Chapter 16: Chased by a man-gorilla

Amber Prior
Jul 15
5 min read

Updated: Jul 28

July 7, 2025

Weeks in the mission: 20 Days remaining: 583 Companion: Elder Watson Area: RiversideWard: Mission

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Hello friends and family! Welcome to chapter 16. This week had a lot packed into it. We had zone conference on Wednesday, which was awesome! We learned a lot there and applied it into our work in the field.

As far as the title is concerned, it's something funny that happened to us this week. You can read more about it in the "daily events."

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🌟 Miracle Highlight 🌟

Definitely when we found Isaias. We found him as soon as we left from our apartment complex. He was walking on the sidewalk, carrying some clothes that he had just bought. We stopped and asked him if he wanted to hear a message about Jesus Christ. He said "of course" and so we stopped and talked for a bit.

Turns out he has been through a lot, like overcoming drugs and alcohol and nicotine addictions. He wants to get closer to God. We got his info and sent it to the missionaries that lived in his area. I wish we could teach him, but that's ok.

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🙏 Prayer request 🙏

Will you please include the following friends of ours in your prayers? You have no idea how much it helps and how many miracles we see out here.

Roosevelt Cruz – He is getting prepared for his baptism this Sunday!!! His day is finally here. We've been working with him for so long and he is such an amazing son of God! Please pray for his continued advancement in the ways of the light, to not let the adversary draw him away from that which is good. When he gets baptized and confirmed, we're going to take him finding with us and he can convert others with us! We'll also see if we can start talking to his family.
Angelica Vasquez – For the 2nd week in a row, she said she couldn't come to church because she fell and got hurt. Either she is really clumsy or just scared to admit to something else. We'll be praying that she has the courage to come to church next week, perhaps even to see the baptism of our friend Cruz.
Mateo Nicolas – He is such a sweet and innocent soul. Please pray for a way for him to switch up his work schedule so he can come to church on Sunday every week.
Alex – He's been through a lot. We tried putting him on date but he said he just wasn't sure if he was ready.
Ramon Payan – We actually had to pause him because he said that he was Catholic and wasn't interested. We're praying that he'll be able to see the truth and the light that the restored gospel can bring to his life. Also we're praying for his wife, because she's really sick and has cancer.

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📅 Daily Events 📅

🔸️Monday Today was a sacred day because of the revelations I've received this morning. God finally got it through my thick skull.A quick summary of today: I practiced a musical number with some elders, wrote my email, and hung out at the church building. The highlight though was our lesson with Cruz. It was an amazing lesson about the law of tithing and why it exists. He said something I'll never forget:

"Without tithing, there wouldn't be missionary work. That means you two wouldn't have been able to come find me."

🔸️Tuesday We got so much work done today. Me and Elder Watson talked to so many people and got at least 6 numbers and contact information. We saw many miracles.We found Isaias, a super cool guy, as soon as we left the apartment complex. He said he wanted to get closer to God and had already overcome addictions like drugs, alcohol, and smoking. He's only 17 years old. He didn't live in our area so we sent him off to the missionaries there, but it was amazing to meet him.

🔸️Wednesday Today was awesome! It was Zone Conference—so much training, learning, instruction, and bonding in the Spirit. I also got to sing in a musical number along with 7 other elders. From what I could tell, we were successful. We even had President Hendrickson wiping away tears from his eyes.Oh, and I can't forget the outgoing testimonies. All the missionaries who are going home this transfer got to get up and share their testimony and final words with the mission. We had so many powerful missionaries bring the Spirit. Among these were Elder Pitcher, Elder Freed, and Elder Young. I'm gonna miss them.

🔸️Thursday We had weekly planning, mentorship meeting, social media work, and a ton of phone calls and texts to make.We had some pretty cool miracles occur today! We met Jose who showed a little bit of interest in baptism. We also stopped at Hermana Estrada's home and got to know her more. Turns out, she's one of the most faithful people I've ever met. She’s been keeping in contact with our friend Angelica, without us even knowing about it.

🔸️Friday The 4th of July, Independence Day! It was a day with an irregular schedule, that’s for sure. We got to go to a stake pancake breakfast and car show this morning. We also had interviews with President Hendrickson today. I got to talk with him about my triumphs and setbacks.Unfortunately, our lesson with Rosa cancelled. She said she wasn't home, even though yesterday she said we were good to come over.Our biggest event today was our lesson with Mateo. He told us he wanted to become president of Guatemala one day. I can't wait to tell people in 40 years I knew him before he was cool haha.Because it was the 4th of July, we had to be back in our apartments by 8:00. Several elders went to the soccer field to play football.

🔸️Saturday Zone-wide exchanges were today. As fate would have it, I got put with Elder Fergusson again, just like last week!We had a couple cool things happen. First, Elijah came out to find with us! He's a 16-year-old member in the mission ward who literally plays the organ for church. He's a great kid. He wants to come out with us again, so I can't wait!We had a sweet lesson with Mariana and her 2 kids! We taught them the plan of salvation and baptism, and invited them to church! Mariana said she might come and see what it's like. It was so good to have Elijah there with us. He loved it.

🔸️Sunday We had Cruz and Mateo at church today. I didn't get the chance to speak to Cruz because I sat farther away, next to Mateo, but that's OK because we're meeting with him tomorrow.Some funny things happened today as well. While me and Elder Watson began to bike back home as the sun was setting, we met a guy from El Salvador working on his car. He was pretty funny. He messed with us and told us not to laugh when his name was Donald Trump.And then, when we were almost home, up ahead we saw a teenager and his girlfriend in front of a house. We heard him scream out loud like a zombie, and as we biked past he started chasing us on all fours like a gorilla or caveman or something. His girlfriend was cracking up, so he was just trying to be funny for her. I've just never seen anyone commit that fully to something embarrassing like that.

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☀️ Spiritual thought ☀️

I read what "Miracle" meant in the Bible Dictionary. It's really amazing the way that it is defined. Please go read it because it's wonderful.

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📸 Photos 📸