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

Week 2

Hola,  how the heck are you? I cant believe it is already monday again! this week was the longest fastest week of my life. I dont even remember what happened! It passed in a blur of spanish! We did see some miracles though. First and formost I got your package from Christmas with the snowflakes! thank you soo much it was awesome they are hanging up above my bed! Its funny because one of my investigators was telling me how much she hates the dr pepper flavored jelly beans that come mixed in her favorite kind and how America is obsessed with dr pepper and then you sent me dr pepper gum! ha im going to bring her a piece and make her try it. Her name is Luisa and she is pretty much legit. She is about 70 i think and believes everything like the second we present it to her. She is ready for baptism right now but her sister has cancer and they think she is going to die this week so she hasnt gone to church yet. But she will hopefully! We also have a baptism planned for this saturday im hoping it goes through. His name is raphael and he only has one leg, he was in the army and knows everything is true but says he hasnt felt the spirit yet, But i know he will soon! 

It is HOOOTTT here thpugh. I already am dying and i think this coming month is supposed to be the peak. I really hope it doesnt get much hotter but i know im probably being a weenie. I already have a pretty sweet tan lines on my feet, from my watch, and from the straps on my backpack! oh something else crazy happened! Colton Wilson in argentina was serving in the city where my comp is from and ate lumch with her family every day and they were joking about how their daughter would be my trainer and now she is! what in the world!!! its so crazy, the world is tini let me tell you. 

<so you know how it is so hot? we were stopping my a recent converts house and had just finished fasting and she asked if we wanted some water so of course we said yes. She is 89 and really tender. When she brought us water.....it was filled with chopped pieces of onion! oh my gosh it was HORRIBLE! ugh i couldnt do it! she got up to go to the bathroom and we hurried and poured it down the sink. Ill send pictures but man oh man! I have my weekly talk i want you( especially the girls) to read called sharing your light by Niell F Marriot. Its super awesome. Well Im sorry I never rememeber good stuff to write about but i know this is the work of the lord. We had family home evening with a family this week and i was remineded of how amazing familes are. I have the best family in the whole entire world! thank you so much for your support. i love you tons and cant wait to hear more about how you are all doing! p.s. thats awesome nate beat bride and it snowed! haha pray for some snow down here!

First Week Out

Jan 19 at 11:37 AM

 IT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN THE LONGET WEEK OF MY LIFE...FUNNY THING ABOUT SPANISH KEYOARD...TEHY ARE DIFFERENT SO sometime i hit the wrong button and then there is no hope for how to fix it. i have never felt so nontech savy in my whole life haha but you never know what another language can do to you! my first week was so incredible though!   i thought my companion  would be american because  her name is Day haha, but nope she is from argentina! she is pretty dang cool too! i hope we will get along really well. we have so far but also i dont speak spanish and she doesnt speal a lick of english so as you can guess its mostly just a lot of sign language! but its so awesome. way better than the mtc for sure! im in a section called maipu! its about an hour out of santiago where i was...but also still the same big city!  i was hoping to get out of the city but its okay! this city is still beautiful! THERE ARE A TON OF TREES EVERYWHERE AND ITS PRETTY green. ?good news i found the caps lock key but i have no idea how to do a parenthesis¿ everyone sounds like they are doing awesome! i miss wrestling for sure but its ok, missions are better. We mostly just taught a lot of lessons  this week. its crazy, my comp already makes me teach most of the lesson even though i really dont make any sense. its really embarassing because every  sentence i have to ask...do you understand? and then they just laugh and nod their head! heaven help anyone who needs to learn the gospel from me! im really sorry i dont know how to send pictures! i have been taking a few and maybe ill try to get some next week...even though i said that last week! I had a few awesome experiences. we were having lunch with a less active member and i though things were going good. i was smiling and nodding a lot, my new favorite thing to do, and my comp out of nowhere asked me to share a scripute. they only one that came to my mind was 1 nefi 3.7 that says i will go and do the things which the lord has comanded. I was just silently praying this would apply to the situaiton and the lady just started crying! and gave me a hug for honestly 10 minutes and cried onto my shoulder! it was so amazing! i guess the lord knows what people need and not even my lack of spanish could stop it! also there was a lady who came up to us at church and told me she wants me to come teach here. i assumed she was an active member because she was at church but after she left my comp explained that she hasn´t been to church in like 3 months and has never accpeted the missionaries to teach her, but she wanted me to come and talk in english to her daughter who has been trying to learn! it was such a testimony builder! we have 4 investigators with baptismal dates this month so hopefully i will have my first baptism soon! i invested 2 people so far and trust me it was so scary! one said no but anopther said yes! it was a miacle...she wouldn accept a date yet but thats ok! sorry this emiaol i so long. thank you so much for you prayers family. you truly are my strength! hopefully this picture loads and i will talk to you next week! sis. phelps

This pic. is just before leaving the MTC

Goodby MTC (CCM)....Hello Santiago

MISION CHILE SANTIAGO OESTE
President Jose A. Barreiros


13 January 2015

Dear Brother and Sister Phelps,

Sister Barreiros and I were pleased to welcome your daughter, Sister Phelps, to one of the finest missions in the world, the Chile Santiago West Mission.  She is well and happy, and we are impressed with her enthusiasm for the work.  After greeting her at the MTC and a brief tour of the beautiful city of Santiago, we arrived at our mission home. We had a delicious lunch together. Afterward, we went to the mission office which is the Stake Center of Maipú.  My Assistants and office missionaries then gave her a brief orientation of the mission.  She met her new companion, and they departed for her first area of labor!

Sister Phelps has been assigned to work with Sister Day who will serve as her training companion.  Trainers are chosen for their competence, patience and dedication.  With this letter we are including a photograph taken of your daughter with Sister Barreiros and myself.

Please accept our deep appreciation for raising such a fine daughter.  We feel a genuine fellowship with you in supporting and providing her this opportunity to grow spiritually as she labors to bring souls unto Christ.  It is my prayer that the Lord will inspire us all to sustain her in this challenging assignment.  Please write her frequently, weekly if possible.  Express your love, support, and confidence in her.  You will witness miraculous changes in her life as she engages fully in the service of others.

Being parents ourselves, we understand your desire to occasionally send packages.  For your information, packages sent to your missionary through FedEx often require large duty fees which must be paid by the missionary.  Those sent through Global priority mail, marked missionary supplies and valued less than $100 usually arrive duty free and within 2 weeks.

If you have any questions or if we can assist you in any way, please do not hesitate to write.

Sincerely,


President Jose A. Barreiros
Chile Santiago West Mission

2013126@ldschurch.org

Hello from the southern hemisphere!                Dec.22,2014

 life is pretty good here! thank goodness I finally learned how to change the computer setting from spanish to english so i can actually type and stuff now. Before it was a real hassle, believe me. Also on the list of good things, its Christmas week! Probably the best week of the whole year. Fourth of July is the best day, but if were talking about best weeks, and in this case we are, then its safe to say Christmas is the best! It hasnt really felt super Christmassy here because #1 is hot and definately not going to be a white christmas #2 cafeteria food hardly counts as a christmas dinner to look forward to and #3 ill be home for christmas, if only in my dreams. But its okay because Im loving it here! Spanish is coming slowly but surely and I am loving the people here. so... the lord knows just what we needed to have a piece of home. haha my piece of home is all the awkward red heads here that look like the whitest nerdiest boys, and then dont speak a word of english. 

My first week  here, there was this tall awkward elder with red hair and napoleon dynamite glasses, trying to kick a soccer ball. he looked so uncoordinated so i was  laughing when he asked the latinos if he could play soccer with them. he started playing and schooling them all!!! I was yelling for him so loud! OOOOOOOHHHHHH haha then he started yelling at them all in spanish and talking back to them. so i asked a hermana um, isn't he white? how is he good at soccer? and she said, hermana you cant just ask people if they are white and why they are good at soccer #rebuked! it was such a tender nerdy little mercy. haha you may not understand how that made me know they Lord loves me, but people, it is true! I hope everyone has such a wonderful christmas. Give your families an extra tight squeeze for me and in return i promise im sending warm hugs from the land of chile! Dont forget the real reason for the season!  take care, hermana phelps

hey family! how are you doing!? holy cow its finally p day here in the mtc i only get about forty minutes to email you but its better than nothing! we actually get three hours of total p day here, but were only allowed to email you for an hour of it! ya getting here was really a disaster. i don't even want to know how i'm still alive. i guess the lord blesses his missionaries!  i've come to the conclusion that i'm really not supposed to be here, well at least not at this time.   im the only hermana here  going to the santiago west mission. everyone here is going to the rancagua mission or the conception mission. even the mtc president doesn't really have any idea why i'm here. there are two other elders that are in the west mission. its weird,  i think they  rotate new groups in by what mission they are supposed to be in becasue apparently all the west missionaries are coming right after christmas. also, im the only missionary who has flown american airlines that the president knows of and my spanish learning online account that all the missionaries have does not exist. pretty much i think someone screwed up somewhere! but thats ok, it will all work out. so we ´pretty much have the same schedule every day. we wake up at six thirty and  have person study for an hour. then we eat breakfast and run to the park where we have about 45 minutes to run or play basketball or futbol or whatever we want.   we come back and have about 30 minutes to get ready,  then we have class breakfast, class lunch, class dinner, class bed. it's pretty easy to memorize right? we stay in class until about 1030 and then we get 20 minutes to get ready for bed, and trust me you are ready for bed. we mostly have language class but we do get some actual missionary kinda stuff. its really hard because EVERYTHING is in spanish. even the explanations of the spanish language are in spanish. so its really hard to learn but slowly it's coming. the teachers have this theory (that probably works) that if you just listen to as much spanish as possible then you will eventually understand.  its crazy because its hard to learn when you dont understand the words they are using. it mostly involves a lot of sign language. we already have 3 investigators. we are expected to teach in only spanish. im talking full on lessons and testimonies and prayers. its really hard but i know its good practice and thats the only way to learn. me companion is.....my real trail i hate to say. spanish comes easy compared to that. her name is hermana smith from colorado. she is really nice but..not the most obedient missionary. i know that being obedient is one of the most important things here for sure. so its hard to try and do what is right, get up on time and plan lessons by myself, but hopefully im setting and example and she will get there soon. i feel bad for the elders in my district who she is hugging on all the time. i can tell it makes them feel really uncomfortable. but enough of that i like her, but you all know how i am, not really a people person. im doing okay its just hard right now but ive seen the blessings. this gospel is so true. the spirit is so real! everyone sounds like they are doing ok.  sorry the wrestling tournament didnt go so hot but awesome for jackson! and the pigs sound like an awesome story! im honestly really sad i missed the backhoe fiasco! but i dont want you to think im not loving being a missinoary because i am! its sooooo amazing. ive never felt my heavenly fathers love more than these last few weeks. and i only get a short amount of time so im not going to reply to everyones emails individually but i love you all. miss you all and love you all! mom tell granny im doing good even though i didnt reply to hers but ill write her soon! have an awesome week and find someone to serve. heavenly father wants his children back and he will do anything possible to get you to help him. be his hands! love you all and talk to you next week!