A Barricade or A Bump in the Road?

Sporting matching ties:  Elder Portillo, Elder Arismendiz, Elder Hershberger, and me

Fun Facts
-  Elder Portillo knows how to make ties!  He made us matching ties for our missionary conference.

Our resident tailor, Elder Portillo making ties

-  The really ghetto names in Chile might surprise you. Names like:  Brian, Jonathan, Tiffany, Jason, Charles, Stephanie, Jefferson, Kimberly, and Jordan.

-  The Young Single Adults out here love the missionaries, and are enthusiastic to join us in our teaching appointments. We love it!

-  One of our members has a green thumb and her variety of house plants proves it, but I'm not so sure she realizes the extent of her garden.

-  Chiguayante has some gorgeous coastal redwood trees (like northern California, where I am from). The Redwoods thrive here because Chiguayante is prone to morning overcast. 3/4 of the year, am clouds roll in from the Biobio river and blanket these giant beauties with moisture that allows them to soak in water from both sky and ground.

-  Chileans love fruitcake. It's much like what we know in the states. My comp took this funky-filtered picture of me holding some fruitcake that was gifted to us.

A Barricade or a Bump in the Road?
Work is progressing, but we have somewhat of a barricade to maneuver around.  Four of the eight individuals we are teaching regularly are teenagers.  We love young adults and teenagers because they seem to be more enthusiastic, open, and fun.  But their parents are not completely okay with the idea of...well...us.

One set of parents is atheist, another set likes what we teach but squirms with the concept of baptism, and one grandmother is Catholic, but does not believe the bible to be scripture. There you have it!

But, as long as these youth want to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ, our goal is to keep teaching them, while being careful to respect the adults in their lives. Because, we certainly don't want to cause a riff in family relationships. Our job is to unite families - not divide them.

Let's just hope that this barricade turns out to be only a bump in the road.

Elder Arismendiz with his camera on the Biobio river

Jot it Down and Pray
This week has been one of added meditation for me.  During moments of contemplation, I have found that many individuals from home keep popping into my mind. Individuals who do not have the gospel. And, what's weird is that their names don't just flash through my mind - they get stuck in my head.

So, what I've resolved to do is pray for them. In fact, there is now a designated section in my daily agenda to write the names of friends from home that I feel need my prayers.  The way I figure it is that I may be called to serve in Concepcion, Chile, but my influence is not limited to this South American country. I can reach out in other ways.

And, who knows - when I return home, I won't have a name badge, but I can do my best to continue to be a messenger of light and goodness.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK, ASHLEY!

Until next week, Friends,
Elder Connor Nef

From Rock Crushing to Star Gazing

On a service project with the hermanas

Rock Crushers
Service projects are always a welcome activity, but when you get to smash things - it's the best!  We joined the Hermanas on a project to crush rocks and bricks into pebbles and powder, and we did it with hammers. I LOVED IT!!!

That night we joined the Young Men in a game of  fútbol, partly because their leader went to Cancún and put us missionaries in charge of the guys.  And, so after the game, with a captive audience, we shared a message on the Restoration. Three of the guys were non-members, and they seemed to be very interested in what he had to say. What made it even better was that the rest of the young men joined in the teaching and shared their testimonies.

I think it went well, because the next night, those non-member guys, along with half of the fútbol crew showed up to the Ward Family Home Evening. Everyone had a great time.

Grass Cutters
Another service project had us clearing 1/4 acre of solid grassland that I swear was as thick as the African Savanna. I got covered in dirt.

Star Gazers
That night as we were walking back to the house, I looked up at the night sky and realized how clear the stars are out here. Gorgeous.  The view brought my mind back to star gazing with my family and my sister Ashley explaining the constellations.

Ya, my family loves star-gazing.  Whenever a heavenly event was taking place with stars or planets or anything cosmic, my family would head for a dark open spot, where we'd throw quilts on the ground, lay down, and gaze up. We'd be there for a couple of hours, looking at the stars, telling stories, taking in the grandeur of it all, and appreciating how blessed we are.

I am blessed.

Speaking of blessed, Sunday we had four investigators come to church. Two of them were the youth from fútbol.

Have a good week, Friends,
Elder Connor Nef

Service Project in Hualqui

courtesy: chileconcepcionmission.blogspot.com

Hay, It's a Service Project!
Nearly half the mission showed up for the service project in Hualqui to move bails of hay to nearby farms.

Nearly 100 of us on our way to serve

The object was to unload the hay from huge trucks (in the background) and transfer them to smaller trucks for delivery to farm animals that had their food burned from the fires.

Here are pictures from the mission blogsite.

Mission President Catala and a special forces soldier

The fires have gone down, thank goodness.  All missionaries have returned to their sectors and the air is now clear of smoke. Prayers answered.

But the severely affected areas are now in the process of recuperating, and this service project was to help those farmland communities. We had a fun time.

I got covered in hay. Every layer of clothing was full of stuff.

But we cleaned up pretty good for District meeting.

with Elder Sowards, Elder Arismendiz, and Elder Baker

Pulling together for a common goal always feels good - especially when it helps some needy families.

Have a great week everyone! Adios,
Elder Connor Nef

Chilean Fires

Chilean fires just over the hill from Chiguayante

Over one hundred fires are currently burning in central and southern Chile, consuming mostly forests and destroying local farms.  To people who already live in humble circumstances, this is devastating.

A number of zones in our mission have reverted to full-time service to the people affected by this tragedy. All of Latin America, the United States, Russia, and France have been called in to help. I saw a couple of super takers fly overhead because Hualqui (the smaller town just outside of Chiguayante) has some of the worst fires. Our town is miraculously untouched due to the wind being in our favor - pushing the flames in the opposite direction.

Speaking of fire
Close to midnight, we just happen to be up talking.  I am the only one whose bed faces the window, and I look up and see smoke close by!  A gas station had caught fire a block from my house.  Not knowing if this would spread or explode, we booked it over to the zone leaders' house for the night.

Every morning there is so much smoke in the air - it looks like fog.

By late afternoon, the Pacific breeze clears it up. Saturday, the visibility got down to a half a block in the morning. We've been told to use our filtered bottles.

Feliz Cumpleaños, Elder Arismendiz
For my comps birthday, we headed to Ester's house to cut and prune her garden. Afterward, she gave us some cake and we sang Feliz Cumpleaños to Elder Arismendiz.

with Ester

This week has been humbling, thinking about those effected by the fires, But with loss comes an opportunity to look up and reach out to those around you. This will be our mission's focus.

In the meantime, the Lord has blessed us with more families to teach and a good ward to work with.

I am happy to be serving here.

May the Lord keep you all happy and safe,

Elder Connor Nef

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANDON!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

I Almost Got Seriously Mauled Today

I almost got seriously mauled today.

For our P-day activity, all the elders in my house headed to the big hill in Lorenzo Arenas. The pathway up the hill is paved with stairs, and the house at the top of the hill has some aggressive dogs that are, thankfully, always tied up. All but one of these canines is scared of humans. 

At the base of the hill I got thirsty and took out my water bottle, strangely didn't drink much and felt lazy to put it back in my bag (we had passed by the mission office to pick up some copies of the Book of Mormon and so my bag was pretty stuffed). Well, we began the hike and got half way up the stairs when I see that one dog is loose, but gets scared off when it sees me walking (but he keeps barking). 

The pit bull was like this one

But then the gray pit bull with bright blue eyes starts barreling towards us - its leash broken by his neck. Immediately, I recognize it as the violent one, and pause to see if it would stand its ground, but it keeps running at us. I felt remarkably calm, and knew that running would only trigger its predator instincts. So, I waited until he was 2 steps in front of me, while the other elders hid behind me (a big meat shield). Almost instinctively, I used what weapon I had in hand  - my water bottle. Quickly, I opened the bottle and poured the rest of the water on him. 

The dog instantly cowered and ran back up the hill. Which gave us to opportunity to make a get-away. 

Had I not gotten thirsty, had I not felt lazy to put my bottle back, I could have been seriously messed up by this thing.

Sorry to scare you Mom, it's a good story.

Thank heaven for inspiration and protection or this P-day really would have been the pits.

Love to All,

Elder Connor Nef

Galvarino, Chile's Hero

I Got Sole
So, I've been having some trouble with foot pain and I visited the Kinesiologist (a doctor who studies body movement) to get medical grade insoles for my shoes. While examining my feet, the Doctor says, "Your feet are incredibly wide! I have never seen any feet as wide as yours before!"

Recycled Inspiration
You know, I'm really grateful for inspiring letters from my family. They not only give me a boost, they are uplifting to others. This week has proven it.

One day I came across an elder who was having a bad day - discouraged, disheartened - you know what I mean, the kind of black cloud that leaves you down and depressed.  Instead of going about my routine, I felt that I needed to stay and help the guy. So I sat down and listened, then put in my two bits.

What I ended up sharing were paraphrased pieces of advice from letters my sisters sent. And, you know something?  It helped. This elder wrote me a note the next day and thanked me personally.

Thanks for the inspiration, Lauren and Ashley! Your words go further than you know.

Galvarino
This week I heard a story that blew my mind about one of Chile's greatest heroes. His name is Galvarino, and he lived in the 16th century, right around the time the Spanish started to up the ante on their imperial game in South America.

Galvarino was a war leader among a people called the Mapuche - an indigenous tribe to Chile whose relics in this area can be traced back to 600BC.

Anyway, our warrior Galvarino had employed some fairly effective guerilla tactics to beat back the Spanish conquerors. But after the Mapuche lost one pretty nasty battle, Galvarino was captured as a prisoner of war. Wanting to make an example of him, the Spanish  paraded the Mapuche leader in front of everyone, pushed him to the ground, laid his forearm across a tree stump, and chopped off his hand.

Except when Galvarino lost his hand, he didn't even flinch. Not even a wince!  What he did instead was put his other hand on the chopping block. The Spanish went, yeah sure why not, and chopped off that hand too. Still showing no reaction to having lost two of his limbs, Galvarino then put his HEAD on the chopping block. That was too far even for the Spanish. They sent this one-band-stud away with his life.

They came to regret that decision.

Galvarino marched straight back to the Mapuche, showed them his stump arms, and gave a rousing speech rallying them all to fight against the Spanish, come what may.  It worked. The next time the Spanish came to town, the Mapuche took them on, with their leader Galvarino at their head - this time with SWORDS TIED TO HIS ARMS FOR HANDS.

If that's not hardcore, I don't know what is.

Unfortunately the battle didn't go well for the Mapuche - the Spanish defeated them, Galvarino was captured again and this time put to death. But his story is still told, and, guess what?  Remnants of the Mapuche people still live on in Chile.

You know, heroes like these may not always be well-known, or have won countless battles, or donned metals of glory, but, man, that kind of crazy courage should be remembered.

No wonder Galvarino is one of Chile's greatest heroes. They remember him as an insanely gutsy guy who gave up everything for freeing his people.  They even named a couple of warships after him.

Awesome.

Inspiration comes from all kinds of sources. Sometimes it comes from guys like Galvarino, sometimes it come from family letters, or words shared.  But in the end, it's good to know that the true Source of Inspiration is the One that sent me here.

eating churrascos with the apartment elders

Here's to Inspiring Those Around Us!

Have a great week, All,
Elder Connor Nef

I Love it Here

A horse named Gringo

New Years Day
Happy New Year everyone. On the night of December 31st, we missionaries were invited to Hermano Araya's home (the bishop's 2nd counselor) for a big dinner.

at the Araya's home for New Years Eve dinner

For New Years day, we got to watch movies as a zone.  President gave us a list of movies to chose from. We chose Finding Dory, Inside Out, and Invictus.

Chiguayante
Chiguayante is beautiful. It is sandwiched between forested hills and the Bio Bio River, which I can see when I leave the house.

Chiguayante

Work is Going Awesome
The work is going awesome here. By the end of Saturday we got our 20th lesson with a member present. Then on Sunday there were 142 people at church.  During the week we had visited five less-active families, and four of them came to church. Three of our investigators also showed up!

Fernanda
I had the opportunity to give my first baptismal interview. It was with a girl named Fernanda.  I first asked her how she felt about her baptism.
     "A little nervous," she said, "I have planned everything. I am just looking forward to having the Spirit of God residing in me."

Did I really need to ask any more questions?  She's ready.

I love it here!

Happy 2017 everyone,
Elder Connor Nef