Adios Quillon!

Quillon, Chile

Monday morning, transfer calls came and my suspicions were confirmed - Elder Evelo is staying in Quillon, and I am leaving the country for the big city and going to Conce Centro (Central Concepcion)!

Concepcion, Chile  photo by Julio Saez

I'm excited.

The week leading up to transfer calls was pretty productive. Always expect the ebb and flow of the work. One day is full of appointments, then everything drops. Another day is empty and then you end up with several lessons. Some commit, others drop. But all-in-all it's always a good week when the goal is to serve others.

Noche de Hogars (Family Home Evenings)
Carlos and Carla Poblete invited us over for a Family Home Evening that focused on Temples (Carla is anxious to go).

Familia Zapata (Gladys, Getsemani, Danilo, and Barbara) got to hear the steps to an eternal family.
     1.  Marriage
     2.  Baptism/re-activation
     3.  Temple
The lesson went well, and I have not been in a room with this much laughter since the CCM (Missionary Training Center in Mexico). It was so much fun!

That Sort of Boldness
The rest of the week was teaching a variety of other gospel principles to instill perspective or help them along. Everything from Repentance to the Word of Wisdom to keeping the Sabbath Holy. When you get to know your investigators, you learn to tailor the message to the need. And when you let the Spirit guide your words, the result is magic.

For instance, in a lesson with Maria, we were talking about being an example, and while I was giving the compromiso (getting her to commit), I felt this power to be more bold and just come right out and tell her to go to church. That sort of boldness could only have come with following the Spirit.

Zone lunch

Fun(?) Facts:
-  Weekly English Course classes are great - I only wish we had more students. This week's topic: the difference between cracker and cookie (both are galletas here), and other important things to survive state-side: Freedom, Justice, Superbowl...

-  The Hermanas told us that the locals call me and my companion: Nef - the tall one, and morenito - the little dark one.

-  There's a popular Reggae rapper here in Chile who sounds exactly like Hamilton dude Lin-Manuel Miranda, only this guy raps in Spanish.

-  My whole life I wanted a dog and couldn't understand why my mom was a little afraid of dogs (she went on a mission to Puerto Rico, which had wild dogs everywhere on the streets). After this little time in Latin America with wild dogs roaming everywhere, I now understand. I don't want a dog anymore...except when I see something cute like this:

Tag-Team Missionaries
Friday we did FamilySearch genealogy and I found some more people in my family line (on my dad's and mom's side) and input the information.  Then, come to find out, my family went to the Oakland, California Temple on Saturday and were baptized for 34 ancestors(I found about 1/2 of those)! Team effort, man.  All for one and one for all!

Adios Quillon
Well, I have been in Quillon for 4 transfers (5 1/2 months). The Nefs seem to stay in areas for a long time (my sisters were in each of their areas for long periods of time) and so far I have kept that tradition.

Quillon has grown the time I have been here and I expect it to continue to grow and become stronger. My time here has been good, and I have a lot of goodbyes to make today. Adios Quillon.

See you next week in Concepcion!
Elder Connor Nef