The Master's Hand
Never have I seen a more terrifying yet miraculous excursion in my life.
Today started out with happy faces and happy talk about our Pday today. We had planned an excursion out to a field of a member that is good friends of us in the mission because he carries us in his taxi and stuff like that. The plan was to go to the field, which is an hour and a little bit away from the office and is really secluded up in the mountains here on the coast, and we were to eat a big lunch up there. We were all in our Pday clothes with everything ready to go. It was funny to see President and Sister Searle in casual clothes haha.
So we left and as we drived it was a beautiful experience. As we went up the mountain we got to see the coast and see over all the city and forest around us. It was super cool. I won´t lie. It was an amazing view. We got there where we were going to eat and we all unloaded the food and things of the taxis and cars and everything was great. We even saw a little chimp monkey thing! That was pretty cool. We were taking photos of the monkey, the wild turkeys, and trees and things around in the "camp" site. (It looked like a camp site). Then the member told us we could go out for a cool scenic hike. To go see where the water comes out of the mountain and to see his family field. The member had a guy there who was going to be our guide and we were all super excited to go. So we all set off on the hike to go see the beautiful nature of the mountains of Colombia! And to be honest, it was very beautiful with all sorts of exotic bugs like spiders, centipedes, oh and also the first time I´ve seen a potatoe bug here in Colombia! We were hiking and we really saw some beautiful spots of trees and rocks where there had been rivers before. Everything was so green! and beautiful! So, later on we got to a spot where it was a little hard to climb up a rock. Below the rock there was a little water hole and to get up you had to go around the side carefully to get up. So the guide recommended that Sister and President Searle didn´t go on ahead anymore on the trail. So they decided to stay back and us missionaries were trying to decide if we were just going to keep going or return back to lunch. We decided to keep going because President Searle said we could keep going and he would wait with Sister Searle until we got back.
As we kept going we saw a few more beautiful sites. There was a part that was almost like a rock tunnel where a river had past years ago. It reminded me of the Subway slot canyon hike at Zions. We took photos and everything was just happy dandy. I hiked up a little bit more with an Elder after taking a picture of him and we saw this HUGE bee hive on the side of the rock wall. It was pretty cool. We didn´t think anything of it and so we sat there and waited for the rest of the missionaries to get there. Me my companion, the elder, and another elder waited there for the elders. The guide had gone up just a little the trail and was waiting for us when suddenly he yelled "¡CORRA!" For those who don´t know Spanish, that means "run." Right as he yelled that I was taking a picture of a baby tarantula and I turned around and saw a few of the bees start to leave the wall...
Now i know what you´re all thinking... A hive of bees. Never good to be around...
I ran.
I ran, and I ran so fast.
I have never in my entire life had so much adrenaline pumping through my body. All of us ten missionaries began to run and run and run. But just to mention, this trail was not easy. There were big rocks to climb and jump down from, slippery mud in every place... To be honest, I have never felt so scared in my entire life as I ran. There was an enormous black cloud of angry bees chasing after us and attacking us. The elder that was in the back, the one I was with at first, began to scream. Scream SO loud.
- Now...If you´ve ever seen the Hunger Games movie... think of the experience when the bees attack... that is LITERALLY what it felt like and heard like. I say the absolute truth and I don´t think I will ever be able to get the sound of those screams from my head. It was horrifying!
I ran and ran and ran so fast. I really don´t remember how I got out of there. Honestly it is a miracle that I got out of there without breaking a bone or falling and smacking my head or something on a rock. I was guided. Heavenly protection. Elder Muir, another elder, and I, we ran and kept running until we got to President and Sister Searle. We yelled to them to run. They asked where the elder in the back was, the one that was screaming. We told them the guide was with him and that they needed to run. We kept running ahead to get help from someone. As I ran I had gotten one sting on the back of my left elbow, but luckily it didn´t hurt very bad and it still hasn´t swollen up. I felt the bees swarming around my head. I swatted like crazy. And miraculously not a single one stung my head. I left there with the one sting on my elbow. One of the elders I was with, an assistant, is allergic to bees. So he was super scared and we ran so crazy. We finally got back to the lunch place and yelled to the people that we needed an ambulance. Fast. We called and they said the closest ambulance would take 30 minutes to get here. We were so scared. Finally, the assistant and I ran back to see if the others needed help, and to really, find where they were. The elder that was screaming had been stung at least, I would say 200 times. He was covered in the little bees stingers. They took off his shirt and began to pull out all the stingers and to help him back to the lunch place. President and Sister Searle then took him and another missionary that was stung bad to the hospital as fast as they could.
Now I had to cut that ending part a little short, but during that entire time I was praying so hard to my Father in Heaven. Asking Him to protect and guide us. It truly was the most frightening experience I have ever had. I will never forget it. It really felt like the Hunger Games as we ran for our lives. In the end we found, by dead bees caught in the elder´s shirt, that the bees were African bees. Or in other words, killer bees.
We are all ok here. We have all had an experience pretty crazy, and well now we are ready to help each other recuperate and get to work in this glorious labor.
We really saw the Master´s Hand in that experience today as we ran. None of us know how we got out so easily and quickly without falling over the rocks and trees. We came out only with a few scratches and bruises... and bee stings. We are so grateful to our Savior and our Father in Heaven for protecting us, even though some received a lot of stings and cuts. I am grateful to be here and to have seen His miraculous hand working with us. I will never forget that experience.
Until the next time,
Love,
~Elder Tyler Hales~
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