Hello and Hola to all of my friends and
family in the "solid land" from Roatán! Another week has passed us by
and I find myself flipping through my agenda wondering where it went! We
had quite the incredible week here, and I am proud to say that it turned out
very well for us!
First of all, The Zone Leaders came on
Monday to do some splits with us. They got here, we went and did a little
sight-seeing with them, and then played some fútbol at a pretty sweet synthetic
field. Then, we split up considering that we were now 4 elders. I went with
Elder Garcia from Mexico and Elder Chen went with Elder Ellett from Utah, who
is recent from the office as Assistant to the President. We did a Family Home
Evening with the Branch President and they invited 3 investigators to be there!
It was very productive and we had some delicious Baleadas afterward.
On Tuesday (keep in mind that the Zone
Leaders stayed overnight) we left, same companionships, and hit the dirt roads
hard. Elder Garcia and I managed to teach some 6 or 7 lessons, and let me tell
you, I learned a ton! He helped me out with making contacts, with
challenging people to be baptized, to teach with love and asking questions, and
generally about being happy in the day. We visited almost all of the families
that we are teaching, and, of course, our converts! They were very pleased with
the work...and of course fell in love with the island!
On Wednesday we dropped the other off at
the dock to take their yacht back to La Ceiba, and we felt a little sad to
see them go. Here, we are pretty isolated from the world. Other than my
companion and seeing Elder and Sister Roper every now and then, we don’t see
any of the other missionaries. It kind of creates a lack...but all is well,
because they lifted our spirits greatly! After they had left, we went to go and
keep teaching! We had made a ton of appointments, especially with new investigators,
and miraculously we didn’t put anything conflicting, even
though we didn’t plan ahead of time when we would place the appointments. We
met Jessica and Oscar, a great family who is very receptive to the message of
the Book of Mormon and talk a lot of how they want to change and bring Christ
more into their lives - and we are more than willing to do that for them! We
also met Gissenia, a woman who seems pretty lonely. We came and tried our best
to help her as best as we could!
Thursday was pretty crazy. First of all,
an investigator, Zulma, told us that she was tired of the way her
"husband" treated her. He is a member of the church, but doesn’t want
anything to do with it anymore. So, she is leaving to go back to La Ceiba and
probably not coming back. Then, we went to go see Jessica. Maybe you remember
about us talking about her awhile ago? Well, she wasn’t really progressing, so
we stopped going to see her. But, it turns out she got very sick while being
pregnant...and ending up losing her baby. So we went and gave her the best
comfort we could possible.
The other two days we spent doing the
usual - teaching and preaching unto all the living, moving things that cross
our path and bearing testimony of the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
But, Sunday was fantastic! We came to church with some investigators...but all
in all 10 investigators showed up! And, on top of that, we had
105 members show up to our tiny branch! Our sacrament meeting was
packed and so full of the Spirit of the testimonies of the members. Also, I am
improving with the piano haha. After church, we did splits again and I went
with Adolfo, an RM from this mission living here, and we went to go see a
family of converts he baptized in his mission. We literally hiked through the
wilderness to find this house, and it was quite the adventure. There are 2
girls in the family who are now able to be baptized who were younger before,
and we placed the 19th as their baptismal date.
Well...this week was exceptionally hot.
I don’t know why exactly...but I felt burnt throughout the whole thing! The
Zone Leaders and the people in the street said the same thing, that this heat
is just...exaggerated! We were easily above 99 degrees every single day...and
it is a little tough to sleep when it is so hot!
And, as you can see from the pictures,
we went to a dolphin show! It was amazing! Hna Lesbia, our recent convert, has
a daughter who works in a 5 star hotel that has dolphin exhibits. Well, she
hooked us up to the whole thing: The show (expensive), Lunch (expensive) and
even an encounter where we go out into the water and play with the dolphins
(super expensive). Well, obviously we didn’t do the encounter, but just the
fact that we were invited to and they wanted us to come made us feel very good
and loved. And made me want to come back to do it! Haha. I picked up a super sweet
shirt while there, and also was approached by one of the higher-up boss people
of Emergency Essentials. Turns out he and a bunch of doctors tour around
Central America doing exams and dental work for future missionaries and was on
his way home. Pretty awesome! They are all members, but went to the service in
their hotel instead of with us. Oh well.
Anyway, we are out of time! I love you
all! Until next week!
Elder Tinkham
