Sister Phelps: The Land of Smiles: HHHHEEEEYYYYYYOOOOO

So I've learned and grown from a couple of things.... One I have a lot of tan lines...... Let me tell you about my tan line..... I have a lot of them... You see... If you get bit by a shark.... and lived.... You would want a scar or a limb missing right? Just to show your battle wound. For me I of course have the white white thighs and shirt tan line... Oh it's so bad... But something I didn't think of was... Well. My dumb watch tan line. It's the worst.... I guess it shows my battle wounds of being a Thailand missionary :) Yeah. I will have to cover it up the rest of my life..... It's so awesome, yet so gross....... Next. Let me tell you about motorcycles.... Motorcycles you see. They run solely off of gas, and technical elements. It's not like a bike where you have an exhaust pipe to blow stuff out of. Okay. Maybe I don't know how a motorcycle works. But i do know that after you ride one of those suckers the exhaust pipe gets super hot and okay long story short. I burned my leg for the first time parking my bike. I am actually surprised it hasn't happened yet.... I park next to motorcycles all the time with a tight fit.... Anyways!

I LOVE BEING ASIAN..... I love it I love it I love it!!!! I get to do so many asian things like for example I get to go plant rice tomorrow... How asian. Oh and friday I planted a thing called "man" It's like a really bland potato. I will send pictures. Just don't remember me that way. I swear i've been cuter in my life, right? Anyways. So I'm fat again. I eat way too much bread things and sweets. And I used to get a chocolate milk shake on the side of the road everyday. But since Thai people just tell you how it is. I had member come up to me on saturday and touch my stomach and say. oh. "Thai food make you fat right?" Obviously in thai. But I'm like, ouch. SO Sister Carter is way intense about healthiness anyways, So we have a new rule. Som Thom (papaya salad) for lunch and an omlett for dinner. Needless to say, It's still the most delicious diet ever..... Still lots of flavors and super healthy..... It was the sticky rice holding me back. Oh my gosh I lOVE sticky rice so much..... But it's really cool.

I'm so sorry I don't have much much to say this week! We really haven't had the best week of our missions. It was a little more of a struggle this week working with the members and Sister Carter and I could've been more on the same page but I know we are doing our best. The members here are such a different story than america. You don't even know. Most of the members are pioneers in their family so they all struggle a lot with knowing how to organize a church when 98 percent of them never went to primary or young women. So it's really hard to understand a good organized ward. In america the ward members look at the missionaries as leaders. I remember so clearly not knowing the missionaries and what the do. But here. The members look to the missionaries as leaders. It's a huge responsibility. We have to teach these people from square one to know to say a prayer before primary starts. It's so crazy! We went to the Primary Presidents house this week to teach her how to sing primary songs. Simple ones.... It really made me grateful for a functioning ward. Our calling as missionaries is way more important than finding people to baptize, but it's also to help the ward come closer to christ as well..... Mostly all the people in our branch are part members. It's so sad to hear their backgrounds and there families. We visited a less active family this week and they had all these idols in their house with pictures of the temple on the wall... And I just... I can't imagine worshiping Idols. It has been a really big personal struggle for me to know that scripture "You cannot serve god and mammon" And it really was never important to me until I came out here. And some people really have a struggle to stop Waiing idols and worshiping them. Some of our new investigators have a hard time getting answers from god and our first commitment to them is to stop Waiing these idols and then god will answer you.! It's crazy. Can you imagine worshiping worldly things? I CANNOT... It's so mind blowing. Anways. That was my rant for this email.

The people here are still receptive to the gospel. And the members have such great testimonies and that is all they need to thrive in the gospel. Our branch president has been a member for 2 years now.... Hasn't been to the temple. Can you imagine? My mind gets blown everyday! Hey dad. I have a project for you. Count the number of rooms in our church building...... I am curious. The church here is the biggest in the area... But yes :) We have our sacrament room upstairs with a small overflow in the back. Then we have a small kitchen, probably the size of the washington buildings with nasty nasty appliances, and 2 rooms downstairs the size of the young mens room. Be sooooo very grateful for our building. It's so clean and beautiful. I love Thailand but I'm missing America more and more. But I really can't complain. I'm in such a beautiful country and building up zion! What more could I want.

Oh and I'm playing with monkeys today. I'm excited. Peace out family. Until we meet again.... Which is next monday........ :) Loveeee you!!!!

Sister Phelps