Hermana Egbert in Osorno Chile

Hermano Astorga has been less active for 7 years! I am not leaving until he come to church!! He bought my companion and I stuffed penguins!

Hermana Carmen made us mote con huesillo...soaked wheat with a dried peach.  She is so cute

here is la rafa! She is so cute. Her name is rafaela but we all call her rafa! Its taken a good 5 months for her to finally be my friend. Haha she is 3

Long letter...

Guess what?! I met a man who served in the Viña del Mar mission when Grandpa Egbert was Mission President!

So its a sweet story. This older couple came to visit the Punta Arenas stake. They are head directory of EFY here in Chile. They live in Valdivia Chile the zone I served in my last sector, Los Lagos. 

Well they stayed with Bishop Jimenez, our bishop in Estrecho. So they came to church yesterday. Only 15 people came to church. There are 7 wards in punta arenas so pretty cool they came to our ward. Well I shook his hand but He didnt see my name tag. I spoke in church with my comp. And then after he came up to me and said, " you would happen to know Archibald Egbert? I told him he was my grandpa. He just kept shaking my hand and through tears told me Grandpa was His mission president. That this man had heard President Egberts grandaughter was in this mission and He had been determined to meet me. When He heard I was in Los Lagos about 4 months ago he drove an 1 hour and a half to meet me but I had been transfered. 

He didnt know I was in Punta Arenas. When we talked He told me all about Grandpa. About how his life was changed because of the things Grandpa taught him as a missionary. That his whole family are members and how Grandpa affected his life. 

Its was a special experience. I felt like Grandma and Grandpa Egbert were so close by. 

Well miracles do happen. 

I love you All!

Sure love you all!

So this week was really amazing. I mean that. I am begining to feel less stressed and its is such a blessing. I am really able to feel the spirit more and be myself. 

So whats with the title heading?

This week I watched the bible video where the Savior washes the feet of the disciples and I was really touched. The question came to my heart of "Would I all the Savior to wash my feet?" Think about it. Different people give different answers. 

Do you know what I would have said honestly at the beginging of my mission? No way. I can do it. That would be so akward, and He has a lot of better things to do. I did not get it. I did not understand what the Savior was doing. 

It is such a beautiful symbol. Jesus Christ was not just washing the feet. He was teaching His disciples the most valuable lesson they/we can learn. It is to allow Jesus Christ to clease us. Whether we are unclean from something we did such as sin or we are unclean just by living in a fallen world(weakness, transgresson, sickness), EVERYONE needs Jesus Christ and the cleansing power of His Atoning sacrifice. "Are we not all beggers?" 

Jesus Christ invites all to Come unto Him. As simple as it sounds it is sooo hard. It is hard to be humble and allow the greatest one who ever lived upon the earth come down to our level and help us. 

Guess how we practice allowing the Savior to love and serve us? We allow others to love and help us. 

In the church we focus so much on helping others, serving, consecrating but how much do we all others to serve us? If your like me I would much rather serve than have others serve me. But as I have accepted help from others I have been able to accept the love my Savior has for me. 

My companion and I have been surprise showing up at members homes we feel we should visit. We ask them what we can do to help? They say "nothing hermanas, dont worry." We tell them we are not leaving until they give us something to do. Each member we visited had a need. Some we litterly grabbed the broom and started sweeping. When they saw we were serious they started giving us stuff to do. It was great and in the end they explained how they feel awkward being served but they do need help. It opened for a great discussion about our Saviors love. 

So, my invitation. I have two.

1. Pray for someone to serve. When the name comes to mind go without delay. Insist on serving them. 

2. Allow someone to serve you this week. If the missionaries come to your home and ask if they can vacume your floor, hand over the vacume and then ask them to wash your windows! Haha. But you get the idea.

I know you will really feel the love Jesus Christ has for you. He know each of us. We are to serve and to be served. 

So many other fun great things happened. Love you guys!

Jesus Christ is our Savior, friend, Healer. 

Love Hermana Egbert

Sand castles!

. Hermana West and I

This week was really good. Funny story! Hermana West and I will be staying together for yet another transfer that will be 4.5 months in total! And I get to stay in El Estrecho Punta Arenas! Coming up on 6 months in this area and still loving it. 

It is almost summer here! Its about 50 degrees and It is the best thing ever! I feel like I have been in a really long winter so its such a fun blessing to feel the sun!

So for the past 3 months I have been struggling with anxiety. ( basically my whole mission but its been worse) It has made the mission really hard. I started to feel I wasnt a very good missionary, I was never meeting my expectations. I wanted to help the people but always felt I was falling short. I started to feel so far away from my Heavenly Father and my SaviorJesus Christ. Its like I was teaching about Gods love and about His son Jesus Christ but I didnt feel it for me. It has been so hard but it has been such a wonderful blessing and experience! I have had to fix my eyes on my Savior Jesus Christ like never before. After about 8 months of feeling constantly stressed or like I wasnt measuring up, I told my mission president and He reccommended I talk to the mission counselor. That has helped so much. I have been learning for myself personally all the things as a missionary we teach the people. It was scary and humbling to ask for help but I am so grateful Heavenly Father has been giving me these challenges because I have never enjoyed the missionary work more. I have never loved the people so much. There are days when the anxiety is worse and I feel so far from my Savior but I always can hold on and know that He has not abandoned me. The more I get to know His character the more I feel worthy of His love. That I can enjoy the journey. Elder Holland gave a talk in conference called "Like a Broken Vessel". At times I feel like that. But I know more now than ever before that God loves us. That He loves me. In my weaknesses and strengths. I have had prayers answered and everytime He feels far I just hold on:) 

The thing that has helped me the most in all of it, the mission, anxiety etc. is coming to know my Savior. I have just spent time learning about Him. I love reading in the Book of Mormon because the prophets speak of Jesus Christ like they really know Him. This past week I focused on 2 nephi chapters 1 and 2. I felt like Lehi was talking about Jesus Christ like His good friend. I felt so close to my Savior as I read. Through all of this I have felt I Heavenly Father is really allowing me to be instruments in His hands. I had in my mind "the perfect missionary" that missionary never joked, never made mistakes, always taught perfect etc. I am realizing a good missionary is someone who loves Jesus Christ and trusts that He will make them great. I know as we humble ourselves, we can pass ourselves to Christ and allow Him, to make us instruments in His hands. 

Trials and weakness are wonderful! They are like learning a new language. For example me learning spanish has opened up to me a whole world of people. Now experimenting anxiety opens me up to a whole world of people I never understood before but now through Jesus Christ I can have more empathy and trully feel for them or bring them closer to their Savior. 

Its not great. Somedays are really hard but Its all going to be okay. :) I am grateful for all of your prayers and I am grateful to be a missionary and that Heavenly Father is making me strong in my weakness. The mission is a wonderful place to struggle because you have so many people around you to serve and help. 

The investigators are doing well. I love this ward so much. They are getting excited about missionary work and gaining more trust in us. 

Halloween was so much fun! We had trick or treaters come to our appt!

I love you all! God lives and He loves us. He knows our pains and struggles. He is the one who makes us strong in our weakness. 

Love Hermana Egbert