Farewell to Mexico!

Six weeks have flown by and Emma will hold every moment deep in her heart! This is the last picture we received of her in Mexico.  Starting Monday, it is HELLO Spokane, Washington!

Emma in front of the Mexico Temple.

458 DAYS TO GO

On Sunday, September 8th, Emma enjoyed her last full day in Mexico.  Emma will head to the airport at 3:00 a.m. Monday morning to fly into Phoenix and then on to Spokane!

Emma was allowed to e-mail us.  She was not packed yet, but said, "no worries!"

Emma wrote the following to us:
Dear Daddy asked me to share my favorite experience here at the Mexico MTC.  So here I go!
I would love to tell you about my greatest experience at the MTC!
My favorite experience at the MTC started at 5 o'clock July 31, 2013 and continued until 3 o'clock in the morning of September 9th. ENSERIO (Spanish Translation: Seriously)!
Every moment has been so amazing.  I have had to GROW and LEARN a whole lot!!
I loved seeing all the birds take refuge at this oasis.
I loved becoming so close with 11 missionaries who I get to call my district best friends.
I loved hearing their testimonies.
I loved learning how to be a better person and companion.
I loved teaching five different investigators.
I loved the moment when three of the dear investigator's thoughtfully said yes to the all important invitation to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be Baptized!
I loved being scared to death every sacrament meeting and listening to hear if my name would be called out once again.
I loved receiving letters.
I loved reading emails.
I loved relying on the spirit when my own efforts were not enough.
I loved coming to know that we truly need to walk by faith not by sight.
I loved relying on my Heavenly Father when I needed advice in my life.
I loved learning how to love more like how the Savior would love.
I loved meeting members from a culture so much more different than mine, but with testimonies just as strong, if not stronger than I have seen before.
I loved feeling your love all these miles away.
I love standing in the crazy rain they have here and just feeling completely that I was exactly where I need to be.
I loved every moment.
And I love everyone of you.
Love, Hermana Emma Rose Phipps

Dirty Dash 2 ... in Mexico

Emma thought these pictures should be called:  "Dirty Dash 2"  Or... Dirt on my Skirt!

Emma does have a dilemma with staying upright!

Emma's mother believes it should be called: "CHARITY SHOULDN'T FALLETH!!"

Get Ready to Go! 461 days left.

[It is September 5th and Emma is getting ready to leave the Mexico MTC.  She will fly out next Monday to Spokane, Washington, USA!!]

   Thank you for sending the ward newsletter.  I so enjoyed it!  I like keeping up with my dear ward friends.  I am so sad to hear about the hardships in our ward right now.  My heart goes out to those families. 
   The biggest smile came on my face when I heard you did the pancake breakfast with the grandkids! I am glad they liked it. 
   I have been thinking so much about you all lately!  I couldn't ask for a better family than the one I am blessed with.  So, I am feeling pretty ill right now, so instead of stressing and writing a whole lot, I am just checking in and sharing a few things. The day before I leave, I get to e-mail again. So on Sunday I will write like I usually do.  NO WORRIES about me being sick.  I am doing well here, and I am sure that I will be feeling fine again in no time.
   I am so excited to be heading to Spokane!  But also, oh so nervous!!  Last week we met another girl who is heading to Spokane!  We spent five weeks at the MTC without crossing paths!
HOW CRAZY?!?
   I really love this MTC so much.  I couldn't have asked to have it any better.
   I couldn't be more thankful to be learning Spanish.  Seriously, I love this language!  Even more I love the people.  I have had a lot of random experiences with natives this week.  It is so much fun but also very scary 'cause I am not at all good at talking Spanish yet. On Sunday, I went to a meeting with the wife of the President of our branch.  They do not speak English a speck.  But I actually was able to understand them!  Reading and listening are my strongest points right now.  I FAIL at speaking... I am working on that though!  Speaking Spanish went a LOT better this week!  Which makes me so happy!
   Oh, one more thing.  Funny story time!  I told everyone in my district that I would be the first person to fall here.  Last Thursday, I fulfilled my prophecy!!!  Ha..Ha..Ha.  Hermana Taylor and I were doorbell ditching a note and some treats to some girls in our district when I slipped majorly on a mud patch.  I'll send pictures of the results sometime.  Ha Ha, I laughed SO HARD!!
[Note from parents: Emma had quite an issue with staying upright her first year at BYU...she worries about falling and it happens way too often!]
I love you ALL! Hear more from me Sunday! 

Week 4 & 468 days to go!

Hola Everyone!
I just really am loving life right now.  I do not think I have ever been so constantly joyful in my life! Even when things get a tiny bit hard, I can't help but be excited for everything I am experiencing!  Guess What? I have been here a month! And it doesn't even seem like I have been gone for long at all!  Does it seem short to you or is the MTC a time warper?

At the end of next week I will begin my sixth week! That means next week is my last full week here in Mexico! Then I head off to Spokane.  I fly out the morning of September 9th :D I am so so so excited.  I can't wait to go out and meet the world!  I am so excited to be able to know these people!  Really, my heart is just so happy thinking about it.  I am also a bit nervous, cause well, it is a BIG thing!  Speaking Spanish and everything will be a huge leap of faith for me.  Keep praying for me, I know you do and I know it helps! :)

So my district has been asked to speak continuously in Spanish.  Like from SUN UP TO SUN DOWN!  Which is really, really, really hard.  But when I put all my effort into it, it totally works.  Write me encouragement to do this even if others are not and even though it is hard. And since I won't get to hear from you until next Thursday, I am saying this for each of you every day: "Hey Hermana Phipps, I (enter your name here) expect you to use your Spanish to the fullness of your capability. I would be so very disappointed to know that you weren't trying all you could to speak it and be ready to do what the Lord has called you to do.  You know you need to speak the language, so DO IT!"

Ahhh guys, thank you!  I can't let you or the people of Spokane down so I am going to do all that I can to speak every word in Spanish.  I promise!  I need to act and not be acted upon.

I really love reading the scriptures in Spanish!  I am actually understanding SO MUCH OF IT!  It is so amazing! And when you read it and know what the English version says, each word means so much more.  I think sometimes I get so used to the words used in the English scriptures, I don't think through the meaning of all the words.  But then I read it in Spanish and the words are just so meaningful because I can compare the two words and the meanings they have.  IT IS AMAZING!


I love hearing about the Sister Missionaries that have come to the BC 23rd Ward. How Awesome!
This week I received letters from members of our ward!  My heart just feels so sparkly...haha... it is the only word I could think of!  So yeah, it feels so sparkly and shiny with happiness!  Thank You Ward Family!!

This week has been lots of fun!  I wasn't called to speak in Sacrament!  Not that I am excited about that..., I am just stating a fact.  The first district to ever be part of Branch 13 left on Monday, so many of the leaving missionaries spoke.  It was really amazing to hear them!  And it will be us in a week and a half.  Our dear Sister Trainers left.  It was hard to know they were leaving!  I looked up to them so much.  Hermana Taylor and I have been called as the new Sister Trainers.  I know Hermana Taylor is PERFECT for this assignment.  She is such a natural leader.  I am looking for how we can magnify our calling.  We need to be doing more especially since we have only 2 weeks to help the Lord in this way.  I am looking for ways to serve the Hermanas.  They are just so sweet and they deserve the WORLD!  But there are so many ways I need to improve in looking out for them.  I will work on that.

Amy sent the most perfect pictures of Kezi and Erika and Karson.  I actually used my picture of Kezi, Erika & Karson with an investigator.  He really loved it!  And I LOVED SHARING IT!! Now I carry that picture with me everywhere I go.  It brings a smile to my face every moment I see it.  I love this work, I love my family, and I love telling you all about it!  I can't wait to hear more from you all next week!  LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH!
Love,
Hermana Phipps

A Snail Mail Letter

When it comes to mail, Mexico really does Snail Mail, it took 13 days for Emma's letter to get to us.  She has warned us to not write letters to her in Mexico as they may not get there in time.  We can begin to send things to Spokane and she will get them when she gets there! Emma sent the following:

So, it was my second day of teaching our investigator, (who is actually another teacher at the MTC, but we did not know that). I was sharing my testimony that I know that this church makes you better.  But, when talking to my investigator, I said one small word wrong and ended up telling him that, "The gospel of Jesus Christ makes you a girl." Bah! What a great thing for a Sister Missionary to tell a guy! Best news, that 'investigator' will be my evening teacher next week!!  Can I say awkward?! Actually, I am glad I messed up like that.  It is so funny, it makes me laugh all the time.

You were wondering if I have hot water and a washer and a dryer.  I was wondering that the first day.  I took a shower my first morning and it was ICE COLD!  No warmth at all.  A few days later, one of the Hermanas discovered the hot water for the shower!  We have yet to figure it out for the wash basin though.  Oh, and our room is the only room in the house with hot water working in the shower!!  LUCKY US!  As for the washer and dryer, we are the first missionaries to use this house, so we have a dryer and a washer, but they were not hooked up! Some of the girls in our casa had P. day yesterday and they got it all hooked up! So lucky us, dodging another bullet again.

Our house is full of bugs! Crickets, mosquitoes, and cockroaches.  One of my closest friends here, Hermana LuBanc, is a crazy pro at killing the bugs.  The bugs do not bother me much.  The birds here are awesome! They are so happy and I hear chirping all the day long. 

I must tell you about my fellow Hermanas! Hermana Taylor (my companion), Hermana Blankenship and Hermana LuBanc are so funny! I really enjoy spending so much time with these wonderful girls.  They really live a quote I read by one of the apostles, "This isn't missionary work, this is missionary fun!"  I am really having such a grand time.  The guys in my district are super great also.  We are all friends and we do everything together even when we don't have to.  They have shared why they decided to go on a mission.  It was powerful. 

Guess what happened! It was 9 days before we would have a P-day and be allowed to use the computers.  I was getting pretty impatient to get a message or note.  Waiting until Thursday was the longest any group had to wait. (I had flown out on Tuesday and we did not get a P-day until the next week.)  But on Wednesday morning, I went to put on my skirt with the pockets and I found a surprise! Charlotte, Mariah, and Laura had somehow put notes in the pockets!  And I opened them the morning I was needing them the most.  It helped get me through my communication drought.

I am growing a lot here! And, I dried my clothes on the clothes line.  My friend thought it was weird, but sun dried clothes smell great!!   Love you, Hermana Phipps

Picture Time!

Emma is sending great pictures of her and her companions at the Mexico CCM!

Mexico City is beautiful! And Emma LOVES that it rains every night!!

We think she is staying in the Wilford Woodruff Hall.

Two Happy Sisters!! Hermana Phipps & Taylor!

Emma Loves Her District!  They are FUN & FUNNY!!