¡Hola famila! ¿Que tal? I hope that everyone is doing amazing!
Well...I don't even know where to start with this e-mail!
Honduras is...like nothing I expected. The people here are so humble and teachable. It is ridiculous. But, it is hard to get our investigators progressing. They have problems with desiring to go to church. Just yesterday, Elder Rodriguez and I took the bus to Naco, a good 20 minutes east of Cofradía, to pick up 2 families, and 2 other individuals. Well, one investigator, Alex, said that he had some work come up that he had to do right now. Then, the Edi family backed out because everyone but the mother (who is well into age and has many medical problems) was asleep and refused to awaken. The rest weren't there. So, Elder Rodriguez and I have to re-double our efforts this week, continue committing everyone to come to church, and teach about how great it is and how richly it blesses our lives!
The Spanish is definitely coming. Here there is a lot of slang that people use and everyone talks about 500 miles per hour; but that is good! Gets me to learn it all that much faster. My companion also hardly knows any English, so I have been learning more and more about communication as well. So, I have no fear that I shall be the Master of Spanish in no time! But, Elder Rodriguez is pretty awesome. He is super good at football, and can cram a lot of food into him for a small guy. He always talks to me as his "hijo" or child. Like, I will be struggling to finish my 4th Baleada, and he just looks at me with this "Are you for real" look and says "Hijo, you will finish all of the food on your plate." I love and cherish every moment of it!
We have been working a lot with this member named Junior. He is 16, and he and his sister are the only active members of his family. He has some issues with anger and whatnot, so Elder Rodriguez likes to take him out to teach with us so that we can keep him occupied as well as keep instilling more of the gospel into him. He is great and he has a great testimony of the Book of Mormon and trials. After all, just yesterday he had a huge family crisis where his mother (who had just barely returned from her parent’s house without telling anyone where she was going or when she would be back) was threatened by her husband to kill her. Elder Rodriguez and I ran over and gave a lot of comfort and support, Elder Rodriguez offered a beautiful prayer for them, and then we mentioned how they need to go to church. And, believe it or not, they were all there. And Junior was called to give a talk, and he did amazing bearing testimony of the Book of Mormon and telling all the members that Elder Rodriguez and I cannot do this work alone.
Well, Elder Rodriguez and I have been teaching a lot. We taught the 1st lesson about 50 times this last week. But, my favorite part about this place is that not many people have doors, but curtains in front of their houses. So, we stand outside and yell "¡BUENAS!" until someone responds. And, as part of the culture, most of the time people respond and oftentimes we even get invited in to share a quick message. One of my favorite investigators name is Estela. She owns a Chinese Restaurant named Restaurante Sú. She is progressing very well (her daughter is a member) but she isn't married and that is the only problem. Well, on Thursday she told us that she wants to be Baptized! And, she also told us that Elder Rodriguez has to still be here (because he could be getting transferred soon) so she said we need to teach her everything fast!
The food here is just delicious. I don't know how else to explain it. My favorite is definitely Baleadas. I would explain them, but I don't have much time. You will just have to search the internet for what they are!
We had a Zone conference last Wednesday, and it was the President's birthday the next day. So we all chipped in for some soda and cake and wished him a happy birthday. It was a great meeting and the Spirit was very strong. President Veirs is the man!
Well, that's about it for now! If I recall next week I will share some delightfully funny stories and talk more about life with the investigators!
¡Chiao! ¡Que les vaya bien!
Elder Tinkham
