Well Done Thou Good & Faithful Servant. Welcome Home!

 

HERMANA BEVER SIGNING OUT

Hello hello hello!!

I have no idea what to say in this, my LAST EMAIL as Hermana Bever... A lot has happened not only in these past two weeks, but in these past 18 months... too much to summarize in one email. 

SO I will do it in parts hahaha these last two weeks have been SO CRAZY! My companion and I planned a breakfast for the hermanas in the northern zone where we dance zumba, ate little sandwiches and shared a cute message :) it was really fun! I love them all so much! And that isn´t the craziest thing. Long story short, I had to go dumpter diving for a baptismal dress... legit dumpster diving through 13 trash cans in the dark in front of the apartment building.. UGH. 

On a brighter note, We had our zone conference!! All the missionaries that are leaving had to share their testimonies in front of the zone, and then my companion and I had to give a little class/message thing in front of everyone, AND THEN after the conference, I had my final interview with my mission president! It has been such a cool experience to see the growth of the missionaries around me throughout this time here in the mission. It´s not just the people we teach that we have the privilege to see change, but each other as well.

SO much more has happened BUT I won´t write all of it so you all have an excuse to talk with me when I get home ;) 

I have said it once (maybe more than once) and i will say it again, THE CHURCH IS TRUE. Honestly I have learned so much during these past 18 months about myself and about the key to happiness, and trust me... after 18 months of living it, THIS the gospel is the KEY to happiness. There is nowhere else and nothing else that can give you the same things that this message of hope can give. SO if you want to know what I have learned in the past 18 months it is this:

The key to Happiness:

1. Prayer

2. Scripture Study

3. Use the Temple (It is a house of revelation)

4. Make a promise to always be ACTIVE in the church

5. Serve others.

Easy Peasy :)

love you all so much, and thank you all for your love and support during these 18 months. 

Hermana Bever (for the last time)

Birthday Baptism and Bolleyball

Hi!

I can explain the "bolleyball" because in Spanish they don´t differentiate the B and the V sound so volleyball could technically be spelled bolleyball for the way it sounds, and i just needed a third word that starts with the letter "B"... AND i include that only because today we had a mission wide volleyball tournament (or should i say Bolleyball) today for Pday. My team lost so I don´t know why i included that, but it was fun!

Ok now for the good stuff! This week ANA AND THIARE GOT BAPTIZED!! They have worked so hard to get to this point so we were super excited! Plus this Wednesday was her birthday so she kept talking about her baptism as her best birthday present, and it was super cute. We were a little stressed all week planning out the baptism because we found out on Thursday that the other ward in our building had a baptism at the same date and time so we had to morph the two plans which worked out perfectly fine in the end :) Then we couldn´t find dresses for Ana and Thiare BUT we got them from a member and another ward so that also worked out perfectly fine in the end too! See the theme here about baptism stress, but it all somehow working out perfectly in the end? I am telling you! The church is true!

Another cool thing! Yesterday we had our day full of plans, but for some reason, they all cancelled... We were a little bummed because we haven´t been able to find the people we are teaching very much lately so we have been trying to find new people, and when all our appointments fell it meant contacting (in a way). SO for the majority of the day we walked around our sector with a list of tons of people, knocking on their doors. To your surprise, we actually had a blast! AND we were able to find four new awesome people that we are going to see again next week! Attitude is everything!

I hope you all had an amazing week!! Thank you for all your support!

Hermana Bever

Photos

1. Ana´s birthday lunch

2. Ana and Thiare´s baptism

The church is true..... again!

Happy General Conference!!!!

One of the best weekends of the whole year! AND to go with one of the best weekends was an awesome week! This week we have been working a lot with our friends Ana and Thiare in order to coordinate their baptism this Saturday! It is actually her birthday this week, so what better birthday present than her own baptism!  She is BEYOND excited, and we are too!

This week we were also able to get to know some of the other hermanas in the northern zone of the mission a littler better. I was able to work with the two brand new hermanas that got here about two weeks ago and HOLY FLASHBACK! I had totally forgotten what it was like getting here and feeling totally lost. Both Hermana Gomes and Hermana Peña (the newbees) are super awesome though, and they have all the motivation in the world. It was weird realizing that I was now the one GIVING the advice instead of GETTING it! AHHH that is how you know you are old... 

Miracle of the week: In case you didn´t know general conference was SO FREAKING ASTOUNDING! Ana´s husband grudgingly came to watch general conference with Ana to support her, and to our surprise (not really that surprised because the church is true) he was touched and realized he wants to participate in the joy his wife and daughter have found in the gospel too. AHHHH!! Let me remind you this is a very stubborn man who likes his cigarettes and is not a huge fan of reading. SO moral of the story is the Church is freaking true.

I hope you all had an incredible week, and if there is something you would like me to bring back from Chile, let me know!!

Sending love from Chile!

Hermana Bever

p.s. Sorry i don´t have many photos this week!

Maria Eugenia

Hey guys!

I don´t know if i have said this recently, but just in case, I LOVE CHILE! This last week we were heading to a members´house one day when a lady screams "hermanas!" behind us, runs up and gives my companion a giant hug while bawling her eyes out. Turns out her name is Maria Eugenia and she is from Venezuela which is in a pretty bad state right now. She left her husband and daughter to come to Chile to accept a job offer, but turns out it was a lie, and she has been here for a week without a job, money, or house. She is a member of the church so she had been looking for the chapel or missionaries so when she found us she was very relieved. We invited her to our next appointment with Ana. We had previously scheduled a blessing for Ana with our elders quorum president, and as Maria Eugenia was pretty shaken, they offered her one as well. It was honestly just a super sweet experience that reminded us that God is aware of  EVERY single one of us. What are the odds she found us on our way to an appointment where two worthy priesthood holders were ready and willing to give her a blessing. 

Another miracle! We have been working for a while with our friend Ana who is trying to leave behind some addicting habits in order to be baptize. She has tried countless times to stop, but it has always been hard because her husband also has this addiction and never supported her. BUT this week we had a family home evening with them where we talked about eternal families and he shared that he is now trying to quit alongside his wife in order to help her reach her baptism. People can and DO change. 

Other than that our weeks are just full of Hermana Martinez tripping every five seconds (like epic dramatic arms flailing trips) and a new delicious discovery called trufas :)

Love you guys! Have a GREAT week!

Hermana Bever

1. one of the 5 billion cats that live in our sector. UGH.

2. Hermana Martinez and I :)

3. We found Haitian wigs... 

Perfect start to my LAST transfer!

Hello!

This week was super awesome! We ran around with our heads cut off trying to put together the baptism for Jani (turns out it is spelled Djanie) and Kelvin (spelt the same). Turns out there was a stake level training from 6-8 (the baptism was at 7) that we didn´t know about so the chapel was occupied, then the elders forgot to turn off the font so it ALMOST overflowed (literally 1 inch), not to mention they only filled it with hot water! Then the members didn´t clean the chapel the day before, the people who were supposed to give talks cancelled last minute, the priests who were supposed to baptism the 4 people didn´t have all their clothes, and the banana bread that i made didn´t cook through all the way!

With all of that said, you would think the baptism was unorganized and not that great, BUT Heavenly Father took it into his hands, and it was incredible! Everything worked out perfectly! We had a GREAT turnout of members, and even down to my banana bread worked out! (even though it stunk up the chapel) Jani and Kelvin are now preparing to go to the temple the next week to visit :) Honestly it was so awesome to see how the power of good always always always wins over the bad. 

In addition to that excitement, I also received a new companion! Hermana Martinez from Argentina is now my last comp! We are learning a lot together and are going to have a super fun change together! I will update you all next week on the adventures of Hermana Bever and Hermana Martinez!

Love you all! Thank you for your support!

Hermana Bever

Jani - Killing it as usual!

Hola hola hola!

As usual, this was a week of 

ups and downs! BUT awesome news is that Kelvin and Jani are ready for their baptism this next Sunday! They are my very favorite people! We asked Jani who she would like to baptize her and she just says, "Any worthy priesthood holder will do just fine".... i remind you she is 10! They amaze me every time we visit them. 

Ana and her daughter Thiare are still moving forward! Ana knows with all her heart that this church is true, and she reads the Book of Mormon every day, but she is still trying to change some of the bad habits in her life to help her be ready to be baptized! She could use a lot of prayers.

We have made a couple changes in the way we work  and what we are focusing on now here in the mission, and it has made me realize that importance of "quality" that i give all my energy and not just "do it" but "do it well". As I have focused on this; on teaching with ALL my heart, and just doing things with MORE sincerity, I have seen the difference! We went to teach one of our recent convert´s neighbor Hanz, but he couldn´t receive us so we asked Pati to use her bathroom and visiting with her for just a few minutes she shared how she has been struggling with a few things and just felt very depressed and overwhelmed. She asked us to say a prayer with her, and as I was offering the prayer i just focused on being sincere and making it a "quality" prayer. As we finished she looked up with tears thanking us for somehow relieving her of the negative feelings she was having. Honestly SINCERITY and QUALITY in what we do makes a big difference! 

Love you all! Hope you have a wonderful week!

-Hermana Bever

2. My comp was sick this week so the poor thing looked for any source of comfort or warmth (a hood)