Elder Benjamin Michael Conover Mission Blog : Week 26: A Whole New World

Hey Everyone!

So first week in Colonia Bombal, and things have been pretty crazy, challenging, but awesome!

On Monday night, we got to go to the houses of the investigators, and the members to say goodbye. Sadly, the Vera Family and Facundo werent home, but we got to say goodbye to Barbosa and Sergio and Ines, which was sad, but a good experience, and it has been a blessing to be able to get to know them.

On Tuesday, we changed areas. My area is Colonia Bombal, in the Maipu zone. WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE hahahaha.

It takes us about 2 hrs by bus to get anywhere, and we are on bikes. The entire area is just a bunch of farms, so the houses are super far apart from each other.

My companion is Elder Lundquist from Temecula, California, and he has almost 7 months in the mission. He is a stud, and he works super hard, so I am so excited for this transfer.

The past few days have probably been some of the hardest days of my life that ive hadd physically haha. The bikes that we have are super bad, but so stinking awesome at the same time. They are kinda falling apart, but it makes it more fun. There are a lot less trees so there is a lot of sun and we ride super far. Saturday morning we got out of bed at 6:30 and we couldnt move since we were so sore hahaha.

Anyways, this week we have been focusing a lot on finding new people. We have contacted a few families, but unfortunately, all of the appointments fell, but we had a great experience on Thursday. We tried contacting a woman, and she wasnt there, and her neighbor came out to tell us that. So, we asked him if we could teach him. He gave us 15 minutes, and we could take longer if it was interesting haha.

We went to teach him, and his wife was there, and they have two little girls. The man ended up asking a ton of perfect questions, so we were there for at least an hour and a half haha. They said that they will read the Book of Mormon and pray about it so we are super excited about that!

Church was awesome, and the members are amazing. This ward is a miracle. Middle of nowhere, but there are a ton of people there, and I would say that it is better organized than the majority of the wards in the States. It is PERFECT. And, the ward mission leader is amazing, so that is awesome haha.

So yesterday, as we were biking, we felt destroyed physically. I just started praying so hard over and over again for physical strength and support to finish the day`s work, and every time, I felt a boost of energy and it was easier to ride the bike. SUCH A BLESSING from the Lord.

Funny: (There is a lot this week)

We went to a fast food place to eat the other day, and I spilled a big cup of sprite into my lap. People were all laughing, and I just was sitting in a puddle of sprite haha.

We were talking to a woman, and I was trying to gain her confidence. I saw that she had some kids in the yard, so I wanted to ask her how many kids she had. Without thinking, I asked ¨Cuantos años tiene¨ instead of ¨cuantos hijos tiene¨ or, ¨how old are you¨ I accidently said years instead of kids, so she answered 32. I was pretty surprised to hear that, and then i realized what I did. It was a funny experience haha.

The other night, I had a dream that someone walked into the room and put a giant spider on Elder Lundquist in his bed. I woke up, half asleep, and called over to him to wake him up, and let him know he had a giant bug on him. I was convinced that there was a spider, and I had to make sure he knew hahaha. He turned on the light, looked, and then went back to bed. I didnt remember that until he told me in the morning haha.

Finally, the best part.

Now that we are on bikes, dogs want to KILL us.

We were riding down the street, and we saw a dog start coming after us. A HUGE DOG. Luckily, i was riding in front, so Elder Lundquist would be the first one to go. The dog slowed down, so Elder Lundquist did too. But then, the dog just went in for the kill. I could just hear Elder Lundquist yell ¨Oh freak! AHHHHH!!¨ I couldnt stop laughing, and luckily we got away.

However, we realized right after that we had to turn around. which meant facing the Dog again.

Disclaimer: I love dogs, and i dont want to hurt them.....but i also dont want to be attacked by one.

So, we picked up some rocks, and made the journey back. It was super dark, and the dog had crossed the street into the bushes, so we couldnt see it. So, we started whistling to get it out, so it couldnt surprise attack us. Suddenly, the dog came barelling out of the bushes about 100 ft in front of us at full speed. Since, I was in the front, I took the first shot with the rock, which I think made contact. We kicked up the speed a notch and just hauled. The dog made chase and I could hear Elder Lundquist screaming for his life hahaha. It was awesome.

I love this area, and the ward. We have a lot of Bolivian people. I am so excited to see what the Lord has in store for us here!

Elder Conover