Letter #69 1/21/2014 "Dormir, dormir...‏"

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry about having to write a day late. There are some parents of missionaries who call the mission office when their kids don't write exactly on time. I am so glad you don't do that. Anyway, the reason is because we had to go to Montevideo yesterday for a super-secret mission conference. They wouldn't tell us what was going on or why we had to go, but the good thing about being a missionary is that you develop an innate trust of what your leaders tell you to do. At first we thought it was just our zone, and that we would be going to the temple, but when we got on the bus we found out the whole mission was going to be there, and rumors began to fly. Are they splitting the mission? Is there a general authority coming? Is there a national emergency and we have to leave the country? President Monson is coming?!

Well, we got to Montevideo and started the conference. Then President Newsome got up and announced that he and his wife are being released. There is apparently legal trouble with President's company back in the States and he has to go and fix things. For now we don't know when they are leaving, nor who our new mission president will be. I am of course super sad about this, but I know that the Lord is in it, and that President Newsome was exactly what Uruguay needed to add more energy into the missionary program here.

At the end of the conference we got to say goodbye to them individually. As he shook my hand, President looked at me with those kind blue eyes and told me he loved me. Both Hermana and President Newsome have a special gift for helping people to feel the pure love of Christ through their words and their actions. I am so grateful to have had such great examples of great love and leadership so close. I will miss them so much.

So that's why I'm tired today. For the past week or so we've been traveling a lot and and working double to make up for it.

I love you all and hope you are well.

Hermana Phillips

Letter # 65 12/23/2013 Sarandí del Yí‏

Dearest Friends and Family,

I write to you once again from the Tres Cruzes mall in Montevideo. Things have been crazy for the past week. This is what happened:

Tuesday - Packing, saying goodbye to people, more packing, shopping, more packing.

Wednesday - Transfers. We had to get up extra early so I could finish packing. We also had the Christmas conference. Every zone in our mission prepared a musical number, and then all the valientes (that's what we call the people going home in their last transfer) bore their testimonies. They were only allotted up to 2 minutes, but missionaries talk a lot so they took about 6-8 minutes each. Between all that and the choir and the talks by President and Hermana Newsome, we were there for 3 hours in the conference. But then we had a delicious Christmas dinner to make up for it, plus I got a photo with all my mission buddies who were in the MTC with me. Then we got on the bus and traveled until dark to the city of Durazno to stay the night at a member's house because it was too late to travel to the area.

Thursday - Got up at 4 to catch the bus to Sarandí del Yí, had weekly planning, then went out to work. Placed a baptismal date! Lucía! Woohoo! Also met a progressing investigator, María, who will be baptized on the 29th! Woohoo!

Friday -. Normal day. We had the ward end-of-year dinner, so I got to meet a lot more members. While we were leaving, Hermana West (who lives in our house with us) was making a grand exit, waving her hat in the air and telling everyone to go to church on Sunday. She turned to leave and made the most spectacular fall I think I've ever seen. She skinned her knee on the concrete, but insisted she was fine. Poor thing-- as always I think your pride gets injured more than whatever is bleeding... We then ran home because we were late, and made me wait until after planning to clean and dress her knee. Good thing I have a first aid kit!

Saturday - Got up at 4 again to catch the bus back to Durazno for our District meeting. We'll have to do that every week, so I guess I'll get used to it. After the district meeting we barely caught our bus to Montevideo, because I'm in the choir. The stake in Montevideo put on a big concert in the temple parking lot and it was really cool. Rumor has it they are going to make a DVD of it, but I'll give you updates when I know for sure. We stayed in the temple hostel, after the event was over at 11:30.

Sunday - Woke up at 4 again because the sisters in our room at the hostel had to travel back to their areas. We stayed because we're too far away to go and come back. We went to church in the chapel near the temple and almost fell asleep during the Sacrament. It's been a while since that happened! After church the mission gave us lunch and we went out to work again for a few hours. We found this awesome guy who accepted to be baptized. Unfortunately he's from Canelones, so I'll have to pass the info over to a different zone. He's awesome. If we hadn't had to come to Montevideo, maybe he never would have been found. We had another performance that night and went to bed again at 11:45.

Monday - Woke up at 6 to clean our room, finally left the hostel. We traveled to Tres Cruzes and now I'm emailing you all. Now we have to go to the doctor because my companion has a checkup today, then we'll be traveling for the rest of the day. Hopefully we'll make it home before midnight...

I am very tired, but never to tired to count my blessings! I am so grateful for this mission, for my life, for the opportunity to sing-- although I much rather would have been in my area, we have a lot of work to do. I am so thankful for my companion, for the other hermanas, for President Newsome, for EVERYTHING!

I love you all and hope you are well.

Love you forever,

Hermana Phillips

Letter # 62 12/02/2013 Día de Gracias‏

Dear Family and Friends,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I had a pretty good Thanksgiving-- of course it's not the same without family and pumpkin pie, but I did get to celebrate. We had a conference for all the sister missionaries and at the end they surprised us with a turkey dinner! It was so good! The senior couple that was in charge of it is amazing. They go home in a few weeks, so they wanted to do something really nice to say goodbye, I guess. I love them! God must really love, me, because He made sure I got Thanksgiving TWICE in a part of the world where they don't even celebrate it.

So this is what I'm thankful for this month (and in general):

- A mission president and mission president's wife who love and care about me and are 100% converted to serving the Lord in all things.

- A companion who is patient with my shortcomings and also cheerfully obeys the laws of the gospel and the rules of the mission.

- A bishop who is super patient with our Spanish and helps us out with our house.

- A ward mission leader who is dedicated and also has a lot of great ideas.

- That our first Sunday of the month class on missionary work went well. We taught the entire ward how to commit their friends to going to activities/listen to the missionaries and how to bear simple testimony in a missionary lesson. We did practices, and they are now pros.

- San Carlos.

- My wonderful friends and the righteous lives that they live, the lights that they are to others (including me) and their faith in Jesus Christ.

- My amazing mom. There isn't enough space here to talk about her, and I don't want to start crying.

- My amazing dad. See above.

- My amazing sister Michelle and her family.

- My amazing sister Lisa.

- My amazing sister Desiree and her family.

- My amazing little sister Jackie.

- My filtered waterbottle, without which I would surely die.

- The 6 people we placed baptismal dates with this week. Maybe they won't make their goals, maybe they will, but they will all remember that they once felt the Spirit and were inspired to act.

- Mormon Messages. Seriously, I love them.

- Being Mormon. It is the BEST.

- Temples.

- A camera to capture the precious moments and memories.

I could go on.

What are you thankful for?

Love you forever,

Hermana Phillips