Philippines Ilagan Mission

by Joel Longhurst

It was my first time teaching a discussion in the Philippines; a quiet night in Gattaran, Cagayan. The only sounds other than our conversing were the calls of the botiki, or gecko lizards, munching on insects under the front porch light and the occasional distant chirping of a cricket. A gentle breeze was blowing through the open front window of a member's house, directly behind the couch where my companion and I were sitting as we talked with two or three investigators and Carol Ancheta, the member who lived in the home.

My companion, Elder Parola, had assigned me to read one or two principles from the first discussion, making my best effort to sound intelligible, and he would take over from there. After we plodded through my portion of the discussion, he continued with the remainder and I did my best to listen and try to understand what was being said.

As my companion went on, I noticed something moving on the curtain behind me. I looked at Elder Parola as if listening attentively to what he was saying, but I was really trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on behind us. I was startled to see a gigantic spider about the size of my hand suspended only a couple feet above my head! I had never seen a spider of this size before and I wondered if perhaps it was a poisonous variety, in which case it would be best to interrupt the discussion and warn everyone else that an enormous spider was approaching. But I calmed myself down and tried not to panic quite yet, thinking maybe it would go away after a minute or two.

A couple minutes later I looked again and it had drawn even closer, only about a foot and a half away. My pulse was rising and I started sweating a little extra, but everyone else seemed thoroughly absorbed in the conversation; they didn't seem aware of our "visitor" or of my increasing uneasiness. I tried my best to wait it out just another minute, but my anxiety caught up with me and I turned around and swatted at the creature with my discussion pamphlet to scare it away.

Suddenly all eyes were on me and the whole room burst into laughter. Carol smiled at me and said, teasingly, "Don't worry, Elder Longhurst. The spider isn't going to kill you!" She went on to explain that it was a large type of gagamba, or spider, that is common to the Philippines and is absolutely harmless to humans. I gave an embarrassed apology and we ended the discussion in rather light spirits.