yeni, pronounced "Sheni", and Javier) were actually having to travel back and forth from Maldonado (the big city closest) and working a lot. I hope we can start teaching them again, but it's complicated.

My favorite family is really struggling. The mom, Inès is a member and is my age, and has a 2 year old boy, Tiago. The dad, Darwin, is an investigator. They are having many difficulties. If everyone could *please* remember them in their prayers, I know that they would really appreciate it. As would I.

There is a ward member here named Elena Figueredo who is one of my favorite people in the world now. She served a mission in Argentina with very little family support. When she came home she began taking care of a little baby named Daniela full time. That little baby was (is) super special. When people say "special" here they mean disability or handicap. Elena has taken care of Daniela for over fifteen years, almost all of her life. Although Elena has never married, she finds so much joy in Daniela as the center of her universe, and is an inseperable part of their family. Recently, Daniela's father died suddenly of cancer, and their family is dealing with a lot of grief.

Elena loves being a missionary and comes with us almost every sunday, her only day off. She is a huge support to me, she's like my senior companion, which I really have needed recently. I don`t know why they keep giving me new missionaries to be my companions (although I'm not complaining because every companion I have had has blessed my life and opened my perspective and expanded my capacity to love deeply) because I have never been a very good leader. Anyway, this weekend I have been especially grateful to have a senior companion at least some of the time to rely on.

I haven't even started talking about General Conference yet. There were so many answers to prayer and I have two minutes to finish this email. I thought of so many people during the talks. I agree with mom, six months is NOT enough time to apply even a small fraction of what was taught.

Love you forever,

Hermana Phillips

Letter #53 09/24/2013

My Dear Family and Friends,

I'm sorry that I don't have very much time. I have to do some other really important things during my already limited time on the computer, so I'll start uploading some photos for you instead. I love you and continue to pray for you.

The transfer cycle just ended, and my beloved companion is leaving... for my first area, Ferroviario! I'm so excited for her. I'm very sad she's leaving.

I will be staying in San Carlos. I will be training. Here's to new adventures!

Love,

Hermana Phillips

Letter #52 09/16/13

Dear Family and Friends,

Last week I wrote about the "Santa Rosa" (tropical storm) that happened last week. Apparently Saint Rose heard me and decided to show her true colors. It's been raining for four days straight, and is forecasted to last for a few more days, with strong winds. My umbrella broke yesterday from the wind so I am mostly using it as a polka-dotted shield in front of me, because the rain here falls sideways. I finally heard the story about why it's called Santa Rosa: In the early days of the colonies in Uruguay, the Dutch or the English or French (the member lady who told me couldn't remember which, but it's one of the three) came to invade. The inhabitants along the coast prayed to Saint Rose to protect them. In response, she sent a huge storm that prevented the Dutch/English/French ships from landing. I understand-- in a storm like this I'd give up trying to invade Uruguay too. Fortunately, I'm preaching the gospel instead, and God is more powerful than any storm.

Saint Rose also seems to be against investigators coming to church. We have been teaching a great young couple who in our last lesson invited themselves to church without us even bringing up the subject. We passed by on Saturday night to see if they were still coming and Javier came out and greeted us with a broken wrist. We went inside the house to find Yeni, his girlfriend, lying in bed looking weak and yellowish. Apparently she had passed out shortly before we got there and were about to leave for the hospital. We said a prayer with them so everything would go well at the hospital, and that she would recuperate soon. I told them that if they felt better they were still welcome at church the next day, and Javier responded enthusiastically that they would do everything possible to come, which surprised me. They must have had something happen because they didn't show. We're going to visit them today to find out.

One of our strongest investigators (the one we found last week that was the miracle) dropped us on Sunday morning when we called to remind her about church.

I hate Satan.

Like my wonderful companion keeps saying, "Everything happens for a reason." I believe that too, it's just a little frustrating when we feel like we've done everything we can and we don't immediately see the results. I understand a little bit more about how Heavenly Father and Jesus must feel when I do something I should, or don't do something I know I should. I imagine Christ thinking to Himself, "I suffered and died and gave everything for you, so you could be preaching My gospel. Please start Personal Study at 8:00 instead of 8:02. It's the least you could do." I'm not saying that I'm a disobedient missionary; there will always be things to improve, but the experiences this week have made me see with more clarity the great love that God has for every one of His precious children, and how sad he feels when they disobey or don't understand the consequences of their actions.

Anyway, a little about the ward:

Our bishop is really cool. He has one eye and works in construction. He has three kids, and they just got another dog: a German shepherd. Since they live right behind us and we share the same yard, I feel like we just got a new dog too! I also feel safer than ever to have two worthy Melchizedek priesthood holders in front and behind us.

There is a great brother in the ward named Leo, who teaches Sunday school every other week. He is wheelchair-bound and has trouble speaking, but I have never met anyone before with a testimony of Jesus Christ that seems to radiate so powerfully out of every part of his being.

The sister who coordinates our lunches every day is named Maruja, and she's like another grandma to me-- mi abuelita. She's one of the oldest members in the ward and is hard of hearing, and I think that about 75% of the time she just guesses what we're saying, because some of her responses are really out of context. Love her to death, though.

Speaking of old ladies, Bishop Machado's mother lives with them, and I am now convinced that she's no longer completely sane. She gave my  companion quite the scare our second week. At first we didn't have curtains, but we used to get dressed in the back room of our house that just has one window that looks out onto the bishop's patio, but it's placed in such a way that you don't naturally look into it as you pass by. My companion was changing and I was in the kitchen when I suddenly hear a loud gasp, followed by "Oh! Hola!" followed by old-woman laughter. Luckily, the bishop's mom had just popped her head in the window at exactly the moment my comp finished changing. Don't worry, we have curtains now.

Anyway, Love you all, hope all is well.

Love you forever,

Hermana Phillips

Picture: Winter in Uruguay

Pictures: Cleaning the Temple

Letter # 37 05/27/2013

Dear Friends and Family,

It's been yet another interesting week. I got sick again. This time it was food poisoning, I'm fairly certain. I was completely wiped out and unable to work on Sunday after lunch, but I think it's resolved. Our ward mission leader and one of the other brethren from the ward came over and gave me a priesthood blessing and I immediately began to improve.

My poor companion-- she's been so patient with me and this crazy week. As I explained, Hermana Spradlin is brand new from the MTC in Argentina, but she's going to the other mission in Uruguay. She studied Spanish for 8 years before the mission so she speaks as well as, if not better than, I do. So in the MTC she was in an advanced group that was only there for 4 weeks. The other mission won't have their transfer day until the 6th of June, but there was no reason to leave her in the MTC when she was ready to be in the field. So, the arrangements were made and since my other trainee had to go home for knee surgery Hermana Spradlin is with me for a few weeks and then she'll be going to her mission. I can't imagine having such a crazy beginning to my mission. I thought my first 12 weeks were rough, but they really were nothing compared to what some of these new missionaries are having to go through. There are SO many changes happening in missions all over the world.

Speaking of other missions, can someone send me Sarah's address? I'd really like to be able to write to her. Also if she's sending out mass emails like I am I'd like to be one of the recipients!

Also-- I finally received the package you sent me! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I don't know what I'm going to do with so many sticky notes but I will definitely find a use for them! Thank you for the chocolate, for the cards, the PENS (!), and for sending my flag! The goldfish got a little bit damp from the humidity here and traveling for a month but still edible and worth it! The Symphony bar tastes just like Christmas and home. I don't know why, but chocolate tastes so different here. I love you so much!

Here at the threshold of my 9 months and having a lot of time to think while being so sick lately, I have been reevaluating a lot of things and making new resolutions. One of my resolutions is to start enjoying the moment. I've been stuck on autopilot lately because change is always hard for me emotionally, and I haven't really been enjoying the miracles that I am living and witnessing every day. I am praying to find more joy in the journey, as President Uchtdorf is always talking about. Life is meant to be enjoyed.

I love you so much!!!

Love you forever,

Hermana Phillips

Letter # 34 05/06/13

Dear Friends and Family,

I love you all so much! I'm so sorry I have very few minutes to write today. We had to travel to Montevideo to get my visa signed. I guess I'd rather sacrifice a PDay than go to prison...

I am so happy to hear about marriages, babies, boyfriends, missions, jobs-- so many exciting life changes! It's weird to think that that's all going on while I'm here. My birthday came almost without me realizing-- I almost forgot about it actually. My companions and the elders threw me a last-minute surprise party-- that I ended up finding out about because one of the members spilled the beans. I was really impressed. It's hard to keep secrets in a companionship! Missionaries are awesome.

Things are still hectic and crazy but good and getting better. Hopefully next week we'll get a real PDay to rest from the craziness. I love the mission, but I've never been so tired in all my life. It's been raining off and on for the past week or so. As Hermana Calderon says, the dreary days of winter have begun. I need to get some rain boots, otherwise this winter is going to be miserable. Already my scriptures have gotten wet even though I keep them wrapped up in plastic bags.

Thank you all so much for your emails and for your encouragment. It really means SO much to me and I hope you all know that I love you and I pray for you all.

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Hermana Phillips

Picture: Companions

Me, my oro, Hermana Hansen, and Hermana Calderòn.

The sign we're making means "smile" or "capo" (which means "awesome")

Letter # 33 04/29/13

Queridos Amigos y Familia,

Well, there have been a lot of changes since I last wrote. I didn't realize things were so bad with Dad-- or could have been so bad? I'm still not sure what's going on but I'll continue to pray.

 

We got another companion. One of the other hermana missionaries got really sick and had to go home for surgery, so they split up another companionship and we ended up in a tripod. So now I'm training in a tripod while opening up a new area in a white wash. I'm tired. There are pros and cons; the new hermana, Hermana Calderòn (from Lima, Peru) is super energetic (and when I say energetic I mean energetic like throwing flubber against the wall) and she's great to have around because I'm kind of serious. Hermana Hansen speaks very little Spanish and Hermana Calderòn speaks next to no English, so I often have to keep track of two conversations at once going on in two different languages. There have been a few personal/communication issues between Hermana Hansen and I, we have had a lot of problems resolved and I feel much more ready to face and enjoy the rest of this transfer. The problems mainly included the fact that although we have many of the same interests and the same determination to serve the Lord, we have very different forms of expressing that. I am introverted. Hermana Hansen is extremely extroverted. We had a long talk the other night and cleared up a few misunderstandings and bruised pride. I regret that this has been one of her first experiences in the mission but we both learned a lot. There is more responsibility on my shoulders than I am used to having, and that has affected how I interact with my companions. I'm working on it, and the Lord is helping me deal with the stress.

 

We had an awesome experience with one of our investigators, Claudia, last week. We found her on our first day in the area and she has been reading the Book of Mormon. She is a faithful member of a different church (evangelical) but they don't believe that baptism is necessary for salvation. I don't know how you can read the bible and think that baptism isn't necessary, but that aside she has a lot of faith in Jesus Christ. I think she started listening to us because she loved how sincere and tenderfooted my companion is. She keeps listening because she feels the spirit. The elders also serving in our ward were going to have a baptism last Saturday, and Claudia had committed to attending. The baptism fell through, but Hermana Hansen had the brilliant idea to take her on a tour of the meetinghouse, instead. The spirit was so strong during the tour. The youth in our ward were having mutual at the same time, and Claudia has a teenage daughter and I think she was really impressed with the church's youth program. We ended the tour with an explanation of the Sacrament in the chapel, and she committed to baptism! Now to help her arrive at her baptismal date, May 18th. Prayers on her behalf are much needed. I can only imagine how much her baptism would help my Oro, Hermana Hansen-- me too, but your first baptism of the mission is something you probably never forget.

 

La Paz is the best area in the best mission EVER! We are seeing so many miracles every day and I am so grateful for the prayers on our behalf. The Lord is pouring out blessings over us.

 

With all my love, yours always,

 

Hermana Phillips

Letter #32 04/22/13

Mis Quieridas Amigos y Familiares,

¡Cuanto les amo! I am so glad to hear that everyone is doing well, that you are happy and that God takes care of you all. I knew He was, but it's so good to hear it from you!

PDay has already gone by so fast and we have about a million things to do. So we finally have gas in our stove, and a washer! We had an interesting experience last night. While we were trying to take a few moments to relax after a hectic week, Hermana Hansen and I decided to put a load in our shiny new washer to FINALLY have some clean clothes. While they were in the machine we watched a 20 minute church movie (the conversion of John Tanner, excellent) the sink where the water drains decided to clog. Water spilled all over the floor, where the extension cord and plugs were O.o. We seriously have guardian angels all around us. Nothing was damaged and no one was hurt.

My companion is fantastic! It's interesting because our personalities are almost completely opposite, but we have a lot of the same interests. Lots of things to talk about, and different points of view. She is super dedicated and has had a lot of experiences in her life that have helped her grow closer to the Lord.

We have had the opportunity to meet quite a few people who (we think) are prepared to hear the gospel. We don't want to jynx it, so that's all I can say, but I CAN say that the Lord works in some mysterious ways. We're still trying to figure out how we found one of our investigators. We thought we were contacting a referral from a ward member-- but apparently it's a different woman with the exact same name and with the exact same description of where she lives and is friends with someone with the exact same name as our ward member. Weird. So we're teaching her and also still looking for the original referral.

I love you all! I LOVE THE MISSION! I am so grateful the Lord called me to be a missionary in this crazy place. Even though I will probably never live up to this calling the way I sometimes want or the way some people tell me I should, I know that the Lord loves me and I only try to live worthy of being an instrument in His hands.

All my love,

Hermana Phillips

Letter # 30 04/09/13

Querida Familia y Amigos,

Summer is turning into autumn here. The nights and mornings are really cold. For personal study in the morning I wrap up in my robe and my fleece blanket. Mid-day is still really hot though.

I was concerned to hear about Dad. Can someone give me an update on how he's doing?

Last night we found out about transfers! I'll be leaving Ferroviario, Florida, for La Paz B, which is either in or near the main city of Montevideo (not really sure about the geography here.) I will also be training! Woohoo! I'm pretty excited. I report at the mission home bright and early tomorrow morning to meet my oro! We call our new missionaries oros, which means "golden". I like it a lot better than greenie! Training is such a sacred responsibility. I'm so grateful for my trainer, Hermana Vargas; if I can do half as much for this new hermana as my trainer did for me, I'll be satisfied. She taught me so many valuable lessons: if you want to be a good missionary, you can't waste time focusing on yourself. Just focus on helping your companion be the best missionary she can possibly be. I'm excited for this transfer, but also a little nervous. I think we will also be opening a new area-- whitewash! I was really stressed last night when I found out, even though I knew something like this was going to happen, but I woke up this morning with a lot of peace. Everything will work out if we are obedient-- and fortunately I will be trying to help mold good habits and not working to break bad ones.

Les amo con todo mi corazòn!

Siempre,

Hermana Phillips

Letter #26 03/11/13

Querida Familia,
This week has been interesting. It seems like at the end of hardest weeks is when I realize that they've been the most productive, despite all the opposition. We found 11 new investigators! I didn't even realize until we sat down to do inventory last night. We don't give an accounting just to show our leaders or the Lord. It's also a blessing to recognize progress. (The opposite can also be true.)

We're getting ready for the open house in the chapel this Saturday. It's a big event and requires a lot of coordination with members, leaders, other missionaries, and the community here. My companion is really nervous about it because we haven't had very much training or preparation specifically for this. It seems pretty straightforward to me, but who knows? Prayers specifically for this event would be much appreciated.

My companion is full of Mormon jokes! She told me this one the other day:
Cuàl es el apellido de Adàn y Eva? (What was Adam and Eve's last name?)
Pèrez, porque Dios les dijo que si comen del fruto prohibido, pereceràn! (Pèrez, because God told them if they ate the forbidden fruit, they would perish.)
Pereceràn means "They will perish" and it sounds like Pèrez seràn, which means "they will be Pèrez."

I didn't say the jokes were any good...

Anyway, I'm glad to hear you're doing well! The temperature here is cooling down just as there it's warming up. Fortunately, I'll only have one winter here.

Love you forever!
Hermana Phillips