The Time is Ticking, and it Just Seems to be Getting Faster

Our week was pretty good. We'll start with Tuesday. Tuesday was district meeting.  As zone leaders we go and visit the other districts in our zone. So this Tuesday was my last at the Alijis District meeting.  So we had to move our normal tradition of eating at Greenoz Pizza to this week. We normally eat there on the last Tuesday before transfers.  Greenoz makes huge pizzas, like as big as the tables. And it's just down the street from the church here in Alijis.  Elder Eastin and I are planning to order one the Saturday before I come home.  Might be hard to finish with just the two of us.

Wednesday we had leadership training for all the district leaders and zone leaders. It was way good. Learned a ton.  Elder Eastin and I have been striving to apply what we learned there and we are seeing success from it.

The rest of the week was pretty normal. We worked hard and things just happened.  One really cool thing that happened was that we taught an investigator for pretty much the first time and invited her and her member husband to come to church. We also invited her to be baptized.  She said yes! That's not the cool thing though. She did come to church! It was way cool watching her walk in. Her husband however did not come; he's gonna take just a bit more work.

Mom asked: "We will have a good coat at the airport for you to wear home. ok?"  Yes OK!! Bring my nice formal black one or that orange and tan colored one. Those are both really warm. I will certainly need it.

Ok, so I like that you tell me about your preparations for my return, because it makes it feel real. Sometimes it just feels like a dream that December is actually here and that this all has to come to an end. But then also it makes it a bit harder to focus, but usually by Tuesday (tomorrow) I'm totally focused again.

Still staying pretty focused, but some days it is pretty hard. Last week there must have been four or five days in a row that I had dreams about coming home.  I had dreams like that back at like my six month mark, but they were more like nightmares.  Because in them i would be freaking out inside thinking, "I shouldn't be home yet!  I've still got 18 months!"  But now it's not like that, it's just like, "yeah, I'm going home.  It's time.  Mission is over."  I guess that's a good sign that I have been successful and gotten done what I needed to get done.

It also doesn't help that when we attend leadership councils and trainings that people ask what it feels like to be this close to going home. Like Sister Bevans. The Bevans couple and I are friends because we were in the same district back in La Carlota. They are way cool and fun to talk to. Gonna try and make my way up to Canada when they get home... Attend their homecoming.

The time is ticking, and it just seems to be getting faster. The 18/19 th is just getting closer and closer. The 18th will be the last real day because we will go to church and then go pretty much straight to the mission office. And that's the end. Yup...

Elder Phelps