Week #6 - MTC

Hola todos! Espero que Uds. son bien!

There's so much on my mind lately, it’s been kinda crazy. I lose track of time so easily here, it's crazy! Well some things that I have learned are that the Holy Ghost is the same that worked miracles w/all the ancient prophets, Moses and the Red Sea, Jesus and His miracles, etc. They have been harping on obedience while we are here because if you are obedient you will hear the Spirit and find people, but my teacher thinks otherwise. He loves to contradict everything here, and some of what he says makes sense. Heavenly Father won’t allow someone to not be baptized just because the two missionaries are disobedient, but they will receive consequences later in life for their choices. My teacher was super obedient on his mission and baptized the least out of anyone in his mission, and I’m not saying to not be obedient, but everything is always harder when you are obedient because you are learning how to cope with new surroundings and experiences, and being obedient helps you later in life. I’ve learned so much from this teacher it’s incredible.

My other teacher, Hna Lopez, is getting married on Thurs, crazy stuff. Well the majority of what we hear here is about obedience so I can’t really remember what else was said during devotionals! haha My teacher, Hno Dallon, is quitting after our district because he can’t stand the approach they have here at the MTC, it’s crazy, sometimes they contradict themselves on what they say or mix words to get their point across. They told us that members can’t really do much of anything for us so don’t worry about it, which is a total lie! I think members are super important. My teacher said that members need to befriend others, nonmembers, and just be their friends, and introduce the gospel when they ask about it and try not to push it down their throats, but be their friend first and then they will trust you with that stuff.

My companion has been getting better, but it’s still kinda hard, his attitude is pretty terrible, he doesn’t care to learn, he is trying to speak more, but he said that he hates Spanish and thinks Spanish people are weird, and things like that bother me. I really hope his first comp is a native haha. Well I have met so many cool people here! The other Hnas in my zone are so funny. 2 of them are going to conference because their mission is Temple Square and they are so excited. One is from Colombia and the other Venezuela, and they could only watch conference at someone's house who had internet, and even then it would cut out sometimes. They are sooo excited! It makes me realize how blessed I am to live so close to the prophet, even in Arizona! Another Hna in my zone is from El Salvador and she will be serving in Mesa! We've been telling each other stuff about each area, she's preparing me for Honduras and I’m preparing her for Mesa, if you get a chance go see her when she gets there!

My zone is so much fun, half Spanish half English, with one French elder learning Spanish. I find it so much easier to speak Spanish now, I do forget stupid little words, but for the most part everything is going great, I do mess up a bit of grammar too, but I’m sure it'll come to me.

About choir, I will probably be sitting on the right side of the screen, not quite sure yet, they haven’t made a seating chart, we are singing Hark all Ye Nations, Go Ye Messengers of Heaven, and Called to Serve, and we have to have 2 more songs memorized just in case, Come Oh Thou King of Kings, and Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy. I’m so excited to go! Everything’s coming along so hopefully all will go well! Well I can’t think of much else to write, I would like my electric razor, I hate shaving everyday -.- oh and if I could get addresses sent to me I can buy an address book here and put them in. I’m having a hard time remembering all those addresses! Again I apologize if I haven’t written back to everyone yet, it’s pretty hectic here. I love you all and wish the best for everyone!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Neher

(Follow up email from later in the day after I sent him a DearElder letter with some concerns from his morning email about the obedience & things at the MTC comments)

Sorry I confused you this morning! I was super tired and left out other details of the week. Well the MTC is the one that seems to contradict itself, and they only play clips of what they want us to hear, they played a clip of Pres Hinckley's talk "Find My Sheep" and played the part about doubling baptisms, but cut out right before talking about having the members help, idk everything here is pretty crazy. Well I have seen 3 elders going to SPS, but that’s about it. Well the craziest story of the week, which I’m sure would make Chelsey Hall pretty upset, is that someone in my district might have to go home, he is diabetic and the entire time he has been out here his blood sugar has been above 600! On Sunday he was hospitalized because it was getting pretty terrible, he was puking and he was not doing very well at all. He is back today but he still might have to go home, his blood sugar is at 400 or so, still really bad, so I hope everything goes well with him. I’m running out of time but I love you and I’m sorry for the confusing letter this morning! Oh and my departure date is most likely the 18th, but still don’t know though!

Week #5 - MTC

Hola familia y amigos!

Well I've got some good news, some great news, and some really awesome news! First off my district got a huge talking to by the District Presidency on Sunday which I think helped a lot with the immaturity issue, there was at one point where people were ready to kill each other, but now it’s getting better. The great news is that my companionship is in full swing. Last Tuesday my comp had a talk with the Branch President, about what I have no idea, but it really changed him around and now we are finally doing comp prayer and study, and we are getting along a lot better than before! Thanks everyone for your letters of encouragement, I really wish I could respond to them all, I just have no time whatsoever! Well the amazing news is that I (along with two other elders in my district) got chosen for the MTC choir to sing at General Conference for the priesthood session!!! I am so excited for this, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am so excited for it! Look for me on the big screen!

Well everything is going great here, my Spanish is coming along better, I just keep forgetting some words when I teach, but it’s coming along great, the teachers are great here and I've been able to learn Spanish 1- Spanish 6 in about 4 weeks, crazy huh? My companion has a hard time with Spanish, he can understand for the most part, but he says sometimes he feels dumb when he speaks, (just like how I felt back home), so I just keep trying to encourage him. Lately I've been doing all the talking, which I don’t mind, but I hope he can push himself to try a bit more.

One experience that I failed to mention happened 2 weeks ago (? I am starting to lose track of time here!) Hna Larson has been having allergy problems, in her room and what she eats. She's allergic to perfume, dust, and a whole bunch of different kinds of food, some of them she loves to eat. Well she had eaten some pineapple for lunch and she knows she's allergic to it, but it’s never attacked her as hard as it did. She was having a hard time breathing, there was a rash developing from her neck up. It was pretty bad and she was about to leave for the Doctors office, but our teacher recommended we give her a blessing, so the 11 elders in our district all got up and gave her a blessing. That was such an awesome experience, I felt so calm and knew that she was going to be ok, and some of the words in the blessing I knew were inspired because there was no way someone could make up some of what was said. She's doing a lot better know, she has had some pretty bad attacks lately from foods she never knew she was allergic to, but she's doing a lot better. By the way, my ankle is doing better! I can run on it in a straight line, but it hurts to turn, so I still have to do rehab.

Time seems to just fly by here, I lose track of time so easily. I have 1 month left till the field! I've met so many elders going to AZ, and I love telling them how awesome it is there and all the amazing people there! I love you all and thank you for your support, it really did help me last week! Espero que todo está bien y uds. son felices!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Neher

Pictures from the MTC!

Here are some of Steven's first pictures from the MTC!

Last picture with the family at the drop off location!

Sniffing the "Skittles Tree" (?)

The District: (Top L-R: IRWIN (McAllen, TX), NELSON (San Pedro Sula), CHILD (Managua, Nicaragua), MAZA (Honduras Tegucigalpa) NEHER (San Pedro Sula), PUGMIRE (Managua, Nicaragua), LARSON (Rancagua, Chile), PLATT (McAllen, TX)  (Bottom L-R: WOOD (Long Beach, CA), PHILLIPS (Hartford, CT), EVANS (Boston, MA), MAY (McAllen, TX) , CAGGIANO (Managua, Nicaragua)

Roommates: Wood, Phillips, Neher & Nelson

Volleyball (before spraining his ankle)

In front of the famous MTC World Map (Every missionary has one)

Companions Nelson & Neher on their way to Honduras San Pedro Sula

Evidence that he might actually be doing his laundry!

Elder Barrera from Argentina and fellow "Millonario" (Fan of River Plate soccer team)

The Liahona Banana (no idea what the story is behind this picture!)

Hermanas Martinez & Ferro from his first zone.

Status Update

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR (Dad):

About 5 hours after I got his weekly email on Tuesday I received another one from him, which is unusual. He said that he was going through probably his worst day since arriving at the MTC and was very discouraged, but did not give specifics. He told me that he had tried to speak with his Branch President on Sunday, but was not able to and that he hoped to do so later that night after their weekly devotional.

I fought the urge to call the MTC for a while, but then realized that it was too important for me not to call. I wanted to get a message to the Branch President before the devotional so that he knew that Steven needed to talk to him. I left a message with a secretary and then received a phone call back a couple of hours later. I spoke with a District President (who supervises the Branch Presidents) and to my surprise he told me that he had just spoken with Steven. He said that he could tell by the way he looked when he walked in that he was carrying a heavy burden. They spoke for about a half hour and the District President told him that it was good to be concerned for his companion, but that he cannot take responsibility for his lack of desire or for his actions. He said that he shared a bunch of stories from when he had been a mission president in Peru and that by the time Steven left he was laughing and smiling and that he should be just fine. He also told me that he had spoken with the Branch President and that he too had felt concerned about Steven's companion and that he was planning on speaking with them that night. I guess we'll have to wait until next Tuesday to find out if things have improved.

Week #4 - MTC

Alright, well this has been an interesting week, to start off, my ankle is doing just fine, they were glad I was here for 5 more weeks so it could fully heal, but they had me do rehab so I could strengthen it, they do it for everyone that messes up their ankles.

Well my district is fun, but they are probably the most immature people here, there are a few exceptions, like the Hnas and a couple other elders, but for the most part the elders check out the sister missionaries, and are just immature in general so it’s hard to concentrate sometimes. Unfortunately there has been no improvement on the companionship front, we have had no comp prayer or comp study for about 2 weeks, he has stopped eating, and he doesn’t care about anything, at all, and it’s really bringing me down. Yesterday I just wanted to quit because I seriously cannot take it anymore, doing all the work for two people is extremely hard and puts too much of a load on me, I have learned I can’t make him do anything, but I can improve myself as much as I can while I’m here, he always finds "excuses" to go w/another companionship, and he never talks to me, and I’m getting really discouraged because I pray for him every single night, I bless his food for him, I pray for him and I just want the best for him, but he is not willing to do anything. It’s becoming a really big burden on me because I don’t know what to do, but someone told me to read Jacob 3:1 (But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction.") and that scripture helped a lot, but it’s still hard, my comp isn’t even w/me right now, he doesn’t care at all and its really hurting me and I don’t think he realizes or cares what I feel. Some days I just want to slap him into shape, it is very very frustrating right now. I really appreciate all the guidance from everyone in this regard and others, but now I think I just need to let him do his own thing and reap the consequences of his actions.

This is what’s been on my mind lately this week, but in other news, the gym is closed till the 27th to refurnish the floor, and I have no idea what's going on w/MTC choir at all, I think they might still go to General Conference, but I have no idea. My teachers and some native speakers in my zone say my Spanish is coming along great and they say I practically have no accent, except for the Castellano (Argentina accent). I saw Elder Olmstead before he left which was good cause I wanted to see him before he left. I continue to see Elder Boynton and I saw Elder Greer the other day, and I continue to meet new people in my zone or others from or going to Arizona

I know you asked how P-days go, well we do laundry at 6 am, (we're supposed to do it at 3:30pm) and that's when I get on the computer, then its breakfast and temple, and then we have free time for a while, dinner, devotional, district meeting, then bed. Oh I did see at the temple one of your friends from Sunnyvale, (Keoki Andrus) and he says hi, it was crazy to see him there! That lifted up my day! Well I hope everything at home is well, I'll try to write more letters home throughout the week!

I will send pictures today in the mail, so expect them Thurs (?) I really can’t think of what else to write because the situation with my comp has been at the forefront of my mind. I hope all is doing well at home and I love you all and thank you all so much for your letters, I love getting them!

Hasta luego!

Elder Neher

Week #3 - MTC

Well this has been very interesting week, but I’ll start answering some questions. MTC choir starts today because the gym has been under construction, and there are no more culture classes. Alright, well I have some bad news (I guess) and some good news, the bad news is I found out my companion hates me, haha isn't that awesome! I was talking to an elder who he talks to all the time and he told me how my companion feels because my companion doesn’t care for anything and doesn’t ever talk to me at all. Well that night I prayed to see what I could do to strengthen our companionship and the next morning (here comes the good news!) I fell down the stairs and sprained my ankle, so now my companion has had to help me with everything! I honestly think it was a blessing to help us come closer together, and so now I can’t really leave early if I wanted to because I need to let it heal, which will be about 5 weeks with rehab,

So this week has been kind of hard, not only just my ankle but it seems like wherever I go people enjoy making fun of me, and I don’t mind it to an extent, but when it gets overbearing or out of control I can’t handle it. It’s been mostly about me faking it and my accent that has bugged me the most, and the worst thing is my companion joins in and has noticed I don’t like it, but he doesn’t seems to do much about it at all, oh well. Yesterday helped a lot when I was feeling really down, our new teacher, Hna Lopez, was teaching us about the second lesson and was on the part about the atonement, she asked me to read Alma 7:11-12 (“And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”) and then asked me what kinds of afflictions have I gone through in my life. I said how I had been made fun of my entire life and how I hated it and she bore a strong testimony of the atonement and it really helped me.

Despite the hard stuff going on here there are a lot of fun things going on too, I already started giving away ties! I gave the nice silk one w/River colors to Elder Barreras (the Argentine elder) because he's leaving today, and he gave me one of his awesome ties, and people have heard how awesome my ties are so they want more! So start sending some! They love my ties haha, well Sunday at the devotional my companion fell asleep (big surprise) but this time he was drooling all over his tie! We were up at the front and getting some dirty looks for laughing, but it was hilarious! A giant stream of drool pulsing from his mouth all over his tie, hilarious! I honestly want to know what other districts think of my district, we are all loud and crazy and have fun all the time, it’s so much fun to be around them all, it’s weird to think that it’s almost been a month here and we've all become great friends. When we are done with our missions we are all planning to go to Cokeville, Wyoming, because our district leader talks about how great it is all the time haha! It’s nice to have them here too to help with anything that might trouble me, I guess I’m not the only one who thinks so but apparently everyone can tell my companionship is strained. Everyone in the district and even my teacher could tell and had us have an interview with him, so I realized what I need to do, just not push him to do anything he doesn’t want to do, which isn’t much of anything. My comp found a way through the firewalls here and has gotten onto the NY Times to check sports and what not, which tells me his heart isn’t really into being here. He told me he came mainly for his "girlfriend" and I hope his reason changes as time goes on. I really worry about him, but at this point I can only make myself a better missionary and prepare myself for the field and just hope that he is prepared as well.

I’m loving MTC life, I see Elder Olmstead, Elder Boynton and Elder Boyd quite often which I enjoy and I saw Elder Sammons and that caught me off guard! haha I had no idea he was here yet! Everything is going great and I hope everything at home is great too. Tell Rusty I love him and don’t let him get fat! haha

Con mucho amor,

Elder Neher