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...