Week #71 - A Catracho Christmas (Puerto Cortes)

Hola amigos y familia!





Well it was awesome to be able to talk to everyone yesterday, it really made for a good Christmas! Well I said a lot of what happened already on the phone call, but I´ll inform everyone else on what’s going on here in Puerto. So this week was pretty bad as it goes for missionary work, it was really slow because the majority of our investigators were out of town or just weren’t home when we had them planned, so it was pretty bad teaching wise, but we did have fun.




President has weekly goals he wants us to do, and this week one of them was to go Christmas caroling, so we went to a few houses to go sing. A lot of people said we could come back to teach them but we’ve only been back with one of them so far. We sang Away in a Manger at one lady’s house and all her grandkids came out to listen. When we finished we went to the door to talk to her and she was crying, so we went back to teach her and she seems really receptive. She said that she has already been baptized, but we will be able to teach her.



The ward here is really not unified. The Christmas party was pretty lame and only 72 people went to church yesterday =/ In spite of it all, it still was a fun week. On Wed. we had a zone breakfast and Hna Lopez made basically everything. We had homemade biscuits and gravy, homemade cinnamon rolls, pancakes, eggs, bacon, and we watched the Polar Express. It was an amazing breakfast and I was so full afterwards. So one of the biggest highlights this week was seeing Isis again. She was one of my super pilas converts from Cerro Verde and was here in Puerto visiting her mother. It’s only been a couple of months since I left there, but we both freaked out when we saw each other haha! I was so happy to see her, she is one of the best converts I have had in the mission, so it was a great Christmas present to see her again. Well we didn’t eat that many tamales which I am happy about. After two I start to feel sick. Well that is basically all that happened, it was a really slow week due to Christmas, but it was a great Christmas indeed. I hope everyone has a great week and that everyone enjoys the last week of 2011!




Elder Neher

Week #70 - Oh, Wow! Changes! (Puerto Cortes)

New Area! Puerto Cortes

Hola! Que onda? jaja

Well this week was pretty interesting, especially with changes, but we will get to that a little later...

So like I said last week that my bishop announced that I was leaving, a lot of members were sad and our investigators. It was pretty hard to say goodbye to a lot of them, especially Hno Salinas, he was pretty upset. He said that he cried when they got home, and he told me that a piece of his heart was leaving with me, and he wants me to be able to go to his baptism. I really hope I can! Tuesday I said goodbye to a lot of people, and we said good bye to Irene, a convert of another elder from Trujillo, and we went to her house later on Tuesday to watch the Joseph Smith movie. We watched it with her and her soon to be husband, and he isn’t a member but he really liked it. She bore her testimony of the prophet and said that if all the people saw this video they would understand that we praise God, not Joseph Smith, and her husband agreed. Part of the movie shows the prophet teaching someone a lesson about helping your spouse. Joseph Smith was shaking dust from a carpet and the guy said he shouldn’t be doing tasks like that if he has a wife to do it, and Joseph Smith said that if we don’t learn how to take care of her and love her in this life why would we in the eternities? So later the guy in the movie starts helping his wife by shaking out the dust from their rug, and the husband of Irene was so impacted by that that when we went Tuesday he was washing all the clothes, it was awesome!

Well like I said, Tuesday was saying goodbye to everyone, and the bishop was very grateful for my work and help in the ward. Everyone was sad to see me go, so then we had CHANGES! I was kind of nervous, one for who was going with Elder Ward, and where and with whom I was going. Elder Ward is with Elder Webb, an elder that started with me on the mission, and now I am in.... duh duh duh, Puerto Cortes! I’m so excited to be here! I have heard it’s a great area. It’s really big and its along the beach, and I LOVE the beach! The cook here has already given me some things from Honduras, and it’s weird cause I’m back in Zona Fesitranh again! I was here in Cerro Verde, but now I’m a lot farther north. My comp is Elder Peterson, from Utah. He has 7 months in the mission and his Spanish is pretty good. I think we will be able to get along and work hard this change. I think I will stay here and train again because a lot of new elders come in January. Right now I’m district leader, I have 2 sisters and 2 other missionaries in my district, Hna Sanchez from Nicaragua, Hna Mower from Oregon, Elder Galvez from Guate and Elder Salcido from Mexico. They all seem pretty excited to work, and its weird cause I’m the one that has the most time in the mission in my district! That’s kind of weird, haha!

Well I love it here so far. I have hot water showers (it’s been so long and they feel so good!) I did get pretty sick when I got here. We were walking around and it poured so much here, it was ridiculous! I got a nice cold from it and woke up yesterday not being able to talk, and almost no one went to church because it was raining. None of our investigators went and I stayed home while my comp went out to work. The nurse told me to stay in and just rest a bit. The work should be interesting here because there aren’t a lot of progressing investigators right now, but hopefully we will be able to pick it up. We are doing a present exchange and breakfast as a zone on Wed. to get ready for Christmas and I have to get something for a sister in the zone, so hopefully I can get her something that would be good! I hope everyone has a great weekend and especially a great Christmas!

Feliz Navidad, Buiti Fédurugu

Elder Neher

The main part of the ward is on this peninsula.

Looking towards downtown.

Week #69 - Last Week in Seis de Mayo

Buenos dias familia y amigos!

Well this week was kind of crazy, full of a lot of activities, but it was a lot of fun. So on Tuesday I went on divisions with Elder Hafen, my ZL and we went to his area. He's from California and he's an awesome guy. We went to a couple houses to teach. He baptized the mom of a member in my area, so I got to know a little bit more about her family and we took out a member they reactivated that wants to go on a mission. I called her a "firecracker" cause she was on fire, she was talking to everyone, and when I met her, she had questions that were one after another, it was kind of funny. We had some really good lessons and that night Elder Hafen called Elder Ellett, the AP to ask if I could do something at the Christmas Multizona, and Elder Ellett, without asking knew what it was that they all wanted me to do, so I only had Wednesday to practice and Thursday perform.

So this week was more preparing everything for Rosa so she could get baptized, and she did which was really nice. Not a lot of members showed up, but she felt the support from them at church yesterday. A family here took their friends to church again and it’s an awesome family that has a lot of faith in the Lord. In that family is someone who served with Katie Hunsaker in Costa Rica, they entered together. Ask her if she remembers Javier Rodriguez (or Carcamo). Well Thursday was the Multizona with the entire mission except for Colon and Ceiba, and it was awesome! Before we went we went as a zone to Denny's for some breakfast, and I loved it. Unfortunately I can’t eat as much as before and didn’t finish my meal, which is fine. I’m still losing weight haha! The Christmas videos were hilarious and afterwards we had the talent show, and there were some really good skits, and of course mine was last. I don’t know how they convinced Pres to do it, but I performed Single Ladies for the mission and everyone took videos and was going crazy. I definitely forgot some moves, but everyone loved it, haha!

Friday we had a zone breakfast and watched a movie, don’t remember what it’s called, but its about 2 fugitives who steal the elders car and pretend to be them in their next area. It was pretty funny, and we had fun together as a zone. Saturday was crazy getting the baptism ready. It was a pretty fun week. We found some new people that could progress, but this week I’ve had in mind the changes and that I am leaving here. It’s sad that I won’t have Christmas here, but I know that wherever I am is where I’m supposed to be, and I do feel like I’ve done a good job here in this area. Yesterday the bishop announced in church that I will be leaving, and he was crying and was very grateful that I was here in their ward. Afterwards a lot of people came up and said thanks as well, it was very touching. This was a great area but I know that I need to move on and to progress more in this work. Who knows where I will go, but it will be where the Lord wants me. Thanks everyone for everything and I hope that everyone has a great week!

Elder Neher

Week #68 - Crazy Happy Big Black Lady Dance (Seis de Mayo)

Hola familia y amigos!

Well this week we were supposed to have a baptism for Rosa, an older lady that showed up by herself at church a couple of weeks ago, but this entire past week we didn’t find her at home, so we have it planned for this next weekend. I'm kind of anxious to leave my area. It’s been kind of hard getting people to go to church and to progress but we are trying our hardest. Familia Salinas is always awesome. We watched the video of the restoration with them and they really liked it. They have to get divorced and married before they can get baptized, which could take a while, but hopefully they can do it in the future.

This week we found a couple new investigators. One was Jackie, who we call "firecracker". When we showed up for the first appointment she was talking like crazy and jumping from one topic to another. We contacted her because we were talking with a member who told us she felt like we should contact her. Then on Saturday we went back and taught her in the church before our English class. We took her on a little tour and you could tell she was feeling the Spirit. We taught lesson one and she was quiet the entire time, but you could tell she felt something. Her only problem is understanding prophets, but hopefully we can help her testimony get stronger.

We found another guy that we will most likely drop because the two times we went over there he talked the entire time and didn’t let us talk. He was "teaching" us something I have never heard before that in the near future all the Bibles will be gone and no one will have one, and only then will we need a prophet. It was interesting. Well Gina is doing great and her husband is getting better. She told us one day that they spent the entire day together, so it was really nice to hear that he is changing.

So the title today refers to when we went with Irene this week. I don’t know if I told you about her before but she is this big black lady who moved here from Trujillo and was inactive and we have been helping her get reactivated. She needs to get married, and her husband said he would like me to be there when they do, but I’m leaving soon. :( Well she wanted the hymns on CD so she could listen to them so I got her the CD’s and she freaked out! She was jumping up and down, super happy and super excited and she pulled me and my comp into a big hug! It was really funny, haha! Yesterday was the Christmas devotional and everyone in Honduras was told it would start at 6pm, which it did in Utah, but here was at 7pm! We took investigators and some recent converts and it was great. One convert, Manuel, told me afterward 'very good' in English. He really enjoyed it and it helped his testimony grow about the prophet. Well this week is my last full week here. We have the Christmas Multizona this week, which should be fun. Hope everyone has a great week!

Con amor,
Elder Neher

Week #67 - Thanksgiving in Honduras (Seis de Mayo)

Hola familia y amigos!

Well I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend and that you all enjoyed a nice giant turkey! This week was pretty good. Everything seems like a blur, but this week we had divisions and I went to San Juan for a 4th time while the DL was in my area, and it was cool. There is a family over there that cooks dinner for the elders and they fell in love with me since the first time I was there so they were really happy that I was there.

This week we have been trying to find new people and keep those that we have, and the unfortunate thing is that so many people say they will go to church, but they never do and its getting a bit frustrating dealing with it. Gina´s husband was going to go to church but his car broke down in Ceiba and she had to go pick him up, but we did manage to have quite a few people go, including Familia Salinas. They are amazing, but there is a problem with getting them married. They want to but she has to get divorced first, which could take a while, but they are awesome, and this Sunday they came with us to an activity at the stake center. There is a music school here in SPS that is the best one around and they are pretty good. They had 6 violins, 3 violas, 3cellos 2 basses and 2 flutes along with solos and a choir, and it was all about the life of Joseph Smith. I thought it was surprisingly well done and I really enjoyed it. They did a really good job and Familia Salinas really enjoyed it. They have a great testimony of the church and a lot of the members have noticed and are willing to help them with anything.

Right now the mission isn’t doing very well. I think we finished the month with 90 something baptisms (terrible!) and a lot of people think it is because 25 elders are going home and they are baggie, or trunkie. In our ward we have been doing a rescue program by having Family Home Evenings on Sunday and Tuesday nights at the home of an inactive-less active family. We have had some good success with it, but last night was incredible! The FHE was in a pretty dangerous area to be walking around in at night, so we met up at the church and we went out there as a group. It was in a poor part of the area and the family isn’t in great financial circumstances. We showed up and a great message was shared, and then Elder Ward and I sang Nearer My God to Thee to finish and it really brought the Spirit. At the end of the entire thing we found out that there were 71 of us (including kids) that went to their house! It was a great way to have the ward come together and support each other.

Well my Thanksgiving was normal, working and stuff, haha. Oh about those cats that are around our house, the other day there was one by the house and Elder Ward hit it with a broom and the cat tried to jump the wall in front of our house but instead jumped right into it. It was pretty funny and we think they won’t come back anytime soon, haha! Well that was my week in a nutshell. The days continue to go by fast and mesh together so hopefully I can keep up with it all haha! Hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Neher

Week #66 - Bridge Over Troubled Water (Seis de Mayo)

Hola familia y amigos!


Well last week I forgot to explain about my title, so just really quick, we have these cats in our neighborhood that always come into or around our house and when they meow, it sounds like they are in pain and crying. Probably one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard, it’s really funny.

Alright so this week was pretty good. It’s been really hot all week long. There haven’t been many clouds this week and the sun has been going at it full blast. We have been trying to find new people to teach and to keep control of who we have. Sometimes it feels like we have so many people that we talked to and said we would stop by that I feel a little overwhelmed with how many people there are and how few are progressing, so we´ll see what happens. We have an amazing family that we are teaching, the Salinas family, they are incredible! They live in a part of the area that is out of the way, but they are amazing. In their colony there are two main churches and neither of them have gone to talk to them or anything and they just love having us over. The dad always talks about how he loves the Book of Mormon and that it is true and that people should read it! They were at church a half hour early and it was ward conference and the Stake President came (amazing guy, he’s 27 and has amazing talks) and they love the church and everything. We just have to get them married and they can get baptized in December. They are a great family. The husband read from the beginning of the BoM to Jacob 7 in 2 days! It’s ridiculous! They are great and hopefully they will continue to progress. To get to their area you have to cross a bridge, and it is the sketchiest bridge ever, just planks of wood on a suspension bridge over a dirty creek thing. It’s funny cause the other day we were going over there and we found a black lady that didn’t want to cross because she was really scared, so we helped her over a set a date to go back to teach her!


Well this week we had the baptisms for Josue, the grandson of Manuel, and Gina, and it was awesome. There was an activity at the stake center for the Relief Society (our ward made a whole bunch of baked goods, super delicious) and they went back to the church to clean for conference and stay for the baptism, it was great! Elder Ward baptized Gina and Manuel baptized Josue. It was the first thing Manuel has done with the priesthood! He was really nervous and had the whole prayer memorized but messed up a bit, but when he did it right everyone was really happy and they congratulated him later. Then my comp baptized Gina and he said he stopped a bit in the prayer because of emotion, but he did a really good job with his first baptism, and Gina was radiant. She later shared her testimony at the baptism and it was amazing. She said she felt at home and that she has a new family and that everyone has done a really good job supporting her, we are just missing her husband. It was a great service and we were really happy to see her get baptized.


We had ward conference this week and the stake president is awesome. He used The Lion King to teach a great principle. It was when Simba is not sure if he should go back to save his people and talks with his dad and his dad says "you are the son of a king, get up and take your part of in the circle of life" and reminded us that we are sons and daughters of a King and we need to get up, not look at our past and face our future and take our throne. It was a great talk.


Well thanks for everything, hopefully this week we will have more success, hope everyone back home is doing great!


Adios!

Elder Neher

Week #65 - The Cats Meow (Seis de Mayo)

Hola familia y amigos!

Well this week was pretty good, but there has been so much rain and mud in my area, and every pair of my shoes, including the Eccos, have holes in them. There are only two shoes that don’t, one of the Eccos and one of my old marching shoes, but other than that they all have holes. On the Eccos the treading is coming off and the water leaks through, but my marching shoes are done for, they have holes in the bottom that go through the soles and to my socks, and at the end of the day my socks may have holes, depending. So I bought some new shoes today and hopefully they can last me the rest of my mission.

It’s been pretty fun this week, everything went pretty well. We had a zone conference with Pres. Veirs which went really well. It was basically the same stuff that he had said to us before, but apparently it hasn’t stuck with a lot of the missionaries in the mission, but it was cool to see him, as always. Well this week we have tried to get the members more active in helping us, and the high counselor in charge of our ward has been putting everything in high gear to get inactives and to get people to go on exchanges with us, so now we should be getting more support from the ward! We had a very successful missionary correlation meeting with the presidents of the auxiliary groups so we are looking forward to this new change.

This week we have been working in this part of our area that is a little out in the middle of nowhere, but we found an amazing family out there. They aren’t married (like the majority of the people in this country) but they read the BoM and more. We taught them about baptism and were finishing the lesson, (we had left them 2 Nephi 31 to read) and we were talking to the wife while the husband read the entire chapter and was already reading in ch 32! It was incredible, so we left him some more to read and they went to church this Sunday and really enjoyed it, even though elders quorum was a mess. The wife told us that she had been praying that her husband would start reading the scriptures and get interested in a religion and we showed up and now they are super excited about the church. We are hopeful that they can get baptized in the future! This coming weekend we have 2 baptisms planned, for Gina, who is amazing, and for Manuel's grandson, Jose. Everything has been great with them both and we are hoping to be able to keep them active. The members have been supporting them a lot, which is great. We have been working hard and finding new people, we just hope to be able to get people that will progress and be baptized soon enough. Things have been great here in this area. The members have noticed that I won’t be here for Christmas, which stinks a bit, but I’ll deal with it.

Thanks everyone for all the help and for the support! I would like more letters from friends, but I do understand that a lot of people have college & other things. I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Neher