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.