Week 8: Earthquakes and more

14 August 2017

Hola!! 

Last week was a little crazy, but fun! It has rained almost everyday and I am so thankful for umbrellas and rain coats! And it feels a little bit like home-haha! 

ALSO-- experienced my first earthquake, first of many I am sure! We were in our apartment, around 10pm, and the room just started shaking. Such a strange thing. The windows and everything were rattling. Thankfully it was short!

Today we went with some other Hermanas, Hermana Sanchez and Hermana Reynoso. We did a little ¨hiking¨and had lunch up in this ¨mount¨ which is totally just a hill. But it was so fun and we could see all of Curico from the top. 

It is so funny here, the people are fascinated by Americans. And always trying to say stuff to me in English. It's a great perk though, makes it easier to talk to people because they want to ask me where I am from. I love the people here so much! They are kind and generous and open!

And we have had so many great experiences this week, teaching and serving the people! So many miracles! I am so grateful I get to serve the people of Chile. 

My thoughts for the week:

I remember this from when I was a beehive at a girls' camp fireside several years ago, and I have been thinking about it this week (and a shout out to Bishop Springer for the said fireside).  

Testimonies, (our beliefs, our faith, our knowledge) , are so important. And testimonies are like fires. There are so many benefits to a fire when you are out in the forest camping and such. They keep you warm, they keep you safe. When fires are left unattended, they can go out. When we don't do anything, they will last a bit, but they will die out. 

The same goes for testimonies. We need to be constantly adding to the flames to sustain the fire. We must be doing the little things, adding logs and twigs and such along the way. It is the little and simple things like praying regularly, reading the scriptures, loving God and your neighbors, and being kind. All good things. We need to constantly be tending to and adding to and caring for our fire. 

And I am convinced when we take steps like baptism, going to the temple, serving missions, callings and other special experiences, it is like dosing your fire with lighter fluid. 

In this life, we need to be constantly pushing foward. We can never stop growing, progressing, and learning. We are not meant to stand still or be stagnant. If we aren't going fowards, we are probably going backwards, and we can't afford to waste our time. 

My thoughts for the week! Sorry they are always so jumbled!

Have a fantastic week everyone! Lots of love from Chile! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Eibert

It's so cold at night....and so I wear my socks to bed. I miss my dogs!
For intercambios (companion exchanges), I spent 24 hours with Hermana Reynoso in Raquen. She's from Argentina. During intercambios, the whole day, Hermana Reynoso and I had a dog follow us.  He was really cute, friendly and happy. He followed us house to house, neighborhood after neighborhood.  When we went into a house, he'd wait outside and get all excited when we came back out.  He even followed us back to the gated apartments. Dogs aren't allowed and we definitely didn't let him in, but he ran around the fence until he found a spot where he could slip under the gate. We were then inside for several hours studying and lunch and thought for sure he'd be gone. Nope. There he was still outside the glass door at the bottom of the stairs. So funny. We finally took a cab home at the end of the day and lost him there. But that determined dog followed us the whole day in the rain!

I got to wear jeans today, which was so nice. I miss jeans and a sweatshirt and being comfortable. We played soccer as a zone, which was great too. It's really hard being the only "gringa" though. 

Today is P-day again. We have plans to meet with the other sisters and "Climb a hill"--the English translation of what she told me we were doing in Spanish. It was super muddy from the rain.

My favorite things I've been called is Hermana Iceberg. These people cannot say my name. Hermana Iceberg or Hermana A-ber. I've just given up. My name for now is Hermana A-ber.



Speaking of American, people are fascinated. I'm flattered because so many people have stopped us just to say "You are beautiful."  It's funny when they try to compliment me in English too. But like I said, they are obsessed with my eyes. It's a good way to talk to people and we've been taking advantage of it.

We tried (well just me) sopaipillas, which are really popular here in Chile. I've no idea what they are exactly, but they're good. The stand with the sopaipillas and empanadas has a family where the younger dude speaks English like an American teenager and his dad speaks formal English. They lived in NY for a long time and always want us to stop and talk or will holler when they see us. They're so funny and now we have an address and will hopefully be teaching them. Perks of being an American!