My Second Companion and the Dog at the Fence...

Four months after arriving in Honduras my first companion was transferred to a new area and I was given someone new to work with. Transfers in the mission field were always a bit awkward at first because by the time they occurred, if things had gone well, you would have been with your previous companion long enough to either learn to really like him or, at the very least, to know him well enough that you could make any accommodations required by whatever peculiarities he may possess to make the day go by smoothly and amicably. He, of course, all the while is doing the same for you.

At the very least, you know what to expect and can anticipate what a typical day with that guy will be like. With getting a new companion, most of the anxiety arises out of not knowing, not knowing anything about him, and wondering how smoothly the next few months of your life will be as you both begin the process of adjusting to a new person's differences and preferences.

I found that most of the anxiety these changes evoked was unwarranted and that nearly all of my companions were very easy to get along with if I kept a sense of humor and realized that at the same time I was learning about and adjusting to them, they were also adjusting to me and were, perhaps, finding some of my peculiarities difficult to accommodate as well. Healthy companionships always cleared these things in the open and were willing to compromise and make concessions and yes, a sense of humor was a well used tool when sorting these things out.

My second companion was such a humble and likeable guy that despite any differences we may have had, I just couldn't help but like him. He was from Honduras which at that time was a very good thing for me because, although I had learned enough Spanish by then that I could carry on a conversation, I hadn't really mastered it and wasn't by any means fluent in its delivery.

My word placement and sentence constructs were good enough to convey meaning, but were awkward and just sounded wrong to someone who spoke Spanish well. I would say things in a strange and awkward way as I clumsily cobbled words together. Many times after saying something people would laugh a little. Not hysterically, at least not usually, but just enough to let me know I'd said something in a funny or strange way. That's Ok when you're doing it on purpose and for comedic effect but becomes frustrating and embarrassing otherwise.

Anyway, my new companion was an excellent opportunity for me to really work out some of the problems I was having with Spanish. He helped me understand and say things like someone from Honduras would. And, because he couldn't speak English, Spanish was now a 24-7 commitment. For the first time, I really was immersed in the language and I began to learn and master it far more quickly than I ever had before.

One day my new companion and I were walking down a road we'd never been down before and out of nowhere a dog came barreling towards us and crashed into the large wrought iron gate separating us at full speed. Then, after recovering from the impact with the gate, the dog barked and lunged at us repeatedly, desperately trying to get at either of us. We were both so frightened by the attack this dog had mounted that although we had managed to turn and face him we were both frozen in our tracks and unable to move.

I recovered first and the first thing I noticed about this dog was its enormous size. I had never seen a dog this big and I never have since either. He must have measured from between 3.5 and 4 feet from the ground to his withers (105-120 cm). I know you are questioning either my recollection of these events or my honesty, but my memory of this event is terrifyingly accurate. I even did a Google search looking for the world's largest dog and Guinness has it listed as a Great Dane named Zeus which measures 44 inches to his withers which is over three and one half feet tall. So at the very least you'll have to admit that my recollection isn't outside the realm of possibility.

To put this dog into perspective, while we stood there immobilized in front of him, he reared up on his hind legs a couple of times as it lunged at us and his paws were resting on the gate a few inches above my head and I'm six foot five inches tall (195 cm). This was truly an enormous dog. And trust me. When you see that much dog come at you that fast out of nowhere and then menace you at the gate, it will put a scare into you.

Because I recovered from our fright first, I put my arm around my companion and shepherded him down the street away from the dog who continued to bark and follow us along the fence line until we were beyond the property he protected. After a couple of blocks of slow silent walking as we both made an internal assessment of what we had just seen my companion turned to me and made me promise that we would never visit that house for any reason. I told him not to worry and that I had no intention of returning either which seemed to calm him down enough that we could begin talking more easily and about other things.

A couple of months came and went, and because my companion was so shaken by our run in with the dog, we never returned back to that street during that time. One day we found ourselves across town several miles from where we normally worked and I'm not sure what took us so far from our usual stomping grounds but on this day my companion stated boldly that he felt impressed to talk with the couple who was walking just ahead of us. I told him to go ahead and I would be right behind him if he needed me. So, off he went and he introduced himself and told them a little about who we were and what we did as missionaries and after getting to know them he asked if we could come by their home some day soon and share a message of Christ with them. They were both a little hesitant, but ultimately agreed and so we took down their address particulars and set a time to meet with them. They were busy so the appointment was set for the following week.

When the time came to visit them we set off toward the address they had given us and my companion was very excited about this visit because it was one he had set up pretty much all on his own. We started picking our way toward their house in fits and starts because the directions were a little difficult to follow, but after getting help from a couple of people along the way, we were finally on the right street, and began searching for the house they had described to us.

As we walked down the street I turned to my companion and said, Elder (Elder is an office in the priesthood in my church and is used by missionaries instead of calling each other by first names...it is a sign of respect that we pay one another and was also used to remind us who we served and of the sacred nature of our callings). When he didn't respond I said it a little louder and more deliberately Elder, do you know what street this is? This time he answered, but he said he wasn't worried. It was the street where we had seen the dog I described above.

My companion explained quite rationally that given the amount of houses on this street, the odds were low that the house we would visit that day would be the house where this dog stood guard. I simply thought to myself that he was probably right, but I continued anyway, What if the house where we have our appointment is the house where this dog lives? He didn't answer me, but I knew that at that moment, he was thinking of nothing else.

As we got closer to the house, the dog was barking at the gate as we approached and I said to my companion I don't know why, but I think our appointment is going to be at that house. He told me that he had the same eerie feeling. When we arrived at the house, it was indeed where this family we had met the other day lived and I looked into my companion's eyes and explained to him that I had made him a promise and would not make him enter that house unless he released me from my oath. But, it was his call to make not mine and that I wouldn't think any less of him if he wanted to just keep walking down the road. As we stood in front of that dog as it barked at us he said that even though it scared him, because he had made the appointment, he would feel guilty if he didn't follow through and so we called out to the people inside and they took their dog around back before inviting us through the gate to deliver our message.

The message went well, but not really well and we could both tell that when they invited us over it was simply because they couldn't find a good excuse to decline our invitation. There simply wasn't enough interest in our message for a return appointment so we thanked them for their time and wished them well before we left. This happened a lot and we weren't particularly surprised by the outcome of our meeting.

While we were there, we did ask them about their dog and found out that it was a Great Dane which had been crossed with another breed so that it would be both big and muscular. It was trained as an attack dog and had worked guarding an embassy in Argentina before they had acquired him. We could tell by the way the dog scared us both that first day that he was good at his job and had served the embassy well.

A couple of days later, my companion wanted to return to the street where this dog lived. I told him that we had no reason to go down that street, but he wanted to put his fear of this dog behind him, I guess, so we walked down the street toward the house where we knew the dog would be waiting to threaten us once again. This time when we arrived, the man of the house was waiting by the gate and as we passed, after saying hello, the man opened the gate and gave the dog the command to attack us.

The distance between me and the dog was just large enough that it gave me the time I needed to turn toward him and face him as he was beginning to lunge up toward my face. As missionaries we always carried a metal splined three ring binder which was wrapped in leather and could be zipped closed in case of rain. It had handles to make it easier to carry and in it we kept pictures which helped illustrate our message. As the dog began to lunge upward, I stepped to one side and swung this binder up by the handles and then guided it down savagely on the dog's head with all the force I could muster.

The man at the gate was noticeably surprised that I was still standing and not his dog and then he began laughing. The dog was just starting to get up again and with the amount of adrenaline I then had racing through my body, I felt like I could kill that dog with the next blow if I needed to. But that wasn't necessary. The man's wife came running out of the house panicked and asking her husband what was the matter with him and how could he do that? She apologized as she led the dog away while her husband continued to laugh. After collecting myself I looked back at the man narrowly which seemed to amuse him even more and that was the last time I ever saw or spoke with that man or his wife.

When I finally began looking for my companion I found him three or four blocks away and he was waving to get my attention. I feel that God kept me from danger that day and count it as a witness of both His existence and power to protect those who humbly serve Him.

One incident like this might easily be dismissed by those who doubt God or His existence, but I had many such experiences during my mission. So many, in fact, that in my mind both statistically and logically, they can be explained in no other way. You, of course, must draw your own conclusions.