family

Holla! My family friends, hello!!! :D I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was blessed and amazing, I missed everyone and hope you all thought of me! ;) Because I surely thought of you! I realized that I think that all my family is really the best cooks BECAUSE…now this is a little sad but…I didn’t like the food that much. I mean like, it was ok! But I miss my home cookin! Anyways, I was very thankful to be able to enjoy a good meal, because I know there are many many kids who never get that, so I’m very grateful.
Well, the week started off with a little trip to Manhattan. I’ve been going for some health issues but all is well ? We had a little fun… ;) President Nelson told us to go and walk through central park ? it was very nice, President must really like us or something, LOL. We also got to see the Manhattan Temple which is of course a joy! But we are going back today! (this was only after my companion whined a little about it being her last real pday and going to Manhattan ?) So we are going to be taking picture stops at the Rockefeller Center and Time Square and then a stop at Canal Street. An hour in any city in New York is like 5 minutes by the time you get to your destination. With public transportation and the crazy traffic everything takes forever, so pdays kinda stink bc they are actually long hard days. But it will be fun ?
Good ol Turkey Day was pretty fun, but still busy ? We went to the Turkey Bowl which was with a few of our ward members and then all the missionaries lol. We had fun and gotta a lil muddy. Then we ate turkey and then went to another dinner appt but ended up taking it home bc we were stuffed…they gave us SO MUCH FOOD! We are always grateful for food LOL. On Friday we were riding the shuttle when 5 little boys between the age of 9-12 came up and asked if we had any change. Sadly we of course said no bc we’re poor and we asked what they were doing. They said there school was raising money for food for kids in the Philippines and Africa. They said that after they collect money they do a dance and we were like, “Well, where’s our dance!?” They got a little bashful but we kept telling them we wanted a dance! Finally, they started clapping and chanting cool lil street songs and each boy did this improv street dance! They were amazing! They were so good! I was in awe! They were all swingin on the railings and doing this amazing hip hop. So we told them that they should do that and shout to the people the purpose of what they’re doing. So they went on the other side and came back and were saying they were scared bc there was too many people, so we were like, “OK, we’ve got a plan. We’re gonna go with you and start clappin and cheerin you on to get the people to get excited and pay attention ok?” So we went to the other side and we were just clappin and cheering for them and these women were just loving it, it was so adorable. People started really donating. It was awesome! Then on Saturday we had a street sweep which we do every transfer. A street sweep is where the missionaries in our zone meet somewhere and teach everyone on the street for however long it lasts. So we went to the Atlantic Center (big mall) and taught people on the street for an hour and a half. I personally am not a fan just because there are swarms of us and people see what is going on and I feel that they feel they are just another person instead of it being “personal.” But it was ok, it was windy and cold, but we talked to a lot of people and got some lesson and investigators ? Then last night we had a concert at the Midwood Chapel (actually where we live) called “Songs of the Restoration.” It’s a new thing the mission is doing where you just read a principle out of the Restoration pamphlet and after each principle there is a musical number. We invite everyone we possibly can and involve the ward members. We came up with a great idea for when we do it with our ward, to also have a church tour and have members give a little talk on what we do in each room ? We’re pretty excited.
Well that is all that is new for now. I hope everyone has a beautiful week and I’ll be back soon! ?
Love,
Sister Phillips

AND CONGRATS TO BROTHER BRAD! SOUTH CAROLINA IS BEAUTIFUL! You'll get a great accent! LOL

the call

nobody guessed it. I was going to post on the blog for everone to guess...but we got the call a week earlier than expected!

bailey

ok. im here. things are going great. i would have emailed last week but myldsmail was sucking way bad. i got really pissed and almost killed everyone. but i refrained by reading my scriptures and writting letters instead.

things are going great here. i like my companion. i can work with him. i am improving alot. i am getting to know everyone in the ward and they are all very nice. we have a pretty good ward here. my companion is a great guy. he is slow when we plan and doesnt seem to ever really know what is going on. he is kinda spacey. but he had cancer when he was a baby so the chemo probably messed up his brain. the only thing that i dont like about him is that he likes the cold and so i am freezing in the morning and in the car. but we are working hard and the ward notices. they already trust us. they say they can tell i am a good missionary. that makes me feel good.
i should be getting my scans soon. hopefully i will get one of them this week.

ummm. i dont think i really have much else to say. the work is going good. im excited. not for winter though. its cold and i hate kansas and missouri. i totally understand why the pioneers went to utah. hahaha. just kidding.

love you all. bye

pics

hApPy tHaNkSgiViNg!

Well this week was a…different week. I will start off with my miracle story. Monday night we had planned to go look up a lady we met on the bus that was just baptized Baptist. We went to see her and her daughter, Nicole, said she had to work late that night and was really sorry. So we started talking to the daughter. We learned that she goes to church every now and again with her mom and has an 8 year old son (:D) named Shavaun. We taught her a little about the church and she really liked that they have classes for the children. She committed to come to FHE tonight! We are going to pick her up and we are super excited. We had a BOM on us and gave it to her and as we did Shavaun gasped. He loves to read and we told him we’d bring him his own and he was super excited. Nicole told us that she was just heading to read the bible, which she does before bed so she’d read the BOM instead. So we left and called her a couple days later. She said that she had read but only a little. I asked her what she read. She told me she read the first 2 chapters of Nephi and the introduction, and that Shavaun read half of one of the chapters as well! I was like, “You said a little!” LOL. We were so super excited and are praying she can continue to read and pray.
Tuesday was our Sisters Conference. It was okay. It was fun to get together with old friends/pad mates, but you all know girls…they’re so competitive. The room was filled with pride lol so it made it a little hard. Girls would talk about how they trained at an early age on the mission and about their success and other things. So it made it really hard for sisters who are….not so prideful. It was more like a group therapy session as well lol. But it was fun, we had a really good lunch 
Wednesday we didn’t get out bc I became really sick. I think it may be from my flu shot I had got the week before but the cold is going around so who knows. My lungs were really struggling and I didn’t sleep at all. I did however, discover an incredible “tea.”  All it is is, hot water, honey, and lemon. It tasted so good to me and I guess it clears out your lungs…and it did! It also gave me a lot of…well I can’t say energy, but I guess I can say… “kookieness?” Lol, maybe it was from being in all day but I couldn’t stop talking and laughing at everything.
We met with Rhonda again and it was again a really good lesson. The spirit is always present and strong. We had her read Elder Hollands amazing talk from conference and also watch The Restoration. It was new for her so it makes me wonder if the missionaries that baptized her, then, really just went and dunked her…. But as we continue to teach her she still is filled with fear that it is true as well as if it isn’t. She wants so badly to be on the right path. We were talking of how we knew that what we taught is true and just the yearning in her voice when she asked, “How do you know,” was just heart wrenching. Her heart needs softened, every night before we go to bed we call her and share our favorite BOM scripture with her. She hangs to tightly to the Bible. That’s actually what sparked her at the beginning. The Elders that baptized her were teaching her about the Spirit world and she had never heard anything like that! She said, “You show that to me in the bible!” So they did, right there in Colossians…or Peter, idk what one…anyways. After she saw that she was so happy and had gained testimony of the spirit world and is a perfect example of conversion. She went around telling everyone about the spirit world and what she had learned. So we know that all we need to do is help her to receive the same about Joseph Smith and the BOM, but each time we show her the verses from the Bible she interprets them differently. Slowly but surely she is coming around. She tries so hard, she is an amazing woman.
So that’s about it for my week. It was a rather slow one, being sick and all. I hope everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving! I will surely be missing home and the good food  We did barely get someone to let us come lol. I think everyone is leaving town. We are going with our Relief Society President and another sister in the ward. I will miss the family! But I hope you all have bunches of fun! I love you all so darn much and pray for you always!

Happy Turkey Day!
<3 Sister Phillips

bailey

Bailey Pulsipher (baileypulsipher@myldsmail.net)
Sent: Mon 11/16/09 8:22 AM
To: phillipstrucking_252@msn.com; thp1961@hotmail.com; jake_pulsipher@hotmail.com; rustys_brother@hotmail.com; galwaygirl26@yahoo.com; jaycemp@gmail.com; abcue123@hotmail.com; nettiebaskettie@myldsmail.net

Just letting all of you know that I got transfered and I have a good companion this time. I'll email for real in an hour or so.


2002 Ridgewood Dr A
Harrisonville MO 64701 boooooya. no more wichita! what about brads call?

hEy!‏
From: Lynette Phillips (nettiebaskettie@myldsmail.net)
Sent: Mon 11/16/09 8:12 AM
To: phillipstrucking_252@msn.com

Dearest Family!Holy my cow! As the days go on they get faster and busier. And it’s already another pday! It’s already the 4th week of this transfer, I am sad that my days with my lovely and bestie Sister Frodsham are close to an end!  Her family will be here in 21/2 weeks, I’m so excited to meet them! We aren’t letting that drag us in any way tho! It seems as if it is pushing us to go even faster! We have been SUPER busy! I have been SO exhausted, but I love it! On Thursday we got invited to the Relief Society Pres. House for breakfast so bc it takes us an hour to get to our are we had to leave at 6:15. It was really fun bc her house is so homie! She had to leave at 8 for work but bc Thurs mornings are our weekly planning time we got to plan at her home. We were so booked that day that we didn’t get home until 9:45! It feels good to be busy, I just wish I were a little healthier. The dr here put me on more amoxicillin for the long infection I’ve had in my throat, and some how on top of taking an antibiotic I have a cold/sinus infection??? I’ve had a hard time sleeping which is no beuno when you’re going non stop, but its all good  It’s hard to sleep when there is a spring punching your spine…lol. Anyways!Tuesday was zone conference which was ok. We got all cute and curled our hair…Grandma I put a red belt with the jumper you made me and wore black tights  So got cute in a sister missionary way hahaha. There are times when you feel really inadequate and that zone conference was one of them  But hey, its all good! We had a really good lesson with Rhonda, the LA that was baptized 14 years ago bc her friend did… She is a very faithful Pentecostal and loves us, but when we teach her, her eyes are just filled with fear. Fear that what we teach is true, and she doesn’t want to believe it. She loves her bible and becomes very defensive when we combine the BOM or principles of the church with it. She is starting to become quieter tho, because we have the answers to all of her questions and scriptures to support them. But the spirit was so strong when we taught her it was so good. We hadn’t seen her in a couple of weeks bc she never returned our call, turns out she didn’t get the message and was so sad! She thought we were upset with her and she missed us, so that is good! Every Saturday we play ultimate Frisbee and it just keeps getting better and better  My lungs are getting stronger so that is so good  This week the Bishop named me MVP  It made me feel super good, I love it! Yesterday was Stake Conference and afterwards we had a little lesson with a Jewish lady. Aaron (RM and very active) married her not too long ago. She had a question about Abraham sacrificing Isaac. It was quite interesting. She pretty much thought that God is all just and not merciful. She asked a missionary if he would kill his daughter if God asked him to and the Elder said if he prayed and knew God wanted him to, and she was so upset with this. So she wanted to hear our views. It was a really good lesson. All the amazing people that we have found and taught have kinda dropped off the ends of the world, but we’re keeping the faith. We are working hard and know that the Lord will provide away, there must be a trial of faith first  Tomorrow is the missions Sister Conference. So we travel to the mission home and have lunch and a speaker, so that is exciting. Thanksgiving is next week! Crazy! President Nelson is really so great! He is doing great things for this mission. He is letting us play games (Turkey Bowl) and things like that on Thanksgiving. So that is exciting. Then we are having a huge Christmas Devotional where the whole mission will get together on Christmas Eve. I think Pres is making sure to keep us from getting too trunky and help us to have a good time. Which I think is just great, he is so inspired, I love him so much. Well, that’s all for now! I love you all so much!!! Have a fantastical week! Love,Sister Phillips

Bailey wrote....

did i tell any of you that i am having a all mission conference where we will hear from Russel M. Nelson? yup. this friday. it is going to be saaaweeeet!!!

new pics

new from n.y.

Another Pday!
So this week was another great week! We were super busy and we’ve been crazy exhausted! But it is so worth it! I love when the days fly by. We’ve met a ton of super amazing people, we are just praying with all energy of heart that we can give them what they need to bring them into the kingdom of God.
This week we started off with a lesson with Coaisha, the great prepared lady I talked about last week. Well we went and she already had a referral for us named James, who later gave us a referral as well! :D We showed The Restoration DVD and the spirit was amazing. She loved it and thought it was beautiful! We bore testimony and then she asked how she could know! She asked if we could teach her to pray! :D Oh my gosh. So we all knelt right there in the small living room and said a prayer. Her daughter was silent the whole time. It was incredible. She wanted us back that Thursday, but sadly something came up and we are meeting again tonight!  The next day, Tuesday, we fearlessed (contacted on the street), a girl named Quanisha. She is 19 and has a 3 month old baby. She was super excited and said that she has been searching for a church to raise her son in, he already has a suit and everything. We haven’t met with her yet, but are praying, praying! It so sad when your amazing days don’t work out tho. For Thursday we had an amazing day planned. We have weekly planning in the morning and were booked for the whole day with all 3 of our investigators and planned on committing all 3 of them to baptism. Sadly we were only able to meet with one, we did commit her but she has a hard time with the culture difference. Our ward is chuck full of the BYU implants so they are all white. She said she would pray about when the Lord would have her baptized so we again are praying she receives an answer for soon! Then Friday we had Combined District Meeting. Oh my, it was so amazing! It is so nice to go and be spiritually fed, after you leave you feel you can conquer the world! So that was really nice.
This week we were able to bring the Harvest Baskets to life. I’m pretty sure that I emailed about them but I’m going to again incase I didn’t. So our ward is pretty much built on a sure foundation and almost all of them have served missions. We know that our ward has great potential and President Eyring has said that member missionary work was really going to increase and President has said he feels it will start in the Park Slope ward. So we were wondering what in the world we could do to excite and help the ward with missionary work. As S. Frodsham was praying I received this little inspiration called the Harvest Basket  I couldn’t wait till she finished her prayer bc things were just pouring out to me. So the “Harvest Basket” (Field is white already to harvest, great for the time of season lol) is a basket with a DVD, BOM, 3 pass-along cards, and a service treat. There are 2 of them, on the elders pass and one we pass. The family will hold a FHE for the first Monday centered on the basket and set goals and discuss how they will achieve them. We also included a card full of FHE ideas with missionary scrips, or writing their testimony in the BOM cover, etc. Each family has 2 weeks to get rid of all the stuff (the treat is for them tho ) with the basket is a journal that they will write their experience and then they will pray about the next family it goes to. This way the next family can read the experience and be motivated by hearing of the other amazing experiences of the members. We will go and refill the basket and they will pass it on to the next family. We were able to introduce them in Relief Society yesterday and they were so excited! It was so fun for me to see something I created come to life. We have really felt that amazing things are going to come from this, for our members are our greatest tool. I’m super nervous but hope they go as planned. We took our basket to our chosen couple last night and they were honored to be the ones to start the Harvest and are excited to get going on it. Oh and when they pass the basket along they make a little service treat for the next family so that they are doing an act of service for a member. Isn’t it great? Gosh I love the spirit. I’m so excited to see what happens! I hope that makes sense 
Today we are going to Bensonhurst (oriental part of Brooklyn) for some shopping and bubble tea  They have cheap stuff there and gma just sent me 25$ do we’re gonna see if we can treat ourselves in some way. Oh! And on Saturday, we had correlation and it was awesome! The couple is like hardcore English, but not really. But we had a tea party! We had herbal tea in serious tea cups with lil plates and cookies. Next time we’ll have scones and tea!!! That is called “creamed tea.” Hahaha, it felt so awesome!!! I’m so going to get a tea set and have my girlfriends come over for tea parties! Lol! Grandma sent me dried apples and they are so nummy!!! Hehehe, good good times!!!!
Goodness its time to go already, we have to get going so that we can get everything done. Pdays really do suck bc they are so short, but they come fast when you work hard  I love you all and am so grateful for your support, letters, packages, LOVE, and getting me here! You’re all what got me here and just what I need!!! Loves You SO much!!!!

Love,
Sister Phillips

P.S: The ink on my pillow case smeared everywhere  I never thought I slobbered but I guess I just crash now hahaha, but I’m so sad that it smeared. I tried washing it but its stained that way  LOVE YOU!!!

new

This is where i will post pictures and posts from my current and future missionaries.

hApPy MoNdAy!
Hello again! Sorry I missed emailing you all last week! My comp and I had been down with the flu and we really hadn’t gotten out or done anything, we missed all the fun things that were going on, but hey, we got rest and are healthy now 
So after being up all night with the flu we had a combined district meeting that morning and we were holding a “funeral” for an Elder who was “dying” (going home, what a sweet way to say things lol) so of course my comp wanted to go, so green and all I got up and dressed in black and went. But it was really fun. I helped make up this awesome goodbye song and it turned out totally kickin! The Elders loved it. So it was really fun, but did suck bc they had a ton of food that I wanted to eat but was too afraid of it coming back…so I took some home of course and really recovered quite quickly and was just really weak. That night my comp came down sick so we stayed in that day and missed the wards annual Chili cook-off which we were planning on winning since we had gotten here. The elders got sick that night as well and ended up not being able to go either, total stink! Slowly but surely we’re regaining our strength. My comp hadn’t been sick since she was 12 and so she really didn’t know what to do lol. I told her after so long that she really needed to drink and get liquids, but she wouldn’t bc she was so frightened of throwing up, so she was out for a while….
So last week we had pres interviews and he really likes us together. Frodsham (comp) says that he got emotional when he talked about the great things we were doing. Which totally made me feel splendid bc I feel I’m not doing enough and well its hard to keep going sometimes! But we are so happy to have another transfer together! My first comp for more than a transfer! We are super excited to get things rolling even better! This is her last one, so I’m killing yet another sister, but we are planning on ending it with a big bang! Some amazing things have happened and we can’t wait to see how they go. A couple weeks ago as she was ending our comp study with a prayer a little “epiphany” if you will  came to me. We’ve been trying to think of a fun way to get the ward even more excited about missionary work. The thought came to me… “Harvest Basket.” To fill a basket with a DVD, 3 pass-along cards, a service card, and a treat. The family will hold a FHE about how they plan on giving the stuff away and they have 2 weeks to do it. Then we will come pick up the basket and share our experiences. We will refill it and that family will then pass it along to another family. Included will be a journal where the family can’t write their experience and it will pump the next family up to see that amazing things that have happened. When I told Frodsham she totally freaked! When she told our district, they totally freaked! They think that this is going to bring a lot of success and will really bless the ward as well as the church and us  so we’re super excited to get the “Harvest Basket” rolling 
I hope everyone had a fun and safe “all hallow’s day” or HaPpY HaLLoWeeN! Things are so interesting here  Or course you have the Jews and Jehovah Witnesses who don’t celebrate so we got a nice pamphlet speaking of Halloween and how it is evil….and we also saw lots of cute and fun costumes. We got to do service at Prospect Park which was helping set up all the fun events for the children. So that was actually kinda lame bc hey already had a ton of help. For our own safety we had to be in by 5 and do our weekly planning and the rest of the night is ours. So after our long 2 hour planning session, we made pumpkin pancakes with buttermilk syrup and deep-fried rolos and oreos with ice cream and egg nog! We had lots of fun talking and laughing and eating a ton!
The work goes on and we’ve met a lot of people we feel have been prepared. On Thursday night we were on our way to look up a media referral and then go to an appt. Well we made it to our appt’s house and noticed we had missed the road to the media’s house a while ago. We only had 25 minutes so we decided to talk to people on the street aka. Fearlessing. People weren’t very receptive that night but we managed to get 3 lessons before our appt. We got to her house and she said that something came up (cosco’s….) lame, so we were like, “Well, I guess we can go look up the media now.” So on our I saw a lady with a little girl and decided to stop and share a book of mormon card with her. When I told her about it she was totally pumped and said she wished we had the book on us! She made an appt for us to come by (tomorrow) and totally noticed it as a sign from God. She told us that she was on her way home and never went that way, but for some reason did that night. We were so stoked and are praying she is the one! Her name is Coaisha, so you can add her to your prayers. So we continued on to the media’s house and when we got there her sister in law, Barbara, answered and told us she wasn’t there. So we taught Barbara…who happened to be interested! She told us that she will be sure to be there when we go back to teach her sister in law so that she can sit in! She then told us that she had just barely gotten home…So if we would have went to her house earlier she wouldn’t have been there and we wouldn’t have met Coaisha. God works in mysterious ways! When things don’t go right and things are falling through, keep your eyes open to what is happening around you, blessings are constantly poured. We just have to be awake and aware! He has a plan! :D We were blessed.
So with the nice time change I’m now waking up at 5:30 bc my body still thinks it is 6:30 ugh. But we woke up early today and got way dressed up  We curled our hair and are wearing our cute clothes and going to go take fall pictures at Prospect Park  It feels good to be in regular clothes and have cute hair! It’s a nice little break from the skirt for at least a while. The tree’s and colors are spectacular here. Things grow like 3 times as big as they do in the West. The leaves are bigger than my head here. Its so awesome. Its starting to get chilly and we are bundling up for the nights. It is so uncomfortable! You feel like a sumo running around, and on the train or bus you just sweat! It’s so fun! LOL!
Well I’m now in the transfer that I will be celebrating my 6 month mark which is super weird. Our mission has 2 dates we can go home bc our mark ends right in middle of the transfer so we can leave either a transfer early or transfer later. Nov. 9th is my early one so it is weird to think that I am already about a year away. But I plan on taking my late date which is December 21, a nice little Christmas present  but that is still a year away and I have lots to do and really so little time to do it. So I’m working my lil buns off 
Again I hope everyone had a Happy and safe Halloween and Happy November 1st! I love you all and will be back next week!

Love,
Sister Nettie Phillips