Hello to all my friends and family in the "mainland" as we call it here in Roatan! I hope that your week has been fabulous and significantly colder than mine was here! We reached some 100 degrees during the week, and we haven't even gotten to Semana Santa...the hottest week of the year!
Anyway, in response to some questions, I will talk a little more about the area and our general life.
1) We were blessed to find a cook our first day here. Elder Roper and Hna Roper took us to lunch when we first got here, but we were super worried about what we are going to do for dinner (because everything on the island is super expensive!). Well, we showed up for an activity that night, and the Relief Society President told us that she hadn't worked for awhile, and she could be our cook if we needed one. We gladly accepted her offer, and go and eat lunch and dinner basically everyday!
2) We actually get to drive around a lot, because Elder Roper has a car! So, we have the blessing of not having to use expensive taxis every day.
3) In our apartment, it is just us two. Not all the rooms have actual beds, just space for clothes, dressers, room to put boxes of the Book of Mormon...and our washer and dryer. Don't ask me why the Lord wanted to give me the blessing of an actual washer and dryer, but I did something good in my life I suppose!
4) We see cruise ships all the time, and live some 5 minutes from the beach. It is a little bit of a temptation, but when you walk around in a white shirt and tie all day, and it is hot...well...you can fill in the rest haha.
5) The branch is pretty big. We are in a pretty big, beautiful chapel that also has a view of the ocean, and we have a normal attendance of 70-80 members.
Anyway, the work is what is important! Our investigator Jessica unfortunately didn't make it to church this last Sunday. This means that we won't be able to have the baptism. But, the good part about it is that she didn't go because her husband came back from Nicaragua! So, we are now able to teach the whole family! She is still really receptive and loves having us over. Especially when Elder and Sister Roper come with us!
We have started teaching a lot of people, after our time here we have started to get to know a lot of the area, a lot of people, and a lot of heat. Well, we are starting to teach a few families and a few other people, but as of now none of them have come to church. A lot of them work at a 5-star hotel at the beach called Bananarama. The owner is an American, and a member. So, a lot of employees are members as well. Speaking of which, we are actually at said hotel right now! They give us free lunch and a ride back to our apartment on Mondays, and love to talk to us. I can't tell you how long it has been since I ate an actual hamburger! But yes, one of the investigators is named Lesbia. She has been investigating for a little while now, and is dating a recent convert. He helps us out a lot with teaching her and getting her animated to read the book of Mormon or pray. We shall see how she begins to progress! (she works in the kitchen and made me the hamburger today!)
I also have had to do a few contacts in English. We got a reference of a woman who lives here, but she doesn't speak much Spanish. So, I called her and we set up an appointment this week. I don't know how we will do it, because Elder Chen doesn't speak English!
Oh, an awesome event happened yesterday! We had a conference specific for Central America. We heard from Elder Clarke, the Area President and member of the 70 (I also heard from him in the MTC), Sister Anne M. Dibbs from the Young Women's Presidency, Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the presidency of the seventy, and Elder Boyd K. Packer. All of the talks were amazing, and exactly what we need to do in this part of the world! They talked about finding the lost sheep of this part, and as well as taking care of the black sheep that oftentimes go unrecognized and unhelped. Talked of virtue, and the importance it has. Also, how this is a promised land; but the Lord only gives blessings if we are strictly obedient to the commandments that He has given us. I was very spiritually enlightened, a lot of good counsel for the members...and now I am SUPER excited for conference!
Also, we heard from Elder Martino of the 70 last Tuesday. It was pretty awesome, because the zone Colon and the Zone La Ceiba are far away from San Pedro Sula. So, those two zones had their own meeting with Elder Martino and the President. Luckily, I am now in the zone La Ceiba! So, we had a very personal meeting with him, as we were only some 20 missionaries! He gave us a ton of counsel, made us want to be better as persons and as missionaries, and helped us learn more about love and how we can help our investigators. He really expounded on the doctrine of the Atonement of Jesus Christ as well. It was just amazing! He is from Texas, but speaks amazing Spanish as he served a mission in South America and as Mission President of Guatemala. Another funny thing happened during the conference (Oh, one awesome thing was that Elder Skousen, my companion from the MTC, is in the zone Colon; so we got to hang out again! Woo!) during the President's time, he was writing a bunch of family names on the board explaining talking to everyone, and after the "Gomez family" and "Hernandez family"...normal Spanish names...he writes the "Tinkham family". All of a sudden I look up (I was writing down his words, not sleeping!) super scared wondering what I did! He only looked at me and chuckled a little bit.
But! As you can see, the work is going amazingly. Even though everyone says this area is "hard" and "tough," I only see it as an area super prepared for some hard work. We are already finding a lot of people who are interested in the gospel, and the branch is really "waking up" and starting to work hard. Our branch president is really a great man (but another interesting fact is he is almost completely deaf. He can't hear hardly anything!). Anyway, the bus is about to leave for Coxen Hole...the area we live in. So, until next week!
All my love,
Elder Tinkham
