Gran Avenida

HOLA TODOS!

Hello from my new area in a place called Gran Avenida! Cambios were yesterday so I am now in a new place with my new companion Hermana Fuentes. She is from Mexico and has a lot of energy and loves talking to people! She has been in the mission for only 6 weeks longer than I have so I am her first gringa companion! I have a feeling these next 6 weeks are going to be a lot different than the past 6 weeks, but i`m so excited!

Yesterday after cambios we ate lunch then got to work. Here in Gran Avenida and in Chile in general, there are a lot of Haitians from Haiti. They speak Creol and France mostly and sometimes Spanish or English. We taught a Haitian girl named Rose who is 16 and is an investigator, and it was so fun because she is learning Spanish just like I am so we had to talk slow and simple... in other words, i was able to understand everything! it was great! We taught two other lessons with another Haitian investigator and a mother an son, both fairly old. Well the mother is 91 and she is so sweet we call her abuelita. It was so funny because they have no patience for one another and are always annoyed with each other and interrupting each other. We also went and visited two different recent converts which was awesome. I can tell the ward here is great, and I am super excited to get out of the house!

TAMBIEN they hold Spanish classes here every Wednesday night and English classes every Saturday night (apparently no one comes to the English classes but I hope to change that). AND every Friday night they get together at the chapel and play soccer! I will finally get to work on my soccer skills!

This week I learned a lot about talents or spiritual gifts that we have. Everyone has been blessed with different talents, abilities, and gifts. There is a scripture that I don`t remember exactly where probably in Ether or Moroni, but it says something along the lines of "don`t deny the spiritual gifts of God." It says don`t DENY because all spiritual gifts are available to us if we work hard and strive to develop them. If I may not have the spiritual gift of tongues right now, I can work hard and pray hard and develop it. Everyone has been given spiritual gifts, but it is up to everyone indivually whether they accept them and not deny them.

Sending my love from Chile!

Hermana Bever

Half of my old zone

Last photo with Hermana Vargas

first photo with Hermana Fuentes

the gorgeous view from my new apartment window!!

the elders who served in our same ward in Poeta and two of their investigadors,

No Title

Good news! Hermana Vargas does not have gallstones and her gallbladder is just fine! Bad news is that now we are back to square one because she still has all the same symptoms and pains. Unfortunately that has meant that we are still in the apartment all day. However, more good news is that this means I get to go on divisions again! Last Friday I went to San Bernardo again but with different Hermanas in a different sector. It was a biking sector so I could to spend a day on a bike which was fun and very interesting haha This week we have divisions again, but this time I am staying here in Poeta and "leading the sector" so wish me luck!

As for our apartment adventures, President gave us permission to watch a select few movies that we found in our apartment so we have been enjoying our time watching Spirit and Home. It is good practice for me though because they are in Spanish which means I guess they technically count for my language study time too.

I think it is safe to say that the lesson I am supposed to learn right now is patience. Patience with myself, patience with the Lord, and patience with the language. There is a scripture that says it perfectly in Alma 17:11 : "And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites (or in my case Chileans), thy brethern, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls."  We can´t always control what happens to us, but we can always control how we react. I may be at the patient in (very) long-suffering part right now, but i know if I endure it weel with patient and positivity I will recieve the blessings promised in this scripture, and the Lord ALWAYS keeps his promises (2 Nephi 10:17)

Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Bever

a random street in Chile

my first completo with Hermana Vargas

another random street 

A pretty sunset in San Bernardo

Happy New Year!!

Hola!

I think it is safe to say a lot of progress has been made since the last time you all heard rom me. I have successfully said my first curse word in Spanish, tried a completo for the first time, and ran for my life away from some not so friendly dogs... But through all of these things, and much more, I have learned that 1. I have no idea what I´m doing most of the time 2. Miracles come in all shapes and sizes and 3. I am never alone in this work.

More times than I can count, someone has asked me a question and i just smile and say sípo because I have no idea 1. what they said and 2. that it was even a question. It´s all good though. I finally realized one of the biggest reasons why it is so hard is because Chileans speak so fast. When they slow down a little for me it is a whole lot easier. Last week my companion told me that my Spanish was at a 3 when I asked where I was on a scale of 1 to 10. I´m too scared to ask again, but I think i can safely say I am at a 4 now.

We had a meeting in San Bernardo for all the trainers and the newbies which was fun cause I got to meet up with my comps from the CCM again... it´s always a fun time. Anyway, after our meeting, Hermana Vargas and I had divisiones with the Hermana Líderes where I stayed in San Bernardo in their sector. Let´s just say everything is nicer there... except for the dogs.. Hermana Santos (one of the sister training leaders) is terrified of these two dogs that live near their apartment so when they got out i swear they could smell her fear or something and the next thing I knew we were sprinting back hahaha We were totally fine and laughed about it for a while after so don´t worry mom :) While I was with Hermana Santos, we helped a Señora clean her house which consisted of rubbing red goop all over the floor to make it shine?.. I don´t know I guess it´s a thing. 

The next day when we were back in our sectors we taught Agustín and Belén who are 15 and 9 and they are still going strong all set for their baptism date on January 17th. They really are gorgeous human beings and they gave me a used headband for Christmas :) Our previous efforts with Bastián who is 18 sadly were unsuccessful. He requested to stop hearing the lessons and he is literally always sleeping when we stop by. However, we had a good talk with his mother who expressed her desire to return to church! So we are going to focus on her now.

I would like to highly reccomend reading Moroni 9 where it talks about miracles. It reminds us that God has not ceased to be a God of miracles and that everything around us and that we have really is a miracle. My companion and I decided to make a paper that says Miracle of the Day or Milagro del Día and write down 1 miracle we see every day. It´s little things like the tienda had blue gatorade or Hermana Vargas got a random package. but it reminds us that miracles really do happen every dau, we just have to look for them. In verse 21 it makes a promise that is you believe nothing doubting, you shall recieve whatsoever thing you ask. So look for the miracles in your life because I guarantee they are there.

Also is anyone was wondering pistachio ice cream here is nothing like it is back home. Oh and speaking of miracles, it rained here a couple of days ago!!! you better believe that went on my miracle of the day :)

Hope everyone is starting their new year off on a good note!! 

Love you all,

Hermana Bever

From Sis. Willnaur:

"The La Bandera zone did such a great job cleaning a section of a school yard a couple months back (requested by my good friend Erika Castro) that they were asked to help clean the rest of the perimeter. The first day was before Christmas and I was too busy to do more than deliver tools, vests, gloves, and take two quick pictures. But I joined them yesterday and we had a fun time. The results were impressive! We will be back again next week to finish...

Yesterday we had some new faces due to cambios: Hnas Bever (brand new in the country) and Vargas, Elders Huaman (also new), Farley, Rei, Delvasto, Hellbusch, Alvear, Magadán, Panta (new). Four other elders arrived later: Canaan, Salas (new), Gonzalez and Pardo. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of them.