Hello once again to all my family and friends! I hope that this past week has seen you all well...here I am trying to wonder when March got here and where February and January went!
The title for this e-mail is a little jumbled...but I want to start with the last part first (and the first shall be last...haha...scripture joke). WE HAD A BAPTISM ON SATURDAY! The Family Martinez-Rapalo got married and baptized this last Saturday, and they asked me the honor of baptizing them! It was an amazing experience, but a little crazy. The lawyer and the witnesses to the wedding showed up pretty late, so we were kind of freaking out, but it all went well. I want to send pictures...but the internet doesn’t wish to agree with me today. But, these first 2 converts that I have had are amazing. I love this family, I have loved seeing their progress towards Christ and their love for Him grow. I love spending time with them and teaching this beautiful gospel.
Changes. This Wednesday. My name was called. I am leaving my beloved Cofradia this Wednesday! NOOOOOOOOO! But...it’s for the best. Time to "Break out of this protective bubble" that is Cofradia and "spread my wings and fly" in my new area! Phew! We shall see where I am headed when the next week rolls around!
We went to Pulaphanzak again today. Another reason I want to send pictures. But, alas, we shall wait until later. The waterfall really is super cool, and today it was also drizzling as we went there. So, it was even bigger with the water falling and wasn’t hot! How wonderful! It was a little crazy getting there, some trouble with other missionaries being a little disobedient, but all in all it was a great experience! (plus, when you are in the bus for more than 90 minutes, you can make friends with other elders easily).
6 Months...I cannot believe that I have already passed that much time. Where has it gone? I feel like last week I arrived here in Cofradia, so there is no way that I have already lost so much of my time! ...no, it hasn’t been lost. I have grown and learned so much here in Cofradia...it is something magical. Here I met so many golden people, so many people that truly are seeking the gospel of Jesus Christ, but they simply don’t know where to find it. Here I have learned how to work and just how blessed we are through work. I hope that the time slows down and that I can truly take in every moment; because this is just ridiculous how fast it is going by!
Double Divisions. This part has less of spiritual growth involved, but was something eventful of the week. On Tuesday, we did divisions with the Zone Leaders because the Martinez family needed to be interviewed. So, I went with Elder Hofstrand to his area: Villas del Río (Villages of the River). It is a super awesome place...and a super rich neighborhood! Seriously, compared to Cofradia, they are all just rolling in money! We had a lot of great lessons, had some meaningful discussions (and some not so meaningful), and had some fun. One really funny thing we did was, as Zone Leader, he was put in charge of all the letters that we are to send out to give to the office. Well, one of them was a letter one of the elders wrote to a woman, decked out in pictures of Jesus so as to get to her, and pretty thick. So we thought "this one is important". So, we copied the address onto an envelope, and team wrote a letter to her as well! It was quite fun, and we kept it within bounds so as to not drive away the Spirit, clearly. We are just waiting for a response now! Oh, they also have an amazing cook! She made Mac & Cheese! WHAT! Who does that in Honduras? Also, we ate black beans for dinner. Normally there are only red beans! A lot of surprises with food those first two days of the week!
Anyway, other than those meaningful parts of the week, not much else crazy happened. Along with the baptism, we saw the confirmation of the family on Sunday as well through Hno. Zelaya, a man whom I love and honor very much. I also spent a very funny morning on Thursday with other elders in the zone, because my companion had to go to a leadership meeting in San Pedro. So, we went there to study and generally cause a ruckus in their luxurious house.
So, anyway, that was the week! We celebrated one year with a ton of chips and some Fanta Orange soda. I also participated in the famous "tie burning" when you reach that time. But, the funny part was that I used some bug repellent so that it would catch fire really easy, but it started burning like CRAZY! Before my companion could even take a picture the burning part fell to the ground and smoke started to rise, setting off the fire alarm! So we snapped a picture, put out the fire, stopped the fire alarm, and then went to celebrating. All in all, a super funny experience, and I hope that means that I have many more good experiences in store for me!
Until next week!
All my love,
Elder Tinkham
