July 6th Tani's Birthday!!

Early Sunday morning and time for another blog. Today is the birthday of my little sister, Tani who was diagnosed with kidney Cancer a couple years ago and given a short time to live. Here she is turning 59 today and still going strong. What a miracle and a blessing to have her still here with us. We are SO GRATEFUL!

This has been a pretty low-key week, which after the last month we had, has been kind of nice. Still there are a couple things I want to remember and record.

Summer at Britannia

We are in a very strange time in Britannia. We were warned that summer was an interesting time. Little did we know! This past Sunday our Bishop was released with no replacement in sight. Next week our first counselor goes back to the States, which leaves just our 2^nd counselor who is a YSA himself leading the ward. Our Elder’s Quorum President is gone the whole month of July and only one of his counselors will be here in July. All the kids trip and I’m not just talking for a week. They go from 3-4 weeks at a time so you are never sure who you are going to find at church doing what. Thursday night dinners are total guesswork on how much to make. (Luckily kids passing through London and the Elders and Sisters eat up whatever is extra). IT’S CRAZY!

The biggest heartbreak is losing kids that go home, some for the summer, some for good. I remember feeling this way when Jim was Bishop at BYU. You come to love the kids so much and then they move on with their lives. It breaks your heart. It is especially true here. So many have left for good. It is so hard on me! We’re working with YSA. I should know this happens, but it still kills me!

Dinner with Jason

Tuesday we had Jason, a convert of 2 years, that has been inactive, come to dinner. We have been going after him for the past couple months and finally got him to church the past week and invited him over for dinner. What a sweet boy! 

His story is a tragic one. He was given over to the state when he was an infant by a mother who couldn’t care for him (He has since forgiven her and they have a close relationship, although he never grew up with her). He lived in 20 different foster homes before he was 18. Because of depression and loneliness he become extremely overweight. One day, when he had reached the end of his rope and was ready to call it quits the missionaries street tracked him and he was baptized into the church. It helped for a while but he continued to deal with his weight and eventually stopped coming. 

One day he decided he’d had it with being a prisoner to his physical body and started restricting his diet and walking. In the past 7 months this young man has dropped 10 stones (140 lbs). He walks up to 27 miles a day (broken up into 2-3 segments). He looks and feels wonderful. He’s literally reclaimed his life.

One of the interesting things that happened that evening was when we were talking about the T.V. program "Meet the Mormons" that had been so awful the week before and how it had affected Ella and her parents. Jason turned to me and said, “It had the complete opposite effect on me. I knew it was all rubbish!! That’s one of the things that has turned me back to the church.” I was amazed. This horrible misrepresentation of the church, yet it was the thing that finally got him to come back. HE REMEMBERED why he joined the church!!!

Two Amazing Stories from Hyde Park Stake Women’s Conference

Yesterday was Women’s Conference. It was sad because the only way I heard about it was because Jim and I were asked to get 3-4 guys to man the nursery. The publicity on the event was not good and the numbers showed it. There were probably only 35 women in total there and many of those were our sister missionaries. What a loss because it was a wonderful day.

I grabbed a couple of our YSA girls and we went. (Jim came along because he was in the nursery. Of course he made it a party. The kids all had a blast with him!) When they announced the classes for the day I thought to myself how none applied to me or our girls, but I was wrong. 

The subjects were “Indexing” given by Jennie White, our high councilman’s wife who we love. She is our Family History Specialist and has such a deep love for the work. She did a marvelous job and I’ve committed to the Lord to do indexing one hour a week. The second class was “Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy” given by our Stake 2^nd Councilor’s wife. It was full of darling visuals and creative ways to help keep your kids engaged on Sunday. It was so good that I sent the handouts for her class to all my daughters! The last class was “Working at the Temple” given by a Brazilian sister who attends our Portuguese ward in the Stake. Her English was hard to understand but her spirit wasn’t. It filled the whole cultural hall. What a sweet sweet experience with her.

I want to record two stories that were shared yesterday

In the opening part of the meeting they had an older sister stand and share her story. I recognized her from when we visited Stratford Ward. She had given a lovely talk in Sacrament Meeting. In front of all the women there this sweet sister confessed that she had gotten through school having never learned to read or write. When she got married and had children she would bluff her way through, making up the story that went with the pictures in their reading books. Her kids would ask why the story kept changing. She lived a lie, terrified that someone would find out that she couldn’t read. 

Eventually she divorced her first husband. It was then that she met the missionaries and was baptized. Not long after she met her current husband and married. He was a member of the church and would spend hours reading to her from the scriptures. It was her desire to be able to read the scriptures for herself that finally gave her the courage to sign up for a literacy class and learn how to read. She was 50 years old!!!

She said how difficult it was. She would come home in tears and so frustrated. Her husband would calm her and then encourage her to keep trying. After many weeks and much hard work the day came when she was able to pass her literacy test.

Since then she has been able to encourage and inspire others who couldn’t read to try. One of them was a man whose greatest desire was to be able to read the prayer to bless the sacrament. With her help he succeeded! He was SEVENTY YEARS OLD!!!

Her story and her humility deeply touched me. What an example she is to those who think they are too old to change. What sweet humility to stand up and confess her previous inability to read so others have the courage to face whatever it is that keeps them from progressing. It was very tender.

The second story came from the precious Portuguese sister. She told us about how her parents were one of the first 16 families to be baptized in Brazil. Her parents had 5 children, which was all they could afford. But after joining the church her mom kept feeling she needed to add more children to be missionaries for the kingdom. She bore two more children; this young woman and a younger brother.

She told us that growing up the greatest heartbreak of their family was that they couldn’t afford to go to the temple to be sealed. There were no temples close enough to be even possible to attend. When this young girl was only twelve she decided that she personally would start to save money so her family could go be sealed. She got a daily babysitting job and put away every cent toward her temple fund. When she was 14 she found a craft she could make. She made 1,000 of these crafts and was able to sell every one of them. 

By time she was 18 she was close to having enough money to take her family to the temple when Pres. Hinckley came to Brazil and personally announced the building of a temple in the very city her family lived in! She expressed the indescribable joy they all felt that they were finally going to be sealed together.

This woman grew up having a deep, fervent love of the temple. She ended up being a temple worker in San Paulo and getting married in the temple there. Then her husband and family moved to London. To her joy and delight she was asked once again if she would work at the temple.

She told of an experience that happened here. It was at the end of her shift. The last group of the evening had already started their Endowment session when in ran a sister, desperate to do a session. They had to tell her it was too late. Then she asked if she could to initiatories. It was also closed. What about sealings? They were done, as well.

When she heard there was nothing she could do she literally fell to the floor sobbing. She explained that the whole day things had happened to keep her from getting to the temple. She sobbed that it had been the worst day of her life. Our Brazilian sister felt horrible and went to get someone to see if there was anything else they could do.

As they tried to calm her down a worker from the baptistery came in and in an anxious voice asked if any of them spoke Spanish. They were desperate for someone to come help with the baptisms who could communicate in Spanish. The woman who had been crying stopped. She got this amazed look on her face and joyfully replied, “I can help. I speak fluent Spanish.”

If that sister had come even 20 minutes sooner, she would have made the session and been gone. The Lord needed her to be available exactly as it happened. There was a great work waiting that only she was capable of doing!!!

Isn’t that symbolic of how our lives can be and why we need to trust the Lord’s timetable for us all? Once again a great reminder for me to trust that He is in charge!


The Larsons Going Home; Their Story

I've talked about how much we love all the Senior Missionaries here. It's been a sad week to let one of our favorites go home. The Larsons literally saved our sanity the first month that we were here. They were the office couple who hauled us back and forth to Costco and filled in all the gaps of what we didn't know how to do. They are from Logan. Both were school teachers and brilliant. They were two of the most competent people we've ever known.

On Friday we had a little gathering of the Seniors to say goodbye at the Jordan's flat. For the first time we heard both sides to the story of how the Larsons ended up in our mission. They had already told us about their first 2 year mission to France where they worked with the YSA AND did the office. It was a HUGE calling! They went home and were there about 3 months when Elder Larson went to the temple and had a VERY strong impression that they were to put in papers for a second mission. He tried to ignore it, knowing they had just gotten home and they needed a break. But the feelings persisted until finally he broke down and told Sister Larson the undeniable impressions he was having that they needed to go on a second mission.

Sister Larson had a confirmation and they put their papers back in, assuming that they were desperately needed in some french-speaking country. They were totally shocked when they opened their call to LONDON!!

What they could never have known and what was said Friday by Sister and President Jordan was that they were literally prayed to London. The Jordans had been here only a few months when President Monson made the announcement about the age change. Sister Jordan said they were both still so new they didn't know what they were doing. There had also been some problems from before they got here and now they were going to be inundated with new missionaries! Sister Jordan said she started pleading with the Lord to send them someone that could help. Here came the Larsons.

When the Larsons arrived our mission needed 60 new flats found, rented and furnished for all the new missionaries that were in the process of coming. The Larsens did all that in 7 months BY THEMSELVES!!! They have been able to get all the financial items that were in disarray back into order AND save the mission over $100,000. a year. They have been the best thing that could have ever happened to this mission. When Sister Jordan told her side of the story and how much they meant to her she started to cry in gratitude for his servants of the Lord listening and then heeding the spirit. We love them. They will be sorely missed.

Lynn Ling

I have written about our Ling Ling. She is the Chinese convert that is going to have to go back to China at the end of summer and has been so concerned how she will be able to live the gospel with her family that doesn’t understand.

Late last night I got an instant message from her that made my heart fill with joy. Here’s what she wrote:

Sister Phillips! I was sharing testimony with my family just now! I told them how much I have grown since I joined the church and even shared about my calling as relief society teacher! And they just loved it. And they are so happy that I have grown so much because of the gospel. I am soooo happy right now. And I want to share it with you because of what I have said to you months ago about my concerns. I really have nothing to worry about going back!

I wrote back:

You have NO IDEA how happy this made me tonight. I can take a big sigh of relief knowing you will be good when you go home. I just knew your family loved you enough that they would want you to be happy! I'm so proud of you being brave and sharing how you feel. It's all just wonderful. LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!!!

She responded:

I will bear my testimony tomorrow.

This might not seem like a big deal, but I LOVE this girl. She has been terrified to tell her very traditional Chinese family about the church. She didn’t know how she would be able to go against their wishes if they went against the church. You simply can’t imagine the courage it took for her to share this with them. That’s why it means so much to me to have received this note. I truly am rejoicing!

Marin is One Year Old / Caleb is Six Years Old

I cannot believe Marin is a year old tomorrow!!! It’s sped by and yet it feels she’s been a part of our family for years. What a gift to have her in our eternal family. What joy she has brought in her one short year. We are blessed!

Then there’s Caleb. How did he get to be six years old so fast? He's become such a grown up boy. What a blessing he is to all of us, especially to sister Codi. What would Codi do without her big brother who takes such amazing care of her. We love our Caleb and count him as one of our 12 greatest blessings!!!

Well, I guess that’s it for now. I’m still going to be working on my music post. It’s a little overwhelming. How do you record 63 years filled with tender blessings from the gift of music. I will try.

Love to each of you. So many big happenings in each of your lives. We continue to pray for your lives to be led by the spirit and you choices aligned with the Lord’s will. Know how deeply you are loved!!! Mom