Week #103 - Saved by a Spider (Montecristo)

Hola familia y amigos!

Well this week was good, there are always highs and lows, but it has been good, today my comp got a little mad at me caused I called him out to the ZLs that he was listening to reggaeton, but I think he got over it. He seems to be a lot different in front of me personally and when he is in front of certain members. With some of them he is one way and others another, but I hope that he can change his attitude.

So this week we changed a bit and decided to do divisions with our 2 ward mission leaders and split up for a day between El Confite and Montecristo, and we had a lot of success. I stayed in MC and my comp went to Confite and they were able to put some baptismal dates with some of the people we are teaching there.  One is Antonio Bonilla, whose wife has been a member for a long time and he never really has had any desire to go to church, until he had, I think in English it’s a stroke and he had a dream that he needed to go to church with his wife. Last week he wasn’t able to go, but this week a member went and picked him up because he has been having problems walking, but he has been improving a lot. When he was at church everyone was super supportive of the family, everyone went up and talked to him and he felt super welcomed. His baptism will be the 25th, although I would like to have it before I leave! We had a total of 12 investigators at church yesterday, 5 in MC, 3 in Confite and 4 in La Masica, so we have a lot of work to do! I am really enjoying myself, and I don’t feel like I’m coming home soon, nor do I really want to! I love this country and people too much, but yeah we are working hard, and I think at the end of the month we could have some more baptisms! It’s been raining a lot here and supposedly there is a hurricane coming, so that should be FUN!!!  I am trying really hard to stay focused and to work hard. I really don’t feel like I’m coming home, and I know it’s going to be really weird. Something I noticed is that I’m going to be in the Miami airport alone for at least 3 hours, plus during the flight! I don’t know what I’m going to do without a companion around!

So this week we had a bit of a scare. I’m telling you guys because I’m almost going to be home, and it was pretty funny what happened. I have been in areas here that are probably the worst in the whole country (Cerro Verde, which is part of La Lopez Arellano drug gang, and 6 de Mayo which belongs to La Rivera Hernandez) and in those places nothing has ever happened to me. Here by our church building they have been telling everyone to be careful because lately they have been robbing people on the street before and after the church. The problem is because there are a lot of bushes and weeds so it’s easy to hide, and the lighting isn’t the greatest either. Anyway, I think it was Wed night around 7:30 and we were walking towards an investigators house and this street is the entrance to the community. On the left there are passages or streets for the houses, and we were walking and I have a weird habit now that I notice things on the ground without paying attention and I pick them up or mess with them. That night I saw a huge tarantula in front of us, so we started messing with it. I was poking it with a stick and my comp took out his camera to take a picture. I was a few paces in front of my comp when a guy comes out of the bushes and tells us to stay still and to give him our cell phones, which we don’t have, and when I didn’t notice my comp took off and was already at the corner watching me. The guy kept reaching into his pants to pull something out and right then a taxi pulled around the corner, shined its lights on us so we booked it! I have never run so fast in my life, it was pretty crazy! What saved us was the spider and the taxi, because if we had not paid attention to it he would have jumped us earlier and the taxi probably wouldn’t have passed by and I wouldn’t have my camera! It was pretty crazy, but you guys don’t need to worry about anything, we are fine and we avoid that part now! It’s been super great to be here and I love this country! I hope we can come back for the temple dedication and maybe even swing by and see Chase! I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Neher