Spiders and Spanish

Feb. 14, 2015

Is is really Monday again? haha If there is anything about the mission that is crazy, its the distortion of time. I swear, hours seem like weeks but the days are like seconds. It continues to be super hot here. Fun fact i felt my first earthquake here. We have had about 5 since I've been here and usually i just hear them or i sleep through them. Nothing too serious though. Its kinda just a casual conversation here... ¨hey how are you? did you feel the earthquake last night? oh good glad your house is still intact.¨  it was only scary because i was dreaming when it happened about something and then woke up freaking out and the bed was shaking and it was that time when you wake when you're not really sure what is reality! But all is well. This week has confirmed several of my nightmares of the mission. First of all, I  taught my first lesbian this week so that was fun. Imagine trying to teach someone with these beliefs in English as if that's not hard enough. She pretty much told us she wants to be sealed to her wife and family is super important to her. its was actually really sad because she has such a strong testimony of the gospel but cant progress any more because...well because that's just not in the plans of God.  Fear 2- i got presented with my fear of milk. A family invited us for breakfast before church so i was pumped. They aren´t super financially stable. like many families we teach here, and they just had cereal for us which is perfectly OK. The problem was the milk, as you all know is my phobia. It was warmed in the microwave and in a pitcher that honestly was the farthest thing from clean, I'm talking dog chewing marks and like mold growing on it. Oh i prayed so hard to not throw up. Heavenly Father answers prayers i know this for a fact! Another random custom here is this obsession people have with their lawns. Except they aren't lawns its like their dirt paths outside. Every night you can find the people outside watering their lawns and sweeping the dirt off their dirt porches.It is so humbling! I seriously love the people here so much, Hate the spiders though! this one was a foot from my bed last night! It is huge. As for the missionary work, we didn't have much success this week. My companion is super sick, she has had this problem with her stomach for 5 months and she cant really walk anymore and is super weak so it has been hard. But we still work in our sector every day. No baptisms though! Always next week! I seriously love my mission so much. Thanks to everyone for the support, especially my family! The pictures are of the spider, my roomates!  Sending the hot chilean sunshine your way this week and you all battle the various elements of round valley! oh Eagar 's, i got your package finally. Thanks so much haha my roommates continue to make fun of me how every package has peanut butter. You all know me to well. Te amo mucho! Hermana Phelps

Feb. 22, 2015

Holy Cow! i know i say this every week but is it really Monday again? I'M sorry i cant send pictures this week. We went to a different Internet cafe thing and it is sooooo slow! haha it has taken me 20 minutes to open this email so sorry if i didn't write anyone back. It continues to be an interesting life down here . There was another earthquake that i felt. We were in the street so it was kinda scary but nothing too terrible. there was this cute little grandma that ushered us into her house and made us get under her table and then gave us candy and grapes. It was so cute! The fruit here seriously is so good! its so fresh, i would love to just eat fruit here all day but sadly i know i am am going to get so chubby. It is not uncommon here to have noodles with a side of bread and potatoes. Pray that i dong come back and win biggest loser! Each week continues to be a miracle! i still mess up a ton but i have learned to just laugh it off most times. I think of brooks every time i see a man driving a bike like the one from nacho libre. They are seriously so common here its awesome! the children love to climb in them and ride around. Also whoever wrote the movie 101 Dalmations and had the idea about the Twilight Bark lived in Chile at some point. It is a real thing here! I also dont ever have to miss Idaho because i get a cool ref4reshed every morning in the shower. The work is going super good though. 

Feb 9, 2015

Dear family! holy cow what a long week. I really feel like this week has been one of the toughest of my mission. It was bound to happen sooner or later right? i still see miracles every day though. we had one baptism for Luisa fall through. it was sad because she wanted to be baptized the 15 and we had plans and she was super excited, then she talked to her daughter who lives in the states who talked her out of it so we had to move it back another week.  really sad! but now we have another woman Scarlett who wants to be baptized and she is super excited. ive never met anyone so ready to change her life. She really thinks we are miracles because we found her just at the right time. It makes contacting in the street pay off! sometimes i seriously get so tired of ´¨ hola como esta, somos misionaras de la iglesia de jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dia¨ and then the people stop listening. But every once in a while you get a miracle like scarlet who knows right away that you have the answer! what i loved about this week was we got to spend a lot of time in the homes of members with thir families and i got to experiecne a somewhat normal life is like here in chile. It is usually pretty hot, about 90 i would guess so its nice but hot to be walking around all day.  my tan lines continue to be more defined! Im in a city called Maipu its still ¨santiago¨ kinda like the mesa is part of phoenix. It is a little ghetto, but not super bad.  i dont usually have fear that anything bad is going to happen. There is graffiti everywhere though and it is a city so it is hard to see how beautiful it is for a country girl like me who loves the mountains! My comp is really sweet she is from argentina so its extra difficult to understand because she spekas a different spanish than the people. its kinda like having a british person teach you the slang that the kids in RV use, but its a good thing we have the spirit. The homes are usually pretty modest, a little smaller than the average american home but its usually like a big apartment. Families are about the same size. It is different because lunch here is really big! then not really dinner or breakfast so we eat lunch with the memebers instead of dinner like in the states. Here are some pictures of me on sunday walking to church, some of our area and my comp with Juaquien one of the boys of a recent convert. I absolutely love the children here! its hard to talk to them becasue i dont speak very good and they dont really understand but its fun anyways. Our ward boundries are pretty big but our ward is about 40 people less than Eagar 1st i would guess. We get up at 6:30 and then study from 8 to 1130, i have exra study time because i am in training still. Im supposed to have 30 minutes of language every day but we honestly never have time. Ive taken to reading the book of mormon out loud in spanish every night with a roomate who is trying to learn english so we take turns reading verses. We get home about 930 and plan for the next morning then are in bed at 1040. then the same thing all over again! its tiring but there is no place id rather be! what else could i tell you! um sounds like everyone is doing good. Congrats mitchel and ashley haha i can only imagine how shy their children are going to be! studs for sure though! i got a christmas package from grandma pam this week and it saved my life! my roomies couldnt really understand why i was so pumped when everythiung was peanut butter! haha but it seriuosly is the best. A big thing here is the bread. It is called Pan. It is super cheap so everyone eats it all the time with everything., i suppose what is why there are tons of chubs here so no laughing if i come back chubby! i got a haircut this week which was a mistake! i had a memebr cut it who has a salon she is super awesome! i didnt really know how to explain i just want a trim so i literally said my hair is in your hands, make me beautiful. Its not super bad just shorter than i wanted! but its okay i guess it will grow! tell me more questions you want to be answered and ill try to start explaining more! i love you all so much! have a good week! love hermana phelps- now the chilean short haired gringo who talks with the skill of a 4 year old. youre welcome!

Inside this church is a rickety stairwell, last year and elder fell off the top and died, so we can't go inside:(

Walking to church Sunday

My Comp. and I with an investigator's son