Chi-Chi-Chi-Le-Le-Le!!! Viva Chile!!!!!

Hola familia!

Well, Chile plays Brazil today, and to be honest you are lucky that you´ll be getting a letter this week. I think the internet place is the only place that is open right now in Ancud. It is silence right now...we´ll see how long that lasts. :) (And the only reason the internet place is open is the man that is working right now isn´t from Chile...I think he´s from Dominican Republic or something...he´s black...y eso.)

Anyway, I am so glad to hear that everything back home is going well. I have tried hard this week to look for the miracles in my life and in this work. And every day there are more. I think that the letters I read just now were miracles, too. Full of good news. Thank you to everyone that wrote. You all are the bomb.com. :)

Tuesday was a day for miracles. We had a rather rough day starting out, but in the night we had time for one more appointment. We had been praying that we could find someone prepared to receive us, and we remembered a contact that we had with a bus driver that Sunday. We found his house and knocked on the door. He wasn´t home, but his wife was. She had just suffered some very serious and sudden heart problems, and she felt like her life had been spared for a purpose....needless to say she let us in. Her name is Elizabeth. Eventually Patricio, her husband that we contacted, came home too, and they were both really receptive. They said that they felt like our message was true. We are really excited about them. They are being prepared. The only problem is that they aren´t married (no one is here) and he works a ton, so we will have to try really hard to make our schedules work together so we can teach while he´s there, too. But yes, a miracle.

This week was busy, busy with conferences. Wednesday we had our normal conference in Castro, which takes up half the day, and then we had our Zone Conference with President in Puerto Montt on Friday; but we had to leave for it on Thursday night so we lost a lot of teaching time this week, but the conference was worth it. We talked about the Book of Mormon. It was incredible. The Spirit that was there was amazing. We are having a mission goal to read it in 8 weeks. I was praying the night before that I could have a stronger testimony and be able to testify with more conviction about this book. My prayers were answered. I want to invite you all to read it with me. In Spanish you have to read 12 pages every day, and in English you have to read 10 pages every day to finish in 2 months. I know I´m going to see miracles through this goal. I want you all to see miracles too. :) There is a power that comes when we read and study this Book. I am trying to read it in Spanish, but in reality it´s reading in English and Spanish. I have both open while I read so I can understand everything. I need your prayers. I am a super slow reader and even slower in Spanish, but I´m going to try and get up 1/2 hour early to have more time to work on it every day. I am excited, though. It´s so great.

We are trying to work with the Rama here to help make it stronger. There are a ton of inactive people here, so we´re trying to help that situation. It´s a big problem. Let me just say, Dad, that I appreciate all the work that you do in our ward back home to keep it strong. We need about 20 of you here in this ward. I love them, and they need this strength and power that comes with a strong branch. I am learning a lot of patience and a lot of appreciation for the strength that the Gospel has in our ward back home. I am also learning that people don´t think like I do, all the time :) Enough said on that. We are trying to come up with a plan to give the member and leaders of this branch a vision of the potential that it could have. Pray that hearts can be softened. I love the people in this Branch, they are very faithful in spite of big challenges.

Our investigator Daniela was going to be baptized this upcoming week, but she still needs to have her parents’ mail permission (she is 16 and lives in a pension while she attends school.) Her parents live outside of the island in the country, and so it´s kind of a slow process. It´s probably for the better anyway, without much support, she needs to have a stronger testimony with more conviction, and more friends at Church, before she get´s baptized. She has a desire and we´re really excited about helping her prepare more. We are working to help her get more support from the branch members. She needs a family in the Church. But an incredible step is that she prayed in front of us for the first time this week!!!!! That sounds small, but she´s so timid it was a huge step. I think it was probably one of the most beautiful prayers I have ever heard.

Sunday morning I got out of the shower and my companion told me "Hermana, yo tengo una mala noticia para ust.".....she told me that the Elders called and said that they forgot to tell me that the branch president wanted me to talk in Sacrament meeting.....gracias, Elders. I had one hour to get ready and prepare a 15 minute talk in Spanish. I hurried to get ready and then said a quick prayer and began to prepare. I chose to speak on the love that God has for us, His Children. I could feel the Spirit very strong as I prepared it and I think it went well. People were crying....so I guess that was a good sign :) But I was grateful that it went OK, given the short notice.

Well, that´s about all for now. Oh, one last thing. Yesterday during Relief Society, my companion told me that we had to go to the bathroom....she was hungry! She had cookies in her bag and she was having a hunger attack and HAD to eat. It reminded me of Kristie! :) Don´t worry, one of the daughters of one of investigators walked in while we were eating cookies. We laughed and we gave her a cookie so she would keep it "our secret".

Oh, and mom asked that I talk a little bit about my comp. SHE IS AMAZING!!!!!! This will probably be our last transfer together which breaks my heart. We think so much alike...I think the only difference is that she thinks in Spanish. I am getting to that point, slowly but surely :) She is so sincere and such a hard worker. We are both really trying to be better missionaries. We both have this vision of how we want to be....(studs)....and so we are trying to help each other get a little bit closer to that point. But yes, she´s from Argentina, and she comes from a convert family. Let´s just say, her family is every missionary´s dream. There are 5 kids in her family and they have all gone on missions (well, her little bro is filling out his papers right now...so almost.) But she has such a knowledge of the Gospel, it´s amazing. I am so, so lucky to have her. I am scared for her to leave. But I´m not going to think about that right now. It´s too sad. :)

But anywho...that´s that for this week.

---LOVE YOU ALL MORE THAN WORDS CAN SAY.

Miss you all, but my prayers are with you and I know yours are with me. Thank you.

Be safe, be happy, be good.

-Hermana Berta

The pics are from the boat on our way to Puerto Montt. :)