Week #24 - Working Hard and Hardly Working (Bellavista Branch)

Hola todos!

Well this week went almost exactly as I thought it would. The last time we had problems we would work super hard for a week, then the next week basically nothing. My comp was sick on Tuesday so we didn’t do much. We would have passed by with Marí Denia, a woman who is progressing amazingly well, but she left for Teguc and her daughter is all over my comp, so we are only going to pass there when the mom is there and with members.

I had divisions on Thursday with one of my ZL’s, Elder Jackson. He is really cool, but he wasn’t feeling really good, and the nurse said to stay home and not go out if it rains, which it did, so we didn’t do much then. We stayed here in Olanchito and yes, I was able to say some things to him. He was asleep a lot because he didn’t feel good, but I was able to tell him some stuff. The last couple days we didn’t do much, once again. I knew this would happen again, but tomorrow we have interviews, so I’m gonna let Pres. Veirs know everything that’s on my mind.

I’m sorry this letter is really short, but I can’t really think of more to write. This week we should work more. I guess we have a baptism planned for Saturday. The branch president's brother got re-activated and his son is getting baptized.  I think he's nine, so it counts as a convert baptism. We just have to teach him a bit and he's ready for Saturday.

I finished the Book of Mormon! Well, kind of, haha! I want to finish it in Spanish, but then I started from where I was and read the rest in English. I read a lot over the last couple days, so I hope to finish it in Spanish soon and then turn around and do it again! I have learned so much from that book! I really feel like I can’t put it down, it’s been pulling me in like never before. I have never felt this big of a desire to read it and analyze it. I really do love this book and I hope to keep learning more. I know that it was inspired of God and that we can learn so much about our own personal salvation from it. I hope everyone reads it and gains this desire to not put it down. It is an amazing feeling to have.

I hope everything goes well back home and that you all are enjoying everything like I am down here!

Hasta Luego,

Elder Neher

Week #23 - Welcome to Honduras! (Bellavista Branch)

Hola todos!

Well I would just like to let you all know that as I am writing this letter I am sweating like crazy! It is starting to get hot here, really hot, nice and sticky, haha, but I love it and I’m getting a wonderful missionary tan line as well!

Well, this week started off a bit tough, but I am not going to dwell on what happened, just live and learn, let bygones be bygones. The good news though is that we are working, and hard! Holy cow, we are walking super fast, getting to the outskirts of Olanchito. We have found one family that is progressing amazingly well! We contacted the house a few weeks ago, but never went back out to go visit them until this week, and she told us "where were you, I was waiting" (slap in the face!) Well we have been teaching her and her daughter. The mom, Marí, is accepting everything, the daughter too, but we think she is a “guiper” haha! Well I wasn’t there for the second lesson, I was on divisions, but they taught about the Book of Mormon and they left Alma 32, which I thought was really interesting, but when we came back she read the entire thing and told us her thoughts about it, and she really liked it. So we invited them to church, where apparently they have quite a few friends, and they really enjoyed it. They couldn’t stay for the last hour, but we were so happy to see them there.

This week we had 7 investigators at church! 3 of which we didn’t really think would come. One of them approached us saying he wanted to go, so we taught him but this last Sunday has been his first time at church, as well a step brother and the boyfriend of Rey came (they were drunk, but at least they came, right?) One investigator has been to church so many times, but the problem is her “husband” doesn’t want to get married and their kids already have kids, so we want to go talk to him about helping her progress, because he has halted her progression. The last investigator that was at church is the husband of a member, who didn’t seem interested before, but one of the members has been visiting him and he came last week and this week. We taught him L1 this week and he really likes everything. This member put a baptismal date with him for the 26th of February, but we want to push it to a Saturday and a little sooner.

So, this week I went to SPS again, with most of the elders I came with from the US to take out our residency! Now I am an official resident of Honduras! The plus is that it is good for two years starting when my visa expires in Feb., so I have an extra 6 months if I want to live here later on, haha! Well while I was at the office I talked to an elder who was in my area before and he told me that they were planning on having me out here for 6 months, which doesn’t bother me. It just means I’ll leave Olanchito in April, haha! Well I hope everything is doing well back home, and that you aren’t dying from the heat yet like I am!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Neher

Week #22 - The Wheels on the Bus go round and round and round...(Bellavista Branch)

Hola familia y amigos!

Well this week went by super fast, but, as always, we could have done more. Almost this entire week we have been in a bus, everyday except Friday and Sunday, and it’s terrible. Tuesday we had to go to Arenal once again to get a Partida, so we left around nine in the morning and got there about 11. We got there and a lady got it ready for us, but unfortunately the main person wasn’t there to sign it, so she told us to wait until the last bus came for Olanchito so we could get it because she said he would be back soon. So we waited there forever and while we were there she had some questions for us. Apparently the elders had been there before and talked with her, they left a pamphlet with her, but since we don’t have missionaries there yet they couldn’t really continue with her. But she told us how her church is and asked us if we did the same, which surprisingly we do, so she said when she has the opportunity she would like to visit our church. I was able to teach a little, but my comp had his mp3 in or was sleeping, I don’t remember, but he didn’t say much. Well, needless to say the guy never showed up and we almost missed the last bus to Olanchito, but we made it home and we went back out on Wednesday, another 4 hours round trip! When we got back I don’t think we did anything for the rest of the day.

I don’t know if news of this got back to the states, but we have had some decent rainfall recently. On Thursday we went to Tocoa for a zone meeting and it rained pretty hard while we were there. The streets were flooded when we left and apparently it got worse over the next couple days. When we got back to Olanchito it was pretty bad, the roads were falling apart in some places (most of them are dirt) and we ended up not doing anything that day either because it was raining so hard. On Friday the elders from Coyoles came to our area so we could all go to SPS to listen to Elder Christofferson and Bishop H. David Burton, so we did divisions and I went with Elder Diego, who is new in the mission. We went out to go work and tried finding one investigator, who wasn’t home, so we talked to his father-in-law who is inactive. We are trying to work with this family so they can get baptized/re-activated. Afterwards we went to go see if we could find Alejandra, we found her when Elsion was here, but apparently they moved, and we have no idea where to. She seemed to have been progressing pretty well, but oh well hopefully the missionaries will find her again. Afterwards we went to talk with Ingrid, who left today for Saba, and will then continue on to the island of Guanaja. We tried to encourage her and remind her of the gift of the Holy Ghost that she has, because Saba doesn’t have the church, and I don’t think Guanaja either, there aren’t missionaries there. Well we got to see her before she left, she was really awesome and I hope she continues in the gospel. Well it was a bit early, so we went to our cook’s house to get an early dinner so we could sleep early before the trip to SPS. My comp was already there cause he planned to teach Rey's boyfriend Oscar (Rey is a daughter of the cook) but it didn’t seem like they did anything… figures.  Well that night I didn’t get any sleep because my comp and an elder that came from La Ceiba were up messing around.  They were in the same district over there so they were just goofing off and what not all night.

The first bus that left for SPS was at 3:00 in the morning, so we left around then and got to SPS around 8:50am. We barely made it in time as they had just finished the opening prayer. Well I don’t have my notes, but I’m going to try and remember a little of what was said. Elder Christofferson wanted President and Sis. Veirs to say something first. Sis Veirs spoke on gratitude and Presidnet Veirs, bah I can’t remember…sorry, I’m sick right now. Well anyways Bishop Burton got up and spoke on how the mission reflects a lot about how your life will lay out in the future, and Elder Christofferson talked about how Honduras is one of the highest baptizing areas of the world, and our mission is one of them. He said that every Thursday the Quorum of the 12 Apostles meets with the First Presidency to decide who will do what and go where. When it was decided that he would be coming to Honduras, he said that President Monson´s face lit up and he joked saying he might have been a little jealous, haha! Well there was a little Q & A afterwards where elders expressed the problems they might be having, and later we got pictures with him as zones. It was pretty awesome.

While I was there I got to see Elders Elison, Staples, Garcia, and Nelson (my companion from the MTC), haha. He seems to be doing good, which makes me very happy! Well we left to the terminal where the nicest bus company was leaving for Olanchito at 1:30pm, giving us about 45 min to eat. I wanted to go on this bus but my comp wanted to leave on the last one at 3:30pm so he could go buy some new shoes (he has 7 pairs, I swear he's worse than Amos :P) and my ZL told him to take the 1:30pm one. Then my comp suggested that me and elder Diego take that one and he stays with the other elder from Coyoles until 3, which didn’t happen. Well later someone told him one left at 2:30pm, so he said we would take that bus. During lunch my comp left with the other elder, I think his name is Andrade, and I had no idea where they were. Elder Diego went with Elder Osoy somewhere, so I was stuck because the rest of my zone was leaving for Tocoa and I couldn’t go with them. Eventually it all worked out, and on the bus ride home is where I think I got sick. I had the window open for a little bit and the air was nice and cold after the rain. Well we got home around 8:30pm and yesterday my comp told me that after hearing what Bishop Burton said, that he would repent and we would start working harder after today. Hopefully we can, but this is the second time he has said this, so if it doesn’t improve I’ll say something about it.

Today I have been feeling miserable, terrible headache, coughing a whole bunch, but I hope it will pass soon. Rey expressed her concern for me today saying that it is getting out of hand that we are there every day, and I reassured her I would fix it. Hopefully this change is better than the last and that all goes well, I hope everything is great back home!

Elder Neher

p.s. I am downloading the antivirus right now but it is taking forever. Hopefully I will be able to send pics later today.

Week #21 - Guipers Creepers (Bellavista Branch)

Hola todos!

Bueno, this week went by better than the last. We did get some work done, and there were still days where we didn’t do much, but we are progressing and moving forward. This week we went out to the farthest part of our area, the colonies Triangle 1 and 2. They are super far away from everything, but seeing as how neither of us have been out there, we decided to give it a try and found some people we hope can progress. What happens is we contact them one day, set up the appointment for the next day, and then don’t even go out, so I hope we can change that soon.

Today we found out about who has changes, and neither of us do, but Elder Diaz in Olanchito does, and we all think Elder Denning will be moved to district leader, so I have at least one more transfer here in Olanchito and then I move on! We are going to try and work more with members, at least that’s what I hope for, but we´ll see what happens. The two daughters at our cook’s house are both leaving, one to college in SPS and the other to Spain, so that should reduce our time at the cooks house. I’m confident we can get more done here and if not, I’m going to talk to Elder Contreras about it, but let’s hope things work out smoothly.

I’ve been studying lately in the Bible dictionary, I’ve been finding myself sitting here wanting to learn more, about physics or whatever. I miss school and learning! Ha ha Well, I have 2 pages left and in the Bible dictionary and can say I have learned a lot from it, and gained a lot of insight into other things too. It’s definitely worth the read!

Well as for the title of the letter this week, a “guiper” (I’m assuming this is how its spelled, since they pronounce it “geeper”) is a girl that is falling for a missionary, and I think you all know where this is going. Well, two of our investigators are sisters, they are 15 and 18, and they both are my “guipers” right now. One texted the other during a lesson commenting on my lips, while the other said she liked my eyes. Well at least they haven’t done anything, thank goodness! The other day we were teaching them when their neighbor came by, who sat next to me and commented on my eyes, asking if they were contacts (while I was wearing my glasses ¬.¬) Well she started saying she wanted to get married to someone on Monday, so I told her that she better start looking for someone. Then one of the sisters asked her what she liked about me, she said my eyes, ears, mouth, nose, everything, and my comp and Mochi (daughter of our cook) were sitting there smirking. Music was playing and this lady asked if I wanted to go inside the house to dance, which I kindly rejected, saying it was against the rules. The entire time I was sitting there she was staring at me, and then she made a comment about me sweating (beforehand I was, but at this point I wasn’t) and began to stroke my hair, all the while everyone laughing, and I was laughing too, cause I didn’t know what to do! Well she ended up leaving and the sisters told me she has a mental problem, but still, I’m sure she was about to kiss me, in which case I would have been taken out of here. This happened to another gringo elder out here, with another person, and for about a year they only sent Latinos out here. So that was my fun little adventure for the week!

Well I hope all is going well back home and that everyone is doing great!

Hasta luego!

Elder Steven Neher

Week #20 - Would you like some cancer with those fries? (Bellavista Branch)

Hola familia y amigos!

Well I was planning on sending pictures this week, but the power went out earlier. I still have to download the antivirus and right now we are at a café that is pretty terrible, so I will try for sure next week, I know everyone is dying for pics.

Well this week we still didn’t do much but it’s getting better. We had divisions on Tuesday through Wednesday and I went to Coyoles again with the greenie that´s out there.  That was really weird because I thought they weren´t supposed to send two Jr. comp’s to an area together, but whatever, it was fine. Something happened with an elder in Trujillo so they gave him a break from his area and they decided to give the whole zone divisions. So I was out in Coyoles while Elder Anderson, (who came with me from the US), was here in Bella Vista. They did work, but only until my comp got super sick and couldn’t work anymore. When I came back we still didn’t do anything, but I can say that things have improved. 

I think my comp started to realize what had been going on these past few weeks, but 3 things in particular really did it for him. First it was watching The Best Two Years. For those of you who don’t know, it’s about 2 missionaries in Holland, one is new (which we could say is me) the other just about to leave, no desires to work, nothing (which we can say is my comp). The new elder has no idea what’s going on and tries to work with his comp, who at first was difficult, but eventually things change and they start working super hard, resulting in their first baptism. My comp told me that this helped him. 

Second, on Friday night we were out later than we should have been (at the cook’s house) and a member saw us and got upset. Yesterday at church our branch president talked with us about it. I didn’t say anything because I honestly didn’t know what to say, but my comp took the blame for everything. The branch president “macheted” us, (mainly my comp) saying that he is affecting the work and how I could turn out in the future. 

Third, I think it was Saturday night that I saw the mission rulebook in the bathroom, meaning my comp had been reading out of it. For some background, the first or second day he was here he said "my mission is my mission, and your mission is your mission" but he read something in there from Pres. Kimball that says right now it’s our mission, because we are a companionship, and these factors made him realize that he´s been affecting my mission as well. I had been fasting and praying that I might be able to speak up or something would happen to fix what´s been going on, and I know they´ve been answered. 

My comp has also said that he´s been thinking of having an emergency exchange out of here, I’m not entirely sure why, but that he´s certain one of us is going to leave this change. A missionary can request an emergency transfer but I don’t know the stipulations behind them. I really don’t know if my leaders know anything about what’s going on, but there really aren’t any personality problems, we get along just fine. I don’t mind staying here for one more change, but I would like to see more of Honduras too.

Now for something about Honduras. Well first I ate fresh iguana on Thursday, still had the skin and everything, which I avoided, but it was really good, and Hondurans have a firm belief that french fries give people cancer. My cook even told me "look at all the gringos that have died!" Yes, maybe from cholesterol, haha, but I reassured them that if fries gave people cancer, there would be a whole bunch of problems in the states, and the world, haha!

Well my comp has reassured me that we are going to work this week, and try to get a baptism before changes, so that’s good. Right now I feel better, both with my health and with what´s been going on, so we shall see what happens after changes next week! I really appreciate all the help and support I’ve been receiving, it has really helped.

Qué le vaya muy bien!

Elder Neher