Third Area: San Carlos

San Carlos is on the southern coast, east of Montevideo. 

With a population of 27,000, San Carlos is the second largest city in the Maldonado Department. It was founded in 1763 by the Spanish governor to discourage Portuguese settlments in the area.

Historical sites include the oldest Catholic Church in Uruguay, Iglesia San Carlos Borromeo, built in 1763.



Letter #47 08/14/2013

Dear Friends and Family,

I got transferred! My new area is San Carlos B, and it is near the coast, north of Montevideo. We leave tomorrow morning. I will miss La Paz; I realized yesterday how much I love my investigators here, even though none of them got baptized. Sometimes you reap, and sometimes you sow. I am grateful for the relationships that I have formed here. Yesterday when I was in a lesson with Lourdes (who I´ve been teaching since April and can´t bring myself to drop) I told her that I might be leaving. Here eyes filled with tears and I was so surprised when she suddenly got up from her chair and ran and hugged me. Such a fantastic lady; she is so sweet. I´ll miss her a lot and keep praying that someday she´ll be able to get baptized.

Our zone got together and played for our last Pday. They made me play fútbol. Latinos are crazy good at this sport. I told them that if we loose it´s their own fault for making me play. I am seriously the worst. However, serving a mission in South America I just kind of have to get over it.

I don't know what this new transfer will bring. My new companion´s name is Hermana Nelson. I sat behind her in my ASL class during my last semester at the U of U, so we already kind of know her. She was trained by my trainer, so we´re sisters! She´s blond and really likes talking to everybody. I wonder what the ward in San Carlos will be like. I doubt anything could beat Barrio La Paz, though. Our bishop promised to come bring us ice cream tonight to wish us luck. This transfer was kind of tough living in a house of four missionaries. It was fun, but after three transfers, it's enough.

A few days ago I accompanied my housemate, Hermana Peña to the doctor in Montevideo because she had to have surgery. We stayed in the mission home that night and we got to know our new mission president, Presidente Newsome, and his family. They came with their youngest son, Reed, who is thirteen. It was really weird to wake up and have breakfast with them. Presidente is apparently extremely wealthy, but you´d never be able to tell-- he´s so down-to-earth and humble. Hermana Newsome is so willing and anxious to learn Spanish. After dinner we asked her if there was anything we could do for her and she said, "Yes, you can give me a Spanish lesson!" Then she went and got a piece of paper and a pencil and we helped her write out her testimony and a simple prayer. She´s really awesome. Reed is a typical thirteen-year-old boy and eats a Cajun seasoning called "Slap Ya Mama" on everything. They have a teacup Yorkie named Lucy that is officially the first lap dog that I´ve ever liked.

My first companion in the field, Hermana Vargas, finished her mission last week. Crazy how time flies. My one-year mark is in 17 days.

I love the gospel!

Love you forever,

Hermana Phillips

Letter #46 08/09/2013

Dear Family and Friends,

I am writing to you from President Newsome's office. My house companion is sitting in his big chair. I'll tell you how we got here:

We live in a house of four and one of the other Hermanas had to have surgery on her eye today. It's been a long and tiring process, having to go back and forth from the doctor's office four times in the past three weeks. It's an hour and a half bus ride one way. Fortunately, the Pugmires, who are the senior missionary couple here, have been helping us with transportation. (Hermana Pugmire is the mission nurse and Elder Pugmire is in charge of fixing things in the missionary's houses-- Mom and dad, you guys would be really awesome missionaries. Just saying...)

Anyway, I'm supposed to just say hi and let you all know that I'm alive. I didn't write on Monday because I was stuck in a waiting room at the eye clinic all Pday.

Love you forever! Thank you so much for all your support and words of comfort.

Love, Hermana Phillips

Picture: Group Shot

Letter #45 07/29/2013

Queridos Familia y Amigos,

Is there ever a week that isn't eventful?

On Thursday last week our mission president was released and went back to the US. Our new mission president, President Newsome, will be coming in the last week of August. In the meantime, a bishop from a local ward in Montevideo is serving as our mission president; President Etchegaray Sabate (good luck with that one) has served as a mission president in Argentina and as an area 70, so I trust we're in good hands. We got to meet him on Sunday, as he made a special trip to see our Zone. He came to our area in La Paz on Sunday so we could know him and to see if there was anything he could do for us. It is good to know that the Church will always take care of us.

As we finish this transfer, and I see my one-year mark looming in the not-to-distant future, I find myself recalculating and readjusting my perspective on my mission, my area, my companions, and my life. Many missionaries that I've met here served "mini-missions" before their full-time service; I wish I had known that was even an option. My decision to go on a mission would not have changed, but I would have been a lot more prepared. There is no way to transmit what it is like to be so tired in every aspect, so pressured and stressed, via photos and journal entries. There is no way to fully convey the disappointment of a missionary when all their investigators hang up on them on Sunday morning, not the elation of placing a baptismal date. It is all so much different than I thought it would be that until now I have been struggling and wondering if I'm doing it all wrong. As I keep telling the people I teach, it is Satan who puts those negative thoughts in your head-- don't listen to Satan! Through the personal frustration about lack of "success" in La Paz after three transfers, district and zone leaders trying not to sound disappointed over the phone during call-in reports, etc, I know that God cares about the one, that He is aware of His children, that we are numbered unto Him, and that we are graven in the palms of His hands.

Also, I'm getting bangs today. I hope it turns out! ;)

Also, Mormon Messages are awesome!

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/origin?cid=HPL2P09W03012&lang=eng

Picture: Winter in Uruguay

Letter #44 07/22/2013

Dear Friends and Family,

It's so cold! A few days ago we were walking around carrying our coats and complaining about our leggings. Now we're so bundled up I can hardly move!

This week has been awesome. The weeks when we have the most opposition and discouragement are often followed by big blessings. This week the blessings have come in the form of having 5 people committed to baptism next month, and progression with our *many* investigators who are not married. It's been tough not to have had a baptism since February, and I was really discouraged and distracted. It's one thing to have someone commit to being baptized, and another to help them actually arrive at that date.

Last night we went out to try and contact a few references, which is not that fun since on most of the streets here you can have #328 and #1221 right next to each other. You basically have to walk the entire length of the street to figure out that the address doesn't exist. There was one who was a less active that we've been trying to contact for a long time. Two different people from our ward had asked us to go find him, but he was never there, nor did his family have any interest in letting us in. We decided to stop by one last time before dropping the referral. We knocked on the door, and instead of the less-than-polite response we've had five times before, the mom (Jeni) asked us to come in. As we began to talk we discovered that while the missionaries had taught and baptized two of her sons (who are now inactive) she was never present in the lessons with them. As we talked more, she began to explain that she used to be very active in an evangelical church. Jeni has eight children that she is raising alone and their father now wants nothing to do with them. After the birth of her second handicapped child, she stopped going to her church and praying-- everything, for surely even if there was a God, that God had abandoned her. We asked her if she wants to see change in her life. She thought for a while and then said "Yes, that would be wonderful." We taught the simple doctrines of faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. We challenged to her to be baptized and she accepted a baptismal date for the 17th of August. She really is a remarkable lady and I hope that she will allow the Atonement to heal her and her family. Prayers on her behalf are much needed.

We recently had interviews with President Armstrong. His leaving is going to be really hard for me. Sometimes I feel like missionaries aren't necessarily called to a mission-- they are called to specific people. It also made me even more aware of how fast this precious time is flying. I am approaching my year mark. I'll be coming home at the end of February. As the mission handbook says, the time in which we have to serve the Lord with all our time and devoted efforts is extremely short.

Mom and dad, I was happy to hear about the good weekend you had with Ethan and Ryker and Jackie. That made me so happy to hear about Ethan teaching the Plan of Salvation! I'm so glad that you get to enjoy the temple so close! Mom-- one of my roommates is from Bogota, Colombia. I asked her if I got the names of some of your converts if she could help locate them, and she said she'd be happy to! Do you remember their names?

Love you forever,

Hermana Phillips