Hello
to everyone out there! How have you all been doing? Been a little while...well,
for me it feels kind of like yesterday since I last wrote, which I don’t
understand!
Anyways, due to the
fact that the time is a ticking, we shall get moving on this e-mail! Really, it
was a really funny and interesting week of learning new things.
All of the
missionaries were getting sick, including me and my companion. Luckily I myself
now feel very chipper! Just have to wait until my companion starts feeling
better. Hopefully his very strange Central American traditions help him to feel
better...they do some weird things...
On Wednesday, we left
with an investigator named Julio to go and plant beans. Yes, and it was
AWESOME! He was kind of sick when we left (it has literally been raining
EVERYDAY here in La Jutosa!) and we had to cross this river. Well, no big deal
there. But, we show up to the mountain where he plants, and it is literally Mud
Mountain with all the rain that was coming down. And, I only have soccer shoes
made for cement courts, so I am slipping and sliding on that thing like crazy!
But, I got down to business and planted a ton of beans, and there were a ton
the rain had washed up. Well, as we were walking back, we realize that the
river has grown in both size and strength! Oh yeah! I had to fight it pretty
good, but my companion needed a little bit of help and we made a drastic chain
of grabbing arms to save one another! Pretty exciting! Julio is also a really
cool, humble guy. He lives with his dad and daughter, and works in several
little things. Upon inviting him to church he got really excited and said he
would love to come. He showed up 30 minutes early in his taxi!
Later that Wednesday
we saw Franklin, the deacon’s quorum president, leaving to haul wood for their
stove to his house. We felt bad that he had to go alone, and went to help. We
had to jump a lot of rocks to cross that same river as we did in the morning
but we were now in our missionary clothes. But, we walked out literally into
Lamanite Land. It was this huge wide open spaced plain with giant trees, no
sound or sign of civilization in sight...beautiful. Unfortunately we didn’t
take our cameras. But, as we were coming back, now heavily laden with wood, we
couldn’t jump across the river and just walked through in church pants and
shoes. Awesome.
Thursday was my companion’s
birthday. I scared him by waking him up at 2 am to sing him Happy Birthday and
then spent all day telling everyone it was his birthday. Thanks to that, we
went to the Mission Leader’s house (whose wife also had her birthday) and we
scored Baleadas for dinner and some DELICIOUS Tres Leches cake to celebrate.
They are an amazing family, and I am so happy to spend time with them in
moments like that. That and they shoved 3 huge slices of cake down my
throat...doesn’t help that it is so delicious!
Friday we hiked the
mountain again to meet with our investigators. It turned out to be a cool lesson
(just that the hermano didn’t end up making it to church...sad). And he gave us
a ride home. But to do that, we had to double team lift a 120 lb wood plank and
shove it in his truck. HOLY CRAP that thing was heavy! I thought we would drop
it, but something about the help of heaven brought us out of it. Also on Friday
I taught Head Shoulder Knees & Toes for our English Class. The students
were laughing a lot, and it turned out a pretty good lesson. I realize it is
really hard to explain English, but my companion is really good at writing the
words how they sound in Spanish haha.
And Saturday, we went
to cut the grass of some members. It was my first time with a machete, and so
it turned out pretty interesting. But, it was funny because we had to go and
borrow machetes from everybody and they were rusty and not used, so we had to
spend a good amount of time getting them sharp. But, turned out really cool!
Anyways...we ate
really good food this week...think I might be putting on some pounds...
Well, that is all I
have for this week! LOVE YOU ALL!
Vaya Pues!
Elder Tinkham
