Week #54 - Here Comes the Sun, again and again! (Seis de Mayo)

Hola familia y amigos!

 Well this week has been good, it’s just been super hot…it’s unbelievable. My area is all dirt so it just makes it even hotter and some days are just terrible, and lately it has been raining at night, and then it’s sunny during the day, so all the pooled water just adds to the heat.

This week has been good though, I kind of feel bad because when we teach I don’t feel like I leave my comp enough time to talk. Sometimes he wants to say something and when he doesn’t is when I ask him to share something. I just feel a little out of it being with someone that has less time than me. I’m still getting used to it, but we should get it fixed. The Multizona we had was really good, even though as of late we as a mission haven’t been doing so well. A lot of people have music, DVD’s, all sorts of stuff they shouldn’t have, so we were supposed to hand over anything that could impede us from working. President talked about 4 types of missionaries, the disobedient rebellious one, the disobedient one, the obedient one but that doesn’t have his heart in it, and the obedient one that puts everything he has into the work. It was a really good capacitation and he committed all the areas to do better and to baptize more, so hopefully we can step up the work.

There is an interesting story that I have failed to mention before. When I first got here we went and visited an inactive member that got deported from the states. He is really cool, speaks English, but he has had a really tough life, lots of family problems, especially with his wife. They both are members and he had been involved in drugs, alcohol, his wife cheated on him, it was all a really big mess, and because of the pain he did the same, out of anger. He told us that he just felt really bad. We have tried getting him to church, to pray, to tell his wife, everything, and one visit we were sitting there listening to him and an idea popped in my head to give him a blessing. Right after that thought came in my comp asked him if he wanted one, and he said yes. So we gave him a blessing and afterward he said he felt like something had left him. The next visit I was on divisions in another area and Elder Elison came to see him and he told them that he started praying, that ever since the blessing he has felt so much better. We saw him on Sat. and he told us that he told his wife and that he felt all this pressure just leave him. His wife of course was upset, but now she is trying to help him and it’s incredible to see him progress. Before he would complain about everything and now he jokes and smiles more and it’s great to see him getting better.

We have had some investigators that are progressing really well too. Elvin, a black guy we contacted, has had family problems and he feels changed now that we are teaching him. We left him the BoM to read and he read 10 chapters and asked for more material to study! We took him to stake conference this week and he enjoyed it, even though 2 members were talking with him in the middle, but he enjoyed it. We also have Darwin, who went to church just to go in Comayagua, but the missionaries never taught him, and he read as well from the BoM and really enjoyed it. We have yet to go back with him because he has working conflicts, but we have them and others. We have been trying to contact a lot to get new people and hopefully we can get a few of the others married and baptized. We are already halfway through the change, it’s pretty crazy! Hopefully we can get some more baptisms while we are here. I hope everyone back home has a great week and that abuela does well with her surgery!



Con mucho amor,


Elder Neher

Week #53 - In the Center Ring(worm) (Seis de Mayo)

Hola familia y amigos!

Well first off I think that is stinkin’ awesome that Elder Maza is with Chase!!! Elder Maza is awesome and we got along really well in the MTC, and Chase will learn a lot from him. We both had comps that didn’t want to work too hard in the MTC and we joked about switching comps haha! He is awesome so I’m not worried for Chase at all.

Well this week was pretty crappy. It was really hard for us to work in our area due to some situations happening, needless to say we had to leave the area every night this week and stay with the ZLs, but everything is fine now and hopefully it will stay that way. We did have our baptism and it went really well, there was a lot of support, and afterwards Silvia and her daughter received their recommendations to go to the broadcast of the San Salvador temple dedication!

Well like I said it was hard this week to teach people and a lot of the citas fell, but hopefully this week will be better. Elder Porter is cool, it’s just kind of hard adjusting to him compared to Elder Anderson. I keep forgetting that he´s pretty new and sometimes I can tell he wants to do something but I can tell he doesn’t want to say anything either, exactly how I was, so hopefully I can help him. I feel like we can get better at communicating, it’s just been hard cause our schedule has been really messed up.

This week we have a multizona which should be fun. Oh something I forgot to mention is that my dl here is Elder Elison! haha It’s awesome being able to see him 'die' in this area haha! He was super happy to find out that I was in his district. Well I did get my bday package and other letters, thanks for everything! I just have no idea how to use the camera to take pics, but I guess I’ll figure it out. Well I have been having a lot of problems with ringworms. I have no idea where they came from, but I am getting them everywhere, and it stinks. I even have one on my forehead!

Well the highlight this week had to be the temple dedication for the San Salvador, El Salvador temple. The night before, they had the cultural celebration but we missed it due to the baptism. Sunday was the temple dedication broadcast and President Eyring came with Elder Christofferson and it was awesome! It was just weird hearing everything twice, once in English and once in Spanish. But it was really cool, we got to see them put in the cornerstone as well. There are two missionaries in our zone from El Salvador and they were super happy about the whole thing. Some people say that the Tegus temple will be done in April, others in September. At this point no one knows, but hopefully I’m still here for it!

Well hopefully this next week will be great, weird to think I already have a year, time flies when you´re having fun! Hope everything goes well at home and that everyone enjoys doing what you're doing, I know I am!

Con amor,

Elder Neher

Week #52- One Year! (Seis de Mayo)

Baptism of Yadira & Jose

Making Papusas!

Baptism of Isis

Buenas familia y amigos!

Well first of all, thanks for the birthday wishes! It really was a great birthday and it feels like so long ago that it happened! It was a really nice birthday but it just kind of stunk that I had to say good bye to everyone that day. Well that morning we had a zone meeting to share testimonies for those who were leaving etc, and at the end the ZL’s brought in a huge cake for my birthday, made by one of the members in their ward. So I got my first cake and after that we went around to say goodbye to a few families (I had said goodbye to quite a few on Sunday & Monday when I thought I was going to have changes) and we went to try and see Yadira and Jose to say goodbye but they weren’t there. She wanted me to write them something and she wanted to write me something as well. She is such a sweet lady and when I got here to my new area I felt a little empty inside because I wasn’t able to see them or Isis, but I know they are alright. They have a huge place in my heart! That was one of the hard parts about leaving my last area.

Basically we said goodbye all day long, got some more cake from a member and went to my birthday party, which was really fun. I had to punch the piñata because they didn’t want me breaking anything in the house, and I almost punched my cook and her sister haha!! Then everyone went around and said something nice about me and my cook almost started crying. They made a whole bunch of carne asada and my convert Isis gave me 2 new shirts from her work (she says she has another present on the way) and they got a nice chocolate/strawberry cake which my face got smashed in. It was a great night!  Elder Anderson has the pics and everything so I’ll send them to you when i can.  Oh and later that night President called to say happy birthday, which really surprised me (and scared me at the same time, haha!). When he called I had forgotten taht it was my birthday. ooo that night I also shoved a whole bunch of cotton in Elder Anderson´s toe for his in-grown toenail, it was pretty fun haha!

Well, changes was interesting. I didn’t feel that nervous at all, kind of excited, and I kept joking with Elder Anderson that he would be made a trainer, and he was, with an Elder from Guatemala that looks like he should be in primary! I was called to go to 6 de Mayo with Elder Porter. He is from North Ogden and has 5 months on his mission.  I’m his 2nd comp in the mission! He is ready to work which is really nice. The area here is hot (of course), it is terrible! My first two days here I kept getting headaches (I still do) but the sun was just so strong that I would have to stop walking to get my head straight. One day I honestly felt like a zombie! The area here is huge and has had problems in the past with the missionaries and the members (namely Latin elders and the single women in the ward).  It has been 8 years since they have had 2 Americans here at the same time, so this should be interesting. This area also has a very high concentration of black people, which I haven’t seen here before. I’m not really sure why. We have a baptism planned next week for a black lady and her daughter and hopefully we can confirm them the same day, because next Sunday is the San Salvador temple dedication and after that will be stake conference, so hopefully it can go through. I hope that this will be a great area and that we will be able to baptize a lot of people!

I have learned so many things on my mission that  I don’t think I can write them all, but I do want to be a better missionary then I was the day before, improving who I am and how I work.  My life is so different than one year ago because I’m a missionary! Thanks for all the love and support!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Neher

Week #51 - Moth Madness (Cerro Verde)

Hola familia y todos!

Well this week was a scorcher, at least I felt like it was, and we have been trying really hard again to find more people to teach. We have received quite a few references and they look pretty positive, so we'll see how it goes. It’s been hard still for me just knowing that I have changes, (which yes I do) and it’s been hard to find new people, but whatevs, haha. We have found some really great people that will most likely get baptized. This area has been amazing! I have left a really good impression and the members are sad to see me go and I am sad too. I have really loved it here but I know I need to move on.

This Sunday there were a bunch of people at church and I was really happy to see Victor at church. I was elated that he showed up with his wife on their own and that he was dressed in church clothes and with his hair combed (we gave him the clothes when he was baptized and he never wore them). He blessed his baby, it was incredible, and he stayed the entire time and all the members were happy to see him, I was super excited. Well this last week we had the baptism of Santana, the girlfriend of a member. We didn’t really feel ready to baptize her but our DL came to talk with her and asked her if she wanted to get baptized that week and she said yes. We were kind of upset because our DL has been pushing us to get her baptized only for the number we are sure of, which is so dumb, but whatever.

So this week we had one lady we have been teaching come to church, by herself, and she loved it! Hopefully she will progress. She was one that went to our activity with the Relief Society an hour early and she has been reading the Liahonas she has received. Super pilas! Well my cook and her sister Isis, one of our converts, have been planning a giant birthday party for me with a piñata and everything, so we'll see how tomorrow is! I have had some great converts here and it’s kind of sad to leave. This has been a great change. Elder Anderson is stinkin awesome! We have had so much fun together, lots of crazy memories!

Well today we went to Omoa as a zone to see an old fort and go see the beach. It was pretty cool, but I am beat now. Well for some crazy stuff that has happened recently, this week we were getting ready to head out and there was a giant moth in our house. It was the size of my hand! So we get it caught and send it on its way but it flies back towards the house and out of instinct Elder Anderson hits it with a magazine and sends it flying. It was hilarious! It eventually died but it was super funny. Well thanks for the love and support. This should be a great birthday and hopefully next week I’m in an area with rain! Haha!

Hasta luego!

Elder Neher

Week #50 - Pigeons and Puddles (Cerro Verde)

Hola familia y amigos!

Well this week was another slow week. We have been trying to help Santana to get baptized and this entire week was spent trying to find her and teach her but with no luck. Because it was the end of the month, our leaders wanted us to just baptize her and worry about teaching her the rest later and we both thought that was really stupid. We couldn’t find her anyways so it didn’t matter, but she isn’t very open and hasn’t been showing that much progress, even though she goes to church. Also a lot of members don’t like her for some weird reason so it’s just been a mess, so we don’t know if/when we will baptize her, but I think eventually we will.

This week two kids who are the niece and nephew of a member went to church and said they wanted to be baptized, so we just have to get permission from their mom to baptize them and it’ll be good to go. This week was slow for teaching but we have been contacting a bunch lately. and We leave appointments to come back, and the people are not there or they say another day, so it’s been kind of hard dealing with that. We have been teaching other people that could get baptized, but they just have to go to church and a lot of them already know members so it shouldn’t be too hard for them to go. This next week we want to contact more and try to get more references but we'll see what will happen.

Well yesterday it rained super hard! All the streets were flooded and there were rivers everywhere! We got soaked and my shoes were done at the end of the day and it was pretty cold yesterday from all the rain. The craziest thing that happened this week though was when we got home one night after working. That day it had rained a bit, but not too much, and we get home and the first thing that I notice is that there is poop on my suits in the closet. I thought it was from geckos in the house but when I looked up a pigeon flew right out of my clothes! It scared the crap out of me and my comp and we spent a good ten minutes trying to get it out of the house. It was crazy! We took a video and its pretty funny haha! Well this week should be my last full week in this area and we want to make it a good one! Elder Anderson is awesome and I love the work!

Tengan una feliz semana!

Elder Neher