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 # 36 05/21/13

Queridos Familia y Amigos,

This week has been another crazy one of changes. Yesterday we found out about changes (even though we already knew because President already told me) which is why I didn't write yesterday. In our ward there were 6 missionaries-- 6! Now there are four because the elders got taken out. Now me and my companion will be taking over their area (another whitewash!) which is a relief because I was getting frustrated only getting to work in half an area. Also we didn't have ANYONE to teach which is the worst.

So my corto plazo (part-time missionary, Hermana Laurito) arrived on Monday last week, and she is AMAZING. She came on a corto plazo to try it out to see if she wants to serve a mission. Hna Laurito is the answer to a lot of prayers. I went from a difficult trainer/trainee companionship to a triple companionship to a corto plazo in the space of about a month, but she made it really worth it. She's very laid back and helps me stay sane. There is a phrase in my patriarchal blessings that counsels me to accept light and truth in whatever form it may be because "there will be people that will be inspired to come into (my) life at the very time (I) need something with help and with encouragement." That promise has never been fulfilled so specifically before now.

She came with a cold though, and all four of us caught it. I think it was because we had to wake up really early one morning to go to a conference in Montevideo, and it was really cold, and our immune systems must have been really weak. All I know is that by the end of the conference that day we were all feeling ill. It got so bad that on Friday afternoon we all came home early, and on Saturday we didn't go out at all. I also didn't feel well enough to go out and work on Sunday, and the other Hermanas went out for a few hours and had to come back because they were dying in the street. President got wind of what was going on, and because our area is only 45 minutes from the mission home he and his daughter, Stacy, got in the car and brought us a care package with vitamin C tablets, dark chocolate, benadryl, medicinal tea and four bags filled with corn (it's like a rice bag you put in the microwave but corn stays warm longer). There was such a heavy, anxious spirit in the house, but when they got there I just knew that everything would be OK. He gave us all blessings and when he left we were all feeling so much better. Today I feel 100% better.

One of the changes from last week is this: The new missionary that I was going to train this change tore a tendon in her knee at the MTC while playing fùtbol and she had to go back to the United States for surgery. Hermana Laurito was going to stay for the rest of the change as a result, but on Sunday President Armstrong called again and informed me that there was an hermana missionary in the MTC that was going to the other mission (Uruguay Montevideo WEST) but for some reason or another they can't take her until the 6th of June. She's in an advanced group in the MTC and there was no good reason to keep her there so they're sending her to me for two weeks. After that, Hermana Laurito will come back and finish out the transfer with me. I'm going to go pick up my new companion tomorrow morning super early. Here we go again! :D

I love you all so much! Take care and remember that the Lord LOVES YOU!

Love always,

Hermana Phillips

Letter # 35 05/13/13

Dearest Family and Friends,

Thank you for all your prayers and words of encouragement. I just wrote an awesome email, and then the internet decided not to work, and everything got erased. I don't have time to write it all again, so here's a recap:

There are more changes in our area. After getting off Skype with Mom, Dad and Jackie on Mother's Day the mission president called to tell me that a part-time missionary would be joining us today. She arrived today (Florencia Laurito) and she is my companion. Hermana Calderòn is taking over training my oro, Hermana Hansen so I can start training another new missionary next week.

Vamos arriba!

I love you all, and pray for you often.

Love always,

Hermana Phillips