Date
November 3, 2019
Area
Pototan, Philippines
Companion
Elder Payton Nelson
Week 31 of 104
So, it has been a minute, but when I write an email, I would rather it be a little longer and worth the read than send a paragraph that would just be a waste of time. If that's the case I would rather just wait till next week. BUT right now, I have a couple of stories so here we go.
First, we had a family baptism in our ward. One girl (9 years old) was really scared of the water. I can't blame her because the water was so black and nasty. We literally just poured liquid sewage in the font and baptize people in it. It was disgusting and I felt bad, but that's all there is available. This little girl was not having it. A member, an older lady, was trying to help this girl get over her fears and get her in the font. She starts like lightly moving her more and more towards the font, the whole time this girl is bawling while covering her eyes, but we finally get her in the water. Still crying. He says the words, tells the girl "Ok one, two, three." Goes to let her plug her nose, gets her nose and she begins to fight him. He puts her down once, some of her body goes under the water, then she tries to come up. If this girl comes up without being finished, she's not going back in the water. This is a onetime chance. He stops her mid coming up and pushes her under again. She is under, but her hair floated up, so he must go for a third time! FINALLY, she is all the way under, but let me tell you, when this girl came up out of the water, she was mortified. She was immediately crying. We looked like we were forcing her to get baptized for one, and then two, we were basically drowning her in the name of Jesus. What a memorable experience of being baptized in the Lord's church. She won't forget today, that's for sure.
Next story. But first, a little background. This will all make sense, I promise. Our bedroom is a tiny little room with just enough space for our bunk bed and that's about it. I am on the top bunk and it is very close to the ceiling. Our ceiling is made of plywood, it is so weak. Next, our neighbor next to us owns a monkey, a decent sized, furry, poop-throwing monkey. And he hates cats. Every time he sees one walk by his cage, he smacks it or grabs it and you can hear them squeal. So, onto the story. I am peacefully asleep when out of nowhere I hear this loud "BANG" right above my head (the ceiling is literally right there) and then I hear a squeal and running right above my head. It is pitch black and the squealing freaked me out. Here is what I thought happened (keep in mind it is pitch black, I can't see a thing) not to mention I am sleep deprived and just woke up, so my brain is not all there. I thought that the frisky cats fell through my ceiling and landed somewhere on my bed. I am on the top bunk so they would have landed right on me. I scrambled so fast looking for my sheet, I needed shelter against these savage cats. I did it in complete silence, because I didn't want to make a noise and let these cats know where my face was or that I was awake so they would turn and attack me. Yes, I thought a tiny sheet would protect me. I find my sheet and hide for dear life, and then am silent. My companion Elder Nelson is on the bunk below me, and here are his thoughts at 2am on what happened. He heard a loud bang which woke him up. Immediately after the bang I was scrambling looking for my sheet, but for him, all the sudden the bed started shaking uncontrollably. He thought that the monkey from our neighbor’s house had gotten out of his cage and was chasing those hated cats on our roof. He thought that bang was the monkey falling through the roof and falling on the top bunk. He thought "Oh my gosh. My companion is wrestling with a monkey right now. I better be quiet, so he doesn't get me too." What a hero. But then I completely stopped moving so he thought the monkey either killed me, knocked me out, or I got it off of me, but all in silence. He was too scared to move or reach for anything because he thought the monkey was still in the room somewhere and if he reached for the phone it was gonna bite his arm or something. He laid in his bed in the same exact position as when, unmoving, wide eyed, hand by his face and legs slightly slanted. He then thought, "I gotta see if Nibarger is alright." He sniffled and I thought, "No one sniffles in their sleep." so I said, "You up?" and then he busted out laughing. We laughed for the next 10 min straight until we fell asleep again. It was so much fun honestly. We laughed about it every time we brought it up for the next 3 days.
Next thing, this one has some missionary work in it. So, our most progressing investigator, his name is Redin, is a beast. We met him when we bought some fish from him. I don't know if I wrote his story in an email, or just my journal so here it is. We were seriously craving some fish one day and we wanted to find some and fry some. We see a guy driving around on this bike with some barrels tied on the sides. Turns out he sells fish. We bought some fish from him and talked to him about who we are. We give him a pamphlet. He texts us and tells us the time and day to come to his house. We show up and the rest is history. This guy is great. Here is the story. We have been teaching him for maybe 2-3 weeks now, he loves our message. He brings his family to church every week (all except for his wife) and they seem to love it. So yesterday or 2 days ago we were teaching him about the degrees of glory and the different kingdoms. The spirit was awesome so we invited Redin to be baptized and of course he accepted, in fact, he said, "Yes I will be baptized, we all will! We all want to be baptized." Oh boy. We brought some members with us and we were all bearing our testimonies on the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of Christs true church. An awesome member named Gifty was bearing her testimony when she got a little teary eyed. Nanay, (Redin’s wife) walked in. Gifty finishes and Nanay goes OFF. She basically says this - "Jesus Christ loves us all no matter what. He is our savior and that won't change. It doesn't matter what church you are in. Whichever church you like the most, is the church that is for you, that is the one that will save you. My husband loves your church and you guys. He wants to be baptized in your church and I am fine with that, but my children don't want to be baptized. At least not yet." We suspect that Redin just told everyone that they're gonna get baptized. He is awesome, but a little over zealous. But yeah, the mom is not a fan of us. She is a Jehovah Witness and come to find out, they don't like LDS very much. Who knew? Gifty, who is a native speaker was about to tear her down with love and truth, when Satan had to step in and intervene because he knew we were about to wreck it. The baby got her finger pinched by a fan and the mom takes the baby to the other room. When Redin came to church this Sunday, we taught a lesson about the responsibilities of the Priesthood leaders in the house and how we have to be good husbands and fathers and stuff. Redin took home the Blessings of The Priesthood book to show his wife "Look, the church teaches good stuff." I am excited to see what happens there. All in all, a good week.
I love you all so much! I miss you! Please read the Book of Mormon, it honestly is so cool, seriously. Prayer works - fact not opinion. Please use it. I'll see you all next week.
That white guy,
Elder Nibarger