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Despedida.....Adios Honduras!‏

Beloved Family and Friends....

Never really thought this day would come.....3 years ago I graduated!!! Haha just kidding....just trying to avoid the inevitable.

Well...this is my last newsletter that I will be sending to you guys. Tomorrow will be my last day of work, and I’ll be arriving home late Thursday night in the real world. Yikes! But it sure has been an interesting week! Let me tell you about it.

Early on in the week, I went on my final interchanges of the mission. I was with Elder Thompson here in Guaymaca and we sure had a good time together. We worked really hard together. When dinner time rolled around, we were heading over to eat at our neighbor’s house, but I didn’t feel like we had done enough work to deserve the food. Something told me inside... “you have to knock on somebody’s door first Elder Tinkham...knock on that door.” I obeyed haha. We found a lovely family named the Garcia Family. They are a young couple who are very cute together. Elder Thompson and I really enjoyed teaching them, we talked about eternal families and how they will be able to be together for all of eternity, we talked about prophets, and we talked about the Book of Mormon. Their names are Julio and Milagro (which means miracle, how ironic!) I am grateful for the opportunity that I had to listen to the Spirit and knock on the door of these chosen people.

To give you an update on the Hna. Santitos, the other chosen lady that found US, things are going well. We weren’t able to put a specific baptismal date with her because she has a few challenges that she needs to overcome first, but things are still great with her. She is preparing to be baptized, and we also had the opportunity to get to know her husband as well. Soon we are going to teach him the gospel as well, hopefully he will feel the Spirit too, because he has been reading the Book of Mormon!

This week we spent 2 days in Tegucigalpa in a couple of meetings that were established at the last minute. One day before we went to Tegucigalpa, I got pretty sick (yeah I know, pretty annoying for the last week in the mission!). Elder Thompson told me that its superstition and that all of the missionaries that are about to finish always get sick. I didn’t accept that answer because I knew that wasn’t bothering me, so we left to work. Well...we had to come in early that night, haha because it turned out that I had a fever of 102. On the way home we stopped by the medical clinic, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn’t dying of some disease. The doctor told me that I was showing signs of early dengue.....I was like, come on! This can’t be happening! I got myself a nice big shot to calm the fever, and went to bed! We woke up at the butt crack of dawn the next day to head out to Tegucigalpa. Before making it to our meeting, we stopped by the hospital where the missionaries can go and receive tests for free because the church has some kind of connection with them. I got myself a blood test and everything, but turns out that I just had a nasty case of strep throat that’s just about gone. I’m finishing up taking my medicine to get all the way better, so things are good now.

In the first meeting, we were with all of the leaders in all of the mission. Pres. Flores explained to us how to have better District Meetings and what we can do to bring the Spirit in these meetings, and carry it with us throughout all the week! We changed a couple of things on what we should do in order to bring excitement to all of the district meetings, so they should be much better now. That night I got to experience how to be an office Elder since the doctor wouldn’t let me leave to work. So I chilled in the office doing paperwork and all that jazz with Elder Hart from Holladay Utah. He is an awesome guy! Excellent missionary, he helped me out in more ways than one (you`ll have to find out later on that information!). We slept in the assistant’s giant mansion that night, and in the early morning headed off to the next meeting.

In the zone leaders meeting, we talked about how to teach the other missionaries how to marry people. Us as old and experienced missionaries when it comes to marrying families have had plenty of experience, but there are plenty of missionaries that don’t really know how to do it. We also talked about happiness. Pres. is getting worried because in our mission there are a lot of missionaries that aren’t as happy as they should be. He explained that we must ALWAYS have a smile on our face, and always share our message with such happiness, because it’s the most important message in the world! Luckily I know that is true, and I love sharing our message with everyone!

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to give 2 years of my life to the Lord. As Paul said....I have fought the good fight. I never thought this day would come, but all good books do have their end. At church yesterday in testimony meeting, I couldn’t hold in the pounding impressions of the spirit to get up and bear my testimony. I tried to contain myself haha but to no avail, I cried like a little baby. It’s very rare that I cry, but this time I couldn’t help it. I just love the people here in Guaymaca and in Honduras, it’s going to be so hard to leave them.

I’m coming home now, but as Kolipoki said.... It feels more like I am leaving my home. I know that this gospel is true. I know it as I know of my own existence. I have never been so sure about anything in my entire life. I can honestly say that I have honestly lost myself in this work, and by losing myself, as the scriptures say...I have found my life. I have received a remission of my sins, and I have found the true happiness in this life.

Thanks so much to all of you for supporting me in my labors. I could never thank you enough for all of your prayers, letters, thoughts, and anything else that you might have done for me. I will spend the rest of my life trying to pay back the favor. I love you all. And for the last time......VAYA PUES!

Elder Tinkham

May 30th

Hello once again to all of my family and friends out there! First of all, thanks so much for taking the time to read this...I hope it means something to you.

Haha I’ve been a little bit sick lately, some people say that missionaries always get sick in the last weeks of their missions due to the large stress to work as hard as you can till the end, and also the “horrifying” thoughts of the real world, and re-entering it....ooo shivers.....anyways let’s not talk about that yet haha, that’s for the next letter.

This week we weren’t able to baptize Isaì. We decided that he wasn’t quite ready yet, and placed the date for this Saturday instead. We were a little bit disappointed, and he was too, but we felt like it was the right thing to do. Isaì is really excited for his baptism, and he already selected me to baptize him (he`ll be the last one for me!) We are still teaching his parents, but things are going a little bit slow. We are trying to use our patience and insistence to be able to help them out, we are going to keep trying!

But, we were able to help the other girl, Alison, get baptized. I don’t know what it is about these kids, but their testimonies are so strong. Can you believe that after her confirmation...little 8 year old Alison said the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting? And she did it very nicely as well.

This week, I was studying chapter 9 of PMG and trying to raise my faith that God was preparing people for me to teach. I spent the week studying chapter 9 and praying for those people that God will put in our place. I received an answer to my prayers! This week...I was able to witness a miracle. The other day, when Elder Hernandez and I were headed to an appointment, a lady stopped us on the street and demanded that we visit her the next day. So...we shockingly, but confidently put an appointment for the following morning. When we arrived the next day, she began to explain to us her story. When she was living in Tegucigalpa, she had a boss who was LDS along with his family. She admired her boss, and all of the good things that his family did for her and for others. After moving here to Guaimaca, she lost contact with him. But, after a couple of months, she had acquired a “thirst” to find and know the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. While contemplating how she could satisfy her thirst, or what church to attend, her thoughts returned to her boss. She was able to recognize that her boss and his family were “examples of the believers,” and decided that she wanted to be more like them. So, she began to search for us. Many times she had seen us, but was never able to catch up because we walk too fast. But that day, she saw us...and she said that she couldn’t contain the Spirit that she felt within her, and so she stopped us. Well...long story short...Hna. Santitos is preparing herself to be baptized in the true church of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that the Lord has permitted me to witness such a miracle. I thought that only in the Liahona did these types of miracles happened!

I love the mission. I wish it would never end. I have learned so many things in my mission. But most of all, I have learned how to receive a remission of my sins, so that I might stand worthy one day before the judgment seat of the Most Almighty...and he might declare unto me...Well done good servant. I continue to work because I fear the punishments of God that he places upon slothful servants. For that, I am grateful that the Lord has blessed me to continue to have such unforgettable experiences. I know that this is the true Church. How could I possibly deny it? The Lord has answered my prayers, and He has guided me to become the person that I only dreamt of becoming. I love you all, and I thank you for all of your support as well.
Vaya Pues...una vez màs!

Elder Tinkham

May 23

Hello once again to all of my family and friends out there! How is everything going? I hear that the weather is still pretty rainy around there. Well it’s pretty rainy here too! Rainy season has begun, and so it’s basically raining every day. My shoes are pretty muddy!

Last Tuesday I attended my final Zone Conference in the mission, it was fairly sad. We had a wonderful time learning about how we need to look for families to baptize, how we can use the promise of Moroni more effectively, and how we need to improve on our studies in the morning. And, as tradition always goes, I was invited to bear my testimony along with the other missionaries that are leaving this change. It was the weirdest experience I have had in my life haha, because afterwards President Flores was giving us advice about what we need to do after the mission and I was thinking “this information isn’t for me!” I guess you gotta start accepting these types of things once and awhile eh?

The next day I was able to do interchanges with one of the Elders in my zone, Elder Linford from Tremonton, Utah. He is a newer Elder. It was really fun to be with him and remember my old days of fumbling through Spanish and saying embarrassing things in front of the people. It was quite hilarious actually, in one of the lessons that we were teaching, Elder Linford asked the name of the lady we were teaching. After she told us her name, Elder Linford tried to compliment her on her nice name, but had some difficulties expressing himself and instead said, “What were your parents thinking when they named you?” I had a small laugh, but I helped him get out of it like a good friend. We had a fun time together because we decided that day that we were going to talk to everybody about the Book of Mormon, everybody we came in contact with. We gave away like 4 copies of the book, and also had some great experiences testifying the truthfulness of it as well. We contacted a member referral named Jaime who is super positive, and talked to her about the Book of Mormon. We used what we had learned in the zone conference about using the promise in Moroni 10. We explained to her that if she did exactly what it says to do in verses 3-5, there is no way that she wouldn’t receive an answer to her prayers. We hope that she will receive an answer soon.

We also have a baptismal date for this Saturday. His name is Isai, a 15 year-old kid who is super nice. He is another product of the Hna. Gissela, a lady that we found and activated (not to mention, she is now the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency). I sure do love Hna. Gissela and their family, they are referral machines! We are also teaching the parents of Isai, but they are a little bit more rough to work with. But, I think that the Book of Mormon lesson we had the other day really touched them, so we´ll have to see if we can get Iasi’s family to come to church too, at least to his baptism!

On the 21st of May, it was supposedly the “end of the world” here in Honduras. I’m not really sure if it was worldwide, but there sure was a big hubub around here in Guaymaca that the world was going to end that day. We got a good laugh out of it, and also used it to talk about the Plan of Salvation to everyone about what comes next after this life!

I sure do love being a missionary. I know that this work is true. I know that the Holy Ghost directs my very doings every day as I daily ask to be guided. Thanks so much everyone for all of your support. I love you all!

Vaya Pues!

Elder Tinkham

May 16

Hello once again to all of my family and friends out there! If I am not mistaken this will be my 100th or 101st weekly report, for all of you that have taken the time to read everything I have said for these 100 letters. Don’t you have anything better to do with your time? Haha I’m kidding. But really, I hope that at least in 1 of these letters I have said something important that might help with some aspect of your lives. If not, I have failed indeed.

Last Monday it was my companion’s birthday, and the branch president invited us over to his house to eat a bunch of grilled meat with a special hot sauce that he makes. It was delicious! I can still taste those spicy pork chops! They had to roll Elder Hernandez and I out of there with a wheelchair haha. We had a lovely chat with the president and his wife.

This week Elder Hernandez and I held a zone meeting with all the missionaries so that we could transmit all of the information that we received in the leadership council the other week. We felt the task very difficult, because we wanted everyone else to feel how we had felt in the meeting (the Spirit was super strong). We were a little bit worried, but I think that the Spirit helped us to be able to share the lessons that we had received. We shared a theme called “From Doubt to Belief” and talked about faith. We explained to the missionaries what the difference was between a faithful servant, a normal or “useless” servant, and a bad servant that the Lord explains in Luke 17. It explains that, we as missionaries have duties, and if we get to the point where we are doing just what we are asked to do, we are normal or useless servants. If we do less than what we are asked to do, we are bad servants. But, if we accomplish what is asked of us and more, we become faithful and beloved servants of the Lord. I strive to become that type of servant.

That same day I was able to have lovely interchanges with my friend Elder Thompson, my ex assistant and current district leader. We had a great time in Guaimaca and worked really hard, and found 7 new investigators together. I sure love that guy, and he is a great missionary as well.

Lately my companion and I have been having difficulty finding complete families. We have found several people to teach and are increasing our teaching pool every day, but the problem is finding the married couples that want to listen. The trend these days is that the wives are super positive and always want to listen to what we have to say, but the second we try to talk to her husband....FOOM he goes flying out the door haha. It’s been a little bit frustrating, but also it’s increased my gratefulness for the gospel and the doctrine of eternal families. I know that we can be together with our families for all of eternity, so long as we keep His commandments and repent of our sins. My goal is to never stop preaching about the gift of eternal families, because I know that that is what we MUST have in order to really be happy in this life. It brings me sadness to hear the words...Until death do they part, because I know that death is not the end of all things. Christ was resurrected so that all of us could be resurrected as well, and be together with our families!

I love you all, thanks for all of your support and for reading these blabber fests!

Elder Tinkham

La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias

Quisiera escribir en español, es màs facil jaja!

May 9th

Happy Mother’s Day yesterday to all of those mom’s out there! Especially to my own mother. Love you mom! Thanks for everything. It’s good to hear that the weather situation is somewhat calming down over there. Well....to give you info about Honduras and the weather....still hot haha. But, it rained for like 35 minutes yesterday! WOO HOO!

With respect to the missionary work. It was an awesome week reference wise, and a pretty rough one contacting wise. With the references, the members are really starting to get the ball rolling. This week we received a great reference of the family of a recent convert named Marvin. Marvin got married a little while ago and lives with his wife, they are both members. But recently Marvin has had the opportunity to speak to his family a little bit about the gospel, and we had the opportunity to join them! What really surprised me about the visit is the desire that Marvin’s mom, Miriam, has to read the Book of Mormon. She attends another church, but has a strong interest in knowing if the Book of Mormon is true. We basically just read a little bit with her, and then bore our testimonies about the truthfulness of the book, then left a chapter for her to read. I’m excited to go back on Wednesday to see how her experience went. They came to church 2 Sundays ago, and so this last week we went to visit them, everything seems pretty good!

Contact wise, well....wasn’t such a good week haha. Elder Hernandez and I have set some Super high goals for ourselves, and we are working on talking to everyone we see. In between appointments, in the street, neighbors, all around. We also found a ton of new investigators, but most of them didn’t want to allow us to come again. Even after clearly explaining that the Book of Mormon is necessary for our salvation, most of the people still reject it. It makes me really sad to walk away from those people knowing that they have rejected “the most correct book on the planet” and the book that helps us come closer to God than any other book on this earth. I mean, the Bible is great and everything...but it just seems like so little. How can it be that God only left us with such a small amount of information, if he is a loving God who wants us to return to His presence? The New Testament is great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s basically just 4 books of 4 guys narrating the same thing, and then after that, like 10 letters that the apostles wrote to a couple of different cities To me, God had to have left us more than that.

My companion and I had a wonderful spiritual experience on Friday when we attended the Zone Leader Council in Tegucigalpa. April was..well not a very good month for us in the mission, and so President took the time to shave us up a bit, but really he gave us a ton of excitement to keep working as hard as we can. We watched a video that literally impacted my life, and I will never forget the feelings that I had in those moments. We watched a talk that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (it’s always him huh?) gave in the MTC in January of this year. Elder Holland compared us to Peter in the New Testament in John chapter 21. I love the part when Christ asks Peter 3 times.....Peter, Do you love me? Christ was explaining to Peter that he had previously made a covenant with Him that he would always serve Him. But, after his death, the apostles literally had no idea what to do, so they decided to go fishing again. And, when Christ returned, he reminded Peter that he had made that commitment. And so Elder Holland asked us all a question.....Elders and Sisters....Do you love Him? Do you really love Him? Have you been dedicating EVERY part of your being to the work, leaving behind ALL of your “nets, boats, fish, etc.,” to serve your God? Do you love Him?

Those words penetrated my heart with a force. I realized that I must continue working, and even work with much more force, until the final day of my mission. I love this work. I can say that I have put all of me into this great work, and that it hasn’t finished yet. I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down right now. I love all of you. Thanks so much for your support and love and prayers. I’m so grateful to be a missionary.

Vaya Pues!

Elder Tinkham

May 2nd

Hello once again to all of my family and friends out there!

Okay just to start off......DALLIN!!! I CANT BELIEVE IT!!!! Something told me that you were going to join me in Honduras! I sure have a LOT to tell you! But I’ll talk more with you when I get back....but let’s just say.....start getting used to plantains now...and the extreme heat....and baptizing millions haha. I’m so happy for you. We are going to be in the same country together when I return for the dedication of the Honduras temple. Wow.

Alright now that I’m done screaming....okay one more...:WOO HOO!!!. Okay. This week has been pretty great for my new companion and I. Once again, I’m totally exhausted from all of the work that we have been doing. My new companion is Elder Hernandez, and he is from Mexico. It’s pretty cool because there are only 2 Mexican elders in the whole mission, and it’s my first Mexican companion. He is an awesome guy, we definitely have the same tastes. I’m going to love being with him during these 6 weeks. Elder Torres got sent off to my old area, Comayaguela!

The transfers meeting that we had was pretty intense. It was an all new system that was being experimented. None of us knew what type of changes we had or anything like that. The only thing that we knew was if we were leaving or staying in the area. So we all showed up at a church building in Tegucigalpa to wait and find out who was going where and all of that jazz. I was pretty happy when I saw that Elder Hernandez was going to be my companion, because he is a great missionary. This is his first time being a zone leader, but he is fitting the spot just fine. President Flores told us that from day one when we receive a new calling, we must prepare our replacement. I definitely have that chance at this moment. Since I will be leaving at the end of this change, as well as the 2 district leaders in the zone, Elder Hernandez will have a large responsibility next change with respect to leadership. So, I have to teach him everything I know, and fast. I don’t think it will be too bad, because he is definitely a better missionary than me.

This week I had another witness that God is ever so merciful with his servants. This Sunday for fast Sunday, Elder Hernandez and I asked for the people that we are going to baptize in May. At that moment, we didn’t know who these people where, and we may still not know quite yet, but that is not the point. We were praying for a good turnout at church, but to be honest, I didn’t have a lot of hope, because basically all of our investigators had cancelled on us the day before. I was shocked as the members entered the chapel that morning, that so many of them had brought investigators with them to church. As I sat at the piano as the meeting started, I counted 9 people that the members had brought to church. I was shocked! We were able to talk to all of them, and make appointments to begin teaching them this week. May just might be a lucky month for me! After the Sunday services, Elder Hernandez and I went on divisions. My comp went with a future missionary, and I had the special experience to leave with the Reyes Family. It is a really special experience to leave with a family that I was able to teach and bring to church. Sometimes I don’t know why the Lord allows me to feel such special feelings, but I feel that one day I will be able to understand them all. With the help of these amazing members that we have here in Guaymaca, Elder Hernandez and I are going to accomplish all of the high goals that we have set for ourselves.

I was thinking a lot this week about Humility (it’s funny how one tends to think about things that they most need to improve on). Being an “old missionary,” I often ponder what else I can do to “take it up a notch” or to “bring it one step higher,” things like that. I have strong desires to maintain a solid progression throughout all of my mission, therefore, that is what most of my thoughts go towards. I was reading something this week that really touched me. It is found in the beautiful discourse of King Benjamin. In Mosìah chapter 2, King Benjamin talks about how indebted we really are to God. In the verses 20-22 I found a part of my answer that I was looking for.

“I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render All the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to posses, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another-

I say unto you that if you should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another--- I say, if ye should serve him with ALL your whole souls, yet ye would be Unprofitable servants.” (emphasis added)

We are all unprofitable servants, but all that he requires of us is “to keep the commandments.” I understand that I may think that I have done much in my many months of service, but really it is nothing in the sight of God. I am still completely in debt to Him, and I must continue paying that debt every day of my life. I love this work, I know that it is true. I know that if we work with all our might, mind, soul, and heart, that God will grant us the mercy that we SO need, in order to enter in His Kingdom.

I love you all, thanks so much for supporting me.

Vaya Pues! (get used to that Dallin!)

Elder Tinkham

April 25th

Hello once again to all of my family and friends out there! I sure do love you guys, and I hope that you’re all doing well! I am doing just great down here around the Equator.

First things first, we received the changes last night. Transfers are this Wednesday. The new catch is that they are going to do the changes differently now. The only thing I know is that I am going to be staying in Guaimaca to finish the mission! Woo hoo! Elder Torres is leaving, but he doesn’t know to where, and I don’t know who my final companion is going to be either. But I am really happy that I get to finish the mission in Guaimaca. That is exactly what I wanted.

Well, this week was Holy Week......things were a little bit slow. Holy Week in Honduras is basically Spring Break over there in the States. Everyone goes on vacation, or leaves to the beaches to go tanning and swimming during the week. There were several reasons why the work was a little bit slow this week:

1. Real Madrid played against Barcelona twice this week, which is a HUGE deal here in Central America (dad you understand). So, that day, nobody wanted to receive us due to the super bowl type game. (Real Madrid won! Boo Yah!)

2. The electricity went out like 3 times this week! So, after 6:30 you can’t see anything! So we have to just stay home and do nothing, pretty boring.

3. During Holy Week, there are a lot of Catholic processions. In the processions, the devoted go out and make like 20 sand carpets in the middle of the road, and they serve kind of like stations for the Crucifixion program to go around all of the city and do their whole show. I won’t lie, it was pretty cool, the Catholics have some cool traditions around here in Guaimaca.

On top of that, we got a phone call in the middle of a lesson that one of the missionaries had been rushed to the Medical Center in Tegucigalpa to be operated on for Appendicitis. So, we had to make a bunch of phone calls to make sure that he was okay, how to arrange the trio for his companion, etc. But, when he arrived at the hospital and after a couple of exams, it turned out to be a false alarm, so everything is good there. They didn’t operate on him.

About Josè Carlos and Paola, everything is going just fine. The progress is a little bit slow. Let’s just say it’s going to be a little bit difficult to get them out of a couple of habits, but we have hope. We are going to keep working hard with Josè Carlos. The one time we were able to visit him in his house, he had a ton of questions for us. The problem is, the supposed “friends” that he was going to give us as references, turns out that they are just pastors that have been bugging him a lot lately with anti-Mormon stuff, and so that was why he had so many questions. But as far as we know, everything is still going great. Tonight we have a family home evening with them!

On Saturday, we held a Priesthood Grilling Activity at the church. The objective of the activity was to invite a ton of less actives, and specifically, adults or teens that have been baptized, but haven’t had the opportunity to receive the priesthood yet. So, what we did is huddle them all up and offer them food and sports! (It works with every guy doesn’t it?) A bunch of people came, and we slyfully slipped a bunch of the guys in for interviews with the Branch President! It turned out to be a great success. Carlos, El Chino, who we recently baptized, got his interview and is now a Teacher, AND he is attending seminary. YES!

On Sunday, I gave a talk in church about Home Teaching. In Honduras, Home Teaching is basically non-existent. But, in Guaimaca, we are making a breakthrough on how to make it work. The branch president asked me to speak about it, and I sure received a nice admonishing from the Spirit that I need to be a GREAT home teacher when I get back. Thanks for the good example dad! By the way, to all those who read this....GO and do your visits for Home and Visiting Teaching!

Also on Sunday, the Reyes Family gave us a reference and went with us to the house of a family member. It was touching to hear the testimony of someone that you were able to teach, it’s one of my favorite parts of missionary work. The Hna. Miriam gave her testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and how she came to know that it was true. It strengthened my own testimony as well.

Thanks so much for all of your support for me. Take care everyone. I love you all!

Vaya Pues!

Elder Tinkham

April 17th

Hola a todos mis amigos y familia que estèn leyendo mi carta en este dìa. Estoy muy animado poder dirigirme hacia ustedes......hi....haha.

Well....several have asked me if it is still hot in Honduras.......yeah...it is. This week is Semana Santa (Holy Week), the hottest week of the entire year.

This week we weren’t able to have any baptisms. We have been having a little bit of trouble with Sandra lately. She doesn’t have a lot of education, and so she is not able to read the Book of Mormon, and she isn’t really doing her part to be able to receive a testimony. It seems like she is visiting a bunch of churches all at once, so that she might be able to receive “as many blessings as possible.” We had Elder Cardon interview her to see if she was prepared for baptism, but she didn’t pass. She didn’t come to church the next day either. So, we’re not really sure about her, we are going to keep working hard to have her understand the message of the Restoration.

This week we had interviews with Pres. Flores, my last one as a field missionary. We talked about what I can do in order to reach my maximum potential as a servant of the Lord. What we talked about was really good for me, and all I can say is, I have nothing holding me back from being the best missionary that I can be! I also took the time during the interviews to take a Spanish test by BYU which the mission provides. I will be waiting for the results, and then I’ll have to figure out what to do with them later haha!

After the interviews, Elder Torres and I knelt down to pray and asked for a family. We prayed so that we could be guided to find the chosen people. Immediately after the prayer, I felt the impression to go to a certain place that we haven’t really gone to before, and we began contacting. On the 3rd house, we found the family that we were looking for. We found them in a pulperia, which is a small store located on almost every corner of Honduras. Usually, it’s very difficult to contact and teach pulperìa’s, because they never close them, and so the people are always super busy. We taught a recently married couple with a brand new 2 month old baby. Josè Carlos, a fanatic of hunting deer, and he also collects guns (he’s got some nasty puppies in his house, by puppies I mean guns). His wife, Paola, is an inactive member. Her family has been inactive since she was 11, and now she is 22. She was really excited to get to know the church again, and Josè Carlos is awesome!

That day, we just talked to them for a little bit, and then we put the next appointment to get to know their house. On Friday we went to their house, which turned out to be Super far away. They live in a beautiful cottage house with lots of property out in the woods with nice scenery all around. We were in shock when we got to their house!

They came to church this Sunday too! I think we found our next baptisms for May. Today at night we are going to invite Josè Carlos to be baptized! He is good friends with a lot of people in the ward, and absolutely loved the meetings. We even put him in a home teaching pair (with us haha) to go out and visit other people, AND he already has 2 referrals of his 2 friends that want to get to know the church too! Man haha, and that is just after 2 times of visiting him! I love this family.

Anyways, that’s about all that I have for you guys this week. Things are going well for me, thanks for all of your prayers, because I feel them strengthening me as I go on. Thanks for all of your support.

Vaya Pues!

Elder Tinkham