Be Strong and of Good Courage

Concepcion, Chile

Well, I arrived in Concepcion safe and sound, in the sector of Lorenzo Arenas. Lorenzo is a suburb of Concepcion, as Campbell is to San Jose, California. The ward is small both by area and numbers. We went and met a few members, a recent convert, the Bishop, and our very cool ward mission leader, Hermano Del Rio. I'm excited to have members to work with.

Meet Elder Alvarado
Elder Alvarado, from Peru, is a convert of only three years, and he's been on his mission for 17 months. This is his first time being senior companion and I'm finding him to be hard-working, obedient (which I appreciate), a great teacher (he's very direct), and ward members seem to love him.

Knocking Doors etc etc etc
Spent much of the week knocking doors. One day, no one opened. Whatever. Happens. Made a lot of visits, did some FamilySearch (computers were slow), and attended a ward activity in which they showed the making of the Salt Lake Temple with Wilford Woodruff and the journalist dude.

Our apartment houses both us and the Zone Leaders, one of which is Elder Hepworth, my first district leader, so that's cool. We have carpet and it's so much warmer than my last place in Quillon. But this 4th floor apartment is a little more cramped and will be challenging to find area enough for exercise: Little space, big body, and three other dudes to not bump into. I'll make it work somehow.

View from our apartment in Lorenzo

Fecha Bautismal
After teaching the Restoration to teenage brother and sister, they set a date for their baptism!

Juan and Zirvana and their 16 year-old daughter are long standing investigators who have put off baptism by mere fact that they aren't married, and Elder Alvarado was about to drop them, only I thought we should keep teaching them because they behave like active members.  Well, we gave this couple the challenge to set a date to go visit the Civil Registrar's office to make things legal, and thought that their goal would be close to October.  When we asked them what their goal was - they told us the date was set for July 28th!

OH MY GOSH.  Pumped.

Now the whole family can be baptized together (not just the daughter).

Punchinello from You Are Special, by Max Lucado

Talk with a Punch
Sunday was just what I needed. Sacrament meeting was awesome. There were only 36 people there (rain kept most away), but the Bishop's talk was awesome!  Using the story of Punchinello in You Are Special, his message was on being more like our Heavenly Father and Savior. I have always loved that story and it was a great reminder for my state of mind on that day.

Be Strong and of Good Courage
Then for good measure, there was a wall we walked by on our way home to almuerzo (lunch) with an inspiring verse on it. I think I will end this post with this thought.

"Be strong and of good courage:

be not afraid,

neither be thou dismayed;

for the Lord thy God is with thee

whithersoever thou goest"

Joshua 1:9

Love you All. Peace Out,
Elder Connor Nef